Chapter 21
Emma was once again resting in a napping position when Nick stepped into the interrogation room, and like last time when Nick entered, she sat up.
"Since you're back, I'm assuming that you got the DNA test results back," Emma began. "So, how much DNA do we share with one another?"
"We share seventy-eight percent DNA," Nick replied.
"So, do you believe me now that I'm your counterpart from another reality?" Emma questioned.
"I do," Nick replied as he sat down across from her.
"So will you help me to return to the Wesen dimension?" Emma questioned.
"I will do everything I can to get you home, but I'm not sure if that's even possible," Nick replied.
"Okay, well, someone who Diana Schade-Renard knows had been to the Wesen dimension, so…" Emma was only able to get out.
"Emma, I was the one who went to the Wesen dimension," Nick quickly informed. "Although, I call it the Mirror dimension, and so does everyone who knows about it, and we call it that because we had to use a full-length mirror to get there."
"Okay, well, if you were able to get into the Mirror dimension once before while using a mirror, then all we have to do is repeat what you did the first time," Emma replied.
"It's not going to be as simple as that?" Nick informed. "Or at least I don't believe it will."
"Why not?" Emma asked.
"To answer that, I will need to give you a history lesson from my past," Nick replied.
"Okay, let's hear it," Emma replied.
Nick took a breath before saying, "Eight years ago, I obtained five of the seven keys, and from those five keys I was able to obtain the map to the buried artifact. Obviously, the map was centuries old, so my small group and I had to compare the map that we had to the modern-day maps. So, once we had a good idea of where to search for the artifact, Monroe—a good friend of mine—and I boarded a plane and flew to the closes city to where the artifact was buried. Now finding the artifact wasn't easy, but relatively speaking, we did find it in a short time compared to the time that it could have taken us. Anyway, the artifact was sealed in a chest, and the local Wesen weren't happy that we were in their city, so instead of attempting to open the chest there, we brought the chest back to Portland. After returning to a safe place, my group and I opened it. Of course, I had to use the five keys that I had and pick the remaining two key slots, but I finally got the lid off."
"So, what did the knights bury?" Emma eagerly asked.
Nick slightly grinned before saying, "A stick wrapped in a cloth."
"A stick?" Emma rhetorically questioned. "You expect me to believe that the knights buried a stick."
Nick amusingly grinned before saying, "I thought the same way when I unwrapped it from the cloth as you do now, but the stick isn't an ordinary stick. In fact, as we were escaping the city with the chest, Monroe had been bitten by one of the local Wesen and the wound had gotten severely infected. I didn't know how badly Monroe's wound had gotten until after we had opened the chest and we saw what we had found. Soon after I took hold of the stick, Monroe collapsed in the floor with a high fever. With the stick in my hand, I, along with the others in the room, went to help Monroe up, and when the stick touched Monroe, his wound healed before everyone's eyes and his fever returned to normal."
"So, the stick can heal?" Emma questioned.
"Yes, and not only can the stick heal, but I had been fatally shot at point blank range when I was in possession of the stick and it kept me from dying," Nick informed.
"Wow, I can see why the knights hid it away," Emma replied. "Are you still carrying around the stick?"
"No," Nick replied. "For a Grimm, that stick is very addictive. In fact, the longer I had carried it, the more I felt that I couldn't live without it."
"As fascinating as your story is, what does that have to do with you helping me to get home?" Emma asked.
"I'm getting to it," Nick replied. "Anyway, a short time after finding the stick, I had healed Eve—a Hexenbiest who fought at my side during the war with Black Claw, and before you ask, Black Claw was a large, well-organized group of Wesen who thought that it was their turn to control the world. And their influence among other Wesen was on a global scale."
"I was wondering," Emma replied. "And I'm guessing that they didn't succeed."
"They didn't," Nick replied. "Although, if you walk in this reality long enough, you will come across former Black Claw soldiers with bitter attitudes."
"I believe you," Emma replied with a grin.
Nick slightly grinned as he continued to say, "Anyway, when I healed Eve with the stick, the stick had also purified her soul. Not long after that, a few Black Claw agents attacked Eve and a small group of my friends, and they… the Black Claw agents that is, were killed. As my friends went to remove the bodies, Eve was grabbed by a dead Black Claw agent in a death grip…"
"Hold up," Emma requested. "Was Eve grabbed by someone who was dead or near dead or just pretending to be dead?"
"The agent that grabbed Eve was definitely dead, and his soul sensed that Eve's soul was pure, and if he could drag a pure soul into the underworld with him, then he could trade the pure soul for an eternal afterlife. Also, while Eve was being held in the death grip, her body was in the physical plane, but her soul and awareness were suspended upside-down inside a wormhole and staring into an abyss. Before her was the agent, or the agent's soul and he was clinging onto her arm as if he was trying desperately to save himself from dropping off the edge of something that was high up. His face, according to Eve, was tattooed with three or more symbols; the same type of symbols that can be found on the pillars from the Druid Temple. Anyway, after a minute or two, Eve was then pulled back from the abyss when my friends chopped off the agent's forearm…"
Nick continued his story and told Emma everything relevant that led to the fight and the defeat of the Zerstörer. Nick also shared that his wife Adalind and his nine-year-old stepdaughter Diana were Hexenbiests.
Emma amusingly chuckled to the fact that Nick was married to a Hexenbiest and confessed that she was in an ongoing, non-committed relationship with a Zauberbiest named Killian.
Also, when Nick had mentioned that he and Adalind had a son together, Emma shared that she had two kids. A twelve-year-old son named Todd Junior and a nine-year-old daughter named Cassandra. However, seven years ago, Todd Senior (her kid's Kehrseite father and wealthy ex-boyfriend) had found her Grimm journals and had concluded that she had schizophrenia. When she denied having the disorder and refused to seek mental treatment, Todd ended their relationship and won custody of their kids.
Nick expressed sympathy that she had lost custody of her two kids and after Emma showed her gratitude for his support, he continued his story on how he had defeated the Zerstörer.
Once Nick was done, Emma said, "Let's recap. You believe that Eve was only able to get into the Mirror dimension only because the Zerstörer wanted it to happen, and the only reason that you were able to get into the Mirror dimension was because of that magical staff-fragment that was in your possession while at the same time the Zerstörer—while in the Mirror dimension—had the nearly completed magical staff. And now, since the Zerstörer is dead, and the magical staff had absorbed the fragment that you had, you are not sure if a portal into the Mirror dimension can be reopened."
"Correct; however, Adalind could most likely tell us if we can reopen a portal into the Mirror dimension," Nick replied.
"So, when does your shift ends?" Emma questioned.
"Unless I get assigned another homicide case within the next hour, my shift ends at six," Nick replied. "So, for now, just sit tight, and I'll go check on the status of my current case."
"Do I have to sit tight in here?" Emma questioned. "Can I go to a more comfortable place to wait?"
Nick considered it for a moment before saying, "If you would like, you can shadow me for the rest of my shift."
Emma slightly chuckled before saying, "Sure. By shadowing you, it will give me a glimpse of what it could have been like for me if I had joined the police force rather than getting my bachelor's degrees in archaeology, history and art. In fact, a week after my high school graduation, I was actually given the opportunity to join the force, but obviously I didn't take it."
Nick grinned before standing and saying, "Okay, let me show you what you missed out on."
"I'm right behind you, bro," Emma replied while standing.
"Yes, right, about that," Nick began before considering his options. "Everyone here knows that I didn't grow up with siblings. So…"
"You can introduce me to everyone as your illegitimate paternal half-sister from New York, of whom you never knew existed before today," Emma suggested.
"Works for me," Nick said with a slight shrug. He then turned and led the way out of the room.
Emma followed Nick to Erica's desk, and Erica was hanging up her phone when they stepped up.
"Well, Warren Schumacher's Jeep Renegade has been located," Erica told Nick while glancing at Emma.
"Where is it?" Nick questioned.
"In the police impound lot," Erica replied. "It's been there since last Saturday, and it was towed there from a side road in Forest Park."
"Did you find out which side road that it was towed from?" Nick asked.
"The person I talked to couldn't answer that, but he does believe that it was towed from one of the roads in the southwest corner of the park," Erica replied.
Nick nodded before suggesting, "Let's take a drive through Forest Park and see if we can find anything that looks strange or out of place."
"I assumed that we would," Erica replied as she stood. "Is Emma coming with us?"
"She is," Nick replied before looking at Emma and gesturing towards Erica. Several officers were in hearing distance to them, so Nick chose his words. "Emma, meet my partner, Detective Erica Espinosa."
"You can call me Erica," she informed.
"Nice to meet you, Erica," Emma began while offering to shake hands.
"Nice to officially meet you, Emma," Erica replied while accepting the handshake offer.
"Erica and my captain know about you and your travel experience during the past four weeks, and so far, they are the only two who do," Nick added while the two were shaking hands.
"Good. I'm glad that I can talk freely in front of you, Erica," Emma told her while ending the handshake.
"Yes, well for full disclosure, you should know that I'm…" Erica broke off what she was saying as she woged to where only Grimms and other Wesen could see.
Emma pursed her lips before saying, "Where I'm from and about two years ago, I had crossed paths with an FBI agent by the name Eric Espinosa." Erica shifted back into her human form. "He was in his mid to late fifties, and I'm going to go out on a limb and say that he's a relative of yours."
"I'll respond to that once we are in the car," Erica replied in a slightly disheartened tone.
"Okay," Emma replied in a tone as if she didn't know how else to reply.
"Let's go," Nick told the two before walking away.
Emma and Erica followed.
Emma got into the back-passenger's seat of Nick's vehicle, and once everyone was in, Erica shared, "Emma, Eric Espinosa was my dad, and yes, I was named after him." Nick was backing out of his parking spot. "In fact, if I had been born a boy, I would have been Eric Alexander Espinosa the third; although, my full name is Erica Alexandria Espinosa. Anyway, he was a police officer in Los Lunas, New Mexico, and two days before my tenth birthday, he and his partner were ambushed and killed by three thugs who had a grudge against the police." Nick stopped backing up and drove away. "On the day of my tenth birthday, a letter arrived for him that stated that his Quantico application was accepted. So, in this reality… even though he applied to become an FBI agent, he never got the chance to fulfill that goal."
"I'm sorry for your loss," Emma told Erica.
"Thanks," Erica replied.
"If your dad was anything like the Eric Espinosa that I met in my reality, your dad was a good and compassionate man," Emma continued. "In fact, he had helped me out of a jam."
"In what way?" Erica asked.
"I defended myself against a Königschlange when he saw that I was a Grimm and he was killed during the fight," Emma began. "His name was Lewis Muckland. He just happened to have been a crooked cop and a middleman for the people who were shipping drugs into New York, and your dad—in my reality—was covertly monitoring his every movement and hoping that Lewis would lead him to his major drug supplier. Of course, I didn't know anything about Lewis or his criminal activities or even the fact that he was being closely watched by an FBI agent until a few hours after I had killed him. Anyway, I was immediately arrested by the police for killing a cop. Your dad, even though I had messed up his investigation, didn't hang me out to dry. He made sure that everyone, who needed to know, knew that Lewis came at me, unprovoked, and I had killed him in self-defense. He even had video evidence that prove it."
"I was young when my dad was killed, but from what I know of him, he would have done the same thing if that event would have happened in this reality as well," Erica replied.
"Were those thugs who killed your dad ever caught?" Emma questioned.
"They were caught and arrested a year later by my mom and Valentina… my dad's cousin," Erica replied. "And as far as I know, those three thugs are still in prison."
"So, your mom and Valentina are police officers as well," Emma assumed aloud.
"Well, at the time of my dad's death, Valentina was a police officer, but my mom was an armed security officer for a bank," Erica began. "Although, my mom would have been a police officer as well, but on the day she took her physical for the police academy she learned that she was pregnant with me. Today, my mom is a private investigator, and she had gotten her private investigator license two years after my dad's death, which was about eighteen years ago. Ten years ago, Valentina went and got her private investigator license, so she's too a private investigator… but she doesn't work with my mom or for my mom. She works for another office in Albuquerque, New Mexico."
"So, Valentina gave up her badge to become a private investigator," Emma commented.
"Actually, Valentina didn't give up her badge; she lost it about fifteen… or sixteen years ago when she went lone wolf and investigated her nephew's abduction and death," Erica shared.
Emma cringed before saying, "I'm sorry to hear that."
"Thanks," Erica replied. "Anyway, to change the subject, Emma, do you have any siblings?"
"No," Emma replied. "Like Nick, I'm the only child. So, I can't help to wonder if Mom was injured that prevented her from getting pregnant again in this reality as she was in mine."
"Mom had been injured that prevented her from getting pregnant?" Nick rhetorically questioned. "When?"
"According to Mom, I was about three years old at the time," Emma began. "So, it happened in January of 1986; it had been snowing for a while, so the streets, parking lots and sidewalks were covered in ice and snow. She was about three to four months pregnant with my little brother or sister—Mom didn't know the sex of baby—and while returning to her car with bags of groceries a driver of another car hit a patch of ice and slid right into Mom. Mom had a miscarriage from the incident and since then, she was incapable of getting pregnant again."
"Okay, I don't remember how the subject came up, but my Aunt Marie told me about Mom being injured like that in this reality as well, but she never mentioned that Mom was pregnant at the time, or that the incident had left her incapable of getting pregnant again," Nick shared.
"Aunt Marie probably thought that the fact that Mom was pregnant at the time of the incident wasn't worth mentioning," Emma suggested.
"Possible," Nick replied. "Anyway, just out of curiosity, what grade-school did you attend?"
Emma replied with the same grade-school that Nick had attended. Nick even remembered his grade-school teachers and Emma had most of the same teacher as well. Emma even listed other students that she could remember, and Nick remembered most of them as well.
When Emma mentioned that her childhood best friend was Marcy Lockwood, Nick amusingly chuckled.
"What?" Emma questioned.
"I remember Marcy, and she and I would bicker when we were in the playground together or at the same park," Nick replied. "In fact, every time we were within thirty feet of each other, she would always say something to me that would start an argument."
Emma slightly chuckled before saying, "Yeah, I think you would be her type."
"What are you talking about?" Nick asked.
"Marcy would start arguments with boys she liked, although those arguments ended during the onset of her teenage years, when she learned of a better way of showing boys that she liked them," Emma shared.
"So, all of those arguments that Marcy and I had were…" Nick got out before Emma continued for him.
"Were Marcy's way of saying that she liked you," Emma informed.
"Wow, I had always thought that Marcy hated me," Nick commented.
"If you and Aunt Marie hadn't moved to Portland after your parents were killed in that auto accident, you would have gotten to know Marcy's affectionate side during her teenage years," Emma replied.
"It sounds like it," Nick replied. "Anyway, Emma, there's something about my parents' auto accident that I would like to share with you."
"Okay, share away," Emma replied.
"The accident wasn't an accident, it was a direct attack against Mom; however, Mom wasn't in the car at the time of the attack," Nick shared.
"What do you mean that Mom wasn't in the car?" Emma replied. "According to the article I read, the police identified both bodies."
"Dad was in the car with a family friend at the time of the attack, and when the police identified the bodies, they mistakenly thought that the woman in the car was Mom," Nick informed. "Mom took advantage of that situation and let everyone in the world believe that she was in fact dead, except for her sister. Aunt Marie knew the truth, but pretended around everyone—including me—that Mom too was killed in that accident."
"If Aunt Marie was the only one who knew the truth, when did you find out?" Emma asked. "And how?"
Nick took a breath before telling Emma about his mom and the prized Coins of Zakynthos.
During Nick's story, Emma shared that all Grimms in her reality has knowledge of the Coins of Zakynthos. The Seven Houses has had control over the coins since Adolf Hitler's defeat; however, not one member of the royal family would dare to touch the coins directly and they were kept in a high security vault, along with the seven keys.
By the time Nick was done with his story, he was slowly driving down one of the Forest Park's side roads. Nick, Erica and Emma each scrutinized over the scenery while looking for the slightest hint that something was off.
As Nick followed the road as the road curved around, they spotted two stopped police cruisers up ahead with their lights flashing.
"Uh-oh," Emma let out. "Something's happening up ahead."
"Let's find out what," Nick replied before speeding up a little.
Several seconds later, Nick was parking his vehicle behind one of the police cruisers.
Once Nick killed the engine, he asked Emma, "Would it do any good to tell you to wait in the car?"
"You're cute, Nick, and I'm not just saying that because you the male version of me," Emma replied as she opened her door.
Erica amusingly chuckled.
As Emma was getting out, Nick continued with, "I'll take that as a no."
Nick sighed as he moved to get out. Erica held an amused grin as she moved to get out.
As Nick, Erica and Emma were walking towards Officer Jenkins, Officer Wright, a twelve-year-old boy named Richard (Ricky) Anderson and Ricky's three-year-old Beagle named Otis, the officers and Ricky turned to look.
Otis sniffed the air towards them and then let out a low warning growl.
"What's wrong, Otis?" Ricky asked as he bent down to comfort him.
"Wow, Burthardt, you and Espinosa got here fast," Officer Jenkins began as Nick and Erica were each receiving a text. Otis continued to stare at Erica and growl. "It couldn't have been more than three minutes since I call it in."
"We were actually driving by and saw the two cruisers," Nick replied as he, Erica and Emma were stepping up to them. Nick and Erica had pulled out their phones to view their respective text. "In fact, I just now received the text to come here."
"I got the text too," Erica shared as Otis's growl towards her got louder. Erica shifted her eyes and while staring Otis in the eyes, she continued to say, "Look, pup, you might have a nasty bite, but my bite is much worse, so don't try me."
Otis's growl shifted to a continuous cry, as if he was caught in a painful trap. Erica's shifted her eyes back to normal.
"Otis, now what's wrong?" Ricky asked as he continued to comfort him. "First you the threatened the detectives and now you act as if you understood and believe the woman detective. This isn't like you."
"Otis was threatening me in general," Erica told Ricky. "I sometimes watch my neighbor's cat, and I believe he can smell that I've been around a cat."
"Otis has been around cats before," Ricky replied as he continued to comfort him. "Hell, he grew up with a cat. So, I don't know what's going on with him."
"Jenkins, does the boy and his dog need to be here?" Nick quickly asked.
"They are the ones who found the body," Jenkins replied.
"Okay, well, did you get the boy's statement and contact information?" Nick asked.
"Sir, my name is Richard Anderson, but most everyone calls me Ricky," he quickly told Nick as he continued to comfort Otis. Otis was still crying out as if he was hurt. "And I would like it if you called me Ricky as well."
"I'm sorry, Ricky, I meant no offence when I referred to you as a boy," Nick respectfully told him.
"Apology accepted," Ricky replied.
Nick slightly grinned as Officer Jenkins told Nick, "Yes, I do have Ricky's statement and contact information."
"Ricky, take Otis home, and if I need to talk to you about what you have found, I'll go to you," Nick told him.
"Yes, sir," Ricky replied as he stood upright. "Come, Otis."
As Ricky led Otis away, Nick told Officer Jenkins, "Let's go see what you have for us."
"Follow me," Officer Jenkins said before turning and moving deeper into the woods. As Nick, Erica, Emma and Officer Wright followed, Officer Jenkins continued, "Oh, ah, I should warn you; most of the guy's face and torso have been eaten by mice, insects, worms and other varmints. There is a little bit of skin left on guy's arms and legs, but not much."
"Lovely," Emma sarcastically commented just barely loud enough for Nick and Erica to hear.
Nick looked over at Emma while saying, "Welcome to my world."
Emma shot him a smirk.
The remains had been dumped in a shallow hole and then poorly covered up with branches and leaves; however, the foliage around the hole had helped hide the remains.
Once at the remains, Nick used his phone and took a few snapshots of the scene. Once Nick was satisfied with the snapshots he took, he and Erica put on gloves and began strategically removing the branches; however, the two looked at each branch for evidence before tossing it to the side.
Emma remained several feet from the remains and looked over the ground as if looking for clues to what might have happened.
Before Nick and Erica were completely done with removing the branches and brushing away the leaves, CSU and other units showed up.
Once the police photographer stepped up to the scene, he began snapping photos of the remains.
After enough of the branches and the leaves were removed, Nick and Erica examined the remains.
The remains were identified as male, and Nick quickly grabbed the man's wallet once it was accessible.
"Let's see who you are," Nick told the remains while opening the wallet. "Warren Schumacher. Wow, I actually have been looking for you for the past hour. Although, I would have liked to have found you alive. Anyway, your cash and credit cards are still here. So, you weren't robbed."
Warren's remains had too much decomposition and chew marks from insects and mice to determine if he had physical injuries prior to his death. However, Nick and Erica saw that Warren's neck had been broken; although, they couldn't determine if his broken neck was the cause of death or if his neck had been broken after being killed.
As Nick and Erica were concluding their investigation at the scene, Tabitha Paxton (the medical examiner for the past five years) and her team showed up to claim the remains.
Nick and Erica spoke with Tabitha for several minutes before the two, along with Emma, left. Until Tabitha completed Warren's autopsy, the actual cause of death was unknown, so any proper investigation into Warren's death wasn't going to happen until the next day.
Nick, Erica and Emma returned to the police around 6:35 P.M., and once there, Nick and Erica went to their desk to clock out. Emma stood patiently between Nick's desk and Erica's desk and casually looked over the room.
"Okay," Nick announced while looking at Emma. "I'm officially done for the day. So, let's go and see if Adalind can help with your situation."
"I'm ready," Emma replied as Nick and Erica stood up from their respective desks.
"Emma, if I don't see you again before you return home, best of luck," Erica told her.
"Thanks, and it was good meeting you," Emma replied.
"It was good meeting you as well," Erica replied before facing Nick. "Anyway, partner, I'll see you tomorrow."
"I'll see you tomorrow," Nick replied before he and Emma started towards the exit.
Erica went to her locker for her purse.
To be continued.