The Norn Files

[kyonides]

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The Norn Files

By Kyonides

Chapter I

Promoted?

Keith Norn had been a serious police officer who had worked in the eleventh precinct for a year and a half before he asked to be transferred to the sixth precinct for personal reasons. A year later he had passed the exam to become a detective. His grade was not excellent but still above the average. Nothing had changed at the station for Keith was the rookie cop. You see, not even Sergeant Young cared about his promotion.

He knew a man nicknamed Wulfo, sort of. They did not talk much but they often met at the food court. This guy with a lupine complex always bought one of the healthy promos the restaurants offered. Keith greeted him as usual and lined up because he wanted to buy a large BLT submarine without tomato slices. At the same time his partner was purchasing the old good donuts somewhere else.

The werewolf looked for a table surrounded by some plants, as if he were in need of emphasizing his vegetarian lifestyle. Soon both detectives joined him there. No, they did not ask for permission nor they would ever care about his opinion on their pick.

“So what is it, guys? Why did you come here today?” the so called half man half wolf asked them.

“Well, I heard from trustworthy sources your shop is going bankrupt, Wulfo!” Norn replied with a smirk on his evil face.

“Even if it were an unfunded claim, we’d love to know for sure whether or not you’d be closing permanently” detective Claymouth stated.

“Nah, we’re fine for a time but I really hope the lockdown ends any time soon” the alleged shapeshifter commented.

“Yeah, that pesky virus proved to be a real nuisance for all of us” Keith acknowledged then.

“I’m tired of wearing a surgical mask whenever I pay a visit to a hospital or the coroner’s office” his partner was complaining.

To Wulfo’s right hand side a mother and her little son had arrived with their plates. The kid insisted on eating the icrecream first. The middle aged woman seemed to be so tired that she did not yell at him for it. What happened next was something our hero had expected from the beginning.

“Huh? What the hell are you doing, kiddo?” an annoyed pawn shop owner inquired of him, placing his favorite energy drink on the table.

You might have hit the target if you ever thought the child had spilled the vanilla and chocolate icecream on his trousers on purpose. And Wulfo was wearing the new ones that very same day.

“Holy… I’ve paid two hundred and fifty bucks for them!” he exclaimed in no time.

The cops could not help it, laughing was their only valid option there. The mother was mildly shocked by the event but did not do anything to compensate her son’s furry victim. By the way, her looks would not lead you to think she were a lady that could afford any expensive dress or purse ever.

The male werewolf stood up and walked past the benches, he was heading to the men’s room. It might have been useless to try to clean the trousers at all. Even so he felt the urge to do something about for he had no spare jeans he could wear that day. They were waiting for him at home, in a basket located near his washing machine.

The Arrangements

Believing the office was too bright for his mood, a man in a navy blue suit quickly closed the window and the grayish blinds. He was totally absent and easily forgot there was someone else there at that time. Actually the guy appeared to be half asleep already.

“Is there anything I can do for you, boss?” his secretary questioned.

“No, I’m fine, Lila!” he replied immediately.

The young woman left the office, closing the door carefully as not to disturb him. She really showed him a profound respect as to believe her boss was the best example of a decent man, certainly a father figure and a real community leader.

Inside the lights went off just because. Picking the black cellphone, he made a call after entering the ten digits that were written on his personal agenda. Six beeps, his contact finally answered the phone. The right person was on the other side, he definitely knew it.

“Hi… Guess what? The time for the next offering is growing near. Go provide the Shelter with lots of fresh meat by next Thursday!” the businessman commanded.

“Noted. They’ll be greeting them on Friday morning!” the other male remarked as if it were not possible to comply with the man’s demands.

The respectful leader said then “OK, since you no longer care about the glory awaiting for those that faithfully serve our lord, you can forget all about his precious gifts you might have earned so far.”

“Fine, fine! I’ll walk the extra mile again but stop bossing me around!” the unknown male asserted, hanging up right away.

Not long after the man in blue hid his cellphone, he turned the lights on and walked all the way to the window. Blinds were opened moments before somebody knocked on his door. It was Darlene the janitor checking on him before she could start cleaning the office.

“You’ve come at a great time, dear Darlene! Why don’t you bring your lovely daughter Tina tomorrow?” the goodwilled man asked of her.

“Did you say tomorrow, sir? So is she getting the part time job?” the janitor wanted to know.

"Err, the approval is still pending but everything looks quite promising for her indeed!” he gladly explained to her with a honest smile.

“What a relief, sir! It’s a miracle!” she expressed feeling revitalized.

After her boss had hugged her and get a small grasp of how her buttocks felt like, he let her go with a blush on her face and took his seat. Then he opened a drawer and took out a scientific calculator. Another interruption did not allow him to fully concentrate on his current task. A woman in her forties had arrived, she was wearing a golden ring sporting a princess cut diamond.

“Hi honey! Now Tiffany, say hello to your father!” his wife happily said.

“Hi dad-dy!” the little child greeted him cheerfully.

“What a wonderful surprise indeed! Oh it’s one o’clock already!?” the head of the family suddenly asked himself. He rushed to lift his daughter and kissed her on her left cheek.

The Purchase

Another male unconsciously hit Wulfo’s right shoulder and quickly left the restroom. That did not bother him, though he briefly stared at the guy. Then the werewolf had hung up, put the brand new cellphone in his lumberjack shirt’s pocket and finished washing his paws. His countenance was slightly reddish at that moment, he felt the strong need to voice his recent concerns at once.

“Crap! Being the only one available, I’m now supposed to buy them all the meat they badly need this Friday night. I could have done it on the thirtieth but no, I can’t. They need to start preparing it the day before. And what’s even worse, I’m the only werewolf around that doesn’t like eating red meat! I seriously hope they will later divide the bill among the attendees. Otherwise I won’t be able to pay the mechanic for my car’s repair.”

While the hybrid was criticizing other people for not being as dependable as he was, he had received a push notification. He picked the phone and read the following message: “Dear customer, your luxurious car has passed the revision. You can now come by our workshop at any time. Cost of repairs: $5,750.00”

“What the heck!? Are you nuts? Since when do I own such an expensive car?” he protested at once.

It was not his bill after all, he had picked the wrong phone. The one he was holding in his paw was the bald guy’s. He had left the restroom while he was talking over the phone. None of them noticed they had purchased similar models with the same black case.

“Damn it! Now I’m forced to find about that bald man’s current whereabouts! And I’ve got no time for this crap!” Wulfo obviously whined.

The Alert

Both cops were still waiting for their friend to return to the table. Keith Norn was joyfully taking a peak on the girls that walked by. Without warning they received an urgent call from their boss. It baffled him to notice that he did not use the radio to contact all of the cops at the same time.

“The sergeant gotta be as desperate as to interrupt our lunch for no reason!” the curious detective mentioned then.

He reluctantly slid the finger to the right to answer his boss’s call.

“Where the hell are you now, Norn?” sergeant Young shouted.

“Me? Err, well, I’m here having lunch…” our doubtful detective let him know.

“What did you just say? Are at the Sirius Plaza Mall by any chance?” his superior officer asked him.

“Of course, I am, sir! They’ve got this great Save the Parakeets special promo here!” Keith stated recklessly.

“Oh my… Just cut the crap and listen to me, boy! We’ve got a tip telling us they will hit somebody there at 1:23 P.M.” Young fed them with the worrisome details.

“No way! We’re gonna comb the whole area, sir!” Keith uttered feeling the sergeant had picked the best men for that particular task.

“Whatsoever. Reinforcements are expected to arrive in five minutes!” the unbelieving superior officer informed him.

Detectives Norn and Miller started exploring the shopping mall looking for any suspicious character lurking around that does not inspire them with any confidence.

Vertigo

The werewolf made it once again. He managed to find the guy that took his phone by mistake. For some reason he was sitting on a bench close to the bathroom. Before he could make an attempt to flee away from him, Wulfo sat down and talked to him hoping they would soon exchange their cellphones.

“Excuse me, sir! I believe we’ve exchanged our phones by mistake. You see, they even look alike. Besides it scared the hell out of my troubled brain when I learned from a text message I’d pick up a luxury car I’d never be able to buy in my whole life.”

“What did you say!? Sh… Let’s do it quickly then!” the bald man reacted as if he had made the biggest mistake of his entire life.

After he had his own phone back, Keith greeted him from a short distance. For a brief moment Wulfo had a strange hunch but soon disregarded it. Thinking his friend intended to shake his hand and say goodbye to him before leaving, he rapidly stood up. It wound up being a terrible choice for he got dizzy in no time. This time it was him who hit the other male’s shoulder by mistake. He tried to look at the bald guy to apologize only to notice how the other guy simply fainted. Detective Norn also witnessed that and got close enough as to take his pulse.

“Damn it! You’re in deep troubles now, Wulfo! He’s dead!” the cop sternly informed his friend.

The only suspect told him “Hell no! You know me, Keith! I’d never kill anybody else!”

Miller arrived and commented “Wow… Now you definitely stepped on it, Wulfo!”

“Shut up, you idiot! Can’t you see I’m dizzy? How could I ever do it then?” the pawn shop owner inquired of them.

“Please don’t make it more difficult for you, pal! Really, you better follow us to the car for we’ve got a lot to discuss at the station!” his friend Keith shouted out.


“Sir, we’ve caught a suspect!” detective Miller let his boss learn about their arrest in no time.

“Yeah, whatsoever! I’m assigning detectives Falcon and Dahlia to this case, they should be arriving in a matter of seconds!” sergeant Young spelled it out for them.

“Huh? Young is kicking us aside now?” Norn cried out loud.

To be continued

...some day!