SKY CITY MEDICAL CENTER

The nurse slowly propped Emmie to a sitting position and placed a tray table down. Alia set her laptop down and played a video.

Dura’s little pigtails bopped into view as she walked into her bedroom and turned around to stand against a window facing the man who had walked in after her. He kneeled in front of Dura. He was facing Dura so the camera hadn’t caught his face.

Alia played it again as Emmie squinted. Miss Feor did not have an adverse reaction to the footage or seeing her daughter. After the second run through she glanced at Alia questioningly.

“Do you know who this man is or why you put a camera in Dura’s room?”

Alia opened the second part and Emmie watched herself walk in on the two of them. Dura ran over to her mother.

Emmie’s words were garbled as she struggled to understand why the police were questioning her.

The nurse perked up. “Maybe this is all you’ll get out of her today.”

Alia sighed in frustration and started packing up her stuff. As she was leaving Emmie blurt out something intelligible. “I put the camera in her room.”

Alia paused to take a note before continuing. She doubted Emmie would say anything more.

=//=

SKY CITY POLICE DEPARTMENT - MAIN OFFICE

Stu had mysteriously fallen ill with the recent dry spell so Alia had gone to the police alone to report her finding. Chief Obi had taken her to his office without much fuss, even though the entire office had stared at them incredulously.

Alia dropped her laptop back in the adjoining empty chair as she listed off everything she’d observed about Emmie Feor’s medical condition and her recent confession.

Obi listened before interjecting. “Why would Miss Feor put a camera in her daughter’s bedroom.”

Alia considered this before answering. “Maybe it was to catch sexual abuse.”

“But there is no prior recorded incident of sexual abuse.”

“Do you think it was about to start or was it some kind of defense mechanism for Ms. Feor in case her daughter inherited her undesirable talent.”

At that moment an officer peaked into Obi’s office. He nodded in Alia’s direction before delivering the information to the chief. “The cybersecurity office found that there has been two million dollars transfered into Emmie Feor’s checking account.” The officer laid a piece of paper on Obi’s desk before disappearing

After he closed the door behind him, Alia quickly skimmed through the report. “Is that hush money? The transferred occured after she woke up.”

The chief turned to the second page and pointed at the sender. “No, the person who sent her the money is her father who lives over in Hellhund, a suburb outside of Sky City where they’re a minor crime syndicate. The father is a labourer for the syndicate and lives in their housing.”

Alia scratched her chin. “I wonder why her father wasn’t mentioned in Emmie’s records. Is there any way we could pull up her record without going to Child Protective Services.”

Obi nodded. “Yeah, we can pull up her records here. You only looked at Dura Feor’s records correct?”

Alia nodded as Obi brought up the records and turned his monitor to face her. She scanned it quickly and was taken aback. “Emmie wasn’t talking about Dura’s bruises she was talking about her own bruises.”

Obi looked uneasy as he considered the best course of action. “I’ll put out a warrant to get him in our office for questioning. But, you can’t do it. Officer Wave will have to recover from his dry cough.”