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The subway was very busy tonight, so busy that Bigby was desperately trying not to accidentally push into anyone’s shoulders. There were no seats left, so he was awkwardly standing there, in the center of the subway car, holding onto the handgrip above him, as several people around him were having to do the same. He felt as if he had been herded into a sardine can. Bigby typically preferred to walk, however, it was pouring rain and Detective Faye preferred to meet at 79th St Station, close to the Museum of Natural History, but not right next to it. Did she live close to the station? He wasn’t really thinking about that at the moment, he was mostly concerned with getting off of the cramped train as soon as possible.
He looked out the window of the subway car, the words came into shape along the aged tile as the train came to a crawl and everything outside stopped blurring together, 79th St, this was his stop. The relief that washed over Bigby was immediate; he hastily pushed through the crowded car to the entrance, accidentally bumping into others while trying to make his way out. Finding himself on the platform, a cool breeze hit Bigby’s face the moment he exited the subway car, he could see and hear people and cars below him. He made his way to the stairway and climbed down onto the sidewalk. It was late in the afternoon and the sun would begin to set soon. But many people were still out and about, the summer months were often very hot and nonforgiving. So it was common to see people prefer to go out later in the day when it wasn’t as hot.
Bigby didn’t see Faye yet, but he figured she had probably gotten held up or something. There were several small stores surrounding the station. The area seemed to have a strong community based on initial appearances. Bigby leaned back against the front of the stairway fence pole and reached for his cigarettes and lighter. He figured he would wait there for Faye to arrive.
It didn’t take long for Faye to arrive, he only had to wait about ten to fifteen minutes or so. “I’m so sorry! I had something come up suddenly and got held up, but I’m here now.” Faye gasped, presumably out of breath, she must have run straight here. So, it wouldn’t be too blunt to assume that she lives close by. “It’s fine, no worries,” nodded Bigby. He threw the cigarette he’d been smoking onto the sidewalk and smooshed it flat with his heel, “Let’s get started” he added. Faye nodded in agreement; “follow me, this way” she gestured.
She walked with a brisk pace, whatever she wanted to show him must have been serious. He’d come into contact with Faye about a month or so ago while investigating a crime scene they’d both gone to. They ran into each other there. Typically Bigby would never agree to work with a mundy, especially not when his investigation involved magic of any sort. However, having been exiled from Fabletown and deprived of his usual resources, he was left in a position where he didn’t really have much of a choice, and desperately needed any kind of support he could get.
”Can you tell me a little bit about what we’re walking into,” Inquired Bigby, she had called him saying she’d found something ‘game changing’ but hadn’t really provided any further information than that. Faye opened her mouth to say something and then closed it and paused; she seemed to be thinking deeply about what to say. “It’s like nothing I’ve ever seen before, and if I explain it you’ll think I’m crazy” she admitted. Her face shifted in unease while she said it, “I haven’t told the precinct at all yet, I’m afraid they’ll think I’m ill-equipped as a detective and I could lose my badge,” she warily added. I raised my eyebrow, I was surprised to see her so concerned, she’d been so calm and put together up to now. What could she have found? “Why do you think you could lose your badge,” Bigby responded. Faye paused for a moment and looked at Bigby, “You just have to see it to believe it, trust me, I’ll tell you more from there,” she said.
“… Alright,” Bigby didn’t like not knowing what he was walking into, but he also knew this was unusual for Faye. So, if this wasn’t something serious, then she probably wouldn’t be acting in this frenzied manner. He didn’t know her very well, but he was sure of this from what he did understand about her. He did worry that she had found something pertaining to magical qualities and was too afraid to admit it without appearing mad. Up to now, he’d kept anything relating to Fabletown and magic a secret, so she had no reason to think, or even know for that matter, that Bigby was well acquainted with such things. He’d already been exiled from Fabletown for a crime he didn’t commit, he didn’t want to give them further reason for his exile by possibly exposing Fabletown to the entirety of the NYPD.
Detective Faye continued to walk quickly, making fast and brisk steps in her wake. Bigby calmly walked beside her, keeping up with her pace so as to not lose her in the crowd of people walking the streets alongside them. Taking in his surroundings, Bigby took note of the small stores they walked past. Some had owners sitting out front, greeting customers and chatting with regulars. The aroma of many smells hit Bigby, foods spanning many cultures, the abhorrent smell of sewage that came from the manhole covers lining the sidewalk, cigarette smoke. It all seemed very intimate in a way, all these people had their own lives, their own troubles, their own victories, and they were allowing themselves to be vulnerable with those they feel they can trust. This was all very interesting to Bigby; how did they succeed in doing such a challenging thing as being vulnerable with another person?
While Bigby was in though, he’d sort of gone in auto pilot with how long they had been walking, he startled when Faye suddenly made a sharp turn into an alley in between the break of two buildings. He followed her into the alley, there was a garbage bin at the end against the brick wall and garbage littered the ground. The smell overwhelmed Bigby somewhat; he reached into his pocket to light a cigarette. “Up there, in that apartment,” pointed Faye, “I went up to investigate and couldn’t believe my eyes, I immediately called you before proceeding any further’ she explained. Bigby looked up towards the apartment Faye had just pointed to. It was on the third floor of the building and there was a fire escape going from the ground floor to the roof outside the window of the unit.
He took a drag of his cigarette and exhaled slowly, he had a feeling this simple tip was going to end up being something much more stressful and serious; he wasn’t particularly excited about that sneaking suspicion. “Alright, why don’t we make our way up there, and you can tell me more when we get inside,” concluded Bigby. Faye looked at Bigby and then back up to the apartment and then exhaled deeply, “Ok, sounds good,” she said.
They warily made their way up the fire escape; Faye easily made her way up, however, with Bigby’s larger stature and the fire escapes smaller size, he had some difficulties making his way up to the third floor balcony of the structure. “BANG” Bigby accidentally hit his head on one of the overhead platforms while trying to climb up the stairs. “Ow! Damn it...” He exclaimed as he reached for the top of his head. Faye abruptly looked over shoulder to see where the sudden yelp had come from and saw Bigby gripping at his head. He could see a laugh forming in her mouth but she was desperately trying to hold it in, which resulted in her forming a rather strange expression where her cheeks were sort of puffed out while her eyes were squished tight as if the act of not laughing took deep focus for Faye. In turn, Bigby found himself having a hard time not chuckling at the silly expression.
“…Come on, we need to get up to the apartment-“ Faye said hastily, Bigby abruptly nodded in agreement, wanting to forget about what had just occurred. Both of them quickly made their way to the third floor platform of the fire escape and looked into the window. The window was stained with dark crimson splotches in certain areas, Bigby began to fear the worse. What if this was another fable-related murder? Only six months after the plot with the crooked man. Bigby’s mind began to turn, this was getting more and more concerning on top of the mounting stress he was experiencing. Faye cautiously reached towards the bottom of the window and slowly slid the window open with an upwards gesture.
A strong and foul smell spilled out of the window, Faye and Bigby both scrunched their noses and furrowed their brows at the repugnant smell. This took Bigby by surprise, it smelled like a corpse that had been left to decay for some time. They both looked at each other, now even more on edge, they carefully made their way through the window into the apartment. Did Faye find a diseased body in this apartment, got scared, and then went to call Bigby for help? Bigby wasn’t exactly sure, and he was set on getting a clear understanding of things by the end of this adventure he was having with the detective.
Inside, Bigby was able to get a clearer look at the inside of the apartment, it was a mess. The pale green wallpaper was peeling off the walls and the hardwood floor was splintering in several sections, he could tell this apartment had been in disrepair even before its current predicament. The unit was small, much like his own in the Woodlands. There was a small kitchen area lining the corner of the main dining room next to where they had entered from the fire escape window. The floor surrounding the kitchen section consisted of cheap faded white tile. There was a dining table with two chairs next to the kitchen. Across the room was a couch with a small coffee table in front of it; there was a small tv sitting on an equally small tv stand in front of the coffee table. Some plants littered the room. All the furniture looked second-hand, it seemed whoever had resided here had a tight budget.
There were splotches of the same dark crimson substance littering the floor, same as the spots Bigby had seen on the window. He kneeled down to get a closer look. “Tell me everything that happened when you first found this place,” Bigby said bluntly. Faye seemed taken aback for a moment and looked down, seemingly trying to organize her thoughts on how she was going to explain all of this. Bigby ran his finger over the crimson blemish covering the hardwood floor and held it up to his nose, making sure he was facing away from Faye and that she wasn’t looking as he did this to ensure she didn’t begin to get wary. It was blood, just as he feared, it was about two days old at this point. Bigby stood up slowly and looked towards the detective, patiently waiting for her explanation. She looked back up at him.
”I got a tip at the station, my coworker, detective Brannigan, mentioned that residents in this building called complaining of a foul odor coming from this apartment,” began Faye, “I had a feeling it was something serious and told her I would go and scope out the area this morning. I was concerned about the smell when I got here and all the blood seen around the apartment, but it wasn’t until I got to the bedroom that I knew this was something grievous and decided to contact you as soon as I could,” Faye added. She pointed towards a door along the back wall of the living room, opposite of where they’d come in through the window. “In there,” she said, “That’s where I found something that changes this whole entire investigation,” she concluded.
Bigby looked at the bedroom door, it seemed benign from the outside, which only further dismayed him when thinking what deplorable crime scene could be behind the door. He began to take deep breaths, preparing himself for the worst. They walked towards the door, and Bigby set his ear against it, trying to see if anyone was inside. It was completely silent on the other side, he could hear nothing but the low murmur
of the thermostat running. He stepped back from the door, and scratched at his chin. He looked towards the door knob, exhaled, and slowly cracked the door open.
Faye followed after him. What he saw offered more questions than answers. The blood in this room was everywhere, as if it had been purposely smeared onto every surface, it was deeply ominous to say the least. And on the bed lay the remains of a man and a woman, who appeared to be his wife, frozen with an expression of fear on both of their faces while they lay in each other's embrace. It was as if their exact final moment had been captured in time. Both their eyes were glossed over and their skin had a blue hue, it looked like they had been frozen in ice in a way. Overlooking the bed, there was a large symbol defacing the wall. It appeared to be some kind of symbol, it looked a little bit like a constellation, but he couldn’t recognize it all. This deeply concerned Bigby, it seemed there was serious magic at play here. He looked down at the frozen couple, he wasn’t sure if they had been fables or mundy’s. He couldn’t recognize them off the top of his head.
”I found them like this… and there was all this blood and that… symbol,” explained Faye, “I didn’t know what to do… I was hoping you could help find more clues as to what happened to this couple,” added Faye. Bigby paused for a little bit, trying to take in everything. “I’m not sure yet, but I’m going to get to the bottom of it,” He concluded. “I’m going to help, this man and woman deserved better than this, they deserve justice and their relatives deserve closure,” insisted Faye. Bigby looked at Faye and sighed; he had been hoping to keep her out of this investigation as much as possible. He was worried about her discovering the existence of Fabletown and magic, and he simply couldn’t trust that she would keep that secret and not go straight to the police and report her discovery. On the other hand, she was a city official and it wasn’t like he could just tell her no, he’d be incriminating himself further if he made it obvious he didn’t want her involved which would make her grow suspicious of him.
“Alright, fine,” Bigby said, “But we need to take samples and then clean up the crime scene before we leave, after we can inspect the evidence and try to find out what happened here” He concluded. Fayed nodded in agreement, ‘let’s start with these two,” she concurred. She fetched a small serology kit from her coat pocket and quickly got to work. Bigby gazed at her, he felt a deep gurgle of anxiety building up deep inside of him. She was already getting more involved than he had wanted her to. On top of that, he was beginning to grow fond of her, admiring her dedication to her craft and devotion to the case. He appreciated her attempts at maintaining a calm demeanor even in the face of great atrocities, such as this one.
He made a glance towards the cryptic symbol above the bed. He needed to start documenting the crime scene while Faye gathered evidence. He reached for a small camera in his pocket and made sure to wind the knob on the camera to advance the film. He aimed the camera towards the symbol, looking through the viewfinder to make sure the symbol was in frame. He pressed down on the shutter button, a bright white flash engulfed Bigby for a split second as he shot the picture.