In this modern time crime is ever-present and in all aspects of life. Law enforcement organizations often have detectives that specialize in one type of crime or another. Homicide detectives look into incidents of one person killing another. Individuals of the narcotics division do their best to keep the streets safe from those that sell illegal drugs. There is no reason why there couldn't be a department that focuses on crimes related to a world many don't believe exists.
Pulling a little from Jasper Fforde's Nursery Crimes Division novels, the Harry Dresden books of Jim Butcher, and numerous stories and tales of the Faerie Kingdom interacting with the modern world, I thought a little bit about a police detective that involved magic. What tools would he use? What kinds of evidence would he discover? How would he track down and arrest suspects?
It was raining again. Or still, I couldn't be sure. This time of year an evening shower was to be expected. This storm, however, seemed to be particularly oppressive. My trenchcoat was quickly dripping water on my boots as I got out of my car. I do my best to keep the falling water out of my eyes as I look up the height of the apartment building before me. I had been called here to visit an apartment about halfway up, on the fifth floor. I didn't know which window on that floor belonged to the room I needed to visit, but the shadows crossing one set of thin curtains seemed particularly active for such a dreary night.
I climbed the five flights of stairs despite the elevator in the lobby appeared to be working just fine. With the types of law breakers I tended to chase, being contained in a box as it quickly rose dozens of feet above the ground wasn't an ideal place to be. That and my general lack of exercise combined to make the ardous trek up the stairs a better option than the otherwise modern convenience of the elevator.
Stepping off the stairwell landing it was immediately obvious to me which apartment was the one where my presence was required. The two street officers standing on each side of a door decorated with a single stripe of police tape were only slightly less of an indicator than a giant neon sign would have been. My trained and finely tuned senses caused my skin to crawl and the hair on the back of my neck stand up straighter than a flagpole. This told me the crime that took place was indeed one that required my talents.
I showed the officers my detective's badge as I pushed the apartment door open and walked in like I owned the place. A hall stretched away in front of me with a door leading to a room on either side. The other end of the hall opened to a larger room. The flash of a camera and subdued conversation of the crime scene techs pulled me that direction. Reaching the end of the hall I saw it opened to a kitchen and dining room on one side and cozy living room on the other. The technicians were doing their best not to step on each other as they attempted to collect evidence around a body laying in the middle of the living room floor.
At a glance it appeared the unfortunate deceased was an older woman. Without confirmation from a coroner, I would guess cause of death to be simply old age. She looked like a dried out husk of a human being. Her skin was wrinkled and her hair was splayed out on the floor in thick white strands like an angelic glow shining from behind her head. What struck me as odd was her clothing. I hadn't encountered many women in their 80s wearing the latest club scene fashions.
Looking around the room I could see a number of pictures of groups of young people and a few of a young couple smiling at the camera. There was one person consistent in all of the images. I supposed she was the victim's granddaughter or great-granddaughter. She was attractive enough that I was almost tempted to go against my lifelong rule about not personally informing next of kin. Almost.
I walked up to the head technician and looked at him knowingly. "What do we have here Mickey?"
Mickey glanced my direction and opened his notebook. "There were no signs of forced entry. The landlord had to unlock the deadbolt and doorknob for an officer doing a wellness check requested by the resident's sister. There are no indications of a struggle and the neighbors haven't heard anything from in here for days despite frequent guests in the past."
Mike turned the page in his notebook, glanced at the words, and looked me directly in the eyes as he recited the next set of facts. "The coroner has come and gone. He declared the cause of death to be heart attack due to advanced age and dehydration. The victim has been identified as Genie McCallister. A 23-year-old legal secretary at a firm downtown."
I blinked quickly at this last statement and looked again at the woman on the floor before me. I would have estimated her age at no less than 70. I honestly would have guessed at an age closer to 90. There was no way anyone would have mistaken her for 23. I changed my mind about the young woman that all the pictures around the room had in common. It wasn't the resident's descendant, but the resident herself.
I reached into a deep pocket in the inside of my coat. Fingering past several familiar shapes I grasped a smooth crystal and extracted it. I then looked over at Mike and gave him a quick nod before stepping to the body and standing with my legs straddling over it. I held the crystal out before me and started an ancient chant in a language that was considered dead before Latin became popular.
Mike gestured to the other technicians and started to walk back towards the hallway leading out. "Come on boys, let's give the detective the room."
As I was left alone in the room with the deceased victim the crystal in my hands began to glow brightly and become cold in my grip. I could feel an tingle in my spine as aetheral energies flowed through me and into the crystal, seeking out any residue that might be in the area. As I watched figures and shapes began to rise from the crystal and take form. They coalesced into the characters that made up the alphabet of magic itself. While I didn't immediately recognize the words being formed of light in front of me, I could tell enough about them to determine their intended use. It was a spell to draw the life force out of a being quickly, aging them decades in a matter of seconds. As I couldn't see any part of the spell indicating a destination for the life force, I could only assume it was being stored somehow.
I ceased my chanting and held my pose until the crystal's glow faded away completely. Putting it back into its pocket in my trenchcoat I exchanged it for a small tin containing a powder specially mixed for me by a friendly woman that happened to be the direct descendant of an Ancient Oracle. Putting some of the powder in the palm of my hand I closed my eyes and pictured the letters I had just seen emerging from the crystal. I opened my eyes and quickly looked at the powder. Some of the silver components in it had migrated to one side of my palm. This was the side that was facing towards the kitchen.
As I turned and moved towards the kitchen the silver in the powder shifted to point me towards a space between the small table and fridge. The silver flecks in the powder centered themselves in my palm when I stepped behind one of the two chairs slid under the table.
I returned the powder to its tin and put it back in the deep inside pocket with the crystal. I reached to the back pocket of my pants and withdrew a simple notepad with pen attached. I opened it to a clean page and made a quick note of the date and address of the apartment building.
I once again closed my eyes and began a chant different than the one I spoke over Genie's body. Instead of maintaining a flat tone, my voice rose as I came to the end of each phrase. It could easily sound to anyone listening like I was asking a series of questions over and over. This was amazingly accurate. I raised one had into the air in front of me around the area the powder had indicated. My other hand gripped the pen and held it against the page of my notebook.
My raised hand began to feel cooler and cooler as a field of snow appeared before my eyes. A set of strange footprints led towards some barren trees nearby. In the distance was a familiar castle built entirely of ice. The pen in my other hand began to make a series of marks on the paper. Nothing like the characters that the crystal generated earlier, these marks were much more organic in appearance.
After a minute I stopped my mysterious questioning and opened my eyes. The snowy field vanished instantly and I could once again see the walls of the apartment. My raised hand warmed to room temperature quickly and I closed my notebook before replacing it in my back pocket.
I now had the first few things I needed to figure out who had invaded Genie's apartment and taken her life force. They had opened a portal to the Winter Realms of the Fae Kingdoms and strolled right through. The marks I made in my notebook indicated the energy used opening the portal was from a middle level resident of the Kingdoms. Now I only needed to compare the marks to a few records and ask a few friends form the other side of the Veil to narrow down the list of suspects.
Do you think Law and Order: Faerie Kingdoms
could become a thing?
