[Citadel Noir, Tayseri Ward] Paradise

"Hrm. My gut's telling me this is a newbie's handiwork, but you're right. Could be an aberration in the killer's established pattern. I-"

Celeste cut herself off, waving a hand as if trying to shoo off a bothersome fly at the 'honour' and 'lady matriarch' stuff from Denarius and T'Jurali. " 'Lady Matriarch' makes me feel old and useless. Call me Miss D'Anais if you're that desperate."

Her train of thought was again cut off a little as she quickly retraced T'Jurali's steps with her eyes, spotting the bent grate. Part of her was almost insulted with how blatant the killer was being. Could at least have the goddess-damned courtesy to not be a colossal fuckup when you've made it your life's work to rob people of theirs.

"Officer Denarius. Officer... T'Jurali." A half-second pause as her eyes found the nametag. "I'm sure you've been briefed but, in case anything was lost in translation, here it is. I am not here for this crime. I was in the middle of tracking a known pirate and war criminal that I believe has gone to ground here on the Citadel. Apparently I am supposed to take you away as a chaperone."

She looked down at the body again and clenched her jaw. "Clearly I will not actually be doing that. If you wish, you may continue with your work here as if I didn't even exist. So long as this killer is loose you have my solemn word that I will not do even the slightest thing to hinder your investigation. However, if you'll permit me, I would be happy to assist in any way I could. For example..."

Celeste sidled past the pair and crouched beside the bent grate. "Leaping through this sketchy-ass grate to see if I can pick up a trail," she finished.

"Detective Jiang, I remind you that everything is being recorded and I implore you to find some professionalism or I will be reporting my own recording of this investigation to internal affairs and human resources." He turned to the witness, Kio Requiatem, and cleared his throat. "I'm sorry about that, sir. As I said, my name is Judah Wescott, I live just a block from here. I'm sorry that you've stumbled onto such a thing and I'd like to get your statement. Anything you can give me can help our investigation."

Silence.

Heaven recoiled. Hell trembled. The Earth shattered. All of existence waiting with baited breath to see what happened next, whether or not the dearest Xiaofan would endure this latest indignity or if Wescott would shortly experience the singular sensation of choking on his own teeth. Behind the Detective Kio, forlorn and forgotten, shifted uncomfortably as he was abruptly dragged from his quiet nondescription and back into the spotlight proper. He was, very, very pointedly, not meeting Jiang's eye. Shamefaced. The plates and hide wrapped around his skull slowly tinged with the the metallic tones of blue.

"...I uh-"

"He gave you his statement. Literally five minutes ago. So let's chalk up gross incompetence to the laundry list here." The tectonic motion of the crust, continents cracking and dividing, red hot magma boiling up behind those lovely green eyes.

"Firstly:", she ticked off a finger, "I am not a Detective. I don't answer to you. Secondly: you are actively impeding the execution of a Special Response operation. Thirdly: I would sincerely advise that you unfuck yourself desk jockey because Investigation's word is mud on the Presidium right now and pulling in the brass to bail your sorry ass out of doing your job won't come close to saving your skin at the station. Fourthly: over the past, oh, six-seven minutes you have disrespected myself. You have disrespected our rank. And you have disrespected the entire fucking institution that we serve. So can the shit on professionalism because I am in no mood after that closed room crap you just pulled. Fifthly..." a closed fist now, knuckles white against taut skin, "Mr. Requiatem?"

Kio meekly stepped out from behind Wescott and crossed the bare, desolate metal walkway of no-man's-land that stretched between the two Lieutenants. Electing to focus rather intently on the very lovely scenery of the ward proper. All credit to him he didn't flinch when Jiang's withering gaze settled on him for a moment before flicking back to the Homicide detective.

Slowly. Deliberately. She turned and began to walk away, the turian in tow.

Mirala ignored the look on the salarian's face as she silently offered an arm for whatever samples he was after. It was admittedly her own fault that a sample was necessary, but surely one could forgive an old woman's grief--
"Ouch!"
The sampler that had swiftly clamped itself around her arm had rather obviously been calibrated for a limb at least five centimetres narrower than her own, which began slowly turning purple as blood failed to pass through this unexpected barricade.
Whether this was down to incompetence or unprofessional vindictiveness was up for debate.
"Kindly remove this device before it removes my arm, she hissed, glaring straight into the technician's eyes.

"Sirs, I apologise for interrupting your day, but I need to ask you a few questions. Have you seen anything unusual or out of place in this area recently?"

The first thing that came to Joset's mind was a long-suffering "myself". What on 'Kesh had he been thinking, coming out shopping on another ward entirely? Instead he ran a hand over his left cranial horn, a nervous gesture he employed when put on the spot and uncertain of how much he wanted to say. Rote desire to cooperate warred with a fervent wish not to become entrenched any deeper. The former won out, as he knew it would.

"Actually, we have. We think whatever accident you're dealing with... well we think someone might have slipped off into the Foundations. You know how the duct dwellers and some of the refugees don't trust the authorities? I mean, no offence meant, but they don't. You see, in this case, well -"

"- the person in question seems to have been hurt" finished Farlon. "And I'll imagine you want to speak with them anyway".

"We think we know where they went in" said Joset, hoping that here they could hand the entire affair over to C-Sec and be done with this. "They... they probably left blood all along the route, to be honest. Did you know there's blood on my sleeve?"

Officer Denarius stared for a moment into the dark grate, "Uh, go ahead, lady matriarch. We'll be right behind you." She kinda wanted to take out her sidearm but come on, Maiha, it's just the dark.

Yeah, the dark from which someone was stabbed to death.

Well at least Celeste looked like she could handle herself.

T'Jurali was motioning for Michelle to come forward, waving her through the tape. Elsewhere the salarian shrank back from Mirala as if he was worried she was going to Warp him, despite a glint of vindictiveness in his eyes. He tapped a few time on his omnitool to recalibrate, "Apologies ma'am. Is that more acceptable?"

"See you on the other side", said Michelle to Taleeze as she crossed the holo tape again.
So I may have convinced her to have me tag along for a serial killer hunt is dark and cramped tunnels. Way to go me...
She joined T'Jurali and simply nodded, waiting for the cop's instructions.