Ray Of Bloody Sunshine

Participants:

cassidy_icon.gif dutch_icon.gif coren_icon.gif

Scene Title Ray Of Bloody Sunshine
Synopsis Cassidy, Dutch, and Coren discuss Mortimer's message.
Date May 10, 2009

NYPD Headquarters

The New York Police Department Head Quarters is an old stone building, rennovated many times over the years. The plaster walls are not as cracked and in need of repair as the various Precinct buildings around the city. The fluorescent lights give the room a rather sterile glow. Old posters, civic reminders, duty rosters and newspaper clippings are tacked up on the walls, rustling every time one of the doors opens. A high, wooden desk sits on the north wall, manned by two clerks, who records all visitors and arrests.

The way out to the street lies to the south, while doors to the offices of the Head Quarters lie to the northwest.


Detective Shelby was rather quick to arrive, all things and traffic considered, after getting Cassidy's voicemail. So he didn't get the other two hours of sleep he normally would. It's no biggie. He'll just catch them tomorrow. When he arrives, Cassidy's face down on her desk, catching a few greatly needed Zs.

"Detective O'Shea," an officer calls, and Coren gives the man a quiet shush, index finger in front of his mouth.

"What have you got?" Coren asks.

"A tape she wanted. No prints, but side two is worth a listen," the officer says as he sets a plastic evidence bag containing the cassette tape from the body that was recently dropped in front of headquarters.

"I'll take it," Coren says, and the officer retreats. Meanwhile, Coren pours two cups of coffee, both with two scoops of sugar and a load of the French vanilla creamer from the blue container in the top shelf cabinet. It's with the sweet scent of the viscous sludge — what seems to be the only concoction one can possibly make with the 'coffee' that is available in the office — that he intends to wake Cassidy with, as he sets the mug just inches from her, using a hand to wave the coffee fumes so they can be picked up by her nose.

There are many mornings that Dutch is happy to be alive, this is not one of them. After drinking a pot of coffee, nearly a gallon of water and way more aspirin than he should his headache was only now starting to fade. As soon as he could walk straight, pass a breathalyzer and keep something down he was off. Slipping down to the precinct to see what this gigantic emergency is about. What arrives, is a BMW clad zombie. Eyes bloodshot, expression blank. "You called?" His delivery is flat, peering between the two detectives. "I still have technically like four hours of vacation time, so please tell me this is fucking epic and couldnt have waited for me to sleep this off?"

As soon as Cassidy had reached her desk the night before she called not only Coren, but Dutch. Getting only the voice mail, she quickly explained she needed him to come down to headquarters. "Mortimer left you a message." She added in a bland tone. With that she hung up and got started with the paperwork. She doesn't remember closing her eyes, but somehow she ended up face buried in her arms passed out. She hadn't known she was so tired, but then it's not the first time.

Coffee. The one thing that can wake Sleeping Beauty from her slumber. Her partner is learning quickly and is rewarded with a soft groan and a slow lifting of a head on a neck stiff from the odd angle. A hand runs through her hair as she sits straight leaving her hair looking worse then before. Her clothes, the same oversized flannel shirt and worse jeans, look well wrinkled. She reaches out to draw the coffee close giving Coren a sleepy, but happy smile. "Coren, you are /my/ hero." She sips carefully at the hot liquid and glances at Dutch. His arrival help to wake her up almost completely. "Oh thank god.. Yes. I personally think it is." She motions him to the conferance room. "Go there. Sit. I'll be there in a sec."

"Well aren't you a ray of bloody sunshine," Coren says as hangover Dutch appears. He watches as his partner rises from her slumber and takes a sip of the hot liquid in his own coffee mug. What goes in comes right back out and into the mug. "What the bugger is this?" he asks and looks in his mug. Then he looks in Cassidy's mug. "I don't know how you drink this sludge, but I think I prefer tea. You can handle the agent for a mintue or two, right? I'm going to make myself something drinkable. The evidence from the torso you found is sitting on your inbox." With that, he goes to the fountain and pours the coffee right down. What a waste.

There is no argument, he Dutch just goes. Shuffling into the conference room, and promptly flipping off the lights and pulling his jacket over his head. Then its head down on the table, as he tries to will his migraine away. "Oh Jesus Christ, have mercy. Lesson learned. Ugh."

Cassidy gives Coren a toothy grin. "I know.. It's amazing I haven't developed any hair on my chest yet." She takes another sip from her's and gives a happy sigh. She glances at the inbox and nods. "About damn time. And I didn't find it, it was dropped at my feet literally." She grabs the tape out of the inbox and the files. "Yeah, I'm sure I can entertain Agent Crankypants." She gives a small roll her of eyes and adds. "Just get in there before I have to take any drastic measures." Case stuff tucked under one arm, coffee in the the other and she's off to the conference room.

Sweeping into the conferance room, she flips on the lights with the lip of her mug. "Oh no you don't." She says, letting the case stuff drop to the table, loudly. "Come on.. Up.. Sleep later." She works to set up the tape machine as she waits. "It's your fault I ended up with more paperwork and having to sleep at my desk." She pauses to pull a handful of photos out of her file and tosses them across the table to Dutch.

"I'm sure that would take the hair off your chest, actually," Coren says as he pours some hot water from the coffee maker into his mug and overtop a teabag within. Once he has his tea steeping in its mug, he brings it into the conference room with him, his eyes focusing only a moment on the photos that Cassidy has strewn about the table. "Assuming this Mortimer character is responsible, it would seem he knows that the department has become involved in this little case of yours. That's, at any rate, the only justification I can come up with as to why the lowlife didn't drop his message a little closer to your home rather than ours. Or deliver it in person, for that matter."

Dutch just groans "Leave the fucking lights off, I'm evolved and this hangover is making this really fucking epic. I see in the dark, so just grant me that will you?"He rolls back, lifting his hands to rub at his eyes before turning his attention to first the photos "Wonderful, absolutely wonderful. I told you he was nuttier than a payday, or those nut things with the nugat that isnt a payday." Dutch lifts his gaze in thought "Shit, nutlog or whatever I think." but then deadbody. On task Dutch, pay attention. "Has the body been checked for explosives?"

"If he dropped it at the ATF, the SRT would be involved. He's crazy, not stupid. He can barely handle me, he doesnt need thirty more of my buddies rocking his shit. This is a game, he wants it to last. He doesn't think you'll come on hard, he doesnt think your a threat."Dutch grumbles, sliding back the photos. "and I don't think he wants to come near me personally right now. I shot him fulla CS, and a foam baton to the face, and a sting grenade."

Cassidy glances at her partner as he walks in and motions him to shut the door. "No need for everyone to listen to us." She looks back at Dutch with mild surprise at the evolved bit, but she doesn't jump to do what he wants, her mind is focused at the task at hand. She flips open the file and sweeps a finger across the report from the morgue. "Nothing." She says with a sigh. "He wasn't dead long before we got it." She pushes the tape in it's evidence bag to the middle of the table. "Got this too.. It was repeating 'Hey Get me out of here.' Over and over.. Yeah.. sick bastard." She glances at Coren. "Did they say anything to you when they brought the tape?"

There's a light roll of this eyes when Dutch mentions being evolved, as Coren things 'oh joy, another one'. He closes the door. Then he listens to Cassidy and responds when she asks him about the tape. "Yes. The officer who dropped it off said we should listen to the other side."

The look is grim, like he'd just been told that someone ran over his cat. "So let's listen to the other side of the tape." Dutch is neither surprised, nor terribly motivated by the details of the A side of the tape. "I think it's important that he chose a tape, not an MP3, or a CD or whatever. Mort is technically inclined, he's an engineer. The decision to use an obsolete medium is entirely intentional, it means something."

Cassidy pulls the tape back to her and removes it from it's plastic bag. She pops open the deck of the tape machine and slides it in. "I dunno.. made me wonder if he was stuck in the past." She glances at Coren and pushes the button. After some soft static voices come over the small speaker. Dutch will recognize one as Number 4 and the other Mortimer.

Number 4: "So the cop guy made me bring all the guns back, wouldn't arrest me, and said to tell me you were a worthy guy or some stupid shit like that."

Mortimer: "See, I knew it, he likes to have fun too. He'll be my second in command soon enough, unless I can get that sexy black cannibal woman to do it first."

Number 4: "He said some shit about you wanting to avenge those thirty six kids? You know, the suicide ones?"

Mortimer: "I don't watch brain rotting media coverage by those lizard people! Why do I care if some stupid kids wasted their lives and killed themselves? It's a waste, really, but I can't do anything about it."

Number 4: "Yeah, boss, that's what I don't get. We should just off that guy and get it over with."

Unknown Voice: "Boss, I bet he's a spy now, prob'ly got paid off."

Unknown Voice 2: "Yeah, why would a cop just let some kid go free?"

Then, suddenly, the sound of a blade being pulled out of a scabbard is heard.

Number 4: "H-hey, boss, what are you doin'? You know I'm not a spy! Why would I be a spy? I know what you'd do to me!"

Mortimer: "I taught you better than to beg for your life. Now, you know the rules, off with your head if you ever betray me. Better safe than sorry, I always say."

For the rest of the tape, it's mostly full of screams and not-so-flattering wet sounds.

Cassidy quickly turns the tape off, silencing the screams suddenly. She looking a bit pale as she clears her throat and glances at the file. "The.. morgue report says, the message was carved into the body before death."

Coren listens in silence to the recording, and makes no comment one the selection of medium. "I'm going to assume the first voice is our victim here," he says, "A fairly safe assumption, unless another body turns up soon." He continues to stand near the doorway and sips his tea. "Agent, do you recognize any of those voices and can you identify them for us?"

"Number Four, the dude I turned loose. I told Mort, that if he wanted to keep my attention I'd need Linderman. I figured he'd play along, if it meant he could keep playing the game. I didn't have anything I could arrest number four on anyway, and the other voice is Mortimer."Dutch stays quiet for a moment. "I'm going to go home, and sleep. Then I'm going to develop a contingency and a loadout, and request official permission to go after Mortimer full time. I'm no use to you guys now, I'll fax over my reports dealing with Mort."

Cassidy nods a bit and smirks. "Yeah, probebly right." She leans back in her chair and stretches suddenly and then gives a heavy sigh. "Yeah, go home and get some sleep. Still waiting on a few more things, such at the sound report on that tape." She pops the machine open, pulling out the tape. They will find out later that there was nothing much to find on it, only a stock report in the back ground and that most of the voices were distorted. "Beside, Detective Shelby and I have other cases that need some work as well." The last few words are said around a stifled yawn.

"Indeed," Coren says, opening the door to allow Dutch out. "I'm tempted to say you ought to stick to this conference room for another couple of hours and try to catch a few more winks of shut-eye, Cassidy. You don't quite look awake yet." There he goes being all protective again. That protective nature of his probably won't stop any time soon, though.

Dutch offers the pair a lazy wave, and a soft nod. Easing quietly out, and shuffling yonder outside to fetch his bike and get home. There was sleep, and a Mort specific rifle to be built for him to get after.

Cassidy waves off Coren's concern and gives him a look. "I'm /fine/. Just pump me full of coffee and we can get working." She drains the rest of her mug and rises to her feet. "We got work to do and I'm a big girl able to decide when she needs to sleep." Her tone flat as she tucks the files and other items under her arm. Of course, she ignores the fact she was just a few monets before passed out at her desk. " She waves at Dutch and heads for her desk to start another day of work.


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