Chapter 7: Writing on the Wall
Back at my office, my “drawing board” was top to bottom notes, photos, scans, and string. I’d been staring at it all day, and was practically screaming myself hoarse in my own mind trying to get something out of it. The only connections I had between the two victims were a written appointment in a journal that everypony was taking my word on. I was rather confident that the AA Barrel had written down was Absolutia, but there was always a chance I was wrong.
I had nothing pointing to a suspect. Nopony did, or rather, they weren’t telling me otherwise. Fluff ‘n’ Stuff had said the guy cleaned house like a pro. Which didn’t surprise me. The amount of control he exhibited over his work led me to believe we wouldn’t catch him through something as simple as trace evidence or a hoofprint. He probably wasn’t even in the system.
The system... something about the phrase rang a bell in my head, but I couldn’t pin it down.
I glanced over the photos again, tearing one off the board of all the symbols he’d drawn in blood all over his latest victim’s floor. Not for the first time since this case started I was awash with the feeling that I was far out of my element. I scanned the photo top to bottom, grabbing a few more out of a manilla envelope on the desk next to me. I laid them out for what must have been the dozenth time that afternoon. Intricate patterns that all but screamed a higher intellect and a deep spacial awareness. Not an inch was wasted or out of place. There was no telling how long he’d spent on this.
Unless there was. I trotted over to the phone and dialed a quick number, holding the phone to my ear with a hoof while I stared at the photo in my other one. “...yello?” eventually somepony answered.
And just the pony I needed. “Hey, Fluff ‘n’ Stuff. Got a question for you.”
I heard a light high-pitched chuckle. Still in filly form, I deduced. Go me. “Is this a booty call?”
“With all the other amazing things you can do with that flank I wouldn’t be surprised it could answer the phone, but sadly, no. I had a question about blood,” I explained.
“Ooh~ those are the best kind!”
I tried not to think about that. “Listen, how many blood samples did you take from the... artwork the other day?” I couldn’t believe it had been three days since I stood over Absolutia’s corpse, but here we are.
“Like, a bajillion. The analyst on scene couldn’t believe all that blood came from the same pony. It did, by the way,” she added.
I nodded, then realized she couldn’t see me. “I’d figured, but that’s good to know. Great, in fact. They label where all those blood samples came from, right? Like, the exact position?”
“They better or I kill them,” I half expected it to be a joke save for the fact she sounded dead serious. “Why? What are you thinking?”
“I’m thinking we can get some kind of timeline, maybe. I don’t know a lot about blood and I’m pretty sure he did... something to it. He would have had to to do what he did,” the more I thought about the idea in my head the farther away it seemed, but I had to try.
“Correct again. Whatever this freaky-tiki used it’s creative. It’s a slow-acting coagulant mixed with some cognitive inhibitors. Makes them dumb as dicks and bleed real slow. You could cut somepony to shreds and they’d die of shock before they bled out. Now where are we going with this?” her inquisitive tone seemed mixed with a touch of impatience.
Right, getting to the point. “Can you tell me how long the blood was there for? I know it’s a long shot-”
She scoffed. “A ridiculously long one.”
“And I don’t know if there’s even a way to do such a thing-”
“Almost none whatsoever with all these chemicals-”
“-but I want to try. And if anypony I know can do that, it’s you,” I’d hoped flattery would get me somewhere with an eight year old pervert with a huge ego.
It did. “Well, duh. I didn’t say NO, did I? Jeez. Let me call you back in like... tomorrow morning. Or you could just find out when you wake up next to me...”
I was about to protest when I remembered three very important things. One, I’d told her I’d come back. Two, damn. Three, I wasn’t exactly doing anything else. “What time do you want me over?”
She laughed. “That’s a trick question. I always want you over. But get here about 8 or so, will ya? I still have actual work to do, you know.”
“Yeah, same here,” I agreed, as Paperweight walked back into the office. With food. Blessed, blessed food. “I have to go. Someone just speed-dialed my stomach."
“...and I thought my flank was talented. See you later~” she crooned, and hung up.
Paperweight set the big, delicious smelling bag on the table, and moved away from it with haste. Only then did I notice she had a noseplug. She looked at me, then at the bag, and sighed. “Look, I’m not saying I condone it, but you haven’t been eating well for days now. I don’t know what else to do besides shoving flowers down your throat.”
“Kinky.”
“Spy!” she yelped. “Rrr... just... don’t make a mess, ok? Who was that?”
“Fluff ‘n’ Stuff. I had a question about blood.”
Paperweight rolled her eyes. “See, this is what I don’t understand. How can you eat... that,” she jabbed a hoof at the bag I was opening. Oh, sweet Luna, delicious chicken tenders. “That stuff and work on a murder case?”
I shrugged. “Magic, I guess. Anyway, she’s looking into dating the blood samples from the... floor,” Paperweight wouldn’t hear it called art, or a canvas, and I couldn’t blame her, “To see if we can put together some kind of timeline. She says I should hear something when I wake up tomorrow.”
She raised an eyebrow. “And you’ll be waking up...”
“In her bed, presumably. I think she has a bed. She may just live in that lab. She certainly does everything else in it,” I mused, tearing a piece of chicken in two and savoring delicious spicy dead bird.
“Please, Spy, I barely have an appetite as it is,” she whined, pulling out a small box of hay fries. “Let’s just, stick to the case. What else do we have that connects these two?”
I rolled my eyes. “If I knew I’d tell you. DPD is still working through miles of paperwork trying to find a connection. Aside from that note in Barrel’s journal, not much. A lawyer and a bank mogul. You’d think the connections would be obvious, but she has her own private team of lawyers. Either they’re in on something big, or something personal, if they’re working on anything at all. Hell, they might just be buckbuddies for all I know.”
“That seems to be going around,” Paperweight rolled her eyes and stared at the board, following strings.
I chewed and swallowed another bite. “That supposed to mean something?”
She gave me a sideways glance. “I just think it’s a little strange that you’re jumping into bed with this Forensics girl in the middle of a case.”
I shrugged. “Hey, it’s been awhile-”
“The mare in Coltcun,” she interjected.
“-didn’t happen, I keep telling you. Nothing. Happened. Not to mention she’s super sexy-”
“Eight years old,” she interrupted again.
“Just because you haven’t met her other half doesn’t mean she doesn’t exist. Jekyll and Hoof is well-documented and little is known about... why are we having this argument? We have a case to solve!” I shook my head in indignation and finished off the tender I was holding, reaching into the bag for another.
Paperweight gave a brief “Meh,” and moved closer to the board. “Hey, Spy...”
“Hmmf?” I grunted through a facefull of awesome.
She chose to ignore my lack of table manners. “Take a look at this Notice. The one on her thigh...”
I trotted closer and glared at it intently. “5094 Apple Road. Why do I know that?”
Paperweight trotted over to a file cabinet. “Yeah.. I think I do, too...” I could hear the shuffling of papers behind me for a moment, then, “Aha!”
I whipped around. I liked “Aha!” I LOVED “Aha!” “Ohh, what, what, what?” I bounced over to read the paper she’d singled out. It was an old case file.
She shoved it in my face. “I KNEW it. We’ve worked that building before!”
I took it from her and read it twice. “Hey, this is the place LS and B had us stake out like two months ago. They wanted us to see if the guy was breaking... his... lease...” something in my head clicked and I ran over to the board again. I stared at more of the pictures of the Notices of Forfeiture. “Paperweight, look up some more addresses for me.”
“You got it, boss,” she stood at the ready over the file cabinet, her horn glowing. It flew open and files flooded the air.
“1312 Apt M14 Blackheart St.”
Lots of shuffling. Then, “Yeah, I got it!”
“4687 Northern Cross Place.”
“That one too.”
“Love and Fishes.”
“...what’s the address? Nevermind, got it,” she said, pulling away from the file. Apparently it STILL stank.
I read a few more, and 3 out of the four we had. “Dear Luna...” I trailed off. I knew what it was. It had just been staring at me, mocking me.
“What is it, boss?” She dropped the files on the counter, and walked over.
“Me. Or, us. WE’RE the connection. And he knows it. Paperweight,” I said slowly, turning to her.
She must have seen something in my expression she didn’t like, because she recoiled. “Yes?”
“This guy knows who we are.”
--------
Longarm looked over the photos, and our case files. We’d gunned for his office as soon as we’d put two and two together, and dropped the mess in front of him. “This... this is bucked. He knows you? How the hell does he know you?”
Paperweight sat quietly in a chair while I leaned over the desk. “I have no idea, Longarm. But I’m the connection between Absolutia and Barrel. Every case I’ve worked for them in the last few months has somehow led to Absolutia’s bank hoofing off a foreclosure notice or something similar to somepony. Look up her international affairs. I’ll bet bottom dollar she owns property in Cancun.”
Longarm glared at the pile of evidence, then at me. “You do realize this means we’re going to have to-”
“Pick apart my life like crazy? Yeah, I know. I’m probably one bloody toothpick away from being a suspect,” I groaned, my head hitting the table.
“Which is exactly why,” said the most terrifying voice under Luna’s night sky, “You aren’t under arrest. Because you aren’t a suspect, just a person of interest.” I turned around, and saw one of the most terrifying sights in my life.
Iris Jade was smiling at me.
“Now,” she stated, moving around Longarm’s desk. She took his seat, seeing as how he’d jumped out of it like it had goosed him and moved across the room. “Normally I’d pull you off this case. But seeing as how I can’t order you not to investigate as per LS and B’s instructions, and the fact that you only work for us because I like keeping tabs on you, I’m not going to. Plus staffing issues and blah blah blah,” she added, taking a few pieces of please Luna let that be candy out of her jacket pocket and popping them in her mouth. “So here’s what IS going to happen. You’re going to keep digging. And so are we. We’re stretched pretty thin, so digging into every facet of your personal life is a much greater task than I’d like to admit. But we’re going to try. Don’t go anywhere, do your job, and as long as you keep dumping sweet morsels of truth like this,” she patted the stack of files and photos, “In my lap we’ll be just fine. OK?”
I swallowed hard. “Yes ma’am.” Nopony else in the room said anything.
She waved a hoof at the door. “You and your assistant can go. Longarm, stay. I’d like a word with you.”
If not for the fact that Paperweight and I practically ran for the door I’d have turned around to wave Longarm goodbye.
We made our way back to the squad room on the main floor, by virtue of that’s where we stopped running. A passing officer took one look at us when we stopped and asked, “Chief Jade?”
I nodded. “She was smiling.”
I saw him shiver heavily, and a few nearby officers grimaced. “How are you alive?”
I figured explaining the whole thing wouldn’t get me anywhere, so I just said, “Try asking a mouse that while the cat bats it around.”
He nodded knowingly and moved on. A familiar voice caught my attention anyway, and I trotted over to the rather impressive communications array in the middle of the room. There, Telly and Sykes were chatting back and forth. Well, Sykes was chatting. Telly was talking to like five different sources, sometimes in tongues. I think. “Uh, hi guys,” I interjected when they turned to look at me.
Sykes paused for a moment, then did that slow predatory smile that usually corners something small and tasty. I’d still rather that than Iris Jade. “So, yer Eye Spy, is ya?”
I blinked. “I is,” I said finally.
He paused, and laughed. “Ha! Mickey says yer a good lad! Oi, listen. Sorry bout all tha’ gruff ‘n’ stuff last time,” although it came out ‘toim’, “S’ been... been a hard month...” he trailed off.
“Yeah, I’ve heard,” my eyes traveled over to Telly, who just kind of stared at her console. “So, you’re officer Sykes?” I offered my hoof, and he took it, his smile returning.
“That I am! Ey, is it true yer trackin’ down the bastard what ritualized tha’ poor lass?” he asked keenly.
I nodded. “Yeah. There’s been some... interesting developments. We actually have some kind of lead, and Fluff’s working another, if smaller, one.”
Sykes shook his head. “Oh, don’ be lettin’ her hear ya say tha’. She’s moighty frisky, that one.”
I had to smile. “Hoh, yeah. I’m actually due to talk to her later tonight.”
“You uh... you jus’ gonna talk to ‘er?” He waggled his eyebrows.
I shrugged. “More like primal grunting, but yeah.”
“I KNEW it!” a voice I’d totally forgotten was right next to me screamed. After my eyes stopped rolling around my skull I turned to look at Telly. “YOU’RE the guy she hooked up with! I KNEW she got laid!”
I noticed then that a few ponies were staring. Sykes was grinning madly. “Is tha’ right? Good on ya, boy!” He clapped my back, and thank Luna I was wearing my hoodie, because I think he might have drawn blood otherwise. A soft breeze told me he’d torn a hole. Or four. “Oops,” he said sheepishly, staring at my back. “Oh, hey, yer a pegasus.”
I glared at him. Or thought about it. “Yes. Yes I am. And yes, I am the colt Fluff ‘n’ Stuff had sex with. Now, if you’ll both excuse me, I’m going to find somepony who can sew before I go do it again.”
Sykes laughed as I turned to walk away, and Paperweight trotted up next to me. “Don’t you have like a dozen of those?”
“Yes, but I only have one pair of wings.”
------
I’d gotten to the lab a little earlier, by about a half hour, than I’d expected. “Fluff?” I looked around, not seeing anypony in the immediate vicinity.
I decided to investigate the rest of the downstairs while I waited, or to see if I could find her. Down the hall from the big door marked “Evidence”, I found a smaller door that seemed to lead to a series of labs. At least, it looked like it from the small vertical window in the door. I gave it a tug to see if it was locked, and it slid open almost welcomingly.
“Hallo?” I called into the lab. I saw a few ponies scattering about, focused on their work. One colt stopped long enough to wave at me, but went back to work.
The room was, in fact, a long hallway with smaller rooms on either side. The walls to these rooms, however, were glass, so one could see perfectly into the rooms. I noticed scribbles and notes taped to the walls, and one pony was actively writing out mathematical formulas on one of them. He nodded to me curtly as I passed through his field of vision.
Eventually, I made my way to the end of the hall, and saw a rather large set of double doors with a word over them: “Ballistics.”
“Ooh!” I said keenly, and reached for the door.
“I wouldn’t do that!” a familiar high pitched voice said from behind me. I turned to see Fluff ‘n’ Stuff standing in the middle of the hall. “As much fun as it would be to see you deal with those... ponies... I have an entirely different ‘blown away’ in store for you.”
I heard a chuckle or two from the labs on either side. Apparently some of the glass wasn’t soundproof. “Greetings your Stuffness.” I chuckled, trotting up to her.
She gave me a wry smile. “Says the one doing all the stuffing.”
“Dude!” said a rather annoyed colt to my left. “Trying to work here! Can you take the dirty talk somewhere more... not here?” I looked over at him, and it was the colt doing arithmetic on the glass. A wiry, bespectacled unicorn with spiky blue hair and a grey coat.
Fluff waved him off. “Oh, just ignore Formula. His parents wanted him to be an artist. Apparently it runs in the family.”
As we trotted out of the room, I asked loudly, “Do manners?”
Fluff laughed. “Nope. He got totally shortsheeted.”
Formula just grumbled something under his voice and went back to work.
I returned my attention to the filly. “So, got anything new for me?”
She tapped the door to Evidence, and it flew open for her. I’d have to ask how she did that, seeing as they weren’t sliding doors. “You know, I did tell you to wait till morning, but yes, I do. How about you?” she asked, hopping into a chair.
I explained the connection between me and the victims, and how the murderer knew about me and Paperweight. “I’m thinking she’s gonna start asking me to sleep somewhere other than my office. Or a laboratory floor,” I added, as Fluff opened her mouth to respond.
“I wouldn’t make you sleep on the floor,” she retorted. “But yeah, there are a few places other than here that might be safer. If he decides to target you, that is. Anyway, I can’t get a timeline on the blood,” she informed me.
My shoulders slumped. “Should have figured.”
She held up a hoof. “Oh, ye of little faith. What I CAN do,” she slid her rolly chair over to a lab table, picking up some loose papers, “Is date the TILE.”
I tilted my head. “What?”
She nodded, smiling proudly. “Yup. That drug he used? Nasty stuff. Turns out it corrodes marble. At a measurable rate.”
I smiled. “So you can actually tell how long it’s been there and where he started?”
Her proud smile was replaced with a wicked grin. “Foal, if he’d gone any slower I could show you what order he drew each symbol in."