Mutant Related Crimes Unit; the last time that detective Jorge Cervantes had stepped into this room, into these people’s lives, he was getting ready to go deep undercover. The man had been in contact with many of the voices in this room, but the faces he had not seen in quite a while. He was sad to see that some officers he knew well enough had moved on but was encouraged by the fact that there were many newer faces to his left and right. He was glad that there were good, honest cops who were trying to do everything possible for mutant kind, offering them (himself included) every dignity they should have been assured. The world was crazed at the moment and voices on all fronts was practically a requirement now.

Stepping through the doors, he smirked a little to himself as he began to explore. The first thing, of course, was a wolfish from the division secretary, a woman with him the man had a comedic-flirtatious relationship with. She was older, married (and happily} but she oogled all the men and women who walked in through the doors. It was good to hear her voice again so he gave her a smirk and a wink as he walked through.

Passing the various doors and offices, Jorge stopped when he reached a wall that had been covered with an extra-large plaque. It was a memorial, a reminder of all those passed in the line of duty in this particular division. His eyes drifting over the nameplates, Jorge stopped and tilted his head as he looked up: there was his name. The nameplate was solid, thin, screwed into the plaque itself, and etched into it was were capitalized letters that formed his name: JORGE CERVANTES – 2012. He blinked and wondered how many, if any, ever got to see their own names on this memorial plaque? Did that make him lucky? He gulped, the thought ricocheting inside of his head before he took a long, heavy breath. It was best to not think of such things.

Turning on his heel, he gave the memorial plaque a final glance before he headed into the offices – he wasn’t here on personal business, someone needed his help.

---

It was a beehive of activity in the office. Officers were moving left and right. Some he recognized, others he did not. As he stepped into the room, the heels of his sneakers soundlessly squeaking upon the smooth tile, his deep brown eyes surveyed the room. Little had changed since he was gone except for the replacing of older computers and what appeared to be more desks for a space that hadn’t grown. Of course they would try to squeeze more officers on duty, the mutant population was on the rise, wasn’t it? That or mutants and/or people wanted more police activity concerning them.

Taking a look to where his old desk was, the detective was actually surprised to find it unoccupied. That was pleasant – and a little morbid. Where they trying to make a shine out of it? How long was that possibly going to last, especially considering that he had been gone without a word for so long? However, a glance at the smoothed over surface showed that it was recently cleaned. Though Jorge wasn’t officially starting to tomorrow, he could also figure that it was cleaned off or brought back up in preparation for his return.

Walking over to the empty desk, he smirked as he looked it over. The man wasn’t really dressed for the role of a detective right now, but he was forgiven since it was his off-time still. Jorge was dressed in dark, gritty blue jeans and sneakers, his torso covered by a loose gray shirt and his patented leather bomber jacket. Normally one would expect the detective to have his badge on full display on his belt, but the man did not add that final piece for today since he wasn’t officially on duty. But it was necessary for him to be here. It was a matter of life and death.

The thought brought the man back to reality. He was here with a purpose. A detective working cold cases, a Detective Joseph Linely, had contacted him wanting information on one of Jorge’s old cases: the Ragman. The thought of it sent shivers up Jorge’s spine. The Ragman was a mutant the likes of which Jorge had never seen before. He was who knows how old, dressed in rags, and had the ability to absorb individuals and keep them in a state of suspension in a pocket dimension within his body. The concept hurt Jorge’s head more than he cared to admit, however, he had thought the man was done. Apparently, according to him, the Ragman had been doing this for centuries but had been thwarted when Jorge had been tagged to find several missing young women, especially a teammate of his on the X-Men, Rebecca Grey. He found her, rescued her (and several others) but the event was so traumatic he constantly questioned if she had survived it unscathed. Sadly she was the lucky one, the rest, unfortunately, seemed that they didn’t recover quite as well.

Another shudder. The Ragman should be incarcerated. He didn’t know what happened but the last he heard was right before he went into deep cover; the mutant had escaped. Somehow, someway, he had escaped. And now it was looking as if the mutant had returned.

His eyes drifting over the table tops, he paused when he finally saw the name “LINELY” and headed for it. He didn’t see the detective at first so he merely stuffed his hands into the pockets of his jacket and took a breath. He wasn’t looking forward to looking into this case again but if people were missing – he would do what he had to.

Linely made himself a hot cup of tea in the Police "tea and coffee preparation room" (otherwise known as a Kitchen) as he pondered the case put before him. Two missing women, both disappeared within a few days of each other, kidnapper had the same MO both times. They'd simply disappeared off the face of the earth.

At first the police had thought it was just a simple case of a run away. 16 year old Keli Thomas, vanilla human, a young lady who had done this many times before, had disappeared first. Amber alert went out. Returned last known whereabouts, friends said she was looking to run away from the care home again judging by the conversation. They expected to find her somewhere in a few days. Child protection department brought in, MRC not involved, all wrapped up nicely.

Except it wasn't. Next person, 20 Year Old Elizabeth Rye, vanilla human law student at NYU. Well liked, lots of friends, was walking back from a relatives Birthday party , when she was caught. Totally out of character. Last known whereabouts very similar. That made the police investigate the first case more thoroughly as well. A genetic sweep and the discovery of an all too familiar trope to one veteran officer from the Missing Persons department, and the MRC were called in.

The Rag Man was back. Linely hadn't been in the force at the time of that case, but knew of its reputation among the other officers. Victims traumatized, powerful mutant the MRC hadn't even seen before, it was a miracle they didn't permanently lose anyone physically, though mentally was a different story. The whole force was shocked by what it could do. "It" was a better term for what Officer Cervantes described in his report.

At first Linely had little to go on. After all, he knew the memorial off by heart. Jorge Cervantes 2012 was there , 4th from the second row right. In gold letters. His desk had been left empty, almost as another memorial. No-one else knew the case better than he did, and he was, by all accounts, dead. He had been a powerful water manipulating mutant, and a really good cop. This time however, the MRC had got lucky.

The whole force had been shocked when Jorge suddenly appeared in a hospital, albeit a shadow of his former self. Though it was probably a while (Linely assumed) before he would rejoin the force, if at all, he had agreed to help a fellow police officer out. They'd agreed to meet in the morning shift, and as the clock struck 10, Linely headed back to his desk to find a grizzled looking, Hispanic man that Linely guessed was in his late forties. This was most likely Jorge.

"Jorge Cervantes I presume? Detective Joseph Linely, a pleasure to meet you face to face. Thanks for agreeing to help." He held out his hand to Mr Cervantes. Linely placed the tea on his well-organised desk. He picked up the Ragman case file with his other hand. It was pretty hefty, and had all the details Cervantes would need. "Here are the details of the case" He said handing him the file. "I've got to tell you it is already making grim reading. Two missing, one basically a child..."

This was likely going to get worse before it got better if Jorge's reports were anything to go by. They needed to find the bastard that did this before it was too late for those women. "Where do we look first?" Linely said getting straight to the point. Missing persons cases of this type were always a race against time. Every second counted.

It was one of those things that no police officer liked to hear; that the good work that they had done had essentially gone to waste. It was hell looking for the Ragman, especially once he found out that the bastard had one of his own teammates. The creature was far removed from human and absorbed and kept individuals until they were sucked dry and left as little more than shriveled raisins with barely any conscious thought. To know that he had helped in bringing that creature to just did well to swell the man’s heart with pride but also with some relief. He wouldn’t have to worry about the beast hurting anyone ever again. That is, until recently, when he learned that the beast had escaped. That alone brought him soaring back down into the hell of reality.

He wasn’t sure what happened. This had occurred during that time when Jorge was “dead” for lack of a better term. All he had heard was that at some point during his incarceration, someone had made a mistake and the beast was gone, disappearing back into the shadows. Though they knew of the monster’s M.O. there was no chatter in the public or in the precincts of the monster returning to sate his monstrous hungry. For all appearances the Rag Man had simply vanished like a nightmare in the waking hours – until now.

Jorge ground his teeth, trying to shake the details of the case he had worked on so many years ago. The mutant said that he slumbered for centuries between abducting individuals, it may have been an embellishment (the man was crazy) but even if it wasn’t, the timing still seemed wrong. Either this was a copycat or the Rag Man was getting desperate and attacking outside of his normal pattern. Whatever the case, he needed to be stop lest someone else suffer the fate that Rebecca Grey and so many others have suffered.

With another shake of his head, Jorge lifted his gaze from the police officer’s desk and turned to look back around the room – and that was when he saw him. The officer was younger than him, mid-twenties or so and gave him a friendly smile. However Jorge could see that expression on his face, the expression of a determined police officer stuck in a quandary that he didn’t know how to solve; it was an expression that Jorge wore many times before, especially when working the case with the Rag Man.

He was greeted with a handshake, which Jorge heartily reciprocated with a firm grip and a kind smile. ”You would be right,” he confirmed his name. ”Pleasures all mine, Detective Linely.” The scent of freshly warmed tea filled his nostrils as the detective walked around him and set down his cup and then proceeded to grab from the stack of files concerning the case he was here to help with.

Jorge took a deep breath as he turned fully to face the desk and receive the file that the detective handed him. Holding it up, Jorge pulled it open. His brown, earthy eyes rolled over the forms and paperwork, scanning expertly for the important details before reading the documentation in full. While he was reading the other officer began to explain some specifics, almost in sync with what Jorge was reading. The case was disturbingly familiar to him, reminding him of his own police reports that he would pour over time and again.

His teeth ground at the description of the victims – they certainly seemed like the mutant’s standard fair. He shook his head, continuing to flip through reports, testimonials, and investigations; for the most part both young ladies had vanished without a trace. He could feel that spider web of a chill creeping up over his spine and tickling at the base of his skull. All of it felt far too familiar for him. It was then that Linely returned him to reality by asking where they should go from here. He sighed, deep and heavy.

Setting the file down, Jorge pulled off his jacket and rolled up the sleeves of his shirt expecting his firm, caramel colored forearms. In silence he chewed on the inside of his cheek, clicking his tongue, before he looked back to the detective. ”Next we map it out.” he started. ”That’s how I found him the last time. We put up a map pinpoint where the most likely places that the victim’s vanished from. It sounds simple, I know, but from what I remember of this guy, he has a pattern. He sticks to one place, like a personal hunting ground. Usually it’ll be dark, urban, someplace where looking at a pile of rags wouldn’t draw suspicion.”

As Jorge explained all this he began to remember something else around his creature, something that he had buried in the back of his mind that he didn’t want to remember – there was a time limit. While in interrogation, the creature ranted that he was hungry, that he needed more, five in total, so that he could go back to sleep. If that were still true now, then they were definitely running out of time. He looked back to the detective.

”Three more,” he said enigmatically. ”He’ll hunt three more before he goes back to sleep. That can last anywhere between a decade or, as he put it, a century.”

Linely wasn't exactly sure how the Rag Man had gotten out, he'd heard a report of "several dangerous mutants" escaping simultaneously at the behest of some mutant extremist activist. Most had been caught one in particular, a serial killing rat shifter, he'd personally had tracked into the sewers with Officer Caleb Swartz. The problem was dealt with permanently. Gunshots did that. There were a couple still on the loose now, and because of the Rag Man's MO, the police knew that he would take a while to resurface again.

Linely sat down as Cervantes went through the file, clearly watching some old memories coming back to haunt the guy. Linely could sense the old officer had been through the wars physically, there were many injuries on him, some pretty severe. Police service could do that, particularly in the MRC. Now really wasn't the time to discuss how he felt about coming back straight to this specific case, but Linely could imagine that it wasn't easy.

He took a sip of tea as he listened to Cervantes' expertise on the area, he needed to keep in gear with what was going on. That was one thing that Brits did very well. Tea. Water in first. While Coffee was alright, it could never beat a good mug of tea.

So this mutant liked to have a hunting ground? Linely was relieved. One thing about serial killers was that they were somewhat predictable in their actions."That's the first bit of good news I've had all day. Mapping it out will be possible to a certain degree already, given we have the route that Elizabeth Rye would have taken from her house to the relative. According to her friends she would always take the same route. There are lots of alleyways in that area though, so we need to bear in mind that they could be wrong about her."

At Jorges remark about the Rag Man taking three more, Linely sighed. "We've got less time to catch him than I thought we would then, but while we can do some mapping out, I'm guessing we'll need a 3rd data point." Linely didn't want to do that, if they could catch him earlier they would. Particularly the consequences of "living" in the Rag Man's pocket dimension he could imagine were pretty grim. Time was indeed of the essence.

It was almost surreal to be talking about this case again, albeit in a different setting. The man had spent sleepless days pouring over information that had come in about the kidnappings, going so far as to actually sleep here in the precinct because he couldn’t stomach the idea of going home and resting knowing that these people were out in the world, missing. Jorge couldn’t call himself a decent police officer if he didn’t always give it his all, no matter where he was or what he was doing. They were memories that still haunted the man to this day, ones he didn’t care to think about. Sadly, it was a necessity that he do so.

Innocent lives were missing again, taken away from this world and seemingly caught within the mad grasp of the Ragman again. He had hoped to never hear that name again. It brought with it only sadness and terror, a reminder of those lives that Jorge had been too slow to save. He had seen what happened to those other girls besides just Rebecca Grey. Had she been in there just one more day, she could have very well been lost to madness just like all the rest. But it was best not to think in that sort of way, not right now as it wouldn’t be productive. There was a case that needed to be solved.

His sleeves rolled up, Jorge turned until he found an empty chair, snagged it up and set it next to Detective Linely’s. Once there, he set himself down, pulled over the files of the most recent cases and started to pour over them. He told the detective what he could about the Ragman’s pattern, that he needed darkness and a place he could easily blend in. That, mixed with the fact that the mutant liked to haunt the same areas gave the officers a bit of a window to work with. That is, assuming that the Ragman hasn’t changed his pattern. He shivered at the idea that he had.

The detective seemed to be thankful that there was a pattern to the Ragman’s madness and agreed that mapping it out would be the first grateful step he could use. Jorge nodded as the man explained that they had a reliable account of one of the victim’s favorite paths to take and a general idea of where the other had vanished. However, that led to a problem, they needed a third so that they could complete the triangle and discovered the most likely location that the beast hid in.

”Let’s hope we won’t need a third,” Jorge commented, though it was more of a prayer than anything else.

It was then that he lowered the boom, stating that there was going to be three more victims, that the Ragman hunted for five before he vanished into his long and quiet slumber. If he managed to do that, Jorge wasn’t sure that they’d ever be able to find him in this lifetime. There was no way that he could allow that to happen again. Linely didn’t seem too happy with that news either and, actually, just seemingly felt the same sudden pressure nestling down onto his shoulders. They were running out of time.

Jorge was reluctantly to do this so he kept his mouth shut for the time being as he stood up and went to grab a map of the city. It was sit up on a nearby pin board, Jorge picked up the most recent file of the missing people and set pins in the locations where they vanished from, both in red pins. Then, taking a box of blue pins, Jorge looked for the locations from his past case and placed pins where those five people had been taken from Once they were set up, Jorge took a step back and surveyed the map, crossing his arms over his chest.

The small nest of five blue pins were near a near perfect circle, all radiating from an alley where the detective had found the monster and rescued Rebecca Grey and the rest of the victims. The red pins, however, didn’t make anything remotely close to an identifiable shape but just stared back at them, mockingly. Jorge took a deep breath as he stepped closer and stared at the map, his eyes roaming the written out streets and alleyways, none of which called out to him as they were merely written words. The detective’s mind visibly churned in his eyes as he sought to solve this problem.

Idly he tapped his hands against his jeans in thought. ”Hey…have you tried pulling up these sectons,” he pointed at last known locations for the girls. ”On Google Maps? If we look through street view, could help us narrow down locations he’d be likely to stalk.” He then took a deep breath as he glanced to the detective. He didn’t want to consider this option, but he had to toss it out there. ”And..if need be…there is always the one victim of his who survived with her mind intact…Rebecca Grey. Maybe…I dunno, maybe she can remember or give us a detail we missed?”

>> "Let's hope there won't be a third"

Linely knew that was more of a wishful hope outloud than something that would actually happen. There was going to be a third. There was always a third when this kind of thing happened. He didn't know who it would be, likely someone else unfortunate enough to be travelling alone at night. Someone that wouldn't notice the terror upon them until it was too late. Someone that would be lucky to escape with their mind intact...

Linely watched as Jorge went off to grab a map of the city, they still had a few of those lurking around, mainly because Linely insisted on it. He didn't like tech at the best of times, less so now there were known techno-manipulating mutants causing trouble. As Jorge got back, Linely smiled. "I'm glad to see you're old school with mapping." He watched as Jorge took red and blue pins and placed them in the map.

He couldn't help letting out a sigh of disappointment as he noticed the pattern, or rather lack of it. The perfect blue circle of the previous kidnappings, the two red markers were in reasonable distance of each other, but seemingly with no pattern. Looked like they would have to use tech. Google maps. If it found the women , then it would be worth it.

"That's a good idea Jorge, google isn't the best with finding unsignposted alleyways, but I'm sure it's a good start. The only real way we'll be able to look is going round during the day time, but then he could wander off if he knows we're on to him." Now Jorge wanted to talk about witnesses. Rebecca Grey. Would she be able to give them anything they didn't already know?

"I mean, that's a lead. I'll take what I can get at the moment." If she was willing to talk, the other victims had been driven mad with trauma. He could only imagine what it must have been like. "I'll get on to google maps and see what I can find there."

Though Jorge had been away from this life for quite a while, it was clear that the old-timer still hadn’t lost his touch. He may have been a bit old school with the way he did things but it was what was comfortable to the man and clearly he was able to provide results. He knew how to work with what he had, how to make them effective and, best of all, how to do things that most of the youngin’s around here didn’t know how to do with a simple pad and paper.

As he worked, diligently, setting up the map and putting in the push pins at each location where the Ragman had kidnapped a victim, Detective Linely commented on Jorge’s classic use of a map and push pins. Jorge couldn’t help but smirk at this, not looking back at the detective as he was working but still responded to him.

”Sometimes it pays to roll up your sleeves and do the work,” he said. ”Besides,” he glanced back to Linely and smirked. ”No way I’m paying $2.99 for an app to download the city map. That’s highway robbery.”

It was true that Jorge didn’t have the best of luck with technology. He wasn’t a dullard or anything. He was able to use his work computer and cell phone just fine for the basic duties, but anything deeper than that and the man was sure to find himself in deeper trouble. He preferring to talk face-to-face, not on Face Time, and enjoyed writing out postcards rather than post on a Facebook feed (whatever that was). The man just liked to take a nice, analog approach to things whenever it was possible and now was the perfect time.

Once he had finished, Jorge grumbled at the lack of recent information. Linely was right, as terrible as it was, they needed a third missing party in order to help them truly track down where the Ragman was. Without that third point, the culprit could be absolutely anywhere in either direction of where the recent kidnappings were. The only other thought that Jorge had was Google Maps, specifically the street view. While they wouldn’t be able to see anything like the Ragman there, they could at least get a clearer picture of the area and maybe even narrow down their search a little.

It was a long shot but considering that they were running out of time, it was a shot that would be taken.

Linely got on his computer, getting ready to start searching points through Google. However, while he did that, Jorge was tasked with the heavy job of contacting one of the only known survivors to retain even a portion of her mind. He remembered when she first got out that it was a rather traumatic experience. Part of him wondered if she would ever recover from it. But, surprisingly, she did. She fought, hard, but she brought herself back from the brink of madness – and the last thing he wanted was to send her back.

He sighed as he plucked out his cellphone. Moving to an empty computer, the man sat down and pulled up records that they had access to. He searched for her name, assuming that her old contact info wouldn’t be valid anymore. When he found a number, supposedly for a current residence, Jorge dialed – sadly he got a voicemail. Clearing his throat, Jorge waited for the appropriate beep before he recorded his message.

”Hello. This message is for Rebecca Grey-Morris . I don’t know if you remember me but this is Detective Jorge Cervantes of the N.Y.P.D. I am…hesitant to bring this up, but I’m afraid I have some questions about him. About the Ragman. Please, call me back as soon as you receive this.” Ending the call, Jorge took a calming breath before he set his phone on the table top, grabbed a chair and moved to sit next to Linely. He nodded to the screen. ”Anything useful?”

"That's just called being sensible with money" Linely quipped in response to Jorge's gag about apps. Plus they would only be supporting a faceless unaccountable profit driven leviathan anyway. Linely wasn't brilliant with tech either, but he'd had to learn how to use basic stuff, given the nature of his job. Social media was particularly useful for catching over enthusiastic mutant teens who thought they could commit crime and get away with it. He had an account on all of the major ones, and made sure to use them when given the opportunity for such purposes. It was always highly amusing to watch the teens squirm in the dock as they had their accounts presented as evidence.

Google maps was less reliable, what with their limited van coverage of the backalleys. However, google maps was probably the only option under the circumstances. He sighed and fired it up....

Nothing. There were a few alleys that this guy could not have used, given the paths the women were supposedly taking, but there were too many more that he could have used to get through in one night. They needed a third data point, and that meant another night for both victims inside the hell-hole. Linely swore under his breath. Hopefully Jorge would have more luck with his conversations with Miss Grey.

"I'm afraid that while we can rule out a few streets, we're not going to be able to search properly until we can rule out more. Please tell me that Miss Grey has something to offer us" Linely strained his eyes again at the screen, surely there was some way of getting a few more streets ruled out... He knew there wasn't, if he did that, there was a chance they'd never find the two women...

It was now approaching late afternoon, 3 O'clock. Soon it would be night-time, time for the Ragman to strike again. Time for another ardous interview with the scared parents, and a search of the immediate area. Time for another individual stuck in the clutches of a mad man. Linely could only hope that the women could hold out for a bit longer... even though he knew that was wishful thinking.

In all honestly Jorge felt a little guilty about the idea of turning to Rebecca Grey for help. As much as he respected the young woman and was encouraged by the recovery that she made, the last thing he wanted was for her to have to relive any of the hellish ordeal that she had gone though. Sadly that was exactly what would be happening if they wanted to avoid waiting around for a third data point. Still, really what help could she be? If he remembered correctly all she remembered from her time within the Ragman’s pocket pantry, she heard nothing but her own voice and maybe the muffled sounds of others but nothing that was discernable. Would he be putting Rebecca through all that for nothing?

In a way he was thankful that she wasn’t there to answer the phone; that just meant that he had more time to try and conceive of a different plan, hopefully one that wouldn’t require her intervention. Jorge had worked with a lot of victims over his many years working for various police departments, and yet it never got any easier. Deep down the man mused and wondered that if it ever did, then maybe he wouldn’t be fit for his job anymore.

He shook his head when Linely asked about his attempts at contacting the former victim. ”She didn’t answer. I left a message.” Another good idea down the drain.

Pleasant thoughts aside, Jorge sighed as he had nothing. He returned to his new comrade’s side and pulled up a chair to sit next to him. From the looks of things the man didn’t find anything of use either. That was the worst part , that they were coming up empty at every turn. While GoogleMaps was a clever idea to scan the area, it wasn’t going to give them anything of depth and that was the most maddening part. It was also useless without a third data point otherwise they could be looking at a hunting ground of any size.

A glance to the clock on the man’s desk and he could see the afternoon was pressing on. They were running out of time. As the day pressed, the night would soon be here. It was only in the darkness that the Ragman could effectively hunt. Light harmed him, even something as innocent as a flashlight could whip the creature up into a whirlwind of anger and desperation. That was all good and nice for defending themselves but first they needed to find the bastard.

Shaking his head, Jorge grabbed the most recent file on the mutant again and started to comb through every detail of the scene reports. There to be something they missed, some tiny detail that slipped through their fingers, just waiting to be rediscovered. He knew that Linely was probably pouring his all into researching this thing but it never hurt to have a second pair of eyes.

He nodded to the detective. ”I’ll look through the reports again. There has to be something that was missed. Something that will point us in the right direction.”

---

Sniff…Sniff….

In the middle of dark, featureless alley, on the ground covered with debris and trash, there lay something that could easily be overlooked. As the eyes swept over the area, they would see nothing to focus on, just garbage, some torn and discarded rags, and bits and pieces of tiny broken glass. All of it was pretty standard for a forgotten alleyway, except the glass. There was copious amount of tiny shards littering the alley. For the most part that made sense, considering that this particular alley was located along a network of them that belonged to the Happy Friendly Glass Co., factory that had gone out of business years ago. Bits and shards constantly made their way into the alleys and the streets beyond. It was a wonder why the city never bothered to clean it up. Then again, who would dwell in such place and risk being ripped to shreds?

Nestled in a corner of the alley, a pile of rags undulated and began to turn. The sun was still out but the light was steadily turning into the dying embers of burnt orange. It would only be a couple more hours before the sun set just enough for a stroll; just a simple stroll but one that was driven by an inescapable hunger, a hunger of the damned.

Sniff…Cherry…Pineapple…both succulent still… There was a shuffle, the smallest hint of a movement in preparation for the coming darkness. Cough! Cough! A shaky wheeze rattled an unseen ribcage. Hungrrrrrrrryy…

Linely cursed under his breath at Jorge's response to his question about the only sane witness, it seemed that that lead was gone as well. Not good. There was going to be another kidnapping, all they could hope for was that this one would give more leads than the first two had. Particularly as they knew what they were looking for this time. He watched as Jorge pulled up a chair and began searching through the file.

There had to be something that they had missed...something unimportant, something that they wouldn't have noticed or bothered to follow up in forensics given what they knew about the Ragman. He looked at the file over Jorge's shoulder, the streets the 2nd victim had been walked down had nothing particularly unusual about them. "I think we're barking up the wrong tree if I'm honest, it was worth a shot though". The write up was really thorough. The pictures in the report just had the usual detritus, waste paper, bottles, tin cans, broken glass...

"Broken glass" Linely murmured under his breath...how could they have missed that one? The block was relatively well kept as a building, and yet there appeared to be tiny shards of window glass on the streets? That wasn't right at all. Glass could be traced back to the original makers, then they could get him. Still, there were still a good number of glass makers around that area, it would take a sample from a kidnapping scene to narrow it down fully.

"I think we have it...are there any glassmakers that could be used as a potential candidate for some mutant to hide away in?" Hopefully a simple google search would lead to results. At least...it needed to.

****

"I'm done!" Declared 15 year old Olivia Redfield as she slammed the door in the face of her dad. She didn't need to hear another speech about how she really shouldn't have been letting Greg stay the night again. She loved him. Couldn't Dad see that? It was clear that he didn't understand, parents never did. The last time they'd been in love was like a million years ago. So what if he was a mutant? So what if they were too young? She wasn't too young. She was an adult and deserved to be treated like one.

*Buzz buzz*
Text from Greg. "You know where we are meeting right?".
"Yeah, usual place..."
"You Ok"
"Yeah fine just dad giving me hassle again"
"K, see you then"
Her eyes were so focussed on the phone that she nearly trod on the broken pieces of glass. She rolled her eyes, her long, brown hair getting caught up in the wind. Not again. She swore as she adjusted it. She didn't understand why Dad had seen fit to move next to that stupid glass company. Lost his job. Some breadwinner he was. They should have stayed in Sunnyside, at least she had friends there. This place was a dump.

She didn't notice that walking pile of rags that was just beside her in the darkness of the allweyway. Had she looked left instead of down, she might have been able to run away. Her scream might not have been cut off by the sound of a rag covering her mouth. Greg wouldn't have hammered on her home door after half an hour of waiting.

Her dad may have been spared the tears as Officer Linely took notes in interviewing him the next morning.

Whoever it was that said the night didn’t last long enough, never had a job as police officer. Jorge Cervantes had spent more than his fair share of nights just dreading the coming day. Not because he was fearful of the morning light but because, more often than not, he did not get to achieve whatever it was that had driven him to work such obscene hours. The man was a dedicated police officer and it was easy for him to stubbornly refuse to leave the precinct until he managed to get make some headway on his duties, but that tended to translate into long, sleepless hours of milling around the gradually emptying building, seeing fresh faces as they came in for their shifts.

It was exhausting, to say the least, to know that such habits didn’t die as the man threw himself so readily back into the work. The whole night both he and Detective Linely had spent in the precinct, pouring over the case files and trying to find the smallest and most unimportant details to latch onto. It was near impossible at first, as they read the same details over and over again. But at some point in the night, the word “glass” had rebounded enough in Detective Linely’s head that it began to look suspicious. And as soon as it dawned on him that it was, Jorge began to see it too.

Broken glass in an alley way was nothing to really take note of. After all, it was just glass and there were broken bits found in trash all the time. But the fact of the matter was that there was glass found at both kidnapping sites and in both cases it was enough to be taken note of. There were no broken bottles nearby or panes of shattered glass or anything to really point to a source. As if all things, the glass had to come from somewhere, but from where?

Linely was on the right track. The glass was suspicious but there were a lot of glass manufacturers throughout the city. It was a matter of trying to discover where it had come from and if that information would have any merit on their case. However, as dawn approached, they would be pulled away from those idea by the one thing they didn’t want to happen – they had their third data point.

Though Jorge still wasn’t officially on duty, he accompanied Linely as they went to investigate the scene where another victim, Olivia Redfield, had vanished. Her father was in tears as he tried to describe everything that happened to his daughter. Jorge himself let the man do his job as he started to survey the scene around them. He had a general direction where Olivia had set off (corroborated by an eyewitness who had seen the direction the young girl had stormed off to) and so Jorge set off on foot.

Excusing himself from both the detective and the witness, Jorge stepped away and began to follow the trail. With his hands stuffed into his leather jacket, sunglasses firmly planted over his sore eyes, the aged detective chewed on the inside of his cheek as his eyes swept the scene. Police officers had already started going through the scene, CSI teams investigating anything that looked suspicious or out of place. Jorge when on like for about ten minutes, leaving his fellow detective behind quite some time ago. This was just how he worked, mindlessly wandering, letting himself walk in the victim’s footsteps and hoping to see things from their perspective.

As he rounded a corner, Jorge took a deep breath and sighed. Maybe he was headed in the wrong direction? He started to turn and head back when he felt something crunch under foot. Pausing, the man lifted his shoe and looked down – broken glass. Kneeling next to the easily overseen pieces, Jorge held his breath as he compared them in his mind to the exact same looking glass he had seen before, all night, actually. They were extremely similar in color to the type of glass others had photographed. They had to be on the right trail.

Pulling his phone out of his pocket, Jorge snapped a few photos of the familiar looking glass. Once he had a few clear shots of it, Jorge stood and stepped back, but close enough that he could direct any passerbys around the glass so they wouldn’t contaminate it. Once the picture had loaded, Jorge attached it to a text message and sent it off to Detective Linely who was still much further down the street with the victim’s father, along with a simple message:

Look familiar?

"It's my fault you know" David Redfield said between sobs, "I shouldn't have moved here in the first place." Sometimes plans didn't go the way they wanted to, Linely could see that. The general dinginess of the home was hardly a great way to bring up a child. More than a few bottles, with trace amounts of liquid littered the floor. "Things went downhill when she left" , the tearful man pointed to a picture of a happier time in the family, as he decanted and downed another glass of whiskey. The glass was yellow, happy and friendly, much like the company that used to make it.

"You may want to ease off on that sir, it'll do no good in helping us find your daughter". Albeit understandable, Linely knew it was a race against time, and having a half-slurred speech from the father would only slow them down.
"She's all I've got left Detective"-this statement was quieter, scared. Whatever the outcome, Linely could tell things weren't going to be the same. Sometimes even getting the child back intact but alive was enough to traumatise the parents. The moment where your baby was in danger or worse, particularly after a fight was the last conversation you had, was never an easy one. He'd seen enough of these cases to know that for sure.

"So, you were saying about Happy Friendly Glass Co?" That particular company had a couple of warehouses in the area, they'd started with so much hope. So many good workers flocked to the area, it was not only a job, it was a manufacturing job. Good honest pay, hiring even people who had...shadier pasts. "Everyone deserves a second chance" was the motto.

Too bad the debtors hadn't seen it that way. Taking out bad loans that they couldn't pay back was always a weakness of many small businesses, which the workers found out to their chagrin. Most of the warehouses were sold and workers laid off to pay the debt they'd accrued. This place had two small ones that had survived the collapse. Mostly because they were too far gone to be worth selling.

Redfield had been a line manager here, but then the news broke. Everyone pulled out as quickly as they could, so they didn't get sued, leaving people like him up the figural creek without a paddle. Olivia didn't take the divorce well, though things seemed to be improving when Greg came along. He seemed like a nice young mutant fellow (same age as Olivia), from a good family background. Better than some of the older guys she'd been showing interest in. "Never good to have a boyfriend too much older" as her father put it. Him staying the night in Olivia's room was a step to far though...and then the rest Linely knew.

"Thank you for your time Mr Redfield, I will do everything I can to find her" Linely said solemnly. Hopefully she wouldn't be driven mad by the experience. Hopefully she would be OK. Hope was in short supply around here though.

*buzz buzz*
The text came through. It was Jorge, sending a photograph to him. It was awfully good of him to come along to the investigation. It was nice that some cops had a sense of duty, there were far to many willing to look the other way these days. Particularly in relation to evil mutants.
"Look Familiar?"
It was that same glass that had been photographed before. Shards of yellow glass, present at all three investigations... they were close now. Linely could tell. All they needed to figure out was who made it. Yellow glass was very distinctive, not many companies made it, and most of them were out of business except for the ones that were under the thumb of drinks companies. Linely texted back as promptly as he could.

"Possibly Happy/Friendly Glass co. Glass. Difficult to tell. Two warehouses in the area." They only really had time to search through one during the day, and there was no guarantee the rag-man would be there. He was in this vicinity that was for sure. His first mistake. It was now the middle of the day, coming towards midday, the sun burning down upon the city. Two more nights. That's all they needed...

It was all they had.

Jorge shook his head as he knelt down over the glass shards, staring at them but not touching. A quick glance around proved that the source of glass was nowhere in sight. There were a few discarded shards, one or two, but nothing more than that. If anything this pile of glass could easily be seen as having tumbled off the assailant as he struggled with the girl. However, Jorge knew that all this was just guesswork and not concrete. In order to fully be able to follow this trail of breadcrumbs, they needed hard proof. That was where the forensics teams came in.

Pulling his phone out, Jorge immediately dialed the number for the forensic team just down the way. They were quick to pick up and, upon doing so, Jorge filled them in on what was going on. The team was efficient and good to their word as they readily agreed to be there within a moment’s notice. Jorge stood by, waiting as he kept people from trying to walk through and contaminate the scene. When at last the team appeared, Jorge realized that his phone had been buzzing. He plucked it from his pocket and read the text he had been sent:

Possibly Happy / Friendly Glass Co. glass. Difficult to tell. Two warehouses in the area.

Jorge nodded as he stepped back and allowed the team to collect their samples. As they did so he filled them in on their findings so far. They needed a trace on the glass, hopefully to its manufacturer, like yesterday. The group nodded but stated that they did have other cases, all of which had officers who wanted top priority. After some negotiation, Jorge finally agreed that he would show up at one of the team member’s bachelorette parties to sing and play his guitar. He felt a little like a whore agreeing to that but figured that singing a song was better than strippin’! Whatever, at least the case got priority.

Walking away from the team, Jorge headed back down the street to meet up with Linely again. He had unfortunately abandoned the man to deal with the sobbing, half-drunk father who lamented his lot in life. Just looking around, the detective could already see the hardships that this section of the city had to deal with. Though glass would always be needed in the world, the economic climate was quick to shift and several businesses just like this one took the brunt of that damage. People like Olivia’s father were tossed out into the streets with little to no net to catch them. It was no wonder she walked out on the man, especially if he wasn’t taking to joblessness well.

Reappearing at the home, Jorge found his fellow detective still trying to console the man. When he caught his eye, Jorge subtly waved him over so that they could talk in private. Olivia’s father tried to listen in but a gesture from Jorge had been enough to cause the man to sit down. Once he had managed to pull Linely away, Jorge sighed as he spoke to him.

”CSI’s are on the glass found. Just a glance shows its similar but they need to run tests to confirm. Additionally, they’re going to run a trace and see if they can find where the manufacturer is located. If it is Happy/Glass Co., then they’ll find out.” He breathed a small sigh as he patted the detective on the arm. ”No celebrating yet, but feels at least like we’re on the right track.”

A buzzing rang out from Jorge’s pocket. Taking out his phone he swiped to see who was calling. There was a picture of a lovely black woman, around Jorge’s age with a warm smile on her lips. Underneath her portrait was the name “Gem”. Realizing that he was supposed to have checked in already, Jorge swiped to answer but spoke to his fellow detective before he stepped away to take the call.

”My fiancée. Gimme a sec, okay?” Another pat to the man’s arm and Jorge stepped away, answering his call. He really had to remember to check in with his significant other, especially since he vanished several years ago. It was just cruel to do otherwise.

Jorge couldn't have appeared fast enough. Olivia's father was still sobbing, and would probably remain so for the entire night, Linely could say no more than the fact he would try, which only seemed to make it worse. There were no guarantees in cases like this, much less given this specific circumstance. He promptly walked over to Jorge the moment he got given an opportunity to pull away. Mr Redfeild attempted to stand up, but promptly slumped back into his seat, with one final pleading look at Linely. "Find my daughter" he mouthed, before returning to sobbing.

"I'm glad you managed to get the CSI teams to do that. Even in cases like this, it's hard to get top priority." Jorge had just bought them a whole lot of time, they could probably investigate one of the warehouses tonight. One less day in the hell-hole for the women and girls kidnapped by this monster. One less day of fear for Mr Redfield. "Let me know the results, but we're investigating one of the houses this evening. We won't be able to identify the rag-man easily when he's dormant I'd imagine."

A long continuous buzz came from Jorge's phone, apparently he had his fiancee on the other line. Oh gosh! Emily! He'd forgotten. Linely rushed for his phone "That reminds me, I best contact..." What was Emily? Girlfriend? Friend? Courtship partner? It was always so confusing with internal Church dating. People were friends for a while and then. WHAM! Married. Either way she'd asked him to give her a call today, just to make arrangements for next week's meet up. "A friend of mine, just to make sure everything's going smoothly."

He got out his phone, a modestly dressed brunette with green eyes adorned the potrait of Emily's contact details. She found it difficult to call him, pay as you go and they weren't a particularly rich family. So they were meeting at the coffee place she worked at in the evening, and then going to an Italian restaurant that hopefully wouldn't blow up like last week's one did. His treat as usual. Her parents weren't home for the this week or next week, so it was probably best that he avoided staying over. Didn't want anyone to think anything untoward was happening.

"See you on Sunday then Emily." He ended the conversation with, to which Emily replied with a similar affirmative. Forgetting that she was going to be on a women's retreat tomorrow and for that weekend. They were leaving in the evening, picking her up at the coffee shop which was not too far away from this area. They weren't allowed to keep phones on that retreat. There was only one phone, which the organisers had told all participants to give to anyone that would need to call in an emergency. Needless to say, Linely didn't have it.

After he had finished with Emily, he turned to Jorge, who was hopefully finishing up with his significant other as well. "So, do you think we should go for the north Warehouse, or the south Warehouse?" They needed to get going as quickly as possible, it was better for all parties involved.

The conversation with Gemma was short but it was important. Being a detective, Jorge was used to this kind of life, to being too busy to contact at the exact time every day, especially when he was in the middle of a case. However, Jorge wasn’t officially on active duty just yet and his simple trip to help out a detective had swiftly turned into a much longer thing. Gemma was not concerned (not fully) but she did have every right to call and check up on him. Jorge was quick to assure her that he was fine and had simply lost track of time. Once they had made contact, the two of them happily hung up and went back to their lives.

Jorge turned back to the scene just in time to see Linely returning to him. There was almost seredipitious that the man’s phone had rung at nearly the same time. The young woman’s picture he saw flash across the screen seemed cute and right up the younger officer’s alley. However there was not telling at time whether she was a lover, a relation, or simply a friend. Whatever the case, the two officers were left to their devices and to catching up before turning to one another. It was time to get back into business.

They had a lead to follow. It wasn’t a big lead, certainly not the most informative, but it was something and it was something tangible that they could do. Something not everyone realizes about police detective’s is that they are slaves to their own duty. They don’t like to sit around the precinct, waiting for news to come to them, they need to be out in the thick of it, trying to find something, anything that will lead them to the resolution they so desperately seek. The night had been long before they had received the call about the latest kidnapping and uneventful. Uneventful nights were never good in working cases like this.

When they had rejoined, Linely gave him the option – north or south warehouse to investigate? They needed to act now. If they chose the right one then they could possibly end this right now but if they chose poorly, well, they may be getting another data point to work with. Still, that was not an event that either of them wanted so they needed to make the right choice here and now – north or south? The CSIs would be their best bet at narrowing down but they didn’t have time to wait.

Jorge thought about this for a moment, scratching his chin. He was terrified of making the wrong decision but with so little to go on, they didn’t have a choice. Both warehouses were reasonably close to this location for the Ragman to have traveled and hunted, but where was he staying now? Feeling it was inappropriate to flip a coin, the detective sighed as he just looked at his fellow detective.

”North,” he grunted. ”Seems as good a place to start as any.” After thanking the victim’s father for his time and promising that they would indeed let him know the second they know anything, As Jorge led his temporary partner away from the scene, Jorge stepped out into the light of day and took a deep breath. He hated going into this half-blind but it was better than sitting around doing nothing. However, before he could step too far, he stopped and glanced to Linely. ”Did you remember to get flashlights with a rating of at least 10,000 lumens? Intense light hurts the bastard. If he’s there, well, I want to be prepared.”