Disclaimer: I do not own the boys, Lady, or DMC. Capcom does and they should be ashamed about what they are doing to Dante!
Chapter 5: Detective Work
Lady spent the rest of the evening sorting through all the equipment previously owned by the human hunters that had been hired to the case only a week before she and Vergil had been enlisted. She scoured over each different object, becoming more annoyed as she worked. It seemed Charlotte and Danny hadn't been kidding about the inexperience of the hunters, they truly were nothing more than two boys whom had spent far too much time in their parents' basement, playing video games and working on conspiracy ideas. Seemingly when they had gotten their first opportunity to actually prove one of their conspiracy theories, they had jumped at it and gotten themselves killed for it.
Sadly, Lady found a few realistic looking weapons that were nothing more than toys. Even the film that she watched had proved Danny's assessment of acne covered teenagers. Fortunately not all of the information that the nerdy hunters had uncovered was garbage. In fact, although they had never been able to put to use any of their findings, Lady was able to uncover some of the mystery behind the odd symbols on Vergil's perplexing vase.
The symbols it seemed were alike to those used in witchcraft and the Wiccan art, but, as much as they were alike, they were not an exact match. Once Charlotte brought Lady her laptop, she e-mailed a picture of the vase and its symbols to Lucia and Trish, hoping that they might find a reference of them in one of the ancient books within their library back at the Devil May Cry offices.
Sighing, Lady got up and stretched. It was nearly midnight and she still needed to ask Danny for information regarding the acquirement of both the painting and the vase before she met with the Alegra's police contact. She casually watched the video of the ill-fated boys once more as she stretched, the film showing her the room just as the first rays of morning light filtered into the suite before the video turned to nothing more than dead static, in which the screams of the hunters could be barely heard as they were ripped apart. Then, just as abruptly, the video went dead, showing nothing more than a black screen. Lady shook her head, and closing her laptop and notebook headed out of the small closet like room.
She found Danny, as he had indicated, in the casino's security control room examining a number of television screens, each showing a different aspect of the casino's main floor.
"So did you get anything from that junk pile?" Danny asked, his eyes not leaving the wall of monitors before him. "Bring me up Black Jack table number three." he requested of a man sitting beside him at a computer terminal.
"Yeah," Lady answered, adjusting the strap of the bag containing her notebook and portable computer over her shoulder. "I'll just need to know where you got a hold of some things."
"Sure," Danny answered politely, his eyes still watching the screens ahead of him as they all changed to show one card table. "Just give me a minute."
Lady nodded and watched the screen absently, noticing just as Danny did the small movement of one man as he cheated at the card game.
Sighing, Danny picked up a small radio and putting it near his mouth spoke sharply into it, "Frank, discreetly converge on Black Jack table three and bring the man in the dark blue suit with the black stripped tie to interrogation room two."
There was a crackle as a response was made, and satisfied Danny turned toward Lady and added, "So which items are we talking about here?"
Turning to the desk she was standing nearest, she pulled the bag off her shoulder and removing the laptop, set it carefully down between two more computers. Opening the laptop, she brought up the images of the painting and vase to show Danny.
After carefully taking a look at both images, Danny nodded, "I'll see what I can dig up on them for you." Then checking his watch, looked back at her, "Detective Gabriele will be waiting for you at the bar in the restaurant lounge, if you want you can leave your things here for awhile," Danny suggested.
Lady shook her head, knowing she would need both items to keep track of any further information the detective could give her. "That will be alright, thank you," she stated, "But I don't suppose you could give me a bit of a description to look for?"
"Sure," Danny smiled, "He's pretty tall, with blonde hair and blue eyes. Usually dresses in a dark tan jacket and dark blue jeans. He also has a habit of drinking the hard stuff, so you might want to get to him before he starts up."
Lady's lips twisted up in amusement and after thanking Danny for his assistance, left the security room and headed to the bar. Just as Danny had said she found the detective already waiting for her, already starting on his first round of drinks.
Sitting down on a stool beside him Lady ordered a beer, before looking over at the detective. She was a bit surprised to find that he was actually much younger than his slightly beat up looking clothes made him out to be. In fact, not only was he fairly young, but he was nearly drop dead gorgeous!
"Not often that a young lady such as yourself orders beer," the detective's masculine voice spoke smoothly, his sharp blue eyes still staring into the golden hue of his drink.
"Not often you see a detective so young." Lady met the challenge easily; there were some benefits to constantly having verbal wars with Vergil.
"Well put," the detective smiled and looked toward her for the first time, his medium length golden hair brushed neatly in place. "Though I must say, I hadn't expected anything less."
Cocking her head in curiosity to his statement, Lady questioned suspiciously - though it was very hard to be suspicious of this man; he nearly radiated a sense of security. "I suppose Mr. Palmer and Danny told you about me in advance?
The detective chuckled softly, "No, no. If anything I've told them what I knew of you."
Confused, Lady's eyes narrowed, "I'm sorry, have we met before?"
"No. But you know my cousin fairly well," the detective responded, and tipped his glass back to down the rest of the golden liquid. "Leo is always going on and on about the people of Devil May Cry, with being a bit more specific about you."
Lady studied the detective more closely now, trying to see the resemblance of the quirky young detective Leo in this much more confident and handsome man sitting before her.
"Don't get stressed about it," the detective laughed. "We're only second cousins. By the way, my name is Mike Gabriele."
Relaxing, Lady smiled again, "Well, I don't suppose there is much use in introducing myself since I'm sure Leo's told you far more about me than I would have ever wanted to at an introduction."
Mike chuckled, "Probably, but I don't mind trying to find more out on my own."
Lady's smile brightened. Now, why couldn't Vergil ever be like this?
"But Danny said you needed to know some further details about your investigation, so what can I help you with?" Mike asked, ordering another drink just as her beer arrived.
Reminded of her business, Lady took a sip of her beer and answered seriously, "I was actually hoping that you might be able to get me in to the morgue to check out the bodies of those last two victims. Also any other information that you had would be helpful."
Mike considered the request for a few moments, and once he took a sip from his new drink, he replied softly, "I can probably help you out with that, but we'll have to go almost right away. The coroners don't like people that they don't know in their morgue. They're kinda jumpy around the living."
Lady nodded, "Sure, I'm ready whenever you are."
Mike grinned, "Great, just let me finish my drink."
Minutes later they were heading through the less glamorous part of Las Vegas in Mike's simple Toyota. Far more used to the wonders of powerful vehicles, Lady found herself rather impressed with the comfortable interior of the car, even if the engine under the hood was a disappointing hunk of scrap metal. Overall the grey sedan was a vehicle that Dante would have used only in extreme cases and then only for a demolition derby.
"Sorry about the ride," Mike apologized with a soft smile. "But you know how it goes."
Lady nodded sympathetically, "It's alright. My first bike wasn't anything special either. It's really only cause Dante keeps destroying my bikes that I keep getting newer and better ones."
The detective laughed heartily at that. "Guess it's a good thing for this city then that we got you! I don't think this city is ready for the destructive rampages of demons and the famous devil hunter Dante Sparda!"
Lady couldn't help but chuckle at Mike's infectious laugh; she decided not to tell him about Vergil's destructive rampages, which, unlike Dante's, left human casualties. Instead she strategically changed the subject. "So why did you think it was a supernatural force in the first place?"
Mike grew solemn, his hands gripping the steering wheel tighter. "Well... after three sets of crime scenes all almost exactly alike, and all in the same room, I knew it couldn't be just a coincidence. Especially when there was nothing on any of the casino's security cameras, and with all that blood... No human could do that!"
Lady nodded empathically.
"So I talked to Leo about it. He told me just to call you guys out, but Mr. Palmer wanted someone more local that would be cheaper, instead of spending all that money in getting you out right away." Mike was quiet for a long time, and then when he spoke again he did so softly and with such regret that Lady felt compelled to put her hand on his arm. "Those kids didn't need to die."
"It's not your fault," Lady told him softly. She knew the blame game all too well, having played it herself to many times.
"Sure don't feel like it," Mike muttered as he pulled the car into park in front of a well-lit building. Visibly brushing the previous dark mood off, Mike pulled a hand through his lush golden locks and smiled ruefully, "Well, here we are!"
The Las Vegas police department's morgue was a far more unassuming building than the huge concrete one in New York. Built with a large glass wall as the forefront of the building that was not only brightly lit but additionally looked out onto a well manicured lawn; it looked more like an exquisite office building than a place for the dead.
Entering the building, Lady followed Mike as he first nodded to a security guard in greeting, before passing the man and walking into a long hallway that lead away from the spacious buildings front. Continuing to follow Mike, Lady pushed her way through a set of swinging doors into a large cool room that had a bluish tinge to the lighting. Three stainless steel tables stood evenly spaced within the centre of the room, with large matching steel drawers lining the walls.
On one of the three tables lay a blonde haired woman that currently had her internal organs on display as a white haired old man worked through them. Lifting his head to look at them suspiciously with dark eyes, Lady noticed a few days growth of hair around the man's face.
"Good evening, Dr. Phizer," Mike intoned cheerfully, as he moved gracefully toward the elderly coroner.
"It's night, Mike. Not evening," the coroner responded sourly, straightening himself from his work.
"Well, you know it just sounds a little wrong when I say 'Good night'." Mike's friendly tone didn't change despite the old doctor's seemingly moody demeanour.
The old man sighed and pulled the latex gloves from his hands to toss them into a waste basket beneath the table. "I suppose then that this isn't a social call?" the coroner asked, his gaze now suspiciously watching Lady, whom hadn't moved far from the doors.
"Sorry, no," Mike responded almost regretfully, and then turning slightly in Lady's direction, gestured toward her, "This is Lady; she's helping me with a case."
The old man nodded. Unlike so many others that often questioned her absence of a formal name, the doctor simply accepted it and moved over to a sink standing close to the door. As he moved in limping strides, Lady wasn't quite sure what to think of the gentleman. Surely he was old enough to retire, and with that limp...?
The old coroner washed his hand and arms clean of any blood, taking his time before he turned to address either Lady or Mike again. "So what brings you here then?"
"Those two kids from the other day..." Mike stated sadly.
"Uhm," Dr. Phizer nodded, and limped over to the large steel drawers against the wall. Pulling one open, the doctor revealed the body of one of the young men Lady had seen in the video back at the hotel. "Why do you need to see them? Did you already lose my report?" the elder doctor asked with a hint of amusement as he turned back toward Mike.
The golden haired detective shrugged as Lady approached from behind both men, eager to see the wounds on the body for herself.
Sliding in beside the coroner, Lady caused the doctor to jump with her silent approach, but she paid him little heed as she observed a set of slashes along the boy's cheek and jaw. Even though they had been carefully stitched, Lady could see that the wounds had cut straight through the jaw bone. Turning her attention to the rest of the body she found it irritably covered by a white sheet. A quick tug was all that was needed to fully reveal the extent of the damage that the boy had taken to his body.
"Guess you're not new to seeing dead bodies," the old doctor stated, before moving away from Lady's side; he limped around the currently open drawer, and he pulled another open. "That unlucky kid that you are looking at Miss... bled out. This one here died of a heart attack before he got ripped up."
Lady looked up at the elderly doctor to find him studying her curiously, and nodded in thanks before renewing her investigation. Placing a gloved hand along one wound that the doctor had not been able to successfully suture, she measured both the length and width of the gouge. It almost looked like something a Blade could do, but then again a Blade would have simply sliced the poor kid clean open and left him be Lady mussed silently thinking of the lizard-like demon.
"Did you ever come up with an idea of what might have done something like this, Doc?" Mike asked, though the question was only a distant noise to Lady as she pondered over other demon types capable of the damage she was looking at.
"If I didn't know anything about where they had been found I would have suggested a bear or a large cat, but..." the doctor trailed off in frustration, then, sighing gently, he continued a moment later, "You really did lose that report didn't you?" he sighed gently. "Well, I'll go find you a copy then."
With that the coroner limped out of the morgue, followed closely by Mike as he responded with an "I'll help you."
Lady paid either men little heed, but was grateful when both were gone, leaving her alone to her own thoughts and investigation work. Leaving the bodies momentarily, Lady found a rolling steel table to place her bag onto and then set about removing the laptop. After a few clicks on the keyboard, she had the webcam operating and used the device to take her own photographs of the grisly gashes and apparent bite marks covering the bodies of both boys. Then after finding a ruler among the tools where Dr. Phizer had initially been working, she carefully measured each wound.
By the time both men had returned, Lady was done with her own documentation of the victims, and, holding a gloved fist to her chin while her other hand cradled her elbow, she was completely baffled by what kind of demon she was exactly dealing with. All in all it seemed more like the work of an animal rather than a demon; particularly when she glanced once more to the obvious gnaw marks on the one boy's arm. The boy had died before the marks were inflicted, something most demons didn't do. It truly was baffling.
"So were you able to think of something that I hadn't, young lady?" Dr. Phizer asked irritably as he returned to the cold room.
Lady smiled charmingly, and turned toward the old doctor, "I'm sure I haven't." Then she added respectfully, "I apologize for trespassing on your work."
The old doctor sighed, and returned her smile, "No need to apologize. I do realize the need for fresh eyes."
Lady's smile brightened and she turned, covering both boys once more and pushed both drawers back into the wall.
"So do you have what you need?" Mike asked, as he passed a file folder to her.
Nodding, Lady retrieved her things and thanked the doctor once more.
"I called the boys' mother... I figured you might want to see the rest of their stuff." Mike stated as they proceeded to leave the building.
"Don't you think it's little late?" Lady asked, glancing at a clock on the wall as they re-entered the front of the morgue told her it was nearing three o'clock in the morning.
"She hasn't been sleeping; can't say I blame her," Mike answered, regret once more filling his voice, as he held open the door for Lady.
Lady nodded. More information certainly wouldn't hurt.
Another half hour later and Mike had taken them to a small, well maintained house with welcoming light beaming out from within that reminded Lady of a quaint country home.
Ringing the doorbell produced a woman that appeared to be in terrible condition. Her face was lined and haggard by age and pain, her eyes red and puffy from days of sleeplessness and grief, and her auburn and silver streaked hair looked as if it hadn't been brushed in days. Despite her condition though, she made an attempt at a smile and welcomed Mike before stepping aside to allow the both of them into her home.
Dressed in flannel pyjamas and a fluffy red robe, which she pulled tighter about her slender form as the cool night air entered her home with Mike and Lady, the woman spoke softly, "I made some coffee. I know I should have asked first if you were staying... I mean I know you're busy..."
Mike put a hand out on the woman's arm and smiled kindly, "I would love some coffee, Estelle, and I do have time."
Wondering mildly if Mike was like this with any victim's family, Lady was glad for the woman's sake that someone cared enough just to sit and have coffee with her.
"By the way," Mike continued, gesturing to Lady much as he had done at the morgue, "this is Lady; she is a specialist of sorts and is working on the boys' case. Would you mind if she takes a look at their things?"
The woman turned to look at Lady, her face dropping in sadness. "No, I don't mind," she stated hollowly, and then as her face lifted in a look of desperation, she asked, "Do you know what happened to my David and Zack?"
Trying to give her best comforting smile, Lady answered "I'm doing everything I can to find out, and I'm very sorry for your loss."
The woman's face fell, and Lady watched sadly as tears welled once more in her eyes, before she quickly turned away.
Taking her arm, Mike began to lead her away, pausing only to inform Lady that the boys' rooms were downstairs.
Lady sighed softly. She very rarely dealt with a victim's family and even then she often said little for generally it had been the family that had contracted her in the first place. Shaking her head to get her mind back on her investigation, Lady walked in the opposite direction from Mike and was rewarded a few moments later by a set of stairs leading down into the darkness of a basement. Flipping a switch at the top of the stairs, Lady descended into the basement and found much of what she was expecting.
Like the main floor, the basement was kept comfortably clean, but unlike the main floor, the basement had been turned into a virtual gaming paradise, further confirming Danny's first assessment of the amateur hunters.
Lady was just about to give up on the victims' living space and return to the main floor to retrieve a cup of coffee, when a package caught her attention. The package at first seemed unassuming, but the return address on the top left corner said an entirely different thing. The return address belonged to an occult bookstore that the hunters of Devil May Cry had ordered from many times before.
Opening the package quickly, Lady found a large, leather bound book with gold lettering engraved into it; 'Magical Symbols of the Wiccan Art and Other Religions' it read.
Opening the book, Lady sat down in a chair nearest the desk and began paging through the book. It seemed these amateur hunters were at least thinking down the right track, it was just too bad that they hadn't been patient enough to wait for the information. Or perhaps it had been Palmer that was pushing them to recklessness, Lady mused thoughtfully.
Nearly an hour later, and about three-quarters of the way through the book, Lady found a very similar symbol to the one that was printed on the vase back at the hotel. Reading through the description, she learned that the symbol was often used as part of an elaborate set of symbols for containing monsters, demons, and other supernatural creatures.
Wonderful, Lady thought, the vase was a containment vessel of some kind. And as those vessels generally worked, if they were broken the creature being contained within would be released. Lady shook her head; she certainly hoped Vergil refrained from destroying anything.
Reading further she found that the symbol was light based, which was why it was useful in containing powerful creatures.
Super, was Lady's next sarcastic thought. She checked back with her notebook, which she had pulled out as a reference to the symbols on the vase. The symbols were so similar and yet she could not deny their differences and in magic the slightest difference could mean everything.
Sighing in frustration, Lady rubbed the scar that stretched across the bridge of her nose, she knew there was an answer to the puzzle of the vase and its runes – she just needed to think it over carefully.
The Wiccans, for the most part, had derived much of their magical symbols from the oldest of languages, from the language of heaven to the demonic tongue. Thus it was entirely possible that the glyph still meant the same thing, or so she hoped. Twisting her lips, Lady finally decided that there was little more to do with the one symbol and continued flipping through the book, perhaps if she found the other symbols then she could possibly piece the mystery together.
Unfortunately after yet another half-hour spent combing through the last part of the book, she had found only two other symbols that somewhat matched the other glyphs on the vase and the only thing she was currently positive of was that the vase was a containment vessel.
Sighing tiredly, Lady closed the book and then added it too the rest of her things before making her way back upstairs.
After a short search of the house, Lady found Mike and the woman in a bedroom. It looked as if the woman had finally fallen asleep. Mike gently pulled the bed covers up over the woman's form much as a father might have for a small child.
Looking up as Lady's silhouette filled the door way, the golden haired detective smiled softly. "I just managed to get her to sleep," he spoke in a near whisper. "Poor Estelle, losing both her boys like that." His gaze returned to the sleeping woman and he tenderly brushed her hair away from her face.
"They were brothers then?" Lady asked quietly, the obviousness of her question giving away her fatigue. She was only glad that the question was not aimed at Vergil who would have instantly rebuked her for it.
Mike only nodded in confirmation and then walking toward Lady, took her by the arm and lead her back through the house. "So did you find anything worthwhile?" Mike asked softly, even though they were far enough away from Estelle's bedroom that they no longer needed to worry about waking her.
Comforted by Mike's kindness, Lady had never felt as safe as she currently felt within Mike's presence, and did not hesitate to nod in response to his question. "I found a book that the boys must have ordered before they died." A sudden need to further explain her findings overcame Lady, and she felt no compunction to argue with the feeling. "I was going to ask if I could take it, but I suppose I should just leave it now." She continued and was just about to reach into her bag to retrieve the book when Mike stopped her.
"No. Keep it," said Mike. "I don't think Estelle will mind. Besides it's of more use to you now than her." Mike smiled with that kind, fatherly smile again and opened the front door for Lady. "Come on, you must be exhausted by now."
Lady didn't answer as she stepped out into the predawn chill of the desert. The darkness of night was only just beginning to be chased away by the approaching sun, and Lady frowned in thought at it. She was forgetting something important. As Mike passed her to go to the car, Lady just decided that it wasn't that important and getting back to the hotel and getting some sleep was.
"You coming?" Mike asked patiently as he stuck his head back out of the window of the car.
Lady nodded and slipped into the passenger seat, no longer caring about forgotten information.
Author's Notes: Thanks so much for the continued following on this story. As well special thanks is given to deathofaraven for an awesome beta job.