The Hellion (collateralshot) wrote in valarlogs, @ 2019-07-23 19:00:00 |
|
|||
Entry tags: | !complete, dan smith, leon orcot, olivia moore |
Who: Dan Smith and Oliva Moore, featuring Leon Orcot
What: Wellness check
When: June
Where: NPC!Jim's house
Rating/Warnings: Lowish, blood is present
Status: Complete!
Normally Dan stayed out of the affairs of the patrons of the Double Tap. What they did beyond the door to his bar wasn’t any of his concern or business. There were a few exceptions, of course. Some of his regulars were Valar Net Dreamers and while people weren’t posting about their every waking moment there as one might on Twitter or Facebook, Dan felt as though he knew his fellow Dreams a bit better than others. They all did. It was all part of being a member of that community.
Jim wasn’t on the network, though. He’d been coming into the bar at least two to three evenings a week for just over a year. He was quiet, but friendly, preferred beer over liquor and always paid for his drinks in cash. From the conversations Dan’d had with him, he’d learned that the man was a retiree and had moved to Orange County, though he never said from where. He was a baseball fan, though he didn’t seem to favor a particular team. His real passion, however, seemed to be fishing. He’d told some great stories about fishing in lakes and rivers, how relaxing it was juxtaposed to the momentary thrill of battling to bring a hooked bass ashore or into a boat. He’d mentioned once that his dream was to someday go deep sea fishing.
Dan liked Jim, enjoyed his fishing stories. The other regulars seemed to like Jim as well. And Jim seemed to like everyone just fine. Then one week Dan noticed that Jim hadn’t been in. He hadn’t thought too much about it at the time, thinking maybe the man had taken a vacation or something. But when one week turned into two and then three and there was no signed of the retiree, Dan had started to get worried.
Jim wasn’t an old, old man, probably in his mid to late 60’s, but from what Dan could tell, he lived alone and didn’t seem to have any family around, at least none that he spoke of. He didn’t seem to talk much about his friends outside the bar either. Dan’s biggest worry was that something had happened to him; that he’d slipped and fallen, or worse, had had a heart attack or stroke and was all alone in his home suffering for days on end.
It was a large assumption to make, but the more Dan thought about it, the more concerned he became. He asked around the bar, but none of the other regulars had either seen or heard from Jim. Like Dan, none of them seemed to know much about Jim, other than his first name and his love for fishing. In fact, no one even knew his last name. This concerned Dan even more.
Finally, he broke down and asked Qrow to obtain a last name and an address so Dan could do a wellness check. It took a couple of days (a little longer than Qrow’s usual turnaround time for such a simple request), but finally Dan had a full name and an address for the man who’s dream it was to go deep sea fishing.
Jim Cummings lived in a quaint little bungalow in a quiet little neighborhood. Everything looked peaceful from the outside when Dan arrived with Liv, but Dan had learned a long time ago that looks could be deceiving.
Liv was all about getting justice in general. But with this new brain she was on? She was even more for it. So when Dan was worried about one of his regulars not showing up at the bar for a few weeks, of course Liv had insisted that they investigate and that she help. There was something off about the whole thing. She could feel it.
“Come on,” Liv said practically jumping out of the car, not being stealthy in the slightest. Her excitement over finding justice was also getting the better of her these days. “Let’s go!”
Well, there was something to be said about Liv’s enthusiasm. Though Dan was concerned, even worried about Jim’s safety, he was really hoping against hope that the man had actually gone on vacation and neglected to tell anyone at the bar. Or maybe he was just at home and for whatever reason had decided to spend his time elsewhere. It was going to be awkward showing up at his front door if that was the case, but Dan preferred a slightly awkward and embarrassing situation over the worst possible scenario.
“Easy there, cowgirl,” Dan said, smirking in Liv’s direction. “We’re jus’ here to check on the old guy, remember?”
However, even as he said the words and got out of the car, Dan couldn’t ignore the feeling in his gut.
“Right,” Liv replied though she still thought there was more going on. People didn’t just disappear from their favorite bar for that long. Especially when they usually went on a daily basis.
Liv made her way to the front door. If they were just hear to check up on him she supposed she should knock. Which was exactly what she did. Only there was no answer. Granted it had only been a few seconds but Liv was impatient. She knocked on the door again before turning her attention to Dan. “What happens if he doesn’t answer? Are we going to break in?” That was something Liv had never done before, but she knew her boyfriend had plenty of experience.
Whosever brain Liv had consumed seemed to have been a tad on the impatient side. Dan chuckled softly. “Only if we hafta, Darlin’,” he told her. He took a step back to peer into one of the windows a few feet from the door. The curtain was mostly drawn, but Dan thought he could see a light on through the little gap between the pieces of fabric. Dan frowned slightly and his brows furrowed together. He moved back to the door. “Lights on,” he reported to Liv before reaching for the door handle.
To Dan’s moderate surprise, the door was unlocked. Now Dan was on his guard. Hopefully, they weren’t catching the old man in the john or coming out of the shower, but that feeling in his gut twisted a bit more. He pushed the door a little further open and motioned for Liv to follow him inside.
The interior of the bungalow didn’t look disturbed. No one had come in and ransacked the place. A set of keys hung on a set of hooks by the door, along with a coat Dan recognized to belong to Jim. A pair of shoes were neatly placed under the coat. As Dan made his way into the little entry hall, he peered into the first room he came to -- the living room, by the looks of it. A recliner sat in front of a small flat screen TV. Nothing looked disturbed in there either. A glass of clear liquid sat on an end table right next to the chair along with a lamp that was on.
With Liv close, Dan made his way further down the hall. The bedroom was across the hall and up a few feet. A simple bed sat in the middle, another smaller TV on top of the bureau. The bed was made and a pair of dog-eared slippers were by the foot.
The kitchen was at the back of the house along with a bathroom. A dinner sat uneaten on the table, a bit of mold already growing on a piece of steak and potatoes.
Well apparently they weren’t going to have to break in with the door already open like that. Liv was slightly disappointed. She wanted to see Dan break in. But the disappointment quickly turned to worry when she realized what that mean. If the door wasn’t locked had someone come in and taken him? Or maybe he was just home and this was all for nothing. But as she walked around the house she realize how empty it was. It was like he had just vanished - which let’s face it, wouldn’t be too crazy for Orange County. For all she knew an alien could have legitimately abducted the poor guy.
While Dan checked out the kitchen Liv made her way into the bathroom. The first thing she noticed was the sink, it was dripping. Which wasn’t super unusual she supposed. Just annoying. Then her eyes fell on the rug outside the shower. Being a medical examiner she knew right away what she was looking at. There was no question about it.
Blood.
It wasn’t a lot, not enough to indicate he had bled out at least. But it was enough to assume he had some type of serious injury. Or someone did. Maybe it wasn’t Jim’s.
“Um, Dan?” Liv called out eyes glued to the rug. “I think you should come in here.”
While Liv was in the bathroom, Dan was glaring at the moldy food on the table. It was as if Jim had plated dinner for himself and then just vanished into thin air. Like Liv, Dan wouldn’t have it put past Orange County to pull this kind of B.S. But, Jim wasn’t a Dreamer, and Dan hadn’t seen any news about people vanishing Left-Behind style on the network.
Where are you, Old Man?
Liv’s call from the bathroom grabbed Dan’s attention. He didn’t much like the tone to her voice and he quickly made his way to the bathroom, joining Liv at the door. “What is it?” He followed her gaze to the cream colored rug on the floor and spotted the dark stain. It was a good size stain too. “Aw, damn,” he muttered.
His eyes darted upwards and spotted some more dark red splatter on the side of the tub and a few smears on the wall. Dan’s detective instincts flared. He wished he’d thought to bring a pair of gloves with him, but he really hadn’t expected to stumble on a potential crime scene.
Dan gently took Liv by the arm and pulled her from the bathroom. “It might not mean anything,” he said. “For all we know the old guy cut’imself. Just the same though…” his eyes flickered towards the bathroom. “I think maybe we aughtta call Leon.”
Liv let Dan pull her away. She had been at enough crime scenes with Leon to know not to mess with it. The last thing they needed was for the cops to think they had anything to do with this. Even if most knew Liv and tendency to stick her nose where it didn’t belong.
“Yeah,” she agreed already pulling her phone out of her pocket. As much as she wanted to do all this on her own, she knew better. She scrolled through her contacts until she got to Leon putting it on speaker as she called so Dan could hear too.
Leon had been just in the middle of scarfing down a burger for his mid-shift mean when his phone rang. He couldn’t imagine why Liv was calling him, but he assumed it was probably work related. He ran his finger across the screen, answering the call. “Leon,” he answered, his words a little muffled by the burger still in his mouth.
Dan was hesitant to speak first. He and Leon weren’t on the best of terms lately, and he wasn’t sure how well the detective would react to hearing his voice coming through the phone. Regardless, though, they needed a police presence here and truth be told, Leon was the only cop Dan really trusted anymore.
“Leon, it’s Dan an’ Liv,” Dan started. “Y’know how ol’ Jim hasn’t been to the bar in a bit? I managed to get his address an’ Liv an’ I decided to do a wellness check.” Dan took a breath and glanced up at Liv as he spoke. “He ain’t here. Looks like he just up an’ left before eatin’ dinner. Liv found a bit o’ blood in the bathroom.” Another pause. “I gotta bad feeling, Leon.”
“The amount of blood,” Liv went on adding to Dan’s statement before Leon could reply. “It’s enough to indicate a serious injury,” or worse but she left that part unsaid. She knew blood though, and this was too much for it to be something minor.
Leon hadn’t expected to hear Dan’s voice, though maybe he should have. Even if Leon was still coming to grips with what it was Dan did, Liv had seemed to accept it, and despite the break they’d had when Leon was in Fiji, they seemed to be going strong. It made sense that he and Liv would be together.
He frowned at what they were describing, and bit back a comment about them contaminating a potential crime scene. Dan was a former cop, and Liv had tagged along to enough of Leon’s crime scenes, and he had to remind himself that they knew what they were doing.
“Alright,” Leon said. “Send me a photo. Have you guys checked for luggage? See if he might have packed up some clothes or his toothbrush? Maybe his fishing gear?” He frowned. “You guys are wearing gloves, right?”
“We weren’t expectin’ to come up on a potential crime scene,” Dan said. “But we haven’t touched anythin’.” He shook his head. “His shoes and coat are still by the door. I saw his keys there too. There’s a plate on the kitchen table growing some really furry mold.” To Liv he said, “didja go into the bedroom, Darlin’?”
“No,” Liv replied to Dan so Leon could hear. “I just saw blood and stopped.” As much as she wanted to keep going investigate this more herself. Find out what happened to Jim. She was still somewhat logical. She knew this was above her. “I’ll go look.”
With that she left Dan to continue talking to Leon and made her way to the bedroom. The bed was made, everything looked neat and tidy. Except… there was more blood. Not as much as the bathroom but there was a small trail leading to it. “Dan!”
While Liv investigated the bedroom, Dan used her phone to take a couple of photos of the blood in the bathroom and sent them to Leon. “I don’t like this,” he told Leon after the photos were sent. “There’s no sign of a fight in here. Nothin’s knocked over or broken. It doesn’t look like anythin’ was taken either. Jim’s TV is still in the living room.” He ran his hand through his hair. “Maybe he finally took that fishin’ trip he was always talkin’ about. It’s just…I got this weird feeling – “
Liv’s call had him rush to the bedroom. He hadn’t seen the blood when he’d passed by the door earlier, but there it was, a small smeared trail on the other side of the bed leading to a shared door that must’ve gone through to the bathroom.
Ah, hell….
“We got more blood, Leon.”
Leon got up from his table and made his way to the bathroom so he could switch his phone to speaker while he studied the photos. “Listen, Dan, I’m going to send some guys over,” he said at the moment. “I’ll see if I can’t get someone from Missing Persons to check it out. But I’m not going to lie, it doesn’t look good.” The lack of a struggle, well, that was a little promising. But with so much blood… Leon couldn’t really make sense of it. Not without a body. “I’ll try and make it down myself, too, but… well, it’s not my department.” At least, not yet. He hoped it wouldn’t be coming across his desk.
Dan would have preferred it if Leon had come himself. Outside of Leon (and by extension, Leon’s partner, Laurel), Dan had no idea who he could trust on the Irvine police force. But, the detective was right, as of right now this was a missing person’s case and Dan would rather it didn’t become an issue worthy of investigation by the homicide department. He had no choice but to trust the men Leon sent. He took solace in the fact that if Leon trusted them enough to send in his place, Dan probably could as well.
He let out a weary breath. “I got it. We’ll wait outside for your guys to show up.” He paused a moment before adding. “Thank you, Leon.”
Once the phone was hung up Liv slowly made her way back outside with Dan. There was a small panic that they had done something wrong, but they hadn’t. And luckily most of the PD knew Liv, even the ones that didn’t work in homicide, she spent enough time at the station after all. So it would be okay. At least as far as they were concerned. It was JIm that she wasn’t so sure about. Though she wasn’t going to let Dan know that.
“It’ll be okay,” she assured her boyfriend as they waited for the cops to show up. “We’ll find him.”