There was drizzling rain in the air when they met at the site of the half-ruined electric substation. Gloria decided to check the area around the site before she would meet with Marcus and Kevin. There were two bronze bowls with ashes and incense sticks placed at the northern positions and a bouquet of flowers at the corner of the road. The substation was still not repaired, with some what looked like discarded tools and temporary materials on the ground. Wild moss and weeds were festering in the cracks on the ground, while the police tapes that lost most of their adhesiveness dangled in the wind.
Could they be from those who knew the people from the emergency reparations team? Or those who knew the ones that died in the car crash?
Marcus and Kevin came just when she was done and waited in a corner. They circled the area just as her, after which Marcus sent her a message: “We’re here.”
“You’re early.” Gloria walked out of the shadows and greeted Marcus with an lightly insinuating smile on her face.
“Well, just want to make sure the area is secure.” Marcus shrugged and raised a small bag, marked “Shoe Covers & Gloves”: “Alright, you’re ready to go in?”
“Sure.” Gloria put on the slightly dirty shoe covers, and a pair of cheap thin rubber gloves before going through the police tapes with Marcus and Kevin. Kevin brought a camera with him, and seemed to be actively searching for certain angles to take pictures of the site.
“What do you know about this case? Not the deaths of the emergency reparations team, but the crash that caused this damage.” Marcus asked as he led Gloria and Kevin to a corner, where the structures in the substation suffered most of the damage.
Gloria thought for a moment: “Not much, really. Some rich dude drove into this place in a drunken haze.”
“It’s actually a young man named Carl Benson, from THE Benson family. The story we’ve gathered is: he went to several bars and nightclubs that night to pick up women, possibly due to his own reasons he kept striking out until he found one unfortunate girl who fell for his bullshit. He WAS very drunk when they drove away in his car, and spedinto this substation.” Marcus pointed at some tire marks on the ground: “The girl died, but not from the crash itself. She was dead before it happened - she suffocated from the vomit in her throat. It was likely she was forced to drink too much alcohol while in the car, as we found a lot of bottles in the car’s trunk and under the seats.”
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“And what about the douchebag? He died too? Did he confess?”
“That’s - one of the things that could make it a Blue Envelope case - he was missing from the scene, at first.” Marcus sighed: “He was later found stuffed under the hood of the vehicle, in the tiny space of the car engine, scorched beyond recognition. It was ruled - not humanly possible.”
Gloria looked Marcus in the eye, trying to read something out of him. After a while, she narrowed her eyes slightly, as she could not get anything obvious: “So - you DID know something was off. You’ve known for a while.”
“Yes. But not enough, because it raised a lot more questions and barely any answers. Which is why we need someone who probably has more experience and knowledge.” Kevin wanted to say something, but Marcus beat him to it: “You’re a watcher. I’d assume you’d know more about how this tied to everything. How it is connected to the Blood Rainbow.”
“Blood Arch.” Kevin took a picture of one of the open switch boxes.
“What did you say?” Gloria looked at Kevin.
“Blood Arch. It’s another name we gave to Blood Rainbows. Because we found some old pictures - and it’s more of an arch, like a gate. ” Marcus shrugged and looked up at the night sky, seemingly worried it would appear again. “And - can you share with me what happened when you were here? Did you happen to see anyone suspicious? Did you happen to see who might have done it?”
“No, unfortunately. And they’re already dead when I got here.” Gloria shook her head, then hesitated: “But - there’s some kind of fog or mist in the air. And - and the woman I fought, she seemed to be slightly out of her mind at first and not aware. But later she might have remembered that she died. THEN she just turned vicious and tried to drag me with her.” With mentioning this, there seemed to be a small lump in her throat. She had to push it down, for she still did not know either Marcus or Kevin that well.
“Okay.” Marcus thought for a brief moment, then let out a long exhale: “There’s a couple of times I came into contact with the spirits that are still - still tied to the cruise ship, somehow. And every time, they seemed to trigger some hidden memory in me. I saw what happened on the ship again, and - basically relived parts of it. Visions, you may call it. They were very real. And it got me wondering - ”
Gloria turned to Marcus. He was drowned in his thoughts, with a tired and wry smile on his face. It appeared that the visions were still lingering on his mind, like spikes and splinters buried in his skin and flesh.
“My theory for it is, what happened on the cruise ship established some kind of link to you, even though you’ve made it out.” Kevin said to Marcus from the side, while examining the pictures he took: “There are not many survivors of that incident. And basically none of them had come out to the public after all these years. And - not to bring up past scandals in the city, but - ”
“We know, we know, Kevin.” Marcus immediately stopped Kevin: “Let’s - keep things concise for now and we can discuss that later.”
“Okay - okay. ” Kevin raised his arms and shrugged.
“Well - I think you’re right, maybe.” Gloria pondered upon Kevin’s theory for a brief moment, frowning. It was not that bad or a stretch of an idea, and it can best explain the reason why the strange influence of the aura around this site or the black particles in the air would cause her to have visions of the night on the lake. There were so many bad memories of her that could be tapped into or exploited, but somehow this particular one was “chosen”, it could and should mean something. And with Gloria’s knowledge about the 15 year circle - it made even more sense.
“Okay. ” Marcus scratched his jaw, then his eyes opened slightly wider: “Wait, humor me - what do you know about the story of the Burnt Queen and the One Armed Knight?”