March 28th.
Much like when he returned to Bayview before, Caine and Lo Si got off the Greyhound, express route, and caught the city bus directly to the 101st precinct. The police officers within were swamped with perpetrators waiting to be processed. Caine had never seen it so busy. He dodged this chaos, leading Lo Si through it, and opened the door to Blaisdell's office.
Paul raised a hand for them to wait, indicating he was on a phone call and mouthed that he and Lo Si should take a seat. Which they did. "No, I don't want you to explain it to me again. I want the situation dealt with… uh huh… No. Just take care of it or don't bother to report for duty tomorrow." He said sharply and ended the call. "I'm sorry, I just don't have the time to talk right now."
"You said you wanted to know when I found out anything about Peter. No matter how slight." Caine said.
Paul nodded "Alright, what do you know?" He was going to listen to this no matter what Caine had to say. He'd seen it before. Parents of missing children no matter the age, always thought there was one more bit of information that would break the case and bring their loved ones home. Paul had accepted Peter's death, he knew as a cop that there would be no getting him back after all this time. But still, even he wanted to believe that there was a chance that Peter could be brought home one day.
"Do you remember the snake cult I mentioned to you?"
"Harbingers I believe you called them," Paul said with a nod.
"When I left Bayview, to find my path, I went first to New River City." He said "Because there was a request for me to help the community there to route out the Harbingers there. I never found any evidence of them, even though several of the locals knew the right things to say to convince me they had."
Paul leaned back in his seat, put his elbows on the chair arms, and steepled his fingers in front of his face as he listened. "Alright. I assume this is where you have been for the last few days."
"Yes," Caine said. "When I first met with a woman named Mrs. Lin, she mentioned that she was sorry to take me away from my son. I had not mentioned him the first time I was in New River City When asked she said she had learned of him from Lo Si."
"I had not mentioned him. I have done much to ensure that his name was not spread among the community outside our city to protect him from Tan. So I would never have mentioned his name, especially not when referring to Kwai Chang Caine."
"The reference to Peter and her knowledge of the Harbingers led us back to New River City. Several priests reside there and we all confronted her." He held up his hand, seeing the look on Paul's face. "We did not harm her. We only questioned."
Paul relaxed a little and nodded that he should continue.
"Once she ceased to make denials, she admitted that the order has him and that they are trying to convert him… to force him to join their cult."
"To what end? Is it possible this woman is saying these things to get something from you? Or to hurt you?"
"They spoke of neutralizing his destiny. I do not know what she meant by that in specific, but there are possibilities. Prophesies are now viable because the curse has been lifted from our bloodline. Why is not important? The important thing is that he is alive and we must find him quickly."
" People have been known to torment the families of their victims by claiming that they are still alive, just to prolong that pain as long as possible. If you find out where this cult is based I will go with you to … find out once and for all. Until then I can put out feelers and see what I can come up with. Although right now with this crime wave and the Multi-cultural festival that Miranda Gray is refusing to postpone I've been sleeping and eating in the office so that I'm always on hand."
"The two may be connected." Lo Si said. "The harbinger's artifact causes chaos and death. This could all be intentionally timed to coincide with the festival, which is said to bring in people from all over the state. Perhaps farther."
"I can get overtime for my people to keep the violence under control, but I can't get it approved for them to chase down a cult and their artifacts." He said, "So I don't know what to tell you other than find that cult and we may be able to … find a little peace."
March 29th
Peter had not slipped out of his room the night before. He had flushed the bobby pins and the paper with the 5-digit code attempts. He could hold out hope that both of his fathers could take care of themselves. But his mother, his sisters, Kelly, they wouldn't be able to defend themselves against these monsters any more than he had been…or Lo Si, They'd be shredded. He couldn't be responsible for that. Even if it meant a life sentence… however long that would be.
He was more subdued when he took his seat at the breakfast table. "Good morning." He said. Neither Kline nor Hendricks were at the table. "Tweedle dee and tweedle dum out on assignment?" He asked.
"I thought that after our conversation last night I could trust you here alone. After all, it's not like I wouldn't find out eventually whatever you got up to."
He nodded and found that he had no appetite. "I'll behave." He said. "It doesn't come naturally but I'll do it."
The maid brought in their food and a carafe of coffee.
"Thank you, Kathleen." He said and began to poke at his food.
"I have meetings all day." Miranda said "I expect you can entertain yourself. I've left the door to the roof unlocked. If you draw attention to yourself or decide that you want to try skydiving without a parachute I will wipe out everyone you have ever cared about."
"I said I'd behave." He snapped, then took a deep breath. "Sorry."
"I know. I just want you to know that your death isn't a way out for them even if you make it a way out for yourself. I think you could use a little sunshine. You're looking pale."
"Then I guess I'll… do Katas on the roof." He said quietly.
"The worst of it is almost over, Peter. Just hang on a little longer."
Sure, he thought, then the new worst thing starts. "Yeah… not like I have much choice."
"There's always a choice." She said, "But making bad choices never ends well."
"So I've heard."
Paul had been going over everything he'd been told the night before by Peter's father. What to do, what not to do. He got up from his desk and crossed the squad room to Kermit's office. He went inside and closed the door.
"Did you reconsider taking out a dictator? At least there we don't have to deal with IAB when we shoot the bastards." He was getting tired of the crap going on in the city.
Paul chuckled a little," Not yet. Did you have a look at the papers I showed you the other day?"
"Your girl can't do the math." He said " 150 k tops."
"So several million dollars worth of money laundering of some sort."
" Paying the gangs to be more irritating than usual?"
"Maybe… I don't know. But I do have a lead on the people that killed Peter. Something his father told me about when he dropped in last night. Feel like a trip up to New River?"
"Oh yeah," Kermit said. He stood up, put on his jacket, pushed the green sunglasses back on his nose, and picked up his firearm.
He didn't ask questions until they got to the Kermit mobile.
"We can take my car," Paul said and laughed quietly at Kermit's expression. "You're right. Of course, we'll take your car." He conceded defeat and got into the green car.
Kermit started them down the road "Okay so what did Caine tell you."
"He told me about a woman he spoke to in New River City's Chinatown. He says that she told him Peter is alive and being held prisoner by this … snake cult."
"Okay, first, how does she know this, and second why would some cult want Peter ?"
"To force him to join apparently. It has to do with prophecies and a hatred of all things Shaolin." Paul shook his head.
"You know how this sounds, right?" Kermit asked.
"I am aware. I don't know prophecy from Saturday morning cartoons. But I do know Peter's father. If he says this woman said those things, she said those things. What it means is anyone's guess but this is the first clue I've had to go on since he disappeared."
"Then we head to New River City and talk to a woman in Chinatown. So, does this mean we believe that Peter's alive now?"
"I don't know. For all, I know this Mrs. Lin is just yanking Caine's chain. She wouldn't be the first crackpot to claim a kidnapping victim is still alive when they aren't. On the other hand, this is Caine's world… it might be that people in that world kidnap people and force them to join cults. If that's what they've done I'm surprised they haven't offered to pay us to take him back yet." He sighed "If he's been a hostage all this time… I have no idea who we're going to get back."
"He'll still be Peter." Kermit said, "No matter what they've done, he'll still be Peter."
"Like we're still the men we used to be?" Paul asked.
"Where it matters we are, yes. If you don't believe me, ask your wife." Kermit shrugged. " And it wasn't the things done to us that changed us. He'll be alright."
Kelly Blaine put the last of the boxes into the storage unit and locked the door. That was it. He was gone. Their life together was gone. This was closing the door on Peter as well as his belongings. Saying goodbye forever, letting it go. Right… letting it go. There was no letting this go. There was no closure. There was no peace in it. It was nothing more than a different view of the same empty hole inside her.
She put the key in an envelope and wrote the name of the storage facility and the unit number on it. She slid it into the Ancient's mail slot and went back to her car. She couldn't bear the thought of looking Peter's father in the eyes again. It had been hard enough the last time.
Her next stop, she thought would be impossible, but Captain Blaisdell was out of the office, which made it easier. She went in and put her resignation on his desk, then slipped out of the precinct.
She wiped the tears from her eyes and started her car. There was no way she could stay in Bayview. Her sister lived in Toronto. She'd go stay with her for a while then try to put her life back together.
Victoria entered Miranda's office. "This is the file you wanted for your next meeting." She said as she placed it on her desk.
"Thank you," Miranda said. "We have a problem in New River City. Who do we have there that can troubleshoot? Someone is speaking out of school as they say."
Victoria shuddered. "Mr. Rowe."
"Perfect. Can you get him on the phone for me?
"Right away," Victoria said. She didn't like speaking with Mr. Rowe. He was soft-spoken, polite, even attractive, in that college boy kind of way. But he had all the human warmth of a shark, and like a shark, he was a killing machine. At least a shark had the excuse of killing because he was hungry. Mr. Rowe did it for fun, and occasionally for profit.
She took a deep breath and pulled the name out of her roll-a-Dex. She forced a smile on her face and made the call. "Good morning Mr. Rowe." She said when he answered "This is Miss Devanham from Ms. Gray's office. She wishes to speak with you."
"Excellent, Miss Devanham." He said, smoothly "Thank you."
She put the call through and shuddered visibly She thought she just might need a drink when she got off work today.
Caine found the envelope with the key in it and put it with the paperwork for the storage unit to give to Peter when he was free. It saddened him that Kelly had given up. But he supposed that was normal enough.
He sat down with his father's journal. William Caine had been a great collector of artifacts. Most of what he found he took to monasteries and temples for safekeeping. But some things, terrible things, he destroyed.
"What is it you seek from the past, Kwai Chang Caine?" Lo Si asked.
"My father's insight into artifacts." He said. "And how to destroy them."
" Some things cannot be destroyed," He said "because they are too dangerous. Too much dark energy to be safely released. This giant snake artifact that your grandfather described would be filled with chaos. It would explode and that darkness would be loosed into the world like opening Pandora's box. "
"There must be a way."
"With the description in your grandfather's journal, I believe that artifact would always be in the keeping of their high priestess. The one they call Nagaina."
"In my vision of Peter, there was a snake twined around him. Impossibly large. The essence of the artifact perhaps? A snake made of dark energy." And it was twined around his son.
"If that is the case then peter is surrounded by chaos and darkness and he is the captive of their high priestess. He will be surrounded by her minions."
"The description of the ritual my grandfather saw is vague. It disturbed him greatly."
"Perhaps it is time that we saw this ritual. We must prepare for the journey."
"As when I spoke with Master Po?"
"Exactly. But we will need to take more precautions. We do not wish to bring back any of the darkness we find there."
Kermit parked his car in front of the precinct house, They didn't want to come into town and question a suspect without checking in with the local police. No one liked it when out-of-towners stepped in the middle of an investigation.
They went inside and found the captain's office easily enough. Paul rapped on the door and waited to be told to come in.
The precinct captain, Alexander Ryan, was a middle-aged man. He had the look of military experience about him. When he rose to shake their hands, he was tall, and still in good condition for his age. "How can I help you, Gentlemen?" He sat back down and indicated they should sit down as well.
"I'm Captain Paul Blaisdell, and this is detective Kermit Griffin. We're from the 101st precinct in Bayview. We're in town to interview someone in connection with a kidnapping. We just wanted to check in beforehand. "
"I appreciate that. Who are you looking to talk to? Are they a suspect?"
"No, not a suspect. Her name is Mrs. Xiu Lin. Something she said to a man about the disappearance of his son leads me to believe that she has more information."
Ryan nodded and woke his computer. "Let me see if she's a person of interest or helping us with our inquiries." He said using the euphemism for the word suspect. "Well, she's not on any of our watch lists, but she is on the, well excuse how I say it but the crackpot list. She doesn't confess to everything she did not do, but she always thinks she has important information. Are you sure you want to talk to her?"
"We do," Paul said. "It probably is a waste of time but the victim in our case was one of our own. One of my best detectives." It wasn't Ryan's business about Peter's background or heritage. Or his connection to Paul. Cops, himself included, hated it when family members did their own investigating.
"Well, I need to get out of this office for a bit. Going stir-crazy. I'll go over with you and make the introductions. Just remember you can't take much she says seriously." He toyed a little with his signet ring.
"Thank you," Paul said and he and Kermit rose from their chairs.
Kermit found it odd that a police captain was going to take the time to introduce him to the local crackpot. He looked at Paul and it was obvious that he felt the same.
The house they drove to was on the edge of Chinatown. It was a pleasant established neighborhood and the captain pulled up in front of a craftsman-style house. The three of them went up the steps to the large cement front porch.
Ryan raised his hand to knock then paused. The door was ajar. He frowned and looked at the other two officers. "Mrs. Lin? It's captain Ryan. Is everything alright?" He called out.
Paul motioned for Kermit to go around back. He and Ryan pulled their firearms as they entered the house. They swept the house, finally finding Mrs. Lin on the floor.
Ryan knelt beside her and checked for a pulse. He found none. What he did find were ligature marks. Large, deep, and purple.
"Is that… a scale pattern.?" Paul asked.