2-1 “Found”

Investigator Freeman Holds a cloth over his face, I would too if this helmet wasn't in the way. How many days has this body been here.

“Looks like the missing person cases just got knocked up a few notches in priority.”

“Probably the only thing you don't want to find in a case like this.”

Investigator Freeman was put in charge of the reports of people going missing over the last week or so. At first they were randomly positioned, now they seem to be focused around a particular area of the city.

“No clothes, that's odd. Neck wound. Probably a knife. Rats have done a number on this one too. Stay here and keep an eye out, I'm going back to the guard house to get a few men to properly clean this up. Hopefully the killer wasn't high class enough to have something to prevent a divination spell.”

Divination spells, amazing how useful and useless they are all at once. Most criminals have enough of a brain to use something to prevent the simpler less powerful magics from spotting them. You need to have important objects to cast the more powerful ones, and even those can be circumvented. Some of the materials for the spells are fairly expensive, so we can't just resort to them for everything. There are a few wizards in the city that cooperate with us who focus specifically on such magic, perhaps they'll be able to solve this quickly, talk to the spirit of the departed or something like that.

“Yes, sir.”

The investigator heads off leaving Watchman Kenneth and me to look after the body. The rookie has been learning a lot more quickly since I was put in charge of training him. He still does some unusual things, but he isn't quite as embarrassing to work with as he was a few days ago when I first worked with him. I give a clear hand signal, and he turns to keep watch on the southern end of the alleyway. I keep an eye on the northern and western branches. Why are there so many alleys like this anyway? I bet if we had built all of the buildings closer together, the crime rate would be less than half of what it is now. Though I'm no engineer, perhaps there is some point to it.

After what must have been at least an hour, Investigator Freeman comes back with four men carrying a casket. We place the putrid corpse inside and close it. The four men lift the casket and we make our way toward the mortuary of The Temple of The Hammer. Investigator Freeman briefs us.

“We'll be met there by Kristoph Mitchelson. He'll attempt to allow us to speak with the spirit of the deceased. Let me ask the questions, the spell only allows for so much time. After that we inform the family of the deceased, and continue the investigation. If we get good enough info we might even be able to make an arrest right away.”

Kenneth and I nod. People get out of the way as we proceed down the streets. Some out of respect, some out of disgust at the stench.