The Mountain - XI

XI.

                Erika and Angela laid out the plan to Greed in his small apartment. With Erika and Victoria having found a subsequent body at the docks they had little time to waste. It wouldn’t be long before the Butcher had the missing pieces for the vessel.

                “What else does he need?” Greed asked handing the women mugs of tea. Papers were spread out on the coffee table, a mixture of Union documents and files from the police department.

                “According to these reports,” Erika said flipping through the autopsy files, “all that’s missing are a few internal organs.”

                “That’s not counting the body we found with Misty. He might need even less.” Angela said sipping the tea.

                “Right, I forgot about that, plus we didn’t spend much time examining the corpse we found either.”

                Greed scoffed.

                “I’m sorry, would you like to drive down the docks and peel back the woman’s hollowed out chest cavity? No? I didn’t think so.” Erika scolded Greed.

                “Calm down sis.” Angela said.

                “Now that we know we need to find this ‘vessel’ where do we need to look?” Greed asked.

                Erika opened up a map on the table covering up all the other papers. With a pen she marked all the locations of the bodies that were found to make another symbol matching that of the one drawn on the precincts map at the station. With a ruler Erika linked the places together to form connections between them and found the intersecting point in the city.

                “Here.” Erika circled the intersection.

                Greed leaned over to get a better look.

                “What’s there?” Angela asked looking at Greed.

                “Apartments…some sort of housing. It’s in some bastards basement?” Greed gave Erika and Angela a confused look.

                “We’ll need to canvas the area. It could be anywhere in this radius.”

                “That’s two square blocks. It’d be better if I got some officers to help us out.”

                “Should we tell him?”

                “Tell me what?”

                “You’re being investigated by your own police force.”

                “Why would you say that?”

                “We have our sources.” Angela said.  

                “According to our source you are simply being surveilled as of now.” Erika added jotting down the streets they’d need to cover.

                “That bastard.”

                “Who?” Angela asked.

                “Vincent, he thinks I’ve cracked and since I said I’d put in my resignation.”

                The two women looked up at him then shared a glance.

                “I put it in as leverage to let you guys in on the case. I’m done either way.”

                “Maybe not, but we can cross that bridge when we get to it. For now we need to find this body.” Erika ripped the paper into sheets giving each of them one with a series of street names.

                “We need to split up to cover more ground. Check these streets and report back.”

                “Check them for what? What are we supposed to see?”

                “The Butcher for one. If anything he’ll be close to it since the other shrines have been built.”

                “Alright. When do we go?” Greed asked standing.

                “Now.”

                “Are you sure you’re up for this?” Angela whispered to Greed as Erika left the room.

                “Like I said, this is all I have left.” Greed turned to Erika, “Let’s go.”

                They road together to the first drop off point where Angela got out. Then next Erika dropped off Greed. She gave him a look but said nothing before driving herself to her first street. There was a calm in the air and a light wind brushed her hair as she walked up the streets. She wasn’t sure what she was meant to look for. But she knew there had to be a sign or two. There was always a sign. An energy flowed from malignance that was felt by the world around it and the energy coming off a vessel intended for the Enigma would be immense. Better still she could spot the Butcher himself skulking around, though there wasn’t much of a description. He was a larger man, bulky, not fat, average height, and as far as Angela could describe he was Caucasian but even that was unsure. Greed as well could barely give a good description after his own run in. Simply stating a similar build type. Strong and fast.

                Erika crossed off three streets outright and marked two for follow up. She noticed more dead animals on one side street, a possible sign of a killer taking out his malice or simply a bad case of roadkill. She simply couldn’t tell. If the others found no discerning signs then she’d bring them back to observe this area more strictly. While she searched she thought over Victoria’s proposal, the one she laid out once it was clear there was indeed occult ilk working in the city.

                “Do you trust him? He seems a little on edge.”

                “He’s tough enough.”

                “But tough isn’t everything. Angela told me that he is on the verge of a breakdown.”

                “He is transitioning. It’s hard. We dumped a lot onto his plate. Can you expect any other reaction?”

                “I am surprised he’s been this receptive. He seems to care most about his work and nothing else. But that’s not what we’re looking for.”

                “We need no nonsense people who are willing to do what it takes to get the job done. Plain and simple.”

                “I’m simply worried that when the time comes he won’t be able to deliver. Why are you so sure?”

                “He has nothing left to lose.”

                Erika pushed open the gate to an abandoned home and entered the yard. Everything was dead and gray. Another sign of malfeasance or simply a sign of the changing seasons. One bad thing about here work, that made it that much more difficult is that these things weren’t an exact science. In fact most situations defied what most would even call scientific thought. She didn’t subscribe to it being ‘magic’ in the literary sense per se but simply that it was some phenomena that couldn’t be explained by science yet. For now until that time when it could be explained they were left with signs and symbols, small clues and not much to point in the right direction. This job was as much knowledge as it was intuition.

                Intuition, something her great grandmother Amelia Darrows wrote of often, was a women’s greatest strength. Especially in a setting such as this. But intuition wasn’t like having a mental radar sending out signals and receiving back data. To Erika it felt like a gut feeling and right now it was pulling her. She looked at her map and skipped two streets feeling that she was on the right path. There was a pulsing she felt in her mind and her heart that told her that she was getting closer. The vessel was closer and closer.

                Angela scanned the streets and the buildings looking for any sign of foul play but she felt this was the most futile endeavor she had been in. No idea what to look for though she sparked an idea of how to get some information. She ran up to the first door on the street and started asking some questions. The first five or so doors were slammed in her face with not a word to answer her questions but curses. By the time she reached the tenth house she was sure anyone of these malcontents probably had a body or two in their closets rotting away. So much anger and disdain. The area was rundown, sure, and that could color ones perception and attitude but this seemed much. As if there was something about causing moods to turn sour. Then it dawned on her. If the Butcher was building a vessel nearby it was surely giving off negative energy. That must have permeated the minds of those around here, causing them to be less than palatable.

                “You’re definitely onto something sis.” Angela said abandoning her idea after getting barked at one more time.

                Angela looked at the street names she found and decided to fun a little experiment. Despite all the ill will she found there was a discernable difference in the level of contempt the further west she went. If the next house one street up was worse then she felt she might be getting warmer. So she let her experiment run. An old woman answered the door one block up from where she started and before she even reached the door she was shouting and cursing her little heart out. The only word Angela got out of her was “Tramp” before the door was slammed in her face.

                “Alright, next.” Angela went up one more block and found the next house was even worse. She continued this experiment narrowing down the streets by the content of peoples moods. Her original hypothesis was correct and she headed west up the road.

                Greed walked slowly, almost shuffling up the road, feeling tired and sore. His side burned and itched to high hell. He hadn’t had a chance to change out the bandages before they left and he felt it getting moist. Once this escapade was over he’d make that his first priority. He’d leave his job, lay low, sleep it off then figure out what was next. For now he gazed over the small piece of paper and looked at the streets he was given. He knew them all, had driven through them time after time, more often as a PO answering domestic calls and taking drunks in for a night of sobriety. The area was mostly surrounded by poor housing that had been hastily thrown up around a block of wealthier buildings. This development was an annoyance to most of the well to do but the barrier between the two classes was good enough keep them paying their high rents. However that meant the cops were called twice as much as any other place to “check up” on things going on. Each street at a story for him at this point. He even recognized some of the buildings he had entered with half a wit and heart pounding out of his chest. That fear was long gone, replaced by other darker feelings about the job, but there was a nostalgia about this place that he hadn’t realized he missed.

                If he was here under other circumstances he had the mind to ask around to see how people were doing. But he wasn’t sure if that was actually true about himself, actually true that he would do that. He had had time aplenty before to do just that but now that he was at the end of his rope he felt different. Was it desperation to cling to some past that made him want to reconnect with the criminals and domestically abused wives and children of these people? Turning a storied and violent past into something to cherish and hold onto? That’s all he had left anymore were memories of old times. Ever since Evelyn died he’s felt like he’s been withering away. As if with her gone his will to exist was turning to dust and blowing away with the wind. He had to hold onto something and these calls, these cases, these days long gone, overshadowed by the slow passing of time and decay, were all that remained. A shadow of a life. He clenched his chest as a wave of envy for that youth he had seized him. So much promise and fervor eaten away until he was nothing but a bitter cold man.

                Don’t wear yourself out for me.

                He spat in the dust and pushed forward. He wasn’t dead yet. He still had enough in him to finish this.

                Erika burned to find this bastard. She felt that he was so close. Her intuition flashing like a light bulb in her brain pushed  and pulled her this way and that calibrating her feelings. She had read many times the words that Ameila Darrows had written about opening ones mind to the whispers of the soul. She had never fully believed in that, even given their line of work. Erika was a see it to believe it type and you couldn’t see your soul but she could feel it. So, when she saw a large man carrying a something in a large garbage bag over his shoulder in the alleyways beyond the fence she stood at she sprung into action. Like a flipping switch her heart jumped in her chest and she chased parallel to him until she could get right behind him. A trail of blood lead behind him and her mind was screaming.

                “I’ve got you, you sonofabitch.” Erika looked around but didn’t see the other two. If this was indeed the Butcher she couldn’t hesitate but even with her mind aflame with a voiceless certainty she stayed where she was. She didn’t want to go in alone and she couldn’t wait for too long. She kept her eyes on him following him close enough to get an idea of his heading but far enough to stay out of sight. She noticed him walk, not into the cellar of a building but down into what looked like a subway tunnel entrance. She knew she was going to lose him if she waited too long. She waited a minute to make sure she wouldn’t’ scare him away then ran to the road. She drew her gun and let out three shots. She left a trail of items leading into the stairwell and descended. Her heart was pounding, her hands were shaking, but she entered the darkness with only her intuition to guide her.

                Angela emerged onto the street where the feeling of disdain was the strongest so far. Now she didn’t even need to say anything to anyone she could feel it. There was a palpable sense of hatred and negativity floating in the air. It was oppressive like summer heat and made her lungs feel heavy with each breath. She felt stifled and tired from it. She looked around and saw Greed emerge from an alleyway limping. That man was stubborn to a fault but it made her admire him in a way. He was tough, not arrogant, and a fighter. She put her arm around him and spoke to him softly.

                “Find anything?”

                “Not a thing, just some old memories but they won’t help us right now.”

                “Can you feel that?” Angela asked wondering if Greed could feel the oppressive nature of the area.

                “The cold?”

                “Nevermind. Have you seen Erika?”

                “No, I…” Greed began to speak slowly when three gun shots rang out one block up from them.

                “Shit! Let’s go!” Angela said helping Greed pick up speed and they hobbled their way over to the next street. Heads started to pop out of their doors then retreat just as quickly when they saw Angela and Greed come up the road.

                “Erika!” Angela called out.

                “Look.” Greed pointed to a scarf hanging on a fence.

                “Erika! Where are you?” Angela called out again. Greed moved around the fence and saw another article hanging and another beyond leading down a dark stairwell.

                “Angela, this way.” Greed called out.

                Angela came up behind him and noticed the path as well.

                “Come on.” Angela pulled out her gun and cocked it. Greed followed suit with the gun he was given by the sisters. Silently and slowly they approached the steps.

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