Marcus woke up to his earlier than usual arms. He grabbed a quick bite before hopping onto a taxi, and ended up arriving at the prect around forty minutes prior to his usual time. Kevin was there already, as he usually would be, and Captain Ko was also in the prect, waiting for him.

  “I thought I told you to e early.” Captain Ko shook his head at Marcus before pointing to an interrogation room to his side: “In there, now!”

  “My apologies, captain, I didn’t know how early you meant.” Marcus scratched his head aered the room with Kevin.

  “We don’t have much time, so here’s something I’d like you to know. ” Captain Ko threw a small USB drive oable: “In here is some fidential information, and everything in there stays between us and should never be revealed to others without my prior okay, you uand me?”

  “Yes captain.” Marcus and Kevin the same time.

  “Now, don’t expey detailed or crete answer from me. I found everything I could and put it in the drive for you. ” Captain Ko sighed: “Now, think of me as a person who knows a lot of strange cases but had ried to pieything together, for various different reasons. And I for one am not super curious about what the ‘big picture’ is like. So, tell me crete information you find, but save your theories and specutions to yourself, capeesh?”

  “Yes.” Marcus sat down by the table a Kevin pick up the drive.

  “What’s in it?” Kevin asked?

  “Case files, ret cases.” Captain Ko turned around and looked at the door, with his back fag both Marcus and Kevin: “I guess both of you already know that the city is going through a surge in violent crimes, especially homicides and murder?”

  “Yes.” Marcus and Kevin answered simultaneously.

  “But, captain, just so we’re on the same page. You are indeed aware of the supernatural elements of this kidnapping case, and willing to let us iigate it from supernatural angles?” Kevin thought for a brief moment before he raised this apparently well thought out question.

  “I am saying that for cases as bizarre, plicated and difficult as this, you are free to explore all angles you deem fit, even some unventional ones.” Captain Ko shook his head.

  “And the information you are sharing with us, is it reted to our case at hand?” Marcus asked.

  “The surge in homicides and murder is appearing all over the city, even in some of the areas where crime rates are so low you practically leave your front doors open ht. In this drive, I included some of the cases that caught my eye. Some others, well, are quite sensitive and I could not pull them out without raising some suspi.” Captain Ko sighed and turo them once again: “And there is also one case, I just could not put it in a drive, because of - various reasons. So I’d suggest you do it on your own. That case is Blue Envelope 1149.”

  “ I ask a question, Captain?” Kevin raised his hand.

  “Go ahead Mr. Loo.”

  “How long have you known? About the supernatural entities that are in our city?” Kevin asked with a frown on his face.

  “Lohan I’d hope.” Captain Ko sighed and looked up at the ceiling: “But still - you o uand this. Knowledge about them is never supposed to be shared with civilians or even w enfort offices that are not involved in dealing with them. And I am sharing this with you still in accordah this tacit rule.

  “And ahing you o know. Let me be clear.” Captain Ko tinued: “I am not sharing this with you just because the case at hand has proven to involve the supernatural and I want to shut you up. I am sharing this with you because there is a worrisome trend with the rise in supernatural reted cases, and I fear that something else is going on. And with the unique position our prect is in, things will get trickier, as you could imagine. Which is why I want to talk with you before the team from the South-Eastern unity collective gets here. I want you to be more prepared. ”

  “We uand, captain.” Marcus also raised his hand: “But - I also have a question.”

  “Yes.”

  “Carl Benson, and the girls - ”

  “Yes, just put a full report on my desk. I assume it would be good enough to show that we did make an effort to look into the case. And I will ha, including the unication with the Bensons and the city - ”

  “No, that’s not what I meant.” Marcus shook his head: “I am asking, if you could help stall them instead and give us more time to iigate it. I have a gut feeling that things are ected here.”

  “Okay. Put your reasons in the report. Remember, crete proofs only.”

  “And before we finish, I have a question.” Marcus raised his hand once again.

  “o raise your hand, just ask.” Captain Ko rubbed his nose bridge.

  “I think we should get everyone involved, at least all the detectives.” Marcus said: “Since you gave me and Keryn a ce to cover up - I mean deal with the missing ammo situation in that Ling family house, I assume you know that Keryn is on the know as well. The only oill keep in the dark is Shervas. And the case regarding the substation - ”

  “And Mick.” Kevin added from the side.

  “Yeah, but - he is still new here. We should wait and see.” Captain Ko waved his hand and said: “Yeah. Let me think about it. Some things of te definitely got the attention of the city. And there's plenty of good reasons to build a task force to iigate everything.”

  “Great. So we could get on the same page.” Kevin ughed and took a look at Marcus. But Marcus still appeared to be worried.

  “But - how are we going to present the findings?” Marcus sighed: “Yes we get on the same page, there are reasons why cases go into Blue Envelopes right? And even if we found out everything, how are we going to tell the city about them?”

  “First, there are actually people iy that will know about the truth and help us figure out how to dot our findings. So no worries.” Captain Ko nodded in approval: “There are people who know, and some of them are iy.”

  “Yet they did nothing to stop everything.” Marcus sighed.

  “Not everyone is free to act.” Captain Ko looked Marcus right in his eyes: “We all have our bindings and our circumstances.”

  “What is Blue Envelope 1149?” Kevin looked up from his phone: “Looks like I ot request a digital copy of the files, and I have to go to the city archives in the Northern District to find it? That’s awfully odd even for a Blue Envelope case.”

  “It’s because it was ordered by the city to be sealed and not be digitized.” Captain Ked: “And you looking into the case is actually good timing. People already khat you have a habit of looking into Blue Envelope cases. So hopefully less suspi will be raised.”

  “Wait - how - ” Kevin was stumped for a moment: “Oh man, Captain you could’ve told me - ”

  “I was actually just about to tell you. But you went ahead and checked on the digital archives before I could mention it.” Captain Ked, but his smile indicated that he was rather pleased and amused with what Kevin did: “But I guess it’s okay if I tell you now - and I’d figure you probably know by now, that your accesses to Blue Envelope cases will be tracked and logged. Normally it’d be fine, because they are still sidered cold cases where people may occasionally look into.”

  “Okay, okay. So I need a cover story.” Kevin stood up and started pag: “What is the case about, captain?”

  “It’s about a case dating - maybe 17 years ago. I ’t remember the exactly” Captain sighed: “A family of four. Both parents were dead, only the two children lived.”