New Breed

St. Anthony

“Another one within the city?” Sparrows swung the coat, from the rack and onto his shoulders in one move. “Usually its human on human violence this far in.” He fixed his collar before folding Howels’s trench coat over his arm. He ran to catch up with Howels.

Howels held the elevator. He lifted the coat from his partner’s arms. “Thanks.” “This is becoming a serious problem. Also,” The doors to the elevator closed and Sparrow felt the decent. “The murder didn’t take place in our district. Couple of rings out.”

“Two rings out? That’s not even near the other New Breed attacks.” Sparrow scrunched up his face. “I can’t tell if they are getting closer or further away. Our last case was closer. Are they not making it in as far?”

Howels shrugged.

“Which district is it? It’s not under our jurisdiction.” Sparrow shoved his hands into his pockets. “They’ll allow us help with the investigation?”

Howels peered from the corner of his eye. “5th District.”

“I’ve been there once.” Sparrow bit his lip. His gaze fell to the pristine rug of the elevator. He followed Howels’s feet as he exited. “St. Anthony is where I was placed for training.”

The car roared to life. Navigation and the police scanner came across the small screen. Sparrow had a millisecond to view the gigantic city before it zoomed in to the 13th District.

“Training didn’t go well.” Sparrow sipped his coffee. “I was transferred here after only one week.”

“That’s old.” Howels lifted the cup from Sparrow’s hand. “The story the captain told was that you didn’t get along with the other new recruits.”

Sparrow wiped a hand across his mouth. “He worded it mildly.” He stared out the window at the grand architect of the 13th District. The building rose high into the partly cloudy sky. “It has been raining a lot. The sky is clearing up.”

“I never need to check the weather reports with you around,” Howels grumbled.

Aaron flattened his mouth and knitted his eyebrows. He returned to his view from the window. “Do you ever think about this city?” His voice was filled with wonder.

“I work in this city.” Howels drove smoothly. “I am forced to think about it everyday.”

Sparrow shot a glare to his friend. “No, I mean on a grander scale.” His fingertips pressed gently on the glass. “There use to be a world filled with cities. Now, there is a city filled with little worlds.”

The 5th district lacked the beauty of the 13th District. It’s building were designed quickly with little care for a grand appearance. Streets were clean but had few bus stops and marketing designs to litter the sells windows.

It was cleaner and better quality materials then levels closer to the edge. But it lacked the sophisticated look of the inner ring of the city. The edges weren’t cut as straight and there was a shine missing from the metal of the buildings.

Sparrow often marveled at the vast difference of the city rings. It was clear the financial situation of each District and ring. The outer ring was the poor and they were used as a sacrifice for the inner rings. He had first hand knowledge of the poverty of District 2.

Perdita was the name of the second District. Sparrow was in high school when he found the meaning of the word. It did match the area, but it was a cruel name for the city to give the district.

It made up half of the First Ring of the city. The lost and broken district was the eastern side of that ring. No one cared about the amount of BioPet attacks there. They never sent extra protection or built walls. It was common to lose a neighbor.

Howels turned the motor off and sat back with his eyes on Sparrow. “Reminiscing?”

“You can tell?” The world reappeared in Sparrow’s eyes. There was still a haze around the edge of his vision. He felt lazy and tired but there was no chance to close his eyes.

Howels stepped out of car. He fixed his coat as he put it on. His gaze was on the building across the street.

“Why is he like this?” Aaron muttered to himself. “Answers half my questions.” He gripped the handle with more strength than needed. His shoulder popped forward and the planned to rip the door open.

He tilted sideways as the door opened. Howels gripped Sparrow’s arm to stead him as he released the door handle with the other hand. “I can always tell. You’re quiet and you get a look on your face.” Howels guided Sparrow across the intersection.

“St. Anthony BioPet Center.” Aaron read from the plague on the brickwork. “I thought we were headed to the St. Anthony Police Station.”

Howels opened the door. With a tip of his head, he gestured Sparrow inside. “They don’t know that we’re helping with the case.”

Sparrow’s sigh was audible was across the large lobby. The receptionist peeked over the desk. She had to rise out of her chair to get a view of Sparrow. “Can I help you?” Her voice also carried from the desk to the front door.

“I’ll tell them when it’s time.” Howels leaned down to Sparrow. “Let’s see how good they are at investigating homicides.” He straightened his shoulders and withdrew his badge. “Yes, Ma’am. I need to speak with the person in charge of this facility.”

Her eyes studied the badge over her wireframe glasses. “That would be Doctor Albert. He’s busy at the moment.” She fingers danced over the keyboard. “If you could wait for a moment.” Her thin hand motioned to the armchairs by the window. “I will send you up after his meeting.”

“Ma’am, we’re police investigating a crime. Please pull him from his meeting.” Sparrow flashed his badge with his statement. He had stood tall and squared his shoulders the same way he had seen Howels do it before.

Howels lifted a few fingers to the lady reaching for the phone. “It’s fine. We don’t mind waiting for a few minutes.” He mimicked her motion to the chairs. After a few steps, he turned over his shoulder. “Can you call Dr. Albert to let him know that there are detectives waiting to speak with him?” He waited for her to give a curt nod before taking his seat next to Sparrow.

“It there a reason that we are in no hurry?” Sparrow raised an eyebrow.

“Sometimes clues find you.” Howels opened a magazine. “And the less noticeable we are, the better. I don’t want the receptionist describing you to the other officers.”

Sparrow hid his face behind a kid’s magazine. “You think that we will find the missing link in this case by sitting here?”

“We could.” He glanced at Sparrow. “Good detective work is searching for answers and watching for clues. Sometimes, you can’t rush a solid lead.” Howels tapped the image by Sparrow’s face. “Found the paint can.”

Aaron lifted the magazine higher to hide his eyes. “Why are we not working with the police from this district?”

“We are. They just don’t know it.”

The receptionist pooped her head over the desk. “Dr. Albert is still in a meeting. But Mr. Norman arrived and he is the second in charge. Do you care to speak with him while you wait for Dr. Albert?”

“Certainly.” Howels got to his feet with a smile.

She opened a door behind her. “His office around the corner and is the second door on the right.”

“Thank you.” Howels used his best smile. “You have been so helpful.” He helped her close the door.

Sparrow’s eyebrows were low and flat. “You’re being nicer than usual. Do you like her or something?”

Howels shifted past Sparrow as he read the small words printed beside each door. “You know I don’t.” His words were low. He turned his head side to side as he crept through the hall. “Most of these are offices of sells representatives.”

“This is a BioPet Center. They sell the BioPets here.” Sparrow shrugged. He walked slowly behind Howels as they made their way to the bend in the hall.

“I’m not trying to sneak into a salesmen’s office.” Howels rested his hands on the corner door. “We need the lab part or a lab technician.” His voice was hushed. This made it difficult to hear over the machinery through the door.

A shadow appeared on the door. “Can I help you?” The thin man used a stern voice.

“We were looking for Mr. Norman.” Sparrow smiled.

The man gestured to his ID Badge. “Mr. Norman,” it read. “It’s not a big place. I didn’t expect you to get lost. It is only one turn.” He pointed to his office door.

Mr. Norman closed the door. “You’re here for Mia and Justin’s deaths? They were ruled as New Breed attacks.”

“Justin Turkin’s investigation was completed yesterday. Mia Summers’s body was discovered this morning. They haven’t finished preliminaries yet.” Howels lifted a foot onto his knee. “Did you receive this information from the police?”

Mr. Norman compressed his mouth. “Do I have to divulge where I get my information?” He turned his attention to the wall. “I didn’t hear directly from the police. About an hour ago, I had an email in my inbox.” His head dipped to his laptop.

“What did this email say?” Howels locked eyes with Mr. Norman.

The man squirmed behind his desk. “It said that Mia Summer’s death has been investigated and was ruled a New Breed attack. The email also said to not worry about future attacks as extra precautions are being taken.”

“Do you know what these precautions are?” Sparrow scribbled with a stylus on his phone.

Mr. Norman studied Sparrow. “It didn’t list any. But it came from a reliable source.” His brows furrowed. “Is it important for you to know what our safety strategy is?”

“I’m asking because usually a safety plan includes the people involved knowing what the plan is.” Sparrow waved the stylus. “For example, the police would say to stay in pairs and avoid walking in the dark. “ He looked past the top of his eyelids. “You were given no instructions?”

Norman’s eyebrows shot up to his hairline. “It may have been to reduce panic. My superiors will come up with a plan.”

“That’s a lot of trust in your superiors.” Howels stood. “Where did they get this information?”

Mr. Norman scoffed. “I assume from the police.”

“You believe that the police talked to your superiors hours after a body was discovered.” Howels pretended to read from Sparrow’s notes. “And the St. Anthony police told your superiors that, even though there wasn’t enough time to do an autopsy or get any DNA identified, they were confident on closing the case?”

Norman’s eyes shifted around the room. “I guess.”

“Did you know the victims?” Howels frowned with a stern voice. “Have you seen Mia or Justin around here? It’s a small building so your answer better be ‘yes’.”

Mr. Norman took a step back. “Of course I knew them. They worked in the lab, but I still saw them every day.” The inside of his eyebrows rose. He crossed his arms and swayed. “I would run forms into them. Any special modifications that needed to be made to the BioPets, I was the one that took the paperwork to the lab techs.”

“What were they working on? Did they have any projects that were similar?” Howels nudged Sparrow to continue writing.

“Yeah.” Norman shrugged. “All the lab workers have the same projects. I deliver the papers, and they make the BioPets that were ordered.”

Howels leaned on the chair. “No side projects?”

“Not that I know of.”

With a nod, Howels began walking toward the door. “I think that is everything.” He glanced around. “Is the doctor ready to talk to us?”

“He should be, I can take you to his office.” Mr. Norman slid past the detectives into the hall. “Here,” he gestured to the office next to his own.

Sparrow held his cellphone close. “One more question.” His eyes skimmed the short hand. “Can you tell us who sent you the email?”

“Yes.” Norman’s eyebrows rose. “I received the email from Dr. Albert. The whole staff received the email at the same time.”

The door next to the group became ajar. There were hushed friendly voices from within the doctor’s office. A figure shifted weight and opened the door the rest of the way.

Howels scoffed with a raised brow. “Ms. Amelia Curta.”