Re: 'delivery'
[This time he doesn't immediately leave when the envelope arrives. He steps aside, into an alcove near the entryway, and pulls out the lock of hair.
He doesn't know who the lock of hair belongs to. That means more than it would have if he did. Someone worked hard to make this person disappear completely, and leave no trace behind. He remembers entire missions, entire campaigns, whole battlefields, long wars. He remembers the Dyatlovs, but he does not remember this.
Someone is going to a lot of trouble to lead him on a long scavenger hunt - the question is why. What's the motive? The lock of hair is soft and bright, copper-red. It makes him think, for some reason, of the woman from Gotham. He isn't sure why.
It's frustrating, looking at it, like a lock that won't open. It's a woman's hair. It smells vaguely of perfume.
There is, though, something underneath that, something that almost isn't there at all. It's serpentine, and it makes the back of his throat sting like smoke.
He closes his hand around the lock of hair, and looks up.