"Dresden." I put my best professional, phone voice on at the office. It was a compromise between my usual surliness and the 'phone voice' that Billy had jokingly suggested one time after a good long game of Arcanos and a few drinks. Billy was no longer allowed to play bartender during our get togethers.
"I've got a case for you."
"And a good afternoon to you too, Murph." I twirled my pen around, idly. I'd been filling out a report from my last case. Paper work. I was pretty sure it was necessary, but it was also totally boring.
"Harry." Her exasperated sigh was nearly lost to the crackle of static over the phone line. "It's a freaky one, okay?" I gave her my own sigh. They were always freaky when I got called in.
"Where do you need me?" Murphy gave me the address. It was in the suburbs, not more than ten minutes from Michael's house.
"I'm on my way."
~
It was a cute house and had that lived in look to it. Toys in the front yard, chalk art on the drive and the walk. Neat, but chaotic. A family home. Murphy didn't look out of place, standing on the porch waiting for me. I mean, unless you knew her and knew what she did for a living. Then she looked frighteningly out of place.
"Hey." Murphy nodded at me as I stepped up to join her in the shade.
"Hey Harry."
"So what've we got?" I glanced around. It was just her. Rawlins was still in the car. He waved and went back to whatever he was reading. There was no forensics van, no black and whites, nothing.
"I'm not sure. Maybe nothing. Maybe something from your side of things. CPD got a call this morning from a Mrs. James Tuck. Mrs. Tuck reported that her twelve year old son had gone missing. Officers responded and found Mrs. Tuck and her husband. They also found all three of the Tuck children. Including twelve year old Josh. Mrs. Tuck insists that Josh is not Josh. It's just something that looks like Josh. The call got booted over to SI."
"Uh, I hate to tell you your business, Murph, but did you consider she might just be off her rocker?"
"Yes. I did. But-" She held up one hand, palm up. "There's something off here. I can't put my finger on it, but honest to God, the kid gives me the creeps. And I've learned not to ignore those feelings."
"So you want me to check the kid out."
"Yeah."
"I can do that, no problem. Lead on, Toto." Murphy smacked a hand at me, not hard. More of a playful slap. I turned to catch it on my arm rather than in the stomach. I mean, it probably wouldn't hurt anything, but. But. I was suddenly paranoid. I guess I really did need to read one of those books Ellie suggested. Murph gave me a look and then led the way into the house.
The parents were sitting on the couch, waiting. Murphy made introductions but kept it brief. We all wanted to get to the bottom of this. If there was any 'this' to get to the bottom of.
"Josh's room is the last one on the left, Harry." Murphy nodded her head at the hall and I gave her a small thumbs up sign. She kept the parents busy while I headed down the hall to get a look at the kid. The rest of the house matched the lawn and the living room. Clean, neat and lived in. It was just a real comfortable place. Either way this fell out - if the kid was a shape shifter or if the mother had slipped a cog it was a tragedy. I hated to see normal peoples lives ripped apart.
I knocked on the door and received a grunt that I took for 'come on in'. So I did.
It was a typical boys room, or at least it looked like the few I'd seen lately. Messy and probably more than a little dirty under the layer of clothes and sports equipment. Josh had a thing for Legos. He had more than a dozen of the kits put together and on display all around the room.The boy in question was seated at a small desk, putting another set together.
"Hi, Josh." He didn't look up. Didn't make a sound. Just put another couple of blocks together, checking his work against the picture on the box. I moved closer to him, circling to come into his line of sight. Still no reaction. I started to get what Murphy meant - he was more than a little creepy. Nothing exactly wrong with him, but definitely something off.
I crouched down in front of him, trying to get a good look at him if I couldn't get his attention and he suddenly looked up, met my eyes straight on. Before I could look away, I felt the bottom drop out of reality and fell forward into his pale blue eyes.
It was his room, and Josh was still sitting there, putting Legos together. But there was a faint smell in the air, something rotten, dead and vile. A white haze, misty, drifted through the air and I heard a song, sung in childrens' voices fade in and out on the breeze.
"First you're sick and then you're worse, and then it's time to call the hearse..."
I knew this one. Every kid did. I found myself almost humming along to it, an old, sad feeling slipping into me. I could see Josh's lips moving along in time to the rhyme, silently.
There was something there. Curled in his black hair, nearly invisible behind one ear. I leaned forward, tried to grasp it and it moved, turned on me and lunged, quick as a snake. I jerked back, fell, and felt the soulgaze break.
"The worms crawl in, the worms crawl out, the worms play pinochle on your snout!"
I fell backwards in reality, which is what kept the thing that shot out of Josh's mouth from hitting me in the face. My ass hit the carpet and I rolled, narrowly missing smacking my head into the frame of the bed. I grabbed the first thing I felt under my hand, rolled to my knees and smacked whatever I was holding down as the long black blur came at me over the floor.
There was a thick 'squoosh' sound along with a little crunching and black goo oozed out from around the American history book I'd grabbed.
"Ew." I pried up the edge of the book. Whatever it had been it was mush now. Slimy and black, with pieces of what looked like insect exoskeleton crushed and cracked through it. As I watched it started to dissolve, going clear and then vaporizing. Ectoplasm. I looked up at Josh. He was down, flat on his desk, passed out. I dropped the book again, let the construct dissolve on it's own and pulled myself up to check on him. He was okay. Pulse and breathing steady.
I backed out of the room and shut the door behind myself.
"Hey Murphy?" She came down the hall toward me. Quick, but not hurried. Didn't want to alarm the parents.
"Yeah?"
"I got it. Have a look." Murphy opened the door and looked in. "Creepy vibe?"
"Gone. So is this their son, or what?"
"He is. He was before too, but he had a Khan worm in his head. I smashed it."
"A what?" I shrugged.
"Brain worm. From the Nevernever."
"Uh-huh."
"Hey, don't look at me. I've never seen one before, but that's what it looked like!"
"How'd it get inside the kid?"
"Don't know. I'll look into it Murph. Like I said, it's new to me. But I'll find out what it was."
"Let me know?"
"'Course."
Murphy spoke with the parents, gave them some sort of edited version of the whole 'brain worm' story and we left. Rawlins started up the car as we came out.
"Harry?"
"Yeah?" I glanced back at Murph from beside the Beetle.
"Are you okay?"
"What? Yeah. I dodged the Khan worm just fine."
"You flinched earlier. On the porch."
"Eh?" Duh, Harry. Duh. Murphy's kind of observant, remember? "Oh. Yeah. No. It's nothing. Just a little sore from sparring with Thomas. No biggie!" She didn't look convinced, but I jumped into my car and drove away before she could say anything else.
Crap. Okay, I knew I was going to have to tell people eventually. The problem with Murphy was going to be telling her who the father was.
I'd sort of neglected to mention to Murph that I was seeing Marcone for, oh, the past three years or so.
My god, the Trek reference is so in character for Harry! And yeah, Murphy is going to (rightly) flip the * out, as it puts every case Harry's assisted on as questionable.
The shit that Murphy is going to flip? Completely understandable.
Like you said, ever case Harry has ever been called in on comes into question. Especially considering the first two big cases directly involved Marcone.
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
timeasmymeasure
Fill: Fortuitus Familia 3/?
Date: 2011-03-16 08:08 pm (UTC)"I've got a case for you."
"And a good afternoon to you too, Murph." I twirled my pen around, idly. I'd been filling out a report from my last case. Paper work. I was pretty sure it was necessary, but it was also totally boring.
"Harry." Her exasperated sigh was nearly lost to the crackle of static over the phone line. "It's a freaky one, okay?" I gave her my own sigh. They were always freaky when I got called in.
"Where do you need me?" Murphy gave me the address. It was in the suburbs, not more than ten minutes from Michael's house.
"I'm on my way."
~
It was a cute house and had that lived in look to it. Toys in the front yard, chalk art on the drive and the walk. Neat, but chaotic. A family home. Murphy didn't look out of place, standing on the porch waiting for me. I mean, unless you knew her and knew what she did for a living. Then she looked frighteningly out of place.
"Hey." Murphy nodded at me as I stepped up to join her in the shade.
"Hey Harry."
"So what've we got?" I glanced around. It was just her. Rawlins was still in the car. He waved and went back to whatever he was reading. There was no forensics van, no black and whites, nothing.
"I'm not sure. Maybe nothing. Maybe something from your side of things. CPD got a call this morning from a Mrs. James Tuck. Mrs. Tuck reported that her twelve year old son had gone missing. Officers responded and found Mrs. Tuck and her husband. They also found all three of the Tuck children. Including twelve year old Josh. Mrs. Tuck insists that Josh is not Josh. It's just something that looks like Josh. The call got booted over to SI."
"Uh, I hate to tell you your business, Murph, but did you consider she might just be off her rocker?"
"Yes. I did. But-" She held up one hand, palm up. "There's something off here. I can't put my finger on it, but honest to God, the kid gives me the creeps. And I've learned not to ignore those feelings."
"So you want me to check the kid out."
"Yeah."
"I can do that, no problem. Lead on, Toto." Murphy smacked a hand at me, not hard. More of a playful slap. I turned to catch it on my arm rather than in the stomach. I mean, it probably wouldn't hurt anything, but. But. I was suddenly paranoid. I guess I really did need to read one of those books Ellie suggested. Murph gave me a look and then led the way into the house.
The parents were sitting on the couch, waiting. Murphy made introductions but kept it brief. We all wanted to get to the bottom of this. If there was any 'this' to get to the bottom of.
"Josh's room is the last one on the left, Harry." Murphy nodded her head at the hall and I gave her a small thumbs up sign. She kept the parents busy while I headed down the hall to get a look at the kid. The rest of the house matched the lawn and the living room. Clean, neat and lived in. It was just a real comfortable place. Either way this fell out - if the kid was a shape shifter or if the mother had slipped a cog it was a tragedy. I hated to see normal peoples lives ripped apart.
I knocked on the door and received a grunt that I took for 'come on in'. So I did.
It was a typical boys room, or at least it looked like the few I'd seen lately. Messy and probably more than a little dirty under the layer of clothes and sports equipment. Josh had a thing for Legos. He had more than a dozen of the kits put together and on display all around the room.The boy in question was seated at a small desk, putting another set together.
"Hi, Josh." He didn't look up. Didn't make a sound. Just put another couple of blocks together, checking his work against the picture on the box. I moved closer to him, circling to come into his line of sight. Still no reaction. I started to get what Murphy meant - he was more than a little creepy. Nothing exactly wrong with him, but definitely something off.
I crouched down in front of him, trying to get a good look at him if I couldn't get his attention and he suddenly looked up, met my eyes straight on. Before I could look away, I felt the bottom drop out of reality and fell forward into his pale blue eyes.
It was his room, and Josh was still sitting there, putting Legos together. But there was a faint smell in the air, something rotten, dead and vile. A white haze, misty, drifted through the air and I heard a song, sung in childrens' voices fade in and out on the breeze.
"First you're sick and then you're worse, and then it's time to call the hearse..."
I knew this one. Every kid did. I found myself almost humming along to it, an old, sad feeling slipping into me. I could see Josh's lips moving along in time to the rhyme, silently.
There was something there. Curled in his black hair, nearly invisible behind one ear. I leaned forward, tried to grasp it and it moved, turned on me and lunged, quick as a snake. I jerked back, fell, and felt the soulgaze break.
"The worms crawl in, the worms crawl out, the worms play pinochle on your snout!"
I fell backwards in reality, which is what kept the thing that shot out of Josh's mouth from hitting me in the face. My ass hit the carpet and I rolled, narrowly missing smacking my head into the frame of the bed. I grabbed the first thing I felt under my hand, rolled to my knees and smacked whatever I was holding down as the long black blur came at me over the floor.
There was a thick 'squoosh' sound along with a little crunching and black goo oozed out from around the American history book I'd grabbed.
"Ew." I pried up the edge of the book. Whatever it had been it was mush now. Slimy and black, with pieces of what looked like insect exoskeleton crushed and cracked through it. As I watched it started to dissolve, going clear and then vaporizing. Ectoplasm. I looked up at Josh. He was down, flat on his desk, passed out. I dropped the book again, let the construct dissolve on it's own and pulled myself up to check on him. He was okay. Pulse and breathing steady.
I backed out of the room and shut the door behind myself.
"Hey Murphy?" She came down the hall toward me. Quick, but not hurried. Didn't want to alarm the parents.
"Yeah?"
"I got it. Have a look." Murphy opened the door and looked in. "Creepy vibe?"
"Gone. So is this their son, or what?"
"He is. He was before too, but he had a Khan worm in his head. I smashed it."
"A what?" I shrugged.
"Brain worm. From the Nevernever."
"Uh-huh."
"Hey, don't look at me. I've never seen one before, but that's what it looked like!"
"How'd it get inside the kid?"
"Don't know. I'll look into it Murph. Like I said, it's new to me. But I'll find out what it was."
"Let me know?"
"'Course."
Murphy spoke with the parents, gave them some sort of edited version of the whole 'brain worm' story and we left. Rawlins started up the car as we came out.
"Harry?"
"Yeah?" I glanced back at Murph from beside the Beetle.
"Are you okay?"
"What? Yeah. I dodged the Khan worm just fine."
"You flinched earlier. On the porch."
"Eh?" Duh, Harry. Duh. Murphy's kind of observant, remember? "Oh. Yeah. No. It's nothing. Just a little sore from sparring with Thomas. No biggie!" She didn't look convinced, but I jumped into my car and drove away before she could say anything else.
Crap. Okay, I knew I was going to have to tell people eventually. The problem with Murphy was going to be telling her who the father was.
I'd sort of neglected to mention to Murph that I was seeing Marcone for, oh, the past three years or so.
Re: Fill: Fortuitus Familia 3/?
Date: 2011-03-16 08:21 pm (UTC)Re: Fill: Fortuitus Familia 3/?
Date: 2011-03-17 07:43 pm (UTC)Re: Fill: Fortuitus Familia 3/?
Date: 2011-03-16 09:17 pm (UTC)Re: Fill: Fortuitus Familia 3/?
Date: 2011-03-17 07:45 pm (UTC)The shit that Murphy is going to flip? Completely understandable.
Like you said, ever case Harry has ever been called in on comes into question. Especially considering the first two big cases directly involved Marcone.
OP Re: Fill: Fortuitus Familia 3/?
Date: 2011-03-17 03:26 am (UTC)Re: OP Re: Fill: Fortuitus Familia 3/?
Date: 2011-03-17 07:46 pm (UTC)Re: Fill: Fortuitus Familia 3/?
Date: 2011-03-17 06:52 am (UTC)*gets popcorn and waits to see everyone's reaction to the news*
Re: Fill: Fortuitus Familia 3/?
Date: 2011-03-17 07:46 pm (UTC)*steals some of your popcorn*