Log:Deathly Frightful

2019/12/03 	 Carpenter Frankie Grimm

1

There's been a rash of deaths in Chinatown that have gone on unexplained thus far. This is the fifth victim so far. A man in his early thirties was found dead in an alley, and Carpenter's been called in to investigate.

Why? It's one of those weeeeiiird cases. Each victim has been found dead with a look of absolute terror on their faces. Each time, the coroner cites heart failure for cause of death. Even when the victim had healthy hearts.

Carpenter shows up at hte location in question, which has already been cordoned off.

A street cop is positioned at the tape. He nods to Carpenter and lifts up the police tape to let him through. Grimm is standing by the tape with the other curious bystanders and a reporter, looking down the alley towards the white sheet over the body, with a distinct frown on her face. She has her hands tucked into her leather jacket, and a dusty lavender scarf wrapped around her neck.

Carpenter raises a brow as he sees Grimm here. "You're involved, huh? Definitely must be something weird, then." He smiles and heads over to the location to look at hte body.

Grimm grins and raises a brow a Carpenter. "Are you saying I'm a suspect, or just that I might know something?" The grin doesn't take long to fade given the circumstances.

CSI is already checking over the body.

Carpenter shakes his head, "Just that if you're involved, it's likely not a straightforward case." He walks over to speak with the CSI folks. "So, what do we have?"

CSI Naila Massri finishes checking under the nails of the victim. "Looks like the same as the others. Time of death was probably an hour or two ago." She pulls back the sheet to reveal the victim's face. His eyes and mouth are wide and frozen in terror.

Grimm rolls her shoulders. "I wish I weren't. I heard the first few cases in the news and thought I should look into it."

Carpenter raises a brow, "Reminds me a bit of a case from...about eight years ago. Something that Dark Horse worked on. But that villain was able to create solid creatures made from people's fear. I think this is something entirely different. Where was he found? Right here?"

Massri nods as she stands up. "Right here. Doesn't look like the body's been moved. No signs of a struggle. No marks on the body."

Some kids cutting through the alley way called it in," adds one of the officers.

"Really? That's a nasty trick. Something I've done to villains before, in a way. Did those solid creatures kill the victims, or scare them to death?" Grimm asks. She pales a bit as she sees the man's face.

Carpenter nods. "They were able to slice people physically. That's why I think this is different." He looks around the alley. "Let's see...if he fell there, presumably backward...he was standing here...his assailant was...perhaps here?" He starts looking for some clues.

Looking around, Carpenter can guess where a human assailant would be. Searching around, he's also sure he doesn't find any evidence of a human assailant. No weapon, no footprints, no evidence he can see. Just like the reports on the other scenes.

"No marks?" Grimm asks, and Massri nods again. Grimm starts to look around as well. "That gives even -me- the creeps."

Carpenter furrows his brow, "No footprints." He rubs his chin. "There was a ghost at the mall recently. You think it could be something similar?"

Grimm looks over to Carpenter and nods. "It could be a lot of things. Vengeful spirit. Other planar beings that feed on or breed fear. I can't sense anything magical here. That doesn't exclude it though. The magical traces could be gone by now, though usually I'd catch a trail of it. Maybe if I had gotten here sooner?" She's not exactly sure, but she looks worried. She looks up, then towards the walls of the alley, as if expecting something to pop out. "There's been some nasty things showing up in various parts of the city recently. Like a bit of an uptick ever since..since..." she tries to think back. Then it dawns on her. "Ever since Flyte tried to control me at the library..."

Carpenter raises a brow, "Does that mean it's someone similar trying to do something evil? Or that you think it's somethign involving you?"

Grimm shakes her head a little too quickly. "No, no, it can't be. I'm just saying...if it's something unnatural, we need a way to narrow it down a bit more."

Carpenter nods. "It would help if there were any security cameras nearby." He checks the alley to see if there's likely anything along those lines.

Across the street from the alley is a small neighborhood grocery store. A mom and pop time place with asian goods. Currently, it's closed.

Carpenter heads over to the grocery store, just to see if there's a security camera there that might help.

There's a camera in the interior near the counter on the side. It's angled toward the front door and might have a view of the alleyway and the victim.

Carpenter nods to himself and comes back over to the crime scene. "We might have a camera pointed in this direction. I'll have to get the recording tomorrow."

Grimm looks hopeful at that. "Well that's something. If it's a what and not a who, I may be able to help find out what it is."

Carpenter nods slowly. "Any other ideas for something to work with here?"

Grimm sighs and looks around. "Maybe...my mentor would be better and helping out with this. Do you know Frankie Justice?"

Carpenter shakes his head, "I'm afraid I don't. At least I don't think so."

Grimm chuckles faintly. "You'd remember if you did. She's...intense. But she knows a lot about monsters and spirits. She taught me a lot. Has a business in Old Town. Justice Investigations."

Carpenter nods. "Might be worth seeing if she can help, then."

Grimm smiles apologetically. "Sorry I'm not much help here, detective. Maybe it's not magical at all. Hopefully that recording will help out. What about the other victims?"

Carpenter rubs his chin, "I'll have to check the locations. And if there's a connection between the victims. A commonality would help."

Grimm nods. "If there's anything I can do to help, let me know. If you think you need to talk to Frankie, I could introduce you two. But finals are coming up, so it might be difficult for me to help." . o O (I can't fail classes AGAIN...)

Carpenter nods. "I'd appreciate that. Just to at least cover the options.

The next morning, the grocery store is open. Run by a chinese woman in her mid fifties, she's ringing up people at the cash register.

Carpenter stops into the store and smiles. "Excuse me." He shows his badge to her. "Detective Carpenter, CBPD. I was wondering if I coudl take a look at your security footage? There was a crime out in the alley there. I wanted to see if your camera caught it on tape."

The woman looks at him and squints at the badge. She looks about uncomfortable, leaning over the counter to peek outside better. She's not looking at the alley. She leans back. "Okay, but you leave soon." She beckons him and heads to the back.

Carpenter nods. "I won't be long." He heads toward the back with her.

The woman motions to an old tablet in the back room. It's resting on a charging station. With a few taps, she pulls up the security app. "You know how use this?" It's pretty intuitive. He should be able to browse recent footage.

Carpenter nods. "I do. Thank you." He then uses it to check the time point in question, seeing if there's a view of hte area.

The view is stationary and of the front counter. The alley is visible, and a little blurry from distance. Or is that smudges on the camera? Finally, Carpenter finds the moment of death and the timestamp of 10:13pm. The victim is walking down the alley in a short cut, walking away from the grocery store. Which is odd, because he would've been facing it with how his body was found.

A black, mangy, large dog comes into frame along the sidewalk, turning to follow the man. The man looks over his shoulder as the dog draws near. He startles, turning to face it entirely when suddenly darkness spreads about the mangy dog. It obscures part of the victim from view, including his face, but Carpenter can still see the man fall back where he was found.

The darkness fades and the dog walks past the victim, away from the grocery store.

Carpenter looks for a way to export the camera footage easily.

There's a simple share feature. With a few taps, he sends the footage to his own device, and to the precinct.

Carpenter returns the device to its cradle and he heads back out to the front. "Thank you again, ma'am. That was very helpful."

"Okay, goodbye!" the woman says sharply, eager to see him go.

Carpenter nods and heads out to the street. Apparently it is a spirit, or something related. Calling in the specialist might help.

There is the business contact info Grimm gave. Justice Investigations in Old Town.

Carpenter gives them a call. After all, he's on site now. If the person can come by now, that would work nicely.

You offer to meet Frankie.

The phone at Justice Investigation rings. And rings. Oh right. No more secretary.

Carpenter waits patiently for someone to answer. Or at least an answering service of some kind.

The phone gets picked up after several rings.

"Justice Investigations," growls Frankie Ghostfist, "Frankie speaking. What can I help you with?"

Carpenter says, "This is Detective Jack Carpenter, CBPD. Gabrielle Grimm gave me your number as someone who migth be able to help with a special case. Something that deals with ghosts or spirits."

"Yeah?"

There's a pause. Ghostfist may be rearranging her office.

"Yeah. That's kinda my wheelhouse. What've you got? Ghost haunting the morgue? Pissed off poultergeist? Spectre trying to steal new real estate?"

Carpenter shakes his head, "Some kind of spirit that possessed a...dog? And scared a person to death. I have some footage."

"... A spirit that possessed a dog?"

Ghostfist's voice drips with skepticism. She pauses for a few moments before sighing.

"Where you at? Maybe your footage'll make more sense to me."

Carpenter gives the address. "It's actually an alley. I'm there now. And I have the footage with me."

"In Chinatown too," grunts Frankie. She may be rearranging the office again. "I'll meet you there in twenty. You want coffee? Colonial Bay detectives like coffee and donuts or is that a New York and Mississippi thing?"

Carpenter chuckles. "That's an everywhere thing. Sure, coffee would be great. Thank you."

"Good. Twenty minutes. Try not to get the Triads interested in things," intones Frankie. The line goes dead quite abruptly.

Twenty minutes later, Ghostfist turns into the alley with a tray of food cart coffee in hand. She's wearing a blood red leather long coat that obscures most of her body except for her black biker's boots.

"Sup?"