[SquirrelDude]

Slobbertooth listens to the call for a bit while thinking about the incorrect implants. We got us a worked over face, burned fingerprints, and incorrect cyber? He probably ain't got a SIN to compare genetics too...

"Maybe he ain't fragged? Surely the safe-house's owner, whatever she might be to him, would have heard about it by now with her connections."

[Sabato Kuroi]

Torrent turns to bnc

"Can you find anything about this pretty face  before I reply?Maybe she knows something useful"

[Jack_Spade]

It takes bnc only a few seconds to hack into the cheap commlink of the caller: The location is indeed Moma Chau's and the registered SIN on it identifies her as Maria Souza, her social media page gives her name as "Candy" and tells you she is specialized on massages, French and Russian.
There are no saved messages from Scary, but she seems to have a bit of blackmail material on some business man, including videos. There are a few call logs with Scary Spice - but only date and time. Those tell you, that Scary contacted her yesterday and the day before two times each.

[Volker]

bnc gives Torrent the information he wants.
Before (or after) his call, she frowns again, musing over some thoughts. "Do we know how old the cosmetic modifications are? Has he been changed just recently? If so, the dead victim might not even be Scary Spice.

"Aber Sunkid. It's easy to double-check our suspicion. We can call him anytime. I can take a blood sample and find out whether he has laes in his system, or not. We shouldn't wait too long, though. I can't guarantee how long traces can be found. Shall I call him?"

[Volker]

Wait a sec... Lung Feng... A Chinese couple? Drek!

"Be prepared for some more mojo drek, boys. Our restaurant owner might be a spell slinger! Lemme check!"

bnc tries to find out what she can about Lung and his supposed wife. She digs a bit deeper, too, if he's not a registered mage.

[Jack_Spade]

A quick search reveals the following:
Lung himself has no magic regarding his public profile and neither is he married - but this Triad connections definitely do have some major mojo at their disposal and they do employ couples. His restaurants were investigated some years prior, but no evidence could be produced that he was a fence, slave-trader or that he was laundering money for the Triads...

[SgtBoomCloud]

Krestov remained silent during the whole exchange, seeing the wheels of possibilities and twists form as the time ticked by moment by moment.  Eventually, he slumped his shoulders, the big troll giving a little sigh.  "Too many unknown parts to story to make good conclusion, but all are possible.  Seems only course of action is digging further?"

[SquirrelDude]

"Well let's get a move on then, I've always kind of wondered how a manaball reacts to flechette rounds"

[Volker]

"I suggest we contact Sunkid. If we can prove or disprove that he has drunk the soykaf, we know more, and have no risk at all. After that, we can either investigate the crime scene or, if you want to risk fucking with the Triads, Lung Feng.  I'd prefer the least suicidal options. I'm already killing myself the chemical way..."

[SgtBoomCloud]

Krestov gave a little shrug.  "Thought that is what you having me for, malyutka.  That being said, you have point.  Slob, Lung Feng at known location, public business.  Can dig easily, but crime scene decay with time.  Should go there first."  He gave a nod of affirmation, settling into his seat as he rubbed his temples with thick fingertips.

[Jack_Spade]

Murphy's Laws of Combat: 33. Things which must be shipped together as a set, aren't.


That decided, the team went to look at the site of the murder.

Seattle, Tacoma, May 6th, 00:20h

The Stuffer Shack was utterly unremarkable, except that he was a bit less secure than the harbor region would suggest. A paltry level 2 host provided the business with matrix services. Only two staff members were visible, the rest was made up of drones and vending machines.
On the pavement there were still faint traces of blood and coffee visible, but the famous sour rain of Seattle would remove them soon more thoroughly than any cleaning agent.

A nearby alley showed signs of habitation and a food vendor had set up shop only 20m from the site, selling an assortment of cheap fast food from behind a think wire mesh - mostly to junkies and stoners that found a hungry graving around midnight.

[Volker]

bnc looks around. Where to begin..? Well, everybade start at their turf, I guess.

"Somebody should talk to the people around: workers in the stuffer shack, inhabitants, that shop owner over there. I'll try and find out what I can."

Before she goes online, however, she gets a vial from her chemistry toolkit and moves over to the spot where Sunkid (supposedly) died. There she tries to take a blood sample for further investigation, hoping against hope that it's not utterly worthless. There can be a lot of info in a single drop of blood, but time and environment are playing against her.
After that she gets back to the van, closes the door and locks them from inside. She makes a rough analysis of the blood drops. If the results are - as expected - frustrating, she leaves her meat body and does what she can do best. First she identifies open and hidden sources of matrix activity. cameras, security measurements, nearby hosts, basically everything. She investigates each and every icon for anomalities, interesting contents and, of course, system shut-downs in the recent past.

Looking for hidden icons:
Matrix perception: 13d6t5 6

Some more perception tests:
Matrix perception: 13d6t5 0 This was my worst roll ever. Let's hope it was nothing important.
Matrix perception: 13d6t5 1
Matrix perception: 13d6t5 5
Matrix perception: 13d6t5 3
Matrix perception: 13d6t5 4

[Jack_Spade]

A mixture of soycaf, blood and dirt. The only thing she could be sure of is that the blood type was AB+ and that it was regular stuff withoug any gene treatments. bnc found a lot of cameras close by. Most of them were part of the Stuffer Shack host, but two belonged to parked cars that recorded and uploaded everytime an object comes to close. Hacking those wouldn't pose much of a problem, since they were only part of a PAN with a cheap commlink (DV3).

So far the story checks out: In the morning for about a minute every matrix activity was droned out by noise. But one of the cars might have something: According to the public visible modding profile, it's owner did recently upgrade it with an offline storage - probably to have his enormous Jazz collection available without network access.

[SquirrelDude]

Slobbertooth paces around the crime scene, doing his best to observe and take note of the physical evidence that is left.

Perception: 14d6t5 6

[SgtBoomCloud]

Seeing the others go about their business, Krestov decided to best spend his time asking around.  The food establishment seemed like a best bet; the owner definitely did not seem the type to want to talk to cops.  Lumbering over there, he approached, a smile on his face.

"Got anything good?"[/color]  He inquired politely as he made it to the main opening of the establishment.  "Given smell, am surprised not having line.  Bad week for business, I take it?"