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Sep. 23rd, 2006 09:21 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
gone_byebyeSaturday, September 23rd, 2006
14 North Moore Street
Manhattan
There was a knock at the door, followed by WHURF WHURF WHURF. Ray and Peter froze; Ray because he was now listening intently, and Peter because Ray had been in the middle of pouring some very hot coffee.
"Uh, Ray-"
"NYPD," Ray offered by way of explanation, his expression still a little distant.
"WHURF WHURF."
"Detective Chen, in fact. We should go say hi."
"Could you put down the scalding hot liquid first? I kind of like having skin."
"What? Oh, oh, okay, yeah."
Janine had already let the detective in by the time they arrived. "Dr. Venkman, Dr. Stantz," the man said, nodding to each of them in turn. "Good to see you again."
"Same here, Detective," Peter answered. "What's got the Finest all het up this time?"
"A few discoveries we've recently made along the East River, in the vicinity of Stuyvesant Cove," Chen said. "The workers who were putting in new panels on the Solar One building noticed a couple of bundles by the Greenway. They were going to throw them away, but one of them ripped open. It looks as if all four were deliberately planted, but nobody at the precinct wants to go out on a limb and say why. I thought maybe you guys might have some answers."
"I didn't do it. You can't prove anything."
"Dr. Stantz, if you were to smack your colleague right now, I would swear to any judge in the city that I never saw a thing."
Ray just shook his head and said, "Let's see what you've got, Detective."
One baking sheet later, Detective Chen was carefully prying the black cotton bundle open. There was some dried grass ("Actual grass," Chen said. "Like from the bottom of somebody's John Deere.") tied into a bundle with what looked like hair, a bit of crumbly brown soil, a bit of cornmeal, and-
"Sunglasses?" Peter wondered, staring at the pair of mirrored Ray-Bans Chen was holding up. "The heck?"
"Gede," Ray said, reaching out for the glasses. "Yeah, see- there's only one lens."
Chen cocked his head curiously. "What's 'gede'?" he asked.
"Not so much what as who, Detective. They're sort of a family of deities in the Santeria and Vodou traditions. They're particularly connected with fertility and the ancestral dead. The sunglasses were the big tip-off- they're supposedly worn by members of the family because the world aboveground is too bright."
"Is there something significant to the missing lens?" said Chen. "I mean, is this directed at somebody?"
"I don't think- wait, what do you mean by 'directed'?"
"He means is someone trying to put a whammy on somebody with voodoo," Peter translated.
"Oh. No, not with bundles like this." Ray shook his head and set the glasses back down. "These are pretty harmless by the look of them. The missing lens is because it's said that some of the spirits involved see both the living and the dead at the same time by wearing a pair of sunglasses like that. This looks more like someone is trying to invoke his ancestors for assistance- or to be perfectly honest, her ancestors. You don't really invoke this particular set of symbols with intent to do harm. This is much more the sort of thing you see when someone is getting really desperate to have a baby, and wants all the help they can get."
"Huh," said Chen. "You're sure about that? That's not something to do with whosever hair that is?"
"Well, it could have other purposes, but if this was meant as a way of expressing anger at someone you would see a different set of invocations and colors. If your other bundles have the sunglasses in them, or black crosses, you're probably just seeing someone who got tired of waiting for modern medicine to do its stuff. That's probably the hopeful mother's or father's hair."
"Huh." Chen shook his head. "You'd think somebody at the precinct would've recognized it, considering-"
"It's not really the kind of thing people talk about, no matter what their ancestry." Ray gave the detective a meaningful look. "Considering the kind of reaction it usually gets."
"Okay, okay." Chen smiled ruefully. "Point taken. Any significance to the placement?"
"Could be they had family who died in the area. Or they might live in Stuyvesant Towers themselves. There's nothing particularly significant about that area so far as I know- I could come up there and check it out, if you like."
"We'd appreciate it," said Chen, reassembling the bundle. "Thank you, Dr. Stantz. You still have my card, right?"
14 North Moore Street
Manhattan
There was a knock at the door, followed by WHURF WHURF WHURF. Ray and Peter froze; Ray because he was now listening intently, and Peter because Ray had been in the middle of pouring some very hot coffee.
"Uh, Ray-"
"NYPD," Ray offered by way of explanation, his expression still a little distant.
"WHURF WHURF."
"Detective Chen, in fact. We should go say hi."
"Could you put down the scalding hot liquid first? I kind of like having skin."
"What? Oh, oh, okay, yeah."
Janine had already let the detective in by the time they arrived. "Dr. Venkman, Dr. Stantz," the man said, nodding to each of them in turn. "Good to see you again."
"Same here, Detective," Peter answered. "What's got the Finest all het up this time?"
"A few discoveries we've recently made along the East River, in the vicinity of Stuyvesant Cove," Chen said. "The workers who were putting in new panels on the Solar One building noticed a couple of bundles by the Greenway. They were going to throw them away, but one of them ripped open. It looks as if all four were deliberately planted, but nobody at the precinct wants to go out on a limb and say why. I thought maybe you guys might have some answers."
"I didn't do it. You can't prove anything."
"Dr. Stantz, if you were to smack your colleague right now, I would swear to any judge in the city that I never saw a thing."
Ray just shook his head and said, "Let's see what you've got, Detective."
One baking sheet later, Detective Chen was carefully prying the black cotton bundle open. There was some dried grass ("Actual grass," Chen said. "Like from the bottom of somebody's John Deere.") tied into a bundle with what looked like hair, a bit of crumbly brown soil, a bit of cornmeal, and-
"Sunglasses?" Peter wondered, staring at the pair of mirrored Ray-Bans Chen was holding up. "The heck?"
"Gede," Ray said, reaching out for the glasses. "Yeah, see- there's only one lens."
Chen cocked his head curiously. "What's 'gede'?" he asked.
"Not so much what as who, Detective. They're sort of a family of deities in the Santeria and Vodou traditions. They're particularly connected with fertility and the ancestral dead. The sunglasses were the big tip-off- they're supposedly worn by members of the family because the world aboveground is too bright."
"Is there something significant to the missing lens?" said Chen. "I mean, is this directed at somebody?"
"I don't think- wait, what do you mean by 'directed'?"
"He means is someone trying to put a whammy on somebody with voodoo," Peter translated.
"Oh. No, not with bundles like this." Ray shook his head and set the glasses back down. "These are pretty harmless by the look of them. The missing lens is because it's said that some of the spirits involved see both the living and the dead at the same time by wearing a pair of sunglasses like that. This looks more like someone is trying to invoke his ancestors for assistance- or to be perfectly honest, her ancestors. You don't really invoke this particular set of symbols with intent to do harm. This is much more the sort of thing you see when someone is getting really desperate to have a baby, and wants all the help they can get."
"Huh," said Chen. "You're sure about that? That's not something to do with whosever hair that is?"
"Well, it could have other purposes, but if this was meant as a way of expressing anger at someone you would see a different set of invocations and colors. If your other bundles have the sunglasses in them, or black crosses, you're probably just seeing someone who got tired of waiting for modern medicine to do its stuff. That's probably the hopeful mother's or father's hair."
"Huh." Chen shook his head. "You'd think somebody at the precinct would've recognized it, considering-"
"It's not really the kind of thing people talk about, no matter what their ancestry." Ray gave the detective a meaningful look. "Considering the kind of reaction it usually gets."
"Okay, okay." Chen smiled ruefully. "Point taken. Any significance to the placement?"
"Could be they had family who died in the area. Or they might live in Stuyvesant Towers themselves. There's nothing particularly significant about that area so far as I know- I could come up there and check it out, if you like."
"We'd appreciate it," said Chen, reassembling the bundle. "Thank you, Dr. Stantz. You still have my card, right?"
