Poison City

 

Before he went home, there were two things Marcus needed to do. One was to go to Captain Ko and report everything he could and ask for instructions on further actions. Right now aside from the case of Lydia Mu and Carl Benson, there was this new case with the family that just got murdered. The other was to address his wounds and cover up as much as possible so as not to worry his father.

 

He gave Captain Ko all the details he could spare, including the girls that worked for Emerald Starlight, the involvement of Brooklyn Payne, and some discoveries with the new case that just occured, aside from only the paranormal information. As for the missing bullets from his and Keryn’s guns, he decided that he would need to cook up a more reliable story, and thus he’d only answer if Captain Ko asked about it for now.

 

“Okay.” Captain Ko nodded after hearing the verbal report from Marcus: “I understand now. Looks like it’s gonna be busy for you. With Pahaik and Lance working on the reparations team case. The only detectives we have are you and Brian Sai, he’s working on some other cases as well. Now, how about you bring him along with the Carl Benson case? He’s still new to being a detective, so he could learn from you up close. And you can offload some mentoring to him. ”

 

“I - I don’t - ” Marcus was surprised, he was not expecting the captain to propose this.

 

“Then it is settled. ” Captain Ko cut him off before he could refuse: “I’ll talk to Sai and ask him to put his other cases on hold for now and start working with you to dig into the Carl Benson case and the murder of that family.”

 

“Do you really think that’s a good idea captain? He must have some other cases to deal with…” 

 

“Yeah, but none of them is as high profile and high priority as the ones we have right now.”

 

“But, I thought we’re just doing some basic stuff until we hand the Carl Benson case to the city’s investigators? What changed?” Marcus frowned: “I mean, we are already strapped for time and resources. I don’t think we have the time to deal with it. Especially given how weird the body is. I’m thinking if it weren’t for the parents, it’d be a Blue Envelope case for sure.”

 

“And you should already know that’s not possible. Not with their parents raising hell with the city like this.” Captain Ko sighed: “But the city may - well, may not be as eager to take on or resolve the case as you’d hope. And they may not be here as soon as you think.”

 

“What? Why?” Marcus narrowed his eyes.

 

“Well, I’m not sure either. I may be the captain, but you’d be surprised how little influence or power I have over the affairs at the city level. Nor do I have much access to the inner workings of the power circles.” Captain Ko shrugged, but facial expression indicated to Marcus that he knew much more than he let on: “We can only deal with the situation as it develops. For now, treat the Benson kid case as a high profile case until otherwise noted. You’re capable of handling two high profile cases at once, aren’t you?”

 

“Well - I suppose -”

 

“Then perfect. Handle them.” Captain Ko nodded with a smile: “Hey, no pressure. But you know, the time of city wide budget meetings is coming close. If our precinct pulled off some higher profile cases, we might get better cuts, huh? And maybe some of the detectives can finally make sergeant. You’ll be doing the same work, but with maybe more cups of premium coffee per day and better takeout food.”

 

“Understood, captain.” Marcus sighed internally: “Thank you.”

 

“Now, one other thing.” When Marcus got up and started walking out, Captain Ko spoke, seemingly all of a sudden: “Say hello to your father for me. I heard he’s got much better? Glad he’s doing okay. I’m glad you’re doing okay.”

 

“Thank you, captain.”

 

“Oh, and one last thing.” Captain Ko snapped his fingers: “We recently got a new shipment of bullets and gear. We’re supposed to get those last quarter but it’s finally here now. I’d put Sabrina in charge but she’s out of office now. Would you mind helping with the counting and organizing? ”

 

“Oh? Oh! Sure, captain, I’d be happy to.”

 

“And, uh, make sure to count extra hard. The shipments from the city almost always have inconsistencies in their number. So be sure to take your time.”

 

“Understood.”

 

After pulling an all-nighter and having two consecutive fights against paranormal beings, Marcus had to go back home early and take a break, his master of Qi and all. After leaving Mick some quick instructions regarding the newly assigned cases, follow up investigation and working with Detective Brian Sai, the youngest detective of the precinct, he jumped on a bus home. While on the ride, he sent a message to Wuzui and told him he would need to come over tonight and ask Master Liaoran for guidance and help.

 

“Oh, son, you’re home early.” When Marcus opened the door, he heard sizzling sounds coming from the kitchen and the smell of beef and egg soup. “Just a few more moments, I’ll still need a little time to finish everything up. I’ve got stir fried beef and green peppers, egg and green onion soup, and sour cabbages. I don’t know if you still like them, but - if you don’t I can cook something else.”

 

“Those sound good, Dad.” Marcus put his jacket down: “Thanks.”

 

“You go sit down and rest. Maybe take a shower, okay? I’ll be done in a minute!”

 

“Sure.” Marcus nodded and headed to the bathroom - the room was much cleaner than last time he was in there, and he found new toothbrushes, new shampoo and new soaps on the shelves.

 

Marcus almost groaned in pain when the cold water hit his body. Though he felt fine earlier, his body still endured some injuries from the fights - gashes, bruises, even some severely sore muscles that felt torn when he moved them. 

 

The pain aside, he could feel his Qi mending the wounds. As his mastery of his Qi progressed, the self-healing capability of his body became stronger as well, yet with his current situation, it was nowhere fast enough.

 

“Hey Dad, can we talk? Can I ask you a question?” After shower, Marcus threw on an old but loose and durable shirt he got a long time ago while he was practicing Kung Fu at the South-Eastern District, woven with some kind of hardened fabric that had some anti-stab and anti-slash properties.

 

“Yeah, sure, let’s talk while we eat, shall we?” Marcus’ father said to him while laying down the final dish, the soup: “Here, everything’s ready. Come! Sit!”

 

“Thank you Dad, everything smells wonderful.” Marcus sat down while wiping his hair: “You look happy, how are you feeling?”

 

“Well, better than ever.” Marcus’ father went to the kitchen to retrieve the utensils: “I even went out earlier today and filled out some job applications. Not many places are hiring for an old pencil pusher, you know. But I’m optimistic about it. After all, people are still hiring out there. What do you wanna know?”

 

“That’s wonderful, Dad.” Marcus nodded with a smile: “And my question - here it goes: how often do you see Mom in your sleep?”

 

“Well, almost everyday.” Marcus’ father shrugged: “Sometimes I just get a sentence from her and I don’t get to see her. Sometimes we go back to some of our past memories.”

 

“What do you talk about? ” Marcus asked, with the most caution he could exercise: “Like - what kind of topics?”

 

“Oh, nothing much. She asks me about my life, your life, how you are doing. So I just told her as much as I could. But I don’t have much to say anymore. So it’d be good if you could tell me a little more about your work…”

 

“Sure, I’ll be happy to. But maybe tomorrow or later.” Marcus shook his head with a wry smile: “And, does she ever talk about wanting to see me personally? Like, why doesn’t she want to come see me directly?”

 

“Oh?” Marcus’ father's hand holding the chopsticks froze in the air: “Why’d you ask this? ”

 

“Oh, nothing, I am just very curious, if she’s with you, why wouldn’t she want to speak with me.” Marcus sighed and asked.

 

“Well - ” Marcus’ father adjusted his posture: “I didn’t think you’d ask me this, but she actually asked me to tell you this if you ask - she wanted to see you. But she just - couldn’t.”

 

“Why?” 

 

“She said your body and your mind is clouded by some kind of - some kind of protection.” Marcus’ father tried to choose his words carefully: “So - I don’t know … But son, you do realize this might just be me and my mind, after all these years?”

 

Marcus hesitated for a moment: “Sure, dad. But - I was just thinking…”

 

“I know, son. I miss her too.” Marcus’ father patted him on the shoulder.

 

The father and son had a full and relatively pleasant dinner, without actually talking too much about what was bothering them. Marcus told Elvin a little more about his work, the day he had, of course leaving out the details about the paranormal out for now.

 

“I remember hearing about this Benson family. ” Elvin, Marcus’ father shook his head and picked up a bigger piece of beef and put it into Marcus’ bowl: “They were not as big a deal before - well before everything. But looks like they’ve become some kind of annoying big shot bullies now.”

 

“Yeah, good for them. But not for anyone else.” Marcus chuckled.

 

“They must know something then?” Elvin asked while chewing some vegetables: “I don’t know what else they did. But if it was me I’d be raising hell as well. Sending a PI to spy on the girl’s colleagues is just - well, how do I say, just weird and a little lackluster.”

 

“Interesting.” Marcus started rethinking on the previous assumptions he made before. 

 

“Hey. Don’t listen to me. My brain is still trying to get better.” Elvin chuckled: “You want some soup?”

 

“Of course, thanks.”

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