Yoness! I has returned for you! Sorry it took so long, but I got stuck on how to write this. Anyways, I'm back now, so here you go!
ch. 9
Harry stared at him. "What?" He said quietly, awed.
"They thought he was Merlin. The people who lived around us, I mean. I don't really know what triggered it..." Bob said, shrugging.
"No way, really?"
"Well... I don't think he was. The kings' name was Albrecht. It wasn't Arthur."
Harry sat up as best he could, and Bob almost reached to help him sit, but had to stifle a grumble. "But, they thought he was? That's the coolest thing I've ever heard."
Bob chuckled. "No, I don't think it would be. Now, stop getting excited, you'll hurt yourself. You aren't in any condition to—"
There was a knock at the door downstairs, and then it opened. Bob went stiff, and a look Harry didn't recognize came over him. He was about to ask what was wrong, suddenly concerned, but then Murphys' voice came from downstairs. The immediate look of relief that followed didn't really help him be any less concerned, but he didn't ask anything and answered her instead, not taking his eyes off Bob until he disappeared, nodding at him.
Murphy came up the stairs and looked at the man in the bed, who just now was taking his eyes off of... well, nothing that she could see. "What the hell happened to you?"
"Oh, uh... You know, just some guys I had to beat up."
"Uh-huh." She raised an eyebrow at him.
He tried to make himself look more comfortable, and smiled. "So. What brings you to my bedroom?"
She gave him a look, but no words to accompany it. Instead, she said, "I just thought you might have some idea of what just happened a few blocks away from here."
Ah. "What happened a few blocks away?"
"That's what I just asked you. We aren't sure, but it looks like something went down in one of the old warehouses down there. The windows and doors have been blown out, and there's damage done inside, too. Got a call from someone who said that he had an idea there might be some kind of gang thing we might want to look into."
"And you think I know what happened?"
"Well, I just got here to ask you about the case we're on, and decided to see if you had any ideas. 'Course now you're sitting here, looking like you just went through hell, and you're saying you look like that because you had to beat someone up?"
"It was just a joke, Murph, I just don't feel well, that's all."
"Sure."
"Hey, you know, someday, you're going to have to accept the fact that I don't actually cause all the weird shit that goes on to happen, you know." He smiled. "Anyways, I have no idea what went on, I've been asleep." Well, that was a lie. He knew exactly what had happened, and it had, in fact, involved him... He was lucky he had no lie twitches, as he called them. "Maybe you should talk to the guy who called? I mean, don't you consider it suspect if somebody calls you up to warn you about something that's about to go down?"
"Yes, we do. Problem is, he didn't give a name, and the trace I had done led to a disposable phone. No way to find out who owns it, or did. The signal went out halfway through our trace."
Interesting... "Well, then, I think you should look into him."
"Yeah, thanks, Captain Obvious."
"Know anything about him through the call? Like, where it sounded like he was?"
She shrugged and thought back. "Well... There weren't any background noises to speak of. It seemed almost too quiet behind there, Kirmani pointed that out. He sounded youngish, had a sort of lilt to his voice, like a girl would have almost. And he had a weird accent, maybe... British? Hard to tell, could have been Irish, too, or something in between there."
"Huh. Okay."
Behind a nearby wall, Bobs' eyes slowly closed, and he leaned his head back. The look on his face went from worry to certainty, and then to utter despair.
"That's all I made out. Took him a while to tell us, and then he hung up right after the call reached the length we would need to trace it, like he timed it so we would. I don't know why a guy would want his call traced, I mean, what, he wanted us to find him?"
"I would ask if you did, but, well..."
"Oh, we know the area. The closest tower to where his call came in from would make it somewhere near the mall, but it doesn't make much sense because there wasn't any noise in the background. So for right now, we have nothing."
"Except that file in your hand."
Looking as though she were confused for a second, she blinked, realizing she had forgotten all about it. "Oh, yeah. No, this is just the kids' medical files. We were asked by the boss to look into them. I was heading back to the precinct when I got called for the warehouse."
Harry held out a hand. "May I?"
She pulled it away from him. "No. Not until I look at them first, and then you need to tell me what you have, if anything."
Well, way to make it difficult. "Alright, fine."
There was a pause. "Well?" Murphy said, looking insistently at him.
"Well, right now you're sitting on my bed, and I think it'd be better if we went downstairs so I can have some water."
She blinked again, looked down, laughed, and then stood, helping him up.
She brought him downstairs, where he told her what he now knew, or at least what he was allowed to tell her he knew. Bob didn't follow, but he listened, even though he really didn't want to know.
"I can't tell you much," Harry began, getting some water, "But I can tell you the kids are sacrifices of some kind."
"What?" All seriousness now. So much for her being in a good mood...
"Uh... Yup."
"Sacrifices." He nodded. "Harry..."
"I know, I know. Thing is, I have no idea what they're sacrifices for. I just know that's what they're being used as."
"So... What, you're telling me that somebody's killing these innocent kids to make some God happy?"
"Possibly." He sat down on the edge of a desk.
"That's insane!"
"Well... He has killed people, hasn't he?"
She gave him a careful look. "Point taken... Okay, so is that all?"
"Uh, no. I'm not entirely sure what it is, but I've been told that he's looking for something, something powerful. I haven't even been given hints about it. Just that it's an object."
"Harry, that isn't any help at all!"
"It's all I got right now, but I am looking in to it, alright? I haven't stopped that."
"Where are you getting this stuff from, anyway?"
"Some people I know."
"Can I talk to these people?"
"Nope."
There was silence, during which he calmly sipped his glass of water, and she stared at him in exasperation. "Is there a reason for that?"
"Just my freaky stuff. That's all. I'm not allowed to tell you who." When she took a breath and was about to protest, he continued. "Hey, hey... I would love nothing more to tell you, alright? Believe me, I would. But I'm really not allowed to. You know how this stuff works."
She sighed, and pressed her fingers to the bridge of her nose, then let out an irritated chuckle, shaking her head. "This is just ridiculous, Harry."
"Yeah, I know. I'm sorry."
"Anything else you can't tell me, or am I wasting breath asking that question?"
He though about this. "No, you aren't wasting your breath... But right now, that's all I got. Apparently, whatever it is he's after is important to him, and it gets him whatever he wants, but I have no idea what that means yet, and I definitely haven't been given the slightest clue about what it even looks like."
"Great. So there's a murderer killing kids for sacrifices, and it's all over some object you have no ideas about. Perfect."
She stood to leave. "Look, Murph, I'm sorry, okay? I'm trying here, I just haven't got very far. If I get any further, I really will let you know, alright?"
She looked at him for a few minutes as though studying him carefully. Eventually, she sighed again, in defeat this time, and handed him the folder. When he reached for it, thanking her, she snatched it away for a second, and looked him in the face. He carefully avoided looking in her eyes in as subtle a way as possible. Accidental soul-gazing was not something he wanted to deal with right now, or ever when it came to the lieutenant. "I need these right back."
"Yes, ma'am."
"And don't keep anything new from me."
"Of course not, if I can avoid it." This earned him a less than pleased expression, but she handed him the file anyway. Without another word, she left.
Closing the door after her, Harry turned, and snorted. "Not even a goodbye? Somebody's pissed." He had been speaking, in general, to Bob, but he noticed he didn't seem to have appeared out of nowhere after she left, as was usually the case. Thinking nothing much of this, he sat back on the couch and flipped open the file. Medical nonsense would be of no use here, at least it was unlikely to help, but he might as well check, just in case.
"Harry?" Bobs' voice was unusually quiet, and when he looked up, the look on his face worried him.
"Yeah?" he said, looking at him with concern.
He didn't say anything at first, and it looked like he was struggling with something, but eventually he cleared his throat, the weird expression he'd had on going away as though he had decided against something, and said, "Uh... What's that?"
"Oh, this? Medical files on the kids. You weren't listening?"
"... No. Not really."
"Are you okay, Bob?"
"Hm? Oh, yes, I'm just, um... I don't really think those will help us very much."
"Probably not, but it won't hurt to look, right?"
"No, I suppose not." He tried a smile, and it seemed to work well enough, because Harry went back to look at what he was holding. The problem was, he could tell he wanted to say something more, most likely ask him again if he was alright, but he didn't. He had probably given up.
They sat in silence for some time, Harry contemplating the files, and Bob just watching him, when an idea that he had been playing with came into his head. "Harry, I think... I have an idea."
Harry looked up at him quizzically. "You think you have an idea?"
He gave him a small apologetic smile. "I have something I'd like to try."
"Okay. What is it?"
Silence for almost a full minute as they looked at each other.
"Well... I haven't been of much help just yet, aside from the obvious, so I think I might like to see if I can take a trip through the radio frequencies and see what I can pick up there. If you think that might work, that is."
If he thought it might work? Since when was that a question? "It hasn't let us down before... Who were you planning to find?"
"I'm not really planning on finding anyone specifically, not as such, but I thought perhaps I could, um... Chat a few people up as I go and see what I can make of it."
He nodded. "Sounds good. Let me know if you find anything out." He went back to the files. Bob waited for a minute or so. "Harry?"
"Yeah?"
"I can't go yet."
"Why not?"
Bob rolled his eyes. "Because the radio is off. I can't turn it on?"
"Oh! Oh, right, sorry..." He got up and turned on the old fifties radio on the mantle.
"Thank you," Bob said with a slight nod. He then went to stand in front of it for a moment, and closed his eyes. "Oh, Harry?"
Harry stopped going back to the couch and looked at him.
He gave him a soft grin. "Please don't fall asleep while I'm gone. Just in case."
Harry returned the smirk. "Alright. Promise."
"Good." For a moment, it looked as though he wanted to say something else, but then he changed his mind, nodded and disappeared into the radio, leaving Harry to stand and look at where he had been in confusion and concern. He didn't think their time in his head had really done anything to him, not that he could tell. So... Honestly...
What the hell was wrong with Bob?
