LiseEclaire
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Uncharted Waters (Chapter 09)
🕑 Added 2023-01-20 23:47:24 +0000 UTCThere was nothing like the metropolitan area. Every show and cheap novel did its best to describe it, frequently going over the top into the realm of the absurd. Walking along the streets, I could honestly say that the writers and show directors didn’t go far enough. There was a sense of prosperity, grandeur, and tradition in everything around. It didn’t matter that most of the buildings were a decade old, sometimes less. Looking at them, one would think that they had been a permanent fixture in the world for centuries. Everything was in its place, from the stands on the streets to the high-rises that pierced the clouds.
As I walked, thousands of gargoyles looked down in my direction. The temporary pass was the only thing that separated me from quick death. Strangely enough, the people didn’t seem to be particularly troubled. Maybe they were so confident in the city’s gargoyles and defense runes that it never crossed their minds that I might be someone who didn’t belong here. Their overconfidence was tragic, but I wasn’t one to complain. As a certain acquaintance of mine liked to say “be grateful for anything that makes a cat fatter.” In my case, I was just glad that it kept the “cat’s” claws away from me.
Walking through several of the “standard” neighborhoods,” I slowly made my way to Beachwater. The area looked a lot different now that all the commotion was over and the law enforcement vehicles had gone. Of course, just because there were none of them there didn’t mean that the area was completely unprotected.
“Stop,” a hoarse female voice said after I’d gone fifty feet within the neighborhood. “What’s your business?” A combat mage emerged out of thin air. The cloak she was wearing had a quite impressive mix of charms woven within its threads, rendering her bulletproof in addition to being invisible.
“I’m with H-Sec,” I said, with as much arrogance as I could muster. “I’m to revisit the crime scene.”
The look the woman gave me told me loud and clear that she didn’t give any shits.
“Want me to get ten rune carriages here?” The best way to deal with someone who gave no fucks was to give no fucks back. I pulled back my sleeve, bringing my wristcomm in full view.
“Wait.” The mage said. Even if she didn’t trust me, there was no ignoring the tech and the emblem on my suit. “I’ll come with you.”
“Suit yourself.” I relaxed my hand and continued forward.
At no point did she offer to give me a ride, even if it was clear she had a vehicle—the soles of her shoes were too clean for her to have walked all this distance. Since it was going to be a long walk, I decided to have a friendly chat to pass the time.
“Know the Kodes?”
“I’ve seen them,” she replied with the enthusiasm of a sea cucumber. “They come and go in rune carriages, like everyone else here.”
“All of them?”
My main goal was to annoy her, but the silence told me that I had hit the mark.
“Their kid is already at H-Sec.” I saved her the trouble. “He can’t get in any more trouble.”
“It’s not him. It’s the lawyers. They always came in land vehicles.”
That seemed a bit unusual until I thought about it a bit more. Despite the many advantages, air-transport was always tagged. Making one undetectable to charms required a lot of political pull, and ended up being more noticeable than if it had standard city markings. Cars, on the other hand, could be made completely incognito with a few high-end charms. If a corporation like Ellcron was footing the bill, the land vehicles could be equipped with enough tech to trick any grid sensors. There’d be no records of anything coming or going, just the words of a few combat mages who’d fallen so low they were guarding a road.
“Often?” I asked.
“Pretty much.”
“What about yesterday or the day before?”
“There were a few. Came and went a few times. Some of your guys checked them on the way out.”
“Good to know.”
When we got to the building, the mage accompanied me to the elevator to the Kodes’ floor. Officially, the apartment remained an active crime scene, granting H-Sec full access to it. Technically, I wasn’t exactly H-Sec, but that detail seemed to slip the mage’s mind, for she was more than happy to see me go up. Her only role, as she saw it, was to make sure I didn’t harass any of the other residents.
The apartment was the same as I remember it, minus the bleeding corpse on the floor. The Rune Investigators had done a splendid job cleaning the place. I couldn’t feel even the slightest trace of essence anywhere.
I made my way to the kitchen. There was no trace of the charm, but the fridge was fully stocked. Ex expected there were a few spirit dishes among the human food. Marshia was apparently taking the whole “free the spirits” thing quite seriously.
Cherry algae, I read out the description on the plastic container.
Not something I had tried, or ever would, but thieves are no choosers, so I opened it and took a bite. The taste was a mixture of sweetness and stagnant water. Instantly, I spat it back and put the container on the nearest counter. A closer examination of the package revealed that it was half a year past the expiration date. That was unusual.
Opening the fridge again, I examined the rest of the products. On the surface, all of them seemed fresh, but on closer inspection, anything with an expiration date was long overdue. Having worked with humans before, I could understand them leaving food to rot, but even so, there were two unusual things about this picture. For one thing, only my type of food seemed to have gone bad. Trying some yogurt, while disgusting, remained fresh. Also, there seemed to be faint traces of magic essence coming from the fridge shelves.
Placing all the products on the counter, I removed one of the class compartments and enveloped it with a thin layer of myself. As I suspected, the back had clear traces of a charm—something that would keep the food fresh. Pity that the person who put it didn’t know that Marshai would change diet. Commercial algae came with its own set of charms applied during the packaging process, since it tended to spoil faster.
You didn’t examine the fridge, did you?
That was the problem with most humans. They were so overconfident in their skills and tech that they rarely followed through to the end. I could almost see them now. In their minds, the RIs had gone through every inch of the floor, and still no one had bothered with the obvious. That said, I wouldn’t have paid attention, either, if it wasn’t for the cherry algae.
Systematically, I emptied what was left of the fridge and spread a layer of water inside. Experience had taught me that there were only two reasons for something to be for show: to impress people or to hide something. Given the low-scale products in the fridge, it definitely wasn’t to impress anyone.
It didn’t take long to find what was hidden. There was a small hole in the bottom of the fridge, barely large enough for a needle to fit. Being made of water had its advantages, so I forced part of myself into it and pressed whatever was inside. When nothing happened, I pulled instead. The entire bottom of the fridge moved up, revealing a small empty section. Very low tech, but in today’s age, this sort of cache was the best. The entire section was coated with magic-absorbing foam, making sure that whatever was there couldn’t be detected.
The impression in the foam was large enough to hold a small box or an extremely thick book. Whatever had been hidden here had left a quite distinctive magic trace; one that matched the traces found on the body.
What were you hiding? I wondered.
The more and more it was looking like the mysterious item could have been the reason for Janas’ death. However, that didn’t clear any of the current suspects. It was still possible that one or all of them had made a deal with Ellcron for legal protection in exchange for the item in question. Or maybe they had made a deal with a competing corporation? When it came down to it, the business world wasn’t too much different from slum gangs, they just wore better suits.
Carefully, I put everything back in place, including the algae I had choked on. The proper thing was to call Clay and tell him of my discovery. Given the nature of the mysterious item, I decided to hold that off for a while.
To be on the safe side, I went through the rest of the apartment. The RI unit had managed not to miss anything else. And other than a few questionable charms in one of the bedrooms, everything else seemed perfectly mundane, only with a giant price tag.
The combat mage was waiting for me in the lobby when I got down. We exchanged a few words, after which she accompanied me all the way to the neighborhood’s external limit.
Given that it was way into the night, and I wasn’t given any cash, I decided to do the only option available to me: call Clay.
“Waters?” he asked after a ten second delay. His voice was slow and slurry, making it clear I’d woken him up.
“Sorry about this, Clay, but I’ll need a ride to my place.” I paused for a few seconds, giving him enough time to process the request. “The waterline, not my actual home.”
“Waters, do you know what time it is?”
“A good detective never sleeps. Seriously, Clay, I’m in the middle of the metropolis area and I haven’t been paid. Do you expect me to walk all the way there?”
I heard the sound of a loud thumb followed by the scattering of smaller objects.
“Where the heck are you?”
“I’m just outside Beachwater. I went to check the crime scene in case the RIs had missed something.”
“You did what?!” Any trace of sleepiness quickly vanished from Clay’s voice. “First thing tomorrow we’ll talk boundaries. You’re a consultant. That means you don’t get to go to crime scenes unaccompanied.”
“Yeah, yeah.”
“What did you find?”
“Just that your guys did a great job. They were all over that place like a tidal wave. One interesting thing, though. A lot of Ellcron lawyers seemed to have been going in and out, and not just on the day in question. Whatever Janas was involved with, it was more than a bit of tech.”
“I’ll talk with the Lt about another visit. Would help if you got me something more. A few cars going in or out isn’t too unusual.”
“That’s all I have at the moment,” I lied. “Anything from the charming detective Nixen?”
“She’ll kill you if she hears you call her that.” Clayton let out a chuckle. “Nothing that would help. She’s trying to track down their expense numbers, but it’s not easy. Without specific proof or well-founded suspicions that Janas was getting the charms from them, they refuse to show us any of their records. There have been some whispers along unofficial channels that charms are considered part of an employee’s entertainment package, but that’s about it. Do you think they used such a method to kill their own guy?”
“Honestly? I don’t know. It all depends on the thing that everyone’s not talking about. If it’s important enough, maybe other corporations are involved.”
“We’ve already looked at that angle. It’s not.”
“You’re sure?”
“Even corporations don’t want H-Sec taking an interest. Unresolved high-profile deaths are as bad for them as they are for us.”
Probably not as bad as they are for the victims, I thought.
“In that case, I suggest we sleep on it and look at the facts fresh tomorrow.”
“Thanks, Waters. I’d never have thought of that. I’m sending you a taxi carriage. All’s paid, so just tell them where you want to go.”
“You’re the man, boss.”
“Shut up.” He ended the call.
I felt a bit guilty for a moment. When I remembered that he’d woken me up during one of my few good dreams to drag me into this case, the sense of guild vanished. Now all I had to do was wait for the taxi to arrive.
Half a minute later, the large red vehicle landed a step away from me. There were a lot of things that could be said about humans, but when it came to services, they were always punctual. The driver not only agreed to take me to where I wanted, but offered to go beyond the watermark. Since I wasn’t the one paying, I agreed and also helped myself to a glass of whatever alcohol the taxi had to offer. Come tomorrow Clayton was going to be pissed, but it was his fault for agreeing to this.
Five minutes later, I was walking in the familiar streets of my home neighborhood. Naturally, I had masked my suit to remain somewhat inconspicuous.
Just as I turned the corner to my house, my wristcomm chimed. At first, I thought it was Clay calling to check on me. To my surprise, the caller was marked as unidentified.
“Hello?” I approached my left hand to my ear.
“Nep, I found something.” I heard Summer’s voice. “You’ll want to see this.”
I was just about to ask where she was calling from when my front door flew off its hinges, zipping by me like a speeding bullet.
“Call H-Sec,” I said without hesitation. “Ask for Clay. Tell him I’m in trouble.” I ended the call before she could argue.
