Opposite the street where Mortis and Aurora had held their conversation a man sat down to inspect the contents of his camera. Gene Dolon was a free-lance detective and tabloid journalist with the reputation of getting the pictures you want, for the right price. Dolon specialized in following people with his high powered camera and lens normally used on wildlife photography. Dolon was the kind of man that was sleazy not just as the way he dealt with people, but in general, with an oddly shaped head and squinty eyes, he looked as if a weasel had taken human form, his small frame and thin body did not help either, but when it came to get any kind of dirt on anyone, he was the man you expected to go to places most journalists would be too reputable to go, and deal with things lower than what most detectives would.
A few days ago Dolon had been contacted by a mysterious woman for a reason, to get pictures of Aurora Frigg, granddaughter and second in the succession line of the Frigg business empire, interacting with a man of strange repute, one Sebastian Mortis. Dolon was happy to oblige on the request, not only was he paid to shadow one of the United States Richest and most beautiful heiresses, he was also paid very generously for not asking questions.
Dolon felt strange and compelled when dealing with this case, Aurora was indeed a gorgeous young woman, and he knew people that would pay plenty for pictures of her, which fed his compulsion, but he felt strange for the dealings with the Sebastian Mortis guy. Gene had heard from a few of his contacts that Mortis was a consultant and investigator of sorts, a strange mix of phony psychic and surprisingly competent detective. Mortis was a sort of myth, it was said that he had deals with the local Mafia, and the man in question was the son of an old mercenary coot that ran a terrifying mercenary group that made Ex KGB look like child's play.
As he toggled through the pictures in his camera he fixated on a few in particular, this ones showed Aurora handling Mortis and envelope.
"Now, now, what is this all about?" Dolon smirked as he tried to see any pictures that gave an inside on the contents but nothing. "Tsk, tsk, pretty ladies should not be handling strange men's envelopes, especially to rough looking men, she could be paying the man for something nasty…"
The words trailed as the gears in Dolons' head spun fast. A wide grin formed in the dubious man's face as he added "…maybe paying for something less reputable" Dolon obsessed on the picture of the envelope "I could sell this to a tabloid, a nice headline about a beautiful young woman seeking thrills by having a relationship with a lowlife, what a story to sell."
"GRRRRRRRRRRRR"
Dolon's money fantasy was halted to focus on the current and more present issue at hand, that being a very large and very angry dog looking at him intensely, growling like a beast possessed.
"Hello there Mr. Dick" Dolon noticed that Mortis stood behind Cicero with a very non-nonchalant attitude. "I am here to talk to you about the pictures you have been taking of the young lady a few moments ago. I have to say, it was not very proper on your part" the words came not jokey. But very straight, for Mortis this was a serious affront.
Dolon gave an uncomfortable smirk and tried to play it cool, he had a dog growling on his face and a man on the upper ground, he was cornered, but not screwed, he had his ways to get out of tough spots, much like a cornered rat.
"You can't blame a guy for making a living" said Dolon, the words made Cicero growl louder.
"GRRRRRRRR."
"I do not believe that's a good enough answer. Now please, hand over all your surveillance equipment and I may let you go with just a warning" said Mortis in a flat and simple tone.
"Now buddy, this is a free country and I…" Dolon's words were halted on their tracks by a louder growl, Cicero did not like the answer and showed it by making his growl louder, showing very big teeth that promised very painful things. Dolon felt back, nervous about the dog. "Is he going to bite?"
"Not if I don't tell him" Mortis stepped in and squatted near Dolon, Dolon became uncomfortable when seeing Mortis's face up close, it looked rugged and rough, yet still had plenty of youth in it; it was the nearly expressionless non-nonchalant face he kept while talking that made Dolon feel that the man had confidence in his dog's training. "Now, you seem like a reasonable guy so I'll make you a deal, give me the camera, skip town for a few months and I will completely forget this ever happened."
Dolon blinked slowly, he thought Mortis was joking.
"You got to be kidding," said Dolon.
"Do I sound like I am kidding?" Cicero's growl loudened at the end of the phrase, Dolon was surprised at how good the Mortis guy was pulling a good cop, bad cop using his own dog. Dolon decided to play dumb next, a good way to extract information and buy time.
"Why are you so eager not to be seen with such a lovely lady, afraid husband will find out she is seeing you on the side?" Dolon made sure to play the clueless card, a thing he was an expert at.
Mortis's neutral expression gave way to a frown, Dolon could feel the patience of the man getting short by the second.
"I am not playing games here, either give me the camera now or I will make you regret what you are doing."
Dolon gave a grimace, not only Mortis kept his lips shut tight, Dolon could feel the animosity rising, and with it the consequences, Lucky for Dolon, and unfortunately for his assailant, he had an ace up his sleeve.
"Look buddy, I don't want no trouble" Dolon slowly stood up, leaning to his right side to position his revolver hidden in his sleeve ready to pull it out a la Taxi Driver. Dolon extended his left arm to offer Mortis the camera "Take the camera and let me be".
Mortis looked at the camera, then raised his terrifying green eyes and met Dolon's, which made the man sweat profusely, Dolon could hear the words before Mortis said them:
"Don't be an idiot and drop the gun".
Dolon panicked, like a monkey on a spring he jumped back as he dropped the camera and focused on pulling out his reliable Glock gun, the move was fast, but sloppy, in the heat of the moment Dolon could not act as he had practised, making his motions longer and clumsier than a man with a real plan and real training. Dolon could hear the eternity between the camera cracking against the pavement and him aiming properly.
"Don't move you bastard!" The shout was loud, and it was weak, a man in a panic hoping to intimidate a man ready for anything, and with the training to back it up, for Dolon did not have time to react when the fist sank into his face with the strength of a hammer and sent the weaselly man into a short flight that ended with his unconscious body hitting the ground.
Mortis looked around sure that there were no witnesses, he was lucky the gun did not discharge during the punch.
"Why can no one ever be reasonable?"
Dolon felt something tapping his face, he was annoyed and in pain, his jaw hurt and his nose felt as if it had been demolished. The taps continued until he opened his eyes and was greeted by Cicero, using his large paw to pester him awake.
"Uhuuu"
"Woof!" Cicero barked, alerting his master of Dolon regaining consciousness.
"You are awake, good" the words sounded distant and with an echo for Dolon, his vision was still blurry but he could make out the figure of Mortis standing near a flaming barrel as he tossed the camera in. Dolon tried to move, but found himself tied with what appeared to be pants, his pants to be precise, then Dolon noticed that he was stripped down to his underwear.
"Pay attention Gene, your life depends on it" Mortis threatened. Dolon focused, a punch like the one he received earlier makes a man a lot more attentive and respectful, particularly to the hand that dealt the damage.
"Who hired you to spy on the young woman?" asked Mortis.
"Ever heard of client confidentiality?" The answer was an automatic one, as a guy used to weasel his way out of things, not being straight was a common way to make things work for you.
Mortis did not get angry, he did not ever twitched, which made Dolon very uncomfortable, any other man Dolon knew who could punch like that would be cursing and threatening to hell and back, Mortis instead remained calm, he approached Dolon, squatted near Gene's naked foot and got a hold with it with a grip Dolon found as vicious as it was inescapable, Dolon realized that Mortis was far worst than he originally envisioned and Dolon may have made the Detective really angry.
"Wait, wait AHAAAAAAAAAAA!!!" The scream was loud, profound and primal, pain created by the breaking of bone.
"I just broke your left toe pinkie finger, I have nine other little piggies, either you are concise and straight or they all will bend to my will" threatened Mortis with deadpan seriousness.
"Okay! Okay! Just please no more!" pleaded Dolon.
"Then answer me this, who hired you to take pictures of the young lady?" inquired Mortis.
"I don't know…AHAAAAAAAA" Dolon wailed in pain again as Mortis broke his ring toe.
"I thought you understood what I said" Mortis register did not change, it was still calm and deadpan.
"I don't know! I swear! She just came in, asked for the job, and put a frigging lot of money so I would not ask questions!" shouted Dolon desperate.
"I see, she wanted to remain anonymous, lots of money. But that would make a man like you get even more curious, wouldn't you?" Mortis gave a soft smirk, he could read Dolon like an open book, Mortis knew a man like Dolon would get anything that he might later use as leverage on his client when the right time came.
"She was dressed in an expensive coat and tried to look like a high society lady, but she was not such, she looked like she was copying what she saw in movies. She kept her movements efficient and was very basic in her act, I pegged her for a cop or trained soldier of sorts" pleaded Dolon.
"Did she tell you why she wanted you to follow the young lady?"
"She-she said she wanted to prove she was dealing with charlatans and fools, that she had to protect her for her own good. I wanted to know more but she put a lot of money onto the table to keep it all as secret as possible" Dolon explained, too afraid to lie to Mortis.
"Describe the woman" demanded Mortis.
"Expensive clothes really, wide brim hat, but the hair, it was a wig, she was good but the heavy make up could not hide it all".
"Heavy make-up?"
"Like a whole layer, she tried to look like dark bronze, but I noticed the point where the wig began."
"Skin? Eye Colour? Accent?"
"I don't know…" Dolon twisted in pain as Mortis was twisting his middle left toe, slowly this time "OH GOD! SHE WHORE SHADES"
"Give me something or this little piggy becomes bacon" Mortis threatened. It was terrifying to see that no matter how much Dolon struggled, Mortis could keep the foot and leg in a perfect lock; not in an adrenalin-induced twist and desperation Dolon could release his foot from the grip, or move his leg for that matter.
"Oh god please! I couldn't tell the skin!" The crack sound was loud, only Dolon's scream was louder.
"Give me something else or…" Mortis threatened as he gripped the pointer toe and wiggled it slightly.
"Scar! On her left wrist!" Dolon shouted.
"Scar?"
"Wrist scar, it was partially covered by make-up, but I noticed, the sweat under the watch must have dissolved the make-up, it was partially covered, but the scar looked big" Dolon spat in a panic.
Mortis made a mental note of the scar, now that was useful information, Mortis knew that whoever paid good money for a nobody like Dolon to track down Miss Frigg would keep themselves as anonymous as possible, particularly with the stakes and the low pool of candidates to choose from. It sounded like whoever was after the Frigg family was a very big fish testing the waters.
"I assume she left you a phone number to contact her, and that she came and left by taxi" pointed Mortis.
Dolon nodded as frantically as he could in his weakened state. Mortis had all he needed so far. Mortis pulled Dolon's wallet and showed all the business cards in there to Dolon.
"Third from the left," said Dolon without needing to be asked. Mortis picked it up and put the rest on the wallet, then proceeded to take the money from the wallet, which made a big wad, and dropped the empty wallet in front of Dolon, who did not complain, just looked at the scene dejected.
"Anything else?" asked Mortis as he stood up. Dolon took a defeated look at the money and shook his head negatively.
"It has been a pleasure Mr. Dolon. I suggest you now skip town as fast as you can, lay low, I heard Colorado is nice this time of year, but never set foot in my city again, understood?"
Dolon lowered his head, and gave a wimpy "Yes" that made Mortis nod.
"Good. And friendly warning, if you come back I will know, and I will kill you" Mortis said as he stood up, Dolon could hear the clear finality of the last two words, it was not a threat, it was a promise.
On his way out Mortis picked a couple of engraved stones from the floor, then he tipped his hat to Dolon.
"Good night my good sir."
Mortis stepped out of the alleyway with Cicero by his side and took a look at his phone, he had wasted half an hour with Dolon, causing a lot of new texts dropping in, all of them from the same person, and all of them demanding him to get his proverbial ass there or have his own ass handed to him. Mortis pocketed the phone again and looked at Cicero, who looked back at him "Some people Cicero, they have no sense of patience".
Mortis walked back to his car, his night shift was far from over.
On his way to his car Mortis made a stop in front of an old homeless veteran, he was asleep, hugging a small dog for safety and comfort as he twitched with a dream of wars long gone, and comrades lost forever. As dreams piled up Mortis donated the old man the contents of Dolon's wallet, and the Detective went on his dangerous ways.