Mary being a Badass.

Sometimes she's too smart for her own good...

The strong noonday sun beat down on the cracked asphalt in the outskirts of PortTown. The strong seaward breeze flowed inland, crusting everything in a sticky, salty sheen. Seagulls (skyrats) circle above, calling to each other. Ahead, perched on the pier, sat a bright yellow crane. It's tremendous weight was making the ancient lumber creak and groan - as if threatening to sink into the dark water. Mary frowned at it. She had been called here to investigate what was supposed to be the scene of a murder, but failed to… ah.

"Eyo! Mary!"

Her coworker- who had reached the scene before her - caught sight of her, waved and jogged down the pier. He was wearing a rather heavy-duty mask, and was carrying another in a case - supposably for her use. She took it from him and quickly stripped the casing off, fitting the mask over her face. She needed to shout over the whipping wind.

"Johnny, What've we got?"

Johnny's voice immediately went from jovial to rather sober. Mary had no idea how he remained so bubbly while working murder.

"Yeah...uh, two kids. Male and female. Both early twenties. It looks like they were fooling around and drove off the pier. From the looks of things, they've been submerged for at least 36 hours... Can't even get near without a mask. Make sure to run the filter - switch is on the back."

Mary nodded, indicating he should continue his debrief.

"Strange thing - the car had no License plate. No VIN numbers… nothing. It's possibly a stolen vehicle? We have ID for one of the kids - Alica Nakata. She was on one the missing person's report filed Sunday morning. SouthTown State College. We're betting the guy is Adam Coleman, but we haven't pulled him from the car yet. Do you wanna see them?"

Adam Coleman. Coleman... Do I know that name?… hmmm...

"Mary? You coming?"

Mary looked up from her musings and grimaced. She didn't really want to, but she was the lead investigator on this report and would have to sign off on this case. She should probably have a look - at least to confirm their identities. She steeled herself and gave an affirmative grunt. Johnny grinned.

"Blue Mary - Always by the book… c'mon - hopefully they've pulled our second guy."

Johnny trotted down toward the end of the pier where the crane was situated. The crane had pulled up a rusty old sedan from the water beneath. The car was still suspended on the hook, and a team of hazmat workers were pulling a waterlogged body from the intestines of the car.

Spread on the weathered wooden planks was a white medical tarp, where the person ID'd as college student Alice Nakata lay. She was hardly recognizable from her missing persons filing. Her skin was beginning to bloat and was taking on an unhealthy dark grey sheen. Her eyes bulged out of her head, and there was an angry construction mark neatly across her throat. Perhaps she had choked on her seat belt during the crash? But the angle's not right… weird.

"Watch out! We've got the second one! Stand back!"

Mary hopped away just as the second body was plopped, quite unceremoniously, beside Alice. He looked slightly worse for wear, although that didn't mean much considering their dire conditions. Johnny snapped on a pair of gloves and went digging in the male's pockets. After a moment he produced a wallet and gave her an affirmative shout.

"Yup! It's Adam Coleman. The other missing person's filing. Guess we make some calls!"

Mary rolled her eyes. How was Johnny so happy doing everything? Whatever. She gave Adam a quick once over and…

Another constriction mark, neatly over his throat. What in the world? Could they both be choked by their seatbelts? No… the angle is too perfect. And the mark is too thin.

"Garrote wire."

Johnny looked up.

"Huh? Did you say something Mary?"

"Look Johnny. The marks on their necks. They look like they were suffocated by a Garrote wire. Does it seem that way to you?"

He went over to observe the bodies. After a moment he turned back toward her, looking significantly less cheerful.

"... Well, I suppose it does. But I ran background on these kids. Squeaky clean. I can't even imagine why anyone would bother murdering them."

Mary pointed at the car.

"Did they seem the type to steal vehicles?"

Johnny frowned and tapped the plastic mask lining over his chin. After a moment he shrugged and resignation and looked at her.

"Well, I guess you're right. You're thinking these kids were murdered and the bodies were dumped here along with the car. You figure whoever murdered them was trying to stage their deaths as accidents?"

"Exactly…"

Mary's thoughts flew back to the warehouse - moments before Iori burned it to the ground. The trace scent of urine, and the ropes which were knotted in a way that indicated they had bound hostages… or witnesses.

Shit… Geese did this…

At the revalation, Mary shook her head in disgust. She didn't share her hypothesis with her coworker. Johnny… he probably didn't work for HCon, but he also couldn't keep his mouth shut. Mary thought it prudent to withhold this information from him. She would take it to the Sheriff himself, as he directed.

She faced the hazmat crew and hollered instructions over the wind.

"... Johnny, finish up here. I'm headed back to the precinct. do me a favor and make the calls to the families… I'm going to go make a report."

Just wanna say rip Lenny

Gg goose man gonna kill u