AN: And another chapter is up. Happy New Years to everyone. Y'all are loving the focus on Felicia. Anyway big thanks to the people who review the last chapter, I know is was a wait for that one.

Chapter 4

Felicia walked up to the yellow police tape that cordoned off noticeable section of the shipping port. The scene of the crime during the day was almost the opposite of at night. Union workers bustled about, operating equipment, filling paperwork, and taking smoke breaks. The blend of office personnel dressed in button downs with slacks, and day laborers wearing boots, jeans, and hard hats paid very little attention to the crime scene, as they were too preoccupied with their own work. The police presence behind the tape was very focused on every little detail of the scene though.

There were a number of patrol officers spaced out to ensure that no unauthorized personnel crossed the police tape. A few journalists stood outside the perimeter recording the story. The most active personnel were a number of forensic technicians gathering evidence, taking photos, and performing preliminary field tests of evidence. Amongst all of them was a man in a dark suit with sunglasses and a detective's badge.

Felicia walked up to the police tape to a middle-aged cop with sergeant's stripes, a pot belly, and a standard issue police mustache. "Stay on that side of the tape miss." The cop said professionally. "This is a active crime scene."

"I understand, but..." Felicia said politely as she pulled a company ID card from her purse. "I'm an investigator with Corporate and Estates Insurance. I should be cleared for access."

The cop checked the front and the back of the ID quickly before nodding slightly. "Alright Ms. Hardy. Come on in." The man grinned. "Would you like me to show you around?"

Felicia smiled back. She didn't know weather it was an honest offer to help her gather information, or a weak attempt to flirt. Either way she knew how to deny both. "Thanks, but I'm gonna go talk to the man in the suit, he's probably able to give me more of what I need." she said sweetly.

"All right." he said as he lifted of the police line.

Felicia walked across the pavement and looked around. There were a few evidence markers by the fence. The crime scene techs were looking at it with a magnifying glass. Others were walking in and out of a door to a warehouse. The woman walked up to the man in the suit and stuck out her hand.

"Felicia Hardy. Insurance investigator, Corporate and Estates Insurance."

"Detective Mickey McCann. Port Authority PD, Criminal Investigations Bureau." McCann said as she shook his hand.

The two each sized each other up quickly. Felicia saw the department store suit that was once black, but was now faded, the coffee in a Styrofoam cup that she could smell from here, and the Glock inside the shoulder holster that he didn't even bother to hide as his badge hung just on the outside of his jacket. His dirty blonde hair was neat, and his face was clean shaven. Felicia decided that he was a professional, but was entirely focused on being a good cop, and while he might help her, would not go out of his way. McCann saw the black outfit that cost more than one of his paychecks. His gut instinct was that she was just a corporate numbers runner with no street sense, but then the man came to the conclusion that there was no way a numbers lady would take risk and come to a crime scene if she couldn't handle herself. McCann decided there was more than met the eye.

"What have you discovered so far?" Felicia asked.

"There statues stolen from the imports warehouse. They came in yesterday from the middle east, cleared customs, and were supposed to be moved this morning. All in all about $20 Million." McCann said and took a sip of his coffee.

"Not surprised that it was artwork from the Middle East." Felicia said.

"Why's that?"

"The recent destruction of artwork in that portion of the world by terrorists has led to a surge of people buying it. Some are trying to save it from destruction. Others are just taking advantage of the rise in value because of loss of supply and increased demand. That and the more exciting provenance raises the value." She explained as she walked over to the fence.

McCann mentally filed that information away to follow up on later. He walked up to the forensic tech. "What have you got?"

The tech pulled his magnifying glass away and got up from his squatted position to face them. "These guys were clever. The fence wasn't cut. Wire and bolt cutters leave a distinctive pinch mark. The metal isn't melted as well, so they didn't use a cutting torch. The lack of metal shards at the base means they didn't use a saw. If I had to guess, they used liquid N2, that or they just ripped it apart." The tech explained.

"For those of us who only got a C Plus in Chemistry?" asked McCann.

"Liquid Nitrogen." said Felicia. "Cheap method to freeze metal to the point of being brittle enough to break with enough force."

"Where would you get something like that. Commercial chemical companies if you're getting in bulk for a lab or medical building. Commercial hardware stores as well. Oh and specialty cooking shops." She listed.

"Really?" asked McCann.

"Yeah. Some restaurants use it for the cooking with science hipsters and nerds. My boyfriend made ice cream a few weeks ago." Felicia said. She smiled fondly of night that Peter taught her how science could be used in a way she could relate to. That, and the way she used the whipped cream and chocolate sauce later in the evening.

"I think my wife wanted to go to one of those places a little while ago." McCann said slightly annoyed.

"Ohhh. She would have loved that."

"Yeah right. At $80 a plate, I can get a good bottle of scotch and have a hydraulic breakfast, lunch, and dinner." He said. "Let's head over to the warehouse, see what's up there."

The two walked side by side up to the door of the warehouse. The door had been propped open and another evidence marker placed by it. "The door has no signs of forced entry. The guards know they were lock 'cause they were doing their rounds. I figure they picked the lock." McCann said.

"Makes sense." Felicia agreed. The two walked through the doorway.

"How come they didn't use the nitrogen trick on the lock?" McCann asked.

"Well the 'nitrogen trick', as you put it, is most effective when the entire piece is covered, and it allowed to freeze entirely. You could freeze a tank if you had an aquarium full of it. But a door lock is harder because most of it is in the door." She critiqued. "You really just need to freeze the deadbolt, and break that, but if it still in the door frame the door is still closed. With this tumbler lock, it's faster and has less margin of error if you just pick it."

McCann grinned. His assessment that there was more to this woman was correct. "All right. This way."

The two walked into the main aisle where the rest of the crime scene could be viewed. There was a scorch mark on the floor. Three wooden cases were opened. More forensics specialists were taking photos. The manifests were being looked over for their information as well.

"Which one is your's?" asked McCann.

Felicia opened her binder and pulled out a photo of the cat statue. "This one."

McCann looked at the photo. "That box over there." He said pointing a finger and taking another sip of coffee.

Felcicia walked over and looked at the box. It was big enough to hold the statue but there was nothing else to go on. "What have you been able to figure out?" She asked a nearby tech.

"The scorch mark has magnesium residue." The man said, pointing to mark on the floor. "Combine that with the pin in the next aisle and the metal fragments, we are certain they used a flashbang grenade to incapacitate the two guards. Military grade or similar. They got hit without seeing anything."

"What about the box?"

"Nothing. We are assuming it was pried open with a tool because there are no fingerprints, but they could have just been using gloves." The lab tech explained.

McCann walked over to Felicia. "Got everything you need?"

"Almost. What else was stolen?"

McCann shook his head. "Unless it's yours, I can't really give you any more details. Don't want to open myself up to that lawsuit."

Felicia huffed internally. She figured this might happen. She needed an olive branch. "So fill me in on what you can say, if not details. I can look through some of our databases to see if it helps. I'll be sure to pass it on." She said as she handed over a business card so the detective could follow up.

McCann took the card and looked at it for a second before putting it in his suit pocket. "I really hope my wife doesn't find that. The only thing on the manifest that was listed was Iraqi Vase, and Wall Relief Section. Whatever the fuck that it."

"Wall reliefs are images carved into a wall. If the wall is cut into, then it is a low relief or counter relief, if the wall is cut or sanded down so the image is on protruding, it is a high relief." Felicia explained.

"Well you clearly know what your doing." McCann said.

"Thanks. I'll start working things out at my end and I'll let you know how what I find. Do you have a card?"

"Yeah right here." McCann said as he pulled a business card out of his wallet. He then took another drink of coffee and grimaced a little bit. "Ugh."

"How is that stuff?" Felicia asked pointing to the cup.

"Black as sin, bitter as a bad ex, but loaded with caffeine."

"Doesn't seem worth it based off your expression."

McCann smiled. "Well I get it for free at work, so I am getting what I pay for."

Felicia giggled. "I'll get out of your hair, and let you know what I find." She turned to walk away. "Oh, and some free advice. As a woman, I love it when my man puts time and money into me. You should take you wife to one of those cooking places. Just avoid Midtown and Brooklyn to keep the price down.

McCann smiled. "I'll take that under advisement."

Both people left pleased with the others work.

AN: Well that Art History class I took in school for that Fine Art credit finally found a use. The detective character is strongly based off of Dennis Leary's character from the Thomas Crown Affair (Wonderful movie, you should all see it). A Hydraulic meal is went you have a meal that entirely consists of alcoholic beverages, for those of you who don't hang out with mechanics too much.

For those of you who haven't heard, Marvel is launching a website to publish your own comics using marvel characters. The problem is the restrictions they placed on using the service. Swearing, double entendres, guns, death, and controversial topics aren't allowed along with killer bees and non-disney theam parks (which I though was oddly specific). So between Felicia's sexual references, somewhat explicit scenes, and the number of guns and death i have written (The Punisher scenes I wrote in particular come to mind), it is safe to say that I won't be using that medium to publish. So you all are stuck with me here until a later date it appears.