Poison City

 

“How was the noodle?” Marcus asked Mick when they stepped out of the noodle shop.

 

“Good - I think I’ll come back next time.” Mick nodded, then chuckled: “To be honest, I didn’t think my first day with an S.O. would start with an information exchange over noodle soup.”

 

“Do come back on your own, when you’re not in a rush.” Marcus shook his head: “Let’s go.”

 

“Where are we going next? And - what kind of information were you asking that caused the owner to respond like that?”

 

“I just asked for information about the ongoing kidnapping cases going on here.” Marcus sighed: “And I asked if the owner knew who was responsible for it, either a code name, a street name or the name of a gang. ”

 

“And why would they be hesitant to give you that information?” Mick scratched the side of his face: “Sounds like something they would be happy to let you and the police know - because cases like this are technically under the jurisdiction of the city, right?”

 

“Yeah, if you go by theory. ” Marcus nodded as he led the way to another direction: “But on the other hand, do you know how many of the children snatched were actually found in the past few years? And how many of the kidnappers were actually found in one piece? It’s the most hated crime in the South-Eastern District for a reason.”

 

“Hated enough for the local community collective to wage war and basically incited mass lynching and murder?” Mick sighed.

 

“Don’t believe everything you read about what happened.” Marcus shrugged: “That’s all I can say. If you read or heard about it when you are in other districts, you would learn very different descriptions about it. It was a chaotic time, a time of grief, sorrow and incredible rage from the local communities. It would be quite dismissive just to categorize the event of as purely out of barbaric savagery.”

 

“But it’s still - still vigilante justice on a massive and - kinda fucked up scale, no?”

 

“Yes. And I am in no way defending it.” Marcus walked past a few street merchants who tried to sell him food and cheap knockoff clothes: “But, imagine losing your kid and finding him begging on the street with his arms and legs broken beyond repair, all because they didn’t make the cut for adoption by the potential buying families.”

 

Mick did not respond, and was silent til they made it to a plain house.

 

“This is where one of the unfortunate members of the emergency reparations team lived.” Marcus explained to Mick: “Doug Evans, for many years remained a loyal employee to S&S Corp, no known enemies, liked keeping a low profile. No known unsavory hobbies and connections aside from light alcoholism.”

 

“So we’re interviewing his widow - Emma Evans?” Mick recalled from the case files he read.

 

“Correct.” Marcus nodded: “Just a follow up interview to try to see if we can find something new. She didn’t give us much on our previous visits. So, let’s see …” He then knocked on the door.

 

“Oh - detective - officer.” Emma Evans looked like she just had a big cry - her eyes were swollen and red, there were tear marks on her face, and she was sniffling. Behind her, Marcus saw half-packed luggages lying on the ground of the living room.

 

“Going somewhere?” Marcus asked with a soft voice.

 

“I - I need to leave.” Emma Evans wiped her nose with her forearm, and new tears poured down her face: “I have to leave, I can’t - even if I have to pay the damn tax, I have to leave - I can’t stay here - ”

 

“I’m sorry.” Marcus walked into the living room following Emma Evans: “This is Officer Cramer, he’s helping us with the case. And I hope - we hope, that you can share with us what’s on your mind about it - everything that could help us find the perp and find justice. Don’t hesitate or doubt whether we’ll believe you, try us first.”

 

Mick took a quick peek at Marcus, and upon seeing that Marcus was being genuine, he turned back to Emma Evans herself. It was not that unusual for the spouse or close family of murder victims to want to move to a new place, but he could count on one hand the ones who want to move almost right after the murder.

 

“Uh - um - okay. What - what do you wanna know?” Emma Evans wiped her tears with a piece of tissue paper, then asked: “I don’t remember what I told you - sorry - ”

 

“Nonono, no need to apologize.” Marcus shook his head: “We totally understand - and believe me, we are trying really hard to find out who did it - ”

 

“We feel for your pain, we know how hard it is to lose a loved one like that.” Mick spoke, with an equally soft, but more empathetic voice: “So - whatever you can tell us, will definitely be of great help - ”

 

“Okay - if you insist - ” Emma Evans rubbed her face and sniffled, then she let out a long sigh: “Do you - do you know anything about the Blood Rainbows?”

 

Marcus could not help but squirm a little, but he quickly collected himself and asked: “I don’t think we’re familiar with it. Can you tell us a little bit more?”

 

“Well - ” Emma Evans sighed, then hesitated, seemingly struggling trying to find the right description: “It’s um, a rainbow, but smaller, and looks creepier and has only one color: red. I’ve only seen it twice - once from afar, and once slightly closer. But every time I saw it, something happened right after. The first time I saw it, I was still a child. And the second time was about a few weeks ago. And recently, I’ve started to hear more and more about it - how it just appeared in different places of the city, even the places outside of the city, I - ”

 

“When you said you were a child when you first saw it - ” Marcus interrupted Emma Evans: “How many years ago was that?”

 

“Oh - I don’t - I can’t really remember now. At least twenty years - uh - ”

 

“Twenty? That long ago?” Mick asked, then he took a look at Marcus: “I - I think I’ve heard about Blood Rainbows before, but I can’t put my finger on it - do you know detective?”

 

“How about thirty? Thirty years ago?” Marcus sighed and asked.

 

“Hmm - let me see - ” Emma Evans counted with her fingers for a moment, then she nodded: “Yeah, yeah, you're right. It’s almost 30 years - and - ”

 

“What happened the two times you saw it? If you could tell us, that’d be great.” Marcus took out his notepad.

 

“Hrm - let me - let me think about it.” Emma Evans sniffled and wiped her nose once again: “There was - there was this girl missing, and uh - her whole family found dead in their house, even his little brother. And there was this young boy - he snuck out of his house and they found his hand just outside of a public park. And, and - there was this group of girls that went missing - I remember maybe only a few years back the community patrol found their remains buried under a tree somewhere. ”

 

“My god.” Mick muttered.

 

“Can you tell us a little more about what happened last time? The one you saw recently.” Marcus wrote down some rough notes on his pad.

 

“Um - well - ” Emma Evans scratched her head: “I - I don’t know exactly, but - I heard there are children and even young people in their early twenties being taken away and even brutally murdered - ”

 

“Murdered?” Marcus and Mick asked at the same time.

 

“Yeah - yeah - ” Emma Evans seemed to have become tired just by recalling these pieces of information. But then her body jolted, as it seemed she was just reminded of something, and she stood up: “Oh, I’m so sorry officers - I think I might have spoken too much - I - can you leave? I still - still have a lot of things to pack.”

 

“Mrs. Evans, if I may - ” Marcus still tried to push some more.

 

“GET OUT!” Emma Evans raised her voice: “GO!”