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!

[kyonides]

Chapter Two

Guilty?

by Kyonides

Keith was not supposed to be busy sniffing around like a hound. His friend Wulfo might have been framed by an unknown hitman and it could be his fault for only seeing what the murderer wanted them to see. Since he was aware of this situation, it had become his duty to forcefully open their eyes and focus on finding the truth.

The young man entered the coroner’s and starting asking for Dr. Sliver. Time did not appear to be running out at all. Widespread rumors led him to that expert, the one who would have to answer all of his seemingly stupid questions.

“Hey doctor! I guess I might be interrupting you right now but people keep telling me you’re in charge of the analyzing the corpse found at the Sirius Plaza Mall yesterday afternoon. Is there anything you’d tell me how exactly did the victim die. My fears don’t let me even take a nap for I seriously doubt we had arrested the killer or the accomplice at all. We didn’t find any lethal weapon at the crime scene. Let’s say it’d be helpful to know what we’re actually looking for there.”

“Uh huh? And you are…” the doctor preferred to get the intruder’s name first.

“That’s easy! I’m detective Norn, at your service I guess!” the inquisitive guy told him.

“Hrm, I see. I’ve never seen you around here before. Anyway, I can tell you for sure he surely knew how to die in a creative way!” Sliver carelessly revealed.

“Please define how creative he actually was, doctor Sliver!” the cop inquired of the coroner.

“Oh the killer’s ingenuity is formidable!” the expert went on. “Bring me a pellet or a marble or perhaps even a die and I’d be able to prove it in no time, Mr. Norn.”

“A marble… Now I’m suspecting I’d need you to elaborate a bit more on the cause of death, doc” the confused cop let him know.

“My examination indicated a small object like those I’ve mentioned before was the only thing the killer ever needed to trigger a minuscule bomb located in his left temple” the doctor concluded.

“So why didn’t the head blow up into smithereens then?” the detective had to ask him.

“It wasn’t a big detonation but just an insignificant one capable of breaking the blood vessels in a matter of milliseconds” doctor Sliver added then.

Norn now had to suspect the victim might have been forced to get a lethal implant before he could work for his last employer. So now the question was who was capable of performing such a feat in the surrounding area. Or did he need to do a nationwide search for the culprit? Things just got more complicated than a rookie like him could ever handle.

“How the hell am I supposed to know where that damn surgery might have taken place?” he questioned himself.

“In my humble opinion, nobody in this city might be skillful enough to perform it without killing his patient during this dangerous procedure…” the doctor revealed after eavesdropping on Keith’s commentary.

No matter what detectives Falcon and Dahlia thought about Wulfo’s involvement in this case, there was no way he could be connected to such a high profile individual or any secret organization. Who the hell would use a marble or die to kill a coworker, friend or acquaintance? He had to be released from prison for sure. His problem was that Keith would need to first convince sergeant Young and then the district attorney as well.

The attorney could be his biggest roadblock here, especially if Mrs. Alice “The Executioner” Relish had been assigned to his case. She did not earn her lovely nickname because the defendant should be sentenced to death no matter what he or she had done. What made her a real issue here was that she had never asked the judge for a jail sentence of no less than ten or twenty years.

If the case did not comply to her expectations, Relish knew how to quickly adapt to the unacceptable situation. She would keep pressing new charges, at least until the defendant had to serve the minimum time she had set in her own mind in the county prison. Some of his coworkers strongly believed even her own boss stopped caring about her obsession long time ago.

The Bad News

Fifteen past two, the businessman got a new phone call at his large office. One of his unknown associates was calling him from a private number. He had not heard from him for several weeks so he was intrigued, sort of. After thinking about it twice, the guy slid his finger and answered it.

“Idiot! Why haven’t you taken care of the darn Shelter yet?” the other voice grounded him.

“Of course I’m taking care of it right now!” the man in gray argued.

“No, you’re not! There’s pretty much no fresh meat in the Shelter right now!” he severely denounced.

“Impossible! I’ve got my men busy dealing with that issue right now, everything should be ready for tomorrow night” the well combed man stated.

“You better keep your word or else the overseer will be in dire need of finishing your contract at dusk!” the stranger warned him and hung up.

His usually sharp mind had become dense, what the hell happened there? His other contact had never failed him like that, it got to be illogical. The utter importance of the thirty first and the following days was out of question for both of them. At this point he had to ask him for a report on his progress.

“Answer the darn phone, you moron!” he voiced out of total displeasure.

Nobody was on the other side for the stupid beep keep lurking around. Unbeknownst to him detecive Dahlia was interrogating Wulfo at that precise moment when she suddenly stopped doing so and preferred to stare at her suspect. His phone was inside a plastic bag, it was the very same evidence that linked him to the murder.

“Feel free to pick up your phone at any time, furry guy!” she advised him while grinning.

Yes, it got to be a trap for sure. Taking into consideration that his lawyer had been unable to give him any legal advise, he would get in serious troubles if he ever grabbed that damned cellphone. Or was this the only way to get some darn answers?

The werewolf had never had any actual need to purchase one of them, the old landline was everything he ever needed. Becoming the owner of the local pawn shop showed him how convenient it was for him to carry it along the whole day. There was no need to drive all the way back to the store to solve simple problems anymore.

The Protocols

At the shelter Lady Saddy was being undressed by her subordinates. They were preparing her for the upcoming ritual. It was mandatory for any lady in her position to go through it before the evening had began. She had to fully purify her body, her very essence, before she could proceed to the next stage. The woman was expected to become the perfect incarnation of dignity. Yet, she had something to complain about after all.

“What are you doing, you living bag of chicken bones?” Saddy voiced angrily.

Her aide Nina, representing the Left Hand, had polluted her body by applying the average soy oil to her superior’s delicate skin. Extremely irritated, Lady Saddy hit her, wounding her lips. Even so that was not enough to let her atone for her terrible sin. She used her own fist to punch the idiot girl on her left eye without feeling remorse. Obviously that meant her boss was evidently contaminated with her ineptitude, forcing the lady choke her to ensure she would not make the same mistake ever again.

Excuses, Saddy was growing tired of them so she ordered “Throw her in the Catacombs of Sorrow for the next three days and three nights!”

Soon the crying girl was replaced with another one that was a year younger than her. Incredibly pure water helped this new aide get rid of the nefarious stain. This time she did apply the extra virgin olive oil the circumstances demanded from them. Now the question was if she could last more than forty five minutes.

“I can’t believe how incompetent girls are nowadays! They’re nothing but trash!” she gladly denigrated all of her assistants.

After seeing the way Nina’s face looked like then, one of the female servants made her second attempt to escape from that horrible place. The previous one failed when she found out a backdoor was locked. Later on she learned that rules had become stricter than usual in the last two weeks for no specific reason. Some friend she had made as of late was helping her, he had smuggled a copy of the key she badly needed to flee away forever.

Back at the office, the janitor’s daughter had finally arrived and was registering at the counter. Her hope was this would become her last interview before getting hired by the businessman. She completely ignored her own mother was appealing to her boss’s sex drive to ensure she would get the job. At least that was what that successful man let her think. Meanwhile the girl pressed the elevator’s button and attached her badge to her blouse, it surely had a seemingly wide cleavage.

A Cute Daughter

After a shooting or any similar event, you would expect that ordinary people would stay away from such a dangerous place. No, not this mother and her little daughter, who kind of resembled the businessman’s own child. The young adult was distracted, last hour offers seemed to flood the area all of sudden. It was a must to take a chance to get her delicate hands on something delightful indeed.

“Mommy! I want that cute bear!” the sweet kid asked of her.

“Stop it, Yumi! You don’t need any teddy bear at all!” Mrs. Yamato quickly told her.

“But… but I love that balloon, mommy!” the sad girl insisted.

“Oh it was a balloon… Fine, let’s buy one!” the mother raised the white flag at the end.

Few moments later both entered a store where Chiaki Yamato had found some nice shoes. She could easily prove her husband how badly she needed to get new ones so the young wife had nothing to worry about. It was impossible for her not to feel that she was in her own private paradise. When she recalled once again she had a daughter, Chiaki thought her child should also get some pair of shoes as well.

“Now dear Yumi, you’ll now learn how to pick your own shoes. You’re gonna love it!” she informed her with a grin on her sly face.

There was just a small problem she had to deal first. Her lovable Yumi was no longer at her side nor at a safe distance. Leaving all the boxes behind, she ran around like crazy looking for her missing daughter. After a while she got close to the counter.

“My Yumi is lost! Please help me find her at once!” Mrs. Yamato desperately commanded them.

Norn and Claymouth were patrolling the streets when they received an alert. Little Yumi, age five, was missing. The news made them feel sad for the girl and her family. It was not the first nor the second report they had heard about in the last week after all.

“Is this crappy city going crazy now?” Miller remarked in distraught.

Keith then suggested “Perhaps we should soon lend them a hand.”

Before the car turned right, detective Donuts Lover thought he had seen something unusual at the blue box. It was a balloon resembling a friendly bear.

“What’s a balloon doing here?” they both asked themselves after parking and stepping down the car.

In a blink a woman in her fifties stepped out of the nearby candy store. She informed the cops “Oh you mean that cute bear! A couple just left it behind. It happened a few minutes ago, they later went to the north.”

“Something’s wrong about that old lady, she’s too serviceable, don’t you think?” Mr. Donuts exposed his theory.

“Perhaps you’re right, we better check out if her security camera caught them on tape!” Keith told his partner.

“How bad! My camera doesn’t work and the technician hasn’t come over here since I reported it last month” the old eavesdropper explained them.

“Then help me say ‘how convenient’…” Norn commented in a deadpan tone.

To be continued

...if laziness doesn't make me desist first.

[kyonides]

Chapter Three

Confusion

by Kyonides

“Nope, ma’am. I refuse to do your bidding. I know my rights and you haven’t even allowed me to call my lawyer!” Wulfo reminded them.

“Well, if you answer it, we might offer you a decent deal depending on how many names you can provide us with now” detective Falcon suggested, throwing a pen and some paper at the table.

At that moment the so called werewolf recalled something Keith told him back in the days. He started wondering if he would really like to help him by calling his lawyer on his behalf. After all he was a cop just like Falcon and Dahlia. Would he betray his own kin?

“Stop blabbing, you morons! I need to talk to my lawyer first for I surely need his legal advise now that I know you’re planning to use me as your scapegoat” the storekeeper declared.

For some mysterious reason both detectives still refused to let him call his lawyer and there was a possibility their sergeant or even their captain was supporting them somehow.

Nobody cared to pick up the phone, quickly turning the man in gray into a paranoid.

Angrily the businessman declared “That moron screwed it up already! Now it’s mandatory to silence him before the police can extract any valuable information from that loser!”

“Shadow Python, long time no see. I’ve got an urgent job for you” the man announced.

“You gotta keep in mind my services are top notch so don’t ever expect me to work for you unless you can provide me with some nice girls and one hundred thousand reasons to do it right away” the hitman informed him back then.

“Well, now that you mention it, I can introduce one young and terribly gorgeous girl to you. I’m pretty sure she’ll meet all of your crazy expectations” the businessman commented in order to prevent him from hanging up.

“Truly sounds like meh to me to be honest” the shadowy killer told him.

“Just let me contact another four hot girls to let you rehearse your wildest plays and fantasies and you won’t get bored for a whole month. I can assure you, my dear snake!” his patron promised him.

The businessman was glad the killer was not as demanding as an average professional would be. He actually preferred to punish girls with a few extra pounds and sometimes even chubby women as well. The only problem there was that he would have to convince the hireling and her mother and some other janitors to partake in such a weird adventure.

Python then asked him “I see, it now sounds like a you finally made your homework! So tell me, my friend, who’s expecting an exhaustive health check later today?”

“Oh it’s nobody important, his friends simply call him Smoking Skinhead” the man in gray mentioned.

“Did you really say Smoking Skinhead!? Man, you better get my payment ready in no time because he no longer needs to worry about anything anymore” Shadow Python certainly claimed.

The bald guy was dead already? Such a statement made the businessman open his eyes wide open and grow desperate for he did not figure out somebody had got rid of him after his last call. Who the hell had contacted the nasty python to terminate the skinhead’s contract? And nope, no professional would ever reveal his customers’ identities ever.

The hitman kept talking over the phone “How piteous I was! Don’t you think, amigo?”

“I see, somebody got the upper hand. That’s what I get for being too indulgent, he, he. Then just get rid of any blue guys if they pose a threat to the Shelter. Oh and don’t forget to thrash the priestess by the tenth” the busy man commanded.

“Fine but I’m gonna date the priestess before she leaves us for good and a wire transfer wouldn’t be a bad idea at all, pal” the assassin offered his friendly advise.

For things went terribly wrong he just needed to hire some goons to do the dirty job and supervise them to ensure they would not fail him as the Smoking Skinhead did. That meant he would have to forget all about his cute daughter and his trophy wife just because. Obviously he could pay a visit to his psychologist like normal people do but only adrenaline proved to be helpful in his case. Plus his wife was no fantasy material and she totally ignored his other hobbies. What else would you expect from a woman working as an assistant at the forensics?

Back at the shelter, the girl that had been punished harshly had successfully escaped with some help of her friend and his key. He usually worked as a taxi driver but never refused to help the foundation whenever they needed his collaboration. While Nina was glad she was leaving that horrible place for good, her friend received an unexpected phone call.

“Hi! How’re you doing, man? I’m surprised to learn about you becoming a real workaholic” the driver told his contact.

“Yeah, I know this is quite unusual but this is one of those nights where I hate myself. And I gotta have some damn fun tonight, my friend” the troubled man confessed.

“That sounds as if you were going through some tough situation. Don’t worry about that, pal! There’s nothing some good old ale can’t cure” his friend let him know while looking at his copilot for a second.

“Once again I owe you a big one, pal. Let’s meet at the same place and same time if you don’t mind” the businessman thanked him.

After hanging up he stated “Dear Nina, I hope you don’t mind if I first get some booze to get rid of my own troubles.”

“No, it’s fine. Really I’m feeling like I’ll have some alcohol as well or else I won’t get some sleep tonight” the troubled Nina confessed.

“Right, I almost forgot about how they mistreated you there. Anyway let’s forget all about that crappy place and get you some makeup to cover your bruises” her friend voiced.

Nina yelled right away “Oh you’re totally right about that! I deserve to look pretty tonight after all I’ve been through as of late.”

“That sounds like a plan to me!” he happily admitted.

Even if he would enjoy Nina’s company, he would also have to rely on the disgusting girl next door, a heavy smoker. That also meant he would be paying a visit to Sleepy Jack the local dealer. Do not ask why. The good news were that Nina could borrow some makeup and some decent dress from her.

Three hours driving all around the city looking for the suspects drove Keith Norn mad. Even if he still was on duty, people watched him and his partner enter the Real Knockoff Bar. No, they were not wearing their suits this time because they clearly knew about its bad reputation. It was a place full of pity criminals and other people trying to stay under the radar for a plethora of reasons. They were expecting to meet some man that rumors linked to an underground organization.

“I doubt he’ll ever dare to show his face around here tonight, Keith” Miller simply commented out of boredom.

Norn disclosed what would happen next “Actually I’m positive he’s gonna show up later on. He’s going through some really hard times and is a drunkard after all. Bad habits never die or that’s what the old man always told me.”

A man in his fifties, sporting a partially gray hair, arrived less than half an hour later. Apparently he could not stay away from alcohol for a day or two in a row. He soon noticed some cops were after him for they did not dress like the rest of the patrons there. They also looked to be quite overconfident, a serious mistake that could cost them their sorry lives at any moment. Even so he joined them at their table because he had something to tell them.

“Waitress, please bring us another round of beer at once!” Claymouth quickly ordered.

“Couldn’t you be even more obvious than this? You idiots! People around us gotta know by now you’ve been waiting for me” the man desperately complained.

“Stop! We’re not playing any games here. Many young lives are at risk and we need you to tell us everything you know about those behind their kidnappings” Norn sternly demanded.

“Of course, the kiddos… Why’d you care about an old guy like me that could get his throat cut off by any of those thugs lurking around?” the insider kept whining as usual.

“So will you help us or not? We’d also take you to the station if deemed necessary” detective Miller informed the man.

Irina the rebel waitress suddenly brought the cold drinks and Donuts Lover winked at her while leaving a slightly generous tip on the table. Norn stared at him as if he were thinking his partner was a fool.

“That would make things get a lot worse, I guarantee. Anyway, I can only tell you I didn’t work for them for long but there’s something I know for sure. They call themselves Merugam, the witch coven. And I learned about that merely by chance” the drunkard divulged after a few sips.

To be continued

...or better not