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Post by Guillermo Barrera on Apr 23, 2014 2:53:35 GMT
It was done. The man, some corporate executive from Queen, had been properly disposed of. Now Brutale waited in a corner cafe, watching his phone, waiting for the money to transfer. He absentmindedly twirled the table knife through his fingers, unconsciously adjusting for the sheer unbalanced nature.
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Post by Marigold Jadis on Apr 23, 2014 3:14:52 GMT
Coffee. Coffee. Coffee and lots of it! Marigold had barely gotten any sleep lately. There'd been this mercenary running around who as far as police could tell had committed at least 12 consecutive murders, same M.O. But beyond that...They really didn't know much. Lots and lots of vicious cuts. Guy clearly enjoyed his work a bit too much. Likely borderline psychopath if not full blown psychopath. But he was a clever man. He'd manage to cover his trail reasonably well so he wasn't so detached that he couldn't function in society.
She was running through the files in her head again while she sipped a cup of sadly burnt coffee. She grimaced but continued to drink. Frankly, she needed the caffeine.
Her eyes lazily darted around the cafe, seeing if anything stuck out. It wasn't like she expected anything odd; but, she was still trying to wake up and it paid to keep your eyes open.
One guy immediately caught her attention with the way he twirled the knife. Probably didn't mean anything. Plenty of people liked to play with cutlery. Still, guy was skilled.
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Post by Guillermo Barrera on Apr 23, 2014 3:19:54 GMT
Guillermo picked up his phone with his free hand, watching the money transfer. He didn't really need the money per se, it was just a nice side effect of doing what he loved. He put it down and surveyed the cafe a moment, seeing a reasonably attractive young woman watching him over her coffee. He simply continued twirling the table knife, keeping an eye on her just as she was him.
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Post by Marigold Jadis on Apr 23, 2014 3:28:42 GMT
Marigold was hardly being discreet with her staring; but, she couldn't help it. Her eyes were drawn to the blade and the hand that expertly tossed and caught it. Besides, nothing wrong with her eyes lingering. She wasn't technically on the clock. She was just trying to get her brain started after a long night. Nothing wrong with a pretty woman staring at a single guy or at least a guy that was alone in a cafe.
She was impressed that he could keep it up while he fiddled with his phone. Yup. Definitely skilled. Marigold had finesse and quick reflexes; but, she was far more comfortable with guns than knives. Still, she could improvise if need be. Not like she expected any of that to be necessary in this setting.
Noticing that he was staring at her, she smiled back at him.
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Post by Guillermo Barrera on Apr 23, 2014 3:33:13 GMT
This was a vaguely foreign experience to Guillermo: most of his interactions with women had been with them strapped to a chair, usually gagged so he didn't have to hear their useless pleas for mercy but could still hear them scream, so having a woman smile at him was new. He smiled back, as it was really the only socially acceptable response he could think of that wasn't laced with entendre.
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Post by Marigold Jadis on Apr 23, 2014 3:41:48 GMT
Someone that liked to play with knives? How much? Someone who liked to hack and slash and gouge human flesh? Completely stretching. You couldn't tell much from watching a person sit at a table at a cafe. Not much but some. He was in a corner. Typically people who sat in corners felt uncomfortable around others or wanted isolation. A corner was a clear back off and keep away sign. Well less so if other tables were filled but the cafe was hardly bustling. There were maybe five customers besides the two of them.
She doubted he was waiting for anyone. People who were expecting company typically looked up from whatever it was they were doing frequently. The only thing he'd stared at besides her was his phone and his knife.
Internet phone? Probably. Plenty of people had them these days. He could be doing anything from texting or waiting for a text to surfing the web. Odds were he wasn't doing anything suspicious. Wifi here was hardly secure and the internet phone companies provided wasn't much better.
As he smiled, she continued to stare back, completely unabashed wanting to see how long he could keep up the whole knife twirling bit.
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Post by Guillermo Barrera on Apr 23, 2014 3:48:44 GMT
He simply continued with the knife, never even slowing. He made it even more showy for a moment, twirling it on a knuckle as he checked his phone again. All $15,000 had transferred into his offshore account. He had nowhere really important to go at the moment, so he simply called a waiter over, ordering a drink. Too early for alcohol, so that left coffee. He didn't really enjoy the effect caffeine had on his nerves, but he needed something a bit more socially acceptable than sharpening his Ka-bar to keep himself occupied. The table knife wasn't quite enough.
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Post by Marigold Jadis on Apr 23, 2014 3:57:22 GMT
And now he was showing off, twirling it on his knuckle. Yeah...Marigold was fairly certain she couldn't manage that. Not her skill.
Guy kept checking his phone. She wondered what he was waiting for. More importantly, why was Marigold paying him so much attention? It wasn't like there weren't one million other things that should be occupying her mind. But hey...Nothing new had come in with the case. Mixed blessing and curse. Curse because no new clues. Blessing because that meant as far as they could tell no one else had been offed by that guy.
And this was her time to do whatever the hell she wanted while she woke up. Guy happened to be most interesting person in the cafe.
Perhaps it was bold but guy was interesting and it wasn't like she was expecting any company. And it was good to indulge in non-homicide conversation every once in a while.
"Hey," she said as she approached his table. "Mind if I take a seat and get a closer look at your knife twirling act?"
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Post by Guillermo Barrera on Apr 23, 2014 4:02:18 GMT
"Please do. It's not every day I have an admirer." Guillermo said, motioning to the chair across from him. He generally tried to hide the subtle impact that having grown up speaking Portuguese had wrought on his English, as it was a way for someone to identify him, but this time he saw no real point. This woman was probably of no consequence to him, and she had no way of knowing his occupation. He took a sip of his coffee as well, eyes scanning her body quickly for suspicious lumps. In his line of work, tiny bumps in a jacket tended to rapidly become guns.
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Post by Marigold Jadis on Apr 23, 2014 4:10:09 GMT
She smirked. "Of your skill not necessarily of you," she said playfully, taking a seat. She was impressed with his ability. That she could admit. But how typical of guys to jump to the conclusion of admirer. Although likely he was half teasing. But half teasing was still half serious.
Guy had an accent and she ran it through her head trying to place it. She felt the origin was Hispanic. But which country...She couldn't really say.
She noticed him eying her even as she out of habit searched his body for signs of concealed weapons. If he was astute he'd notice a bulge underneath her coat where she kept her gun. Never left home without it even when she wasn't working. That would be rather stupid for someone in her line of work.
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Post by Guillermo Barrera on Apr 23, 2014 4:17:03 GMT
He did notice the bulge. That's what he loved about knives: no bulge. He had seven on his person at the moment: one in each boot, one on each hip, one clipped in upside down on his back, one down the sleeve of his arm that wasn't twirling, and one inside his jacket. He never left home without them. She would have to be truly eagle-eyed to notice them on his person.
"I take my compliments where I can get them." He smiled again.
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Post by Marigold Jadis on Apr 23, 2014 4:21:57 GMT
He seemed clean to Marigold's eyes but that didn't actually mean he was. She'd been working too long to ever truly be at ease. Knives were easy to conceal as were other sharp instruments. And hell as a child in the glades how many times had someone tried to grab her or mug her, extracting some cleverly hidden weapon? Yeah. Her background bred paranoia.
She didn't actually think she was paranoid. But she was never truly relaxed. She only hoped her brother and sister were different.
"So how'd you learn that?" she asked curiously, gesturing towards the still spinning knife, mirroring his smile.
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Post by Guillermo Barrera on Apr 23, 2014 4:27:34 GMT
"Boredom, access to a table knife and lots of free time." Guillermo replied. He wondered why she would have a gun. The most obvious choice was that she was a cop, which might mean they could cross paths again. Idiot. She now had his accent as an identifying factor. She could be dealt with, just like the others. Maybe left alive as a warning. He would have to wait and see if she developed into a nuisance.
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Post by Marigold Jadis on Apr 23, 2014 4:34:39 GMT
Marigold laughed. "Must be nice to have the luxury." Ever since the age of five, boredom hadn't been an issue. Dad had lost it when his brother died. Mom had seen the drinking and gambling and jumped ship, never giving her children so much as a second thought let alone a goodbye. Dad only got worse and it had been up to Marigold to make sure her and the twins were fed. Legality wasn't the word. It was sort of ironic that she was a police detective now. But she'd never wanted to be a criminal. She'd been desperate and Dad had been too far gone to help.
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Post by Guillermo Barrera on Apr 23, 2014 11:43:55 GMT
"It wasn't so much a luxury as a way to keep myself from going insane." Guillermo replied. Yeah, that had gone super-well. He was probably the most deeply sociopathic man in the city that he knew of. He's seen in the papers that his murders had been dubbed "the Starling Ripper". The tiniest bit unoriginal. He personally would have gone with "Jack the Ripper Jr.", but beggars can't be choosers.
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