It was a dreamless night for Jerome, he had been at first too giddy to even fall asleep but with some remarkable persistence he had achieved sleep but as he turned he felt something vibrate at his head side and his eyes quickly shot open only to see his darkened room. He took in a deep breath, it appeared the night had not disappeared yet he looked to see what on earth could have woken him, it could not be his alarm, he had not set one, well not on his phone of course, that was all done by Eckhard. He looked to see his phone vibrating, revealing a name. 'Leonard Blake', the man was calling him in the middle of the night, he groaned as he woke up fully. Why on earth would Blake call him at night he twitched and grabbed the phone and answered it.
"Hello…Jerome Hall, speaking, who is it?" he asked on auto in monotonous voice.
"Sir, it's me Blake!" came an excitable voice from the other side and Jerome suppressed a groan, the man was like that during night as well?
Jerome however paused, there was tinge of anxiousness in that voice as well, how could he detect that? Well he could not tell but his heightened senses should have something to do with it but he could sense that anxiousness clearly despite it being faint.
"What is it?" Jerome asked.
"Sir, you have to come in," he said and Jerome groaned again, he was off duty, he had no work during the day, thank the gods for that, with the pain he went through he'd rather die than go to work.
"What happened Blake?" he asked.
"It's the East City Hosptial," said Blake and at that Jerome sat bolt upright.
"What is it?" he asked quickly.
"There's been another fire there," said Blake and Jerome's eyes widened, he had gone nowhere near that hospital today, Blake continued. "It's suspected to be same arsonist, same fire setting patterns, there are casualties this time around."
Jerome bit his lip, last time he had been carefully to only make sure there were dead bodies in there, this time someone it appeared had burned people alive in the hospital.
"What are the casualties?" asked Jerome.
"Sir…it's six babies," said Blake with a pause and Jerome's eyes widened. "The arsonist set fire to pediatrics wing."
Who the hell was it? Jerome kept questioning as he jumped off the bed, looked at the time, it was two in the morning. He brushed and washed his face and then quickly got dressed for work. He had received another call, this time from the station officially asking that he come in for work immediately. He was one of the constables that had helped the north circle with evidence gathering, it made sense that they'd want him back but which sadistic bastard was it that killed six babies. He had bolted out the door fast, running down the road, the early morning wind cooling him immensely. It wouldn't take him long to reach the police station, he supposed that the scene was where he was supposed to go but he should take some time, he didn't want to run there in record time, whilst he was not human he didn't want people to know that. As he slowed his pace he thought about the place he would need to visit, Bishop's Bar, he had Eckhard trace it to west wing and he had received the specific address.
"Eckhard, tell me about this new fire,I assume you have some information on it," said Jerome as he jogged.
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"Well, it doesn't matter, they won't find me," said Jerome somewhat cheerily.
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"Why so, they're not going to find any evidence back to me," said Jerome.
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"You mean to say whilst my crime may not get me convicted this copycat could screw me over," said Jerome suddenly stopping.
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Jerome gritted his teeth, what the hell was up with this. He had stolen a cookie and got of scot free but then his brother tried the same thing and then framed him for it, he was innocent in the death of the six babies.
"I have to find this a**," he said. "If not I could get screwed."
Jerome with renewed vigor travelled to crime scene and as he got there he heard the sound of fire engines and ambulances. There was cavalcade of police cars there as well and as soon as he had reached the place he was stopped by firemen.
"I'm Constable Jerome Elliot Hall," he said pulling out his badge to prove his identity.
"Sorry sir," said the person that had stopped him. "But this scene belongs to the fire safety department until the blaze is put out."
Jerome nodded, he looked up and saw the blaze in all its glory, it would be beautiful sight if the associated news wasn't so horrible and it wasn't arson. Jerome moved off to the side to stand with what he assumed were the rest of the cops. He suddenly felt a tap on his shoulder and he whipped around to see the eager yet pale face of Blake.
"Blake, good morning," he greeted.
"Yes, good morning sir," he said. "The north circle's called all the people that assisted with the case over, they want to catch this arsonist as fast as they can, they've put out the source of the fire, they're still battling fire in the other areas though."
"Right, how strong was it?" asked Jerome.
"From what we've got from witnesses, they said it was an explosion," said Blake and Jerome's eyes twitched.
An explosion, he had been careful in not making a sound despite the volatile chemicals he was dealing with this, whoever this person, he was not so careful.
"You've already received an incident report?" he asked.
"It's word of mouth sir, but the firemen swear that its the same type of fire as the day before yesterday," said Blake. "When they found that out, they immediately called us over, this priority one, we suspect he might set more fires, so we need to find him and arrest him."
"Right," said Jerome agreeing, this person needed to be put down.
The fire safety department spent the next two hours battling this blaze, containing it and then putting it out after their work was done and residents of the hospital were all safely evacuated and the pediatrics wing was isolated the police were given the reins of the job. Jerome was under one of the senior constables at the north circle, they were led around to look for clues or any familiarites to yesterday's crime scene. The crime scene investigators had done a respectable job of keeping the evidence clear, the bodies appeared to be removed as well as the burnt cots in the pediatrics wing were all empty.
"Who could do something like this?" asked Blake as he looked around.
"A psychopath," said Jerome matter-of-factly.
"Have you ever investigated a case like this sir?" asked Blake.
"Blake, I've only been on this job for six months more than you," said Jerome remembering the records he had memorized to keep up a facade.
"Ah…" said Blake turning away sheepishly. "Sorry sir, I just thought-."
"It's fine Blake, just do a thorough check," said Jerome. "We this culprit needs to be found."
"Yes sir," said Blake seriously.
After some time they gathered again to be debriefed and hand in anything that might be of value so that detectives may do their jobs.
"It's our hardwork and they get the credit for it," said Blake shuffling back up with Jerome after his debriefing.
"As long as they do their job it's fine," said Jerome, he narrowed his eyes as he looked at the supposed detective, he was not impressed.
He would need to play a personal role in this or he would hang if these people failed. Jerome thought it over frowning. He waved goodbye to Blake feeling slightly envious that the man had a car. Blake had offered to drop him off wherever he needed to go but Jerome had turned down that offer. Where he needed to go, he would go by himself. He slowly walked back to his house, mulling over everything.
***
"What's the likelihood Eckhard, that this is a proper copycat, someone who's like a fan?" asked Jerome.
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"Right," said Jerome nodding. "That's what I thought as well, it shouldn't be a fan."
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"Right," Jerome agreed. "It has to be someone with inside information if they mimic what I randomly did to such great extents."
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"Perhaps it was to cover something?" he said. "But such a large fire, an explosion on top of that…it seems an overkill."
Eckhard however did not reply anymore, well he didn't require anymore factual help, at least for the moment anyway. No, he had another job to do at present, he needed to get home and prepared to pay Bishop's Bar a visit. He had walked up the stairs and his eyes narrowed as he saw Navid pinned against the wall by a woman who looked like a supermodel of all things, what on earth she was doing here, he had no idea. Navid however was held by his throat and he kept trying to fight but the frail hand that sat across his throat did not seem to budge. It was then that the woman and Navid noticed another presence. As soon as Navid noticed him, some color seemed to come back into his face. He looked down only to see the woman on the floor and boy, Haitham kneeling next to her, his worst fears, it appeared had somehow come to pass. He sighed as he looked at Navid and then again at the beautiful woman of rich class, with platinum blonde hair.
"He-help m-me!" Navid choked out.
"Ma'am," he said walking up to her, he saw her ease her grip, allowing Navid to take in small amounts of air. "I'm going to need to ask you let him go."
She turned and he stopped, his body and mind reacting as it should to a female like her, beautiful he now believed would be an understatement for someone like her but he recovered quickly enough.
"A police officier?" she said and Jerome ran through his list of accents until he finally landed on french, what on earth was a french supermodel doing in a rundown backward apartment like this in Trade City East, holding human scum like Navid up against the wall with astonishing strength.
"Eckhard," he whispered. "Who is she?"
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Jerome quieted down and looked at her, despite his asking, she refused to let go of him completely.
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A princess, his eyes twitched, strange that he had never heard of her, or seen her own television.
The boy Haitham wasn't speaking and the woman, Navid's wife wasn't showing any signs of waking up. He took out his phone to dial for an ambulance.
"What iz it that you are doing?" she asked looking at him curiously.
"Calling an ambulance," he answered honestly, she suddenly turned to look at the woman and then turned back to him apologetic.
"I apologize, I should 'ave prioritized that," she said.
He nodded as he connected the emergency line and immediately asked for an ambulance dispatch.
"Ma'am," he said. "In the meantime, please let this man go."
Her eyes narrowed as she glared at Navid in disgust. "Let go of human scum like him?"
"Human scum he might be but he is still a human in the end," said Jerome sighing. "He might deserve death but there is always the law."
She snorted derisively at him, or the comment, he couldn't tell but she finally let Navid go and he crumbled to the floor. As soon as Navid landed on the floor in a heap Haitham took off from his mother's side running at the man and jumping on him, landing his tiny fists, to the surprise and shock of both Jerome and the woman.
"Haitham," Jerome called out as Navid grunted.
"Get off me boy," he growled, wrapping his hand around the boy's torso.
"Navid," Jerome warned.
Jerome quickly went forward as Navid appeared to calm down as he sensed two individuals here that could do him a world of harm should he do something they didn't like. He dropped his hands and let the little boy hit away at him, not like it did any terrible damage to him anyhow. Jerome grabbed the still swinging Haitham off of Navid even as he bucked in his hands and tears ran down his face. He set Haitham off to the side and turned to face Navid in a deadly serious look.
"What did I warn you would happen if you did something like this Navid?" asked Jerome deadly serious and Navid gulped.
"It wasn't my fault, she was irritating," he muttered quietly and Jerome raised an eyebrow.
"So you try to murder her?" asked the woman behind him, he frowned as he turned to look at her, he still didn't know what she was doing here.
"Who exactly are you?" asked Jerome mighty curious about what her answer would be considering she was a noble lady.
The woman looked slightly surprised before she looked at him smiling.
"My name is Roselyne Magnier," she said and Jerome looked slightly surprised, she had revealed her identity without a hint of doubt.
He wished she would expand, what on earth did she do, what was she doing here, why was she here in the first place, was she french, did she ever work as supermodel? Some unrelated thought processes later he looked back again at Navid who gulped again as Jerome attention focused on him.
"You were annoyed so you decided on manslaughter," he said closing one of his eyes, a quirky mannerism he had picked up during his tenure as a journalist.
"Look, I just hit her a little and pushed her, I didn't expect her to-," he paused as he looked at his wife.
"You didn't expect her to go down like this," said Jerome. "After you used what could be your full aggression on her in a vile and lawless manner."
"You are a dizgusting person," piped up Roselyne from behind him again.
"Agreed," Jerome said.
"Look, I do it all the time," said Navid in a whining voice and at this Jerome was halfway sure he wanted to throw this man off the top of this building right now, the man was a textbook definition of toxic masculinity, how his wife had managed to live with him all this while without secretly stabbing this man in the chest several times was a complete mystery to him.
"You don't do that to people," said Jerome. "Other people don't exist for you take out your anger on them, you will be arrested for this Navid, I will take you in."
Navid looked at him horrified, "Wha-but, but you can't do that,"
"I'm a cop Navid," said Jerome. "It's what I do, you assaulted your wife, it's a case of domestic violence, I don't need her to press charges, I just need a witness."
"I am one," said Roselyne from behind him clarifying that confusion up.
He turned and nodded a thanks to Roselyne before turning back to Navid who looked pale as if his soul would leave him anytime.
"Without me, they won't be able to survive," he said looking at his wife and then at his child to the side who was crying quietly to himself.
"Without you they will life properly for the first time," snarled Jerome finally losing his patience.
Navid tried to reach out for Haitham who saw it and bucked back. Jerome however intercepted the hand and gripped it.
"I warn you Navid," said Jerome. "Accept what you're given before someone tries to force it down you throat."
Navid's head fell as he looked at the floor and Jerome took out a set of cuffs out of his back pocket. He fumbled with it and nearly cuffed himself in trying to cuff Navid, he was quite inexperienced in seamlessly cuffing a criminal. After this Jerome made another phone call this time to the police station, filing the case of domestic violence and they promised to send a police cruiser to the location. Fairly soon the ambulance had arrived and Jerome helped in loading the wife onto the ambulance.
"It's a case of domestic violence," said Jerome and the paramedics nodded knowingly. "Make sure she's fine, I'll be doing a follow up."
The paramedics nodded again as they took off in the ambulance he turned and nearly ran into Roselyne, the woman was everywhere.
"Ma'am, thank you for your help," he said and Roselyne nodded.
It was soon after that, with another set of sirens a cruiser pulled over and two cops got out. Explaining the situation to them he led them up to Navid. Suffice to say, the now broken men received very little empathy from them, considering one of the officers was female. The child, Haitham too was taken by the cops and Jerome promised a follow up.
"You are all by the rules are you not?" asked Roselyne suddenly as he walked back to the stairs.
"Yes…somewhat," he said as he walked up the stairs and she followed.
As soon as he reached the top he turned around frowning.
"I'm sorry," he said. "But can I help you."
"Jerome Elliot Hall, right?" she asked with a smile, something his body reacted to, he coughed but then tensed, the woman knew his name, also knew where he lived.
"How do you know all that?" he asked his hand inching to his pistol, to be fair he knew more about her but still she didn't have an AI in her head, nor did she have her entire body layered with nubots…or did she.
The woman appeared to have noticed it as she raised her hands in a sign of surrender. He would ask Eckhard to scan her for anomalies but before that he needed to be sure he was safe.
"I am not your enemy," she said. "I just want to talk."
"I don't know who you are woman?" he said. "But you appear to know everything about me."
"Well I heard about you from Hector Bishop," she said.
Jerome hands lowered marginally, "Does this Hector Bishop have anything to do with Bishop's Bar?"
"He owns it," she said.
Jerome took in a deep breath, it was good, he now knew more. Hector Bishop, that should be the name of the man that can unravel the mystery about this body's original owner's death. She suddenly reached out and grabbed his hand and suddenly he felt something run through his body that made it numb, it was something like electricity coursing through his vein. His body felt like it was about to spasm out of his control, he was panicked to say the least. This princess appeared to be electrocuting him through something, how she was doing it he could not tell.
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Suddenly his body twitched and she was pushed back by an invisible force, she seemed surprised even as she was about to fall. He quickly reached out and grabbed her, stopping her from tumbling down the rest of the stairs.
"I thought you were a necromancer," she said, her eyes narrowing.
At this moment his only though was, how she electrocuted him by just touching him and what on earth she meant by the word 'necromancer'. His world had just gotten a whole lot stranger.