Duplicity

By Divamercury

I really hope people like this story as much as the others in my series. This comes about 6 weeks or so after Danger Zone ends. Please, please review!

Chapter 1

I pulled up to the precinct on my Buell, savoring the feeling of normalcy. After being terrorized by a group of hired killers and getting knocked into a coma that I was stuck in for three weeks, my first normal day at the department became a huge relief. Unfortunately it would prove to be anything but normal and would only get stranger.

In the hallway on my way to my office I ran into a uniform I knew named Jones. He grinned when he spotted me.

"Hey, Pez! How you doing? It's good to see you upright again," Jones said.

"Good to be upright again. Has the mail run yet?"

"Yep. I think you got a package. And the new Captain wants to see you. I think he tried to call you but he didn't get an answer."

"Thanks, man. My cell's on the blink, so that's probably why he couldn't get me."

I continued into the department and reached my office. Jake's name had been taken off the door and had been replaced by a sign with my new partner's name, I noticed as I opened it. No wonder: Jake was off being knighted or somethingactually he was being subjected to whatever the FBI equivalent was for that procedure, because of the demolition of the Bulls. I almost envied himalmost. I'd had enough attention to last me the rest of my life and I wasn't itching for more.

I dropped my gear in a chair in the corner of my office and then glanced at my desk. The package Jones had referred to was there waiting for me to open it. Before I could sit down and do so, however, my new rookie partner Marcus Connor arrived.

"You're late, Connor," I said.

"Sorry, Pez. Traffic tie-up."

"I didn't have any problems."

"You ride a motorcycle. Most of the rest of us poor, unfortunate humans are stuck with four-wheeled vehicles."

"Thanks for the lesson," I said. "I heard Laredo wants to see us. Now that we're both in the buildinglet's go."

Captain Chris Laredo was sitting at his desk and looked up when we came in.

"Ah, Pezzini, Connor. Nice of you to finally show up."

"Sorry, sir. We seem to have had some problems with traffic," I said. Connor sent me a grateful look.

"Well, at any rate, now that you're here, I just got a call from Alcott. They found a body in a Dumpster in an alley on Cumberland St. downtown. We've been trying to get hold of you for quite some time."

"We're on it, sir."

"Dismissed."

Connor and I left Laredo's office and headed back to our own. I got my gear and we headed out, piling into Marc's car.

"So, why didn't you know about this?"

"My cell's on the blink. I'm going to have to go without it today. Otherwise we wouldn't have had this problem."

"What are we expecting?" Marc asked as he pulled out of the parking lot.

"A dead person in a Dumpster, from what I can guess." Rookies.

"That's it? That's all we have to go on?"

"That's all for now."

"You don't seem worried."

"Sure I don't. Looks can be deceiving, Connor. I'm actually pretty apprehensive."

"Could have fooled me. How do you do that?"

"Practice. One of these days you'll have it down. Do you play poker?"

"Yeah. Why?"

"Think of it like using your poker face. That's pretty much it. We're here," I said. "That's Cumberland St."

Connor pulled over and parked. I made my way over to Alcott, another uniform buddy of mine who worked the forensic circuit and was the one who placed the call.

"What's going on here? Heard you found a body."

"Yeah. Just want to warn you: it's not pretty, Pez."

"It's never pretty, Al. I'd die of shock if there actually was one that looked nice."

"So Laredo didn't tell you the condition of the body?"

"No" I trailed off. Al fidgeted and tried not to look at me. "Okay, spill, Al. I know it's bad just from watching you."

"There's no head."

"What?"

"The body has no head."

"As in decapitated, that kind of there's no head'?"

"Yeah."

"Spectacular. Male or female?"

"It's a woman, but it'll take us a lot more time to identify her without her head. We won't be able to use dental records"

"Great."

Connor and I looked at the body and the poor guy turned bright green. The head had been severed from the body in a jagged fashion, not in one quick, clean slice. We wandered around the crime scene to look for clues and to let Connor settle his stomach but came up with nothing. By the time we got back to the precinct I was in a terrible mood. We went back into our office and I remembered the package that was on my desk that I hadn't opened. I sat down and looked at the box. It looked like any ordinary package, wrapped in brown paper and clearly addressed to me, with a card taped to the side. Finding that odd, I pulled it off the plain white envelope.

"What's that, Pez?" Connor asked.

"A package I got this morning. Never got a chance to open it." I ripped open the white envelope and pulled out a regular sheet of computer paper. I unfolded it and read the typed message:

Just thought I'd be fair and give you a head's up, Detective. Have fun.

The message wasn't signed. I handed it to Connor who read it and raised an eyebrow. "What the hell?" he asked.

"We'll see."

After being silent all morning, the Witchblade heated up under my long-sleeved shirt as my hand got nearer to the box, warning me about something. No visions accompanied it, but a feeling of dread washed over me as I slit the box with a letter opener. A familiar stench assailed my nostrils as I opened the flaps and peered inside. Peeling back some tissue paper made the stench stronger and I looked at the contents.

The Witchblade then chose that opportunity to show me what had happened, a close-up of a human hand (probably a man's from the size) cutting through flesh with a sharp object, a knife or a razorblade of some kind. The amount of blood was unbelievable, and I snapped out of the vision and found myself face to face witha face.

There was a head staring up at me from inside the box.

"HOLY SHIT!" I screamed, pushing my chair back from the desk. Connor jumped about a mile into the air. It was a miracle he didn't get stuck in the ceiling.

"Pez! Jesus Christ! What is it? What's wrong?"

"Lookthe box oh, my God" I was hyperventilating and it was amazing that I had gotten that much out.

Connor came around to my desk and carefully peered into the box.

"Holy shit!" he exclaimed, although substantially softer than mine was. "There's a head in that box!"

"Inoticed," I said, trying to get my breathing back to normal. Thanks a lot,' I thought, directing that at the Witchblade. I just love it when you show me that kind of stuff.'

Jones stuck his head in the door. "Dude, what the hell is going on here?"

"Get the Captain in here right nowand if you want to know what's going on, come see for yourself!" Connor exclaimed.

Jones vanished and reappeared with Laredo in tow a few seconds later.

"Detective, what is the problem in here?" Laredo inquired.

"Sir, if you just look in this box, there will be no doubt as to what the problem is," I said, having recovered.

Laredo and Jones were overcome with curiosity and couldn't resist looking into the box. Both men jumped back after looking, although without comment. The contents of the box were shocking, even to us homicide cops. I could barely believe it myself.