Fallen Ravens

Chapter Five: It's Not The Fall

"What are you saying then? He just... vanished?"

Meena stared at the photographs again, trying to find something—anything—that she could follow to a more likely answer. Even when she looked back to the whiteboards, nothing came together. All the pieces had been mixed up and jumbled in such a way it was like she wasn't even looking at the same puzzle.

"Michael, let's go," she grabbed her trench coat and slipped her arm through the sleeves, popping the collar up right after. "Oi, Guv."

Her boss, DSU William Hughes looked up from his desk.

"DS Walker and I are going to GCHQ."

"Lead about the White Tower case?" he asked.

"Not necessarily," she answered. "Just hit a bit of a wall with the CCTV feed. Need to get some more info about the system."

DSU Hughes nodded, but kept quiet. He got up from his seat and asked, "DS Walker, mind giving us a moment?"

"Wait for me in the car," DCI Vale said. She entered the office and closed the door, wondering what her boss wanted to say. "What's going on?"

"The Ravens," he started.

"Oh, Guv, please," she rolled her eyes.

"Meena, this is serious. If the Ravens are gone or have been lost, then it's only a matter if time," DSU Hughes said.

"A matter of time for what, sir? The Ravens not being at the Tower is meant to frighten us, nothing more," she said. "I promise you this, Guv, whoever killed Tyler Winlock got rid of the birds too. I don't who, why, or how—"

"So, all the pressing questions?" he asked.

"But!" she continued on. "I know that it's all connected. And I know England will not fall. All I need to find out now is who, and I have the key to answer all our questions."

DSU Hughes huffed and clenched his jaw. DCI Vale didn't say another word and left her boss' office. When she got into her car and put the key into the ignition, she caught the glance of her Sergeant from the corner of her eye.

"What did Hughes want?" he asked. Meena pressed her foot against the gas and they peeled out of the garage.

They drove for a while in silence. Then, she asked, "Michael, are you scared?"

"About what?"

"About the lost Ravens."

He let out a chuckle and stared out his passenger side window, watching as the people and other cars blurred by. Meena sent him a glance, waiting for an answer.

"No, Guv," he grinned. "Of course not."

"Well, Hughes is," she kept her eyes on the road, but from her periphery, DCI Vale saw the mild worry flash across Walker's face. "And so am I."

"Are you serious?"

"Well I wouldn't be bloody saying it if I wasn't," Meena snapped, giving a slight head turn. She let out a deep breath and weaved her head about like a dancing snake. "Look, let's say that the murderer isn't responsible for the Ravens, and they really were lost or flew away. What then? Does White Tower really crumble? Does the Crown fall?"

Meena had never admitted that out loud before, afraid that if she did, she'd lose all her credibility as a Detective Chief Inspector. A title that she earned, even when all the bullshit that she dealt with on a day to day basis might've just been enough to make her quit. So admitting to this urban legend, being scared by it, was something that she thought she couldn't afford. However, when Hughes said something, it was like he gave her and all his subordinates permission. Permission to be afraid. Permission to not know if the answer to her question was one of this world, or one that she could not see.

DS Walker turned away from her and stared out the front window now, his eyes bouncing from side to side. "Do you believe that our suspect, whoever that is, has nothing to do with the Ravens?"

"No. I think they do," she said before falling silent. "But I don't know if that's because I really believe it, or if it's because I'm too terrified to accept any other possibility."

"Any and all units, please respond. Any and all units, please respond. We have a Code Two: Ten-Eighty," a female operator voice said over the the station issued police radio. "I repeat, we have a Code Two: Ten-Eighty. White Tower has fallen."

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