Councilman Ding spent about three minutes outside, speaking in a low voice with his secretary, before coming back in with a slightly annoyed look.

“Everything okay? Councilman?” Captain Ko scratched his jaw.

“Nothing really, just some tiny annoyance.” Councilman Ding sighed, sat back on his expensive looking chair with an uncomfortable grunt: “You know, come to think of it, it has something to do with your precinct. That mass burial site your detectives discovered? A LOT OF unpleasant stuff. I am not going into a bunch of details, but let me tell you what I could: it’s not good. It’s not clean and it’s a whole mess.”

“What do you mean?” Captain Ko leaned in a little.

“Well, for starters - they’ve found some fresh bodies, aside from those age-old ones that almost crumble with the wind.” The councilman shook his head, but his eyes were sharp and keep even under his smile: “Looks like some other people have been using that burial site for some other unsavory deeds. And then there’s also this thing - the original owner of that piece of land was nowhere to be found. Even when we have some of our best investigators looking into it, we still can’t be sure where to find them.”

“That’s very curious. So it was actively maintained?” Captain Ko sounded surprised: “What else could you share with us. Or, maybe we can help with the investigation in some way?”

“Nonono, it’s fine. This is a greatly concerning case, and it needs a ton of experience and discretion, which I’m not sure is the right workload for your precinct.” Councilman Ding chuckled, his eyes still fixed on Marcus and Shrevas: “So, if you don’t mind me asking who you wanna share intel with, should you get more loosely checked or even unchecked access and liberty to share the information?”

“The community collective, or I should say, their liaison.” Captain Ko nodded. And the councilman nodded, as if he was already expecting this answer.

“That’s not unheard of. With everything going on, the city has put a tremendous amount of effort into trying to build a better relationship with our less fortunate districts and area.” Councilman Ding leaned back slightly: “Which means, intelligence sharing and cooperation between our law enforcement agencies would be on the top of the list. I believe you are already working with a liaison from the community collective, am I correct? And he’ll be the one you share intelligence with right?”

“So - so you agree? ” Shrevas couldn’t help himself but ask.

“Agree in general and in theory to your sentiment? Yes. But - in terms of setting up the kind of pipeline and protocol you’re looking for I do need a little bit more details regarding - regarding what kind of cases you’re looking into. Maybe if you have a case number you have in mind, or some kind of details about the case - ”

“That’s very prudent. Of course.” Captain Ko gave both Shrevas and Marcus a “let me talk” look and proceeded to explain: “There’s this one case - I’m sure you have heard of it. A relatively wealthy family, good social circles, and unfortunately murdered with quite extreme measures in their home.” This earned brief strange looks at him from Shrevas and Marcus, but neither of them said anything.

“Yeah, yeah. I think I’ve heard of this case - the Lings, right?” Councilman Ding nodded, turned his head and started gazing at a painting in a light orange wooden frame: “Yeah, believe it or not, I am actually acquainted with them. But never had any deep connections or relationships. It’s really sad, what happened to them. Nice family, I heard. I wish I could spend more time with them… ”

“Yes. That’s what we found. Some of us are looking into whether they have any potential enemies who would want to hurt them like this. And some of us are looking in some other angles, one of the most plausible theories is there being a group of unhinged copycats trying to reenact some urban legends.”

“... I can see that.” Councilman Ding sighed while playing with his tie and cufflinks: “And it is definitely a case that’s worth setting up this protocol for…”

“So, what do you say, esteemed councilman?” Captain Ko leaned in with an earnest look on his face: “To be honest, this route is probably the best angle we have so far. Because - because whoever did this was really professional, or lucky. I’m not one to whine about how unfortunate and out of resource we are, but the perps did not leave useful leads behind. It was as if they got there, committed the horrendous act and then vanished out of thin air. ”

Councilman Ding appeared to be slightly uncomfortable with this description. After about a few seconds, he turned to Captain Ko with a slightly concerned look on his face: “Okay, I think I understand what you need. Tell you what - I’ll chat with other committee members about giving you more access and more room for sharing intel with the community collective. And right now, I think it’d be best if you can share with me at least a few potential case numbers, so I can alert the committee and let them know you’re looking into it.”

“Oh, yeah. The first one I’ll be looking at is number 1148 - or 1149.” Captain Ko nodded, with a relieved smile on his face.