Chapter 29: Pieces And Puzzles

Main Street and Park, The Attison District, Temple City (3040).....

The familiar orange glow of Baddwulf's cigarette seemed to lessen the thin white casing as the rather puzzled werewolf moved along the half-empty sidewalk his mind in deep contemplation. It had been just a few hours ago when he'd gotten into the fight with the overly large brute that spent most of his days and nights guarding the front door of one of the notorious hood Blacky Clay's establishments. Now he'd been on the slab back at the local morgue, his body torn to shreds and his guts spilling out. Baddwulf had not recalled doing that to him he had not even used his claws and awoke in the alley amid the garbage bins. The brute of a Bullman had walked away just fine of his own accord following their fight as far as Baddwulf had known it, he had not registered what had taken place after his initial blackout or if the wolf that lurked inside him had been the cause, most days he'd been in control of it, never having transformed as he did at the warehouse when they tried to ambush his old man.

Baddwulf took a long slow drag from his cigarette and sighed. There was no way he had taken out the Bullman, not like that, and not while there had not been a full moon. Someone else had been looking to do the poor sap in and that someone could completely shift without the full moon.

The walk had been a relatively silent one as Baddwulf made his way toward what appeared to have been his office building his mind already on what he would discuss with Jake about their current caseload and the events of the previous day when he found the lead that ended up taking him to Blacky Clay's establishment.

Still shaken from what he witnessed at the morgue, Baddwulf had been unable to fathom the turn of events and had not expected to see the disemboweled remains of the Bullman, who had tried his best to dent his face in at the morgue, not even on his best day but it was all too clear that something was going on and the power struggle that was erupting in the corrupt underground was something that given the rather unruly detective the impression that hidden hands were pulling all the strings.

The walk had been a brisk one as he started to note the sight of his office building in the distance although it had been something of a cold comfort if there ever was one considering that not too long ago the first body in the strange series of murder that began to rock Attison District had been turned up with a crowd of bystanders and press alike inquiring about the latest in oddities that occurred in the slums.

Baddwulf took a moment to look over the scene before heading into his office building having one hell of a story or Jake once he arrived and an interest in his main case possibly getting underway. From the looks of what was going on behind the scenes, someone was very much interested in targeting the heavy hitters that made the criminal underworld of Attison district go around, and whoever it was had been privy to a good amount of dirt on just about all of those that had been killed.

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Baddwulf's Office Building, Main Street and Park, The Attison District, Temple City (3040).....

Baddwulf made his way up toward his office and up the winding staircase unsure of what to make of his latest discovery or the new development his unofficial case had taken when he found the Bullman's body at the morgue. He had been in dire need of a stiff drink after recollecting the mutilated corpse of a man that had been doing his best to dent his head in during their fight as all his animosity had seemingly vanished for that man in an instant.

The unsettling knowledge that there had been a serial killer loose in the Attison district had been rather disconcerting as Baddwulf finally opened the door and stepped inside the office finding Jake huddled behind a computer as per usual.

He seemed to be quite startled to see Baddwulf in one piece given all the chaos and the news of his fight with the Bull man that ended up dead with his guts ripped out and his throat slit.

Baddwulf arched a brow at the lad as he moved along the front room and ventured toward his makeshift bar pouring himself a nice tall glass of what the old digital vids referred to as bourbon from the old era, a gift from his father on one of his birthdays of course. He'd been the only one capable of securing a non-watered-down stash.

Jake's eyes had not seemed to have left Baddwulf ever since his arrival.

"What's with all the gawkin' kid I'm in sort of a mood right now and I don't need you grating on my nerves too." growled the detective.

"S-Sorry it's just, we word is you got your brooding werewolf ass handed to you by a bull man the other night outside Blacky Clay's place and then suddenly he turns up dead in the street," replied Jake.

"People talk too much and don't know a damn thing about what's what despite thinking they know everything," remarked Baddwulf drinking down his bourbon and pouring himself another glass. "For the record, I walked away from the fight on my own two feet and so did he, his guts were still in his fat belly when I left him and I was the one feeling the effects of being rammed with a car door by way of my ribcage."

"Well...shit," said Jake flabbergasted by the news of what he heard straight from the brooding werewolf's mouth. "Guess it wasn't your day."

"No it wasn't, replied Baddwulf annoyed. "Today ain't shaping up to be any better, as I had the unfortunate luck of getting a look at the bull-headed bastard back at the morgue, throat slit, guts ripped out and the kill had been fairly recent, our fight was some time ago all things considered."

"That doesn't sound like the ramifications of a fight," said Jake observing the clues for a moment.

"No it doesn't, someone had to get in real close to pierce his flesh and no self-respecting hood or man or man-beast would be so callow in subjecting themselves to close proximity murder of someone so large," added Baddwulf doing a bit of pondering himself. "Guns and knives work best from a distance for that kind of thing."

"Someone had to know him to get that close," said Jake moving back toward his desk as he pondered himself.

"That someone was most likely well known and quite nimble given the trajectory of the attacks and Bull boy wasn't the first, try one of three so far that I've seen turn up in much the same manner of dead," added Baddwulf once more. "As much as it pains me to admit it, these bodies point to the makings of a serial killer in Attison District."

Jake seemed to lose a bit of color as he sat down in his chair unable to fathom such a tragic angle even in Attison. Baddwulf sighed and turned up his glass of bourbon. He had most definitely needed another shot of the good stuff and proceeded to pour himself a glass and a small shot for Jake.

It was going to be another long night in Attison and they both knew they were going to have their work cut out for them if they were ever going to get through their caseload and figure out what was happening with the recent spree of killings in Attison District.