Chapter 34: Breakfast in Mama Picasso

Maya stood up from her desk, "We will be working this case today but first let's go and eat breakfast."

Raziel's stomach growled at the mention of breakfast. He had not eaten anything since last night. He kept a straight face to cover his embarrassment.

Maya raised her eyebrows, "Looks like someone is even hungrier than I am."

They both left their desk and took the elevator. They were the only two in it. They didn't speak to each other in the elevator. There was an awkward silence. They got out of the elevator on the ground floor.

Raziel decided to break the silence between them, "So where can we get breakfast this morning?"

As they left the police building, Maya pointed at restaurant five buildings away opposite the police building.

"So what pathway are you? I'm a metal pathway superhuman." Maya stated.

They crossed the road and continued walking down the street. The road was a very busy one considering its location.

Raziel hesitated but decided it's best he told her about himself now. "I'm a cosmic pathway superhuman." Raziel replied and braced himself for an attack.

Maya paused her walk and looked back at him. She then continued to walk forward.

Raziel was surprised, "I thought you would try to take me down considering my pathway."

Maya stated, "I know who you are now. I now understand why you have a durag on."

Thank God. Raziel was relieved. He thought he would have to spend all day explaining who he was and why he's still alive.

They arrived at the restaurant. It was named Mama Picasso. Maya pushed open the front door and they walked in to meet the place filled with people mostly police officers.

Maya walked to a corner table with only two chairs by the window side and took a sit. Raziel followed behind and sat on the other chair.

Maya passed Raziel the only menu on the table, "Police officers from Central Tenebren come here to eat. That's why you can mostly see police officers here."

She waived at her a waiter. She stared outside the window while waiting for the waiter to come. The waiter took two full minutes before he could attend to them.

The waiter came and smiled at Maya, "Is it your usual breakfast?" Maya responded with a nod.

The waiter turned to Raziel, "What would you like to eat?"

Raziel had a difficult time choosing from the variety foods in the menu. He decided to go for something that would fill his stomach, "I would like a loaf of bread and two plates of beans. Add two turkey thighs and a bowl of fried of fried plantains."

The waiter wrote down the order and turned around to leave.

Raziel asked her, "What's your usual breakfast?"

Maya turned to look at him, "Bread and beans with pork."

What the fuck! Raziel had his mouth wide open before he could control. He didn't think a fine woman would something like that.

Maya was amused by his reaction, "I'm a superhuman. My appetite is larger than a normal human.

"I have to eat something that would satisfy my nutritional requirements."

Raziel nodded his head, "True. You know I was thinking about the kidnapping case we have.

"All the victims have something in common. They are normal humans, they all attend the same church and they live alone.

"The culprit took all his victims from their homes. I guessing he's a member of their church and he knows his victims personally.

"What I don't understand is why they only gave us the case yesterday when he's been kidnapping people two months ago?"

Maya gave him a sinister smile, "That's because the superhumans after him before are all dead."

Raziel was silent for a moment, "What level were they?"

The waiter had arrived with their food at this point. He placed it on their table and left.

Maya started to dig into her food, "They were level 1."

Raziel washed his hands and tore part of his bread. He dipped it into the plate of beans and used the bread to pack a substantial amount of beans before putting it in his mouth and swallowing.

He tried to talk while eating, "So our perpetrator us probably a level 2 or higher."

Maya shook her head, "No. He's definitely a level 1. I saw the autopsy report of the two officers he killed.ss

"The injuries on them was made by a complete rookie."

Raziel asked with confusion in his voice, "How did he do it? He was facing level 1 officers for God's sake!"

Maya replied with the tone of a teacher, "It's not impossible. After all, it's possible for a level 1 to kill a level 3. The probability of it happening is very low but it's not zero.

"The circumstances surrounding the battle would determine the outcome. The environment the battle is taking place, the weapons they possess and most importantly information.

"If you have enough information about your opponent, you can kill them with the smallest effort."

Maya took a swig of her bottled water and continued speaking, "The victims were kidnapped from their home in the middle of the night but there was no breaking in. The doors were opened from inside. It means the victims opened their doors for the culprit.

"For them to open their door for the culprit, it simply means it's someone they all know and trust.

"The only person they might all trust enough to open their doors in the middle of the night is their Pastor but he has an alibi for all the times the kidnapping occurred according to the previous handlers of the case.

"If it's not their Pastor, then it can only be a superhuman of the illusory pathway. One of the documented abilities of this pathway is the ability to create illusions.

"The culprit make have taken on an illusion each culprit trusts enough to open their doors in the middle of the night.

"Maybe an illusion of their daughter, son or husband. They would find it impossible to distinguish illusion from reality."

Raziel nodded his head. He agreed with her deduction. If we catch the culprit, maybe I can use him to advance to level 2. He's a criminal and he won't be missed. I'm pressed for time to advance to level 2.

He was loosing his inhibitions because of what Commander Carol told him.