Aberrant: In the Beginning - Peter Bell

[Dawn OOC]

A red glow of tail lights painted the alley they were passing a murky red. Peering at the car, Peter can just make out the number of the Anthony's cab on the back of the car. The car blocked the narrow alley, the mounds of trash on either side making it impassible.

The car was still running, but it wasn't pointed the right way to notice them. The cops still didn't seem to be around. Either they were really good at their jobs or they weren't there.

"Is that?" Melanie asked fearfully. "Is he waiting for us?"

[Peter Bell]

Peter looked around to see who else was around. Seeing no one,

"I'm going to go check it out, just in case I got this guy wrong and he's in trouble."

Peter headed down the alleyway, not too proud to jump in the trash if the car started moving.

[Dawn OOC]

His knees are shaking, and Peter can feel his dinner turn into a rock in his gut. Melanie watched fearfully, her body almost seeming to shrink in on herself with each passing moment. She looked like she might bolt, but she stayed in the safety of the light from the street.

Peter reached the end of the car and realized it wasn't going anywhere; there was no driver in it. That's because the driver was sprawled chest-down in front his cab, bleeding from a ruined head. He was dead; the hole in the back of his head was not large, but the exit wound had removed most of his face. He also had small holes through each hand.

[Peter Bell]

Peter felt the rock in his stomach churn into pure acid. He fought down the desire to expel it. Painting dead people was one thing but this ... this was so all encompassing, so viceral.

He managed to not throw up. Instead he backed away from the cab. He scrambled back toward Melanie.

"He's ... he's dead. The cabbie is dead."

He took her arm and started leading her away.

"We need to call the cops again. I didn't figure out the right man. There is someone else involved."

But who?

Peter saw the payphone on the corner and pulled Melanie toward it. He had to talk to Alvarez. She'd know what to do.

[Dawn OOC]

"Oh, god," Melanie breathed, pressing a hand to her mouth. "Does that mean... do I get to live now?" Horror mixed with hope in her eyes. "Could you paint me again, to make sure?"

"Let's cover more mundane avenues," Peter said as he picked up the reciever. "We'll talk to Alvarez, first." She must have been expecting him, because he was routed through fast, disconcertingly fast. Then he had to tell Alvarez what had happened.

"This is done," she said. Her angry voice from early was just her mildly annoyed voice in comparison to the anger he heard now. "There will be officers to pick you up and put her in custody. I'm not allowing this to go any further. You'll go home and paint, and pray you're clear of this mess. This is not negotiable. This is what will happen." She hung up quickly.

[Peter Bell]

"We are going to have to wait for the cops to get her," he told her sadly. "That second painting will have to wait."

"I can't believe this was happening."

Deep down Peter had always believed the police were there to help people in trouble, not make things worse. He had to resist the urge to shake them all and make them understand. He had to resist the urge to call on help, for there really was no one who could help him now.

Peter held Melanie's hand and waited for the sirens to get close. Funny how the unmarked car had been no were around when they had really needed it.

[Dawn OOC]

The cops weren't long in getting there; the car that Peter had thought he'd seen earlier appeared within moments of getting off the phone. While one plainclothes went down the alley to look at poor Anthony, the other approached them. "Ms. Jergonsen and Mr. Bell?" he asked. When they nodded, he said, "I'm Detective Simeon Franklin and I'll be escorting you to safety, Ms. Jergonsen." He glanced at Peter and said, "And Detective Alvarez would like you to call her at your convenience, Mr. Bell. And before you ask, no, I don't know why. She just asked me to tell you that."

[Peter Bell]

"I would like to go with Ms Jergonsen, if that's okay," Peter speaks hastily. "I just want to make sure she's safe."

He tries to keep up with the two of them.

"I'll call Detective Alvarez once we get to were she's going to spend the night. There is a killer out on the streets."

He studies the cops face to see if there is anything about the man that might be familiar. He knows he's being paranoid, but there you have it. Melanie's life is on the line and she's asked his help.

[Dawn OOC]

"Here," Detective Franklin said, guiding Melanie to the car. He put her in the back, but stopped Peter from joining her. "Look, Mr. Bell, I cannot, and I mean really and truly, cannot let you come with us. For all we know, you're one of the guys after her. I don't think you are, but I ain't perfect, and if she got killed because I let a potential suspect know where she's being put in protection, then my ass gets busted. Worse, I am then responsible for her death. Her blood, my hands." He held out his hands, as if the imaginary blood was already there. "It's nothing personal against you, sir. But she's safe with us."

"Please... she came to me for help," Peter pleaded. "If I let her go without making sure she's safe, I'll feel the same as you."

Franklin licked his teeth thoughtfully, ending the bizarre maneuver with a soft kissing noise. "You're a good kids. Here," he said, digging out his phone and handing it to Peter. "Call Alvarez. If you convince her to let you come, I'll let you."

Feeling it was pretty hopeless, Peter dialed her number. Maybe God would be generous today and cut him a break. He was about owed one. "Detective Alvarez? It's Peter Bell."

"Mr. Bell, thank you for calling," she said immediately. Her tone sounded calmer, even apologetic. "First, allow me to offer an apology for some of the things I said earlier. While they are true, they weren't said in a good spirit. I know you're trying to help. You know I can't blindly trust that help just because you are a novus, especially given what just happened in Egypt. But your background is clean, clean enough that I can let you help us, in a round about way. I can hire you as a consultant. If you accept, you can help Melanie, by unraveling the mystery that's springing up around her." She paused and he thought she might be nervous. "Will you accept a consultant offer?"

[Peter Bell]

"Sure thing!" Peter responds enthusiastically. "I want to help."

Then he pauses for a moment.

"If I may ask, what caused you to change your mind about me? I know you don't like me much and ... well, I want to know if someone went behind your back, or over your head, on my behalf. If so, I will try to limit the damage I cause your investigation."

"I'll need to go back to my studio and bring some supplies over to your office so that I can show you what I do and maybe we can find a way to make this work."

"Listen, I know you are the professionals and I'm ... not. I'll try and do my best to make this work, I promise."

With that, Peter offers the phone back to the detective.

[Dawn OOC]

"What changed my mind? Well, that's long and complicated, and I'd like to tell you that as part of the briefing," Alvarez said. "How about you come down to the station, let me feed you some coffee, and I'll tell you everything in person? Cell phones can be interrupted and eavesdropped on."

The hint that someone might be interested in her conversation, and someone with the ability to intrude. That alone told Peter a lot - someone with power and resources.

After he gave the phone back to Franklin, the detective held a short conversation and said, "Ok, then. Brewster," he pointed to a woman in plainclothes, "will take you back to station and we'll get Ms. Jergonsen into protective custody."

The drive to the station was quick. Brewster didn't put on her lights, but drove as if she had. Peter found himself grabbing at the dashboard and the 'oh-shit' bar more times than he cared to admit, and Brewster's grin only got bigger with each involuntary gasp or grab.

Peter was met at the station door by an overweight Irish uniformed officer who silently led him back to Alvarez's desk. "Hi," she said, offering his hand. "First, we have some bullshit paperwork, and then we can get started." She held up a hand. "I said hire on the phone, and we have to actually hire you, even if you're not paid. So, a few quick forms for you... want some coffee while you work? I made fresh."

"Sure," Peter said, a little dazed by the change in reception. Alvarez was a woman of extremes it seemed. He was put in a conference room and he filled out papers while Alvarez brought in a few folders. It was all standard, save the confideniality form he had to sign. It was pretty strigent, too. He could be brought up on charges for talking about cases with non-approved personnel. When he'd signed the last paper, she took them away, then returned and sat down.

"Ok," she said, clasping her hands on top the table. "The guy you found dead has a file, this one." She slid it over the table to him. "The name we know him by is Squints, as in Anthony "Squints" Felini of the Felini family. They're pretty small-time, but they're moving up, fast. One of the things they do is use their taxi service launder money and run drugs.

"The reason I called this a mystery is two-fold," Alvarez said. "First, Squints hasn't driven a taxi for years; he long since graduated to higher positions. But tonight, he was driving. Why? Second, this is the fourth dead mafiaso we've had turn up in the last week." She pushed the other folders to him. "They're all from the Felini or Orsini families, which indicates a brewing gang war. In fact, I was was going chalk it up as one... but Squints' death changes that. It's an abnormality, and now I wonder if what's going on with Melanie is connected to the building war." Her dark eyes looked at him. "Thoughts?"

[Peter Bell]

First was the giddy rush to be brough into something so important - a murder investigation, but that passed. Peter had the sinking feeling that death and the avoidance of death was going to become a major part of his life. What he needed was a cool head on his shoulders. Speaking of cool ...

"Let me paint the corpse of 'Squints'. It is how my gift works. I just need a piece of charcoal and a sketch pad. They are at my studio if we can't find any here."

"Then I'll sketch the body and look into what might have killed him. Maybe the who, or the why of it. I don't have that much control yet. I want you to witness this, Detective Alvarez, because I think that will provide you with some real reason to have faith in me. This will only take a few minutes."

"I'm ready to start as soon as possible," Peter said, standing up with a bit of drama. "As I said earlier, I want to help."

[Dawn OOC]

Alvarez blinked, looking a little surprised that he wanted her there. "Alright," she said slowly, standing up. "Sure, lemme raid the supplies we keep here for our sketch artists, and get you started on that. His body should be here soon. Why don't you familiarize yourself with the files, and I'll find out what's up?"

Peter started into the files and soon wished he hadn't. Squints may have been small time, but he'd still beaten the crap out of some guy, and the photos were in his file. It had been a gruesome and thorough beating; according to the file, the victim was still alive, though it was dated from a couple of months ago. He'd barely gotten into the third incident in there when Alvarez came back. "Ok, we've got it ready. Come on."

She lead him down to the morgue. When they were in the elevator, she said, "You asked why the change; it was what happened in Egypt and my own realization that there are going to be criminals out there, getting powers, too. We need some of you to work for us, to help us.

"And there's something that has me concerned. One of our plainsclothes was approaching Squints' cab, once we'd IDed who Squints was. That man hasn't reported back in yet, and we don't know where he is." She looked at him. "I'm not the only concerned, but I'm not waiting for him to go missing. If you can help us find him faster, then I'll take your help all the time."

[Peter Bell]

Peter paced around Squints talbe lookin for the proper angle to sketch him from. He wanted to catch the killer, but that was really just guess work wasn't it?

He settled for standing at his feet.

"I'm ready," he told Detective Alvarez and he felt the energy flow out of his core and though his extremities. His eyes felt hyper-alive and his fingers flew across the pad. His brain opened up to the possibilities and it all become to real for the concious mind to grapple with. Peter blacked out as he always did. When he came to ...

[Dawn OOC]

"Wow, you took looking at the corpse much better than I thought you would," Alvarez muttered, frowning a little. She was staring at the sketch pad held loosely in his hands; the charcoal pencil lay shattered at his feet, dropped from a loose hand. She was looking over his shoulder, frowning.

The corpse formed the left border of the picture; at the bottom, two armies marched toward on another, weapons openly displayed. On the right side of the page, Squints knelt, hands behind his head and wearing a hood over his head, as if a kindly executioner had tried to preserve his dignity. Above, the moon watched and laughed.

"That's... less than helpful!" Alvarez snapped, looking disappointed. Peter sighed and, as had become the norm for him lately, peered closer to see what details he could find. To his surprise, he saw details in the drawing, details that he shouldn't have been able to accomplish with charcoal. Strings were tied to Squints's arms, legs and head - they disappeared over his head. And in the moon, there was a faint hint of a reversed badge, as if a giant had pressed its NYPD badge into the moon's laughing face.

[Peter Bell]

"There are strings reaching up from Squints. Was he a confidential informent? If so, for who?"

Then,

"Did you say something about a corpse?"

He notices the fact that he is standing next to a body for the first time and he shys away. "Oh."

"Anyway, the Moon has a reversed Badge on it. Could that mean someone famous for resisting the police, or an ex-cop who was forced out for some reason?"

He tried to make out the badges numbers. That would be something solid.

[Dawn OOC]

Together they peered at the numbers, painstakingly making them out. When they had the last digit, Peter started to ask if she knew who's they were, but found he didn't need to. The answer was written on her face. Muscles in her jaw tightened and she swallowed hard as she said, "They're mine."

She stepped away from Peter, starting to speak rapidly. "No, he wasn't an informant; he was highly placed enough that had he been an informant, we'd have some arrests by now. No, he was loyal. And before you ask, no, I don't know about the badge numbers. I'm going to check my old cases and see if I can find a link between myself and someone killing off Mafiosos." She stopped and turned. "You can help, if you want, but it'll be boring."

[Peter Bell]

Peter nods. His eyes still go from the scetch to the former human being lying before him.

What am I missing here?

He carries the pad with him as he followed Alvarez. He kept going round and round and he hated it. First Melanie, now Squints, and next?

No ... wait, Titan Omega had been last night. Had it been 24 hours already. It felt longer.

He had limited himself at Aeon to five paints in one day. He could do more, but chose to keep that to himself. He didn't know his limits. He had only two paints so far. Why not make it one more.

As he they came up to the office area once more, Peter turned to Alvarez,

"I would like to sketch you. You are tied into this now, and I think this will help clarify things."

God, I hope it does. All I want is a clear direction were to go on this.

[Dawn OOC]

Alvarez looked uncertain, but nodded. "In the conference room?" she asked, sounding out of her league.

"Where ever you're comfortable," Peter said, which was her car.

"I know this is weird," she said, sounding a little shy, "but if the guys see me getting drawn, it'll be... well, they'll get the wrong idea, and then I'll spend weeks getting my cred back." She gave him a shrug. "Should I pose?" She put her hands on the wheel.

"It's fine, just relax," Peter assured her as he settled into the passenger side seat. And he gave himself over to the art.

When he was done, he was staring at a rather trampy drawing of a younger Alvarez, and the woman herself looked pissed. Her anger fell away as she suddenly said, "Hey, that was what I wore while on Vice! Come on, now we know what files we'll be looking through."

[Peter Bell]

"Oh thank you God," Peter whispered. Louder he added, "I'm starting to get the hang of this. I also want to see what possible tie this has for Ms. Jorgensen. I dont' want to forget her and the trouble that I've forseen for her."

He followed her upstairs and sat down with her as she got the files together.

"What exaclty are we looking for now? What link leads you back to the Laughing Moon and the executioner?"

[Dawn OOC]

"But she didn't die in that alley, and likely won't now," Alvarez stated as they started to head back to the records room. She paused, took the drawing of herself and pulled it out of the notebook, putting it under the seat of her car. She didn't say anything, but she didn't have to. As if she hadn't paused, Alvarez continued, "She's safe, isn't she? I mean, she was talking about moving. I doubt she's going to go anywhere near Chinatown again, much less that alley."

"I don't know," Peter said, frowning. "She might be safe now. But until I know, I'd rather act as if she isn't, Detective."

"Right," Alvarez said. Suddenly she gave him a smile. "And you can call me Dania, now that we're working together." She pronounced it DAH-nia, and he could really hear the Hispanic accent in her voice.

"As for what links me back..." she signed. "We'll find out. There were only a few cases I was put undercover like that, so that narrows it down quite a bit." At the records room, Dania requested several case files and checked them out, then took them back to their conference room. Sitting down, they went over the five folders.

Three were ok, but two were promising: both of them dealt with taking down Mafia-supplied dealers. One of the folders was particularly thick, and Peter noticed that Dania handled that folder with a bit of reverence. When Peter looked at it, he found out why - her partner had been killed during that bust. His killer had never been caught.

[Peter Bell]

Peter nodded at Dania's logic. Melanie should be safe now, right? So much had changed in her life that the painting must be irrelevant.

He focussed more of his work on the present - on the case were her partner had died. He rode over the papers and felt the frustration ekeing out of them. The police had put their best effort into finding the killer of one of their own. Peter felt their sadness and frustration. He read and read until only his nova-fueled endurance kept him afloat.

Until, in his haze of exhuastion he found it.

[Dawn OOC]

Or rather, he found something. Alvarez had pushed her folder away, rubbing at her eyes with the heels of her palms. Photos spilled across the desk. Peter glanced at them wearily, realizing that they were pictures of the funeral. And one of the woman in the crowd, Peter saw, was wearing a moon pendant.

[Peter Bell]

"Who ... who is this woman? Is there anyway to find out?"

Peter nudged Dania, who groggily examined it.

"The Moom pendant on her," he pointed out. "It has to mean something, right?"

Peter stood up and poured himself another cup of coffee. He thought about going to the bathroom, but something else occured to him. He set the coffee down and got out the sketch pad. He studied the woman for over a minute before he put charcoal to paper.

[Dawn OOC]

"Yeah, yeah... we can find out," Dania mumbled wearily. Even as he started to draw, she grabbed his arm. "C'mon... you need to rest. I know you want to get going on this, but if you keep pushing youself, you're going to collapse. We have a place for you to crash."

[Peter Bell]

Peter slept, but he had images he would not remember haunt his dreams. Faces of powerful men and dead women came unbeckoned to his sleep. Wars were waged and people died and the eyes of the dead all stared accusations at Peter. It was not a restful sleep.

He awoke from ether of his dream state with only the vague sense that something was wrong. Only when he realized, which didn't take long - yay Nova!, were he was did he remember the problems he was in.

Peter came out and immediately asked if he could talk to Melanie. Next on his agenda was hoping that Dania - Detective Alvarez was awake and had made progress on the mysterious moon pendant. Only then did he realize he really needed a shower, shave, and change of clothes.

[Dawn OOC]

Dania didn't appear until after he'd found a doughnut and a cup of coffee. Her dark hair was wet and she had a scrubbed clean look. At his request, she showed him where the locker room was, and managed to find a disposible razor for him. Afterwards, they went across the street to a diner and sat down. "Dylan's widow is a teacher in Yonkers, so I'll head up there this afternoon after classes let out," Dania said after they'd been served a hot breakfast. "In the meantime, I have another case to work on. Do you want to be left alone with the files and some art supplies?"

[Peter Bell]

Peter returned to the room, and to the files. As he munched down another donut his mind flashed forward to the near future were he had to ge turning out some proficient artwork for a multi-billionaire. That would be more about life, living and building, along with making an obscene amount of money.

Back in the present, he was in this dingy conferance room - saving lives. How could he leave this? Sure, the hunger and exhaustion sucked, but his life was doing real work here. He was saving lives ... like Batman.

Peter took up the charcoal and began sketching the woman with the moon shaped medallion with a renewed purpose.

[Dawn OOC]

At lunch time, Peter looked up from his drawing as Dania banged the door against the wall. "Did I disturb you?" she asked, worried. "Did I mess you up?"

Peter looked down at his drawing pad. He didn't think he was quite done, but he wasn't sure that mattered. The pad was nearly full, and it had a lot of stuff on it. As usual, the subject was there, but she didn't look like she did in the picture. In the photo, her face was sad, truly grieving but Peter's charcoal had given her an angry face, the expression of one consumed by rage. The images were grouped around her, three on each side. In the upper right corner, two tombstones stood side by side. In the middle of the right side, a broken ring, the two shattered halves pointed away from one another. On the bottom of the right side, the woman held a baby, smiling down at the infant.

The images on the left side were just as dark as the right. At the bottom, the missing police officer sat in darkness, a manacle around his leg. In the image in the middle, faceless men stood with bull eye's on their foreheads. And in the image at the top, the moon laughed with one half of her face and cried with the other half of her face while she aimed a gun at the targeted men.

[Peter Bell]

"Fuck if I know," Peter told her wearily. "I think we found our mastermind behind what's been going on."

He put the pad down so she could see it and went for one of the sub's she had brought in for them to eat. He took huge bites out of it.

"On the bright side, the missing officer is still alive."

Munch, munch, munch - a choked swallow.

"Hrrumpf ... Okay, the two tombstones could be symbolic, or it could point to the woman's impending death if she keeps on this path. The broken ring is a broken vow, or something done out of wedlock. The third image may be a child born out of wedlock, a different part of her life. A key to figuring out her. If we can find out when the child was born, we can help determine the woman."

"I think the woman was ... connected. Maybe the boy would have been connected."

"We have your officer alive, again good news. I don't know who the faceless men are, but they might be the ones tied to your partner's death. Finally, we have the moon symbol again and her with a gun."

"That's my initial analysis anway. So what do you think?" Peter said as he bit into the sandwich again.

[Dawn OOC]

"I think as soon as we're done eating, we're going to drive up to Yonkers and talk to Marilyn,” Dania said, grabbing one of the sandwiches and digging in. The other two foot-longs were pushed across the table to Peter. “You guys gotta eat a lot, right?”

Peter wasn’t sure that he could eat three feet of bread, meat and veggies, but to his surprise, they all fit. His stomach must be stretching out, enabling him to take in more food in one sitting. It reminded him of big cats, who will eat until they can’t move anymore. But he was still very much active.

The drive up to Yonkers took forever – well, only about an hour, but it still felt like longer. In their eagerness, they were early, so they had to wait a bit to talk to Marilyn. She was an older woman, dowdy in appearance with a no-nonsense vibe. She taught six-graders math, so perhaps that impression was earned. Peter saw the tightness in her eyes when Dania approached her. “Have you any new leads?” she asked softly, clasping her hands before her.

“Maybe,” Dania said. “A new case appears to have ties to Dylan’s death. We were wondering if you could identify this woman?”

Dania passed her the photo and Marilyn’s face crumpled. “Oh. Her.”

Dania tried not to look excited; Peter was having the same trouble. “You know this woman?”

“Of course I do,” Marilyn said stiffly. “I’d hoped to avoid it, but I supposed the fact that Dylan was having an affair would become public knowledge at some point. Yes, he cheated on me, and that was his mistress.”

[Peter Bell]

"Ummm ... Ms. Winters, I'm Peter Bell and I'm helping out on the case. I could really use your help. What can you tell me about this woman? Has she contacted you at all? What was her name? Her background? Do you know of any reason she would hold a grudge against the other members of the Force?"

"I'm sorry for having all these questions, but I'm one of those Novas you have been hearing about and I have been drawn, quite literally, to your husband's case. I can create artwork which helps lead us to clues. It has started in an ongoing case, but hs tied back into your husband's death. This woman is the key. Specifically, the moon eblem."

Realizing he may have said too much, Peter pulls back a bit and looks to Dania.

"This can save a lot of lives."

[Dawn OOC]

“I haven’t heard from that slattern since Dylan died,” Marilyn said, her voice rock-hard. Her hand crept up and grasped a necklace through her blouse; Peter had a moment of suspicion before his keen eyes saw the right angles of the cross through the material. “She wasn’t in the will, though I grant she didn’t come sniffing around for it. I don’t remember her name… I’ve tried to forget it.”

Dania and Peter gave her pleading looks. With a sigh, she murmured, “Once a cop’s wife…” Moving to her desk, she pulled out an address book and called someone. After a brief conversation, in which she asked for the mistress’ name, she hung up. “Fortunately, my lawyer kept all the information the private investigator found. Her name is Kaylie Huntson, and this is her last known address.” Her stern visage softened. “I hope you find her before she does something awful. She’s caused enough pain.”

[Peter Bell]

As they are leaving, Peter turns to his troubled partner.

"She has a name, and I think a child. That has to be an angle finding her. Since she wasn't showing at the funeral, her child has to have been between certain dates. That could be a way to track her movements."

Blushing slightly, he adds,

"Of course you have already done stuff like this before. What am I giving you advice?"

In the car, he suddenly blurts out,

"Its awesome and terrible to see what effect we have on people's lives, isn't it? Mrs. Winters and the old wounds, I mean."

[Dawn OOC]

Alvarez nodded and got on the phone. She made a call, requesting that someone pull Huntson's information for them. "That's going to take a while," she said when she hung up. "They'll pull the informatin for us."

She listened to him talk, a smile crossing her face. "Don't worry - rookie attitude." Her smile did suggest a certain fond tolerance, as any old-timer might have for an eager newbie. "We'll figure out where she and the kid are, when the baby was born, if there was a baby - don't worry, by the time we get the information, we'll be able to write her life's story."

He suddenly blurts out, "Its awesome and terrible to see what effect we have on people's lives, isn't it? Mrs. Winters and the old wounds, I mean."

"Yeah, and it's hard to get used to," Dania said softly. "It's a lot of responsibility, to find people in the darkest of places, and try to find the truth that they don't want you to see. And you expose that, usually to the world. You feel bad, but you know that they did it to themselves. And you just wonder why they made the choices they did. Why couldn't they have done something better, more honest? That's what kills me. I see the same mistakes and problems over and over again, and I can't understand why they don't seem to ever change." She shook herself and smiled, breaking the mood.

"Say, you want some advice?" Peter nodded eagerly. "We eat, sleep and do other things until we get the information. I know it sounds crazy, but this job will eat you alive if you don't care for youself. If you obsess and work it twenty-four-seven, you're going to go crazy. So let me take you home, and let me call you when we know what's next, ok?"

[Peter Bell]

"Well, in two days I need to start working on a project for Matthew Morgan. I have a Million dollar mural to paint for his company."

He looks out the window,

"It seemed so important when I negotiated with him two nights ago, but now its ... I don't know, in perspective maybe. Now that I know I can help solve crimes and save lives, the rest seems less important."

Peter looks over at Alvarez,

"I am going to work on more cases, aren't I? I can paint crime scenes and suspects and gain us, I mean you and the NYPD, insight into solving crimes. Hey, maybe one day in the future my paintings will be used as evidence. What do you think?"

[Dawn OOC]

"I don't know," Dania admitted, smiling a little. "Someday, they may be admissable as evidence, though you'll need to get a lot more accurate with them. Right now, they're open to interpretation. Hell, I don't know if the evidence we're collecting right now is going to be admissiable. It may all get thrown out. Making the case, getting the guy, or girl... that's the best. But sometimes, it's enough to let them know that you know about them. If you keep an eye on them, then sometimes you get them next time."

She frowned as she steered around a curve. "Matthew Morgan? Why are you working for him? Or do you mean that he's paying you a million dollars to paint it?"

[Peter Bell]

"I'm being paid a million dollars to paint it, but he has hinted at a more long term position for me once I finish the mural. It sounded like a good deal then, but now ..."

"Now I don't know."

"Honestly, I don't think I'll every be a real cop, like you, but I know I can do more than work for the highest bidder. Dania, do you really think I can make a difference? Is this work going to become too much for me because people want to many things from me, or are my efforts not going to be enough, and people get sick of staring at my artwork because it isn't clear enough?"

Peter shakes his head.

"I know I want to give this a shot. It's been great working with you. Things have made more sense and I've been able to do more."

"But then I'm not painting the world either. I need to see if my work has done any good for Fang."

[Dawn OOC]

"Do I think-?! Dios, Peter, you're a novus! If anyone can make a difference, it's you and yours," Dania barked, her voice shaking with laughter. "Me and mine, we're the dominant species of the past. You're the future. My kids are going to be novus, or my grandkids. You're the next step, and I'm the dead end branch. You're going to change the world. If anyone in this car should be asking that, it's me."

She glanced at him and winked. "Of course, I already have an arrest record that proves I've already made a difference." She paused and asked, "Who's Fang?"

[Peter Bell]

Peter blushes, embarrassed of having his evolution being put that way.

"Fang, Wei Fang is one of the smartest novus on the planet. Hell, she may be the most intelligent of us. I painted something terribly weird and I wanted her to take a look at it to see what she could make of the imagery."

He looks at his phone.

"I can call her later. She's probably terribly busy."

Peter eyes Dania seriously for the first time since he first met her. He finds himself uncomfortably horny all of a sudden, but he knows that's more a response to the stress and his own libido than anything he could be reading into their situation.

"What happens now? With us? We just wait for the information to come in and look for other leads, or hopefully find her and the missing officer with what we have got."

Peter looks away long enough to shift in the seat.

"So tell me about yourself, Detective Dania Alvarez. Give me someething to occupy this Novus mind while I struggle with all this waiting."