Chapter 2: The clues don't add up

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MCPD

12-7-03

3:00PM

Vince sat at his desk with his legs resting up on top of it. Leaned back in his chair, he tapped his pen on the desk as if he was antsy. He'd done all of his paper work and there was nothing for him to do. He could go and enjoy himself, but Cheryl was at work, so in reality he couldn't.

"Why do you just sit there, Vince?" Captain Howard had asked him once. "If you got no work to do you don't have to come in, we'll contact you if there's something that needs to be done." Made him feel real useful. But today would be different, and Vince didn't have a clue. With his legs still up on his desk, he swiveled in the chair left and right for mere hip movement to keep him busy.

His eyes drifted around again. Same shit, different day. He looked over to the Wanted posters up on the wall across from his office and the one to the left of his. The usuals, and a few weird ones. Some sleaze bag Italian grease ball. A few black guys. A couple juveniles. Handful of Latinos. And then one was missing. Vince arched a brow. The poster for Daniel Lancaster, a suspected serial killer and syndicate member, was taken down. Vince rubbed his chin and thought about this. Either he was arrested or killed. Wait, wasn't he being watched? Vince rose from his chair and walked into the Captain's office. Howard had two other detectives with him in. When he saw Vince coming to the door, he shook his head as if to say yes and motioned for him to quickly get into the room. When he did, he shut the door behind him.

"Burnett, good thing you're here, I was just about to call you."

Vince looked over at the other two detectives. Corallo and Hall. He gave them a nod before looking back over to Howard. "Why, what's the matter?"

"You saw the wanted wall, right?"

"Yeah, Lancaster's poster is gone, what's the deal?"

"These two were watching him. Now he's gone, and we can't find him anywhere."

"Yeah, and how do I fall into this?" Vince inquired.

"We checked his phone calls and we didn't find anything usual, so we tapped his phone." Corallo answered.

"He made contact with a person named Irvine and few times. The guy you're looking for."

Vince's eyebrows raised, a look of surprise and almost shock coming over his face. "...What?" Howard was first to snap him out of it.

"Listen, we think this guy is the reason why Lancaster is gone, he might have drugged him up and kidnapped him or killed him or something. Either way, you're all on this case now."

"Well, do you have recordings of his phone calls?" Vince asked anxiously.

"Yeah, right here." Hall said. He picked up a tape recorder and pushed the play button. It started with the usual fuzz from a recorded tape but then it picked up. Vince listened closely. It started with the phone ringing. Then someone picked up.

"Lancaster."

"Yes, hello Anubis." Vince frowned. Anubis? When was he ever called Anubis?

"Who is this?" Lancaster demanded.

"You know who this is. You've been expecting my phone call."

"Okay, stop playing games ass--"

"Anubis," The man said in a bold tone, cutting Lancaster off. "You asked me about the Matrix on the internet a long time ago. Are you still interested?"

"Irvine...?" Lancaster suddenly asked, as if he were in the presence of someone highly superior than he.

"Yes. The phone is tapped, Anubis. I will contact you again." The click of the phone hanging up followed after, and Hall pressed stop.

All four men exchanged looks. "Anyone ever heard of the Matrix?" Howard asked. All three detectives shook their heads to say no.

"Hold on, there's one more." Hall said. He pressed play again. The phone ringing was heard again, and someone picked up.

"Hello?"

"Anubis, this is Irvine. Are you ready to meet?"

"Yes."

"Meet me in the shut down storage warehouse in the slums district. I will give you the red pill."

Click

"Okay gentlemen, we have our work cut out for us," Howard started. "Corallo, Hall, I want you guys to go into his house and look for clues and see if we can get any evidence on this guy, here's the warrant, keep it with you." He handed Corollo the warrant, and he folded it and put it in his pants pocket. Then he turned to Vince. "I want you to go over to that old warehouse and see if you can find anything. And while you're at it, find out what the hell they talking about and find out what the 'Matrix' is. After that, since you're narcotics, look into whatever sources and informants you have on whatever the red pill is. Move it!"

Vince nodded and left the office. He checked his gun to make sure it was loaded and the safety off. Hall chuckled. "Ready to shoot off again, eh Vince?"

"Just making sure. Whatever is takes to keep my ass alive. I'll see you guys later."

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3:30PM

The car radio was off as Vince drove to Appolyon, the part of the slums district where the warehouse was located.. He drove at a moderate speed, and wasn't in any sort of a rush. His eyes moved all over as he drove down the crowded city streets, looking from person to person, store signs, the road ahead of him, side streets, anything in his sight that was in front of him. He looked at the street he was on. Main Avenue. He made a left onto 36th street.

Brick and 9th wasn't too far away, but the location was a good choice for something like a secret meeting. The area the warehouse was in was a run-down section of the city, somewhere you would go to only look for trouble. The warehouse itself had been shut down a few years ago but no one wanted to touch it because the people living in the area deemed it "historical" since it had been there for quite a while. Please. It was for storage. Why is it necessary to have incentives?

It seemed like the whole neighborhood was stuck in time. With the sunset in the background, and the dusty feeling of the place, the area had a sepia tone to it, boring and dull as if it was clay. There was a sign of life though, people walking up and down the sidewalks, and some cars. It wasn't abandoned. It just wasn't that great of a place either. It gave Vince the feeling someone was watching or something was out there. He passed 6th street and sighed. Vince was wary as he turned onto Brick avenue, always on the alert. Someone around here might not like him in these parts and decide to show off how many bullets they had in their gun. Was it a boring day or just the city that did it? It started to rain. Oh great. Make that the day, and the city.

He felt like leaving, but his assignment held him back, so he shook his head. Where is this warehouse? Then, as he came to 9th street, he saw it, standing there still as the rain cut through the sunset, as if were expecting him. He pulled into the lot and up next to the building's main entrance, and turned off the ignition. He thought about whether our not he should walk through the rain or cover his head. Fuck it. He got out of the car and walked into the door. It was dark, there were no lights on. He moved over to flip a switch to his left on the wall. He toggled it a few times; nothing.

He scanned the inside of the room with his eyes. There were several racks with four or five large shelves on them that were made of steel, painted in orange and green. There were four rows of these continuous racks that ran from roughly the front to the back of the warehouse, with some space in between the ends of these rows and the main wall for walking, and cross sections between every three blocks of racks. The space in between the rows themselves was large, about nine feet of space between each.

He proceeded forward, cautiously. The only light was those coming through the windows, which were small in size on the walls and not many, and large on the ceiling, they few and far between. There was one large window in the middle of every set of rows separated by a cross section, and they were barred. It looked like a huge stock room in the back of a large department store. With the sun going down outside, it wouldn't be too long before it was pitch black in the warehouse. He stepped forward into one of the rows between two racks. After walking a few feet, he reached into his blazer and pulled out his gun and let his arm hang down at his side again, then pulled back the hammer. He had a funny feeling walking through this place. Just in case.

He passed the first barred skylight. Looking around, through the empty racks, up above him, and watching his back, he didn't notice anything out of the ordinary. Then he saw something on the floor ahead, in the light of the second skylight. He picked up the speed in his step so he could get a closer look, and stopped in the light pouring down from above. It was a small white card, about the size of a business card. After he put his gun back into its holster, he put on the pair of rubber gloves he had in his coat pocket and flipped the card over. There was writing in black ink. A curious frown came over his face as he turned the card over right side up so that he could read it. It read "The Matrix Has You." The Matrix...

He arched a brow, and stared at it as he held it in his right hand while with his left he went for a small plastic zip-lock evidence bag. He slipped the card into the bag, fastened the top, and put it into his coat pocket. Then he removed the gloves, placed them into his other pocket, turned, and walked towards the door. He noticed the rain had begun to come down harder. The water ran down the window kind of like suds, each bead of water running down and leaving a trail, followed by another bead of water, all across the window in vertical rows. He moved on, and walked through the door, to the outside. The rain hit him all over as he walked to his car. He didn't waste any time standing there, as he climbed in and drove away.

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4:10PM

Vince was last of the three detectives to get back since the place he had to go to was farther. When he walked in, Simpson, the guy at the front desk nodded to him. He was close to retiring. "Burnett, the Captain is waiting for you in his office with Corallo and Hall." "Thanks Simpson." Vince responded. He ran up the stairs to the second floor and made his way into Howard's office, as he walked in he heard Howard say "Here he is." He shut the door behind him.

"Burnett, did you find anything?" Howard asked.

"The place was empty, this is all I found," he said as he pulled out the white card in the evidence bag. He tossed it onto Howard's desk, and he examined it through the plastic. "The Matrix" he said to himself. "You didn't find anything on this Matrix though?"

Vince shook his head. "Nope, nothing. That's it. Whoever Irvine is, he was there, and Lancaster was with him."

Howard shook his head as to say yes. "Good, good, now we have a break in the case, these two didn't find much." He looked over at Corallo and Hall "You two go look up whatever info you can find on Lancaster's syndicate connections." He looked back over to Vince. "Burnett, I want you to look into whatever the red pill is. If we can get a supplier down or something, maybe we can cut him off, got it?" All three of the detectives nodded. "Then get to it. And somebody get this bag over to Evidence."

Vince walked out and went back into his office cubicle. As he sat there waiting for his computer to start up, he thought of the white card again.

'The Matrix Has You'...

What is the Matrix?

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