R:

Cops found the car
wwaaaaaay off road
Going there now get ride at bus stop. calling a car for you
Van says they found bodies
its them

---

“Definitely ditched. It was spotted by a couple of college students looking for a private camping spot,” Rai said. “If you know what I mean.”

“There were students driving around out here, past midnight?”

“College. You know what it’s like.” Rai huffed. “Well. I don’t know where you studied, maybe you don’t.”

They were beyond city limits, the top storeys of skyscrapers and perpetual glow of streetlights had long since disappeared. The woodland paths were poorly defined and worse lit. The patrol car Sao rode in had taken the road so slow that there had been moments we was sure they would be lost until morning. But they honed in on the flickering of another police cruiser’s headlights, deep in the woods. Two rather unhappy looking guards met them, along with Rai.

“They’re snippy,” Rai said of the guards. “They’re stuck out here until a tow truck comes.”

Locke’s small silver vehicle had strayed far beyond the primary road and was sitting against the dry trunk of some enormous tree - Sao thought he smelled pine, but in the darkness above, he definitely couldn’t see it.

The floodlights of the recovered vehicle were shining hard, two ferocious eyes, facing off against its captors. Lay off. Wasn’t my fault. I just was being used. But the white and blue police arrangement had their headlamps dipped as though they knew the hour, didn’t care for their charge, and only wanted to get out as soon as possible and rejoin civilization.

Much like their drivers.

Then there was Rai’s vehicle which was looking so beat down it may have fallen from the sky and crash landed in the woods. It was outcasted beyond the police barrier.

Sao approached the silver car.

“So, is this the vehicle you took with Marina?” Rai asked. From the shadows, Sao spotted the two officers mutter to each other over the patrol car. Their cloudy breath catching some light. But they did not move to stop him.

“Looks like it. Did they find it out here, in this condition?”

“Yeah. Keys in, but the lights off. Doors and trunk were all open. And of course, no driver. You can take a look around inside, it’s been cleared. But just to be sure… don’t go touching anything.”

Sao smiled, though Rai probably didn’t see it. “I’m not the touching type.”

He leaned his head through the open passenger door. He lasted five seconds before bailing out, nearling backing into a tree.

The nighttime chill was a miles harsher than than the midday pleasantries, but deep in the forest, the wind was blocked. Right above him he heard the wind passing overhead, setting the branches hissing and flickering, coal black and invisible against the night. The air was biting, but stagnant. He couldn’t get the sour odor out of his lungs.

“It’s definitely the car Marina was in,” he rasped. “I remember the glove compartment logo was little off its bolts. And the color - must be.”

“No doubt this car’s part of the case, then.”

“None at all.” He coughed. “You mentioned that Van was here.”

“He was first on the scene. There aren’t too many patrolmen around at this time, and not many who are overjoyed to come all the way out here and search for something a couple of spooked students called in. But he heard the call and ran right over with a bunch of his guys from the tactical team. And the police football squad.”

“He was awake?”

“Apparently. And so were all his crew. Out for drinks - a long, long round drinks, seeing as practice ended at eight, and they were still up and about past midnight.” Rai snorted. “Even if you don’t know of the average college student, you know Van.”

“A beast.” Sao rubbed his arms together.

“I was going to say dense, but that works.” Rai looked around them, as if expecting more. “Bet he literally jogged out here on foot, too.”

“Wouldn’t be surprised. But he didn’t hang around once the car was found.”

“No, he was already off by the time I got here.”

“Though, he did think to alert you. Does he always do that?”

“Van doesn’t want me turning up at all his scenes.” Rai smirked, heavy with shadows. “Remember, I shot that mass of reports at the main office yesterday morning? Locke, Oliver, Marina and the car - told you Van’s bored sitting at his desk all day. He probably looked it over at some point. So he knew when he saw this thing out here that it was bad.”

“The smell was indicator too, I assume. And I don’t mean the cologne.”

Rai dipped his head. The darkness around his sleepless eyes raised and consumed his face in shadow. “That's the bad part. There were two bodies in the trunk - the trunk was opened, maybe an attempt to get wildlife or weather to wear them down. A couple crows, but those things are all over the place in the day, apparently the bodies weren’t bothered much. The big animals hadn’t gotten a whiff it it all yet. After seeing what was in there, Van or one of his friends somehow got an ambulance to come out here and pick up the bodies, but once they were out of the trunk and onto the stretcher - well, there wasn’t much point in being slow or careful.”

His words struck Sao’s bones cold, but then, how many of these situations had he seen? Sao tried to stick that in mind as he responded flatly, “Locke. What in the world did he do?”

Rai may have smiled.

“About that.” Rai returned to his car. (His face was grim as ever. The smile must have been a trick of the light.) “Our culprit might not be so straightforward. I don’t know if Van’s descriptions were accurate, but he said...” he shook his head. “I can’t get excited over what could be nothing.”

The wind deposited a shower of dust and pine over them, throwing frenzied shadows through the headlight beams.

“We’re going to have to look at the bodies.”

“Come again?”

“Van got an ambulance to take them to the hospital. Obviously they haven’t checked themselves out, and since you’re here…”

Sao squeezed his drying eyes shut. His face, its amalgam of powder and clay which had been prepared for a nice long stint in bed, felt as if it were being cracked by the air itself. “Maybe we should but… are you sure it’s alright? Doesn’t a coroner have to work it over first?”

“Not how you wanted to spend the night, huh?” Rai yanked open the door of his battered sedan. “If you don’t want to look at a couple of dead bodies, you don’t actually have to go in, but I think the main office will have less input if someone’s making me accountable.”

“I’m wondering more if we are even allowed to view the bodies.”

“It’s our case, isn’t it?”

Sao gazed up, wondering how much he really wanted the case to be ‘his.’

“And if it’s the hospital I think it is,” Rai said, “We won’t have any trouble - okay, we won’t have much trouble getting a tour of the morgue. I know a guy.”

“Nepotism strikes again,” Sao said, still searching for stars or some sort of answer.

“Ha, ha. This isn’t some high criminal activity on our part. I can write it up as an attempt to identify the victims as early as possible.”

“If you say so.”

“It’s up to you. But decide in the car. Just get in. It’s like the fucking arctic out there.”

Once Sao had pulled his door closed, Rai viciously ground the ignition and the engine roared to life. The officers in the nearby patrol car hopped up in alarm. Rai waved to them without a glance. Sao did look, waved too. They did not wave back.

The lights of the patrolmen and their lonely silver charge blinked sadly out of sight. But soon, the yellow pools of ordinary streetlamps began to appear. The lamps filed by quickly, and they slid onto the barren highway.

“I’m going to grab a coffee,” Rai said absently.

“You know places that are open for coffee at this time of the night?”

“It’s almost morning,” Rai said. “And I know about all the obscure opening hours in town. I wouldn’t have made it through all those busy nights without coffee.”

“Would you sleep if you didn’t have coffee?”

Rai gave this some serious thought and finally shook his head. “Come to think of it, no. I’ve been awake since I was about... 14, is it? But I didn’t get hooked on coffee until I was maybe 18. Back in school, I would have about fifteen cups on a bad day.”

“Amazing,” Sao said blandly.

“So, do you want me do get you anything? Know a few tea places too, though I’ve never tried them myself...”

“I appreciate it, but we should get to the hospital, shouldn’t we?”

A late night delivery truck thundered by. Rai went silent, his leather-bound hands sqeaked as they gripped the steering wheel. Sao pictured stiff fingers, white knuckles under the gloves.

“There’s no rush,” Rai said. “We’ll be allowed to see the bodies tonight for sure, but everything moves real slow down at the hospital. I’m going to have to give this...” he grit his teeth. “This contact of mine early notice, and give him time to slog through his own paperwork.”

The final set of truck wheels howled by, high as their shoulders. Rai turned the car down the next exit and roamed a dozing neighborhood for a few minutes before reaching a roadside diner. It was by all accounts a sleazy nighttime dive. One that sold pancakes at all hours and hung road signs on the walls, but for some reason was labeled ‘Tea House.’ Flowing cursive on bamboo green.

Beside the Tea House was a short aluminum-rimmed block with the windows blackened and stuck with a neon sign reading GIRLS GIRLS GIRLS - READY AND WILLING.

“They have the best coffee, of all the places near here open at this time,” Rai said. “I think they have tea too. I haven’t asked but I just assume based on the name...”

It had the air of a place that needed to be seen to be believed. Sao opened the door. They were worlds away from the jet black forest. The sky was wide and deep, and though he saw no stars, there were the shimmering outlines of clouds over the moon. One could really breathe under that. He stepped out, stretched. Rai stared.

“Uh, what Zen and I said earlier today...” Rai grunted.

“When was this?”

“About the makeup thing-” Rai shook his head. “Why the hell would we be experts on the subject? Point is, you didn’t really have to change anything.”

Sao touched his face. His cold fingers slipped on the extra-thick mask that had solidified nearly to plastic. Well, the concealing paste had really proven itself. There was no way it would have wiped off in the night - if he had spent the night in bed.

He caught a look in the car’s side mirror and smiled a bit. Half of his face seemed to collapse into a clump when he did. In the dark, eye sockets welling with dark shadows, he was a mutant from one of Rai’s awful movies. Appropriately enough, Rai did not look frightened.

But he not look particularly pleased.

“I think I'll wait out here and get some fresh air.” Sao offered. “You go for your coffee.”

---

With his face gradually softening in the warmth, Sao snoozed on a plastic chair, one of thirty in the antiseptic blue waiting hall. The thought of impending corpses weren’t doing much to keep him awake, and the corpses themselves were taking their sweet time coming. He and Rai had been slumped in the sallow light of the waiting room for over an hour waiting for his unnamed friend to sort things out.

Having finished his coffee, Rai paced up and down the hospital corridor, disappearing around corners for minutes at a time. Each time he circled back in front of Sao, he checked his phone. Then it was off again, back and forth, like a grumbling pendulum.

Sao’s eyes closed.

The forest had affected him more than he knew. Like a slow incoming wave, once he managed to shed the distractions of the cold and the darkness and the smell of death hovering in that car, the forest itself came back for him.

Once again, he didn’t see the trees, but he knew they were there. He was in a tent.

His tent was made of brown cotton, thin and translucent as skin. It was all rot and flesh brown out in the forest. There was none of the mythical lights and blue will-o-wisps of rumor. It was such a disappointment.

He wasn’t alone, because naturally when he was young he would not have dared to go out in the woods by himself. He was here with his friend. She was small, like Marina, with similarly short hair but with a sharp, foxlike glare. Right now, she wasn’t glaring. Or was she? Her eyes were behind him.

He should have said something to her, but there was a knot, tightly lodged in his throat.

Through the fabric of the tent he saw blotches of light. It was warm, he found he was even sweating, but it wasn’t daytime. The blotches were torches. There were figures milling around them. But these were not fellow campers.

The voices rustled around them. He and his friend, who he missed, and would keep missing even as he settled into an idle life, kept their lips closed and huddled at the back of the small square space. As if that would offer any protection, as if every inch of the brown box that trapped them was not being watched and circled and prime to be torn open.

His vocal chords were paralyzed, but his mind was firing off wildly.

Advantages lay in numbers. Sao was terrible at math, and he didn’t know how many were outside. What he did know was that there were two of them inside, him and her. A tiny advantage, but surely better than just one.

Did outsiders know math?

He turned, but she wasn't there. His chest tightened. It was not his friend, not a girl, and its hair was not red, it someone considerably more cowardly, more frail, yes, they were all children but he could tell. It was someone a lot like himself.

His eyes opened. The hall was blissfully quiet. There was nobody about. But of course, it was the mortuary, and it was 4 in the morning. He sighed. His nap should have lasted longer, but here he was, wide awake.

Across from him, there was a poster featuring an immaculately groomed model with a brilliant smile, reminding everyone to wash their hands. Beside it, another handsome model, an older gentleman, advertised some public funeral service hotlines.

We’re here for you, the poster assured him.

Rai rounded the corner with a small gathering in tow.

One of the group was Van, broad shouldered in a black coat and the football team’s striped blue polo shirt. There were two other men in similar uniform behind him. He waved them off as the group split at the end of the hall.

“Am I seeing things?” Van said as he strolled up. “Sao up past curfew?”

“A miracle even I can’t believe.” Sao stretched his legs and made to stand up.

“Don’t bother getting up yet,” Rai said, “We’re not going anywhere. My guy’s still on the phone.”

“Whoa, look who’s the boss around here,” Van announced. “Don’t let Cad hear that.”

“The old man is too busy with his call to hear anything I’m saying.”

Van snickered, turned to Sao. “Hold up, you haven’t met him, have you? Rai not taken you down to the hospital for any reason?”

“For better or worse, no.”

Van blew a long stream of air from his nose, a deep sigh. The person he was picturing was either a real favorite or absolutely intolerable. “He’ll keep you on your toes. Much like this one.”

A meaty finger pointed at Rai’s grimacing face.

His head drooping more by the second, Sao wasn’t ready to be on his toes anytime soon. He yawned. “Sounds like something to look forward to. Is he the medical examiner?”

“Nothing like that. He goes by a few other roles, trauma doc, counselor, middle manager - I can’t remember half the actual names, but he gets around,” Van tapped his chin and glanced at Rai. “As far your secret contacts go, he’s a good one.”

“Well, he has been here for like… a hundred years,” Rai said.

Van roared with laughter.

The noise compressed in Sao’s head. He felt he had missed some important point, but smiled with them. “I just hope we aren’t stirring up too much trouble. Even if he can do it, being woken up at a godless hour to sort out some dead-”

“The problem isn't the bodies themselves. He’s off making calls and filling out logs, making sure everyone knows that there’s going to be a viewing, so there aren’t any complaints later.” Rai slouched into a chair across from him, arms crossed. “Typical city runaround. Nobody really wants to get in there ahead of us. Nobody really wants first dibs. The bodies could be there for months whether we look at them or not. To officially get things kicked off, the family have to decide what they want, and even if they’re interested, the coroners have bookings for months on top of that.”

“That’s not what we’re waiting for, is it?”

“No. Cad will get around it somehow. Nobody cares about the whole process, it’s just an excuse to start arguments that wind up with nothing getting done.”

“And the old doctor hates wasted time as much as you do.” Van grinned. He had the perfectly cut smile of the funeral service’s model. “Correction - almost as much. I think he was actually asleep when the bodies came rolling in, while you wouldn’t be caught dead wasting the night away.”

“Wouldn’t be caught dead,” Rai repeated with some pride.

“So will you be staying until we’re admitted?” Sao asked Van.

“No need. I got enough of an eyeful in the ambulance. Got some of that bodily ooze on my hands too. I don’t think I’d be much help, either. Late night in the pitch dark, up five beers and freezing my balls off, my memory might not be as flawless as usual.”

“We’re going to be seeing the bodies ourselves in a few… minutes… anyway,” Rai said.

“You two have it covered, whatever it is. Me, I think I’ll go crash for the night.”

“Unfortunately, it’s already morning,” Sao reminded gently, before Rai could.

“No! What?” Van tipped to the wall in false dismay. “And I’m hearing this from Sao. The notorious daytime napper.”

“How do you think I make it through the nights?”

Rai raised a brow doubtfully. But all he said was, “Van, if you’re going to get any sleep at all, you should head home soon.”

“Just about to.”

“Cheers, Van,” Sao said, and yawned. “I’ve been meaning to drop by the main office sometime. Remind me when the burger days are, I’ll be there.”

“You can already get burgers at the south side,” Rai said.

“But at what cost? In the truest sense of the word.” Sao lolled his head. “You haven’t witnessed a free burger day.”

One could just about hear Rai’s senses snap to attention. “Free?”

Hands in pockets, Van looked from one to the other and smirked.

“Look at you two. Wouldn’t have thought this was the dream team. Yeah, I’ll get you the lunch calendar. Come by when you’re done with this case, keep me in the loop. It gets real boring out at HQ.” He pulled another funeral advertiser’s smile. “But whatever this mystery killer of yours turns out to be, be careful. I’d hate to be dragging you kids out of an abandoned car next.”

Rai shifted in his seat.

A joke, Sao thought. Van in his schookid-style PE uniform, in hallway to the morgue, telling morbid jokes. But the combination was something viciously out of place, for Van, for him, and he couldn’t choke up a laugh. He had trouble raising his eyes. He was sure Van was talking to him, in particular, and not just regarding this one case.

“What the hell. Van, the code of conduct. You shouldn’t say that,” Rai protested.

“Really,” Sao snorted, throat loosening slightly. Rai’s jabs were so constant that it was much easier to stomach as a joke.

“You shouldn’t call juniors or those of lower rank ‘kids.’”

Sao couldn’t help but loose an awkward chuckle.

Rai’s jaw tightened. “I don’t personally care, but it’s… regulation.”

“And running in to see a corpse before the family is notified?”

“The families are all living far out of the city” Rai said triumphantly. “It will be a while.”

Van smiled too, fangs peering out. But only for a moment. “Alright, I give. It’s your case and god dammit - I know you’re right about the code. Any one of you young things could be my boss by tomorrow, just look - you two on a case while I have a drink and stagger off to bed.” His smile grew thin. “And it would be a royal fuck up if I accidentally slip up in front of the chief.”

Rai shrugged, suddenly wordless. Sao knew the feeling well.

“A few of a codes are serious stuff, if a change was made, it was probably for a reason. Though I wonder, who requested the ‘no kids’ rule.”

“Don’t know,” Rai said.

“Another mystery. It’s way too late in the day to handle those, at least for me. So then, esteemed colleagues, I bid you goodnight.” Back to his jovial self, Van gave a grand bow and backed down the corridor, past doors, the grinning ads and the final row of chairs. As he reached the end, another man swung himself around the corner, a large plastic cell phone in hand.

Van pivoted wide, mouthed a sizeable goodbye to the newcomer too, and cheerfully ignored the sidelong frown he got in return.

Then it was just Rai, Sao, and the man on the phone. The man was embroiled in some sort of argument that he was trying to muscle to a close, his voice spearing up and down the lengthy hallway without regard for the time or place. The skeletons must have been rattling inside their drawers, when they should have been getting some rest.

“No. it’s NOT okay if it happens a third time. I’m not going to repeat myself again so you write it down. I’ll wait for you to get a pen and paper, and do it, because I’m hanging up right after this. I want to make sure you get it this time. Go.”

He covered the mouthpiece and regarded his guests with an endless, seething yellow stare. Though much slighter in stature than Van, he seemed chew into the space with his voice, his expression, and the air about him. Not the mention the copious scars on his face, some of them looking fairly fresh.

“Is that...” Sao started, but Rai was already on his feet.

“I’m almost done with this,” the man told them. “You kids can come in now.”

---

The man’s name was Cadmus, and he introduced himself curtly as ‘hospital administration officer, I’ll be done in a moment’. In the chlorine-blue light his face was pale as the moon, framed by the rosy, almost confectionary curls on his head, and the frankly horrifying network of thumbprint shaped bruises that scaled his chin down to his collar. Even when his caller had him (apparently) on hold, he did not release his venomous stare, as if he could see the time wasting away before his eyes.

He was severe in a somewhat different fashion, but he and Rai were certainly cut from the same starched cloth.

As the two strode in front of him and began to ramble at each other, Sao swapped his impression: it was Rai who took after Cadmus. Rai had referred to Cadmus as a friend, but to the man’s own face, he had other words.

“Took a while, grandpa,” Rai said without a hint of humor.

“Is that a complaint? Remember where you are, kid. This is a hospital.”

“Shouldn’t hospitals aim to work quickly?”

“Of course. It just happened that were was an emergency than I had to take down before showing you in. Yes, it took priority - believe it or not, some patients come in here alive.”

Rai snapped his mouth shut.

“As it turns out, it was a couple of car crashes. More fuss about the cars than the bodily harm, and since the fistfight began, I assume the accident was nothing fatal. So we’re now good to go attend to your appointment in the basement,” Cadmus said.

They proceeded in silence to the far end of the hall, where Cadmus unlocked a door that looked very plain, save for three large locks set on the wall. One scanner, and two keyholes. The keys turned sharply, and the metallic clatter shot up the hall and beyond. Quite a setup to protect the dead.

Like Rai and his paper whipcracks. Sao smiled, ears ringing. “We really appreciate you taking the time to clear us for early viewing.”

Cadmus raised one of his brush-like eyebrows at the look of him. Rai muttered, “New clerk from my office. A friend of Van’s, he’s been working with me on this case. He’s going to help identify and document it all. His name’s Sao. Sao, this is Cadmus.”

As though Van’s protective aura had qualified him, Cadmus’s hard mouth smoothed and he stepped aside to let them pass. “You’re welcome, Sao. Rai hasn’t been giving you a hard time, I hope.”

“Not at all.”

Rai stepped by and gave them both a stony glare. Cadmus didn’t move for a moment, and Sao tried to prepare an apology. His brain was drained, creativity collapsed in a dry heap, but maybe he could use the all-nighter as an excuse. Of course, Rai might not approve, but that may make it funny enough to smooth things over.

But though he did not look ready to smile, Cadmus held his hand out. “Not the best of times, but it’s good to meet you.”

A loose chip of something, salmon colored, slipped off Cadmus’s sleeve and fluttered to the floor. Sao’s thoughts screeched to a halt.

Cadmus brushed another flake from his hand. “Skin condition. It won’t hurt you.”

Sao remained where he was, smile on a thread.

“Don’t try to break him, Cad. He has a condition of his own,” Rai said, tilting against the double doors ahead as if he had been waiting forever. “It’s a legit thing, it’s even on his resume. Sao doesn’t like skin contact, or the thought of it. So he doesn’t do handshakes.”

Cadmus’s hand lowered slightly, but not completely, as if he expecting a prank to be revealed.

“And that constant rash you got going isn’t helping. Though he won’t say it.”

“Is that so.”

“Yeah, he’s from one of those fancy finishing schools where they actually teach manners. If he could be giving you a shake, I bet he would. But I don't need to be written up for insensitivity, and if he isn't going to, then you should just--”

“That’s alright. I owe you an apology then.” Cadmus shrugged his shoulders. “To be fair, keeping your hands to yourself is actually a decent policy around here.” He walked up to Rai and scowled. “And what’s with your hands?”

“Why me? Did I say anything?”

Cadmus grasped Rai’s sleeve and lifted it, hand, glove and all, like a dead rat. “Another phase of yours? You know what kind of trouble this causes. Are you going to be lancing these things yourself?”

“I file the bumps off every night. So let’s just leave it. I -- ” Rai pulled his hand back, caught Sao’s eye for a flash. “I know what I’m doing.”

“You’re talking about the gloves?” Sao asked, with as much infant innocence as he could. “I think he’s trying it for my sake.”

“Is that what he told you?” Cadmus replied sharply.

“I think you implied it, right Rai?” Sao smiled madly at Rai. Don’t get into a fit this time. Please, we’ll be here all night. “But if there’s a problem one way or the other-”

“There is no problem,” Rai said.

“-- I’m just grateful he tries to be accommodating,” Sao finished.

Cadmus had his mouth open to retort, but apparently their performance had smothered any response. Without further encouragement, he simply shook his head and turned to the next set of doors and prodded a code into its keypad. “We’ll pick up on this glove habit later. The couple you came to see are waiting, and I’ve got to get them logged too.”

The final set of doors opened. Cool air rushed out in a soft, invisible wave, laced with the smell of rubber and bleach - ammonia and iron. It was not overwhelming, but lingered, a small constant presence. Sao’s head felt light. There were two bruised greenish bags sitting on tables at the center of the room.

Slim, chrome, desk-shaped tables - not quite the heavy slab he’d imagined, pictures of permanence. But of course, in reality, these things were made to be transported. They were not final resting places, but pitstops.

Cadmus pulled on some mint-green surgical gloves, and reached around for a zipper on the lefthand bag. As he extended his shoulder, his neck craning to see, Sao tried not to look at Cadmus's neck. Clusters of scabs were -

But by some hallucinatory miracle, his neck was absolutely fine. Not a blemish or a scar in sight. Sao blinked.

Cadmus caught him rubbing his eyes. “It’s already been a rough night for you two. Or at least, one of you. So let’s make this quick.”

---

Rai circled the scene once, and bit his tongue. “Bleh. They aren’t in the best shape.”

“No telling what happened along the way here, but I doubt Van would let anyone mess with such a delicate case. There don’t seem to be any fresh injuries - they’re all dry - so all the mutilation likely happened before they were found.”

“They were out in the forest for a day, maybe, in an open trunk. But it doesn’t look like any animals got to either of them in that time.”

“Doesn’t look like it.”

“Guess it’s pretty cold out, not a lot of wildlife roaming at this time of year.” Tap. Tap… around the table. “So they were dead long before the forest. Wonder how long they were in there before they got dumped.”

“Seems like they were moved around quite a bit, shirt’s rubbed down to shreds here, and that bruise - probably dragged. These scratches on the face - carpet burn? It could also have been caused by sitting in that trunk while the car was moving, if they were in there as it drove around in the day.”

Sao scraped a foot against the featureless cement floor.

Rai circled the scene again, hands taut behind his back. “So when do you think they died?”

“You know I can’t make that call.”

“Not even a guess, Cad? I bet you have a hunch. Are you waiting to correct me or something? Alright, fine. Even I can tell neither of them died recently, right? Probably over a week ago… not within the last day or two.”

“Definitely not that recent. They’re past the bloating stage - a little something to be glad about. But this one’s teeth are already coming out - I can try to get someone to pull some images for identification purposes before--”

“It’s alright.” A pause like a sinking ship. “His name’s Oliver G________.”

“I presume he’s part of your case.”

“His missing posters were all over the place a back week or two, and we even saw him in the flesh. Briefly. The height, the size, looks about right. And the hair - he has this dye job, you see the bleach streaks? It’s gotta be him. He was probably killed almost immediately after he was - soon after he disappeared.”

“A shame how these disappearances always end.”

“Not always. But we do have this other guy. Guess he got pulled down the same path, dead for a while. He doesn’t have anything as obvious as Oliver to mark him out, but I’m pretty sure this is Locke. Sao got a better look at him than I did. Hey, this is him, right?”

“I only saw him alive. It’s hard to tell now. The clothes – well, you did say their clothes were likely to change. I suppose he looks the same... only...”

“How are you holding up? Being in here, I mean.”

“Oh, fine. I suppose I got enough practice in.”

“What? Practice - you’ve been sneaking looks at bodies. I knew you were odd.”

“No, no. I’ve been… looking at past case photographs. Authorized.” A laugh that Rai did not return. “To be honest, I was expecting worse from the real thing, at least a smell. But they look alright, cleaned up, not asleep, but it’s hard to tell they were alive. It’s almost… almost peaceful.”

Those stares were loaded. Sao laughed again, but more softly. “Or maybe the fatigue’s getting to my head.”

“Why don’t you get a little closer?”

“Rai,” Cadmus said accusingly.

“Alright, I’ll just do it.” Rai drew in, prodded Locke's crumpled jacket. “So let’s just assume we got Locke here. Is that a gold chain? He did seem like a big fan of the color - when we went to his house it was gold all over the place. On the wallpaper, the garage siding, the doors, the lights, his huge idiotic chair Looks like him too. The funny part about the whole thing is we met him in his house too - alive and kicking, but presumably quite a bit after this body met its end. Locke alive, while he was dead. Which leads me to believe we didn’t meet the real thing.”

“Ah.” A light went off in Cadmus. “So that’s how it is.”

“Yeah. A not-so-mysterious doppelganger. Doesn’t look like there are any animal bites, right, not at first...”

The bags were being rustled, pushed aside. Cadmus bristled.

“Rai, what are you - no, no you stop right there. Don’t touch anything with those filthy things.”

“What?”

“The rubber gloves are right on the counter.”

“I’m only gonna pull up one sleeve a little, so I can see if-”

“Not like that, you aren’t.”

“Help me out; you grab the sleeve if it’s such a big deal.”

Cadmus was going nowhere. “Rai, I think you’ve drained enough of my time for tonight. If you’re going to be-”

“Fine! Fine, I'm getting the gloves.”

But when he faced the box of disposable latex gloves, Rai swiveled. All of a sudden, all attention was going to Sao. His fingers twitched, left hand over right, on the cuff of his leather glove...

Cadmus crossed his arms. “What’s the problem now?”

“I know.” Sao lifted himself off the wall where he’d been leaning. “His hands, whatever they may be, aren’t my business. I’ve heard it. I’ll leave you to change in private.”

But under the eyes of ‘grandpa’, Rai wasn’t so sure.

“What is this?” Cadmus said, eyes narrowing.

“Sao, wait. Just let me think for a moment.”

“How in the world did this habit come about? You were never fond of gloves, and you know you really shouldn’t be wearing them for long periods.”

“I never said I didn’t like them.”

“Is this related to your work? Van never mentioned such a turn.”

“Because it’s not important. I already said, I have it under control. It’s…” Another wayward look at Sao.

Now Cadmus was also eyeing Sao as if he held the key to this glove-based conspiracy. “This is not helping. Hey kid, Sao, you’ve been at his office. Is there anything odd about his hands? Has the color changed, some kind of injury not going away? Because aberrations can mean real problems later, for our type...”

Sao made a laugh that sounded more like croaking. “I wouldn’t know, I’ve never seen them. I mean, there was an incident with a knife but even before then-”

"Never seen them,” Cadmus repeated for Rai’s benefit. “He’s never seen them. Somehow I find that hard to believe. Are you trying to hide your aura? When did this start?”

“No, I’m not. Lots of people already know, and I’m not lying to them, it’s too late for that. I was just trying something out… on him. It’s just him. Yeah, Sao. It’s because of you. I’ll explain later but I’m sorry, alright? Can we drop it and take a look at this body?”

“You’re sorry,” Cadmus echoed.

“To him.”

“This is ridiculous. Fine. You two do whatever you’ve agreed, but Rai, we’ll have to talk about this.”

“We don’t have to talk about it! It’s a couple of gloves! It’s cold, everyone’s wearing gloves, why is this such a big deal? No - I know what you’re thinking - but I’m not trying to disgrace the poor downtrodden Life Fountain community, and even if you find it embarrassing for some insane reason, I have my actual job… my...” Again, eyes on Sao.

“Your job. Is this building up to another absurd fantasy of yours? Where you rip off the gloves and call yourself a hero?”

“It has nothing to do with you, Cad. Look, I knew it would be a hassle and I was prepared to take it, and the topic would never even have come up if this case didn’t happen and -- god, why do things always get fucked when I try--”

Without much stake in the argument, and no desire for it, Sao headed for the door.

“Forget it. Sao, get back here.” Rai blew a tired stream of air through his teeth. “I’ll explain later. For real this time. But first, you should see what happened to our friends here. We’re still on this case. That’s more important.”

Sao heard the soft whip of a glove being pulled. When he turned, Rai was massaging his bare hands, gloves off for the first time. At least -- Sao could only assume see was seeing bare hands, since the gloves were flopped empty on the table. But he didn’t see skin, not as he knew it.

Instead, Rai’s hands were cloaked in a chemically even, unblinking cyan-blue glow. Every segment moved as normal – was shaped as normal - fingers, joints, palm – but it was not a human hand. Sao could not help thinking he was watching something mechanical, an eccentric artist’s piece lit by bent pipes from neon billboards. The light burned without heat or chill, it was too wholly inhuman and inorganic for such sensations, like no light found in nature.

“Your thumb has tumors,” Cadmus pointed out immediately, as if scolding a child.

“Will you lay off for a sec?” Rai snapped a pair of latex gloves on, dimming the glow - but not completely. No wonder he had always opted for dense leather - the glow was hard to hide, and there was the additional challenge of keeping the dexterity needed to type. But knowing what he was hiding did not explain why.

Rai gave him Sao last serious look. “We can’t take pictures, so look hard and remember what you can.”

Feeling somewhat adrift, Sao just nodded.

Rai pulled Locke’s sleeve up and took inventory of the marks and missing pieces. Purpled welts, like he'd been grabbed, restrained, and further up some larger wounds. Rai checked under the collar, under the tattered hairline, below the hem of the stained shirt. He nodded and murmured something to himself and performed the same check on Oliver’s corpse. Holding Oliver’s tattered forearm to the fluorescent light, he stood back for Cadmus and Sao. “These marks pretty much confirms the culprit, if our so-called meeting with him didn’t do that already.”

Cadmus stood aside, impassive. He’d arrived at the same conclusion already, the display wasn’t for him. Sao moved closer to the table.

Sao had only seen Oliver happy - sporting a wide smile in his photos and recordings, or implacably upset - when Rai came knocking at his door. Lying flat on his back here, purple and gray in and mud brown rags, he was neither of those, he was peaceful. Far too peaceful - he was aware of nothing - you feared for him. It was too late for that, though. Sao found he did not really want to get too close after all.

And of course, there were the matter of Rai’s neon hands.

“I can see why it would be hard to sleep with those,” Sao laughed.

Rai lowered Oliver’s dangling arm. “What?”

Sao waggled a finger at the hands in question. “Built-in lights.” Rai’s hands.

Rai’s stiffened. “Forget the stupid blue hand. Look at his. The victims, they all have these marks. Do you see them? Two kinds here.”

“He's missing a few fingers. Lots of cuts and the big bits...”

“Yeah. The ones that did them in were to the gut, to the neck, and of course there are a couple from the inevitable struggle, but they also all have marks like this. Shallow, painful but not killer, just a wide slice off the surface. Locke even has one off the cheek, and back of the neck. Desperate stuff on the part of the killer. At least, I assume the killer did it.”

Sao smiled. The dried paste on his own face felt stiff as old glue.

“So, Sao. Do you know why someone might take slices off skin? Non fatal pieces, just sliver?”

He touched his face. Yep, that felt like plastic alright.

“It’s not purely torture. Look at the palm of his hand.”

At the base of Oliver’s palm, below his the stump of ring and little finger, there were several curved lines of crescent-shaped marks, like messy stitches in rust-colored wool. The lowest chunk of the palm was missing, leaving a rough blackened patch surrounded by tattered skin. Bite marks - a few tests and one big chomp.

Rai lowered the arm with unexpected lightness. “They were eaten.”

Another hollow laugh. “That’s awful.” Come on, Sao thought, half to himself. Do better. “You know this from experience?”

“Yes. It’s such a standard end to disappearances these days, I suspected it from the start, but I was hoping for something more… interesting.”

“Flesh-eating is common? That’s a fact I wasn’t aware of. Enlighten me further?”

Rai removed the gloves and slapped them onto a metal tray, pale blue reflections scattering across the steel surface. “You really haven’t heard of these cases? Missing bodies turning up with bite-size pieces taken off the soft places. Sudden disappearances after meeting a charming new stranger. A missing person found does not act like their old self.”

“If you’d care to pull them together…”

Rai was at a crossroads. He looked to Cadmus. “Should I tell him?”

“That’s up to you. Though…” Cadmus’s brows were firmly lowered. “Would members of the police force really be so far in the dark? In this day and age?”

“I’m not technically an officer.” Sao chuckled. “Perhaps cannibalism is considered too extreme for our delicate underling eyes, or-”

“It’s not cannibalism,” Rai cut in, “because the ones doing the eating aren’t human. Even if they look like one, and act like one. They eat humans to become human -- in appearances, anyway. Inside, deep down, I’m talking mind and soul - they can’t change. As long as they need to kill and eat, they can never really be human. They don’t actually need to, either - they simply want to, because they can, because being human is fun. It’s the way to live, once you start it’s hard to stop and start being a dog or a plant. And when you can be anyone you want - just grab, bite, off the original - and we get out bulk of citywide disappearances for the last five-to-ten years.”

Sao waited patiently, across the table. Two bodies between them.

Rai slammed both hands down. “I’m talking about shapeshifters.”

“Ah.”

The waves of that bombshell quickly faded.

“Yep, textbook shifter,” Cadmus drawled, and checked his watch. Sao said nothing. When he believed it was safe, he broke his gaze and circled the table again, stroking his chin.

“They used to be considered myth, but after a few documented, high-profile cases, the police have been into them as a real threat,” Rai added. “Like the so-called angels and the undead, another story became reality. The city's always changing.”

“I see.”

“There could be shifters standing in for all kinds of people, in all positions. An epidemic within the greater plague of disappearances.”

“Unbelievable.”

“You…” Rai muttered tautly, “You’re taking all of this awfully well.”

“Thanks? It’ll take a while to process, but things are falling into place. For these two, at least. I can see why a non-human creature, wandering the city at night, would want to become them.”

“Good lives, casual friends and jobs - the pattern we identified early on.”

“And I suppose this creature either didn’t do their due diligence on how to mimic their daily routine, or how to act, or didn’t acquire memories in the process.”

“So you get the self-imposed, accidental ‘disappearance.’ They got the looks, but the brain doesn’t come with the body. Shifters don’t work that way.”

“So this shapeshifter, despite shifting shape, didn’t have the ability to use their new identity properly. Both Oliver and Locke, or whoever this ‘shifter’ is in their image, get reported missing, both get trailed to their house, both assault a detective and flee the scene. Mistakes of the highest order. Once the cops are looking for them, those identities were no longer so appealing.”

“So both original body and the disguise get thrown to the wayside. And Locke and Oliver are truly lost to the world. A fucking waste. Even for a man-eater.”

“And when you have your pick from a vast sea of unsuspecting people...” Sao grimaced. “You jump ship and pick another victim.”

“And what we see is a third link in the chain.”

Sao closed his eyes. “That’s right.”

Cadmus remained where he stood, but took a long hard look at the bodies. “A third link - you’re anticipating a third body.”

“Unless the third isn’t dead yet,” Rai said.

“But there’s already a third in mind. You have faith that you can catch the monster before then? If they managed to confuse even you, this shifter must be one of the strong ones.”

“Strong?” Sao asked.

“It’s a loose term. What we mean is ‘competent,’ that the transformations are actually convincing and usable. Not all of these creatures can both hunt down and sustain a body-snatch. Some can’t keep the shape right, some get the colors wrong, something is out of sync more often than not. If they eat a little more, sometimes it helps, sometimes it gets worse, hard to say. But if all shifters were maximum competence, we'd all be doomed. And we aren't just yet.” Rai adjusted Oliver’s arm absently, pressing it against his side. “I have a feeling our culprit isn’t perfect. Take a look at the two of them again. Oliver’s had a lot more chopped out of him, right?”

“Yeah. Taste? No… he put up less of a fight, maybe.”

“Maybe. Fingers missing usually indicate more of a struggle, the attacker having to settle for lopping of extremities first because the rest is guarded and harder to get a hold of. But whether he put up a fight or not, I can’t dispute that Oliver was the preferred meal. And consider the chain, including the fourth potential victim - you remember him? The guy you saw, the night Icey got knifed? When Marina drove off, or so we thought...”

“Marina’s date,” Sao murmured.

“The shifter’s date. Okay, this might be a leap, but think about it - that guy, Zeke, was a lot closer in appearance to Oliver and Locke than Marina was… than she is. Three out of four is a pattern enough for me - and Marina is the odd one out. She’s got the job and she’s pretty enough, but she’s short, black hair, and a woman. I’m sure you can see other ways she doesn’t line up with Oliver and Locke.”

“I suppose. The shifter performing an experiment, maybe? Or desperation? Perhaps to find more men of her -- his -- its preference, a female form was...”

“Those are all possibilities. ‘Desperation’ is what I’m going with -- tell me, what did you notice about shifter-Locke the two times we saw him?” Rai held up two glowing digits. “In the video, with Marina at the restaurant. Then later in his house, before he made a break for it - hauling these bodies away with him in the car trunk. He wasn’t feeling so hot on either occasion, right? I doubt that was an act.”

“He did look ill. The restaurant manager was certainly stunned at his… symptom.”

Rai cut in. “Shifters can’t always get perfect transformations down, even with high competency. It’s an inevitable risk of messing with your own biological makeup. If one sets off on the wrong foot, maybe your gut’s got something the new form is allergic to, or the body configures some chemicals wrong, you could get a form with internal bleeding, perpetual allergy, hormones out of control, too much mucus or mismatched blood - and the shifter has to make a quick grab for another body. And if they know what they’re doing, they won’t be taking another sampling of the one that made them sick. Hence the lesser-eaten of the two bodies.”

The word ‘cannibalism’ reverberated. “And there was blood in Locke’s vomit. Marina noted that - shortly before she was lured away.”

“If the shifter was really in a rush, it’s more likely she was simply grabbed, carried off the building or threatened out. There never was any murderous debt collector involved, of course. The shifter just made it seem so because of the semi-consistent story between the three tellers - it was easy to repeat the same thing over and over - because it was actually the same ‘person’ telling it each time.”

With that stake set, Rai moved to the same side of the table as Sao. It was almost over, Sao thought. He tried to believe it.

Rai poured out a glob of hand sanitizer and lathered it manically, hands flickering. “Bet you’re glad not to see Marina here - the real one. I mean, it still doesn’t look good - okay, it might look even worse in retrospect - but the fact that she wasn’t in the dumped car could mean she got away, or that she’s still alive.”

“Oh, yes. But at the same time, that means the Marina I spoke to...”

“Was never Marina at all. But don’t worry for your own safety - she’ll be on the run if we announce the bodies were found - the shifter won’t be turning back to any of them - and she won’t be bothering cops. We can still call you a police escort to get you home, if you want it.”

“I’m not particularly afraid, but...” Sao said.

“Having you confront her wasn’t the best idea. That’s on me. I’ll make sure--”

“But there’s something I should have said earlier. Marina - or someone who looks a lot like her - is currently in my apartment.”

Rai dropped his gloves just as he started to put them on.

Cadmus tipped his head up from his watch. “What was that?”

As if he were about to be at the center of a head on-collision, Rai swiveled from Sao, to Cadmus then to Sao again. Then inexplicably, he turned to his hands. Flaring, like they might have an answer. And maybe they did, in some way Sao couldn’t comprehend (he wasn’t comprehending much at the moment), because Rai finally faced Cadmus straight and said, “Cad. Can you give us a minute?”

“I’m already giving you my night. How much more do you need?”

“Why are you-” Rai snatched his glove off the floor, took a deep breath. “Me and him need to talk. Privately.”

“Not in here, you don’t. I can’t leave this scene unattended.” Cadmus nodded towards the sleeping corpses. “Are you done? They have to be sent to storage, so if you’re planning to come back, make it quick.”

Rai took a hard look at Locke, and then Oliver and said, “I think we’ve seen what we need.”

“Alrighty, then.” Cadmus considered the ceiling. He looked tired. “You need to sign the visitor registry, so I’ll catch up with you later. I suppose I’ll know if you two are still talking.”

“Yeah. You’ll hear.”

Cadmus stode up to the table as Rai pulled away. Cadmus grunted, “For all your mantras about change, change, change, you never do. I could live without this attitude. You know we want to see you do well. But you need to take it easy sometimes. You'll live, but others...”

At the door, Rai set his hand on the handle, setting the metal alight with blue light. Sao could nearly hear the motors at work. Rai wanted out, but he didn’t want to let that go. Morals, indignance, whatever Cadmus’s role was in his life, or perhaps fatigue finally setting in - he cycled through multiple expressions before settling on a flat, dry frown. “Sorry. Thanks for setting this up. You always do so much. Not just for me.”

Cadmus might have been too stunned, or judging by his face, disgusted to speak.

The door opened, and the two exited. Rai was still in the mood to fight for last words. Sao shadowed him back to the hall. The night dragged on.

---

Rai draped himself over a chair and closed his eyes, hands linked together and twitching over the scuffed fasteners of his jacket. His face was, by all appearances, asleep. But the hands remained blazing - unmoving but alive with patches that pulsed slightly. Like someone had lit candles before stepping out - Sao took this to mean: don’t you dare move. I won’t be out long.

Sao took post patiently against the opposite wall, leaning on the empty frame of a metal stretcher.

One minute was all the nap Rai needed for full restoration. His eyes snapped open.

“So it knows where you live.”

“I suppose that’s true, seeing as she’s in the apartment right now.”

“Doing what? I’m trying to understand, how did she get in there? Did she break in and corner you, did you bribe your landlord, was there hypnotism, drugging, blackmail, or out of all things, did you make a desperate plea that you'd be good, did you happen to let her in yourself?”

“Something like the last one.”

“Is she still there?”

“I let her sleep there. She’s probably in my bed.”

“Why the fuck would you do that?”

There was a certain absurdity to Rai’s anger, and combined with a dreary light-headedness from being up nearly 24 hours Sao only smiled gladly in response. “Is my safety no longer a priority?”

“I doubt you were thinking of your own safety when she dropped on your doorstep.”

“She was upset. She came to me after Locke escaped - well, the shapeshifter was the one who escaped I suppose, since Locke was deceased by then. The shapeshifter, whom I now realize was her… unless I’m getting this all wrong. Whoever it was, she was scared and I couldn’t turn her away knowing that she might be in danger, or that she might run off again, this time permanently.”

“Scared that we were finally onto her.”

“She did seem genuinely afraid. Besides, she doesn’t know that the bodies are found, and she doesn’t think I suspect her. I didn’t fake anything - we both acted our parts because we believed it. Consider this, acting in earnest because I didn’t know better may be why I’m not stuffed in car trunk right now.”

Rai’s expression spoke of his own desire to shove Sao into a trunk.

Sao shrugged. “What’s the trouble? At least we know where she is now.”

“‘At least’ you might get stabbed in your sleep tonight.”

“What’s this, a stand-up act? Or is that a hint of concern I’m hearing?”

Rai may have been ‘concerned’ enough to leap up and throttle him. Balanced on the brink of the chair, Rai clamped his hands together to stop them from attacking his employee. Gradually, Sao bent his head in apology. “Be fair. I didn’t know she what she was at the time. She just looked like a girl who was terrified by a things even I didn’t understand. If she was really being threatened, letting her disappear again would have been just as bad.”

“Your heart’s just bleeding all over the place. And for the worst possible candidate.”

“Well of course, I know now it was a bad move. But what could I have done, without seeing into the future? I had no way of knowing.”

“Have you forgotten a little organization we’re supposed to be working under, called the fucking metro police? We had a guy on a run, a known associate goes missing, she turns up and says she’s being threatened - mythical monster or not, your first thought is to carry her into your bed?”

“It was late. I was planning to take her to a station the next day. I told her it was to take her off the missing persons list but - look, she was--”

“Are you even hearing yourself? Shifters are one thing. Whether she looked like poor precious damsel or not, you saw her knife me, you were there right there.”

“So you’re feeling shortchanged on sympathy.” Sao’s eyes lowered. “I’m having some trouble interpreting what even happened to you. It was all a blur, and you told me to forget about it. And what does it mean to get stabbed in… those?”

“Just say it. Hands. They’re my hands. Yes, it’s skin. I was born like this.” Rai stared at his empty unmarked palm, where Marina had pressed in the knife. “If you’re really curious, being stabbed here doesn’t mean much. Still kind of hurts. Just because it got better doesn't mean she's an innocent little plaything.”

“So she did get you! I thought I saw a flash then, but I could have sworn it was a phone or some small flashlight.” Sao laughed. “So this was your secret? The whole time, the gloves and the misdirection were... for this. I still don’t quite understand, but I’m certainly impressed. It couldn’t have been easy to keep that neon blue aura under wraps.”

“Is that all?” Rai’s head was still downturned, his initial temper stored away, but still simmering. There was a twinge of hurt in his question.

Sao tilted his head back. “Did I get some part of it wrong? I suppose I’m a bit tired by now, I’ve been making all kinds of mis-steps since noon. But this - the hands, I mean - it’s odd, but it’s not an unpleasant surprise… I’m not sure what you were expecting from me.”

“I’ll tell you what it looks like to me.” Rai stood. “You aren’t surprised at all. You knew she was dangerous, in whatever way you see it, but you let her in anyway.”

He now faced Sao, face staunch as a bull. The marks under his eyes were painted darker than ever. He remained several feet away, but Sao felt compelled to shift on his heels. And laugh.

Rai continued. “Viewing corpses. You took that unusually well. Were you prepared? Is anyone prepared for that kind of thing? Not to mention, when the topic of shifters came up, you went right along.”

“You’re the one in charge. I could hardly disagree.”

“You’re not the first person I’ve ever worked with. You claimed easily that you hadn’t heard of shapeshifters before tonight. But you didn’t even flinch when it came out. Not even a little upset that the ‘solution’ to our problem was semi-supernatural, and no amount of clues and guesswork would have led you there if you didn’t already know of it. A creature you knew nothing about until now. Or so you say.”

“What makes you think I’m lying?”

“I also can’t get a handle on why you thought it was a good idea to let Marina into your house, human or no.”

Sao let the words hang in the air, ran his proverbial thoughts through them like smoke. What a night, what a nonsensical place to be. “I suppose I shouldn’t expect you to understand the apathy that comes when deprived of sleep.”

That took a chip at Rai’s hard shell.

“Apathy?” he hissed. “Is that what this is? You realize we just saw two mutilated corpses back there - those guys you saw smiling on posters just a few weeks ago.”

“Corporate, you said.”

“It was true, but that was me stating a fact, and that was before we found the bodies. You can’t forget the people themselves aren’t just photos or a little chain, in reality. Outside what we see they are links in a much bigger network, people aren’t just linked one by one and they're all going to feel the full force of what we found tonight. There are people out there looking for them, family too far away to have helped. They will be devastated. And you’re here, just a few feet from bodies and brains and hearts that used to be warm and active. It's not time to play it all like a sketch comedy. To use Cadmus’s whiny catchphrase, don’t forget where you stand. Things got severe tonight.”

Somewhere in the back of Sao's mind, this prodded at kindling sparks. “It’s something to hear you wax lyrical about the victims only once they’re dead.”

“Yeah. I’ll take that. I’m not perfect and I've fucked this one up bad. It bothers me. But it’s a hell of a lot better than letting it all slide off just because it’s difficult to think otherwise.”

Sparks crackling. “You don’t seem particularly broken up yourself. All this stir seems to be because of something I said.”

“I don’t need to supervise myself into working. I know I don’t won’t walk away from the case, and that I won’t be disrespecting the victims two seconds after stepping away from their bodies. I don’t have to make excuses, and I won’t be inviting a knife-wielding man-eater into my home. And yeah, I wasn’t totally surprised. Because I suspected for a while, that the case resembled a shapeshifter’s.”

“You suspected?” Sao smiled up towards the ceiling. “Of course you did.”

“I’ve seen several cases, shifters are one of the biggest modern threats when it comes to disappearances. I don’t know how you avoided learning about them - that’s assuming you’re telling the truth when you say you knew nothing.”

“I tend to get stuck with old cases, remember? The days of handwritten memos.” Sao’s snorted. “So you’re more well informed than the lot of us. You had a good idea of a solution. And yet, Oliver and Locke had to die.”

Now Rai fell into silence.

“You had me put on a pantomime for our magical murderer. You decided to withhold that from me and everyone who’s been behind you in this. And what for?”

A look black as coal.

Sao softened his own visage, gave some gentle pity. That would rile Rai up. “Were you hoping to make a bigger impact? A grand reveal?”

Cadmus had spoken similarly. Rai stamped his feet down and dumped himself back on the plastic seat. He had one hand over the other, inner fingers balled in a fist. Sao was quite prepared for the bellowing to start - but instead, Rai only mumbled dully: “Bad judgment and bad luck.”

“Look, I’m sorry the case turned out like this. But lower yourself for a moment - I don’t understand this game you’re playing, in which your ‘luck’ has anything to do with this.”

“The Marina case is only half of it. Of two things that shouldn’t have crossed. One, our missing persons case. Two, you and the whole glove ordeal.”

“They’re both a bit of an ordeal at this point, but your wearing gloves had nothing to do with Marina in my apartment. Or the bodies in the morgue, unless you consider Cadmus asking you to remove them a clue of some sort. As far as I can tell, you were wearing them before the disappearances.”

“Did you miss what I said in there? Forget the chain, forget Marina. This is case number two. I’m was only wearing them because of you.”

“And I’ve told you before, you don’t have to.”

“For fuck’s…” Rai scrambled his fingers through his hair, rifling up spikes. “It’s not because I’m trying to be nice and understanding. It’s not because some higher-ups commanded it. From the moment I heard of you up until now, I’ve kept them on because I think there’s something you’re not telling us.”

“Us. Who is there--”

“You know what, I’ll cut to the chase. Once more: Did you, or did you not know about the existence of shapeshifters before today?”

“What is this, an interrogation? Want to take me down to the--”

“Quit grinning and answer the question.” Rai snapped his fingers, something he could not have done with gloves. The noise was like rock splitting. “I can put up with fun and games in the office, and I know you think you’re real witty, but bite down on that for half a minute. Because you might notice we’re in the fucking morgue. People are dead and there could be another, and I don’t believe you’re telling me the truth. The case is already going like a fucking joke, and neither I nor Marina need anymore of these hilarious snipes of yours. I need you to straighten out and tell me the truth.”

“Haven’t you heard of coping mech-”

“What did I just say?”

“Alright. The business at hand. Okay… when it comes to shifters, I… maybe I knew more than I thought, or let on.”

“Yeah?”

“I suppose I might have heard stories. When I was very young, so it may have been in my subconscious that such monsters existed, but in relation to the police? It’s… it was never completely clear. You see, the majority of these stories just leaked down when I was back at school in the countryside. The tutors at the boarding house were-”

Rai’s eye shadows were so deep his face might have started melting. “This is going nowhere.”

“I answered.”

“Did you, really? Whatever. I get it. You talk up an ooze, it’s like trying to hold a fucking eel.” Rai said, “But you know what I think, and this is what kills me: despite all this I think you’re also a decent guy. You cared when a stranger went missing, you don’t want to step on toes even if it’s a possible suspect. You’re hiding something, but now that you’re stuck listening to me, you can’t bring yourself to lie completely. That’s what’s making this hard - I half-believe you. There are other ways to get to you.”

“Where are you going with this?”

“If you know, then you tell me. If not, consider this story. Let's start with this: shapeshifters were the number-one cause of disappearances in the last ten years.”

Sao put on a flimsy layer of interest. He wanted to go to his couch and pass out.

“Seven years ago we had the worst on record. The big bust, that was just one small thread in a plan that could involve millions. That’s the problem. Who knows what the numbers are? They’re hiding, and even if you spot one, turn away and they’ll shift into something different. You don’t know where they are, who they are. Not all of them are rockstar slashers like our Marina clone. Some of them can hold a job. Perhaps a lot of them. And maybe that’s why...”

Sao waited calmly.

“Maybe that’s why the number of shifter-connected disappearances has dropped.”

“Meaning...”

“Meaning they’ve gotten smart. Remember when we talked overall numbers, I told you total disappearances are still sky-high? There have been all kinds of secret operations, tech movements, info trades, surveillance tactics, but there was never a major shifter bust like the one seven years ago - and yet we’re supposed to believe shifters suddenly stopped being a problem. No damn way.

“The problem is, as clueless as the fringe police stations are, HQ isn’t full of idiots. There have been plans, even ones I thought must work. But somehow, the shifters keep moving just out of sight. Sometimes you can see traces that a big group moved out, just before we raid a hideout. You find beds in a mess, seats still warm, half eaten meals, fresh bodies – somehow they get short notice and move fast. That’s not good for us. Talk around the upper ranks is... ” Rai grit his jaw. “There’s likely an informant somewhere in the force.”

“W- what? In Central? Where?”

“Maybe they’ve switched out over the years. Maybe there’s more than one, problem is we don’t know.” Rai said. “It's like roaches, you catch a few dumb ones but the smart ones - who the hell knows how far these creatures can go. Just one strong, well-connected shifter could seed info to sweep a path out for a hundred more disappearances. But likewise, if this mole happens to let up, and become a weak link, that’s also enough to take down a chunk of shifters who rely on said link to survive. This link just has to be spotted. There’s got to be something out of place. Or maybe something a little too convenient. Like a specific avoidance of human-skin contact, in an age where Life Fountains have started being put to use.”

“What in the world – you think it's me.”

Rai didn’t say anything.

“You think I’m secretly in league with this... shapeshifter army? Do you think I somehow warned this shapeshifter away each time, that I’m protecting this pseudo-Marina? Go arrest her now, if that will make you happy-”

“So this case was just a stroke of bad timing - for me, and for you. If I’d had more time, I would have dealt with you more fairly. But since we have bodies turning up, that case takes priority, so I need to know I can trust you going forth.”

“I’m officially lost. I’ve done all I can, what in the world do you really want?”

Rai cracked his knuckles. Another echo tore down the hallway. Sao winced, and instinctively took a step back. And Rai’s hands separated, and Sao took another step back.

“I know that whatever the result is, this won’t be easy. But you just gotta do it.”

Sao plastered himself against the wall, knocking the stretcher aside.

Rai was still seated. His glowing hand did not move any closer, but did not lower either.

Sao wheezed, “you want me to let you...”

“Yes. Shake.”

“Can it be with someone else? If-”

“No. It needs to be this hand. No other part, no other person. This is a standard test - even if you didn’t have that phobia of yours. Though that does make it look worse-”

“What the hell will this show of harassment prove?” Sao snapped.

“That you really have a simple condition and not a convenient defense. Shifter or not, you’re better off with me running the test rather than someone like Cadmus. You can close your eyes and face away, if that’s going to help--”

“It does not help. Beside that, what is the story with Cadmus? Why doesn’t he have to run through this gauntlet to prove himself too?”

“I’ve known him for years. Decades. Way too long. And he’s a top hospital official.”

“Positions of power, aren’t those appealing to shifters, including the one we’re after? Meanwhile I'm working in a tiny office for a single-”

“A shifter doesn't need absolute power - if anything that’s a risk. Look what happens when you take a body but can’t even figure out how to get to work, like our killer. And how much damage can still be done. The smart shifters just need a comfortable place to latch onto. A place where you can hear just enough, without too much being asked of you – plenty of time in the police database. Those are the kinds of people they want. Even beyond that, forget Cadmus, he’s…” Rai rolled his eyes. “Cadmus is 278 years old and biologically immune to shapeshifters, so get over it.”

Sao opened his mouth. And he closed it, as the number sank in. The world around him seemed to be speeding by at a rate he could not catch onto. Rai’s patience thinned.

“Life Fountains. I know you’ve heard a little about them - you’ve mentioned them before. Though it seems the clerks don’t exactly get tutored on the topic. Well, now you’ve met one in person. You might have even met more than one - assuming you aren’t avoiding them for any reason - that would assume you know how to to identify them. Cad looks normal, doesn’t he? Like shapeshifters, there are Life Fountains in places you wouldn’t expect - they can’t transform but they can walk, talk, work and play, fit right in. If they try.” Rai sighed. “Up until a point.”

“So… is it the age that makes them immune to shapeshifters? Or is it the healing I heard of, making them inedible? I… I’m only assuming that Cadmus isn’t an exception. 300 years...”

“Hah. And he’s only early adult age, compared to the LFs who stay holed up in those ancient villages. Running spas, or whatever’s big these days.”

Sao waited, trying to keep his eyes down in a show of deep thought. Rai’s hand was still raised and waiting, palm out for their long-deferred handshake. His shoulder must have been getting sore. Surely it would go down, eventually.

It didn’t. Rai tired of the silence first. “The cause of both long life and healing is the Life Fountain’s aura. And it’s that which also protects them from shapeshifters. In fact you could say it’s a weapon that wrecks the shifters. With Cadmus, you must have noticed the scarring on his face when we got in. I always tells him it’s a bad impression for a hospital admin...”

Sao stroked his own face, remembering the scabs and bruises over Cadmus’s neck.

“He wasn’t lying though, when he said it was harmless. His skin peels - constantly. Little pink flakes most of the time. But naturally, once we got to the bodies, he’d turned it off - and healed all the holes right up. If you look around, you won’t find the pieces - because it’s not exactly skin. Life Fountain aura just dissipates into the air - or the water, or dirt. Wherever it is, aura is the essence of life, it just finds somewhere to go. Cad’s is pretty heavy, too. You’re more likely to find thinner, watery or smoky auras. Even light or heat-based ones. Though the heavy ones work especially well on shifters. Too bad most heavyweight Life Fountains are lazy as sin - injury-proof, poison-proof, oblivious - it prevents real character building, as Cad would say. As he sheds half his face off.”

Sao crossed his arms and remained at the far wall. “I’ll take a closer look next time I see him. But I must ask, if you think I’m a covert shapeshifter, why are you warning me about this?”

“Same reason I didn’t want Cad in here to add pressure. Because I don’t know what you are yet - if I’m making a mistake. But if you’re innocent, why surround yourself with secrets? And if you really are a liability...” Rai’s fingers coiled. “You’ll realize, Life Fountains are everywhere. But it’s better to be confronted by me than someone more potent.”

Sao smiled. “So you’re one of his kind.”

“You finally got that far.”

“Magic hands - so that’s what Zen was hinting at. And apparently the shifter’s knife wasn’t the only injury you’ve ever taken to the hand - there were drills, nails -- ah, it’s coming together. Don’t tell me, your sleep habits are also sustained by your Life Fountain magical healing properties?”

Rai’s well-worn, unfriendly smile surfaced slowly.

“Are you also several centuries old?”

Immediate drop to a scowl. “That’s a negative. My date of birth is on record - nothing special, and it’s real. I’m… relatively speaking, I’m an average joe - even by human standards, excepting a few bad habits. It’s like with shifters. You get half breed, half formed, normal-aged and faulty LFs too.”

“Half breed?”

“That’s me. Mother's side. Like I said, Life Fountains can fit in with humans. When they try.” Rai watched his fingers move, like glowing works. “Doesn’t work the other way, though. A human can’t pass as a Life Fountain. And flimsy half-breeds can’t either.”

“Don’t-”

“Don’t, what?”

Sao pressed his palm to his face and laughed harshly. “I was going to to say, don’t talk about yourself like that. But what do I know about Life Fountains?”

“That’s what I’ve been wondering. But I don’t care if you know that this makes my aura a lot weaker than almost any actual Life Fountain. It’s only really good for testing shifters and staying up late. So humor me.”

Rai’s arm straightened again. Hand out. Luminous as the moon, in a sleeve that was coming apart at the edges, why did he wear such rags that looked worse against the self-made light? Every loose thread burned in the afterimage. Sao closed his eyes. Tried to block out further ridiculous thoughts. But it was all ridiculous, nothing belonged where it was, he had to get out.

“Um,” he ran his mouth blankly. “Does this touch-test, or whatever it’s supposed to be, hurt?”

“Only if you’re lying. That’s a joke. It… shouldn’t.”

“Positive?” Sao scraped the wall. “You look like you’re having a hard time covering up the truth too.”

“I’m not lying.”

“Alright, then.”

“Well?”

“Just wait. Just a moment.”

“You can unstick yourself from that wall, sit down, I’m not about to rush at you. Unless you start running.”

“Erm…”

“But I’m not waiting all day.”

“Good. Thanks - no, what am I saying, it’s not good. what I mean is…”

He searched the hall for clues, a way out. A distraction. No posters here, no reassuring staged smiles, just Rai’s searing stare. Chairs ahead, the featherweight metal tray to the side, and a few meters away a pair of restrooms by the stairs.

Sao turned his side to the wall and paced away. “I’m sorry, I can’t.”

Rai stood.

“I can’t do it. I have a -- I have a condition.”

“That’s the entire problem.”

“Maybe there’s another way. Hold on -- I know.”

“Where are you going?”

“Washroom.”

“Right now?? Okay. I’m sorry about this. But there are problems bigger than me.” Rai’s looked down at his palm. “Excuses won’t last, Sao.”

“You come along too.”

“What is this - need more privacy? If you’re worried about Cadmus --”

“What I need is a better excuse. Right?” He pressed on and smiled. Standing behind him, Rai couldn’t see it, the smile was only for himself.

His face slid onto the washroom mirror. He was surprised the glass didn’t crack at the sight of him. A sub-human disaster, a rubbery mask already curling at the edges like dessicated leaves. The wrinkling was especially noticeable around the eyes and mouth, where the edges had come unstuck and resembled holes punched in burlap. His eyes watered. It had to come off, Rai or no.

The tap was loud, the water warm and strong. Things were going to be fine.

He splashed his hands under the tap, pushing his sleeves up.

“I’d say I know where this is going,” Rai muttered, “But thinking back, I’ve only been attacked in public toilets by strangers. Never in the hospital, though.”

Sao didn’t laugh. Instead he pressed his fingers to the dip under his eye socket and dragged down. A crease built, rose and caved around his nail. The loose strip wrinkled like chewed gum into a wad. With a final tug he tore the mask open. In the mirror, he saw Rai’s reflection flash blue a second and go still.

The skin-colored strip came away in a rubbery sheet and plopped in the sink like a flattened worm. It was such a thick layer that it did not dissolve in the water. He let it sit. Again, starting from the top, he ripped down another strip of the mask, then another.

Rai kept his distance, back against the hand dryer. “What the - what are you doing?”

The exposed skin stung, so he wouldn’t speak until he was done, thoroughly so. Remains of the rubber face lay in the sink in tatters, the color of his skin. But now his actual face was more of a blotchy, jagged red than intact flesh. Sao held his hands up before the mirror. The concealment on his wrists had begun peeling as well. He opened his mouth experimentally. “Makeup.”

“No kidding,” Rai hissed. He sounded short on air.

“It was especially bad today. Too much concealer before bedtime. I was worried it would come off while Marina was in the house, so I went overboard...” Sao turned. “That’s not what you’re asking, is it?”

He wasn’t sure if the burning around his mouth was coming from the exposed mangle of red that sat at the edge of his lip, or his racing nerves. The burn moved to the exposed pulp on his forehead, and his eyelid and chin and nose. Patches of unusual chill among great piercing slashes of heat. The broadest craters were always raw, especially after washing his face, and they never seemed to fill or heal. Perhaps it was because they were always covered in powder and cream, chemicals and sludge, but to just forego it all… that wasn’t an option.

“Well, there it all is. Now you can see why I bothered to get into cosmetics at all. Scars are fine, but these aren’t particularly attractive.”

“Scars.”

“Well, it’s not a natural skin condition.” Sao held very still as Rai bobbed around him - a notably, relieving distance away.

“They got your arms too.”

Sao scraped a deep red line up his right forearm. “That they did.”

“What was it? It’s like… did someone try to skin you?”

“I never asked, but I suppose it looks that way, now you say it. Perhaps a snack for a shapeshifter, I thought that hearing you talk tonight as well. Slices off the top of the face, arms and… well, you can imagine. The easy parts to cut. There’s nothing deeper than skin-level, but it’s bad enough, isn’t it? God, if it was a shifter, it would be especially unnerving if it turns out there’s a double of me running around. Who can say. The truth is, I don’t know how it happened. I somehow forgot.”

Sao glanced up at the white square of ceiling.

“The lost years. Trauma, immaturity or whatnot, I’d like to believe that time was long past and that I could look at it as a learning experience at very least. A survival story to pull out at gatherings, that would do nicely. I’ve tried to remember, believe me, and there have been some very helpful people. But it turns out that’s a section of life that I just cannot recall, no matter the circumstances, no matter the resource. But maybe that’s for the best.”

“Right.” Rai’s eyes lost their grip.

“At the same time, not having an explanation does not make the display of it particularly… practical. Again, a story would have done nicely, but I can’t bring myself to lie about such a thing. All I can say is, as a result of that time, I’m stuck with these bloody cow patches and I prefer that people don’t touch me. So they don’t disturb the ‘paint.’ Among other reasons.”

“I see…” Rai mumbled to the floor tiles.

“This may not prove much for your case - or cases. But that is the point. My condition has nothing to do with you, or Life Fountains, or shapeshifters and their agents. It is entirely my problem. I’m not covertly plotting against you and the police force. I’m not chopping up and eating people in secret. I’d never have time to make myself presentable if I also had murder on the mind.”

He smiled, and the largest gash, which sheared from his eye down his cheek, stung like a bed of needles. He stopped smiling. Why was it always more difficult this way? It was surely just a psychological block. The cuts and blotches were old and long scabbed and hardened and numbed; covering them made no real difference.

“I’ve never had any powers of note,” Sao said, “And I’m not the brightest or boldest in any room. All I have is some etiquette hammered in by old women from the last century, and but to appease even that I need to look baseline presentable. Believe me, it’s not fun to have to paint a new coat of skin on every day.”

“I guess.”

“If I was a shifter, you’d know. It wouldn’t be a matter of needing proof. Because even if I was one of the weak, malfunctioning sort whose innards arranged themselves in knots each time or wound up vomiting at first bite -- if I had the chance to change myself, get a new face, you know I would be doing so without a shred of hesitation. And I wouldn’t be here. I'd be out with our killer.”

Rai bit his lip and kept his head down.

“You’re curious, and this nothing but my hearsay - you must not like it. That drive is why you’re good at your work. And I acknowledge you’re the one in charge but please, I’m not asking for anything costly, in fact I’m not asking anything to change. In fact, I’d rather keep things the same. We merely work under the same roof, and I like you well enough, but there’s no need for grand gestures one way or another. We keep the same distance as any professionals. That’s all there is to it.”

Nothing.

“Hah, I suppose the conversation itself isn’t purely professional. I’m sorry for the trouble that may have come as a result of my poor communication...”

Still, eyes down.

“But whatever I can do to help you otherwise, I will.”

Rai’s hands blazed against his sides, picked at some wall caulk. “What I did was out of line. Should have known. Sorry.”

“Don’t be - you were never the one waving the knives around. And it’s actually a bit of a relief to not be dancing around the issue anymore. We are supposed to be working together.”

“No. Harassing you over this condition is...” Rai shook his head. “It’s… a reportable offense, right?”

Sao’s stinging smile froze.

“So I’m sorry. I gotta say it.”

“Apology accepted. I wouldn’t have shown you these marks if I didn’t consider you partway a friend already.”

“Yeah, that… that makes sense.”

“As long as it’s clear.”

It was clear, but Rai was not settled. And though he was trying, as he knew he should, and perhaps truly wanted to be - he was certainly not sorry.

Sao sighed. His shoulders felt heavy, and his arms ached. The toilet had no windows. No clocks, no sense of time. He felt that an entire inglorious century had passed. “It’s not good enough, is it?”

“No, it’s fine.”

“It’s not concrete proof, in your hands, so you can’t let it go.”

“It’s enough. You got any extra cream or paint or… whatever you use to cover it up?”

Again, Sao’s hands went up. “I rushed out of the house. Wasn’t expecting to have to redo it all.”

“Alright. Sorry,” Rai said again. “Guess it’s good that it’s still late. Not many people out. Are you alright stepping out? It’s way too stuffy in here.”

“If it’s alright with you.”

He wasn’t going to bicker to Sao’s mutilated face, but there were definitely no smiles being handed out.

“It’s alright. For now,” Rai said, and sauntered toward the exit. “But it isn’t... I mean it is...”

Back out into the cool, airy hall. Rai stopped before the row of chairs.

“You were right. It is a great excuse.”

Sao could have banged his head against the sink. But of course, he did not. He closed his eyes and sighed deeply. When he opened them, he saw that Rai, sitting across from him had closed his eyes as well. A strange show of trust. Perhaps he was really forcing himself to accommodate.

“It doesn’t show me exactly that you won’t get burned if you touched a Life Fountain,” Rai said. “Instead you appeal to the heart, you’d rather show your skin, let off a big, but different secret - when you’re a talker, that’s as strong as anything. And you get to pick what you want to show.”

“So you don’t believe any of it? I’m going to be walking home with half a face, and that’s all you have to say?”

“I said it was a great excuse, that's no slight.”

They sat in still silence for a while. There was the sound of a door slamming down the hall. Was Cadmus waiting for them to finish?

“Respect,” Rai said, “Is the cornerstone of success with others. No matter how many people you supposedly have on your side, things will only get worse if you can’t figure each other out. You could be treading in the exact opposite direction as another without knowing it. That’s what the rowing captain liked to say. I got dropped from the team. What I really learned was that sometimes you have to concede. Sometimes you have to be the loser. That’s what respect ends up becoming.”

“I doubt that was the captain’s intended message.”

“At the same time, when it comes to investigation, you cannot show respect for the victims by backing down.”

“There’s a balance.”

“I can respect you by backing down. Those cuts are real. I’m not doubting that. You’re also not the worst guy I’ve worked with. But that’s based on faith, and I’ve been wrong before. Without real proof, I can’t know if I’ll end up insulting the hundreds or thousands spirited away by shifters, if you are the root, or even just happen to know something that could cut of even a bit of this disappearance epidemic.”

“I don’t know if I can offer anything more than I have.” Sao slumped. “Cooperation isn't a mathematical equation. Do what you think is right. Don’t involve me, if you think I can’t be trusted.”

“I said, I can’t tell. But I’ll think about it.”

“Use your intuition.”

That managed to dredge up a half smile, and a groan.

“Balance. This makes me think of something the fake Marina said to me earlier tonight,” Sao mused. “'Am I worth more than 70 others?' She was referring to corpses. You see, I told her I had feared for her life so I was stupidly viewing the autopsies to prepare myself - considering how the night turned out, maybe it was worth it after all-”

“70?” Rai raised his head. “A number like that, sounds like the case from seven years ago. You’re looking into that?”

“You gave me a minor homework, weeks ago.” It seemed absurdly far back. “About the failure of the Level 3s, the Life Fountains. I ordered some reading, but it took a while to get to, and you understand that I’m not jumping for joy at the thought of those photograps.”

“But you viewed them. What do you think?”

“A painfully topical realization but… it looks an awful lot like the work of shapeshifters.”

“Go on.”

“Prior disclosure: I didn’t think that until tonight. I couldn’t have. But doppelgangers, cuts and wounds, replacement - it matches up. The oddest thing about the 78 corpses out of context was the unconscionable number of 'twins'.” Sao touched the patch over his brow that throbbed almost audibly. “Around thirty sets. Of these duos, there seemed to be one that had been alive at the time of the raid. A fresh body, shot dead that night. But the other half of the pair was long-dead, the mutilated body found in one of the closets or dug up from the huge backyard. The latter were the originals - the shifters snatched anyone they could off the streets and began to impersonate them, disposing of those whose forms they stole. Even if someone reviewing the case didn’t specifically know about the existence of shifters, the amount of duplicates were bizzare. Yet there was nothing, not even a sidebar note mentioning it. The police knew they were onto something unusual and intentionally omitted the crucial information and images in general reports.”

“You got it. Though the cops were more careful than you say. There are files involved that aren’t available even internally. And for good reason.”

“Well, regardless of what was printed, it also makes sense that the advent of Life Fountains on the force coincided with a large raid against shapeshifters. For facing 30-odd enemies at once in a shootout, things seemed… unusually clean.”

“How do you figure that?”

“For the first-ever investigation of a previously unknown creature and crime, the police were extremely well informed - and well armed. A few of the shifters seemed have suffered more violent deaths; multiple bullets and defense wounds. But the majority were taken out with one or two shots; their bodies were entirely intact. Somehow, they were convinced to line up and be executed. Paralyzed? Stunned? Or simply talked down, maybe?” Sao paused. “Either way... I have to wonder if it was a Life Fountain that somehow helped achieve all this.”

"I’ve said, Life Fountains are only good for identifying shifters." Rai's voice lowered. “It wasn't the Life Fountain who fired any guns. And I don't doubt that the team should have left at least a few of the shifters alive, for study's sake if nothing else. But you saw the number of rotted bodies. All the humans the clan ate, killed, buried and replaced. It was more than one life taken per shifter. There were ashes and teeth and bones indicating they took way more than 30 victims. They just got lazy with cleanup...”

“Right. It’s not about cleanliness. What ensued wasn’t clean at all. Something else just occurred to me; the families who came to say farewell their loved ones when the bodies were recovered. If the rotted corpses were the originals, what did they show the families? Was it the copies? The friends, families, guardians: they were shown the shifters, the less decayed of each pair. They said their goodbyes and paid to bury the wrong bodies.”

Rai’s smile faded. “It looked better, at least. That was the first time the city had to deal with such a thing - and sucks that the first blowout was of that scale. Since the raid cops fucked up and left them all dead, priority went to peace of mind for the families of the originals. Over time, the process, it’s getting… better.”

His tone was not convincing in the slightest.

Sao sighed. “I’m starting to understand why you have trouble with excuses.”

“Things were different back then.”

Sao pushed a laugh from his dry throat. “It’s okay, I’m not about to start an upheaval. I’ve seen your corkboard, the case was important to you. It made waves for the better, I’m not doubting that. But not everything can be changed...”

A spark went off in Rai. Over what, who knew. It was past 3am. “Sao - does that mean you know the answer to the question?”

“What question?”

“The failure of the system to follow…?”

Sao blinked. Rai’s hope was fading fast.

“I'm not that far, unfortunately. My reading’s been on hold since the present case.” Sao laughed, his skin grating itself in the frigid air. “No more for tonight, please. I’ll never get to sleep if I think about masses of mishandled bodies.”

Rai’s flame went dead.

“And there’s still the matter of not-Marina in my bed.” Sao rubbed his eyes, barefisted and barefaced. A benefit to going without makeup, he could paw at his eyes without chemical irritation.

He was offered no support.

“I can’t go back, right? I could end up stuffed in a trunk too.”

“Do you really think that would happen? You were trying to convince me that shifter Marina wouldn’t try anything on you.”

“I didn’t think -- I’m not sure. I’m not sure of anything, at the moment.” Sao sat straight, but knew he was defeated. Here he was, covered in open sores, almost too tired to breathe, considering corpses -- not the best state of judgment. “Shapeshifters, a fake Marina in my house, the real Marina somewhere unknown, possibly dead, bodies, cars - so many parts but they’re still scattered. I’ve been enlightened tonight, but still, nothing’s solved. I just don’t know.”

He yawned.

Rai folded his glowing hands under his chin, illuminating his eyes and the shadows below them. He looked like a different person without them. He frowned, and Sao nearly dozed off before he replied. “I’ve been pulling together a plan since the bodies came in. But you may not like what I’m about to say.”

“There’s not much I do like about this situation.”

Rai was going to give him the runaround, his glare was going again, full force. Where did the energy come from? Well, Sao knew now. The magic aura reserve of some supernatural creature. It wasn’t fair. What did he have to work against this? He didn’t even have that pretty face Zen was always pointing out, not anymore.

“Unfortunately, Sao, you’re not quite worth 70 bodies.”

“Where did that come from? If we're playing this game, you know you’re not such a winner yourself.”

“If you don't want to put up with me and my bullshit anymore, you won’t have to. Your supervisor’s evaluation is coming up. But if you’re seriously wanting my advice on what to do with that little problem in your house, just be aware of where you are in the hundreds of cases I’ve seen. I try to respect you - but your… discomfort may have to continue because in the long run, you’re the same as anyone else.”

“How amazingly objective.”

“I’m still just your supervisor. I haven’t been great about that, so I’m giving you the chance now to step out now. We go back to the office and you leave me to handle this. Even if - well, what happens won’t matter, because it won’t be your business anymore. What I’m really asking: what do you really want?”

“It’s not really about what I want.”

His wants seemed so simple, but were so far away. He wanted a warm bed. He wanted to stop talking. He wanted to sleep. But what he said was, “I only want to see Marina to come back safely.”