Chaos on a Leash

[LUKA]

(Earlier that Day)

"After the fire department managed to put out the flames they said they found multiple bodies burnt up in the wreckage of the building." One of the officers at the scene was giving Luka a brief report on the fire that broke out earlier that day.

"Civilians?"

"Couldn't tell. They said that the bodies were so burnt up it was a bit difficult to distinguish."

Luka sighed. "Dear God. I feel a migraine loading up." She placed her hand over her forehead and began to slowly massage it.

"You ok?"

"Yeah, yeah I'm fine." She quickly brushed it off and continued. "Alright, I want the perimeter secured. Once the fire department and hazard unit ensures that its safe to go in, don't let anybody inside except the crime scene unit, ok?

"Sure thing Luka."

"We're also gonna have to get a canvass of the area, see if there are any eye witnesses who might have seen what happened here."

"We're on it."

"Thanks Mike." She lightly tapped his arm as she turned and walked towards Nancy who she spotted earlier standing by her car.

"Finally decided to join the party eh?" Luka remarked as she approached Nancy.

"Only because I'm bored."

"Well, you're gonna get a handful of this one. Firefighters say they found a couple of burnt bodies in the wreckage."

"Were they civilians?"

"That's what I said, but we're yet to find out. Once we get the all clear the crime unit's gonna have have a look. We should have a report hopefully by end of day."

"Any idea what caused the explosion?" Nancy asked as she stared at the firefighters entering the site.

"Haven't got a clue. I've been told that the warehouse was used as a storage for various sorts of flammable gases. We're yet to figure out exactly what caused them to ignite."

"Hot damn! How much damage did it cause?"

"A lot, there has been some extensive damage in and around the warehouse compound with an enormous crater at the presumed blast site. Several buildings surrounding the blast site have already been declared structurally unsafe and their occupants have been vacated."

"Why do I get the feeling that Chen's fingerprints are all over this?"

"You think Chen is involved? In this neighbourhood? It could have been anyone."

"At this level Luka? Not just anyone would pull it off. If we don't put a leash on this fast, there's gonna be a lot of chaos."

Luka was a bit surprised at how seriously Nancy was taking this case, a side of her she hadn't seen before. She knew that they were on a tight schedule, and the longer Chen's case went unsolved the shorter the fuse burned.

_________________________________________________

[Charles Chance]

(Earlier that day)

"This is a monastery Ava, I am a priest, whatever you tell me will not leave this room."

"A priest? Really? Come on Charlie, now you're using your lawyer tricks on me?" Ava was pacing across the room with arms folded.

"They are not-" Charles took a deep breath to calm himself. "Ava, I am trying to help ok. If you thought that I couldn't then why would you even be here?"

There was a moment of silence in the room just before Ava sat back down onto the chair. He came and knelt down next to her.

"I swore that I'd become a better man for you Ava, and God knows I try." He reached out to hold her hand, but she slowly pushed it aside.

"Its too late Charlie..." A single tear rolled down her cheek. Her eyes were glistening as she stared straight into his.

He felt the knot in his gut getting tighter, and his throat was boiling. This was wife, the love of his life and the one person that his entire world revolved around. And she was leaving him. A tear was forming, but he wouldn't let it fall. He couldn't let her see that he was broken. That she, broke him.

He felt like he was drowning in a deep and dark ocean, and her face was staring down at him from the surface as he slowly sunk even deeper, away from her. It was getting dim, as her face became smaller and the distance farther, the light slowly engulfed by the darkness and he, embraced by it. It was beautiful, sad and terrifying. Her lips were moving but he could barely make out what she was saying. It sounded like, she was calling out to him. But the voice wasn't hers. He suddenly felt himself moving as the voice began to get even louder.

"Charlie! Charlie! Wake up!"

Charles suddenly woke up to Sarah, her legal secretary standing over him. She had been trying to wake him up for the passed minute or so. He recalled laying his head down on his desk to rest for a while, but he must have fallen into deep sleep. This was sometime after he came back from the courtroom.

"Remind me to get you a siren the next time your head touches that desk." Sarah remarked as Charles gathered his bearings.

"How long was I out?" Charles asked as his vision adjusted.

"About an hour and a half." She held onto some files she brought into his office among other documents, carefully placing each one on his desk.

"An hour and a half? And you didn't think to wake me up a little sooner?"

"Trust me, I tried. This was my second and final attempt. Besides, you must have been having quite the dream if it takes you two tries to wake you up."

"Yeah, quite the dream." He rubbed his face with the palm of his hand and felt a wet sensation from his left eye. He quickly brushed it off and gained his composure. "Anyone come by?"

"Nope. Though this came in while you were hibernating." She handed him an envelope.

It was from Pricewaters & Clarke Legal Practitioners, one of, if not the top law firm in the city. He quickly opened the envelope and browsed through its contents. After going over it a second time he place letter down and stared at Sarah.

"Well? What does it say?"

"Its from Pricewaters & Clarke, they want to meet."

________________________________________________

[LUKA]

(Present time)

Luka and Nancy were back at the station later that evening going over some of the evidence they had gathered on the warehouse fire case. It was just after 6 p.m. and had just begun pouring outside.

Luka was looking through some of the photographs that were captured by the forensic team over the scene. They were a collection of burnt bodies and charred remains marked by numbers that were laid next to the respective corpses for easy identification. A handful of guns and bullet shell casings were also identified in the wreckage.

"Do you really have to eat that here? Right now?" Luka raised her eyebrow at Nancy who was chewing on a kebab skewered on a stick.

"Hey, I'm starving ok. A girl's gotta eat you know."

"Jesus Christ." Luka exclaimed under her breath. She shook her head and went back to staring at the photographs, making her best effort to block out the sound of Nancy's chewing and the smell of the grilled meat.

"Why would he slaughter everyone at the warehouse? I mean if he was trying to figure out who killed his nephew, he'd most likely catch them and make them talk right?" Luka asked.

"Maybe someone already has talked." Nancy replied in between bites.

"A partially burnt mask was also found at the scene." Luka fished out one of the photos.

"You mean, like a gas mask?" Nancy finally finished her meal and wiped her mouth with a napkin.

"No. It doesn't look anything like a gas mask." She tossed Nancy one of the photos showing the burnt mask. "More like the kind you find at a costume store."

"Oh wow, its burnt out pretty bad." Nancy took a close look at the picture, bringing it even closer to her face to examine it. "You know, it kinda looks like its.....smiling."