Posts: 27
Preferred Name: Varmun
Pronouns: He/Him
Character Profile: Character List
Character Name: Caith Alwood
Main Account: Isaac
Status: Active
|
Post by Caith on Aug 25, 2015 23:12:10 GMT -5
As the van turned the corner, Caith could see the yellow tape stretched all around the house, along with the three cop cruisers already lined up in front of the driveway. Three cars, huh? she thought as she drove up, pulling on her handbrake to come to a gentle stop behind the third cruiser. Hand-me-downs from the MC, clearly. The LC office must be getting desperate for results on the Medical Thief case. Either that or a few idiots are hell-bent on getting promotions. They’re all gonna get demoted to the Slums if they don’t hand that case off to us soon.
Caith pushed down against her chair and turned around, dragging herself into the back of her van, whereupon she climbed into her wheelchair and pressed a button on the roof to open the back door. The door popped open and a metal ramp extended out the back, allowing Caith to wheel herself out into the street and up to the house. She hardly had to duck to get underneath the tape, and she soon rolled up to the driveway.
“Ma’am,” came a man’s voice, barking to get her attention. Caith sighed and came to a stop, spinning in place to turn toward an officer that approached her. The man—unshaven, covered in the grease of low-class fast food, and dressed in a Kevlar vest one size too small—stepped up to her and said, “Ma’am, I need to ask you to please move back behind the line. We’re in the middle of an investigation.”
Caith sighed and lolled her head to one side as she fished her badge out of coat pocket, saying, “Detective Alwood, MCPD. I believe your chief was supposed to tell you I was coming down here.” She tried not to be snarky, but what the officer said next made that very difficult.
“MC? This has been an LC case. No one ever said we were turning it over.”
Caith dropped her head, only to perk back up and say, “That’s not what I’m here for. I’m investigating your murder victim’s drug ring.” When the man raised his eyebrow, Caith had had enough, and she pinched the bridge of her nose, saying, “Did you sleep through your entire briefing, or do you need me to tell you who’s leading your case, as well? Because it’s Detective Martin—ten-year LCPD officer, five-year LCPD detective, 5’7” with short brown hair and monkey tail passed down by his father.”
The officer’s face turned red from a mix of anger and embarrassment, though he focused on the former, gritting his teeth and scowling as he stormed off. As the officer returned to his perimeter patrol, Caith rolled up the driveway, muttering to herself, “A little homework. It’s all I ask. But do they do it? No.” From the driveway, Caith took a stone pathway that led around to the side of the house, where a lonely door to a first-floor laboratory awaited her.
|
|
I SWEAR ON ME MUM
Posts: 31
Preferred Name: Nama
Character Profile: ♠♠♠
Character Name: Elgen Galbraith
Main Account: Levenin
Status: Active
|
Post by Elgen on Aug 26, 2015 5:09:28 GMT -5
”Check out this shit.”
The body remained where it’d fallen mere hours ago as Elgen huddled around it, counting the puncture wounds with a sense of awe. ”Ten, eleven, twelve… God, it just keeps going.”
The man elbowed a case worker standing nearby, who looked none too pleased to be prodded while performing his duties. ”Impressive work for someone who we thought was just a thief but I suppose there’s still some mystery to be had in this city. Most fun I’ve had all week, that’s for sure.”
”Sir, please.” Elgen guessed this killjoy of a guy was collecting samples or something. Not that he cared so long as he could continue prattling on about the murder scene like it was a walk in the park. ”Excuse me if I speak out of turn, but this isn’t professional behavior to be displaying during such a sensitive case.”
”Oh, shut it. I’m waiting for someone and I’m bored as hell. You can keep doing what you’re doing. I ain’t gonna get in the way.”
Another look of disapproval and Elgen sighed. Whatever, so he’d just go bug somebody else instead. Dead bodies grew tiresome after a bit anyway. Despite the slacking off, he was honestly intrigued by this entire case. First, an infamous thief— they called him “The Witch” or something of the sort— commits a gruesome murder and then enters a second portion to the equation: The Witch hadn’t acted alone. That in itself was nothing special but still, the killing was pretty new.
However, the interesting part wasn’t Elgen’s concern, unfortunately. His elation deflated into boredom as he made his way to the laboratory where the drug ring had originated. He supposed he should actually do the job he was given but damn, was it boring. His only motivation was that some low class scum would be put in their place when it was all said and done, though with the LCPD on the prowl, Elgen highly doubted that would happen. But really, why couldn’t he be given the chance to beat down The Witch instead?
The door leading into the lab crawled with reporters and officers alike as the two groups vied for dominance of the scene. How the media got past the tape was beyond him. Elgen decided it was better to wait out here for his contact rather than brave the crowd. This woman he mentioned waiting for would never find him in there anyhow. His superior had simply told him it was someone by the name of Alwood who’d be able to detail this mess in full. He’d never heard of her before, nor did he care to get to know her, though the fact she was part of the MCPD already earned her a few points above everyone else here. As long as he could gather the information he needed from her, then they’d get along swimmingly. If only Alwood was here.
”I’d watch yourself if I were you,” called Elgen to a wheelchair-bound young woman who was intent to enter the throng of bodies over yonder. ”The LCs want all the fun for themselves.”
|
|
Posts: 27
Preferred Name: Varmun
Pronouns: He/Him
Character Profile: Character List
Character Name: Caith Alwood
Main Account: Isaac
Status: Active
|
Post by Caith on Aug 26, 2015 9:43:05 GMT -5
It seemed around every corner there was a new, annoying sight—first the three LC cruisers, now a flock of reporters. She had heard them from the front of the house, but to actually see them now made her impending headache far, far more threatening.
Luckily, when anyone noticed a person in a wheelchair—though actually getting noticed was a challenge in and of itself—they usually stepped aside. The crowd spread apart as reporters tapped each other's shoulders and pointed down to Caith. One person even spoke to her as she glided through the crowd, and she glanced up and over to see a red-haired man standing away from the reporters. To his joke, Caith smirked and said, "I'm sure they do."
She then looked to the two officers guarding the door to the lab. Like the first officer, they accused her of being a civilian, and Caith flashed her badge to them before rolling up to the door that one man was at least smart enough to open for her. But before she went in, she pointed toward the red-haired man with her head and said, "And let him in, too. He's with me." Though she had never seen him before or been given any description of him, she knew from a glance that he was her temporary partner—whether she liked it or not.
Rolling into the lab, Caith saw a second pair of officers conducting their own investigation of the murder. Caith ignored them both and began to search the lab. She started with the most obvious place: the desk. She put on a pair of latex gloves and grabbed a binder lying on the table. It was already open to roughly the middle pages, and from a quick glance, Caith could see why. A coded recipe. It seems one of our criminals knew what he was searching for. But if he was smart enough to know this page was the recipe, then why didn't he close the binder when he was done? Perhaps the gunshots had scared him. The reports said there was a plasma scorch mark in one of the walls upstairs. Maybe the Witch had gotten shot at and his partner came running. Possible, but not my problem. Not yet.
"How's your understanding of chemistry, Mr. Galbraith?" asked Caith, knowing that her own partner was in earshot.
|
|
I SWEAR ON ME MUM
Posts: 31
Preferred Name: Nama
Character Profile: ♠♠♠
Character Name: Elgen Galbraith
Main Account: Levenin
Status: Active
|
Post by Elgen on Aug 26, 2015 10:24:47 GMT -5
The crowd parted like the Red Sea as the woman made her way through, but not without her own quip in response. Elgen scoffed, though it was in good humor. He always enjoyed an attitude from people he least expected to have one. Little Ms. Business over here was-- wait, what the hell was that?
He tipped his glasses to get a better view and sure enough, she pulled out an official badge belonging to the MCPD. So she was actually a big deal and bystanders weren't scrambling out of her path for nothing. "How the hell do you know my name?" he asked, stomping over as the doorway finally cleared. "Are you... Alwood?"
Well, of course she was. Elgen wasn't sure what type of person he was expecting to meet him here this morning, but this woman sure looked like an Alwood. A sly smile curled itself across his lips. Thank God, Alwood was already giving him a few pleasant surprises and they'd barely been acquainted.
Elgen said no more and followed close behind the detective. She seemed to know exactly where she wanted to be. Pausing at a desk that'd seen better days, he couldn't help but be distracted by the smell of this place-- a scent reminiscent of paint thinner or a stale hospital room. Nothing but a cocktail of chemicals floating in the air. Disgusting. How was it that a bloodstained living room was preferable to this?
"I see the guards didn't go hungry during their shift last night," he commented while idly poking half a sandwich still hanging around amongst the papers. "And to think the guy who hired them is now dead. I can't see how that happened."
He stopped joking about security's stellar work ethic to ponder Alwood's question. "Just call me Elgen," he insisted. "And I honestly couldn't tell you much. Science was never my thing. The most I know is what I heard from forensics earlier. They were bitching about unusable blood samples on the walls. Apparently, Acid Magix is very good at destroying the integrity of DNA if it can't be filtered out so I guess I learned something new." A glance at the binder stuffed full of paper and Elgen grimaced. Nothing but characters and diagrams that were foreign to his knowledge. "If you're talking about that, then no. My understanding is about the same as any one of these media hounds snooping around."
|
|
Posts: 27
Preferred Name: Varmun
Pronouns: He/Him
Character Profile: Character List
Character Name: Caith Alwood
Main Account: Isaac
Status: Active
|
Post by Caith on Aug 26, 2015 11:25:30 GMT -5
"That's a shame," she said, focusing mostly on Elgen's last comment. "Guess we'll need to run this by a professional before we can do much with it." She tapped the table and rested her head against her fist as she read and reread the code. The page was laid out like a recipe of some kind, but all of the ingredients read more like a grocery list. "Mr. Potter was certainly smarter than his guards, though that says a lot less than it should. This is clearly the recipe for whatever drug he's been making here, but nothing here is an actual chemical. It's all food. But look here: 34 bananas. I'm guessing every item represents a chemical or element—possibly the one that it mostly consists of. So bananas would be potassium—though most likely potassium chloride—and the 34 could mean 34 grams or some other measurement. Or it could be a red herring, since he mentions bananas a few too many times. I won't know for sure until I have a proper scientist look it over.
"We need to know what sort of drug Potter produced if we're going to find his distributors and bust any other cooks he might have had working for him. He wouldn't keep records like that around, and most likely any distributors would hack their GPS before going near a cook sight. Or, more likely than that, the distributors are all Scavengers. We need to know what exactly the drug is so we can search for it." Caith then leaned back in her chair, looking up at the ceiling for a moment as she lost herself in thought.
After a time, she looked back to Elgen. "While we wait, we could maybe search for any suspicious drugs that have hit the market. Has your department heard about any strange new drugs on the streets?" And just then, Caith remembered something Elgen had said earlier. "Oh, and I knew who you were because of what you said. My chief already told me I would be working with Elgen Galbraith, and earlier you referred to the officers here as 'LCs.' Couple that comment with the fact that I've never seen you at MCHQ and the clear fact that you're not a reporter and it was all pretty clear who you were."
|
|
I SWEAR ON ME MUM
Posts: 31
Preferred Name: Nama
Character Profile: ♠♠♠
Character Name: Elgen Galbraith
Main Account: Levenin
Status: Active
|
Post by Elgen on Aug 26, 2015 16:54:01 GMT -5
Alwood’s guess on what the hell the papers contained was as good as his. Elgen leaned over to get a better look but who was he kidding? This wasn’t his field at all. Hell, English wasn’t even his first language and here he was trying to read what amounted to Navajo code. He dug around in his pocket for a small handheld device before flipping it on to typing mode. Explanations were flowing from her mouth and that was what he was here to catch.
”Slow down, we’re not in a hurry,” he scolded. The notes recorder had seen many years in service, which unfortunately meant it liked to stall on Elgen whenever he actually needed it. ”So, something about bananas, right?”
His nose crinkled again. Damn, this ammonia egg smell was getting to him. ”I don’t know shit about elements or chemicals, but I can tell you one thing from having been around a few drug scenes: this whole damn room smells strongly of Big Blue. Or something similar to it. That only makes our job harder, though. Any time something goes to the Slums, you can guarantee you’ll have to search through a mountain of crap to find your one particular guy.”
Slum dwellers and their addictions. Elgen loathed having to go to that section of Novus. Yet another reason he disliked having been unceremoniously shoved onto this case. It meant a little field trip of wonders into dirty alleyways and unkempt people. Oh joy. The man took the papers Alwood had been sifting through and laid them out neatly before clicking the scanner button on his recorder.
”No one's mentioned anything in particular, as far as I know,” said Elgen. ”Though there have been reports of higher rates of incidents related to drug trafficking. Things like people being hospitalized more than usual and more drug-related deaths. It might be worth it to track where most of this stuff happens, maybe localize it to a general area to search out until we get a specific lead from forensics.”
Elgen couldn’t decide whether or not to smirk or sneer at her deductive reasoning for his name. However, her cleverness was proving to be endearing instead of annoying. For now. ”Tell me if I’m wrong, but based on my outstanding observation skills, I’d say you’re a bit of a smart ass. Speaking of names, though, would you rather me just call you Alwood the entire time or is that your first name too?”
|
|
Posts: 27
Preferred Name: Varmun
Pronouns: He/Him
Character Profile: Character List
Character Name: Caith Alwood
Main Account: Isaac
Status: Active
|
Post by Caith on Aug 26, 2015 18:30:21 GMT -5
Caith snorted at Elgen’s response, and she shrugged her shoulders, saying, “Fair assessment. And you can call me Caith. Pleasure to meet you, Elgen.” She raised a hand, offering a shake and a smile. It was all a little late, but Caith was known to get lost in her work, especially at the start of a new case.
And once more, Caith focused on the task at hand, crossing her arms and returning her eyes to the ceiling. Under her breath, she muttered, “Big Blue, huh?” She wasn’t too familiar with that one, unfortunately. It sounded like something Elgen would have more knowledge of, so she was glad to have him on board. “Well, if you’re willing to humor me, I think we should go to the pathologists in the Lower Class hospitals. I don’t want to rely too much on their judgement, but they might be able to give us a list of people who died from any suspicious drugs. If enough of them died of similar causes or had similar blood test results, we might find a connection between them. With your resources, we can at the very least find out where they were assigned to live. We can create a zone to monitor for drug trades to bust, provided our list isn’t too sporadic.” Caith then looked back to Elgen, adding, “I am, of course, open to other ideas. The simplest thing would be to wait until we get someone to crack this recipe, but I’d rather jump now. If there are any other cooks making this stuff, then we need to act before Potter’s death goes public and they go into hiding.”
Either way, there was no real reason to stick around in the lab. They had a picture of the recipe and an idea of where to start. The only things left in here were for the murder case—the case Caith was convinced would never be solved by the Lower Class.
On their way out the door, Caith waved to one of the LC officers and said, “One quick thing: You might want to check the ceiling for prints. One of your assassins clearly climbed along the pipes to avoid the cameras last night. Just saying.”
Once outside, Caith rolled through the crowd of reporters again, ignoring the bombardment of questions that came with her revealed identity, and she simply asked Elgen, “Did you drive here, or should we take my car?”
|
|
I SWEAR ON ME MUM
Posts: 31
Preferred Name: Nama
Character Profile: ♠♠♠
Character Name: Elgen Galbraith
Main Account: Levenin
Status: Active
|
Post by Elgen on Aug 26, 2015 19:01:04 GMT -5
”You know, I think I’ll like working with you, Alwood. For now anyway.”
Shaking her hand with more force than was necessary, Elgen shoved his recorder back out of sight once the tell-tale beeping told him it’d saved the scans. Sure, she had a decent sense of humor, but how long until this detective schtick overstayed its welcome? Oh well, not like he had to go to dinner and a movie with the woman. And here was something he knew about that she didn’t.
”Can’t tell you how they make it but it goes by a bunch of different names on the underground. It’s a pure mix of various shit that comes in a crystallized form so it’s easy to tell it apart when you see it. Huge stimulant but highly addictive, and the crash is usually what kills people. They just keep going and going until their bodies give out from the strain.”
Elgen couldn’t ignore it any longer. Behind him, anyone with the police seemed to be forcing out media personnel— and failing spectacularly. If it were up to him, none of them would’ve been allowed past the yard in the first place because this is always what ended up happening. He guessed the body back in the house was no longer of interest. Either that, or the vultures had devoured him and now needed more blood to satiate their journalism deities on high.
”No, I’m good with anything that isn’t here. No use in waiting around,” he whispered, the angry calls of interns begging to get access inside the lab. ”I’m sure my people would want that info anyway. They love a good puzzle to put together and if anything comes up, the MCPD can issue patrols for checkpoints right away.”
He refrained from adding on a diatribe about how it was probably too late to avoid Potter’s name and face all over the air waves, but that wasn’t important. ”Please spare me from the shitty cruiser they lent me today. Need a little help getting out?” he asked with a cocky grin before going on ahead without Caith and barreling his way through warm bodies like bowling pins. ”Get the fuck out! MCPD coming through!"
|
|
Posts: 27
Preferred Name: Varmun
Pronouns: He/Him
Character Profile: Character List
Character Name: Caith Alwood
Main Account: Isaac
Status: Active
|
Post by Caith on Aug 27, 2015 9:48:15 GMT -5
As Elgen knocked over reporters and cleared the stone path, Caith whistled and rolled on after him, enjoying a pleasant stroll while the reporters fumbled to get to their feet. It didn't last long, though, as the ones still standing quickly jogged alongside Caith, calling to her frantically, "Detective, what is the MCPD's involvement in the Potter case?" Another asked, "Will the MCPD be taking over the pursuit of the Witch?" "What progress has the LCPD made in catching the Witch?" "Where can I get that coat?" "Is it true that Mr. Potter was involved in illegal drug trading?"
With her eyes forward, Caith said, "No comment, no comment, no comment, Luther's, and no comment." The questions kept coming, but Caith kept moving, soon reaching her van, where the ignorant officer out front finally managed to make himself useful. Though he gave Caith a dirty look as she rolled by, he gave the reporters a dirtier one, and he held them back as Caith opened the rear door to her van. The ramp slid out and gently tapped against the street, allowing Caith to roll up into the back and climb into the driver's seat. After adjusting her legs and buckling up, Caith drove off with Elgen right beside her.
As they headed toward the Lower Class, Caith said, "Do me a favor: Send a copy of that recipe to forensics at MCPD and the Secret Police. The more eyes we have on that recipe, the better. Plus, I wanna see who's faster."
The drive to the Lower Class was thankfully short and uneventful. They caught the checkpoint at a slow time of day and got through with an ID check and a quick car search. From there, it was only a few minutes before they reached the first hospital. The place was small—only two floors not counting the basement—and it was cheap, which meant that hopefully a fair number of drug addicts from the Slums would get treated or autopsied here.
"You wanna ask the questions?" asked Caith as the two headed into the lobby. "You seem to have more experience with drug cases than I do."
|
|
I SWEAR ON ME MUM
Posts: 31
Preferred Name: Nama
Character Profile: ♠♠♠
Character Name: Elgen Galbraith
Main Account: Levenin
Status: Active
|
Post by Elgen on Aug 27, 2015 14:51:26 GMT -5
Oh Christ, here it was. Elgen could bowl his way over every journalist and reporter in this damn city but talking to them? Strictly forbidden by his superiors. As they’d told him on several occasions, he just didn’t have “a way with words.” He couldn’t fathom what that meant. Elgen pursed his lips shut as he listened to strangers pelt him with inane questions, thankful that Caith could cover him somewhat on that front. “No comment” wasn’t going to satisfy the media circus, but hey, it was better than the few choice things he would’ve responded with.
Slamming shut the van door, the noise of muffled mindless chatter was sweet, sweet relief to his boiling temper. ”What luck we had to get a prominent figure to bust post mortem,” he commented while adjusting where TV recorders had been shoved at him. ”This is the biggest clusterfuck I’ve seen in a while. Also, between you and me, let’s not mention me shoving reporters out of the way. HQ might not like to hear that and I don’t have the patience to deal with them.”
Elgen was able to take his mind off of them as they sped away from the scene. Great timing as he could see even more news vans crowding the residential street in the passenger mirror. Stories must’ve been slow today if practically every station in the Middle Class was here to grab a piece of the pie. Typing out the beginnings of a message with the scanned files, he answered, ”I can tell you my team at HQ might have it out first. Maybe by tomorrow if they’re really bored. The Witch is involved and they’ve been pulling their hair out over him for weeks. It's a matter of taking care of him as soon as they can, you know?”
A short time later and they found themselves at one of the hospitals, South Memorial they called it. Elgen couldn’t help but judge it from appearances alone. It looked less like a medical facility and more like someone’s back alley pet project. The perfect place for slumdogs to gather, he supposed. ”You say that but I’m no expert. I’m just the one that gets stuck with this shit more than I’d like to. But if I must.”
He approached the front desk, waving his badge of credentials around for the receptionist to clearly see. ”Police. I need your records. You keep those here, right? And your head EMT while you’re at it.”
A few minutes later and the two were greeted by a woman in uniform who seemed none too pleased to be taken from whatever duties she had. She tapped her foot impatiently upon seeing them. ”I’m on call so make this quick.”
|
|
