Poison City

 

“Detective, there’s something I might need some clarifications on.” After leaving the residence of Emma Evans, Mick asked after a short moment of silence and hesitation: “What did you ask her about this - this Blood Rainbow? Why not ask her about her husband and the team?”

 

“Well, for one, she already told us everything she was willing to about her husband and her potential enemies.” Marcus sighed and looked up at the gradually gloomy sky: “And I was just trying a different angle.”

 

“But, that’s not all you’re asking about, was it?” Mick looked at Marcus with a frown: “Detective, you were concerned about something else and you thought you could get some related information out of her, weren’t you?”

 

“Yes.”

 

“Can you tell me? Tell me what it is you’re looking for?”

 

“No.” Marcus shook his head, then he added: “At least not right now. ”

 

“I want to help. That’s why I came here.”

 

“Yeah, but there are things you need to know and understand beforehand.” Marcus scratched his eyebrows and sighed: “And I mean this with no disrespect. This is the South-Eastern District, things are quite different than they are in yours. You cannot just tell people that you are the police and ask them to cooperate. We’re lucky she’s even willing to speak with us.”

 

“But we came with good will - ”

 

“Good will might just be the easiest thing you can offer to try to convince another in this district.” Marcus waved his hand and interrupted Mick: “It’s not just that people here hate us because we’re police, they hate us because our badges represent the city.”

 

“And they hate us more than the corrupt community collective?”

 

“Yes, exactly.” Marcus shrugged: “And if you want to actually find out any beyond surface level information, you’ll either need to trade, like what I just did; or you’ll have to learn how to walk the thin line between situations. It’s never easy.”

 

“... thank you, detective.” Mick sighed after a short moment: “What should we do next?”

 

“It’s getting late, we can go back to the precinct but by the time we get back it will be over work hours. You can go home if you want and we can regroup later.” Marcus sighed and took a look at the crowded streets: “I’m going back to the precinct, I want to confirm something.”

 

“Then I am coming with you.” Mick nodded: “I know I have a lot to learn, Detective Cai, and I agree with you - if I want to help I need to first understand how things work. So if you want to check on anything, even if it’s just a hunch, please involve me.”

 

Marcus stared into Mick’s eyes for a brief moment, his genuinity did not seem fake at all, so he sighed and said: “Okay, let’s catch a bus and see if we can get back sooner.”

 

“Bus? Wouldn’t a taxi be quicker?” Mick smiled and asked with relief.

 

“You see, when you’re dealing with this kind of traffic in the South-Eastern District, certain buses might just be slightly faster than taxis.” 

 

And soon the reason was revealed to Mick that the reason buses were the better option was because there were certain paths and roads reserved for buses in the district - though one could still see the occasional asshole drivers that drove into them, the buses were still able to travel through the often jammed traffic somewhat faster than a normal vehicle.

 

Still, the bus ride took more than one hour, not to mention both Marcus and Mick had to endure the bad circulation, the sweaty co-passengers and standing side by side by them for extended periods of time. And by the time they got back to the precinct, it was just a few minutes after the end of their shift, and some day shift officers were already on their way out.

 

“Detective Cai.” Just when Marcus got to his desk, a young and newly enrolled officer came to his desk: “Two men from the community collective came to see you -”

 

“Where are they?” Marcus was just about to sit down, but immediately stood up straight when he heard the officer mention “community collective”: “Did they say what for? How long were they here?”

 

“No, but they did say it’s something important.” The officer shook his head: “They just got here about five, six minutes ago.”

 

“Shit, can’t they just call beforehand?” Marcus shook his head, beyond annoyed.

 

“They said they would wait, and told us not to call you.” The officer answered, looking confused and uncertain as to what to do: “And we tried to ask Captain Ko and the other detective - but Captain’s in a meeting, and we couldn’t get a hold of any of the detectives, so we’re not sure what to do…”

 

“.. it’s fine. Okay.” Marcus sighed, he was frustrated that none of the officers would have thought to call him directly, but situations like this were always tricky, so he had to stomach the frustration for now and just deal with it.

 

“Do you want me to come? Detective?” Mick asked.

 

“No - you stay here and deal with the paperwork. I was off from field work for a while so there are a lot of them plus case files for me to do. Just help me organize them.” Marcus thought for a brief moment then said: “Try to find cases in the past few decades that mentioned the ‘Blood Rainbow’. Any witness testimony or interview records, anything related, try and find them to see if there’s any pattern. And, uh - put in a query for the city’s case archive if you can, and let me know what you find. If you are unsure where to start, ask Kevin Loo, our forensic technician.”

 

“... okay, got it.”

 

“Gentlemen.” Marcus followed the young officer into one of the meeting rooms of the precinct, “Hope I haven’t kept you long, what do you need?”

 

“Detective Cai. Now we finally meet.” The investigator who extended his hand first was one that looked slightly older and shorter. The other, younger investigator stood straight and up tight behind him, staring Marcus in the eyes as if he was trying to read something out of him: “My name is Pai Nguyen, and this is my partner Tak Le. We’re investigators from the community collective.”

 

“Thank you, what brought you here?” Marcus shook hands with the older investigator: “If you called earlier, I’d have my reports and documents for you - ”

 

“That won’t be necessary.” Pai Nguyen shook his head: “We’re just here to ask you some very simple questions. So no formalities needed.”

 

“Okay.” Marcus let out a short and barely noticeable sigh. It was always the “simple questions” that turned out to be the hardest to properly answer. He was sure that these investigators would be here eventually, because per the agreement between the city and the South-Eastern District community collective, they were entitled to all information and even secret intelligence regarding any investigation conducted on cases that happened in the district, even cases that were under the city’s jurisdiction. “What do you wanna know?”

 

“First, we would like to know about one Ling Mei.” The older agent took out a picture of a woman and showed it to Marcus: “Can you tell me a little about her?”

 

“I - I actually don’t know.” Marcus recognized this woman right away - she was the one who begged him for help while he was in the district about her missing son, and who later seemed to have killed herself. “I tried to help her - but I was not able to the first time we met because I assumed Bulu Wang would have people handle it. ”

 

“It’s no one’s fault.” Pai Nguyen nodded: “We did try to help her. We are still trying to find her son. Did she say anything to you?”

 

“No, not really.” Marcus shook his head: “Actually, I’ve been meaning to ask you this as well. What happened?”

 

“We don’t know.” Pai Nguyen sighed: “All signs point to the theory that it was just suicide.”