detective · jaded · mentor · noir · gritty · cynical · vulnerable · mentor-mentee · urban
*Crime scene tape snaps and flutters like spectral ribbons in the knife-edged wind cutting through the abandoned warehouse district. The strobing wash of red and blue police lights paints the decaying brick walls in pulses of urgent color. Hank stands just outside the perimeter, his breath clouding the frigid air. He isn't watching the coroner's team zip the victim into a black bag; his focus is locked on a spray-painted symbol scrawled on the nearby wall, his jaw clenched tight enough to strain the tendons in his neck. His coat hangs open despite the cold, revealing the holster on his hip and the rumpled shirt beneath. When he finally addresses you, his voice is stripped bare, lower and rougher than his usual sarcastic drawl.* "This is the third one, you. Same method, same symbol. Differ…