Poison City

 

Nobody outside of the house noticed anything different, it was as if the three of them were just in the house for a brief moment, possibly analyzing the scene and the evidence.

 

“So, what do you think we should do next?” Kevin looked at both Marcus and Keryn: “Your… secret’s safe with me, but we’ve gotta tell the others something - there's still some damage to the interior. Not that it’s going to cause trouble for the investigation, but if the Captain or anyone else sees it we’d still need an explanation.”

 

Marcus exchanged looks with Keryn, then sighed: “Maybe let’s seal the scene for now and get back to huddle at the precinct? I think we’d definitely need time to discuss … well, everything.”

 

“Indeed.” Keryn nodded: “This brings in a new angle we could look at for the reparations team case - hopefully. It definitely has some kind of connection to that case. Kevin, when will the bodies be sent to the coroner’s office? ”

 

“I’d say soon. Why?”

 

“I need to see the bodies to be sure - to make sense of what I saw.” Keryn sighed then nodded: “I’ll ping Shrevas, let’s go take a look at the bodies first, now.”

 

The bodies were already on their way to the coroner’s office, so they had to head there first if they wanted to take a look at the bodies before they went through the process. The coroner was someone all three of them knew personally, so it should be no problem for them to take a look before the autopsy was conducted.

 

“Just zip the bag back up and put it back into the freezer once you’re done.” The coroner was a kind old man, and he was willing to let them in without asking any questions: “They’re not gonna get processed anytime soon, so be careful and don’t damage anything.”

 

“There’s a lot of bodies?” Kevin asked, frowning.

 

“Well, I can’t tell you the details. ” The coroner shrugged: “But yeah, more than usual. I don’t know what’s going on, but there’s been a lot of murder - well, homicides recently.”

 

“Are the bodies gruesome?” Marcus asked, Kevin seemed like he was about to ask the same question, but he refrained.

 

“Well…” The coroner shook his head and hand, then sighed: “... yeah. But you didn’t learn this from me.”

 

“Thank you sir, really appreciate your flexibility.” Keryn gave Marcus and Kevin a stare: “We’ll be very quick.”

 

The three bodies were just sent in, so they were not frozen yet, and though rigor mortis had set in, the bodies still maintained a level of softness that allowed the three to examine easily without damaging or leaving marks on them. And the moment Keryn opened up the bags of the bodies, she immediately started looking at their torn up abdomens and chest cavities, and even their internal organs.

 

“What are you looking for, Keryn?” Marcus asked.

 

“Well - it’s a bit hard to explain, but - ” Keryn gently peeled open the abdomen of the father, then pointed to his stomach which was ripped apart and barely recognizable: “This, you see this? His stomach.”

 

“Yeah, what about it?” Kevin frowned and looked into the open cavities of the bodies: “Yeah, looks like a part of it was missing.”

 

“Exactly.” Keryn took a deep breath and a small step back: “It’s - not super obvious. And do you know what I saw when I was out in the house? I saw - well, I felt something. I think I was feeling what she was feeling when she killed them. She did not tear them up like this because she was just being brutal, she was looking for something - she ripped them up like this so that she could try to find something from their stomachs and guts - she was looking for - ”

 

“Her eyes.” Kevin and Marcus said at the same time.

 

“Yeah. And in my… my vision, she was trying to find anything that shaped even remotely like a ball and shoved them into her eye sockets… ” Keryn shivered as she recalled: “That - yeah, I’ll never want to experience that again. Can you imagine shoving a pile of rounded meat into your empty eye sockets? Yeesh.”

 

“So, do we know why she killed them? ” Marcus shook his head: “Or, if she killed them?”

 

“She killed them.” Kevin and Keryn answered at the same time.

 

“Okay, how’d you know?” Marcus raised his eyebrows.

 

“Well - ” Kevin and Keryn both tried to speak, then they exchanged looks, and Kevin gestured to Keryn to go first: “When I was in my vision, I was in her position, and I could still hear - or sense maybe, the environment around me. It was that very house, and the bodies were dragged there before she ripped out their guts trying to find her eyes. ”

 

“Hmm, yeah, for me it’s different.” Kevin scratched his jaw: “In my vision, I could actually see, and I saw the family sitting with me. It’s a bit fuzzy, and I couldn’t hear anything, but I did recognize them. It must have been some time back, because the parents looked younger, and the son was still a kid - maybe three or four, but would never be more than 10.”

 

“So, she had some kind of serious grudge against this family. If she knew the son when he was young, and still killed him. That would - ” Kevin shrugged.

 

“You both seem awfully calm for someone who just saw ghosts.” Keryn raised her eyebrow at both Marcus and Kevin.

 

“Yeah, and you too.” Marcus shrugged: “And, uh, it’s actually not the first time I saw ghosts. Plus, I HAVE dealt with them before.”

 

“That’s right, you already know how to fight them.” Keryn snapped her fingers and nodded at Marcus: “And - well, what’s the occasion?”

 

“Wait wait wait, did the same thing happen when you found those hidden bodies?” Kevin turned to Marucs and almost jumped up: “I knew you saw something different! You were not willing to tell me because Dr. Flemmings was there right? You were gonna tell me?”

 

“I was.” Marcus shrugged: “And yeah, I didn’t want to loop Dr. Flemmings in, at least not right now.”

 

“Damn, that’s why you were hesitant about asking her to be there, huh? Well, next time, maybe hint harder, okay?”

 

“I - I actually don’t know how to hint that.”

 

“Okay, okay, boys, focus.” Keryn waved her hands: “We can recap this when we’re back to the precinct. But here’s one thing I want to ask - Marcus, what’d you see in your vision? You were out longer than both of us.”

 

“I - well…” Marcus thought for a moment, then sighed: “The thing is - I don’t really know what I saw. It’s not related to her, but seemed to be a twisted memory from my own past. I’d rather not talk in details - ”

 

“Dude, what - ” Keryn frowned, but then she sighed and shook her head: “Sorry, I’m still processing it. But I guess from what I heard from the folklore and ghost stories, they COULD try to exploit your painful memories …”

 

“Yeah, something like that.” Marcus nodded: “But here’s the gist of it: I was reliving my memory, and it was impersonating my father trying to lure me into something, or to somewhere.”

 

“Okay, but what was she trying to do there?” Keryn drowned in her own thoughts for a brief moment: “She was killed… right?”

 

“I’m not so sure.” “Probably not.” Marcus and Kevin shook their heads at the same time.

 

“It’s the water.” Kevin reached into his pocket and pulled out a small plastic bag, holding a small piece of aqua weed inside: “The thing that attacked me in the tub, it was in the water as well. And I found this remaining on my clothes. This is the same aqua weed from Lake Aqiu found on the bodies of the reparations team.”

 

“Fucking hell.” Keryn slapped her left palm on her forehead.

 

“And there’s something I heard.” Marcus sighed: “I - I vaguely heard some kind of argument - one of them was definitely the woman… But I am not so sure about the other voices…”

 

“You folks done yet? ” The coroner called out to them from the other room.