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“What are we dealing with?”
“Bit complicated, sir.”
“I was under the impression this was a car accident.”
“It was, ‘till we found the body.”
Captain Wester sighs. His fingers dig into the bridge of his nose. Officer Kim wonders if the captain is slowly counting to ten.
“Fenton,” the Captain says after a moment. Officer Kim blinks.
“Yeah, Daniel Fenton found the body, sort of.” He motions towards the wreckage where the front of the Fenton’s rather large vehicle crushed the back of a second car. A hand sticks out of the warped metal of the trunk. There isn’t a scratch on the Fenton’s vehicle and Kim takes a moment to marvel at the engineering.
When he turns around, Captain Wester is making his way towards the ambulance. Daniel Fenton, or Danny as he instructed Officer Kim to refer to him as, waves. Curious, Officer Kim follows.
“Hi,” Danny says. Captain Wester stares.
“Are you feeling alright?” Kim asks. Like the Fenton’s vehicle, the teenager doesn’t have a scratch on him.
“Takes more than a fender bender to wreck the Fenton Assault Vehicle.”
Ah, so it has a name, Kim thinks.
“Daniel,” Captain Wester says.
“Danny.”
“Daniel,” the Captain repeats, “what in Gods name am I supposed to do here?”
“Sir,” Kim starts, cut off by Danny’s wry suggestion to keep his name out of the report.
“How many–“
“–You’re keeping track?–“
“–times is this going to keep happening?”
Danny scratches his cheek. He looks young sitting on the back of the ambulance.
“Come on, Wes, old Wester, pal– you think I could have known this would happen?”
Captain Wester turns to Kim. “Describe the incident to the best of your ability.”
Fumbling with his notes from interviewing witnesses, including Danny Fenton, Kim explains, “Both vehicles were stopped at the light on Peake and Frontrunner. The, um, driver responsible for the crash claims their inexperience with a learners permit caused them to confuse the gas pedal for the break and accidentally shifted their foot to the wrong one when they leaned across the seat to grab their phone.”
Kim turns the page, feeling off-balance. “The, um, second driver, upon being hit, fled the scene when a bystander attempted to check on him. Mr. Odie,” Kim points to the man talking to Officer Mary across the road, “can provide a description. He shouted after the man but did not pursue him. When Mr. Odie went to check on Da–the first driver, he noticed a hand sticking out of the trunk of the unidentified driver’s vehicle. He immediately called 911.”
The Captain’s stare bores into Danny Fenton who calmly watches the police captain with the same scrutiny. Kim clears his throat.
“So, you just so happened to run into a random car at just the right force and angle to expose a body stashed in the trunk, without damaging said body, nor injuring the driver,” the Captain says.
“Crazy, right? But I guess crazy comes with being a Fenton.”
“No, Daniel, this is just you.”
“My sister has a theory; you know how she is. She thinks our constant exposure to ectoplasm at a ‘vulnerable age’ makes us more in-tune with the Zone.” Danny shrugs. “Our food isn’t exactly ectoplasm-free. Dinner tends to fight back.”
Officer Kim briefly recalls the Thanksgiving incident reported by the Fentons’ neighbor. His colleagues came back covered in gravy.
“Then why isn’t your sister finding bodies?” Captain Wester asks.
“She says she's smart enough not to go looking.” Danny smiles. “What can I say? I’m a curious teenager bored with the mundane, everyday life of school and can’t ignore the call of danger.”
“Most teenagers aren’t called by death.”
Kim sees Danny’s smile tighten. Captain Wester watches the expression with the sharp eyes of a practiced interrogator. For a moment, Kim thinks he’ll be asked to escort Danny Fenton to the station.
“Quit looking,” the Captain demands.
“It’s not like I want to find dead people, come on!” Danny complains, throwing his arms up. “I’m weird, but not that weird. Trust me, if anyone at Casper High finds out I keep stumbling onto bodies, I’m dead-meat. Do you know how much wedgies hurt? Never-mind, you’ve got the whole jock vibe.”
“I’m serious.”
“I am too.” Danny looks thoughtful. “Hey, if you gave me your number I could call you whenever my bad luck strikes. The poor emergency phone operator people are starting to recognize my voice. They’re like one call away from quitting.”
"You won't stop, no matter what I say."
"Again, not on purpose."
"What if I inform your parents?"
"Not a chance," Danny cackles. "My parents would sooner use me as some sort of ghost locator than forbid me from leaving the house. I'd probably get rewarded. Icecream for dessert, maybe an allowance for once."
Captain Wester sighs, nods, then motions to Kim. “Congratulations, you’re now the official liaison between the 10th precinct and Daniel Body-Finder Fenton.”
“What?” Kim says.
“Cool,” Danny says.
“Give him your information,” Captain Wester orders, already walking away. “You’ll need to be on-call 24/7, trust me.”
“Sir!” Kim shouts.
“He’s your problem now.”
After a minute of watching the Captain’s back – dutifully ignoring the teenager swinging his feet out of boredom – Officer Kim of the 10th precinct turns to Danny Fenton.
Danny Body-Finder Fenton, he thinks.
“Just so you know, I don’t go looking for bodies, but I have the kind of luck that leads me to them anyways,” Danny says, wryly. His blue eyes are bright as they give Kim a once-over.
“You’ll do,” he decides, flashing sharp teeth.
It was just a car accident, Kim reminds himself, before Danny Fenton got involved.