Saxon wrapped up his conversation with Elly and Octave, then retired to his room.

Once inside, he took out his laptop and uploaded all the images he had taken with his phone. Saxon was worried the picture may be blurry since his hands were shaking due to damage he sustained during the fight, but luckily they were clear enough to read.

Rummaging around his pockets, Saxon fished out the card Kuri had given him earlier. The card was waterlogged and completely unreadable. Fortunately, a quick search online for her name took Saxon to her blog.

The work on it was of higher quality than Saxon anticipated. Clicking on the about me section, Saxon was able to find her email address. He sent Kuri an email, reminding her of their meeting at the bus stop, and that he may have some interesting information for her.

Saxon started parsing through the images while he waited for a response, but it didn’t take long for one to come through.

Opening the reply, Saxon was confused to see it merely contained a phone number. Figuring that nothing terrible could come of this, Saxon punched in the number.

“Hello,” Saxon said.

“Hey there detective,” Kuri replied.

“Detective?” Saxon remarked. “Don’t remember telling you that.”

“Every good reporter has their ways,” Kuri responded.

“Might need a little more than good,” Saxon said.

“Figured as much,” Kuri said, her tone shifting from juvenile to serious. “No reason a detective would be calling a reporter about the information they found. That is unless it wasn’t acquired very lawfully.”

“It was my day off,” Saxon joked.

“Well I’m a freelancer, so technically every day is an off day,” Kuri said. “Does that mean I get to break the law?”

“As an officer, I think I can safely confirm no,” Saxon answered.

“Unlucky,” Kuri responded. “So what do you want me to do?”

“You seem compliant,” Saxon said, having expected Kuri to need more convincing--or any convincing at all.

Kuri shrugged her shoulders. “I like having information.”

“Well this is a lot,” Saxon said. “Let me email you what I have.”

Saxon sent over the images he had taken of the Chimera family file that Kenji had compiled.

“You couldn’t have gotten any clearer pictures?” Kuri complained.

“It was a tense situation,” Saxon responded.

“Give me a second to read through it all,” Kuri requested.

While Kuri was reading through the files, Saxon double-checked the files to see if had missed anything.

Once she was done, Kuri let out a deep exhale. “You want me to report this? Listen this is a good story, but I ain’t putting that kind of target on my back.”

“No, I want you to leak it, slowly,” Saxon said.

“To the public?” Kuri asked.

“To the police,” Saxon clarified.

“So I was right. This wasn’t acquired legally,” Kuri remarked. “Otherwise you would just do it yourself, but since you can’t explain how you got it, you want me to report this to the police.”

“Bingo,” Saxon said. “If you come into the FMPD, and present this to them, even if you can’t explain your sources, there’s too much in here for it to be ignored. An investigation will be launched, and they’ll uncover the truth themselves. So, you in?”

Kuri scanned through the files again. “No.”

Saxon clicked his tongue. He knew getting Kuri’s help was a long shot. “I understand. The risk is high, and …”

“Oh, it’s not the risk,” Kuri interjected, correcting Saxon. “I’ll do it. My issue is that your plan sucks.”

“What do you mean?” Saxon asked, surprised and hurt.

“For starters, the FMPD may still not launch an investigation even when presented with this information,” Kuri suggested. “A crime family reporting on themselves to lure the police into their den isn’t entirely unlikely.”

Thinking about it, Saxon realized Kuri was right. The FMPD was completely unaware of the Chimera family’s existence. A bargain bin of information would likely be seen as a trap or prank.

“Let’s say the FMPD does launch an investigation,” Kuri continued. “It’s a waste of resources. You’re a detective, so you should know how costly, and time-consuming investigative work can be.”

Again, Kuri raised a good point. The information Saxon had was the work of somebody who was highly capable and unrestricted by the law, cultivated over several months. A police investigation could take a year to confirm everything in this file.

“Why waste our resources finding out what we already know?” Kuri questioned.

Saxon’s only defense to make himself feel better was that the plan was constructed hastily, though he didn’t dare say that out loud. “I’m assuming you have a better idea.”

“I do,” Kuri said, “but it’ll need your cooperation.”

“Shouldn’t be a problem,” Saxon asserted. “What is it?”

Kuri took a deep breath, and a few moments to think before she began to explain her ideas. “First off, reporting this all in one massive chunk is going to generate suspicion around us more than anything else. Instead, we need to have the information coming from multiple sources.”

“Problem, there’s only two of us,” Saxon informed Kuri.

“We don’t need multiple sources, we just need to make it seem that way,” Kuri responded. “It isn’t hard to create burner email addresses and phone numbers. A couple of anonymous tips and calls, and it’ll start to generate intrigue.”

“Good idea,” Saxon said, impressed.

Kuri began sorting the file’s images into sections on her computer. “We also can’t be giving too much unique information. It would be strange if multiple people all called about the same issue, but each spoke about something different. We’ll have to overlap the info between accounts.”

This narrative has been purloined without the author's approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.

“Introducing overlaps also has the added benefit of increasing the credibility of our statements, because it seems as if it's being corroborated by different people,” Saxon commented.

“Exactly,” Kuri said. “That’s why each bit of information we give will be 90 percent stuff we’ve already said, with only 10 percent being new pieces of the puzzle.”

“Won’t drip-feeding the information slow down the FMPD’s response time?” Saxon inquired.

“It will,” Kuri confirmed. “However, a sudden influx of information and statements would also generate suspicion. We’ll have to play this slow, and methodical, if we’re going to be believed.”

Saxon leaned back in his chair. He hated waiting. He hated losing more. “Alright, sounds good, but the FMPD will try and reach out to some of the callers. Anonymous statements won’t be enough.”

“In the event, the FMPD tries to contact any of our false informants, we could always pay somebody in Backwater to play the part,” Kuri suggested. “The Chimera family is placing a lot of financial strain on the district’s residents. That means money is especially tight, so a monetary incentive should suffice. Not to mention, most of the residents probably want them gone.”

“Talking to the police would place a target on anyone’s back,” Saxon informed Kuri. “What makes you so confident people aren’t too scared to speak out? They haven’t done it yet.”

“Tough times create strong people,” Kuri responded. “Strong people don’t get scared. There’s somebody in Backwater waiting for a chance to fight back.”

“What tough times did you endure?” Saxon asked.

“Topic for a different time,” Kuri replied.

“My mistake,” Saxon said. “Back on topic, even if we give them all the puzzle pieces, the FMPD will still launch an investigation to put it all together.”

“It’s a good thing that’s your job,” Kuri said.

“You want me to lead the investigation once it’s started,” Saxon said.

“That’s right!” Kuri exclaimed. “Draft up a copy of everything in this file, then just submit it as your findings. Just like that, everything in this file can be admitted into the archives of the FMPD.”

Saxon sighed.

“Is there a problem?” Kuri asked.

“My boss ain’t the biggest fan of mine,” Saxon informed Kuri. “It may be difficult getting put on something like this.”

“Well it’ll likely take 1 or 2 months before everything is leaked, so figure it out in the meantime,” Kuri said. “It’s getting late, and I’ve got something early in the morning. I’ll try to catch you at the bus stop.”

“I’m there every day, so it shouldn't be an issue,” Saxon replied.

“Then I’ll see you tomorrow,” Kuri said.

“Goodnight,” Saxon said.

“Goodnight,” Kuri responded.

After that conversation, Saxon eased himself into bed. The cold air on Saxon’s open wounds caused a burning sensation throughout his entire body.

Still, Saxon was exhausted to the point that nothing could keep him up any longer. As Saxon melted into his bed, he slowly drifted into unconsciousness.

The next morning came suddenly, and with surprise. Amid his exhaustion last night, Saxon had forgotten to turn his alarm back on. Snatching hold of his phone, Saxon checked the screen to see that his bus was about to leave any minute.

Saxon tossed on his work attire and did a quick check in the mirror to see if any wounds were visible. Luckily, most of Kenji’s attacks were aimed at Saxon’s chest, so the wounds were easily covered up by Saxon’s trench coat.

As Saxon dashed out the door, just as he was leaving Roxy called out to him. “Catch!”

Saxon spun around just in time to grab a small box that was flying toward him.

“They’re from Octave,” Roxy exclaimed. “He said you looked like you were in pain last night.”

Saxon glanced down to see it was a box of bandages. They wouldn’t do much--it was the thought that counted--but Saxon felt he did a pretty good job of hiding his discomfort. Octave was sharp to have noticed that Saxon was hurting.

“Tell him I said thanks,” Saxon said, running out of Torch.

Rushing over to the bus stop, Saxon was relieved to see Kuri sitting on the bench waiting for him.

“Did I miss the bus?” Saxon asked, gasping for air.

“Unfortunately not,” Kuri answered.

“Why unfortunately?” Saxon inquired, sitting down on the bench.

“Cause then you’d be stuck here, and we’d have more time to talk about our plan,” Kuri replied, cracking a devilish smile.

“About that plan,” Saxon said, “I wanna include one more person.”

“Who would that be?” Kuri asked.

“Herman, he’s my lieutenant, and longtime partner,” Saxon said.

Kuri raised an eyebrow.

“Detective partner,” Saxon clarified.

“Just checking,” Kuri remarked. “It’ll be nice to have someone in a position of authority for when you need to get assigned to the case.”

“That’s the idea,” Saxon said. “Plus he can help push for an investigation once the information starts rolling in.”

“Sounds good,” Kuri agreed. “I’ll get started drafting some of the statements. Should have the first one in by tonight.”

“Thanks,” Saxon said, as the bus pulled up to the stop. “There’s my ride.”

As the two exchanged goodbyes, Saxon got onto the bus.

Once Saxon had got off the bus, and began approaching the precinct, he noticed Herman standing outside.

“Saxon,” Herman called out.

“How’s it going on?” Saxon asked.

“Nothing much,” Herman replied. “Seeing as how you’re all better, mind telling me what’s been going on with you.”

Saxon didn’t hesitate. He explained everything.

His suspicions about Desmond, his taking Octave to Torch, his infiltrating Midas, his encounter with Kenji Killian, the information he found on the Chimera family, his plan to leak it all to the FMPD with Kuri’s help, and how he suspected somebody within the FMPD was altering the manifestations of mythoi in Fable, he told it all to Herman with no detail spared.

Saxon knew the one changing mythoi could be Herman. It wasn’t that Saxon didn’t want to believe it was Herman, or that he felt he knew Herman so well.

If it was Herman, then Saxon didn’t want to stop him. Even if Saxon didn’t agree with him, Saxon’s debt to Herman was so large that anything more oppositional than indifference--Saxon believed--would be immoral.

After unloading everything that had happened to him over the past two days onto Herman, Saxon waited with bated breath for his reaction. Every second was excruciatingly long.

Would Herman help? Would he try to stop Saxon from claiming it was too dangerous? Saxon tried to quell his thoughts, but only Herman’s response would have any effect.

Herman looked petrified; the only indication he was alive was him occasionally blinking. His brain was processing everything Saxon had dumped on him, before finally coming up with a response.

Saxon decided to break the silence himself. “You know, I want to imagine that everything is alright. I want to go home. I want to be with the people I care about.

Maybe somebody else will step up? Maybe I can let this be someone else’s problem, just this once? Maybe everything will just work itself out without me? But you know I can’t take that chance.”

“You’re gonna get yourself killed chasing this,” Herman said. “If I help you, I’ll probably end up dead myself. That’s what my head is telling me.”

“What’s your gut saying?” Saxon asked.

“That you’re right,” Herman replied. “That something is going on. That I can’t be ignoring it like I want to. And that my head is right.”

“Then we’ll plan for the worst,” Saxon said, outstretching his hand.

Herman accepted the handshake. “And hope for the best.”

“Guess this makes us partners again,” Saxon joked. “The Dynamic Duo back together.”

“We never stopped being partners,” Herman said. “It’s just that I also became your lieutenant.”

“Feels like an unhealthy power dynamic,” Saxon complained.

“Well my superiority was so blatant, it shouldn’t be surprising that it was recognized,” Herman said, his face grinning ear to ear. “You know if you minded your business more, then maybe you wouldn’t be in so much trouble. Who knows, maybe they’d make you assistant lieutenant.”

“That’s not a rank,” Saxon said, mildly annoyed. “Also, need I remind you, my business is now our business?”

Herman’s face became comically disgusted. “Is it too late to take it back?”

“You know handshakes are binding,” Saxon replied.

“This is gonna end terribly,” Herman said, smirking.

“Yeah,” Saxon said, mirroring Herman’s smirk, “I know.”