New Faces, New Cases

Daamodar sat fairly silent at his desk as the late-risers trudged into the office of gang and narcotics. Their line of work in the streets of Twin City never seemed to end, so he would never blame his coworkers for spiting their early morning schedules with an extra hour or two of sleep. Though he couldn't find the heart to follow their example, having been irreversibly indoctrinated into military hours for many years, so he usually arrived before dawn to prep the office for the day. His unit resided on the ground floor of the station close to the jail cells, since they usually had the most misdemeanor arrests out of all the departments.

Dom wasn’t too keen on this at first, but eventually he got used to the beats using narcotics as an excuse to meet quotas. As annoying as having to process all the arrests were, it usually kept his colleagues busy and took their attention away from him for a while. As the only human in the unit their scrutiny tended to be uncomfortably tight. Sometimes he just wanted a break from the stares and the questions, as if he were the odd one here among orcs and elves and dragons! Well, okay. In Twin City he admitted this might indeed be the case. But being treated like an animal behind glass didn’t exactly make the day go by faster.

Waving these thoughts from his mind, Dom’s attention returned to the file on his desk…well, files to be clear. One lay open to a lengthy coroner’s report, detailing the discovery and subsequent removal of two skeletons from an abandoned railway near the edge of town. Both humans he noticed.

Dom assumed both people had been dead for a while due to their state of decay, but as he read through the file it eerily became clear that this was wrong. The autopsy done by the forensic team indicated that they’d been dead for only a few weeks -four at the most. Which was of course an impossible proposal to go from skin to skeleton in just under a month. He didn’t believe it at first, so with a little coaxing to the head pathologist he was permitted to go down to the lab and take a look at the bones himself.

They were…for lack of better phrasing…picked clean. Glossy even. Like something had caused the flesh to melt smoothly off the bones instead of methodically being devoured by bacteria. What force could be capable of this? Nothing about the case was ordinary, and since Dom was no scientist, he was effectively stumped on what to think for now. The forensics team happened to find heavy doses of LSD within the marrow of the victims, so it ended up being thrown to narcotics for processing.
 

He sat back in his chair and sighed heavily, kneading a pen top idly between his thumb and forefinger. Once dental records returned there was a possibility they could match the bodies to actual names in the system. Identifying the victims would go a long way in figuring out what caused the strange phenomenon surrounding their corpses. Until then maybe he just needed another perspective. Someone who had the wits and morbid curiosity for a case like this.

Harper had been doing a lot of running around between the different departments. She had just helped James with another assignment the other day. Dealing with dead bodies and figuring out who done what and how. It was a side of law enforcement that she didn't know she was completely sold on. Sure, did she like taking people down and taking full responsibility of their crimes? Yeah. But there were still lives that had been lost and that was upsetting to say the least.  Growing up, she had always seen the battles her mother dealt with being a lawyer. She knew that justice was not something that always was given. Shaylyn Farifax, her mother, was good at her job. Very good at her job. So good, she often times represented her Fafa, Great Grandfather Travis Valentine, in court. Not saying that everything he did was evil or wrong....but a good chunk was.

It was something that her aunt and uncle faced with everyday here in the station. Her uncle, Joseph Travis Valentine, never hid who he was related to. Nor did his wife Chandler Valentine. Some people in the departments talked behind their backs saying it gave Travis Valentine an unfair advantage in this. It wasn't so, and she knew it. Thus why she kept her involvement with her family as little as possible when it came to public affairs. Thankfully, she has never had to deal with that nor was some big bad cop name that had people looking in her direction. It was a pretty decent life right now.

However, today it seemed her luck was finally running out.

Chief of Police Prince had come knocking on her door, so to speak, this morning. He had requested she help one of the guys down in Gangs and Narcotics. Try as she might, she could not hide the shock in her face from the man. Being questioned a moment, asking if everything was okay, she hid her slight fear as a different type of fear: was she really up for something like that? Prince laughed at her saying she had been doing a bunch of other things so this case shouldn't have been too bad. After all, there was only skeletons waiting for her. And a guy named Daamodar Bhatia down on the first floor who might need some help. Taking the hint, Harper got up and started heading downstairs. Better to get this over with than to prolong the inevitable.

Standing up, the werewolf girl started heading down to meet this guy. She stopped by the coffee area and snagged two cups with creams and sugar, in case he needed it. Her personally, she liked it a bit sweet. A hint of it, nothing too crazy. Though a chocolate java chip was a treat she treated herself every once in a while. But that was money and this was cheep coffee they all seemed to live off of. However this case was going to go, she wanted to be ready for it. It was more than likely going to take a toll on her. And so, with everything she needed, Harper descended to the first floor and looked for Officer Bhatia.

Snagging the first guy who crossed her path, she asked him a question. "Excuse me. Do you know where Officer Bhatia is?" The guy, an elf for sure, gave her a lazy look. "You mean the human? Yeah. He's over there. Why? You got a date with him?" She frowned at the guy but said nothing else. Seeing where the guy pointed to, Harper headed towards the desk that belonged to Officer Bhatia. Walking up, Harper looked at the man for a good solid second or two. Human looking for sure. Most of her family were either American or from Europe. This guy? She did not know the ethecity off hand, but did it really matter? Nope. At least, not to her. Smiling, the werewolf girl placed the second cup down, along with all the sugars and creamers she could carry, and spoke. "Hello. I was instructed to come report to you to help you on this case. I'm Officer Fairfax. it's nice to meet you Officer Bhatia." She leaned towards him, offering him her hand to shake. First impressions were always important. After this, they could be seeing each other a lot. Who knew. Harper didn't, that was for sure.

Daamodar looked up from his musings to meet eyes with the young werewolf. Right. The chief had given him a heads-up earlier, but he supposed he forgot about the officer they were borrowing today. Her presence was small and unassuming, but he wasn't one to be unappreciative of much-needed assistance, so he grasped the hand she offered with a practiced note of familiarity.
"Ah, you're finally here. It's nice to meet you..er..." 

He wracked his brain. Clearly she was the Fairfax girl. Yet he didn't know much else about her other than the fact that she didn't claim any department. This was a pretty strange career move, but no one ever seemed to question her about it. She had some aura about her that very few dared to interrupt, apart from the chief of course, and wherever she moved on a day-to-day basis almost seemed natural. Narcotics could've meant absolutely nothing to her as far as he knew. With this in mind, Dom decided to take her appearance as a sign of good luck. Plus the caffeine she brought went a long way in easing her welcome.

"...Harper. Thank-you for coming. Please, sit down." He smiled and gestured politely to the seat on the other side of the desk. "And call me Dom. I guarantee it'll make working together easier." The open case file rested stoically between them now; still open to the coroner's report. He flipped it around so she could skim through. While she did so, he leaned forward and rested his head on his hands. Photos of the two skeletons were attached underneath. "I don't know how used you are to...viewing dead bodies. It won't be a problem, will it? These aren't half bad if you think of them as halloween decorations."

"Alright, Dom...I shall call you that then." Was it weird to call people by their real names? Yes and no. Not that their last names weren't their real names but that was beside the point. Exchanging first names was a right of passage. Meaning she could be comfortable with this person. A slight weight lifted from her shoulders as she slid into the seat in front of his desk. "And not a problem. I enjoy helping out in any department that needs me. Think of it as on the job training for whatever department I officially want to continue to work in. There are so many." And wasn't that the truth. So many but only one of her. One day, fairly soon she knew, she was going to have to pick one. But for now, it was nice to be able to float around.

Picking up the cases that were before her. Her brows furrowed as she looked carefully at what she was seeing. Harper was sure she was actually going to see a dead body. But this? This was strange. The bodies had been stripped clean of all flesh and other things. Just...just their bones were left. Normally this was sent off to James' department, as he seemed to have always gotten dead bodies, but this now begged the question; why was it sent here? Was it gang related? Or rather....was it Mafia related? She could see the Rossis doing something like this. But at the same time, she did not know off hand what one of them could have done to cause this. As well, could a Valentine do something like this? Not that she personally knew someone who could, but the prospect of finding a dead body that her Fafa had hidden away was a bit unsettling. Not that he personally would have done this but still.

It really didn't matter. She was a cop and whoever did this was a very bad person. They would feel the cold steel of justice.

"It's not....it's not the worst I've seen. A more recent case had me looking at a half eaten body who was missing limbs...however, this is still a bit of...have you gone in and seen them in person yet? Or talked to forensics yet? It could have something to do with an acid....though the bones seem fine and acid would have done something to the skeleton structure. Maybe something picked them clean? Do you know of any supernatural being that can remove skin and muscle from bone without damage?" It was a long shot at the moment, but it might help with narrowing down a few possibilities. "That and....have you looked into either of the two large Mafias that live in the city?"

Impressed by the delicacy and reasoning of her inspection, Dom began to listen to her words more intently. The woman appeared very confident in herself, and she clearly wasn't one to skirt around a tough issue. Dom knew that plenty of their colleagues, upon reviewing a such an odd case, would instinctively overlook it for more a straightforward crime. And if enough layover time was accumulated , the case would then be termed 'cold' without any penalty on their part. 
On the other hand, Harper seemed to relay her thoughts with the repose of a fitted puzzle piece. It was a nice change of pace from the usual string of drug offenses he dealt with on the daily. 
Dom cleared his throat and inspected the file once again. 


"I checked with forensics yesterday, and the state of decay is accurate...but I'm not sure which Supernatural could pull such a thing off." He tried to sound informative, but truthfully he had yet to come up with a working theory. With what little details the skeletons actually offered upon autopsy, apart from a tentative time and location of death, there wasn't much to go on as far as circumstances were concerned. Technically any being with a knowledge of anatomy and a steady hand could strip a body to its most basic framework. However, the evidence pointed towards a natural progression of decomposition. This likely meant some sort of magical influence was involved during the actual crime, and they knew supernatural could get pretty creative with their powers and abilities. 
There was no doubt in his mind this was the work of one of the known races in Twin City. -Maybe even a combination of several entities...but who and what?
Dom realized Harper might've been right on the money as she mentioned the major mobs. Brilliant.

He frowned slightly, worry suddenly creasing his brow, and lifted his gaze from the papers. Now that he thought about it, the Valentine and Rossi might've been the only ones with the resources to actually stage this strange sort of death. The TCPD liked to think they could keep tabs on the inner workings of both gangs, a fanciful notion for sure, but they rarely ever got far with the number of connections both families harbored in the city. Who knew what kind of magic they were working with these days? His head swam with trepidation.
"The acid angle makes a lot of sense. We can look into that easily." Dom leaned back once again and folded his arms, a pensive look coming over him. "But if the either the Valentine or Rossi had some part in this, it would be best to go over the crime scene for ourselves and do some reconnaissance around the area; then we can be sure if this is an isolated incident or not."

It was a natural decay. Well that was strange. Decaying bodies take a hot second to do. Well, more than a hot second to get to this stage. Regardless, that was a bit puzzling. How on earth did this happen? As she sat there, Harper did her best to try and think of some kind of supernatural that could possibly do this without simply stripping the bones. Or without some kind of acid. Though, to be fair, they couldn't rule out acid just then and there. For all she knew, there was something she was over looking. Something important. Just, nothing she could put her finger on right this second.

"I see...well...this is rather interesting. Not that it's a good thing. I mean puzzling." She frowned at herself. She was doing it again: Doubting herself. Was she a cop or was she a paper pusher? She hated pushing papers so cop it was. Taking in a deep breath, she begun again. "What I mean is that it is strange that it came back as a natural decompose at a rapid pace than it simply getting stripped. At this point, all I can point to is acid or some kind of magical influence. The only way we're going to get answers is to, like you said, go to the crime scene and see what we can find."

Her brows furrowed as she thought about this again. Without really thinking about it, her hand started to stir her coffee in her coffee cup. She stared off into space as she thought long and hard on the kind of roster that Rossis or Valentines had. Off the top of her head, she could think of at least a few names that fit in both mafias, but none that actually fight what she was trying to figure out. None of them had skills like this. Though, to be fair, she did not know much about the Rossis other than they were bat shit crazy. "What we can do, before we leave, is have someone pull up files of anyone we've booked here who is reported to be one or the other. Likely, the list should be really long or really short. I don't actually deal with that part of the job." For good reasons, but she wasn't saying that.

Standing up, she picked up her coffee cup and started drinking it. "I think, before we can really pin point anything, we need to see what we're really up against here. I'm in the dark as to what the crime scene looks like as it sounds you are too. So we should go see this place, ja?"

There was a short pause before Dom nodded to Harper. So far his thoughts were quite muddled on what the cause of death could be, but they seemed to be on the same page as far as listing the steps to potentially solve it. 
Pull up the Rossi and Valentine profiles. Check out the crime scene. Good start.
He considered calling the unit's resident receptionist to help, a pretty elven woman by the name of Florentine. Then he remembered she was out for the day to celebrate a sacred holiday with her twin Constantine, and she wouldn't return for another week. Elves tended to be intense about their traditions; they were very much like humans in that regard.

Good thing someone could tolerate this place enough to hold things down for a while...or rather, they accepted orders extremely well. Androids had yet to become a common sight in the station (since the bots cost the department a real pretty penny), so right now they only employed one old model to run various tasks. With their superior organization and calculating skills, it was only natural for the chief to assign it as a proxy for menial work. Dom didn't mind this so much seeing as how he was usually the odd one out, and the fact of androids doing cognizant jobs was kind of a cool concept.

He reached over to office phone and swiftly dialed the number to records. A cold, stagnant voice came over the line a second later:
"This is TCPD Records and Evidence Accounting. We currently withhold over 100,000 residential, historical, and criminal files for the inhabitants of Twin City. Our office is open between the hours of~....."
Dom waited patiently through the spiel until the prompt to file-check came up. He pressed the specified number, then entered his badge ID. There was a quick clip of static in his ear before a real voice finally answered. He was momentarily surprised at how well the android mimicked a human tone:
"Please make your request Officer Bhatia."
"Valentine and Rossi. I'll take everything you have...." He pursed his lips as the thought suddenly crossed his mind that this was way too broad; he quickly backtracked. "-Um, wait. Only those with a prior history of violence. Cross this with drug convictions around the block of the old subway also. That's it."
Silence permeated the other end of the line for a while. Dom took this time to shoot Harper an engaging smile. She was doing a good job. Working together, he was sure they'd get a lead on the case in no time. 
"Thank-you. We are currently processing your request. Your catalog will be ready for pickup in approximately two hours. Please bring your badge and unit number to the records office at this time. A grace period of 24 hours is offered as policy in which your files will remain available for pickup. Stay on the line if you would like to continue with our resource survey~...." 


Dom hung up, almost losing his grip on the handle and clumsily slamming down the receiver with a clang. Catalog?! The wait time was understandable seeing as how the entire station ordered from records. But a catalog implied more of a loaded binder than a simple folder. Just how many people could possibly be involved in the investigation and not know it yet?
"Well...the droid gave us a couple hours to kill," he said, tousling his hair slightly as he stretched. "Up for a little trip to an abandoned railway? I'll even treat you to lunch since you brought the coffee."

Ah...the old android that they got stuck with. It was one of the very first ones. One that seemed defective. Se avoided using him as much as possible. Why? He could take hours to do something she could get done in maybe one. However, for some things, she had to simply suck it up and get it done and over with. He reminded her of that one guy from Zootopia that took forever to do anything. Only this time, her partner of the day wasn't calling him up on purpose to annoy her.

Werewolf hearing was slightly better than most. Meaning she could hear what was going on over the phone. Harper had to try and keep the smile to herself. She could only imagine how long that list was going to be. A few hours was an understatement. It was going to take a long time to sort through that when they did come back. Ah...the work of the badge. It came with great rewards but also a lot of heart break...and mountains of paperwork. Oh so much paperwork. If she had known how much paperwork she was going to have to do, she might have rethought her career choices when she was younger. To bad so sad. Time for the here and now.

Standing up, Harper scooted her chair out of the way to allow her out. "I see...well looks like we can take a nice long look then if you think it is going to take a hot second." She wanted to say catalog...but she wanted to be polite. She was not going to willingly let him know she was sort of listening in on the phone. Others really didn't feel comfortable with that. Something she had to get used to moving from a house full of werewolves. Regardless, she pushed in her chair, picked up her coffee, and smiled at him. "Alright, so then who wants to drive there? Best two out of three in a battle of rock paper scissors?" She joked as she took a sip of coffee before walking forward.

Heading out of the department, she held the door open for him before continuing on out with him. Regardless of who won the car 'fight', Harper got in the car and buckled up. Whether or not she was driving or sitting shotgun, her golden eyes were focused forward,trying to think of any other kind of lead on this case before they entered the crime scene. "Have you thought about maybe some kind of flesh dissolving thing? Like some kind of acidic saliva or some kind of fast eating bacteria. Like a Komodo Dragon...but faster." It didn't really matter what kind of thoughts she had on it right this second. Without seeing the actual crime scene, there was little hope in knowing even a fraction of what she could. Maybe, if she was lucky, she could figure out some kind of beast. Or a familiar scent.

“I take it rock-paper-scissors is an official part of TCPD’s operating procedures,” he said slyly as they made their way out of the department building. Dom welcomed her to take the driver’s seat with a sweep of his hand, then relayed the directions to their eventual destination: the defunct railway of Twin City’s eastern border.

In the meantime, he sat back and watched the nearby district roll by. There were many successful businesses surrounding the downtown area; mechanic shops, cafes, gyms, tattoo parlors, pharmacies, pubs, restaurants, salons, and of course plenty of law and insurance agencies to inform every living resident. And although their publicity wasn’t as far-reaching, meaning most of the fanfare was concentrated outside of the world’s eye, the small economy managed to flourish in its all-inclusive exclusivity. His first week in Twin City had been a mental shock of course, but besides the ‘mythical’ creatures casually walking around, the city mimicked a fairly normal atmosphere just like any other. Well, apart from the crime. That was special.

Putting downtown far behind them, the tall railroad track loomed in the distance, sloping over low-rent apartment complexes and into deeper parts of the ghetto. Years ago it delivered passengers westward to the first block of the shopping district, and there they’d be met with a wide variety of bodegas selling cheap services. City Hall decided to shut down the line due to poor safety standards, and although plans to rebuild were initially brought up, these were soon wept under the rug in favor of channeling the funds into a new casino. The locals weren’t thrilled to say the least, but some families simply left a larger fingerprint than others.

Dom snapped back to reality as Harper began to speculate. “Komodo dragon? Huh. We’re more likely to see an actual dragon,” he added, noting how the population grew sparser the closer they got to the site. For some reason, it seemed a lot of supernatural avoided the place. Out of fear perhaps? The murder had yet to be officially reported, but it was almost impossible for rumors not to spread when crimes like this happened close to home. “That’s a decent idea though. About the saliva and stuff. I’m not an expert on dragons or anything, but it would confirm that something purposefully left the bones there.“


He didn’t realize he’d said ‘something’ instead of ‘someone’; even when the pair finally pulled up to the abandoned railway. Everyone was a someone in Twin City…not just humans. Sometimes it was tough to remember this.

She grinned at him. Was the game of rock-paper-scissors an official part of this place? Yes. Yes it was. How else would you know who gets to do what? "You have a lot to learn, Dom. Trust me. You'll figure it out. Not from me. Oh no not from me. I'm more or less new myself so I have maybe more to learn." The young werewolf girl laughed as she climbed into the driver's spot and drove off.

As they got closer to the crime scene, Dom had actually spoken, pulling them back into a conversation. It made her smile again. Yeah. They were likely to see an actual dragon than one that was simply a very large lizard with very fast acting flesh eating saliva. Or something like that. He had a good point. Some...one...was doing this for one reason or another. But the question still was who...and why? Stepping out of the car, Harper thought about this as she closed the door. Her brows furrowed before she once again started thinking out loud again. "I forgot to ask or really look at who the victims were....my mistake but...this is important. If we focus on the who, maybe we can figure out a why. If these victim's bones were left out, maybe someone was leaving out a warning. Either to us, or to someone else entirely. It would be a bit of sloppy work for a Valentine. But for a Rossi? I could see it. They tend to do a lot of weird things. I once heard that a girl had been seen marking houses with red Xs on them. She Xed out a sign that even said 'Bless this house and all that reside in it'. Pretty rude if you ask me. Though...maybe a Valentine did do it. You never know. There were some rather lazy people in that mafia..."

She mused over the two groups again, but mainly just thought on her family. Her Great Grandfather would normally not just leave bones out here in the middle of nowhere. Not really. He was a sucker for cement shoes. However, it wasn't as if Travis had been behind every murder. After all, he had a casino to run. A very famous and wealthy one at that. And Elena, his wife, wasn't the type of woman who simply waited around all day. Really, he spent more of his time with her than anything else. But...was someone in this mafia messing up so bad to get their attention? Did the Chief of Police actually figure out she was related to that man? It was a bit daunting to think about. A small bit of panic filled her. But it only lasted a moment. It was not the time to do so. She needed to deal with this case. Her career could wait.

Clearing her throat, if only to clear her own thoughts, Harper's golden eyes rested on Dom. "Well. Better to get this started so we can start looking at that um....that list we have waiting for us. Whoever did this is going to pay for this. One way or another. Where exactly were they found? Just by the railroad or in some kind of room? Like a small terminal waiting area for the train to come and pick someone up?" She glanced out at the scene before her, wondering how popular this place used to be back in the day. There were a lot of things she wondered about, but that was for another time. This railway, even she could see used to be somewhat popular in it's day. Though out in the middle of nowhere now, how many people...how many beings like herself used this as a way to get into the city from all the way out here?

Harper followed after Dom, noting whatever he said. It was, once again, bad on her for not looking more at the file before leaving. She needed to get better at this. But, to be fair, it was his case. She was just helping out. As they got closer, the werewolf did her best to keep a sharp eye out, and nose, for anything out of the normal. Maybe a sign that simply said 'Hey look at me! I'm a clue!' If only.