13 Degrees of Separation (50 page)

“You do
know air cars aren't supposed to be used in town right?” Nohar asked.

“Yeah
well,” Magnum adjusted his sunglasses and then wiggled his mustache. “That's
for you out of towners. I'm a local. See you Tigger,” he said. He popped the
air car into gear and sped off. Nohar winced when he banked around a corner and
heard a horn blare loudly right along the screeching of tires.

“Yeah
right,” the Neo tiger said shaking his massive head.

...*...*...*...*...

He
found the local crime scene after he got a hold of a paper. It wasn't hard to
track down, once he had the cross streets he just walked down one until he
found the yellow crime scene tape boxing the area off.

It
wasn't much, the area was in a crummier part of the city. Seedy, run down,
whatever adjective someone liked to describe a slum. Way past its' prime and
then some. The buildings were brick, red fire brick, simple roofs. 2 and 3
story buildings about 4 meters apart from each other along both sides of the
concrete road. It was surprising to see a concrete road, he hadn't expected it.
Tar he knew was out, tar didn't exist on this planet. But concrete? Someone had
put some effort into this area for some reason.

He took
a long look at the crime scene from across the street, soaking it in. Narrow
alley, a decrepit wood fence about 10 meters in cutting off that path, a pair
of dirty dumpsters on either side. The dumpsters reeked even from here. That
would cut off just about anyone's sense of smell.

He
looked around, trying to gauge the light level at night, when they said the
attack happened. It would have been dark, little light in the alley. He went
further along, checking. No, the buildings on either side had chain link or
wrought iron fencing blocking off their alleyways. On his side of the street
there was a long warehouse building, no help there. The back had a gate to a
parking lot. There was no place to hide other than that alley, not for at least
half a block. He crossed the street and headed back to the crime scene.

“We
gotta stop meeting like this,” Nohar sighed, noting the scent of the offensive
cologne the other PI wore before he spotted him.

“How'd
you know it was me?” Magnum asked, and then looked down at his loud Hawaiian
shirt. “Was it the shirt? Wait, don't Neo's have problems with color?” he
asked.

Nohar
snorted. “Smell. You reek,” he said, pinching his nose and waving his right arm
in front of his face. “And you aren't helping me you know, distracting me.”

“Good.”

“No,
it's' bad. You are getting to be an annoying pest. I thought you had a job?” he
asked.

“I do,”
Magnum said shrugging. “I think we're on the same case,” he said looking at the
crime scene Nohar was staring at. There was police tape around it, but they
both knew the cops had gotten what they wanted. What they were really after
here was to see if someone would step over the tape. Only a few would do that,
reporters, or criminals. Or someone who just didn't give a shit. He sighed as a
woman yanked the tape down and then stormed through the area. She ducked under
the other tape and kept going on her way as if without a care in the world.

“Sucks,”
Magnum sighed.

“Yeah,”
Nohar said and turned quickly to the human. “If that was my case. Which its'
not.”

“Right.
And if it wasn't my case, which it isn't. Now that we've got that out of our
systems,” Magnum replied with a half smile. “Maybe we can figure this out.”

“Together
you mean? Share the reward?” Nohar asked.

“What
reward?” Magnum asked with a laugh. “You and I both know the authorities aren't
going to care about a loose Neo getting killed. Unless your  client is offering
one?” he asked suggestively.

“Just
stay out of my way human,” Nohar sighed. He went over to the tape and sniffed,
pitching his head up to try to smell the area. He keyed his right eye to
record, doing a slow pan. It wouldn't help much, the camera didn't do a good
job, but it would help jog his memory.

“Getting
anything with your animal senses?” Magnum asked from behind him. Nohar didn't
turn, though his fur on the back of his neck itched to do so.

“A
headache from a certain pest,” he growled.

“Sorry,”
Magnum said, backing off. He stuffed his hands in his pockets and leaned
against a pole, crossing his ankles. “I'm still trying to get the report. From
what my sources tell me, no witnesses, little if any forensics. No prints, no
weapon.”

“If you
don't have the report how do you know all that?” Nohar asked.

“I have
my sources,” Magnum said with a diffident shrug. He took his glasses off and
cleaned a lens with his shirt tail. “She said the detectives aren't pushing the
issue though. That much figures,” he said.

“She
huh?” Nohar asked, turning back to the crime scene. He caught the human grimace
slightly at the dig at his slip up. “Good to know,” Nohar rumbled. “I'm not
sure...” he knelt, looking at it from a different angle. “Any idea on the
height of the victim?”

“One
hundred ten centimeters, she was a vulpine. Arctic fox,” the human said.

“I knew
it was a Neo,” Nohar murmured. “What the hell was someone like her doing in a
place like this though?” he asked softly. “This is no place for a long furred
fox,” he grumbled.

“People
got to eat,” Magnum said. “After all, you're here right?”

“Right,”
Nohar murmured. He moved his head from left to right slowly. If he went any
faster the video pan would be garbage. When he finished he hit pause and then
moved to get a different angle. He had software on his computer back in his
room that would put the two views together into a 3D image of the crime
scene... if the damn camera worked. He tapped at his right temple when it went
out for a moment.

“Problems?”
Magnum asked.

“Aren't
there always problems?” Nohar replied absently. “Blood splatter is on the right
wall and dumpster. That means... crap, I don't know the injury profile,” he
sighed.

“Throat
slit,” Magnum replied.

Nohar
turned enough to look over his shoulder. “You sure?”

“Yeah,
Right to left.”

“Huh,”
Nohar grunted. He looked at the blood spatter once more. “There is no void,” he
murmured.

“No
what? Void?” Magnum asked, coming closer.

“Void.
There isn't a void. Which means the attacker killed her from behind,” Nohar
said, moving to where the attacker had been. “Which means she was either
running from her attacker or knew and trusted them to have them at her back.”

“Like
you trust me to have me at your back?” Magnum asked. Nohar snorted. “Yeah, I
see what you are getting at. Had the attacker been in the front there would
have been a void. A place where the blood would have hit him.”

“Or
her. No gender specifics here,” Nohar replied.

“Female
serial killers are rare,” Magnum riposted.

Nohar
turned in surprise. “You've done your homework,” he said.

“I've
walked the beat a few times,” Magnum replied. He noted a few people shooting
them curious looks. “But unless you want to be talking to flat foots for a
couple hours we better get out of here soon. We're attracting too much
attention,” he said, jerking his head to the people giving them sidelong looks
down the road.

Nohar
caught the look and looked at the witnesses. “And no one saw anything huh?” he
asked sarcastically.

“In
broad daylight like it is now? Yes! In the dark?” Magnum asked, shrugging.

“Right,”
Nohar sighed. “I'll need to see this at night.”

“Why?”

“To see
where the shadows lay. If the attacker came from here... did they know each
other? Or was she taking a short cut and he ambushed her? Or did he chase her
in here and catch up to her? Was this crime scene a place of opportunity? Or a
planned kill zone?” he asked.

“Good
questions,” Magnum replied. “Hey, you are pretty good at this,” he said.

“I
try.”

“Army
Ranger huh,” Magnum asked as the tiger straightened.

“501
^st
.
Want to make something of it?” Nohar asked coldly.

“No,
just curious. Under General Richmond?”

“No, he
had the 502
^nd
. Wait how...”

Magnum
flashed a smile. “You aren't the only sleeper in town you know,” he said
straightening. “Navy, tail end of the damn war actually,” he said sighing. “So
I didn't get the same implants you did. I didn't get any actually, just my
basic civy one,” he said, holding up his left hand.

“Well,
I'll be,” Nohar murmured, noting the gold circuitry embedded in the human's
hand. Magnum snorted as he let his hand fall.

“Come
on, I'll buy you a beer and lunch. There is a place around the corner we can
kick back at. Pick up some talk and get a feel for the area,” the human said,
jerking his thumb over his shoulder.

“What
about your air car? Aren't you afraid someone will hot wire it?”

“Jack
it you mean? Not with it implant blocked. It's a rental,” Magnum replied with a
shrug. “And there isn't much of a market for air car parts. Besides, I parked
it in a secure parking lot,” he said with another smile.

“Fine,”
Nohar sighed, rubbing the small of his back. “The steak better be rare,” he
growled as they turned to walk to the restaurant.

“Thought
you Neo's liked it raw?” Magnum asked.

“Never
worked with Neo's before?” Nohar asked.

Magnum
shrugged. “Not many in the Navy, most ended up in the Marines or army. Running
around in a skin suit usually drove a Neo nutty.”

“True,”
Nohar admitted. “And no, I don't like cold meat. Not even cold cuts. Warm.
Slightly burnt is fine, but I got this thing about my teeth...” he pointed to
his teeth.

“Corona?”
Magnum asked, looking at the titanium canine.

“Yeah.”

“Sucks.”

Nohar
sighed. “Yeah, you have no idea...”

...*...*...*...*...

Outside
the restaurant Nohar stopped, smelling blood. “What?” Magnum asked. Nohar
closed his good eye and head high sniffed.

“Like
being with a blood hound,” Magnum grumbled.

“Shut
it, let me concentrate here,” Nohar growled. He turned, orienting on the smell.
It was close by. Vulpine blood, he was sure of it. He opened his eye and
pointed. “That way,” he said, pointing to the alley behind the restaurant.

“What's
that way?”

“Our
crime scene, or at least the first point of contact. I'm getting the smell of
fox blood.”

“Crap,”
Magnum breathed, following the tiger, hunching slightly. He was very much aware
at how exposed they were. The tiger seemed more interested in the scent.

“It's
fresh,” Nohar growled.

“How
fresh?”

“A day
old or...” Nohar went to round the corner and then froze. Magnum went to go
wide and Nohar put his left arm out blocking him. “Body,” Nohar growled.

“Shit,”
Magnum muttered. He looked under the Neo's arm to see a foot. A chewed off
foot. “Spirit of space...” he breathed.

“It's
not an arctic fox's either,” Nohar observed. He could see the red and black fur
on the remains. He crouched, noting the red pump the foot was strapped in.
“More parts,” he said, indicating the gap under the trash bin. The caster
wheels gave it some space underneath. Either someone had swept up the body
under it...” he was tempted to put his hands on the ground and peek. He
couldn't though, he'd contaminate the crime scene. “We need to call this in,”
he said.

“Damn
it,” Magnum cussed.

“You
want to do it? You're the local,” Nohar said.

“Tracy,
it's Tracy,” Magnum said, hand going to his face. He took his glasses off to rub
at his face and then turned.

“Tracy?
Friend? CI?” Nohar asked, indicating a Confidential Informant. “Or did her pimp
hire you to find her?”

“None
of your damn business Tigger,” Magnum snarled. He walked to the end of the
block and oriented on the restaurant.

“What
are you doing?” Nohar asked.

“They've
got a phone,” Magnum called back.

“I am
so not hungry right now,” Nohar said, making sure to record everything
carefully.

“Me
neither, something made me lose my appetite,” Magnum replied, yanking the door
to the restaurant open. “Milo? Yeah, we need to use your phone man...”

Chapter 4

A good
fifteen minutes later he heard a ground vehicle show up. He turned, aware that
they hadn't gone all lights and siren. Either they were smart and didn't want
to make a scene, or weren't taking the situation very seriously.

Magnum
showed them the body. The patrol officer gagged, turning away and rushed to his
squad car to call in back up. After that things got interesting as dozens of
cars pulled up, some marked, some unmarked.