Sproutlinger Hotel.
Avery Mason walked on his toes as he made his way through the hallway. He was still in his bathrobe, water was dripping from his feet and fingers. But he did not pay attention at all. His mouth was smiling, but his eyes were numb. His pupils were unfocused, even a little dilated. A few guests passed by him, confused, surprised and slightly disturbed. He paid them no mind.
He pushed open the doors to the internal fire escape stairs. He walked up the cold, concrete stairs. The pale light, the white walls, the cold air, the handrail whose paint coating was fading, none of them bothered him. He just kept on walking.
He exited the staircase on the eighth floor. The air grew colder, strong wind gushing through the hallway almost blew his bathrobe off. He still continued walking - along a dark mark on the carpet from wear and tear. When a long blank wall appeared to his left, he stopped in the middle and turned towards it.
A door appeared in front of him. His smile grew wider, as he opened the door and stepped in.
Behind the door was a luxury room, clean sheets, padded chairs with fine fabric on top. Bottles of fine liquor on a small table near his bed. The carpet was new and clean, the chandelier was bright, and the phonograph playing gentle music provided a rather calm and even romantic atmosphere. He walked around the room. He stopped by the bed. He laid on it for a very brief moment before sitting straight.
He walked onto the balcony. With a smile on his face, he threw himself over the rails.
"Shit." Wu Xiaoming was just visiting the area to check out the hotel once again, he did not expect this many police presence. He approached from behind the wall of people and jumped up a bit to take a peek - it appeared that in the parking lot behind the hotel's main building the police had blocked off an area with police tapes. And within the enclosure of the tapes, he could see a pool of blood and what looked like a human body covered by black plastic tarp - another dead body.
He focused his vision to take a few more peeks. From under the tarp, a little bit of black smoke was leaking out - not a lot, just enough to catch his attention.
"Did the guy jump?" One onlooker asked.
"Yeah, just earlier today, man. REAL fucking scary!" Another answered.
"Well - what the fuck happened?" The first pedestrian asked.
"Beats me. I just heard the security guard say the guy checked in last night and just jumped."
The murmurs and gossips from other onlookers were just as meaningless for the most part. Just to stay well informed, he went to a small coffee shop on the same street, ordered a coffee and sat down just so he could keep an eye on it.
As he concentrated, the conversation among those gathered around the scene still made it to his ears, even some exchanges done in whispers. His senses had definitely been strengthened along with his other physical abilities, for he simply did not remember being able to eavesdrop this easily, especially in a loud street like this.
Just as he was trying to discern the relevancy of the security guard's connection with an alleged cleaning maid to the actual death of the unfortunate soul, two individuals approached Wu Xiaoming.
"Hello sir, can we talk to you for a sec?" A male voice spoke to Wu Xiaoming, "We're from the LAPD."
Wu Xiaoming looked up at the two individuals - both police officers, who showed them their badges. A male and a female - the male looked particularly familiar.
"Wait - Wu Xiaoming?" The male police officer opened his eyes: "What are you doing here?"
"I - uh, I'm just here to have some coffee - " Wu Xiaoming was embarrassed - he did not recognize this man immediately, so he had to look into his memories, or he should say, the previous Wu Xiaoming's memories. Lucky for him, he was able to dig it up without too much effort or time - this man's name was Du Bai, his childhood friend. The female police officer, on the other hand, he did not know at all. "How can I help you?"
"We saw you around, since we're asking people for information regarding the hotel, we figured we'd ask you some basic questions." Du Bai sat down on the chair before him, professional but still displaying a bit of concern for Wu Xiaoming: "How are you doing?"
"Good." Wu Xiaoming nodded as the two police officers sat in front of him: "What - what happened right there?"
"Well, we can't tell you too much - but yeah, a man was dead." Du Bai shook his head: "Were you here earlier?"
"No - I just got here, maybe five - six minutes ago." Wu Xiaoming shrugged.
"Did you see anything suspicious?" Jennifer Williams, the female officer, asked.
"Uhh - not really, I just came here and saw the scene like everyone else."
"Okay - and have you been to this hotel before? " Du Bai asked.
"Yeah - I came here a few days ago with the crew to - " Wu Xiaoming answered almost out of instinct, but then he remembered the list of NDAs he signed before agreeing to go on the show: "I'm sorry, but - I really can't tell you much about the show."
"A show? What show?" Jennifer Williams frowned.
"Well - it's a show, but - I'm sorry, but I really can't say. I have some NDAs." Wu Xiaoming shook his head: "Or, if you contact Worldly Entertainment and ask about the show being shot there. But - I really can't say - "
"Do you wanna get obstruction-of-justice-ed?" Jennifer Williams pressed again, but Du Bai stopped her.
"Okay, but at least tell us when you were here, and if you saw anything." Du Bai asked with a soft tone.
"Just a few days ago - you can ask the hotel staff, they know we were there." Wu Xiaoming was slightly flustered and did not really have a good idea how to properly respond: "But yeah, we didn't see anything strange - but - "
"But what?" Jennifer Williams narrowed her eyes at Wu Xiaoming.
"But - haven't you heard the hotel is haunted? Like - people jump off the building for no reason haunted?" Wu Xiaoming took a deep breath - this kind of misdirection should not be forbidden by the NDA, at least he hoped.
"Okay?" Du Bai sighed and shook his head: "We're the police, we're not priests. We don't deal with this kind of information."
"Well - okay." Wu Xiaoming sighed: "But then I can't really tell you much. Because I am also just - I just don't know anything about the guy who jumped."
"How'd you know it was a guy?" Jennifer Williams leaned forward again.
Wu Xiaoming leaned back, for the close proximity and the light interrogatory attitude was a bit too much: "Uh - I didn't, I just used a general 'guy'. But - what do we know about him? Is he - does he happen to be related to Sproutlinger? I mean the original owner of the hotel?"
"Dude, seriously?" Du Bai put his hand down from his forehead, his move was too abrupt and lack of care his arm just banged the table, almost flipping Wu Xiaoming's coffee cup. "Oh! Sorry!"
Wu Xiaoming caught his cup and put it back in its place before it could spill too much: "Hey - no worries. I'm just as blind to it as you guys. "
"Alright." Jennifer Williams gave Du Bai a slightly frustrated stare before handing Wu Xiaoming a simple business card with her contact information: "Call us if you can remember anything, will you?"
"Um, yeah - yeah, of course." Wu Xiaoming did not appear to have much of a choice.
"Okay, are you still at your old place? We may have some follow up questions that could use your help." Du Bai leaned back a little and asked.
"No - I'm - I'm staying at my father's place right now." Wu Xiaoming could only scratch his head. Maybe it was because HE did not rent the apartment, that very apartment in that somewhat luxurious apartment complex only came to mind just now. From his latent memories, his rent was already 1 month past due. At this point his belongings might have been thrown out and his key had been deactivated already.
"Okay. Thank you very much." Du Bai stood up and was ready to leave with Jennifer Williams: "Take care, alright?"
"Alright."
"I mean it." Du Bai almost walked away, but he had to double back: "Please take care of yourself, alright?"
Wu Xiaoming looked this officer in the eyes: "Okay. You have my word."