Chapter 6!We learn more about Nox, get closer to a suspect and there's some drama at the end (GASP)
Sorry this took a few days, first i had horrible cursed writers block, THEN, i learned how to use movie maker so ended up doing that, i made a bunch, its great, its like fanfic with PICTURES!I dont want to shamelessly plug my own vids but if you do wanna see em message me and i'll let you know where to go!
Disclaimers are the same, i own my OC's not the CBS originals. I just want toclarify, not that anyone has but incase some one might think im being insulting, in ANY of my stories if i seem to be presenting s view that seems racist or sexist or what ever, or if it seems like im insulting certain types of people, just know that i'm not, its a narrative tool ora character thing. ).
Love ALL my reviewers, you guys are amazing (Hugs and Kisses all of you) erm, i very much doubt there ARE any sp and grammar errors but if there are, please forgive me, its half five in the morning, i've been up close to thirty hours, i have to be up at ten, im too gone to proof read. But, read the last section and keep in mind i wrote that at the end of this thirty hour spin and see if that makes a difference. Oh and i've never used anyting chemical to stay awake, its all natural for me.
Love. Pie.
xxx
"Luke Hardman was twenty two, had ID in his pocket from NYU, where he's a Bio major" Nox told Danny who was standing a few feet from the body.
Mac was crouched beside the young mans corpse. The body had been lain on his back, beneath a tree, sheltered by the leaves. He was dressed in a plain, tight black t-shirt, leather pants and boots. He was almost curled into the crook made by the roots of the tree, looking for all the world like a student who had dozed off studying. Except that his skin was ghostly pale, it was pouring with rain, and he would have had to have been studying at five or six am.
The bruise over his mouth was already starting to show as Mac worked as quickly as he as able, gathering what evidence he could before the rain washed it all away.
Danny had the same bruise over his own mouth, something more than a few people, uniforms, had noticed, but had not commented on.
When a cop got hurt, word got around quickly.
"The tree, the cover provided by the branches…ought to have saved some trace" Danny stated. He was too beat up to be of any real help, unable to bend, so he stood to the side while mac worked.
"You know what?" Nox frowned "Chelsea was found in a green house…this kid is under a tree…Chelsea looked like she had fallen asleep, this kid looks like he's just nodded off, the positioning of the body I mean…what are we willing to bet the other vics will have been positioned to look like they're asleep, in a place that provides some kind of protection?" he asked "Could he think…"
"He's helping them" Danny interrupted "Earlier, Guide, he was saying that all he wanted to do was help"
"Huh" Nox nodded "He's not even tryin not to be a suspect"
"He must have done this after the attack on you…since he's calling himself a doctor we can assume he had a 'patient'" Mac mused.
"When he rushed to leave I assumed it was because Pixie and me where pissing him off" Danny said grimly "I didn't even consider he might be going to hurt some one"
"You had no reason to. The guy is creepy and weird but you had no actual evidence to point to him being the guy, plus the fact that up until this new vic, the killer has always waited up to ten weeks between killing" Mac told him.
"I know" Danny muttered but he didn't seem convinced.
Mac nodded slowly, understanding why Danny felt guilty, knowing that there wasn't a lot to be done about it. Danny did know there was nothing he could have done, but he was cop at heart and more often than not the instinct to protect overruled common sense, making him feel guilty for things he couldn't have helped.
"Coulda been me" Danny said quietly "Probably why he killed this kid, he was pissed at not being able to get me"
"Don't get egotistical" Nox stated, and some how it struck the right cord and Danny gave a small smirk.
"I cant help if I'm special" he shot back.
"What I still cant figure is how he's doin this without them seeming to fight back, I mean, you're walking proof somebody can fight him off, he's a strong guy but he can be fought off" Nox shook his head "This kid's bigger than you Messer, he's got height and weight on you, and you where hurt, but this kid dies and you get away…he's gotta be doing something"
"Well we'll get back to Hammerback, see what he's heard" Mac shrugged "For now we need to follow up what Pixie told you Danny, see if we can find the car"
"I'd like to try and bring her in Mac…he's really intent on 'treating' her, I think she could be in danger" Danny told him "Plus she can tell us if this kid went to the Lib Noc meetings"
Mac nodded "I agree, but considering how…cut off she is, how hard to find, I want you to work the car while you try to track her down"
Danny was sitting cross legged on the chair in front of the computer, a barely touched sandwich sitting by his arm. He was chewing something, a piece of paper Nox thought, and idly tapping at the key board.
Nox set a coffee mug down beside the plate, lowering himself into the empty seat next to Danny's.
"That number is taking a while to run" he said, sipping his own coffee, "What are you doin?"
"I input the make and model Pixie gave me, and the segment of the registration, this search programme runs through every car registered in the city that might match the information, it might not give us one single car but it'll give us some where to start" Danny explained.
"How long's it gonna take?" Nox asked.
"Depends I guess" Danny shrugged, leaning back in his chair. He reached for the coffee "Thanks" he muttered, taking a sip.
"So, Stella said you two where talking to your buddy Flack? How's he doin?" Nox asked conversationally.
Danny shrugged "He's getting better, slowly but surely"
"That's good" Nox nodded "He's a damn good cop"
Danny gave a nod "When he first woke up he was so pissed he was gonna miss out on basically the whole summer getting better" he smirked "Guy can't even be hurt right"
Nox grinned "Some people don't get…hung up on what happened…they deal with it by making their feelin's about something else" He was clearly talking about himself in his comment, whether he had meant to or not.
Danny looked over at him. Nox was sitting on the wrong side for Danny to see the scar, but he knew it was there.
"So what happened with that?" he asked quietly "I mean if you don't want to tell me I wont…" He shrugged.
Nox reached over and picked up one of the uneaten halves of Danny's sandwich, taking a bite "Uh, my partner and I, Ray Ray, we where investigatin' this case…it was some thing a little like this, a serial killer, except he picked on kids, little boys and girls and he would…he didn't…diddle em" Nox wrinkled his nose as if he was uncomfortable "he would cut em up, take parts of their bones, make…he'd make little statues…he carved their bones into figures of each kid…" he paused as if unable to comprehend the idea "We didn't figure that out till after, what he was doing with the bones, just that he took em…he…had a pattern for picking his victims, something to do with them being Catholic, cos he was a Satanist, and their schools and…we figured it out, some geek figured it out for us, told us where he was likely to hit next and we went there and he was dragging this little girl, Ellie Sanders, into a car and she was fightin, I mean really kickin up a fuss and we grabbed her and tussled with him but he drove away and we lost him, saved her…but we got his address from his plates right? So we go over there and he's not around but fuck…that apartment was a room out of hell. I swear to god, it was another world in there…he'd cut em up in his bathroom, he'd soundproofed it, you believe that?" he frowned "So we're all sorta stumped for where he could be and the captain sends us home and we're all figurin, at the very least we have his apartment, his shit he uses to hurt em…he's not likely to make another attempt so we just have to track him down and Cap wants us awake to do that, fresh, alert" he took another bite of the sandwich.
His tone was casual, as if to him, it wasn't anything to be too emotional about, but the anger was there, under his words, tinged with just a little fear.
Nox swallowed the bite and continued "So I get home, I got arms full of groceries, my head is…I don't even know where, gone, and I walk in my door, in my house and some one grabs me from behind, arm around my neck takes my gun away real quick…and naturally, it's our guy, name was Ed, and he…he was skinny as a rail, didn't look that strong but he was, and he's kinda…pacing around, pulling me with him and he's goin on about how I'm a catholic and I stopped him getting Ellie Sanders so now I gotta stand in, and I'm thinkin, I have a knife in my pocket, I'm just gonna grab it…and then he leans in real close and he says to me 'your partner has two little girls, if you scream, I go to their house next'" he paused "And he was right, about Ray Ray's kid's. We never figured how he knew that, or how he found me...But, anyway...He like, pushed me forward, so he's got me at arms length and I have my hands on the table in my kitchen. Then he starts cutting my back…and it hurt, I'm struggling and I'm really having a hard time not screaming, a really hard time…but I keep thinking, once he's done on my back he'll have to shift his weight cos he's gonna want my…my bones…and when he does I'm gonna use the chance to turn around and stab him in his fuckin heart" his accent made the word come out 'haht' "But I say 'thinking', at this point my heads a little messed up, so, he's at the top of my back, and I'm 'thinking', any minute now he'll move…but he just keeps on going…he slides the blade toward my throat and that's just about when instinct overruled Ray Ray's kids, I hate to say…I freaked, I jerked forward, and the knife slid back" Nox was touching the scar, tracing it's path on his skin "And I get my knife and I manage to get him in the arm and he just…runs…he runs outta the place and I'm bleeding fuckin everywhere and…I don't want this to sound like I was being a hero cos I wasn't" he said quietly "I get my cell, and at this point I'm layin on the floor, just, a mess, and I call Ray Ray cos he's on my speed dial and in my head, I'm not thinking clearly at all so I manage to coherently say 'get the kids outta the house' but not…not in the way people kept thinking" he seemed angry.
"How do you mean?" Danny asked quietly.
"People went on for months after about how I was this hero cos I called and warned Ray Ray before I asked for help, but it wasn't like that…I was just so high off the blood loss that all that was in my head was to tell Ray Ray the girls where in trouble, I couldn't even fuckin remember I was hurt, I mean, as soon as he asked if everythin was okay, then I freaked out, but…I'm not a hero" Nox gave a shrug.
"What happened to Ed?" Danny asked.
"Honestly? We don't know. We never actually found him" Nox stated.
"Fuck. So how badly messed up where you?" Danny asked.
"I lost, well obviously, I lost serious amounts of blood…had to have surgery, they where worried I was paralysed…there was kinda, a few months that where just a haze cos I was all drugged up, all I remember is I had to lay on my stomach all the time" Nox shook his head again.
"Damn man" Danny said with feeling.
Nox smirked "Ah what ever, every cops got stories right?" he asked "I mean what's behind that?" he pointed to Danny's right wrist.
Danny frowned and looked down at his arm. Just beneath his thumb, running in a straight, neat line for about four inches, there was the faintest white scar, the smaller marks from the stitches giving it the distinctive look of something that had been treated.
"Look at that" Danny muttered, "Normally you cant see it" he frowned.
"What's it from?" Nox asked as the computer beeped softly.
Danny hit a few keys and the computer resumed it's search.
"I was gonna be a ball player, I broke my wrist" He explained "That's the scar from where they had to operate"
"How'd you break it?" Nox asked.
"I got in a fight" Danny shrugged.
Nox stared at him, waiting. "And" he prompted.
"And my wrist got broke" Danny said bluntly.
"What like, it just snapped?" Nox pushed.
"No…the guys I was fightin held me down and broke it" Danny said.
"You press charges!" Nox asked him, shocked.
"No, I didn't…not against them" Danny seemed almost, almost, afraid.
"Against who?" Nox asked.
Danny ignored him and leaned toward the computer, typing on the key board "Got a list of likely addresses, narrowed it down to eight from a potential bazillion" he nodded.
He hit a button and the list of addresses began to print off across the room.
"Lemme get a look at that number?" he asked.
Nox directed him to a computer on the other side of the room.
Danny frowned at the screen for a second before typing something quickly.
"You're like 'Mr computers' huh?" Nox smirked.
"Yeah well don't tell any of the techie guys I just did that, technically it's an illegal code but it should speed up the program finding her number" Danny told him.
Nox smirked, the odd tension that had arisen from their conversation dissipating quickly.
"Here we go…" Danny hit a few more keys and once again, the printer hummed to life.
Danny walked over to it, picking up the printed sheets "We might as well start tracking these down, Mac and Stella are workin the stuff they got off've Luke"
"You want to find Pixie first, or follow the cars?" Nox asked.
Danny frowned. In the bright light of the lab, the bruises on his face looked especially harsh, his skin seeming unnaturally pale, the bruises looking ugly and painful. The cut over his ear was clean but nasty looking, the butterfly stitches long gone. He looked exactly like some one who had taken a beating.
"I don't know…I mean we need to find her, but, we need to find him just as much" Danny mused.
"We could split up? You take a uniform and go find her, I'll take a couple guys and check out these addresses" Nox suggested.
"Sounds like it could work" Danny agreed.
He handed Nox the list "Remember though, this guys big, and he's dangerous and he's fast" Danny said "Be ready"
Nox sighed as he hammered on the door. He had rounded up 2 pairs of uniformed officers, given them photo-fits Danny had provided of 'Doctor Guide' and given them addresses each to check, leaving the last four for himself. Mac and Stella had agreed that it would be best for Danny to go more or less alone to get Pixie, as it was possible she would simply cut and run at the sight of cops.
The pictures from Danny's cell phone where still being analysed, but the tech who handled it had told them it wouldn't be much longer, and was confident the picture would be a pretty clear image of Danny's attacker. When Nox and Danny had left the lab, Stella and Mac where looking at something taken from inside a fold of Luke, the latest victims clothes, something that seemed to have been accidentally there and kept dry by how Luke had been positioned. Stella had recognised it as more of the odd, dissolving leaf Danny had found so she and Mac where discussing ways to analyse it. Danny had left with a single plain clothes officer in tow, there to be back up in case Danny needed it. Nox had headed off with his addresses. So far, he was 0 for 2, and this was his third and the guy was taking his damn time answering the door.
The first guy Nox had seen had been a woman, an old one, who lived in a huge old town house that looked as if it cost alotmore than Nox made in a year.
The woman, once Nox had gotten past her butler had been visibly distressed by Nox's strong accent, wincing every time he said 'car' or some similar word.
Nox had noticed the butler rolling his eyes at her behaviour and had been delighted when, as the man was showing Nox out, the guy had muttered under his breath "Don't take it personally, she's a die hard Yankees fan" with out a trace of irony.
Nox had laughed his way back to his car, and most of the way over to the second address, a Tony Wang, who as it turned out, was not a serial killer but was an member of a Chinese Street gang and hadn't taken kindly to Nox knocking on his door flashing his badge.
Nox had ducked the wildly thrown punch that had been his greeting when he knocked on Tony's door, given the kid a bloody nose of his own and crossed him off the list, warning Tony he would be back later.
He had no intention of going back, the kid was jittery enough as was that he'd be picked up eventually, probably in the middle of a street buy of speed or what ever he was so wired on, but Nox enjoyed the look on the kids face when he had told him to be ready, enjoyed the thought that the kid would be paranoid for the rest of his 'trip'.
He heard a thump from within the apartment he was now standing at and rolled his eyes "I'm with the NYPD can you open up?" he yelled.
There was another thump and Nox had his hand on the hilt of his gun, considering whether or not the sounds where suspicious enough for him to justify kicking the door in or not, when a click and the familiar sound of a chain rattling against wood made him stop.
The door opened just a few inches, the chain pulling taught and a narrow face peered out at Nox, frowning curiously. Nox held his ID and badge up to the crack "Scuze me? I'm with the NYPD, I need to ask you some questions about your car?" Nox asked as politely as he could.
The curious face, male or female, Nox couldn't tell, gave a minute nod and Nox lowered the badge as the door closed, there was more noise, the chain being slid back, and the door opened.
"You a Mr Daniel Holker?" Nox asked as he walked in to the apartment.
The narrow face belonged to a man, almost taller than Nox, much skinnier, but strong, Nox could see the sinewy muscles standing out against his arms like thick cords. He had pale blonde hair and dark, very dark brown eyes and the slightly intense expression of some one who was either running on adrenaline or something illegal. Facially, the guy was totally androgynous, but his body, the corded muscles, the sheer looming presence of him, was undeniably male. The guy was what Nox called 'time space age less' a term he'd gotten from his grandmother Nell. In this guys case it was about a decade, meaning to Nox, the guy was aged any where between twenty and some where in his thirties, but Nox couldn't be sure of his exact age.
"No, I'm not him" the guy muttered in a voice so unexpectedly deep it made Nox jump.
"Oh….well who are you then? And is Mr Holker around?" Nox asked.
"I'm Drew, I live here with him" the guy rumbled, seeming uncomfortable with having Nox in the house.
He walked past Nox and into the kitchen, automatically beginning to brew a coffee "Would you like one?" he asked.
"Uh, sure" Nox nodded, thinking the last thing Drew needed was more caffeine "So where is Mr Holker, it's important that I talk to him" he asked.
"He's out I'm afraid, what is it you need to talk to him about?" Drew asked as glasses clinked.
Nox began to move around the apartment, the small den area he stood in, visually taking note of everything as he glanced around.
Nothing seemed out of the ordinary, there was a couch, some arm chairs arranged around a small television, shelves against the walls stuffed with books, DVD's. Two doors, bedrooms Nox guessed, led off from the den and when he turned and glanced he could see there was a space beyond the kitchen where presumably the bathroom and probably storage space where located. There where no photo's, a few art works, cheap stuff mostly. It was an average apartment.
There was a small desk pushed against one wall, a lit lamp lowered close to the books and pages of notes that lay upon the desks surface.
Judging by the half written sentence and pen laying atop the notepad, Nox realised he must have interrupted rumbly Drew while the guy was studying something, which would seem to make him younger in Nox's approximation.
The notes seemed to be describing some kind of Rite or Ritual, Nox couldn't tell, Drew's hand writing was terrible, scrawling across the page as if a drunken spider had walked through a pool of ink and made its way to the pad.
There was a creak and Nox stepped casually away from the desk, making it look as if he hadn't stopped, had simply glanced at the desk on his way around the room.
"Here" Drew handed him a chipped blue mug, fresh coffee steaming away within.
It smelled unfairly good and Nox took a small sip "Thanks" he smiled politely "So, Mr Holker, I need to talk to him about his car" Nox asked.
Drew, holding his own mug, frowned, walking casually past Nox and flipping one of the books he'd been taking notes from closed over his messy writing pad "His car? Did something happen to it?" he asked.
"We have reason to believe it may have been used in the commission of an assault against a police officer in the early hours of this morning, we're not making any accusations, we realise the car could have been stolen…that's why I'm here" Nox explained, sipping the coffee again.
"Oh…well he's pretty unreachable when he's at work" Drew told him.
Nox narrowed his eyes, noting that Drew hadn't asked after the injured officer, Danny.
"well, luckily the officer in question got away from his attacker" Nox said very pointedly "but a car that may have belonged to Mr Holker was spotted near the scene so, do you know if the car could have been stolen?" Nox asked.
"He takes it to work…if it had been stolen, he would be here" Drew said simply.
Nox raised an eye brow at the kid, letting his gaze drop casually to the book Drew had made the effort to close.
It was some kind of anthropology text book, fitting with the notes about rituals and something Hammerback had said about some tribes using hallucinogenic herd or plants to aid rituals began to run around Nox's mind.
"Are you sure he's unreachable?" Nox asked "This is a serious matter, if his car wasn't stolen then I need to talk to him directly" he stated.
"he didn't have anything to do with a cop getting hurt" Drew frowned.
"That's probably true, I still need to talk to him" Nox shrugged "Is there a phone number where I can reach him?"
Drew shook his head sullenly.
"What exactly is his job?" Nox asked.
"I don't know" Drew rumbled "I'm just a living here, I pay my rent directly to him in cash"
Nox bit back a growl "Do you know when he gets back from work?" he asked.
"It varies from day to day…and sometimes he wont come back, or he'll only be in long enough to eat or grab a shower then he'll go out again…that's part of why I moved in here, he said I'd mostly have the place to myself" Drew shrugged.
He was lying through his teeth and Nox could see it, the guy wasn't even a good liar, but along with the dishonesty in his eyes there was a solidity, a stubborn firmness that said he'd stick with the lie no matter what. He had contradicted himself saying that Holker wouldn't hurt a cop, as if he knew the guy well enough to bea judge, but then following that up by saying he barely saw Holker. Nox wanted to smack him.
"Well can you do me a favour and write this down, make sure it goes some where he'll see it?" Nox asked.
Drew moved to get a sheet of paper and a pen and Nox swigged the coffee again, savouring the heat of it through the ceramic of the mug.
The humidity that had come with the rain was coming and going in waves, currently it was freezing outside under the torrents of water, and Nox could feel a cold settling on him.
"Okay, uh, write this down 'Mr Holker, Detective Nox Miles with the NYPD stopped by. Vital you talk to him about your car, ASAP, call him at this number any time…'" Nox recited his desk number and cell number, "Make sure you underline the part about him calling" he told Drew.
Drew obediently copied it all down, even using a ruler and different coloured pen to high light the parts Nox asked.
"If I don't hear from him I'm coming back Drew, and I'll want to know why" Nox warned.
Drew glared impotently but walked past Nox to put the note on the fridge as Nox finished up the still piping coffee, hissing quietly as it went down.
"Thanks for your time" he muttered, handing the mug back to Drew as Drew made a point of opening the door to let him leave.
Nox stopped in the door way and dug out the photo fit Danny had given of 'Guide' "Do you know this guy?" He held it straight out, close to Drew's face, making Drew flinch slightly, taking away that second he would have needed to compose himself.
Drew scanned the picture and his eyes flickered ever so slightly, and he hesitated, pausing for just a millisecond before he said 'nope, could be any body' and Nox knew he was lying, that he needed to come back here with a warrant and have words with Holker.
"Thanks again" Nox said, his grin fixed and cruel, his eyes knowing.
Drew gave a bobbing nod of his head and pushed the door closed and Nox restrained a chuckle and headed for the elevator.
He was on the eighth floor of the old building, and the elevators where horribly slow and creaky and seemed to shudder more than was safe, but Nox knew that in cities, things where just like that and wasn't worried. He hit the button for the ground floor and leaned back against the back wall of the elevator, rolling his neck to work out a kink, feeling the scar pull a little tight, as was normal.
It started in his right foot, four floors from ground, a simple heaviness, a numbness where his foot lay against the floor.
Nox frowned, lifting his leg and stamping the foot to get the blood flowing again, but rather than jar a little life back into his foot, the movement only made Nox stagger as the numbness seemed to have spread higher, to his ankle, crawling up his shin.
He was two floors from ground and he began to panic slightly.
When he had been attacked by Ed, the child killing Satanist, there had been a period when Nox had been paralysed, both legs and his right arm, useless. The fear was that Ed had severed a nerve in the attack but it wasn't totally clear, as there was also a possibility that the damage had been done to the muscles in Nox's back, and that in time it would head. Luckily this had been the case but Nox had still suffered almost total paralysis for longer than he liked to think about. He had decided that if he ever was paralysed again, he would ask some one close to help him to die. Nox was a physical person, he couldn't stand the thought of being trapped inside his own body. It scared the living shit out of him and after the attack, it had been nightmares about being paralysed that had plagued him more than anything.
"Come one" Nox muttered, clutching the rail for support and shaking his leg, trying to get the blood flowing.
He actually felt the numbness creep over his knee and begin rising up his thigh as the elevator thumped to a stop on the ground floor and the doors slid open, revealing the deserted lobby.
Nox concentrated and found he could still make his leg move, but he was still dragging it as he shuffled out into the lobby, knowing from when he had entered that he wouldn't get a cell phone signal until he was out side the building.
The numbness was in his hands, not as strong as in his feet but it was there. Thoughts began to race through Nox's head, wondering what was behind the sudden onset of the paralysis. He was praying every prayer he knew that it was some kind of mistake, or a dream or that what ever it was wasn't permanent as he barely managed to push the doors open and stagger out into the rain, feeling the numbness in his chest and beginning in his other leg.
He began to gasp, panicking, but he couldn't tell if it was pure panic or if the paralysis was making it harder for him to breathe but he dug for his cell phone, fumbling with it in fingers that now felt like they simply where not there and dropping it in a puddle.
He cursed but remembered the radio in his car, parked just across the street and he stumbled forward desperately, feeling the numbness go beyond something he could think past. He had been trying to run so when his legs failed completely his momentum still carried him forward into the street, into the path of a car.
It wasn't travelling too fast, because of the rain, but 3500 pounds of metal and glass is still 3500 pounds if metal and glass and Nox could do no more than close his eyes as the car hit him. The driver had slammed on the breaks and Nox rolled up the bonnet, crunching against the windscreen and slid forward as the car stopped, hitting the street, hard.
He lay, gasping, feeling the numbness reach his shoulders and stop and a tiny part of him was grateful for its presence, as his head was screaming in pain and he could only imagine how the rest of his body might feel.
He was aware of people around him, some one yelling for an ambulance, some one else, the driver apologetically telling people "He ran right out in front of me"
"I can't move" Nox gasped, his face pressed painfully against the street.
Some one lay a jacket over him and some one else was leaning close, telling him he was going to be okay.
Nox blinked back tears and repeated "I can't move" but no one heard him over the rain.
