Chapter 4: A Chance Encounter with Spider-Woman
Seeing the spirit's eyes change color, Lynn gently lifted his hand, and a wisp of death energy from his fingertip instantly entered the spirit's body.
The spirit, which had been on the verge of rampaging, was brought under control by Lynn's death energy.
The violent energy gradually dissipated, and the entire soul-form became vacant once more.
Neither the M.E. nor George Stacy noticed Lynn's movement.
They only found it strange that the temperature in the autopsy room had suddenly dropped.
"Ahem."
Clearing his throat, Lynn asked the M.E., "What are the autopsy results? Any clues?"
In response to Lynn's query, the M.E. said, "According to the X-rays, there isn't a single sign of a bone fracture anywhere on the victim's body."
"That's incredible. This suitcase is only about twenty inches wide, but the victim is six feet tall. That contradicts his contorted body."
"Cause of death?"
"Asphyxiation!"
Pointing to the corpse's lungs, the M.E. shrugged. "I just performed the autopsy. The victim's hyoid bone isn't broken, and there are no fibers in his trachea."
"So we can rule out strangulation or suffocation by smothering. I believe the victim was stuffed into the suitcase while he was still alive."
"Then, external pressure compressed his entire chest cavity, preventing his lungs from breathing normally, which ultimately led to him suffocating to death inside the suitcase."
After the M.E. finished, George Stacy and Lynn looked at each other. "Could he have been drugged?"
"Nothing detected!"
The M.E. shook his head. "There were no traces of any drugs in the victim's system, so we can rule that out. But look at his arm."
Turning the victim's arm over, the M.E. pointed to the bruises. "Although there are no signs of a struggle on his body, he has clear bruises on his arm."
"My guess is he was facing some kind of threat before he died, which is why he would have voluntarily climbed into a twenty-inch suitcase."
When the M.E. was done, George Stacy looked at Lynn. "Lynn, what do you think?"
In response, Lynn pointed to the metal tag in the report. "A six-foot-tall man stuffed into a suitcase without a single broken bone."
"Add this circus-logo tag, and I'm guessing he was a circus acrobat."
"Come on, George. We'll know once we check out the circus."
"Right."
Nodding, the two walked straight out of the autopsy room.
Outside the precinct, George Stacy opened the car door but saw Lynn walking toward the street instead of getting in.
"Hey, where are you going?"
To George's question, Lynn said, "It's almost eleven. Going to get lunch, of course. Oh, right, what do you want?"
"Grab me a hot dog."
George replied, then got straight into the car.
***
At the hot dog stand.
Just as he paid for four hot dogs, he heard a gasp from the crowd.
His Super-Sense told Lynn someone was approaching—fast.
He looked up at the sky and saw Spider-Woman, her perfect curves outlined in a black and white suit, swinging down on a web line.
[Image: Gwen Stacy]
"Sir, two hot dogs, please. Thanks."
She paid quickly, then glanced at Lynn beside her. "Hi, Mr. Lynn Hall. Hello."
"Hello, Spider-Girl."
Yep, Lynn had met Spider-Woman before. One time when she'd left a webbed-up robber at the precinct's front door.
George Stacy had wanted to arrest her on the spot, even pulling his service weapon.
It was Lynn, enjoying the show, who had stepped in to prevent the "father-daughter tragedy," allowing Spider-Woman—Gwen—to swing away quickly.
As for Spider-Man, Peter Parker, Lynn had actually looked into him.
He hadn't become Spider-Man.
As for why, Lynn had no idea.
"No lunch for you either, Mr. Lynn?"
Gwen glanced around, not seeing her dad. "Where's your partner? The one who wanted to arrest me last time... uh, I mean…"
"I know what you're asking. Don't worry, he's in the car by the precinct entrance. He's not going to jump out and try to arrest you."
He had to admit, even though Gwen wasn't eighteen yet, she was... very well-developed.
Especially in that tight spider-suit, the black and white colors emphasized her youthful, curvy hips and firm breasts.
Seeing Lynn checking her out, but noticing his gaze was purely appreciative and not creepy at all...
Gwen Stacy didn't get embarrassed. Instead, she put her hands on her hips, showing off confidently.
"Detective Lynn, your hot dogs!"
Watching the vendor hand over the hot dogs, Lynn took them and said goodbye to Gwen. "See you, Spider-Girl."
"Okay, see you, Lynn!"
She waved as he left.
Under the mask, Gwen's eyes narrowed.
The first time they met, she hadn't noticed, probably because her dad was trying to arrest her.
But this time, her Spider-Sense was telling her that Lynn was very dangerous.
The danger wasn't that he was a bad guy, but that he seemed to have superhuman abilities.
This made Gwen intensely curious.
Too bad her dad had warned her over and over that Lynn was just a playboy and she shouldn't get involved with him.
Afraid that one day she'd just accidentally end up in his bed.
But the more her dad said that, the more curious Gwen became about Lynn.
'Still, everyone has their secrets. I can't force him to tell me.'
***
Back in the cruiser, Lynn pulled open the door and slid into the passenger seat.
He handed one hot dog to George Stacy and started eating his own. "By the way, I ran into Spider-Woman just now while I was getting the hot dogs."
"Hm?"
Hearing this, George Stacy, who had just taken a bite, instantly tensed up.
Seeing George about to get out of the car...
Lynn stopped him. "Relax, just eat. There's no warrant out for her. Not unless you become commissioner, then you can issue any order you want."
"But speaking of which, George, with your service record, your resume, and your old alumni buddies from the West Coast, it should be pretty easy for you to get promoted to commissioner, right?"
George just snorted at Lynn's curiosity. "I didn't join the NYPD just to climb the ladder!"
"Okay, okay, you're noble, you're amazing. Last question."
Seeing George was halfway through his hot dog, Lynn suddenly looked at him and grinned. "I washed my hands after touching the body. Washed them several times, in fact. Did you wash yours before you started eating?"
George Stacy, who was just about to take another bite, heard this, and his face instantly turned green.
"FUCK, Lynn, you are such an asshole!"
----
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