Officer Sindika—one of her, anyway—was currently in a prison infirmary, recovering from what the doctor’s had referred to as a “near-lethal” dose of tranquilizers. Nobody was entirely sure she’d wake up, and if she did, there was a good chance Sindika would be bedridden for the rest of her life. Corey prayed to whatever god was listening that she at least recovered enough to explain what had happened to her. Right now, Sindika was the only one who had any chance of making sense of the situation. The only officer involved in the case right now was making things worse, not better.

“I won’t be entering this theory into our official records without good reason,” Officer Annin said. They hadn’t even finished bandaging Den Cal’s wounds when Annin showed up to huff and puff and turn everything into a bureaucratic nightmare, and she hadn’t stopped making Corey’s life hell in any of the swaps since. “I don’t know how you bounty hunters do things, but in the council police, we operate on facts.”

“The ‘facts’ are that the Sindika who ran out of that house had scorch marks on her neck and gashes the size of my fingers cut through her face,” Corey said. He held his fingers across his face for emphasis. “The Sindika lying on that hospital bed has neither.”

“Clearly there was some kind of misunderstanding about her condition,” Annin said. “Den Cal Vor was bloodied when he clawed at her, maybe that was his blood.”

“There was a trail of blood down the street, Annin, and your people DNA tested it,” Corey snapped. They had already matched it to Sindika as well. Annin herself had ordered the tests -she’d just been unsatisfied with the results and marked them “inconclusive”. “You’re suggesting that she stumbled to that alleyway, and somehow received hours worth of reconstructive surgery and a massive dose of drugs in the three seconds it took me to catch up to her?”

“It’s hard to explain, I’ll grant that, but that doesn’t mean the explanation is some kind of clone, or evil twin,” Annin said. “This isn’t some kind of daytime drama vid, that nonsense doesn’t happen.”

“That nonsense absolutely happens to me,” Corey said. “Where the fuck is To Vo? I need to talk to the only good cop in the universe.”

“Officer To Vo La Su and her family are currently on a secured vessel,” Annin said. “Someone recently tried to murder them, if you recall.”

“I was- fuck it,” Corey said. He pointed back towards the infirmary, at the still-comatose Sindika. “There’s something going on there. I don’t know if it’s a clone, or something-”

“Clones have regular growth cycles, unless someone has been planning this since Sindika’s birth, that couldn’t possibly explain an identical duplicate.”

You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.

“Well maybe they have been,” Corey snapped. “This is big, and it’s weird, there’s going to be some bullshit happening, and if you’re so committed to shoving your head up your ass and ignoring it, it’s going to get worse.”

“The council police have all the resources necessary to handle ‘big and weird’ problems, Corey Vash,” Officer Annin said. “I would encourage you to look towards your own safety rather than promoting baseless theories.”

The look on her face wasn’t even disdain, just boredom and irritation. Officer Annin was already set in her ways, and no amount of pleading from Corey would change that. He shook his head in disgust and left the prison. After walking through the seven layers of security, Corey finally exited the secure part of the station and got back to Centerpoint’s main thoroughfare. Only then did he realize he had nowhere to go. Tooley hadn’t gotten back yet, and To Vo was apparently off hiding in space somewhere. Corey figured he’d go check in with Farsus. He had Yìhán on lockdown, so he doubted they’d turn away an extra gun.

“Oi, Corvash!”

That ‘extra gun’ got drawn as Corey spun around to the source of the voice. His hand stayed on the gun as Bevo took a quick step back and held her hands up.

“Easy there, gunslinger,” Bevo said. She only relaxed when Corey started to put the gun away. “Nobody’s paying you to shoot me. Least I hope not.”

“Bevo. What the hell are you doing here?”

Appearing out of nowhere after one murder was odd, showing up after two was officially suspicious. Bevo had given a good reason to show up at the prior murder scene, and Corey hoped she had a good reason for this one too. He really didn’t feel like shooting anyone today.

“Looking for you,” Bevo said. That was not a good reason. It was, by Corey’s reckoning, an actively bad one.

“Why?”

“Well I heard what happened, obviously,” Bevo said. “Wanted to see if I could help.”

“Help?”

“Yeah! Bodyguard duty, extra set of hands, maybe cook dinner if you’re hungry,” Bevo said. “That third bit’s only if you’re desperate, I’m not a very good cook.”

“I don’t need any help, Bevo,” Corey said. “You should keep your distance. Now is really not a good time to try and get involved with me.”

“Psh, I can take it,” Bevo said. “Plus, you know...you guys are worth the trouble.”

Bevo made a strained smile that did nothing to help Corey’s suspicions. He wasn’t entirely sure what she was up to, but it was definitely something.

“Just...go back to whatever you were doing, Bevo,” Corey said. “We’re trying to keep the circle small on this.”

“Right! Makes sense, super secret security stuff,” Bevo said. “Well. I’m in the guild registry, if you decide you ever need a big red hand.”

She held up her own large hands to emphasize that she was, of course, referring to herself.

“I’ll see you around, Corvash.”

She backed away a few steps, waving goodbye, before turning around and walking away awkwardly. Corey made sure to keep an eye on Bevo until she was out of sight and hopefully, a safe distance away.

Corey kept a hand near his gun and hustled down the street, head on a swivel for anyone who looked suspect. Bevo and Annin had both given him good reason to be suspicious today. Either of them might be involved -or both. Anyone, really. There was a serial killer on the loose who could somehow steal faces. No one, and nowhere, was safe.

As Corey brushed a little too close to a stranger and nearly had a heart attack, he mumbled a few curses to himself. Once upon a time he’d been trying to be a little less paranoid. Now he was kind of glad he still kept that big spear in his bedroom.