“Wh-what did you say?!”
The voice was high-pitched and feminine, trembling with disbelief and the very beginnings of grief.
I immediately recognized the woman on the tablet screen on the table, but only because I’d seen her wedding on a newsfeed about a month prior. Lady Moiyoira Uthyrë. Jiorre Othorian’s new wife.
“Your husband is dead,” the secretary intoned solemnly. “I am so sorry.”
“No!” Lady Uthyrë whispered, a few fat tears having begun to roll their way down her round face. One dripped off her chin and into her pink curly hair as she gripped the teacup on the table. It’s afternoon there. Must be tea time. “How- how can this be? How did he die, Honored Secretary? Was it an easy death?”
Sithene sucked in a breath. “He was murdered, Lady Uthyrë.”
“No!” The noblewoman gasped, clapping a hand over her mouth. She buried her face in her hands and began to sob. Her sheep’s ears flattened themselves against the crystal horns that curled around them. “No no no no no no no!”
I chewed my lip, sympathy bubbling up from the inside. Before I could stop myself, I walked over to Secretary Sithene and placed my hand on the back of his chair.
“Lady Uthyrë,” I began. “I do not mean to interrupt, but I have two points that may be of consolation to you. First, Minister Othorian died rather quickly; second-“
The secretary turned to me, a scowl on his face and a half-formed reprimand on his lips, when Lady Uthyrë looked at me and nodded, looking a little confused. “Miss, who are you?”
“I was getting to that,” I responded. “My name is Inspector Reveilia Baskesse, and I am a licensed interdimensional investigator for the Universal Peace Bureau. Given that your husband lost his life in my locale, I will be handling his case. I can assure you, I will not stop until I capture his killer.”
Lady Uthyrë had paused in her sobs. Tears still flowed down her cheeks, and she still had obvious grief in her eyes, but now, there was something… else in there as well, some righteous anger, and a little bit of hope. “Find his killer, Inspector. Please.”
Sithene was struggling to conceal his distaste. The Vaalorian government had most likely wanted a Vaalorian investigator on the case; or, at the very least, an investigator based in Vaalorre, even though such a thing went against UPB regulations. “Inspector, I promise you will receive the Vaalorian government’s full support in your endeavor .”
A bold-faced lie. I could barely keep the smug grin off my face, so I nodded politely instead of saying anything.
Sithene turned back to the lady, now back to his grave-and-composed expression. “I will be certain to keep you up to date on all developments in the case. Goodbye.”
He ended the video call and turned to me. “Inspector, did you know that the Myndini ambassador, and Lady Uthyrë’s father, coming to Vaalorre in a half cycle?”
I tilted my head. “I believe I heard something about that, yes.”
“It would be a great shame if the Minister’s killer was not brought to justice before they came. The Myndini may come to doubt the competence of the Vaalorrian Empire’s, and by extension, the Republic of Engaerra’s, and the Universal Peace Bureau’s, competence.”
“I can make no promises, Honored Secretary,” I responded coolly, my eyes narrowing. “I can certainly try, but manhunts these days are a difficult business, especially with the expansion of free travel.”
We stared at each other in stubborn silence. I saw in Secretary Sithene’s eyes his need for control. In my eyes, he certainly saw my desire to keep him from it.
Nadrire - she’d been so quiet I’d almost forgot she and Ella were here - stepped forward and cleared her throat.
“Detective,” she began in her low, velvety voice, making eye contact with both Sithene and myself in turn. “Since I can imagine starting this investigation is of the utmost urgency, how about you tell us what you found out? I can imagine Commissioner Ytoime would like to hear it.”
I folded my arms. “Minister Othorian was killed by someone who was at least part giant, wielding a blunt weapon. The minister endeavored to escape his assailant, and did give him a chase, but the perpetrator struck him on the back of the knee hard enough to fracture and dislocate his femur. The minister flipped over onto his back and tried to push himself away from his attacker, only to be met with the blunt weapon to the face. He was hit hard enough to crack the back of his head on the floor.”
I took in a breath, and a small amount of twisted delight as Sithene blanched.
“Said giant is tall enough that they had to duck their head in order the get through the door, and has very dark brown hair. Given the texture, they probably hail from northern Betherene, so… Reasonably light skin tone. Speaking of which, Commissioner, when the perpetrator destroyed the door, part of the frame was broken. When they ducked through the door, a lock of hair caught on the frame.”
The commissioner nodded, calling over another officer to collect the evidence and continuing to jot things down in his notebook.
“Detective… I will say that there is one thing that puzzles me,” he said, still writing. “You said the perpetrator broke the door with the blunt weapon. Given it was a very heavy set of layered doors… I can not believe this could be.”
“Well, I would think so, too, Commissioner, but the marks on Othorian’s skull and on the other pieces of furniture are all the same. It… would require a considerable amount of force to break the door, but… the doors are in pieces and… I can honestly see no other way.”
“It does add weight to the giant hypothesis,” Nadrire contributed.
“But still… that seems a lot, even for a giant,” the commissioner closed his notebook, frowning. “Regardless, I’ll keep that in mind when I do my investigation.”
I smiled politely.
“We will send the usual lock of hair and scrap of a garment over to your address in a few hours,” he continued, pulling assorted tools from his briefcase and looking like he was going to search the other room. “Since I assume you are going to begin your search for the culprit immediately, do let us know if we can be of any assistance.”
“I will be certain to do so,” I gave a slight bow and turned to leave, my companions rising to follow me. “Good day, Honored Secretary, Commissioner, Lord Mayor.”
As we strolled down the hall towards the elevator, Nadrire patted Ella on the shoulder.
“I know you hate it, but you do play a very good dumb assistant droid,” she said, a small grin on her face. “I presume you got everything down.”
Ella nodded. “And then some.”
“And you-“ she looked at me. “-You look about ready to burst.”
“Well,” I replied slyly. “Everything just got a lot more fun.”
Comments (1)
See all