Gods and Monsters

V

Medical Examiner's lab - Victoria, London

Rachel stood over the now stitched up bodies of Mark and Gary Lyneham with the small device she had recovered from Mark's forearm now in a petri dish. It looked like a smaller version of a micro SD memory card, with little pincers on either side to allow it to be attached to the required victim. Rachel had never seen a device like this before so was hoping that Charlie would be able to shed some light on the whole situation. She was enjoying this new set up she had become a part of. Usually, victims would come in, she'd check them out and pass the information on whereas now, she had the regular group who she could speak to and whilst the cases could be a bit disturbing, it was a nice change of pace for her.

Mike re-entered the brightly lit room with the packet of jelly beans Rachel had requested he get from her desk. Charlie and Peggy weren't too far behind. She opened up the pack and pulled out the liquorice flavoured ones she didn't like, placing them in another petri dish as the team gathered around the Lyneham twins' bodies. Rachel had never liked anything to do with liquorice. The taste absolutely disgusted her. She'd be throwing them in the bin later.

"Hello, gang. How are we all today?" Rachel chirpily said as she put the remainder of the packet into her lab coat pocket.

"Gang? Don't we have a proper name for ourselves yet?" Mike replied, clearly disappointed at the fact that they were still known as just the task force or another nondescript name. He walked over to the side of the room, perching himself upon a metal cabinet.

"Like the Scoobies from Buffy the Vampire Slayer? They got the name from Mystery Inc. in Scooby-Doo as they both solved supernatural mysteries. Sort of similar to what we do really." Rachel thought it was best to not mention the fact that it was never actually a monster in Scooby-Doo but instead someone in fancy dress. Mike probably wouldn't enjoy the show anyway.

"It was surprisingly profound for a kids show with a man who talks to a dog." Charlie added as he circled the room, eventually ending up next to Rachel. "What about Deadbeat? For us I mean. 'Dead' because we investigate the supernatural crimes and 'beat' is a reference to the police. Sort of snappy as well, has a nice ring to it."

"Yeah, it describes you well also, mate." Mike half-jokingly said to Charlie.

"So what's your thoughts about this Rachel? Two brothers killed in such a similar manner seems a little odd." Peggy added wanting to bring the conversation back to business. Her headache had started to lessen a bit but she still felt tired. It was late at night or early in the morning depending on your perspective. Peggy had planned for a quiet night in, a bath, some hot chocolate, and a film that she'd probably fall asleep through. Perfect.

"Thank you, Detective. So whilst it's not impossible for the two brothers to have been killed in the same manner at the same time, the details are what puzzle me. The incision to their chests is identical, both done by the sword that Detective Rigby recovered yet it is clear that this sword was only actually used on Gary Lyneham."

"That's also backed up by hotel CCTV which shows Mark and his lady friend entering the room and no one coming out until security arrived. With no weapon recovered and no holes in the ladies story it seems as if his chest genuinely did open up by itself." Mike added.

"That's where the device in the dish comes into it." Rachel said, gesturing to the small glass dish that was behind herself and Charlie.

"This is just a jelly bean? How did this cause them both to die?" Charlie said, holding up the small sweet into the light to see if it would unearth some case breaking new clue.

Mike just rolled his eyes as Rachel directed Charlie to the other petri dish, the one which contained the small device that she had found on Mark's body. Charlie put the jelly bean back down and instead picked up the device.

"You found this on Mark's body, right Rach?" To which she nodded an affirmative. "I think I know what this is then. A few years back, there was talk in the community about a device similar to this. Let me just Winniepedia it." The group paused for a second as Charlie pulled Winnie out of his pocket. While they waited, Charlie reached over to the dish with the jelly beans and took a bite out of one causing him to cringe and spit into the sink.

"That is absolutely vile. Why are you saving them? I thought they were blackberry." Rachel smiled at this, as it appeared her and Charlie had something in common. She smirked into the ground as Winnie made two beeps to alert the group her search had finished.

"The Gemini Quietus Project, colloquially known as "the Killswitch" was a rumoured project whereby a device was being made to target people with the same genetic makeup. The device would first be attached to one victim..."

Charlie pointed to Gary as he used his other hand to remove any leftover parts of the jelly bean from his teeth.

"...to gather data about their DNA. The device would then be moved to another person, most probably a blood relative..."

Charlie now pointed to Mark.

"...whereby it would allow any damage that is done to the original host to be reflected onto the current wearer. It was believed that if this project was real, the device would be upgraded to allow larger groups of people to be killed simultaneously."

"So Gary Lyneham was sliced with the sword and because of this little device..." Mike gestured to the kill-switch now being passed around the group like a show and tell item. "It meant that his wounds also affected Mark over here?"

"That's pretty sick. Who would want to do something like that?" Peggy said as she passed the device to Mike. The group turned to Charlie, eagerly awaiting his response.

"I'm not sure who would use a device like this or why, but I do know someone who might be able to clear a few things up," he said.

Continued in Part 6