Chapter 72: 72- Wins and Failures
At DKL general hospital in Freetier Park, the newly rescued Eliza Warren-Bishop was resting in a private ICU room after a tearful reunion with her parents. Reasonably enough, they could hardly believe that their daughter, after being missing for more than two years, had been found alive.
Mazurka and Kavak, who had been garnering the lion's share of the accolades for the rescue, had finally managed to break free from the fanfare as Harlowe addressed the journalists who had arrived at the hospital, desperate for the nights breaking story for the evening news.
As relieved as Mazurka was for this small win, he was still thinking about the other cameras, mainly the one that was labeled QVRoom, when he received a text from Skye saying, 'Call me when you're alone.'
Finding a quiet corner, and with Kavak as a look out, he called Skye.
"Hey, what's up?" he asked when she answered the phone.
"I didn't want to broadcast this to the entire squad, but I managed to track down the location of the blacked-out camera, and it led directly to Liebman's Convenience in the Downs."
"Thanks Skye. I'll head over there and try to locate it as soon as we're done here at the hospital, and I'll call you when I get there. Keep working on trying to track down the rest."
"Will do. I already have locations on one of the sets, but recovering that camera for me, might make this go easier. Knowing exactly what type of camera he was using will make narrowing down the signals that much easier. But yeah, tech stuff, blah, blah, blah, Talk to you in a bit."
"Yeah, talk to you soon," Mazurka said before hanging up the phone and letting out an exasperated sigh.
"That sounded serious," Kavak commented as he handed Mazurka a cup of hospital coffee.
"Well, it certainly wasn't good. Skye tracked the camera to the convenience store and wants me to go over there and recover the camera for her. So, it would be nice if we could hurry up and get out of here. I'd appreciate having enough time to warn Dylan of the shitstorm heading his way. I mean, what guy wouldn't be super pissed to find out that his girlfriend was being illegally recorded and some scum bucket was profiting off the entire thing."
"It would be understandable. Even if they weren't together then, he struck me as the protective sort. Ogilvy is probably lucky that he's dead. I can't imagine what a guy like Dylan would do to someone like him."
"I can imagine, and it isn't good," Mazurka remarked with a smirk before taking a sip of the coffee and sneering at the taste. "And Harlowe thought my usual place had garbage coffee? This tastes like dirty dishwater."
"You should never expect much when it's free. Anyways, as soon as Harlowe's done with the press, we should be able to take off. There's not much more we can get out of Eliza tonight. And as you said, Ogilvy's dead, so we don't have to deal with him either."
"Small miracles."
"Indeed," Kavak replied as they made their way back into the lobby of the hospital, where they watched the crowd of reporters gathered outside, just to the right of the entrance.
They waited around for a few minutes, until Harlowe managed to shoo the reports away and came back inside.
"Bloody vultures! I get they want the evening scoop, but for fuck sakes, hasn't the girl been through enough?" Harlowe complained as he rubbed at the back of his head clearly frustrated by having to deal with the media.
"The chief's assigned round the clock guards to her room. No one aside from us, authorized medical staff, and her parents are allowed in to see her," Mazurka relayed to him.
"Not that she can answer any questions now anyways. The Doctor has her heavily sedated to give her time to cope with all of this," Kavak added.
"She's got a hell of a long road ahead of her. I hope one day, she can find a way to put this behind her, and get back to a semi-normal life," Harlowe said in a rare moment of human decency. "Alright, there's not much more that can be done tonight with this. Make notes and worry about the paperwork tomorrow. Head back to the station and get your equipment signed back in, then head off for the night. And good work. I'll have commendations written up for both of you, and Skye too. Sometimes the higherups forget how pivotal a role our lab techs play in these operations."
"Thank you Harlowe. If anyone deserves the pomp and ceremony for this, it's Skye. She's really the one who found Eliza," Mazurka said with a nod.
"I'm sure we can come up with something for her. Maybe throw her a party on Friday night over at Lazlo's pub," Harlowe remarked as he went to walk away. "Oh, and one last thing. Kavak, I want you to consider putting in for a permanent transfer. I think you'd be a real asset to our station. And when I retire, Yechiel's going to be in need of a new partner."
"Retire? Since when?"
"Don't you worry about the details Kid. The time was bound to come sooner than later. Give it a thought, won't you?" he asked as the motioned to Kavak.
"I will certainly consider it."
"Good. Let me know when you're ready and I'll write you a recommendation too."
"Thank you, Harlowe."
"Of course, think nothing of it. Now get out of here before these bloodsucking maggots circle back for round two. Here, take my cruiser," he said handing Mazurka the keys. "I'll get a lift back with Summers and Franks."
"See you tomorrow," Mazurka remarked as Harlowe walked away, tossing a wave over his shoulder.
Taking the opportunity, Mazurka and Kavak left the hospital and returned to the precinct where they were greeted by a round of applause when the entered the squad room.
"Yeah, yeah, settle down. Everyone did a stellar job tonight, but don't forget the one really responsible for finding Eliza. If it wasn't for Skye Landry, we never would have known where she was. Now remember to sign your equipment back in, and paperwork can be finished and put on my desk by tomorrow night," Mazurka relayed to his fellow officers followed by another round of applause.
While Kavak handled the cleanup, and signed in their radios and earpieces for cleaning, Mazurka returned their vests to the locker in the office before heading to see Skye.
"Hey, I thought you were heading to the Downs?"
"Got a bit ahead of myself. Had to stop by to drop off our gear first."
"Just like you to forget something like that." She giggled as she pointed at the printer. "Take those when you leave. They are still frames of the room, and a couple of pictures of her. Maybe she can give you a time frame based on her cloths and hairstyle. I mean, it's worth a shot, right?"
"Yeah, I'll do that. But I need you to answer something for me and be honest. What are the chances that these videos weren't uploaded to some website?"
She shook her head and looked down at her tablet. "I'm sorry Yechi, but all of them were uploaded. It was a part of his coding system. It was one of the easier parts to understand really. He kept uploaded videos in this folder of folders, and the ones that required editing were kept in this other one. He also had a numerical system to separate the content. 1 being sexual with a partner. 2 being sex by oneself. 3 seems a bit broader, like nudity with no explicit sexual content. And 4 being everything else; mostly comings and goings, doing makeup and hair, and sleeping. Then there is the 5's. Reaction commentaries. His, reaction commentaries. I know you said you found journals, and I have a sneaking suspicion, these are like the recorded versions of those. Outside of that, there are also thousands of text files, photos, and porn. Lots of porn; not just the purchased variety either. I obviously haven't taken the time for a deep dive, but we both know that I'm not going to have a choice in the matter on that, but I did find a file that caught my eye, and I deeply regret my decision to look into it. Anyways, sorry, I'm rambling again."
"More than understandable. You have a lot on your plate right now."
"It will be easier tomorrow once Lilah's here. I'm having her stay late to help out," she said as she pulled an image up onto the screen. "I'll save you from the torture of having to listen to this kind of crazy, but as you can see from the image, he called his 'work', 'How my Lovers Speak to Me. The secret code.' Catchy title, right?"
"So, he was completely delusional?"
"Absolutely. He was convinced that these women gave him permission to do everything, including recording them. That they were conveying messages through their movements and actions, and the videos in this series, breaks it all down, in a documentary style torture porn, filmed on a decade's old camera in a dingy cellar dungeon with his captive victim. When you see that Karakaram, you make sure to tell him that in this case, he got it right. And I'd like to take him out for a drink as my way of saying thank you, for ridding this world of this particular type of trash."
"I'll be sure to do that if I ever see him, and he's not trying to kill me."
"Yeah, that's the thing, I don't think that he's killing at random. I've been digging into things, and it seems that all of our victims do have something in common."
"What's that?"
"Of those that we found, there are certain things that indicate that they were all about to die, shortly die or at risk of dying. Piang Lee, he was in major debt and then one day he wasn't, and it was exactly a year later, to the day, when he died. The first man, the one sitting on the picnic table, he had stage four cancer. Makayla Schneider, her killers were downstairs, and we heard him offer her mercy, and he did make it quick. Terry Otis, he was a bad shot away from an overdose. His liver was toast, and his heart wasn't going to hold out much longer as it was. Almost every case can be linked to something like this, with the exception of the group of five. Which made me wonder, given Ogilvy's history, what if he was going to attack Quayleigh that night? And what if she would have managed to protect herself, but instead of her being a killer, the Karakaram, ended up protecting her instead?"
"That would be something, and your theory, you're certain you can link all of these killings to death?" he asked as he quirked his brow given the odd nature of how that sounded.
"Yeah, I'm pretty sure. I mean it's all going to be based around speculation but that seems to be how it's all connected. It's just not something that I can really prove, definitively."
"Still, it's more than what we had to go on yesterday. And it does make some sense. I'm going to take Kavak with me and head to Liebman's. We'll be in touch in about twenty-five minutes."
"I'll still be here. I'll activate the camera once you arrive and that should make it a bit easier to find. Either way, my shift doesn't end until ten tonight. After that, you can find me at the bottom of a fancy looking bottle."
"Hey, don't overdo it, okay?"
"I won't, but thanks for caring."
"Of course, I care, and I'm pretty sure that no one around here says this enough but thank you. You're the real hero in all of this tonight. If it wasn't for you, we wouldn't have even known Eliza was alive, and may not have found her in time to keep her that way."
"It's just a part of the job, Yechi, but thanks. I appreciate you saying something."
"Just as long as you know that we couldn't have done this without you."
He watched Skye smile as he left her lab, and he heard her give a small cheer before he walked back to his office. Locking up his sidearm, he grabbed his keys and jacket and joined Kavak in the squad room.
"Summers, Franks, and Harlowe are the only ones left to sign in, but everyone else's equipment is accounted for," Kavak relayed. "Are we set to head out?"
"Yeah. I hope you don't mind taking a trip with me to the Downs, I want to swing by and pickup Dylan before heading to the store. I have a feeling that Quayleigh's going to need him."
"Not at all. I'm actually quite curious to see how this camera was rigged that it managed to stay undetected," Kavak replied as he picked up his coat and put it on.
"You and me both," Mazurka replied as they left the station.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Meanwhile, back at Quayleigh's apartment, things had not been going as Kyffin and Cole had hoped. Having attempted the ritual twice, they called Tau from the bathroom.
"I don't understand why this isn't working," Kyffin said as he poured over his notes, rubbing the back of his head in frustration.
"We tried it with both the spelling of your name as you write it, and the one you say Quays uses, but we got nothing," Cole said as he watched Kyffin pace around.
"The magic flow is working between us, but it's not reaching out to you," Kyffin added, as he began to examine the sigils on the sheet, hoping he had just made a slight error with one of them.
"I think I may know why," Tau said as he looked up at Cole and motioned towards his eye.
"Now I know what you thinking Tau, but that would mean that no matter what we do, this thing is never going to work."
"What are the two of you talking about?" Kyffin asked as Cole and Tau shared a troubled look between them.
"It may be that Quayleigh's eye is the key to making this function," Cole shared their combined thought on the matter.
"But that doesn't make sense. If anything, her eye should make it more difficult. It literally drains magic away. How could it cause this to actually work?"
"Her eye be connected to the realm of the dead. It maybe what allows her to push her magic through the veil between our realms."
"If that's the case, then we also need something connected to the land of the dead," Kyffin concluded as he looked at Tau. "Lucky for us, we have him."
"But I've never done magic before. Well, there was that Escadaram, but I think that was more her than me."
"Wait a minute now. You saying that Quays use an Escadaram on you?" Cole asked, seemingly surprised by the news.
"Yes," Tau replied only for Kyffin to immediately interrupted him.
"Nope! No, not another word. We do not need to hear the details."
"Well, I might want to hear them," Cole remarked as he crossed his arms and glared at Kyffin.
"Then he can tell you another time, because I most certainly don't."
"There really isn't much to tell," Tau said and before he could continue, Kyffin sat down next to him and grabbed a hold of his shoulder.
"Tau, we haven't known each other very long, but Dylan has been my brother for over thirty years," he remarked as he tightened his grip on his shoulder. "In that time, I have had to hear more than my fair share of his ill-begotten activities. Please do not make me hear about yours while wearing his body like a cheap suit."
"Ah, yes," Tau replied as he squirmed out from beneath Kyffin's hand and rubbed at his shoulder, a bit surprised by how strong he was given his lean frame. "I believe I understand your position on the matter quite clearly now. I will tell you what happened another time, Cole."
"It probably be for the best, he be kind of a scary like that," Cole replied as he took a few steps back. "Besides, no need to be getting sidetracked." Moving to the coffee table, Cole retrieved the container of scorpions. "Unfortunately, our little worm friend didn't survive that last attempt. So, it be a good thing that we have these. If our theory is correct, then you, dear Reaper, will work as a substitute key for our little gathering tonight."
"But as I said, I don't know how to do magic."
"That's okay, you don't have to. The three of us are going to work together to get it done."
"And with another division to the toll as well as a reduction in cost, as slight as it may be, this should be easier on all of us. How do you want to tether us together?" Kyffin added as he rubbed at his chin.
"Threading would be the easier, but I don't have the equipment for any of that here."
Both Kyffin and Tau were repulsed by the idea, instinctively throwing up their hands at the thought, distinctive noises of discomfort emanating from them
"Relax, we can use channeling. It's just a bit more complicated. Off with your socks, Tau," Cole said as he moved into the kitchen and grabbed a pair of scissors from the drawer. Returning to the sheet, he cut away a one-inch strip of fabric from its long edge.
"What is that for?" Tau asked as he tossed his socks onto the couch.
"To tie our hands to your arms," Cole replied as Kyffin prepared to work the ritual again, cleaning the pin of the worms remains and discarding the used sections of paper.
"Since you don't know how to control magic, and we don't have the time to teach you, Cole and I are going to create a loop by passing our magic through you and directly into the ritual. It's a way to mask our magic as your own, without you having to do a thing, aside from the incantation. I'm assuming you can read?"
"I can," Tau replied as he stood at Cole's motion.
"Good. All you have to do is read what's written on the paper, and if we're right, this will work like a charm," Cole told him.
"And if you're wrong?"
"Then we're down a scorpion, several hours' worth of time, a handful of replaceable components, and back to the drawing board," Kyffin explained as Cole had Tau sit back down with his feet beneath him, his toes now in contact with one of the larger circles on the sheet.
"Now the key be to breath out your words when you speak. Take deep breaths to expand your lungs, like you about to scream," Cole said as he sat next to him before cutting the strip of cloth in half and tossing the scissors onto the table.
"But why are you tying your hands to me? Is that really necessary?"
"Yes, it is. Because if you break the loop, it's going to hurt, bad, and being unfamiliar with the force of our magics, you may just be inclined to pull away. Unintentionally of course."
"We'd really rather you not do that. Burns are very difficult to heal," Kyffin added as he took the other cloth strip and placed the palm of his hand against the upper part of Tau's right arm, before tying it into place.
"Now don't worry about a thing. Kyffin and I will be doing all the work. You just focus on your breathing. Move your arms as much as you want, and you're also going to have to do the writing, but I suspect you know how that works."
"I do. I've seen Quayleigh do it countless times. Small words close to the top of the page, so Naldinrenu has most of the space to respond. But if this works, it may be easier for me to speak directly to him."
"How's that?"
"Through the green. As long as the candle stays lit, he will be able to see us. I can use the hand language of the Yioaleu. It will be faster than using the paper and limit the amount we need to use."
"Then go for it," Cole remarked as he finished tying his hand into place on the upper part of Tau's left arm. "You ready?"
"I am," Tau replied and Kyffin nodded as he picked up the lighter and prepared to light the candle.
"Alright, let's hope this works."
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone