NPC Characters's Story

The phrase overworked, understaffed, and underpaid had never been truer. While they had all hoped to catch a break after this most recent case, that wasn't going to happen. Getting back to her office over an hour after she'd left the Seychelle's house, Catherine collapsed into her chair behind her desk. "Someone owes me for that... snafu." She muttered hoping to be left alone until it was time to go home.

A knock on the door to her office quickly put an end to her thoughts of dozing off for the rest of the shift. "Yes?" She answered rather grumpily. "Uh.. excuse me Warden, but this fax came in from DPD..." The young man at the door began as they entered the office, really unsure of how exactly to talk to the female warden. "And?" Catherine said testily, hoping to soon be rid of the officer who had obviously drawn the short straw. "Well... we felt that you might want to take a look at it." He said hastily shoving at her across the desk.

Skimming through the contents, she frowned. "Is this all?" She asked before turning to the computer on her desk. "Yes, it came in earlier while you were out on a case. Your secretary said to come back later." Ishae seemed to take great delight in causing minor chaos among the lower ranking officers at this particular office.

"Alright.. thank you." Catherine said as she skimmed back through the pages of the fax. They could have just emailed it, but apparently felt that this was somehow better. "Bloody police departments..." She grumbled as she started to send out the request for the second staff wide meeting that month. This time at least the contractors wouldn't have to get involved unless absolutely necessary.

Molly was the first one in the room -- other than Catherine of course -- and she took her seat rather curious as to what could have happened so soon. She took one glance at Catherine and kept her mental shields up and her mouth shut tight. Long acquaintance told her that the other had had a very bad day.

Not that the tall woman could blame her. The last big case that had required a staff meeting had just finished, and now they were in another. It wasn’t a good thing, and the junior officer understood the other’s anger. Calmly, she took out a notepad and pencil and schooled herself to take notes. Anything that put that expression on Catherine’s face she did not want to deal with.

Hesitatingly, she offered. “Should I get the coffee pot, Warden?” she offered the other. It may help after all, if they other had some coffee. The black tar that the precinct favored was sure to wake you up, at least. It might help with the tenseness in the other's frame.

Rafael entered the room with the 4 inch Kimber holstered on his right hip and two extra mags tucked onto the belt. His left hand rested on the hilt of a medieval knights bastard sword which was firmly secured to him via the sword belt. The sword appeared out of place on him otherwise with jeans, polo shirt and boots.

"Looks like I am almost early. I see no one else brought their swords along for the castle sieges. It would seem I am the only one to have the forethought to. I also have my armor tucked away in the car." Rafael said in a slightly sarcastic tone as he entered the room rather oblivious to the Wardens mood.

Ezra was contemplating the choices that had lead to this caffeine buzz. It might have been the ridiculous amount of green tea he had drunk - the strong stuff, he thought wryly. However he had settled in nicely in his new apartment, even if there were still boxes waiting in the hallway to be unpacked and shelving needed to host the abundance of books and files he ran out of room for.

The atmosphere in the room was tense already, and he had the good sense to take his seat quietly. Maybe with a good safe distance away from Paladin Fisher, just in case Warden Dumitrescu decided not to humour him. He gave a nod of acknowledgement to Miss Bronson, along with a small smile, ready to find out what this was about.

The dispatch agent's sole job right now, was to relay calls from the mundane police to the not so mundance Mythical Crimes Unit. She did so without complaint, other than the general lack of real reports. Much of what she called in after all, she just assigned to junior agents. It was all easy work, minor mischief and the like. Occasionally, there was a case between two people in the Unseen realm that she assigned to the senior officers. And then there were the serious calls.

The agent looked over the information given to her by the Dallas Police department and wrinkled her nose, then picked up her phone and called Catherine Dumitrescu's number. Some things were above the paygrade of the average officer. A double homicide certainly counted.

"Warden Dumitrescu?" She waited for confirmation. "Dallas PD has called in a double homicide that may have Unseen components to it. The bodies were found in in the Trinity River Greenbelt Park, just off of Sylvan Avenue on the Trinity Skyline Trail." She reported to the other rather firmly. "Dallas PD will remain on the scene until MCU arrives to help with locating the crime scene." She waited for the acknowledgement, or any indication that more information was needed. It rarely occured of course.

This particular dispatch agent was truly very used to being hung up on.

"Speaking." She said picking up the phone on her desk on the third ring, while wondering why the sudden jump in activity; the weather wasn't getting warmer, it was getting colder. In fact looking outside all she could see was a slow, soaking, cold rain that had started on Thursday with no sign of letting up. They were lucky it wasn't snow or ice, yet. "That's a high traffic area." Catherine said frowning. "We'll be there in ten." She added as she placed the phone back on the receiver.

The other case would have to go on the back burner for now, after all Alexander had said he was going to speak with Hecatate. If he had, Catherine had no knowledge of what had happened in the meeting. Pushing back and standing up from her desk, she headed downstairs to grab the other officers, but not before knocking on Ezra's door on her way out. "Time to go, we've got another hand off from DPD."

She was not looking forward to going out in the rain and cold to deal with Dallas Police.

Along her way out, she grabbed Molly and Rafael. Their small team of four could handle whatever this was, or at least she liked to think they were capable enough.

"Hopefully the rain hasn't washed anything away." Catherine muttered to herself as she exited the white SUV. They were getting close to eight inches over the last few days, and the swollen river was close to pushing over it's banks. Sooner or later various authorities would be announcing flood stage with the Trinity and recommending evacuation of low lying areas, the park being one of them.

"Though honestly, for this to happen in such a public place.." She said to no one in particular, her thoughts going back to a case that had made headline news a few months ago where a man jogging on the Katy Trail had been attacked with a machete. "Okay," Catherine started as she waited for everyone to pull on jackets, and grab gear they had decided to bring with them. "I would assume you know the drill by now, talk with DPD and whomever else is still there." She instructed, feeling that somehow it was necessary to reiterate what was already known. "If someone can find scene command, send them mine or Warden Bennet's way. Understood?"

Homicides were fairly normal in a big city, as sad as it was, it just seemed to be a symptom of life in a city. However the homicide like the one dispatch had sent their way was fairly unusual. "Alright, let's move out."

Molly nodded and headed closer to the scene. The scene itself was perilously close to the river bank, and hopefully the rain would stop before the water contaminated the scene. As it was, the remaining crime scene tech looked nervous, carefully snapping picture of something on the ground. Molly moved closer to the yellow tab, and ducked under it. It didn't take long to find the scene command and send them heading in Catherine's direction. Shortly after, Molly was carefully walking the scene and examining it, looking for any hints of magic.

She moved closer to the crime scene tech and squatted down. "Is that a...stiletto print?" She said, eyes wide. The tech nodded and Molly made a face at the very idea. Who the hell would wear shoes like that in this mess? Well, where there was one, there was likely to be more, especially with the ground so soft.

"Yes." The tech answered, the nodded to the two bodies that were solidly away from the bank of the river, at least, under cover to protect any evidence on them from the rain. "Based on the bodies, my boss thinks this is the murder site too. If there was any blood on the ground though, the rain washed it away." He shrugged and finished his work. "If we're lucky, the river won't burst and the scene itself won't wash away, but I don't think we will be."

Molly could agree. She left the tech to do his job and approached the bodies, peering under the covers carefully. The first one held a young woman with a slit throat, fully dressed as if for a date night. Her jewelry remained, but her hair was mussed. Herr hands and ankles were held together by a zip tie.

The junior officer lowered the cover and then peeked under the second one. A man, age very clearly unknown. Or at least, judging by the genitalia, she assumed the withered corpse there was a man. That was all that remained of him at least, a heavily aged mummy with wisps of grey hair on its head, as if he had been old before he died. She frowned and shook her head. "Found why we were called at least." She lowered the cover and then looked more carefully. The two corpses shared what appeared to be a picnic blanket, if a sodden one by this point.

The junior officer wandered back to the crime scene tech. "Hey, any idea how they got here?" She asked him, uncertain. The tech finished bagging what could be a clue or simple garbage and then answered.

"An officer found an abandoned car about half a mile down Canada Drive." He answered. "It's almost as weird as a scene, sans the Pharaoh Ramses over there. They're sending the stuff to your lab now though, car and all." The techs there were working just as hard no doubt on that scene also. Molly nodded and then began to conduct her own investigation of the scene. Some faint trace here set her senses haywire and it was stronger the closer she was to the male body.

Uncertain, the demon hunter knelt down and began to focus on her senses. She was getting soaked in the meantime, but if it meant figuring out what did this, then who cared?

...

Rafael appeared quite amused at it all. He also finally had a use for that poncho that he bought and the gore tex boots. He did look quite the sight in the black and blue poncho with a ski mask on. He more so looked like he committed the crime.

"Looks like these two were into some kinky stuff. Granted I never did understand how a woman could be a necrophiliac?" Rafael said from behind Molly.

He looked around his eyes casually scanning the scene for anything important or missed. Maybe a mythological dagger that could open time warps into horrid dimensions releasing monsters he could fight. That was unlikely but he could hope, it would give his sword a use besides his occasional LARP's and the practice he did.

Spotting Rafael's latest get up, Catherine just shook her head and sighed in exasperation. The man took his job as a joke, and reminded her of all the bad qualities of many of the men she'd worked with over the years. There wasn't much she could do, disciplinary issues were not part of her job description anymore. Stuffing her hands deeper into the pockets of her coat, Catherine found herself increasingly cold and wet; soaked through to the skin from the rain, it was miserable work.

She finished speaking with one of the DPD senior officers as the scene and incident command came her way. "What are we dealing with here? It looks like Dallas's normal garden variety stupid." She asked, wondering where Ezra had wandered off to. Normally she would have liked to have the other warden around to talk to the scene commander, but apparently he had his own ideas.

“I swear to God, Fisher if I ever find out who decided you’d be my partner, I’m going to brain them.” Could he not be creepier? “Take the ski mask off before someone shoots you.” She grumbled, clearly not pleased. Her concentration was completely broken. Still, she recognized the type of energy at least, even if she hadn’t been able to get a hold on any details.

“I doubt it was necrophilia, state of the male’s body besides. There’s some sort of energy residue on the man.” she said and shrugged. “I think, maybe, it’s demonic, but I could be wrong. Someone interrupted me before I could be sure.” And given how cold she was becoming she doubted she'd be able to figure it out. Damn. This coat was not at all waterproof.

The scene commander made his way to Catherine and shook his head. “I wish it was. It looks like two lovers out on a picnic. If you take away the fact the the man is a naked mummy, and the woman has a slit throat and is completely missing her underclothes.” The scene commander was rather blunt about it. “Both of their hands are zip ties together, and the woman’s feet are as well.” He shrugged.

“The mummy is the official reason I’m turning this over to you all. The unofficial is that these scene gives me the creeps.” He shrugged and began on the safety stuff. “Nothing was found close to the bank, but there’s a muddy stiletto print that we think we might lose if the rain doesn’t let up. Otherwise, the only thing of note is that there’s an abandoned car on Canada Dr. It had a male’s set of clothes, women’s underclothes, and a purse that had an ID in it that matches the woman. Pessy Elkins. There was a second ID of a male. Rizalino Morris.”

....

Catherine just looked at the man for a moment, thinking that if he found this unsettling, he didn't want to know what else was out there. Walking over to the scene in question, she lifted the tarp and sheet that covered the bodies. "Hm... interesting." Was all she really said before turning back to the scene commander. "You're right, it doesn't make sense. Especially since this is a very public area." Catherine remarked thoughtfully. "How long have they been here?" She asked motioning to the bodies under the covering. No doubt some early morning jogger, or even some kayaker down this branch of the Trinity had spotted the scene and called it in. Normally DPD was slow to respond, but it appeared this time they wanted the case off their hands quicker than ever.

"I'll have my officers take a look at the car, and see if we can't get an impression or at least some way of documenting the stiletto print before the rain washes it away." The heavy rains could do any manner of damage to the scene, and the thing Catherine was most worried about was how old the scene was. Over time magic traces would fade away and dissipate, leaving them little if anything to work with. "Medical can go ahead and get them out of here I think, it looks like we're going to be racing the river on this one."

"Good day." Ezra returned just in time to hear about the car. He’d obviously been walking through mud, his pants now sporting speckles and the colour of his shoes completely unidentifiable. “I apologize, I thought I had a trace.” It had been faint to begin with, and gone far too quickly when he tried to follow it. By now, he wasn’t even sure if there had been anything in the first place. Also, the part of him getting stuck in the ground for a minute was not a detail he felt too keen on sharing. “Should I take Paladin Fisher along and look at the car, or do you need me here?” With two scenes to this crime, splitting up like this made sense to him. It would also reduce the threat of either of the women getting headaches, or of Fisher getting punched.

"You would be the only to shoot me for the ski mask, Miss. Molly. But none the less I will remove my nice waterproof ski mask and expose my hair to these harsh elements." He removed the hat from his head stuffing it into a pocket on the inside of the poncho.

"Catherine take this I have no need for it as I have my Russian poncho here." He slipped the Vertx jacket off that he was wearing underneath of the poncho. It was water proof as well and had a hood. He stuck the jacket out towards her.

"I say we go Comrade Ezra. We should ensure the car doesn't happen to have any more identifiers or possibly Capitalist intentions within. May we leave you with our two new friends and search through the car?" Rafael asked looking over at Catherine his hair starting to soak up the rain falling on it.

Her ongoing mental mantra of ‘I will not punch my partner’ was not helping. At least the damn mask was off. She took a deep breath, one inch yelling, and then he called Catherine by her first name. Oh hell. It was better she punch him than Catherine punch him.

The junior officer decked his shoulder, just hard enough to bruise, assuming it connected. Either way, she spoke. “Fisher, you idiot.” she snarled. “Don’t call me Molly, Miss Molly, or any derivative of that shit. Call me Bronson. If I wanted you to use my first name, I’d use yours.”

Subtle didn’t work with some men. It was clear that this was one of those men. “And for fuck’s sake,” she whispered to him so the mundane officer nearby wouldn’t hear, “call her Dumitrescu and not Catherine. She doesn’t go by Catherine at work or with her co-workers.” That wasn’t one hundred percent accurate, but it was a good enough rule.

Well, Ezra had tried to keep Fisher from being punched. Fisher just defied protection. Hopefully Catherine wouldn’t give into the urge also.

"Where the hell have you been Bennet?" Catherine asked looking at the other Warden in mild dismay and confusion. "And why are you covered in mud?" Sure shoes would get dirty at a scene like this, but as dirty as Ezra was, she found herself questioning just what he had been doing; other than rolling in the mud. "Go ahead and take Fisher to get a look at the car, if you guys run into anything weird just let us know alright?"

Then turning around to see who had called her name, Catherine frowned seeing it was Fisher. "Don't you mean Warden Dumitrescu..." She said slowly. "Besides, I think you might need that Fisher, I'd hate for you to get tangled in your poncho." She said, her tone polite enough as she refused the use of his jacket. Her own she'd brought with was sufficiently water proof enough, as were her boots; however after awhile nothing would be waterproof enough for hours upon hours of what they did in the field.

"To answer both questions: I'd advise you not to get too close to the river, Warden. The ground isn't as solid there." Ezra should have paid better attention to where he'd been going. He hadn't. "I'll give you a call if we do. Let's go, Paladin." As soon as possible. The eery atmosphere didn't get better on the asphalt road, even if it did help with getting the mud from his clothes.

"I do have to ask, why didn't you just wear a hat? The balaclava seems like an unnecessary risk." Whom's sanity dwindled by it more, he was unsure, and he didn't see it catching on around civilians. Whatever protection they may grant was completely negated by the way they're percieved by the public.