A Difference of Opinion

[Eclecticon]

It takes a moment for the pair's eyes to adapt to the dimness outside the too-bright crime scene, pupils expanding like desperate hopes at a blackjack table.  Then they're off on their separate hunts - Elly moving confidently, following the signs: a chip taken out of the graffiti here, a fresh print further on, all leading around the gaping emptiness of the central well.  Then, much as she expects, to the place where the railing cuts off leaving an opening, wide open like the maw of some pagan underworld.  Signs of a lot of comings and goings by heavy equipment over the faint remains of hazard stripes.  Lights that flash into action when the big button's pressed.  Freight elevator.  She hops in, rides it down. 

Down's on Crowe's mind too.  Down where the pathetic remnants of light from the overhead skylights give way entirely to old fluorescents and deep shadow that could hide anything.  He finds staircases that sway and creak underneath his feet.  Keeps thinking he sees movement a level or two below.  Leaves tokens for every vendable vice he can think of behind him like a trail of rust belt breadcrumbs.  Sometimes even stops to loudly say 'Oops' in case there's any doubt how they're getting there.  Nothing. 

Then several voices raised in mocking laughter five or so levels up that trails off into bronchial coughs and a cry of "Szép chesta, polisi!"  Crowe feels his face burn and hopes that the uniforms didn't hear, and especially not Varela.  Doesn't bother turning back to collect any tokens that haven't already been snatched up.  The only thing worse than being taunted by someone clutching a chit for a quick buzz is acting like you needed it more than they did.  He too finishes his search at the freight elevator.  Rides it down to ground level in shame and degradation. 

Finds that Elly's been busy since she got there.  The flashes from her KIA as she documents the scene make the slick blood shine.  Some of it's spattered, some pooled here and there.  All still tacky.  Warm enough to smell. 

"There was a fight here," Elly doesn't need to say as Crowe arrives but does anyway.  "At least one gunshot wound," looking at the finely-sprayed floor nearby.  "The perps split up after that.  Some went that way," pointing to where footprints show the way to the vast loading bay like the world's worst wayfinding stripe.  "Others went there."  Waves a hand at a flickering light over a steel door set down a short flight of stairs.  Nothing at all inviting about it.  "There's less blood that way, and those perps were moving faster." 

[Telcontar]

"The locals were no help. This fight seems a little unexpected."

[Posterboy]

Elly did not answer Crowe immediately.

Her KIA flashed again, catching the blood in a brief, white glare before the dimness swallowed it back. She stood near the edge of the largest pool without stepping into the transfer field.

A fight involving perpetrators... statistically... not that unexpected. She kept the thought to herself.

She tapped her KIA and opened a scene channel. "Dispatch, Detective LE1-1.3. Send two additional uniforms to ground level freight access. I need this area sealed and processed." She paused long enough for Dispatch to confirm her request. "And notify Evidence Collection: multiple blood samples, separate packaging. Photograph before collection."  She stood, turning slightly so Crowe was included without quite looking at him. "Have them search for any casings, fragments, and embedded rounds. And see if they can pull any prints from the freight elevator controls or rails."

She looks at Crowe. "The locals may still have been no help, but the building was." She turned her eyes back to the two paths. "We should decide which trail gets us closer to what they took." She begins to move carefully towards the loading bay. "Probability suggests this path as more likely... though not by much."

Elly's hope is to start with an investigation of the loading bay, before following the other path.

[Eclecticon]

Before we get to that, let's just see what Crowe can see...
Skill: Observation

Rolled 1d10 : 1, total 1
Rolled 1d12 : 12, total 12

[Eclecticon]

Background, the broad brushstrokes of training and upbringing, can make all the difference sometimes.  Shooters and thumpers like Elly fire rounds and forget about them - vaguely aware that every bullet goes somewhere but never too worried about the details as long as the target gets hit.  But this isn't Crowe's first time looking from a blood-spattered floor and then for a small, deep hole in the walls behind it.  He keeps her waiting a few seconds after she's done talking before he sees it, the chipped concrete bright against the caked-on grime everywhere else.

"Tag this," he says.  "Save the uniforms some time."


Tom, unless you want to suggest another course of action I'll move things on later tonight (my time).

[Telcontar]

  I am the GMs good servant, proceed sir.