cosmicsommers | kate lockley

Well. That's not the answer Kate was hoping for. She huffs out a soft breath and kneels down next to the body, pulling on a pair of gloves so she won't get fingerprints everywhere. "Do me a favor? Don't tell the other detectives I asked you that question."

So she's not being very professional right now. Oh well. They'll get their answers later on and she'll get hers. She isn't tampering with the witness. She's not doing anything illegal. She's just doing what they aren't prepared to do or deal with.

Carefully, she tilts the victim's head so she can see both sides of the neck. No puncture wounds, so it's not a vampire. She lets go and sits back, frowning. Seriously, if she has to call Angel--

Sirens sound in the distance. Kate glances up, her stomach twisting a little. She can't stay here; she's already in trouble after Angel threatened that police chief in the other precinct with her right there. This woman might be just another witness. Or she might be someone familiar with supernatural and all this vampires and demons crap. Kate decides to take a chance on that, probably one of her last, and glances up at the woman as she stands.

"Not everyone here is open to... things that aren't normal. If you think this fits the bill, head down to the Hyperion Hotel. They can help. And maybe I'll see you there."

Once she's given Angel a piece of her mind. He should thank her for the plug, too.

"I know a vampire attack when I see one," Karrin says at that neck check, her voice low. "This was something else."

But she can hear the sirens too, and she grits her teeth. "Not your case?" she asks, with a sinking feeling. That puts her back exactly where she expected to be before Kate asked that question. What a short-lived relief. At least she can be glad she wasn't acting in defiance of California's particularly strict gun laws. Not even a tiny pistol in her sock tonight.

"You suspected it, so you arrived before homicide did. What's at the hotel?"

Kate sighs at the confirmation. Vampires would be a lot easier to deal with. Not that anything in the last year and a half has fallen under "easy."

She glances back down at the body and then in the direction of the sirens. "We don't see eye-to-eye much," she admits. "Like I said, not everyone's open to weird things here. The people at that hotel are. They've made it their mission to figure out cases like this and I think they'd appreciate the heads-up before something worse happens."

Because in L.A.? It always gets worse. Kate had learned that the hard way lately.

"I should go." Really soon. No one will be pleased if they find her here. Pausing for another second, she reaches into her pocket for two business cards. One is hers, the other for Angel Investigations. "If you need anything or something else happens."

It's like talking to herself. In even more ways than she realized, Karrin is sitting on the opposite side of the equation from where she usually does. She can't help drawing the parallel between herself and Kate, and Harry and the investigators whose card she's been handed. When her hands are really tied, she has someone she trusts to refer people to.

"And you'd prefer I let them think they were the first on the scene." It isn't a question. She knows that's what Kate wants, and she'll probably do it. "I won't lie in questioning."

Unspoken is the promise that she won't say it unless asked directly. Karrin pockets the cards, making sure neither will fall out and give away that she's already met with anyone from the L.A. police force. They probably won't search her because she did call it in. Grounds for arrest are shaky, but she expects heavy questioning.

And she was right. She knows it doesn't look good. That she could see someone disappear around a corner and yet have them be gone when she arrived. Why did she follow? Is she armed? What did she think she could do against an attacker? Her martial arts skills seem to make them more suspicious rather than less. They keep repeating variations on questions, looking for holes, and Karrin doesn't give them any. She's exhausted and cranky by the time she finally gets out of the precinct with orders not to leave town.

In spite of how worn out she is, Karrin takes a cab straight to the hotel that houses the P.I. rather than her own hotel. She hopes he's trustworthy, because she's going in without weapons. She doesn't like that when it comes to dealing with the supernatural. Karrin can deal with a lot of human threats unarmed, but he might be non-human or magical, if he deals in cases that relate to it. And even other humans can be well armed and well prepared. Now is not the time to go breaking any gun laws, though. Not without a damned good reason.

Knocking on the door before she enters, Karrin calls out, "Is this Angel Investigations?"

Kate understands the unspoken response. It's something she can respect and wouldn't want to change about anyone. She'll just hope they won't care if Karrin does have to tell them. Giving her another glance over, Kate takes the opportunity to head out. Time to split before homicide gets here.

The next few hours are excruciating. By the time Karrin makes her way to the Hyperion, Kate has realized a lot of her mistakes lately, as Angel has realized his. They've had the pill-o-thon, Angel rescued Kate through forces neither of them really understands, and as Karrin steps across the threshold, they're in the garden talking about epiphanies and believing in a something out there. Angel is the one who hears her, his head turning in the direction of the doors before he stands up again.

"Someone's here."

Kate pushes herself to her feet, curious as to who it is. When they make their way into the lobby and she sees who's standing there, a tired smile crosses her face and she turns to Angel. "A potential client. I told her to come here. Earlier today when I was still on the force and thought your entire team was still here." That's a self-inflicted jab if ever there was one. "This is Angel. You can tell him what you told me."

And anything else she may have left off.

"They didn't give you too much trouble, did they?" And at this point, it doesn't matter if Karrin had to tell them that she saw Kate at the scene. By the time she got officially questioned, Kate had already lost her badge. Or was on the way to it. So she won't mind one way or another if Karrin did. She just wants to know how badly they questioned Karrin, knowing how strange that scene must have been.

"Karrin Murphy," she introduces herself after Kate makes the other introduction.

Angel? First name, no last, and one that sounds like a pseudonym. Not exactly inspiring trust, but beggars can't be choosers. She plans on calling Harry if these two aren't any help, but she'll put that off as long as possible. He's somehow become her best friend, but there's no sense running to him unless it turns out necessary.

Karrin's gaze flicks quickly between Angel and Kate in evaluation. Then she squares her shoulders and states, "Nothing I wouldn't have done in their shoes. I'm a sergeant, Chicago PD's Special Investigations. We get... most of the cases that don't fit neatly into boxes. Anything from grave robbing to curses to vampire attacks. Sometimes worse. I've never seen the thing that killed her. It was fast, so I didn't get a good look, but I saw enough to know it was something new."

Edited 2015-06-21 14:20 (UTC)

Kate and Angel trade looks, eyebrows raised. Kate had known that the woman, Karrin, was familiar with vampires after meeting her the first time. This just confirms how.

"Makes me wish the LA PD had a department like that," she says mildly. "We could use it." But at this point? Not likely to ever happen unless she can convince the bigwigs to hire her back and trust that what she's been saying this year is true. Like that's going to happen.

Feeling that she isn't really up to much of anything after her stunt earlier other than sitting around, Kate decides to head back to the courtyard. Angel sticks around long enough to get the story from Karrin, as much of one and all the information she will give, before he leaves to investigate for himself, with the quip that the day has been rough on a lot of people. If Karrin cares to look around, she'll find Kate sitting on a stone bench in the courtyard with her head in her hands.

Karrin snorts. "It's where they send anyone the higher ups don't like, or anyone who disgraces him or herself. It's like having your career banished to Siberia. I'm amazed I kept my command as long as I did. No one expected me to." Yes, that's an admission that sergeant wasn't always her rank. She was lieutenant up until this year.

She has enough compassion and concern to check on Kate after Angel leaves, though Karrin still itches to get out there and investigate herself. She knows she's in enough trouble without sticking her nose places. If she's caught at another crime scene... well, it'll mean an arrest for sure. If Kate's day has been even rougher...

"You alright?" Karrin asks, not reaching out the hand to rest on Kate's shoulder that she'd offer if they knew each other better. Maybe after some conversation.

Being banished is still better than what happened to Kate. She doesn't have a command at all anymore. Thinking of that is more depressing, though at least she has Angel to help. A sane Angel now.

Kate glances up as Karrin walks nearer. "Yeah," she answers in that tired sort of voice that means she's been through hell recently and is on the very hopeful upswing. "My department doesn't think so. They let me go, took my badge, the whole thing. So... I guess I'm at loose ends now."

She shrugs, letting her gaze move back to the ground. It is more complicated than that, but she doesn't know how much she wants to say just yet. Karrin can probably figure out that there's more to the story, though, just by how Kate is acting.

Karrin grimaces. She still second-guesses the gesture, because she knows she's bad enough at accepting comfort from anyone, let alone near-strangers. But Kate reminds her so much of herself, and of what she expects waits for her not too far down the line. Giving Kate plenty of time to move away or shrug her off, she reaches out for a brief, friendly squeeze to the shoulder nearest her. "Bureaucracy," she mutters with obvious distaste. "I'm... on a mandatory vacation while they sort out my latest disgrace."

She still has a job. She might even stay sergeant awhile longer. But sooner or later she'll be where Kate is now, and the prospect isn't one she can bring herself to voice right now.

"You holding up as badly as I would be?" Will be, says a small and traitorous voice in her head. Her first instinct is to offer to buy Kate a drink or three.

Kate glances up at the hand on her shoulder. The gesture is unexpected, but not entirely unwelcome. She does shrug, but it isn't a shrug off, more a reply to the words.

"I was on something like that for a while," she admits. "Took all the supernatural cases, even if they weren't mine. Part of it is Angel's fault--" Locking all those Wolfram and Hart employees up with the two vampires hadn't exactly helped, nor had assaulting the Chief of police at the other precinct. Granted, he had been raising dead police officers to do his work, but he had been an officer and a higher ranking one than Kate by far. Since she had clearly brought Angel on scene for both, she had been the one charged with letting him onto the scenes in both cases.

Her voice trails off and she considers the question. After what she had done to herself, she could probably be worse off. At the same time, she's doing pretty terribly.

"I'm alive and I have at least one friend in this world and more faith than I ever thought possible. That's more than I had three hours ago."

"Good. I guess that means my case is in good hands." She would refer someone to Harry, no question, and he's probably the best friend she has, in spite of the earlier bumps in their relationship. If Angel fills that role for Kate, Karrin feels a little better about leaving things to him.

"Do you want a drink? I'll buy. I think I'd be very, very drunk already in your position." Grimacing, she admits aloud, "I may find myself there soon enough. I've already lost all my seniority and command of my division so far this year. I was a lieutenant."

It's not a confession she would make to anyone else, not even Harry, who knows without being told. But Kate's career path has already followed the trajectory Karrin is afraid hers is on.

"He's the best in the city," Kate says with a strength and confidence she hadn't felt until three hours ago. Now she knows that Angel really is the best out there, that when it comes down to it, he will be able to help and will do it willingly and without hesitation. Right now she feels that Angel is the only real friend she has.

It's ironic.

"I hope you don't end up like this," Kate tells Karrin sincerely. No one should end up in her position, especially with what she'd done to herself after she had been discharged. No one.

She considers the offer then. It's tempting and normally she would probably take Karrin up on it. After everything, getting drinks sounds like a great idea. But that's without taking into account what's still in her system. Three hours aren't enough and mixing alcohol with all of that would not be a good idea.

"Give me about 24 hours and I'll take you up on that," she says apologetically. "With everything that's in my system right now, I probably shouldn't even have coffee."

Speaking of...

"I think I remember where they kept the coffee. I can see if there's any still here, if you want it. Or we could go grab something." Assuming Angel lets her out of the hotel.

kate lockley

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