What Are You, Mick St. John? [ch. 6] PG13

[NocturneInCMoll]

Author’s note: Again, I’ve tried to be at least somewhat accurate in terms of forensics...but…I’m no expert. If anyone knowledgeable notices anything that’s a little far-fetched or is completely inaccurate, please let me know.

Beta: Much thanks and appreciation goes to my superbeta, Barb (Bank1115). She’s awesome. This story wouldn’t be where it is without her.

Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.


What Are You, Mick St. John?—Chapter 6

Carl wanted as few people involved as possible, so he waited until just after lunchtime the next day to visit the lab, when he knew Sam would be working.

“Sammy—got a sample for comparison. Need you to collect and prep it for me. Rush,” Carl looked pointedly at him as he placed the bagged glass in front of him on the table.

“Yes, sir.” Sam responded and immediately but cautiously removed the glass from the evidence baggie. He grabbed a swab from a nearby container and pulled his lamp down to closely examine the glass.

Carl watched him work for a moment. “Don’t log it in as evidence,” he lowered his voice. “I couldn’t get it through proper channels.” Sam glanced up at him sharply, but Carl ignored it and said, louder, “I’ll come back for it later. I have a few things to do in house before I head over to BioAnalysis.”

Sam shrugged. “You got it, Lieutenant,” he mumbled, his tongue sticking out from between his teeth while he carefully ran the swab around the inside and outside of the rim.

*****************************************************************************************************************************

Carl didn’t officially start his shift for a few hours, but this “inquiry” was barely official as it was. Luckily, Josh had arranged it so that he reported directly to him.

He to his desk and pulled out his keyboard. He looked up every single cab company in LA and called them all. Frustrated, he slammed down the phone a couple hours later. There’d been only a handful of pickups in that particular neighbourhood on that night, and he’d talked to each cabbie. No one remembered anyone matching Mick’s description.

He rubbed his forehead and drummed his fingers on his desk. A moment later, he had an idea. It’s a long-shot, but…

He looked up the officers who had responded to the Spalding call. He began with Officers MacCallum and Johnson, whose regular route was that part of the warehouse district. They were on duty tonight; he had them called to his desk before they drove out for the night.

“You wanted to see us, Lieutenant Davis?” Officer MacCallum sat down in front of the desk, while her partner stood behind her.

“Yes—three nights ago, your beat in the warehouse district…”

“Yeah?”

“Before you were called out to the Spalding scene, did you notice anything out of the ordinary?”

MacCallum furrowed her brow and looked up at her partner. “Naw, I don’t think so—it was pretty routine, right, Steve?”

He nodded his agreement. “Yeah, we broke up a fight, busted a junkie, that kind of thing.”

“…Suspicious vehicles?”

MacCallum shook her head. “No, sir.”

Carl was disappointed. He waved them on. “Okay, thanks.”

MacCallum stood and turned to go. Suddenly she snapped her fingers. “Wait!”

Carl’s head shot up, but MacCallum was looking at her partner. “Steve—wasn’t that the night you were drooling all over that Ferrari?”

Officer Johnson’s eyes lit up. “Ooh, yeah, that baby was niiiice,” he groaned. “But I don’t know why anyone in their right mind would drive it down to that hood, especially at night.”

“You get a plate?”

MacCallum shook her head ruefully. “Didn’t really bother to look, sir—it was parked legally, and then soon after the call came in to go to the warehouse, so—”

“I remember a partial, Lieutenant,” Johnson interjected. “3SBJ. My initials.”

Carl flashed him a big grin. “Bless your mother, Johnson. You may have just given me a lead.”

MacCallum looked questioningly at Carl, but he was already typing on his computer.

Without looking up, he waved them away. “Good work. Dismissed.”

The officers looked at each other and shrugged. “Thanks, Lieutenant.”

*****************************************************************************************************************************

Of the handful of Ferraris registered in LA, only one licence plate contained 3SBJ. Surprise registered on Carl’s face.

“Josef Kostan, the big-shot hedge fund trader? Ooh, things are getting interesting…”

He was grabbing his jacket when his phone rang. “Davis,” he barked impatiently.

“Lieutenant, it’s Sam. You may want to come over to the lab right away.”

Carl heard a click and then the dial tone. He stared at the receiver for a moment. “What the—”

Muttering, he strode into the lab fifteen minutes later. “All right, Sam—what’s going on? What was with the mysterious phone call routine? I said I’d come by for the sample later.”

“I analyzed the trace liquid in the glass.”

Carl’s brow furrowed. “Oh. That was hardly necessary.”

The lab tech shrugged. “I was curious about Mutant DNA guy’s palate—if this turns out to be his glass, of course. But I think you’ll thank me for my inquisitiveness—either that, or curse me.”

Carl’s brows shot up. “You have my attention, Samuel. Found something off?”

“Gross and creepy is more like it.”

Carl’s eyes widened. “It wasn’t just juice?”

“Nope. Not juice at all.” The lab tech lowered his voice. “It was blood.”

“Blood?!…Animal?”

“Oh, yeah, it was animal all right—the human kind.”

Carl scrunched up his nose. “…It wasn’t like the mutated blood we found before?”

“No, it appears to be normal; it reacted properly to the antigen-antibody test, unlike the mutated blood. No traces of silver, either.”

“Geez. Okay, prep me a sample of that, too. I’ll take them both at the same time.”

Sam handed him two specialized containers. “Way ahead of you, Lieutenant.”

“Thanks, man. I owe you.” Carl turned to go.

“Will you—” he hesitated a moment. “Will you let me know what comes of this?

“I’ll do my best.” Carl strode out of the lab shaking his head. “Weird blood and normal blood, in places they don’t belong—geez...”

*****************************************************************************************************************************

Without realizing it, Carl barged into the third floor lab, foregoing all the usual greetings and began barking orders to his friend.

“Got two samples for you to analyze. One for comparison with the…weird…one. The other is normal, but I need it analyzed so I can have it run through CODIS.” He finally slowed down to take a breath. “Oh, and this is Stat—Rush—ASAP—whatever you people use.”

The DNA tech winked at him. “As it happens, I understand all three. Leave it to me. Oh, by the way—hello, Carl. How are you?”

He flashed her a sheepish grin. “Sorry, Maizie. Hi. I’m…okay, under the circumstances…just a little confused… I’m about to go ask a multi-millionaire just how stupid he has to be to park his Ferrari in the warehouse district at night. You?”

“Is he your mutant suspect?” When Carl shook his head, she continued, “I don’t have anything definitive for you yet on the abnormal sample. Because it’s unusual, it’s taking longer to sequence. I can tell you it does appear to have similarities with human DNA, but it’s definitely not animal—so I guess you can rule out werewolves.”

“Werewolves?!” Carl’s eyebrows shot up.

Maizie shrugged. “I was watching the Sci-Fi channel last night…some movie about werewolves. Silver’s deadly to them, that’s what made me think of it.”

“Well, there haven’t been any recent maulings, so I think we can rule that out, yeah,” Carl drawled sarcastically. “Oh—that, and werewolves don’t exist.”

“Be careful what you say to me, Carl. Once I finish up this project of yours, perhaps I’ll try to create one, just to prove you wrong.”

“You would do that, wouldn’t you? Just to prove me wrong, and screw the consequences.” He shook his head. “I hope Frankenstein is on tonight.”

Maizie didn’t bother to hide her grin. “Anyway, now that I have something for comparison, I’ll try to confirm your mutant friend’s identity for you.”

He nodded his thanks.

She indicated one of the samples Carl had brought. “What makes you think this guy might be the mutant?"

“I don’t want to influence you just yet. That, and I don’t actually have anything concrete that might help you,” he admitted sheepishly. Then he frowned. “I’m not even sure if I want to be right or if I don’t.”

“Can’t help you there—I’m a scientist. I just want to study this guy, whoever who he is. Because I’ve never seen anything like his DNA.”

“If the opportunity arises, Maizie, I’ll let you have first crack at him.”


To be continued...

[darkstarrising]

Great update! OK, so Carl's starting to get some more pieces of the puzzle and some of them are going to start fitting together pretty soon....but is he going to confront Mick when the answers don't make any sense? What is he going to do about Josef? Carl may be getting more than he bargained for by taking either one of them on!!

Looking forward to more!

[wollstonecraft61]

Oh. I think Carl is about to sign his own death certificate. Seriously. Great job as usual, Noc.

[NocturneInCMoll]

Thanks, Karen & Wollstone!

Carl sure doesn't have a clue what he's getting into...
Josef will appear in chapter 9, I think...and Carl will at least be alive that long...beyond that, I of course make no guarantees...

[wpgrace]

Well Mick's in trouble and Josef isn't far behind!

[NocturneInCMoll]

We'll see, WP! We'll see...

[mitzie]

Wow--Carl is getting closer, too close!! I see lots of trouble ahead for everyone. Great chapter! Loved it!! I'll be waiting for more!!! *scream* *scream* *scream* *thud*

mitzie

[NocturneInCMoll]

Thanks, Mitz! I've been having some trouble with the next few chapters, but I'm workin' on 'em.

[RangerCM]

Oh, my goodness! GREAT update. This is so much fun to read. Right on the edge of my seat.

Oh, and I'll be happy to "take first crack at Mick" any time!!

[NocturneInCMoll]

Thanks, Ranger!

I'm still working on the next update; it's not even with my beta yet...but I'll try and get it done soon...

[lionsonleashes]

Oh dear! Carl just keeps painting Mick further and further into that corner, and now Josef is being forced into the same corner! :shock:
This is alot of fun, Nocturne! I can't wait to find out what happens next! I like the female lab tech who's sweet on Carl....Maizie...is it? She's a fun character.....very sassy!
I'm worried thou.....what's Josef gonna do when he realizes Carl's investigating him? Hopefully not the dreaded tarpits!
I like Carl....and I sure hope he doesn't end up in that dark, sticky place!

[NocturneInCMoll]

Thanks so much, Lions!

Glad you like Maizie. I still don't even know how I came up with that name. Anyway, she and Carl are just flirty friends; I don't have any plans for them being a couple, though I do have another idea for Carl, tee hee. But I can't say anything about that yet.

Boy, everyone keeps wondering what's going to happen to Carl! I, of course, having already written his fate, know what will happen to him--and it's very difficult to resist the temptation to give spoilers! I guess I could safely tell you he will not end up in the tar pits...but he still could die another way...

[redwinter101]

So amid all the confusion, Carl finally starts to get some concrete evidence - the weird DNA (and maybe a match ), Josef's Ferrari, and the blood - oh yes, the blood.

I wonder if they'll be able to get a DNA match from the blood too?

I have a feeling that Josef will handle Carl without too many problems though - and won't need to resort to anything terminal! Although he may have a few strong words for Mick and his carelessness...

Lovely update, Julie.

Red

[NocturneInCMoll]

Thanks, Red! The next three chapters, which I actually, believe it or not (given my comments earlier this evening), just finished off and sent to my beta, will answer nearly all of your questions.

At the moment, I find myself regretting a little bit that I didn't actually plot out the story before I started posting, particularly the last few chapters. I found there were some things I should have covered and now either have to go back to and/or gloss over. Oh well...lesson learned.

[redwinter101]

Shhhhhh, Julie. If you don't tell us things like that, we probably won't notice

Red