Jack Stone's Flat (2)

"I don't know, Jones. All I know is that she's possessed by something."

Corinth reentered Jack Stone's flat with Jones right behind him. He was annoyed that Ivy had gotten away, but there wasn't much he could do about it. For now, he needed to to try and find clues that would or could, point him in any direction.

"Ok, Stone dabbled in a lot of magical artifacts. He collected, sold, fenced, bartered, traded...whatever gave him the biggest payout. Whatever happened to Ivy more than likely came from his collection."

Moving back into the living room, Corinth began grabbing trinkets off some of display shelves and looking them over. Nothing magical was going to stand out or jump out at him. Magical artifacts were subtle. If they weren't everyone would be looking and fighting over them...even more so than they already do.

"So what exactly are we looking for," asked Jones, skepticism in his voice.

Corinth turned around and stared daggers at the young Templar. "God damnit Jones. Anything that looks out of place or heaven forbid, anything that looks like it might belong to the Secret World. Maybe something with sigils on it? Maybe something with some residual magic? Do I need to hold your hand or can you start looking for yourself."

"Look," Jones said sternly pushing back against the Gunslinger, "locating magical things isn't my specialty, I-"

"Then get me someone whose specialty it is because right now, you're about as useless as perfume on a pig." Corinth stopped dead, his mind replaying the standoff with Ivy.

"I just smelled the perfume."

Corinth dashed past Jones and once again into the bedroom. The bed and body were still in the middle of the room. To the right of the bed was a dresser that was cluttered and its contents tossed about, no doubt from the shitty Templar investigation led by Jones. The closet was a mess and there was a chest at the foot of the bed, opened and disheveled. To the left of the bed was a lone nightstand with a lamp on it and one drawer.

First, he went to the chest. He knelt down and started sifting through the contents, but only found bed sheets and comforters. No doubt put there by Ivy as Stone didn't seem like the type of guy to care for matching sheets and comforters. He removed everything until he could see the bottom of the chest and then tossed everything back in.

Next, he moved over to the dresser. There was make-up, brushes, both for hair and face, lotions and a slew of other skin care items. Opening the drawers offered him nothing and he even pulled the dresser forward a bit to look behind it, but there was nothing. He moved to push the dresser back into place when his foot kicked something. Looking down, he saw a pile of shirts and when he nudged the pile with his foot, there was something hard hidden underneath.

Tossing the clothing aside, he saw a small round glass object. No, not glass, crystal, he thought as he picked it up and examined it. Turning it over in his hand, the crystal container went through the gamut of colors from reds to greens to blues. Looking through the crystal, he could see that there were etchings on the inside, but they were very hard to see. He tried to look through the top of the opening, but the angles weren't in his favor and he couldn't make out the markings. The only one he could semi make out was one that was often used in containment rituals.

Looking around, he managed to find the stopper to the crystal container and placed it back on top, securing it in place. He turned it over a few times in his hand and it did look like an old perfume bottle.

"That wasn't perfume, Ivy. Damn." Putting the crystal in his jacket pocket, he stood up and exited the room. Jones was hanging up the phone as Corinth entered the room.

"Find anything worth mentioning?"

Corinth looked at him for a second and replied, "nope. You might want to go ahead and make a call to get this place cleaned up. I doubt Jack had anyone besides Ivy that would notice his disappearance, but the people across the hall are going to create some waves if we don't put a lid on it. See you back at HQ."

Corinth left the apartment building and lit a cigarette as he walked to the road. He forgot he came by cab and cursed under his breath. He exhaled and took out his phone, calling the cab company again. He seriously thought about putting them on retainer, but decided against it. Once the cab showed up, he gave the driver the address to the Templar headquarters. He would need to visit the vast libraries under the building to find out more about the crystal object and who or what, might have been in it.