He looks at a slip of paper.
Courier: Inspector... Mung? I'm supposed to pick up some evidence bags. Oh, and there's this file. They got it to me just as I was leaving. Something about it being to hand when reorganising. Looks like mice have got at it a bit, though.
He waves it, showing tatty edges and staining.
Courier: I'll need a signature. And I need to write up a receipt for the bags.
Nic steps forward and smiles, taking the ratty file from the courier. He also takes the clipboard and neatly signs "Inspector Mung" on the line.
Nic: (Flipping through the file) Hey, check this out. This is too old to be related to this case directly. Let's give it a look-see.
Nic wanders back towards the apartment, glancing over the old papers as he goes.
Huang: You have yourself a good day. And make sure that gets to our lab in one piece and doesn't get swiped out from under your nose, dong ma?
And with that, Huang heads after Nic until he's almost astride from him.
Huang: If I'm not mistaken, this is the stuff on that shopkeeper's kid that Ming asked for earlier. Hopefully she's gotten what she can out of Sarah here so that we can get back to the lab and try to figure out what the hell's going on.
The courier briskly accelerates back onto the road and away.
[i]It is, indeed, the file about the shop-keeper's daughter. Detail is sparse, but it tells a tale of a poor, missing girl a generation before Mingxia. Unlike the attention lavished on the Thomas family, the investigating officers did the minimum they thought they could get away with- not that there was much to work with. There were no witnesses, no previous attempts to run away and no compelling reason to suspect foul play. No whisper of any supernatural events, either. Just a total disappearance.
The file contains additional information about how a rookie officer was assigned to two more experienced policemen for a final evaluation. Their recommendation was 'Pass- but he was reluctant to accept it was time to move on to more important cases.' Hell, everyone makes that mistake when they're a rookie...[/i]
Huang's eyes narrow with no small amount of fury. His initial suspicion has just been confirmed.
Huang: Son of a bitch...people who handled that case didn't really give a rat's ass, did they? They thought that kid's life didn't mean go se just because she and her family were poorer than the Thomases. Gao yang zhong de gu yang...
Huang takes a moment to compose himself.
Huang: I'm going to need a couple rounds at the gun range in order to cool off a bit. And I'm going to have to have a talk with that rookie, though I think he's probably moved up in the ranks a bit after thirty years. If that case is anything like ours, he probably caught something the other cops missed.
Huang checks the name of the rookie: S Richardson.
A dramatic swell picks up on the soundtrack as the pieces fall into place in Huang's mind, and his eyes go wide.
Huang: Wo de ma... that was our boss?!
[i]Back in the apartment, Ming is wrapping up talking to Sarah. She seems to have opened up quite a bit, and Ming notices nothing inconsistent with a worried close friend.
Sarah even invites her into her room to see if there's anything of use there.
There's a pin-board with many of the same photographs that Mingxia had- presumably duplicate copies. Ming also notices some occult paraphernalia in the room. Nothing sinister, but a cut above the usual mass-marketed tripe teenagers often become interested in.
On the desk, there's three coins and an open copy of the I Ching.[/i]
Ming pulls out her cybered-up cell phone and discreetly pages Nic and Huang.
Huang's cellphone beeps and he pulls it out. It's Ming. Huang turns to Nic.
Huang: Looks like Ming's found something. Let's move.
Nic: Good. I'd like to see what we info have on this new teacher.
[i]Mrs. Suen lets Nic and Huang back into the apartment, and waves them towards Sarah's room. With four people stood in it, it's quite crowded. Nic and Huang notice the same photos and occult bits and pieces that Ming did.
Nic can make some further observations- some of the books and artefacts could be considered the sorcerous Real Deal, but only at a very low level. They are just powerful enough to have small day-to-day effects while still not being readily identifiable as sorcery, even to experts. There are probably at least a couple of hundred other practitioners in Hong Kong of a similar calibre.
The hair in the pendant could be a charm of some sort, but not one Nic is familiar with.
Next to the coins and the Book of Changes is a scrap of paper with a hastily drawn hexagram.[/i]
[i]Huang studies the books and artifacts with a critical eye. There's no way in hell that Sarah was powerful enough to pull the mind-whammy on him at the garages, but the fact that Sarah is mixed up in magic to start with may explain how her friend came to the attention of whichever sorcerer took her.
Huang's eyes narrow as his mind goes into overdrive. If Sarah wasn't the sorcerer, then she was probably connected to whoever was. That damned pendant was probably the key to how the sorcerer was able to study Mingxia and deem her appropriate for whatever twisted little scheme required her kidnapping.[/i]
Huang: Sarah...how long have you had this stuff? (indicating the occult books and artifacts) And who sold it to you?
[i]Nic holds up a tiny crystal, about the size of a small earring. It rests against his palm, which he holds towards Sarah. It dangles from a fine silver chain, which in turn is wrapped in a simple but deliberate pattern through the wizard's fingers. The crystal catches the light in the room, and glitters with diminutive racing prisms. The warming colors in the sparkling pendant put everyone in the room at ease, as though some pressing weight was just lifted momentarily from the entire group's shoulders.
Nic holds the hexagram out to Sarah with his other hand.
[/i]
Nic: And what was this meant for, Sarah?
While he waits for her answer, Nic studies the coins and hexagram to see what reading the girl was getting from the I Ching when she cast them.
Sarah blinks once or twice, as if slightly sleepy.
Sarah: I started collecting bits and pieces a couple of years ago. Mostly tourist stuff, until I started reading up on it properly. There's a shop in Kowloon I got a lot of it from, the rest mail order. I was using the I Ching to try to find out about Mingxia. The question was: Where is she? I was just about to look it up when you arrived.
[i]The hexagram is number 37 - Chia Jên (The Family), with the first and fourth lines moving. The reading is:
The Judgement:
The Family. The perseverance of the woman furthers.
The Image:
Wind comes forth from fire:
The image of the Family.
Thus the superior man has substance in his words
And duration in his way of life.
The Lines:
Nine at the beginning means:
Firm seclusion within the family.
Remorse disappears.
Six in the fourth place means:
She is the treasure of the house.
Great good fortune.[/i]
[i]Huang whips out his notepad and starts jotting down the passages as his mind goes into detective mode again. He has no clue about the mystical stuff, but he should be able to draw some interpretations from Sarah's reading.
The first passage could mean any number of things. Whatever Mingxia is going through, she at least still has hope, as does Sarah for her return. It could also mean something about whoever "she" was that currently has her.
The second passage gives him similar trouble. He has no goddamn clue what "wind comes forth from fire" is supposed to mean, and "family" could mean any kind of close-knit group, from an actual family to a police unit to a Triad or a witch coven. The only families the crew has been in contact with so far have been the Thomases, the Suens, and poor Lin's family at the shop. And the "superior man" could mean any number of people, from Aaron to James to the shopkeeper to whoever was in charge of the kidnapping. "Substance in his words" and "duration in his way of life" he has a little more ease in putting together courtesy of Arthur's crash course on magic soon after Huang joined Section 44. He knows the sorcerer responsible is able to put mind-whammies on people, as evidenced with the garages, and the goal of Chinese alchemy is indeed immortality according to Arthur.
The third passage gives him even more trouble. "Firm seclusion within the family" might mean someone's had a falling-out with the family or group at some point in the past, or that he or she left the family or group of their own volition. He thinks of James, who had just arrived in Hong Kong, and wonders who else might fit the criteria.
The line "Remorse disappears" causes Huang's eyes to go steel. He's met enough remorseless people in his line of work to know what that line generally means. He can see how being an outcast from a family or a group might cause resentment toward that family and perhaps a willingness to do evil toward that family. But as far as Huang can tell, James did not count the Thomases or Mingxia as an enemy in any way, and he was in England when it all went down. In any case, Huang figures that he and Section 44 are dealing with a "black sheep" of some sort.
The final passage is both the easiest to figure out and the hardest. Mingxia was indeed valued by the Thomases, as is Sarah to Mrs. Suen and her late husband. And he has no doubt that poor Lin was valued greatly by the shopkeeper and his wife, and he could see how her loss had hurt the family greatly, to the point where neither of them are inclined to trust cops anymore. But at the same time, Huang cannot ignore the mystical significance of the final passage either.
He turns to Nic and hands the notepad to him.[/i]
Huang: Nic, see what you can make of this. We can compare interpretations when we leave.
Huang turns back to Sarah.
Huang: Sarah, I'd like to know where we can find this shop. Also, do you know of anyone who frequents the place who may have had some less-than-charitable intentions regarding Mingxia? Somebody mixed up in the nastier stuff, perhaps?
Nic frowns.
Nic: Crap.
The problem with reading signs is that a great part of the interpretation is intuitive on the part of the reader, and the precise question of the inquirer. While Huang certainly will have pulled clues to a solid investigative puzzle out of the passages, Nic's mind jumped right to the thought that the passage is trying to warn of a growing sorcerous threat. He's not sure which interpretation could be worse for Mingxia...
Nic: Crappity crap. Ok, this is a shot in the dark...
First passage: I think Mingxia is alive and holding on, so we're good there.
Second passage: the wind coming from fire strikes me as a reference to the truly magical, and it's not just symbolic as we might think. We already know we're up against chimney demons and who knows what else. Demons, black magic, none of it is subtle, and it's all destructive like fire. The 'superior' man might not mean the Confucian ideology of superior, but rather an egocentric man gathering his power to sustain his nefarious goals, who considers himself superior.
Third passage: I have no idea what nine refers to, there are so many implications, but seclusion and lack of remorse indicate that our foe is secretive and of course without morals as we know them. I don't think 'family' refers to Mingxia's actual blood family, but rather a select group of likely candidates, perhaps a group the perpetrator found suitable for kidnapping.
The last line perhaps explains why Mingxia specifically was taken as most suitable; she's obviously powerful, either in what she is or what she can become. She's a treasure to her family, but clearly valuable to whomever stole her.
Nic sighs and gathers the coins up in his hand.
Nic: Bah. Give me a good tortoise-shell reading any day...
Ming glances at Huang's notes from over Nic's shoulder.
Ming: Umm ... well ... I don't have much experience with this kind of thing, but it seems to me that the Judgement DOES say that Mingxia is still alive ... especially since it specifies that it's in relation to the Family. The only other woman I can think of who's involved is Mingxia's mother, or possibly the kidnapper.
The Image, where it mentions wind and fire, seems to be talking about the chimney and bugs to me. The superior man might be Minxia's father, especially since it's talking about the Family there. He's the head of his household, so to speak, so "superior." So, what did he tell us that might have substance? Remember the voice he heard? Maybe that's what it's referring to. Not sure what the duration bit would mean there, though ...
[i]
Ming trails off as her thoughts skip ahead to the rest of the reading.
Privately, Ming agrees that duration might mean an extended life through sorcery... but she doesn't want to scare Sarah with talk of the supernatural. Mings eyes go wide as a thought strikes her ... could it be possible that Mingxia's FATHER is the sorcerer? That would explain why, if he's the superior man, he's mentioned in between the chimney/bugs and unnatural longevity.
And the Lines give Ming even more pause. Firm seclusion within the family could mean that Mingxia is being held captive by her own father. She is the treasure of the house might mean she's being held in her own home!
Ming wrenches herself out of this morbid reverie ... it's probably just the stress of an emotional case talking, but she resolves to run this interpretation by her partners next chance she gets, just in case. In the meantime ...[/i]
Ming: Sarah ... what's your interpretation of the reading?
Sarah flicks through the book, hunting down the hexagram, and reads the relevant passages silently.
Sarah: Um... She's persevering so she's okay? Some family has her hidden? I'm not sure.
[i]Nic moves over beside Sarah. Obviously she cares for her missing friend, and obviously they were very close, sharing secrets and thoughts and lives, as good friends do. Nic can possibly use Sarah herself as a strong personal attachment of Mingxia's, and maybe penetrate the veil of sorcery hiding the girl from his scrying magic.
He takes a small red lipstick off the girl's dresser, and quickly sketches a small icon on the top, bottom, and both sides of the mirror.[/i]
Nic: Sarah, if you're up for it, I'd like to show you some more magic. I'd like you to allow me to hold your hands while we both look into the mirror here. If we try together, we could possibly see Mingxia, maybe get a better idea of where she is, or maybe see an image of who has her. You'd have to concentrate very hard, but it would only take a few moments, if it worked.
Nic looks at her expectantly, and holds his hands out.