Chapter 380 - Scars

Sasquatch was spying on some customs officers when he received a call from an encrypted number. He was a bit surprised at first; he knew it had to be his new captain. But, why was she calling him?

Sasquatch was 35-years-old and he had almost 10 years of experience with Interpol. When he was offered the opportunity to become one of the first BTAs in the world, he was actually very excited. He thought, after all his years serving Interpol, he was finally being recognized. He even thought he could try for the position of captain.

But, to his surprise, one week after his surgery, Trisha sent him straight to Beijing and told him his new captain would get in touch. He tried to understand Interpol's decision and convinced himself that they must have found someone with extensive experience to lead the team. However, when he heard Halia's voice the previous night, he was shocked to discover that she sounded really young. In fact, he was pretty certain that she was younger than him. He didn't want to be a close-minded person, but he couldn't help but have his doubts.

He turned on his earpiece and said without any particular emotion in his deep voice, "Hello."

Halia was a little taken aback by the man's emotionless tone. It almost sounded a little cold and unwelcoming. But, Halia brushed it off and assumed that he was simply serious when he was working.

"Sasquatch, I have a lead for you. I want you to search through immigration for a woman in her 30's-40's with multiple cuts on her hands," Halia instructed. "She may be in a position of power or someone that's been working there for a long time."

"Multiple cuts?" Sasquatch questioned, "As in 3-4 cuts?" This was such an odd thing to look for. Firstly, why was she being so specific about this particular detail, and secondly, it wasn't uncommon for people working in law enforcement to have cuts on their hands. He had quite a few himself. Was this a joke?

But, to his surprise, Halia replied, "No. Multiple as in 20-30 cuts. Have you ever heard of scarification?"

Sasquatch furrowed his brows in surprise and replied, "No, what is that?"

"It is a common practice among some small tribes around the world, especially in Africa, whereby scars are deliberately left on a person's body through cuts to create a pattern or a form of branding," Halia replied. She had come across it on a doc.u.mentary she once watched.

"I suspect this woman has been branded. The cuts on her hands are thin and each cut is about the same length. They couldn't be accidental," Halia explained.

Sasquatch listened with confusion. How did she know all this? But, he did not question her. "OK, I'll see what I can find," he replied before he looked up the immigration office and went to search for the woman that Halia described.

After she hung up with Sasquatch, Halia glanced at her own hands and frowned. She understood that scarification was a tradition in some tribes, and was even seen as a form of beauty and identity, like tattooing, but she couldn't imagine how a woman in China would end up with scars like the ones she saw in Boginya's memory. In her memory, even Boginya shuddered a little at the sight of it. Scarification was not common in China at all. In fact, it was practically unheard of. Who put those scars on her? Or did she do it to herself?

At that moment, she heard a voice in her mind, "Damn, Amun. I can never understand his fetishes..."

Halia's eyes grew wide. It was Boginya's voice. She was remembering something that Boginya thought. "Amun?" she whispered. Who was Amun? Did Amun leave those scars on this woman?

She then called Trisha, "See if Boginya can tell you anything about someone known as Amun?"

Trisha furrowed her brows, "Amun? OK, I'll get right on it."

...

Over in a little local Hong Kong cafe, Avaleigh and Emerson were seated in the back corner enjoying their breakfast. They came to this cafe at least once a week and the staff knew them well. They also recognized who Avaleigh was so they always gave them the seat in the back where they got a bit more privacy. The show that Avaleigh filmed in China hadn't really picked up steam in Hong Kong, but she was still very famous from when she was in Macaron. Although people recognized her, they simply asked for autographs and photos every now and then without preventing her from living a relatively normal life in Hong Kong. Thus, she never tried to disguise herself or hide Emerson. 

However, she didn't realize that a certain paparazzi had followed her back from Shanghai this time...

Mainstream media and reporters generally left Avaleigh alone because she was so kind and genuine, but this man was a freelancer who was desperate to make some money, so he didn't care. Especially since he was already guaranteed money just to follow her. A couple of days ago, a mystery person had offered him money to follow Avaleigh. They even bought him plane tickets from Shanghai to Hong Kong and offered a bonus if he managed to find something that could make it onto the headlines.

The paparazzi sat a few tables down from Avaleigh and Emerson and placed his camera casually on the table like he was just a tourist. However, his camera was pointed directly at the couple and the record function was on.

Completely oblivious to the paparazzi, Avaleigh and Emerson enjoyed their breakfast like they always did while the man watched with interest. Was this Avaleigh's boyfriend? 

The couple was discreet. Apart from chatting, eating, and smiling at each other, they didn't do anything that was obviously affectionate. After all, they lived together; they didn't have to display their affection publicly when they had plenty of opportunities to be affectionate at home.

However, the paparazzi did notice one odd reaction from Emerson. Emerson and Avaleigh had both ordered the same food, but Emerson suddenly prodded the egg on Avaleigh's plate and swapped her egg with his halfway. The paparazzi watched and realized that the egg from Avaleigh's plate was undercooked and Emerson had swapped it with one that was fully cooked.

Avaleigh frowned, clearly unhappy that he did this, but Emerson shook his head and insisted that she couldn't have the undercooked egg.

The paparazzi watched on with curiosity. Why was he so adamant about the egg. Was there a reason why Avaleigh couldn't have raw eggs?