Chapter 93 - Danger Lurking

In the office area of the station there were many secluded rooms that served as places for private meeting spaces. Finn led the way to one of them and closed the door behind them.

Officer Minnie Kim had a slightly bewildered look on her face as she clearly hadn’t expected Finn to pull her aside. The bright daylight streaming in from the window lit her up as she stood near the door. Finn stood with his back to the window, looking at her closely. She was slightly shorter than him, with a slim face and clear skin. She had a brightness to her eyes and a friendly personality that made her popular among her peers.

She had been in the force for several years already and often handled the more difficult cases. Finn had reviewed a number of her reports during his six months in the DVMP and had already come to several conclusions about her. First, she was not very meticulous, but she had good intuition, which lead her to having good results in her cases. Second, she had good principles and followed the rules. Even though she followed protocols for the most part, she despised paperwork. Therefore she often leaned on Finn for his assistance in completing her reports.

Third, she often glossed over the details in the investigative portion of the cases, resulting in logical leaps that were inexplainable and many ‘coincidental’ findings that ended up being the key evidence in completing a case. Due to this, Finn had a heavy suspicion that she was an Exalted.

She was several years older than him, and also held seniority in the police force. Yet she never treated him as her junior. At times it even seemed like the roles were reversed.

“Explain yourself.” Finn said.

“You know about Chief Yun’s death.” Minnie said slowly, “So, I thought you must be involved in the investigation.”

“And how did you know that?” Finn replied, “I didn’t say anything about his death.”

“Oh- that’s right. Well... Does it matter how I know? The end result is the same.”

Finn frowned, “Aren’t you an investigator? Of course the details matter.”

Minnie shrugged with a familiar smile on her face. The kind that she always used when trying to get out of explaining something. She shrugged, “Yesterday the Chief called me into the office and told me that they were forming a special investigative team. Each department was asked to appoint one person to join the team.”

“We started our investigation and I visited the morgue. I saw your name on the ledger of individuals who had accessed the Chief’s body.”

The logic was simple. Only authorized individuals who knew about the death had access to the ledger and the body. When Finn had signed his name on the ledger there had been a very short list. The only people who had viewed the body prior to him were Chief Bear, Chief Fang, the morticians and two officers from Special Ops. To think that his involvement in the investigation was revealed due to such a detail.

“Since your name was there... I thought we were perhaps investigating different aspects of the case.” Minnie said.

“I can’t confirm or deny what you said.” Finn said bluntly.

“Jeeeez” Minnie sighed with a smile, “It’s already too obvious you’re involved, there’s no point in hiding it. Don’t you think it would benefit us to work together?”

“What aspect are you investigating?” Finn asked.

“We’re starting with identifying the group that was responsible for the deaths of Chief Yun and his team.” Minnie said. “If we can find a lead we can chase down the individuals responsible.”

“Have you investigated the cabin yet?”

“We’re just about to head there. I was getting ready to leave when I saw you walk by.” Minnie replied.

Finn knew from the report that the cabin was locked down by the Three-P and open to investigation. It was on his list of places to visit, but he was just a single person with not enough time to spare.

But I already know who it is... Finn thought to himself. The Marked Devout cult was the primary suspect, with the monks at Cloud Peak working alongside them. Although Finn had a direct connection to the monks through Edwin, he was unable to act on that lead until Edwin’s master made contact.

He had been wracking his brain for ideas on how to further investigate the monastery. If he could storm the front of the monastery and arrest all the monks, he was sure he would find incriminating evidence within the monastery walls. However, that was not a possibility with only a single wristband as evidence.

In addition there was only so much he could do alone. Cooperating with the other team would be highly beneficial to him.

“I’m not opposed to working together.” Finn said after some thought. “If we share our findings we can solve the case much faster.”

“That sounds great-” Minnie smiled, though she was quickly interrupted by Finn.

“But-“ Finn said sharply, “That doesn’t mean I’m working with you or your team officially. My involvement in this case is confidential.”

Minnie frowned and then nodded. “I’ll keep it quiet... But if I’m asked directly I’m not going to hide the truth.”

“Fair enough.” Finn said, “Let’s meet tonight after you return from the cabin.”

~

Minnie left first, rushing out the door to join her teammates. Finn lagged behind for a few minutes as he pondered the situation.

When he left the room he spotted a familiar lanky officer standing casually against a pillar across the hall. Zwei Xing. He hadn’t seen his ‘partner’ since they split up the day before. Their eyes met, and a subtle head tilt indicated for Finn to follow him.

Finn casually walked towards Zwei, who turned his back and began heading down the hallway. The other officer clearly made an effort to avoid looking like he was interacting with Finn. Finn reciprocated by acting like he was heading somewhere on his own accord.

They headed towards the main atrium, turning at the staircases and heading down into the basement. At the second basement floor Zwei headed into record keeping, letting the door casually shut behind him. Finn took his time to make sure no one was around before entering the room.

Record Keeping took up most of this level of the basement, spanning a dozen large chamber-like rooms with rows upon rows of shelves. There were work stations for officers to process and fill out reports and several dedicated staff that assisted with filing and looking up records. This was a familiar location to Finn, he had spent the majority of his first six months in this dusty basement.

Finn didn’t see Zwei when he walked in, so he passed through the rows of shelves with a leisurely but purposeful pace.

In addition to case files, there were numerous volumes on a wide variety of subjects such as law, history, known cults and unclassified records of police activities and personnel. The first area had general information was open to all officers and was largely unmonitored. The second area was restricted to mid-level officers and contained case specific files. There were more restricted areas that required special authorization to access that he’d never been in.

Finn briefly wondered if his new position granted him access to the restricted areas. His question was answered as he walked into view of the doors leading to the second area. The doors were closing, with Zwei’s retreating figure heading further inside.

Finn followed suit, presenting his ID to the clerk watching the door and passing through without any questions asked.

The second area was similar to the first. The only difference was there were fewer open work spaces and more private rooms. In the back Finn found Zwei in one of those rooms sitting at a table with the report in his hands. The door closed and a muffled silence filled the room. The walls and doors of this room were thick and blocked sound from entering and leaving, making these rooms ideal for confidential conversations.

Finn took a seat opposite Zwei, noting the bare furnishings of the room and the simple gas lit lantern. He recognized the report in Zwei’s hands as the one provided by Locke in the abandoned house.

“I thought you were supposed to burn the report.” Finn said casually.

Zwei looked at Finn with a complicated expression, as if assessing Finn’s words and reaction for something unusual.

“The report isn’t real.” Zwei said plainly after a pause.

“Right, it’s a copy.” Finn said, “We went over this.”

“No.” Zwei shook his head, “I meant that, it only exists for you and me. No one else can see it. I’ve tested this on several people.”

“That doesn’t make sense.” Finn said, reaching over and picking up the papers from Zwei, “It’s just some paper.”

He scanned through the pages, finding nothing unusual about the paper. Zwei’s serious expression lead him to believe that Zwei wasn’t lying or exaggerating the story.

“Are you familiar with the term, ‘Exalted’?” Finn asked.

Zwei nodded, much to Finn’s surprise. Finn kept his expression neutral as he continued, “Perhaps this report has been prepared from some Exalted power.”

“I believe so.” Zwei said, “I’ve been in the confidential section of Record Keeping for the past day, looking through the files.”

“Files on what?”

“Anything that looked relevant. I found something interesting related to a case from six years ago.” Zwei shrugged. There was a slight pause as he asked quietly, “Have you been seeing strange visions? Hearing things?”

Finn’s eyes narrowed as he met Zwei’s gaze. The usual lazy, aloof look in Zwei’s eyes had disappeared as he said with utmost sincerity,

“You and I are both in extreme danger.”