10-17-2015, 01:19 AM
Ihsan might have found a nice little gin joint to spend some time, but Alexander has been tied up at the station. Officially, he’s working on administration surrounding an arrest earlier in the day – nothing major in the grand scheme of things, a simple shoplifter with a rather lengthy list of previous offences. But there’s also a lengthy list of I’s to be dotted and T’s to be crossed to avoid the case being thrown out on a technicality.
Unofficially, he’s doing a little extra-curricular investigation. Alexander is no Grace, but he knows enough about using the computer to have a few windows open for different items of interest. One window, the one he spends most time on – especially when people walk close – contains the thrilling administrative work for the booking. Another is being used to dig into a couple of women reported missing in the city.
A third is keeping an eye on the results of the Kozlowski investigation. So far, the information has been slow coming back. Lab reports: Pending. Autopsy: Pending. The pattern continues. The service has been having more than its share of system slowdowns and outages recently.
Alexander is a cautious sort, who tries to keep his two lives separate. Both are important to him, but his mundane life wouldn’t understand half of what appears in the shadows in the city. His colleagues and the judges wouldn’t understand why he had shot at a woman because there was little other option for stopping her, albeit a woman that they would have little chance of stopping themselves. Not without significantly more bloodshed than had already been spilled. How would they cope with vampires? Or Spirits? Nephandi?
So he takes precautions. One of those is having two separate phones. One, a reasonably recent smartphone, is used for ordinary things in the ordinary part of his life. The other is a cheap thing, something easily disposable if it ever became necessary to protect him or the others. Unless Grace or Ihsan have done more digging, it’s the burner phone that rings.
Alexander doesn’t recognise the number when he answers with a simple, “Hello.” He’s absent-mindedly flicking back to the window monitoring the investigation when Ihsan introduces herself. A window that is quickly closed when she mentions Kozlowski.
It’s perhaps unfortunate that Alexander didn’t know of her presence in the city. Had Michael made the call, things would have gone differently. But there had been no mention of Ihsan on Ginger, and Alex hadn’t spoken to any of the others about her presence. It’s also unfortunate that there had been reports of Union agents becoming more active, especially around the police department. Sasha had warned him of a young, sandy-haired man charming his way around the admin staff. But it stands to reason that there would be more of them.
And here’s a woman who knows his name, and knows what he’s most recently been involved in. Possible she knows what he’s been keeping tabs on while he works. The other window – the one about the missing women – gets closed too.
And all Ihsan will hear is a few seconds of the kind of background noise you would find in an office. The seconds it takes Alexander to scan around the office, looking for others on the phone. And then? The call ends. If she calls the number again, it will be out of service and not directing to voicemail. The reason? The SIM will already have met its end in a shredder, and the phone will shortly be meeting a sudden demise under a patrol car tyre.
Unofficially, he’s doing a little extra-curricular investigation. Alexander is no Grace, but he knows enough about using the computer to have a few windows open for different items of interest. One window, the one he spends most time on – especially when people walk close – contains the thrilling administrative work for the booking. Another is being used to dig into a couple of women reported missing in the city.
A third is keeping an eye on the results of the Kozlowski investigation. So far, the information has been slow coming back. Lab reports: Pending. Autopsy: Pending. The pattern continues. The service has been having more than its share of system slowdowns and outages recently.
Alexander is a cautious sort, who tries to keep his two lives separate. Both are important to him, but his mundane life wouldn’t understand half of what appears in the shadows in the city. His colleagues and the judges wouldn’t understand why he had shot at a woman because there was little other option for stopping her, albeit a woman that they would have little chance of stopping themselves. Not without significantly more bloodshed than had already been spilled. How would they cope with vampires? Or Spirits? Nephandi?
So he takes precautions. One of those is having two separate phones. One, a reasonably recent smartphone, is used for ordinary things in the ordinary part of his life. The other is a cheap thing, something easily disposable if it ever became necessary to protect him or the others. Unless Grace or Ihsan have done more digging, it’s the burner phone that rings.
Alexander doesn’t recognise the number when he answers with a simple, “Hello.” He’s absent-mindedly flicking back to the window monitoring the investigation when Ihsan introduces herself. A window that is quickly closed when she mentions Kozlowski.
It’s perhaps unfortunate that Alexander didn’t know of her presence in the city. Had Michael made the call, things would have gone differently. But there had been no mention of Ihsan on Ginger, and Alex hadn’t spoken to any of the others about her presence. It’s also unfortunate that there had been reports of Union agents becoming more active, especially around the police department. Sasha had warned him of a young, sandy-haired man charming his way around the admin staff. But it stands to reason that there would be more of them.
And here’s a woman who knows his name, and knows what he’s most recently been involved in. Possible she knows what he’s been keeping tabs on while he works. The other window – the one about the missing women – gets closed too.
And all Ihsan will hear is a few seconds of the kind of background noise you would find in an office. The seconds it takes Alexander to scan around the office, looking for others on the phone. And then? The call ends. If she calls the number again, it will be out of service and not directing to voicemail. The reason? The SIM will already have met its end in a shredder, and the phone will shortly be meeting a sudden demise under a patrol car tyre.