The Mark of the Talisman

The Talk

The white blur immediately darted at Mr.Ri and had attached itself to his chest. Now that it had stopped moving, the white blur was now visibly a white house cat.

"Mouse, let us get in the house before you pounce on him." The cat mewed in response and rubbed its face against Mr.Ri's, Mr.Ri laughing as it did.

"I see your cat still remembers me at least."

"Of course, you're the one who saved them, but they could at least not pounce at you every time you're here. Or at least not immediately."

"Lighten up Xavier. You're simply mad that they love me more." As if in agreement, Mouse meowed louder than the first time.

"It doesn't matter now anyways we have important stuff to discuss now anyways." Mr.Ri nodded in agreement and pulled Mouse off his chest and set him on the ground, Mouse darting into the house as soon as he was released. Xavier and Mr.Ri headed in as well.

The house was quite large with small, but numerous rooms. The house itself was literally a maze. And along with that the first room of the house was actually the kitchen, with a single counter with a sink against the wall with a fridge on one side and a microwave on the counter. There was a single table in the whole room and only 3 cabinets over the counter.

"This place is actually clean for once?" Mr.Ri said in both shock and mockery.

"I actually cleaned up a few days ago. Surprised I even cleaned up myself. I will forever miss the mystery pizza stuck to the ceiling." The two shared a laugh as they walked through the kitchen and opened the door, walking into what should be a living room. There were three couches, each placed to see the flat screen TV on the other side of the room. There was a single long glass table that separated the room in two, with two individual chairs parallel to the couches. In the corner was a mildly large cat tree, which Mouse was already perched in. "Wait here and I'll bring some notes and files I already have on some stuff."

Mr.Ri nodded and took a seat on one of the couches as Xavier walked off to go retrieve the mentioned items. Upon his return found Mouse once again harassing Mr.Ri, Mouse trying to climb up his shoulder. "He can't get enough of me."

Xavier let out his third defeated sigh of the day. "I can see that. Mouse can you please? We have stuff to actually do." The cat decided to show mercy and left Mr.Ri and returned to his tree. "Alright now let's begin."

Mr.Ri reached inside his trench coat and pulled out multiple pictures of a man wearing a theater mask with a business suit. "First off, do you know who this is?" Xavier looked at the picture hard for a second, but after a few more he admitted he has not. "This is Wesker Shadows, a new major crime lord. And some real powerful stuff has been happening since he showed up."

Xavier started to realize what he was getting at. "And so you believe he has something to do with the Anguis' new leader correct?" Mr.Ri nodded and remained silent, indicating he wanted Xavier to continue. "And so that means we're most likely not even dealing with the same type of group anymore now that this cult is being controlled behind the scenes. And that means things are going to be much more difficult than before in terms of takedowns, as this now involves higher ups in the crime community. But by doing so, we'll possibly be able to get information about this 'Wesker' for dealing with him in the future."

"Correct. But adding on, since this is a crime ring you may also find something about your mysterious killer, 'The Psycho', and possibly other cases future cases."

At the mention of his head aching case possibly having a lead, he became even more motivated to get to the bottom of all this.

Noticing Xavier being lost in his thoughts Mr.Ri continued, "Now first off let's start with busting the Anguis again." He pulled a folded piece of paper out of his pocket and opened it, revealing a map with three red circles on it. "So first off I decided to check out all the unoccupied buildings in the city on a real estate website. After prying a bit they gave me other locations outside of housing and I narrowed down a potential operation building to these four locations." On the map, the four locations where an abandoned building on the docks, an old motel in the middle of the city, and a damaged bomb shelter on the edge of the city."

Xavier studied the map and the locations before chiming, "You said four, but there's only three locations."

"The last one is a hideout made in the sewer system."

"Makes sense. We should probably start with the warehouse on the docks. It seems ideal for a good hiding spot because no one would really question someone going in there too much. If it's a bust we'll go to the sewers. If it's still wrong we'll ask the police force to check the other two."

Mr.Ri nodded in agreement. "Now to the important question. Do you have food?"

Xavier sighed. "Fridge is full. Help yourself. I'm calling it a night if we're done here."

Xavier turned to walk away, but Mr.Ri grabbed his arm. "Unfortunately we aren't done. I have another important issue to bring up."

Xavier looked back at Mr.Ri, and then faced him fully. "Alright, go on."

Mr.Ri cleared his throat before proceeding. "It's about this cities police force. After a bit of investigating they seem to be mostly corrupt down to the core. Crime is always active in this city, and the cops will gladly turn a blind eye for some cash. Some associates of mine even managed to get cops to sell them weapons. You yourself have probably noticed this, so I suggest getting out while you can. Law enforcement morale is extremely low in this city, so I'm surprised you've been with them so long and haven't ran into unnecessary trouble with the people who try to spite law enforcement."

Xavier responded immediately after he finished. "I've of course noticed it, so my main way around it is to claim to be a private investigator. People here are more willing to help if they believe it's someone who actually wants to help."

Mr.Ri nodded upon hearing Xavier's answer. "Makes sense. I thought that may be it, but you should consider actually breaking off and doing so. It would probably be much easier as well."

"Possibly. Anything else to add?"

"No. Enjoy your rest tonight, we're waking up early to investigate."

Xavier stared at Mr.Ri with a look of so much spite and disappointment, it was as if Xavier had suddenly pulled a gun on him. After a minute, Xavier muttered under his breath, "Goodnight," and left for his room. Mr.Ri sighed and chuckled, before getting up and heading to Xavier's kitchen, Mouse in tow.

Xavier, went through no less than six other rooms before finally making it to his own and collapsing on his bed. He didn't bother doing anything but pry his shoes off with his feet and almost instantly fell asleep from the exhaustion of today and the exceptions of tomorrow.

And then he began remembering.