Chapter 5
CHAPTER FIVE
“Let’s head back to the office,” Wager said. “We’ll want to look up McMasterson, and also, we need to contact the families and ask for interviews. I’ve texted Herne, asking him to get Yutani onto researching. This case is escalating faster than we can keep up with.”
“What the hell do you think is attacking them? Any idea? I can’t think of any creature who can do that,” I asked.
“What about a spider?” Kipa said. “Some, like the brown recluse, have venom that produces a necrotic bite. How do we know there isn’t some crypto spider that can turn you into goo?”
I cringed. “I don’t even want to think about what kind of spider could turn a grown man into slug slime.”
I leaned back in my seat, watching the city pass by.
The solitude of Kalevala had been both a blessing and a curse, and I realized I was going to have to adjust to being around so much noise and activity again.
Bringing my focus back to the case, I tried to sort through all the Ante-Fae I had ever heard of, but none that I could think of had the power to dissolve someone.
We arrived back at the office, where Yutani was already running searches on McMasterson. Talia motioned for us to follow her into the breakroom. Herne was nowhere to be seen.
“Herne went to see the mayor, but he left us instructions. I have the names and addresses of the victims’ families.
Not the one today, not yet, but the others.
We’ll want to call and make appointments to talk to them as soon as possible.
Yutani is looking up Ian McMasterson right now.
” She emailed me the list of names and addresses, along with the information on who their loved one had been.
“How are we keeping their families from talking to the news outlets? It seems like this is primed for the tabloids to get hold of, given the mysterious nature of the deaths.” I frowned, staring at the list. Four men dead. Four families devastated. Four uncomfortable meetings.
“The police asked them to keep quiet because it might endanger the investigation. That threat does wonders to families hungry for justice,” Wager said.
“Then we continue with that,” I said.
“Your Ian McMasterson is a no-go,” Yutani said, entering the breakroom. “He lives in Vancouver, B.C., and he was down here to visit a business partner. He left for home on August sixth, and he’s been there every day. There’s no way he could be our killer.”
“Well, that puts an end to that theory,” Wager said. “What about the timeline of the murders?”
Yutani opened another document and showed it to us.
Today was Tuesday. The first murder had taken place a week ago Wednesday.
The next murder had been on Thursday. The third—Saturday.
And the fourth and fifth—today. They had all happened down on the docks during the daylight hours.
All five victims had been men, and nothing appeared to have been stolen.
I stopped as Talia received notice that an email from the medical examiner had come through. “Go on. We’ll wait.”
She left for her desk, then returned. “I forwarded the email to all of you.”
Yutani opened it on his tablet, and I leaned over his shoulder to read it.
From: Alec Leache, Medical Examiner
To: The Wild Hunt Agency
CC: Officer Erica Wildicast
Summary of Examination of the Waterfront Victims’ Deaths:
While I personally believe the deceased are victims of homicide, I cannot provide proof to sustain that conclusion.
I have not been able to establish a reason for any of the deaths, nor for the ‘dissolving’ process that all the bodies underwent.
There is nothing in modern medicine, nor in the annuls of the research that I have done, to explain what happened. It’s truly a mystery.
The toxicology screens of the remaining bodily fluids/material show nothing out of the ordinary. The only common denominator I could pinpoint was a massive lack of sodium—hyponatremia.
This would be enough to make the men sick, but not kill them within the timeframe given. Without further evidence, I have chosen to mark these deaths as suspicious, but I cannot label them as homicides.
I stared at the email. “Hyponatremia? A lack of sodium? I didn’t even know that was a thing that could happen.”
“Apparently so. You know that the cops—” Yutani stopped as my phone rang.
I glanced at the caller ID. Erica. “Hello, I thought I’d be hearing from you.”
“Did you get the memo from Alec?”
“Yeah, we’re just looking at it. What does this mean?” I asked. “I’m going to put you on speaker.” I pressed the speaker button. “Go ahead. We’re listening.”
“Given that there is a lack of any direct evidence of homicide, we’ve been notified that we will no longer be investigating these deaths.
Not until something definitive crops up.
Therefore, while the medical examiner will be dispatched to tend to any more bodies, if the cases present like the ones we’ve had, we won’t be involved.
The case is now yours. We’ll be here if you find something. ” Erica sounded almost embarrassed.
“I see. Final word?” Wager asked.
“Unfortunately, yes. You know how to contact me,” she added.
“That we do,” I said. “Thank you for letting us know.”
“I’ve sent over all our data that we have on the cases. Talk to you soon,” Erica said.
I pocketed my phone. “Well, we’re on our own. Somebody better tell Herne—”
“I’ll message him,” Talia said. “But this may actually work to our benefit. We don’t have to watch stepping on the toes of the cops.”
“Talia has a point,” Yutani said. “We can do things our way, and that may expedite matters.”
“What do we tell the families, then? Will the cops notify them?” I asked.
“Yeah, and you’ll probably arrive there afterward. The families will—most likely—pin more hopes on our investigation. That’s a heavy burden,” Wager said. “But it may ensure that they’ll be willing to talk to us, if they think we’re their main hope.”
“Both good and bad. All right, who calls the families to ask about visiting them? I’m not all that good with things like this,” I said.
“I’ll do it,” Herne said as he entered the room. “What’s this about the cops?”
We filled him in on everything that had happened.
“Well, then,” he said. “I suppose I’d better get on this.
I’ll do it tomorrow, since I doubt we’ll get them to talk to us today.
Let’s hope that we don’t have another murder on our hands before we can wrap this up.
” He glanced at the clock. “Go ahead and head out. There’s not much else to do today. ”
“I think I’ll stick around and research any cases that might be like this—the police might not have any records, but that doesn’t mean it hasn’t happened somewhere else,” Yutani said.
“I’ll help,” Wager said. He headed after Yutani.
Kipa wrapped his arm around my waist. “Well, first day on the job and we’re already neck-deep. Come on, let’s go home. We can stop for takeout on the way.”
I nodded. I felt unusually quiet. The reality that a serial killer was loose in the city and the cops couldn’t investigate was sobering. Things had been drastically different in Kalevala. Then again, there were far fewer people there. Maybe that wasn’t a bad thing.
We stopped at our favorite pizza place on the way home, only to find that it had closed and a dry cleaner had taken the spot.
But next door, a China Palace franchise had opened up, so we stopped in there and ended up ordering enough food for six.
We came out carrying bags of egg rolls, pork fried rice, orange chicken, sweet-and-sour chicken, and potstickers.
The car smelled absolutely divine the rest of the way home.
Raj was waiting for us when we unlocked the door and turned off the security alarm.
“Raven and Kipa! Raj has been good. Raj didn’t do anything Raj wasn’t supposed to,” he said, bouncing around.
“What did Raj do all day?” I asked.
“Raj watched so many of his TV friends. And he took a nap in his super-soft bed. And he watched the neighbors poke around the windows—”
“Whoa!” I turned to Kipa. “Listen to this.” I motioned to Raj. “If Raj would repeat what he just said, Raven would appreciate it.”
His leathery gray head bobbing up and down, Raj gave a little wriggle. “Raj watched the neighbors poke around the windows in the side yard.”
“Which neighbors?” Kipa asked.
“The neighbors from across the street. Trefoil and Meadow! Raj will be happy to say hello to them again.” Raj sniffed. “Raj has dinner?”
“Raj can’t have the dinner Raven brought home, but Raj will get tasty food.” Relieved, I headed toward the door. “Mind if I invite them over?” I asked.
“Go for it,” Kipa said. “They can fill us in on all the scuttlebutt we’ve missed.”
Trefoil and Meadow O’Ceallaigh were brother and sister, and they were magic-born.
They worked for LOCK—the Library of Cryptic Knowledge.
A secret organization, LOCK gathered all the arcane knowledge it could find, and it had two branches—research and a paramilitary side.
Trefoil and Meadow were both in the military branch.
They were fun and friendly. While they couldn’t discuss their work with anybody outside of LOCK, they were always up to something interesting.
I darted across the street. My house was in a cul-de-sac, at the end next to an entrance to UnderLake Park.
UnderLake Park was haunted by restless spirits, and it had been the place of my first fiancé’s murder.
While I had healed from losing him, the park—with its shaded paths and restless energy—always made me nervous.
I knocked on the door. Kipa had bought the house, but he rented it out to the brother-sister pair, and they had been good tenants for several years.
Trefoil answered. His spiky platinum hair mirrored a young Billy Idol or Spike, off of Buffy, and both he and his sister were lean, lanky, and strong. He grinned.
“I figured Raj would tell you we were over in your yard. We just wanted to make certain it was you, and not somebody trying to break in.” He called over his shoulder, “Meadow, Raven’s here!” To me, he added, “Come in?”
“Actually, if you aren’t busy, we thought you might like to join us for dinner. We have plenty of food. We thought we could catch up,” I said.
Meadow appeared behind her brother. She had fiery red hair and was about the same build as her brother. “Hey, Raven! Good to see you.”
“I came over to check whether Raj was right in saying he saw you outside in our yard, and second, to invite you to dinner.”
“Yum, I was about to cook, but I’d rather curl up with takeout and friends.” She glanced at Trefoil. “Shall we?”
“We’ll be over in a few minutes.”
I turned and headed back to the house, relieved to know that it had been the brother-sister duo, and grateful that they cared enough to check out what was going on.
When I opened the door, I found Kipa had set out paper plates, napkins, and silverware in the living room.
He had also opened a bottle of plum wine, and he had fed Raj.
Raj looked up from his bowl of plain rice and chicken—he couldn’t have garlic or several other foods, so we had to be cautious about the prepared foods he ate.
But he loved chicken and rice, and we would make up big batches of it and freeze it.
But we hadn’t had time to prepare any since we arrived home.
“How did you—” I started to ask.
“I used instant rice and canned chicken breast. It’s not ideal, but he likes it,” he said. “I added some butter and a little cheese.”
“Trefoil and Meadow will be here in a few minutes,” I said. “They were over here today checking out who was in the house.”
“Carry the glasses for me?” Kipa asked, carrying a tray with the takeout cartons on it.
I picked up the glasses and the plum wine and followed him into the living room.
We had no sooner arranged the cartons of food when the doorbell rang.
I answered it, leading Trefoil and Meadow into the house.
As we settled down in the living room, it occurred to me that they had access to one of the most extensive libraries on arcane knowledge that ever existed.
“You know, before we catch up, it just crossed my mind that maybe you can help us. We’re working with the Wild Hunt again. We’re trying to figure out what kind of creature can kill by dissolving their victims into jellyfish goo, and can drain the salt out of the victim’s system.”
One thing about the Wonder Twins, as I had dubbed them in my mind, was that they had encountered all sorts of freaky shit and nothing I could say could shock them.
Trefoil cocked his head. “Let me take a look.” He pulled out his tablet and began tapping away.
“It sounds like something the Aqcarians might do,” Meadow said. “They’re…odd.”
“Aqcarians? I’ve never heard of them,” I said. I handed out the paper plates, and we dug into the food. My mouth watered. While the food was good and hearty in Kalevala, it didn’t compare in diversity to the food over here.
Kipa blinked. “The name is familiar, but…”
“Here…Even in LOCK, we don’t have a good idea of their culture.
They’re an ancient, reclusive race who are part of the Elemental Fae,” Trefoil said.
“They can dissolve those beings they fear might interfere in their lives. They crave salt—they’re saltwater dwelling beings.
They can live in fresh water, but they require salt if they’re without saltwater too long. ”
I thought about it for a moment. “But what would they be doing in Puget Sound?”
“I don’t know,” Trefoil said. “But I’ll send you the information I have on them.”
I nodded. “That’s far more than we currently have,” I said. “Do you mind if I forward it to the others?” I bit into a potsticker, closing my eyes as the meaty, savory dumpling melted in my mouth.
“No, but don’t tell anybody where you got it, all right?” He closed his tablet. “Usually, people have to fill out request forms for info from LOCK.”
“I’ll copy and paste it so your name isn’t on the email,” I said. “They won’t know who it came from—I promise.”
I was tempted to open the email and read it, but even though I was as curious as a cat, I decided to hold off.
I wanted to see what he had to say, but the stress of the day and the smell of the food made me push aside the desire.
Instead, I turned my attention to our guests and the fact that we were home.
That was the best medicine I could take for the rough day we’d just had.