Rot

Rot

Part 1 of ?

The city is like a forest. Bright green leaves catch the sun up in the canopy but below your feet, under the most recent layer of fallen leaves, there is another world feeding on the remains of those long fallen from grace. We've moved to a world of cold concrete and dazzling streetlights but the laws of nature still apply and where there's nature there is rot feeding the cycle of life.

Done for the 100-themes challenge on Deviant Art. Theme #5, Variation 2

The smell of blood was nauseating as it bubbled up from the blocked off street underneath the hot rays of the sun. I leant against the barricade, trying to get a better look without attracting the notice of the officer currently trying to dissuade a reporter from crossing the barrier. He was too busy to notice the camera man trying to sneak around and the other officer was distracted by what seemed like a rather unpleasant cellphone conversation. He had already been a little red from the sun but after a few minutes on the phone his face was looking redder than cherry syrup on vanilla ice-cream. The officer dealing with the reporter was faring much better but he was starting to look a little flustered.

My chance came. I tilted my phone slightly upwards, the camera pre-zoomed, and snapped a shot of the dead-woman's face as one of the investigators lifted the sheet to have a look at her. I lifted my phone higher, parallel to the ground now, and saved the picture. I slipped the phone in my pocket, put a disappointed look on my face, and cast a longing glance back at the crime scene as I walked away. All of it wasted of course, no one was looking at me but I'd rather not be caught with that picture. I wasn't exactly sure of the legality but the police department wouldn't be happy even if it was legal. The last thing I needed was cops taking notice of me. I wasn't exactly licensed to be in my line of work.

I leant against the hot metal of the bus-sign and pulled out my phone while I waited. The bloodless, ghastly face stared up at me blankly from the screen. It was definitely the woman I'd been hired to follow and if my suspicions were correct, the senator was trying to frame me for the dirty deed. My face twisted into a grimace. No, it couldn't have been him or he wouldn't have met me in public. Was someone trying to bring down the senator? Well, nothing like murder to kill a career, eh?

As the bus pulled up, I hit the lock button on my phone and the screen went dark. I tapped my bus card and made my way to the back, where the sound air conditioning was too loud for anyone to try to talk to me. I didn't have to look at the picture again to see her glazed eyes staring at me. Just a few hours earlier I had seen her having an argument with a man at the door to her apartment. Her pale cheeks had been slightly flushed from anger and alcohol. Her hair had bounced on her shoulders as her body shook with rage. She had been filled to the brim with life and so quickly someone had snuffed it out. Then, they'd dumped her body on the busiest street in the city during the lunch rush. I was willing to bet that despite all those people going about their business no one had seen a thing. They'd tell themselves someone else will come forward and they'd forget when it slipped out of the media's claws as the cold eye of the camera latched onto something new.

I stepped out of the cool air of the bus and onto a part of the city that I was sure had been plucked from hell itself and not just because of the shimmering heat rolling off the pavement. I hated doing anyone a free favor but my own neck was on the line. If that bouncing blubbery bastard went down, I'd go down with him and I had much worse to look forward to than the loss of a political career. I didn't fancy looking at the inside of a jail cell for the first time. Thinking back on it now, maybe I should have taken that jail cell. As it was, I could think of nothing worse than being locked up for years at the time so I headed to collect an old favor. I had been saving that one for something special and was pissed at having to cash it in so early. It must have shown on my face because the minute Clyde turned at the sound of the door chime and saw me, he started talking fast. I blinked.

"Clyde, I don't have a cousin Candy," I finally said when he started to look like he was going to make a mess on the floor like a Chihuahua puppy being scolded for the first time. I filed away the little tidbit. I'd look into it later, could make for good blackmail.

"Oh," he said and he suddenly got this dazed blank look on his face. If there was anyone in the world I'd ever felt like slapping it was Clyde at that moment. I had a mystery to solve to save my own hide and I wasn't in the mood for his idiocy.

"Clyde," I snapped and he must have heard the dark threat I didn't mean to put there because his face was starting to shift back to when he first saw me walk through the door.

"What is it?" he asked, sweat beading on his forehead and on the back of his neck too I'm sure. The man couldn't be more of a whimpering coward if he stuttered. I gritted my teeth and tried not to glare death at him.

"I need you to find out some things for me and remember you owe me big," I said and paused long enough to see his reaction. His forehead looked to be losing some of its shine as his shoulders relaxed.

"I'll see what I can do," he said, back in his slimy snake-oil salesman drawl.

I flipped the open sign to closed behind me and  cast a glance around the street outside. No one was interested in the pawn shop. If he didn't have such great connections the man would be out of business. Or maybe good down on their luck people had an instinct on what sorts of places to keep their noses out of. I wouldn't know about that. I locked the door behind me, just in case, and led the way to the back room. I didn't have to look at Clyde to know he was sweating again.