-Oxford - Thursday: Part 19-
Reino stared at the closed door, it was odd to have permission upon this floor, of course, the fact that General Brown had been their escort hadn't passed his notice, nor the way the man leaned against the hall. Apparently, he knew ritualist because he didn't question the fact that he had paused at the door or the small chain that seemed to dangle from his shoulder down to his wrist that was not holding anything in question. The image of Ruto went through his mind but he had not been pulled in at all. Fact when he had shaken General Brown's hand all he saw was the annoyance that he was babysitting the group of them.
Kiyora leaned against him slightly, not touching but still very close, "So, it seems that he doesn't like us much." His voice was low but with the distance between him and General Brown, it wasn't as if the man wouldn't have heard him. Yet he was pretending otherwise it would seem to Reino not that it bothered him all that much, most people didn't like him. Or more correct they got weird around him, it all added to his dislike of the living. "So are you going to do that thing you do?"
Reino's eyes darted towards his friend slightly, it would be easier once he was inside to case the circle but he had a feeling it wouldn't exactly be needed but he wanted a sort of protection for himself regardless. "Always," he said simply and Kiyora backed up some reaching into his pocket and pulling out a small mirror, checking his own reflection for a moment before blowing himself a slightly kiss he handed the mirror to Reino.
The truth his group of friends was used to his weird habits, not that they were weird to them but he wondered sometimes. They always went out of their way to keep people from touching him, they always realized when he was trapped or could be trapped in the thoughts and memories of another person. Yet they also knew when to back up and as Kiyora moved away from him to stand with other friends he knew he had been extremely lucky to have been invited to join Miroku's band. 'Yet now I'm drawing them into a world I didn't want them to be part of' or more correctly Tomi was forcing his hand and thus theirs not that they would see it that way. They just didn't realize exactly how dangerous the man was, how dangerous his mother's family really was. That he was part of it because of his blood, that they had no problem coming and using them or his mother to make him do what they wanted. He was just lucky that it wasn't as bad as with some, he knew the truth and that alone should have made his choice in this life, well he shouldn't have had a choice at all he supposed. The fact he did have that much control was in and of itself amazing.
The little grudge shifted some, he eyes shot towards the little being. 'Grudges shouldn't know or understand tenderness' but here was this little creature touching the side of his cheek almost as if petting him, to help calm him somehow 'and that's after hitting me today with things.' It stuck out its tongue slightly before returning to it's soft and gentle strokes that he had to admit was strangely comforting. He found himself able to calm his mind of the negative thoughts 'Forget on how many levels of wrongness it is to be comforted by a grudge of a living person.' Normally the energy of another being would make it worse but for some reason a grudge sitting snuggled against the crook of his neck was not throwing off his center of mind as it would be if it was one of his friends or another ghost. It was something he had to make a mental note of.
Taking several deep and calming breaths he closed his eyes running a finger around the edge of the mirror, slowly opening his eyes he didn't miss the slight glow that seemed to reflect back at him before turning it away from his face and towards the door. "Circle of Reflection, Circle of Protection, This is my domain and I alone determine what dark entities are allowed to pass beyond this door upon my entrance. Circle or Reflection, Circle of Protection upon my image once more shows may this holds true." the truth of the matter anything already inside he would not be able to counter, fact anyone stronger than his own spiritual power would be able to break through but it was a comfort to know that he could in a small way keep him and his friends safe. It was clear to Reino that Kyoko seemed to aligned herself with some extremely dark forces if the little grudge on his shoulder was any hint of exactly what darkness laid within her heart.
General Brown placed a hand on Reino's shoulder causing the smaller man to jump slightly, his friends had moved but clearly they had not been expecting the older man to do this at all, maybe because he was a General and they didn't tend to be the kind of people who you would expect would reach out and touch someone who was being harmless. "You know my sister would say that those sort of spells don't work" There was a hint of sadness that echoed within Reino that was not his own before quickly disappearing. "It's more of a public place after all." His hand fell from Reino's shoulder. Reino looked at him slightly not sure what to make of what had exactly happened.
"I've never had problems before." It was the truth, minus when it came to certain people, his spiritual energy wasn't exactly weak.
The older man smiled slightly at him, "Of course not, that's why you are foolish to think it will work. Public spaces need more..." he said simply taking the mirror from Reino's hand. "Not to say all it would take is destroying this mirror or reflecting it back at you." Reino's face began to pale slightly "There are other ways of course," he said putting the mirror in Reino's pocket patting it, "Like throwing doubt into your mind. Now if you are done, I think we should head in for dinner don't you?"
Gayle King eyes didn't leave the folder, the papers she was sorting, he hadn't attempted to move her briefcase, let alone look inside of it, not that he would have found much. Everything of any real importance right now was in her hand and he would have zero access to the laptop, fact even if he had attempted to get one of his IT men to crack it, all that would do would destroy the whole thing, set off a warning to their own IT and then it would disappear within the hour. Yet this man, John Tyler was one of the easiest men she had ever had to get mad, had to get to slip up to disprove his loyalty or find any little fault in. Not that she found that hard to do but it hadn't taken him long to act out in anger towards her.
Tyler's hands slammed against his desk, if that hadn't been enough to showcase this man's anger at her at the moment, the look of pure rage on his face was enough. "If you have information on Alice Patterson, then hand it over!" He wasn't even trying to keep his voice low at this moment.
King looked at him from the folder, "That's not my case" it wasn't that she wanted anything bad to happen to the young woman. It was just that in her line of work, her true line of work you couldn't grow attached to such things as morals. You can't grow attached to people either, once Gayle King was no longer needed she would disappear, those people who were Gayle King's friends would miss her, cry for her even but she couldn't let that bother her. Her role was for the Crown and sometimes the roles were for a day, a week, months and yes sometimes years. For herself, she had been Gayle King for a year she didn't know when Gayle King would die and she couldn't let herself care.
Tyler's eyes narrowed as he looked at her, "Let me get this straight, you are refusing to give me information on Alice Patterson because she's not your case?" she could almost see him twitching as if he found some way to arrest her.
"Not exactly, I've actually already said, well asked." she smiled softly at him as she tapped the folder against her leg looking at him. She noted the confusion on his face before rolling her eyes as she sighed, "The missing girls, remember?" she leaned forward some the folder moving further down her leg as she did so, "How did you ever become a Chief Inspector?" She shook her head as she sat back straight in the chair, "Fine. Do you want to know what t I find interesting about your missing people?" Actually, she herself hadn't even put it together until it had been brought up by Kyoko or more correctly it had been what she noticed about Alice Patterson, with Ruto pointing out things that she had brought up. She was sure the girl was right on this but the fact she didn't have all the information that they had been able to dig up quickly. 'The girl does know how to use her brain' of course the big thing was that none of this would even be happening at all if she wasn't in the picture. Part of her wasn't exactly sure what to think or feel about that.
She watched as Tyler slowly sat back down in his chair, she could see him trying to think of what he could have possibly missed but was coming up empty. "Do tell, what are you seeing that no one else has put together?" King could tell that he didn't actually think she had come up with anything, he had perfect faith in his team. The issue between things like her team and his was that her team could shut down everything that they themselves might have felt about something to do a job, his team couldn't do that. Their own thoughts, their own feelings got in the way of things.
"The numbers. The rose when Heth arrived here in Oxford. Most interesting is that not that's not in the limelight and is hidden the numbers are even higher." She smiled softly, "eight young women all gone. Sunday and Monday, there was no real shall we say taste other than pretty and young." She smiled leaning back in her chair as she watched him turn to his computer, "Total of three young women in two nights." She was sure that he was looking up the first three women in the general area all of which had been reported, one was a new model that didn't show up apparently for work, one was a new assistant to one of the designers, and the last was a make-up artist. "Now you could just explain those three away, the only real connection is that they all worked in the modeling world" she smiled softly as she looked down at her folder, "Different hair, eyes, body type, race and the list goes on." They didn't even work for the same company.
His eyes turned towards her, "Why do you care about missing people?"
"Please focus." She said simply "If you look next five you can see a type appeared." She waited for him to do just that. When she watched his face pale she knew that he realized something he had refused to see before, "They're all girls between the ages of 15 and 19 years old. Fair of skin, light hair, hazel or brown eyes, fit but petite. They're all between 5'2 and 5'4, they are 8 stone and from what has been reported all from broken homes or no families reported." The big difference between them was of course that Alice Patterson fits but she didn't fit at the same time. She could see it in his eyes and yet she couldn't stop there, "There is the dead girl" she said simply, "Jane Doe, 7.6 stone, 5'4 between 18 and 20 years old. Reported missing from one of the working girls, claims she wasn't a working girl but that girl had sex." Actually, it was more than likely she was raped, repeatedly at least if Kyoko history was any hint of what they should expect from these people. "Beaten to death."
Tyler's eyes narrowed at her, "Alice Patterson is a cops daughter." he said sharply "No one would be stupid enough to attack a police's daughter."
King wanted to laugh slightly at the stupidity, "Really? You believe that? That girl fits perfectly you and I both know that. Plus this serial kidnapper took three women in the world showbiz. One a model sure new to the world but she does have a following." She said shaking her head as she tapped her folder on her leg. 'Honestly, I'm even helping you by giving you this sort of information and you still chose to pretend otherwise' well it helped that it was part of the job at the moment she supposed but she couldn't stand someone who just refused to look at the facts because it would make him look bad.
"You can't just assume the first three and these five maybe six are related." He leaned back he had thought it through she supposed, "Serial kidnappers have a type, the first three don't match other than the connection you yourself made. These five are a type, Alice doesn't fit in that type. In fact, the dead girl doesn't fit either, her hair was bleached, none of the other missing girls have bleached hair."
This man was a test to his own narrow-mindedness and it wouldn't hurt for him to end up replacing either, someone like him shouldn't be running but all she could do was add it to her report. It was up to the Crown if something would happen after that. "Fine. Let's say you are right." She rolled her eyes making it very clear she didn't believe it and she noticed the way his face seemed to flare up with anger again. "Officer Patterson was looking into these cases last night. His daughter was taken as a ransom then." She tapped the folder against her leg again, "Not that I believe you'll get a ransom call but you just got your connection all over again. Now let's start all over in just the basics. Heth comes to Oxford, his first night here, nothing happens, the next two nights, three girls go missing. On Tuesday he crosses paths with Lady Kyoko claims she attacked him and he goes into hiding. Afterward the same night actually up to last night, five missing, one dead."
Again she could see the way his brain was working slowly, she could see him connecting the dots, "If I believe that, you are claiming that Girl is innocent." he shook his head, "Why are you protecting something like that?"
King closed her eyes as she leaned back in her chair, "She could one day be our Queen." There was truth in it but that wasn't the reason of course, the reason was because she was under orders from the Crown to make Heth's death happen and that meant that the Crown and the Royal Family, which included Lady Kyoko who lived within their walls had to be protected and made to look completely innnocent when Heth did die and he would but they couldn't allow the rest of the world to know that the Crown still did these sort of things. Not if they wanted the Empire to survive against the other world powers.