Inwood Park at the end of Bayview Avenue was in South New York proper and housed far too much exposure during the day for anyone worth their salt to consider if they had any iota of brain cells. Playground equipment, open areas and the like made it the most unlikely prospect for a crime. Yet, still. Here she was, investigating the unlikely - something she would not be doing pre-Nevus. Post-Nevus, it took on an entirely new meaning. Sadistic serial killers were chalked up to psychopaths before the big change. In this day and age, they were pinned on shapeshifters like herself or someone infected with one of the viruses that had appeared with the Nevus.
There was no jurisdiction deferred to her this time. A new world with new rules and players. The CIA had been disbanded and absorbed into something Nora Sheeley had not been entirely on board with believing in after the Event. She knew the politics and how they shifted even before the catastrophic event. That did not mean she could embrace it. It was almost a fresh start. Bittersweet as it was with no family and few friends spread out in the devastation over the long years since things changed.
Artificial lighting was already being set to provide illumination for the Medical Examiner - a new criteria evolved which held them to a broader standard in order to ascertain the definitions that led to such an atrocity. The man began to give a preliminary exam on the victim. Poking, prodding and letting the method lead to discovery of the madness which had become normalcy. Nora watched from outside the bubble with perceptive eyes roving the scene until the set themselves on important things of note.
She had driven her Black Nissan GT a short distance from an apartment she rented in the Woodmere area near New York City. She had her access to nature and a balance of the cityscape at her disposal, engaging and promoting the balance she so coveted. It was both a blessing and a curse being a freelance consultant to investigations. Her aptitude and skill set had Nora adapting swiftly to the new age of investigative techniques and now the local police had called her in to consult with the lead homicide detectives on the case.
Already feeling the bite in the air, the elemental earth shapeshifter held to the warmth of deeply rooted substance enveloped when stone still held heat. Mind wondering briefly to the hinted nucleus beneath the layers of scientific reference to hold its heat for her own as the open black leather jacket moved with her steps and the wind beneath the onslaught of plummeting rain. It was a night not fit for man nor beast as the old saying had gone. It lost the pack of its punch after the Nevus.
Tarps had been resurrected but they did little good as Nora moved within the perimeter. Her careful footsteps did not do enough to preserve the crime scene she had been hired to consult on this dark and abysmally stormy night. The victim was already pronounced dead and the Criminal Scene Investigation Unit was taking photographs of the surrounding area. Canvassing already had begun and Nora used her sensory perception to glean whatever factual evidence she could in lieu of official access to the tools that made facts v. fiction black and white.
In short, what they had was a dead body killed in ritualistic fashion by what appeared to be a shapeshifter beast of the animal persuasion - a mountain lion by her guess if it were before the Event given the gashes where the vic had been mauled to death, though that could very well be something else intended to mimic it thereby pinning the crime on someone else. These were indigenous to the Catskills, but determining if this was done here or if the body was dumped was yet to be discovered. Rather than dwelling on the past, Nora became present in the moment and picking up clues which might help profile their perp before she spoke to the official lead detectives on this case.
Nora was squatting down and squinting as her gloved hands picked up a small, sharp bone knife that looked as primitive as it was functional. Strange carvings were etched into the hilt which made her think she would have to tap into her resources a bit further and call in some favors to determine if or how much of the occult, magic and animalistic shapeshifting influences were prevalent enough to be genuinely pursued and how much of it was just a sloppy fabrication, perhaps, of another politically based blame game in the killing fields. No crime was cut and dried and rarely as it appeared anymore.
