A missing disciple, the murder weapon and Long Live the theatre

Grandmaster Brice was sitting in the interview room and looked a little worried. Detective Wheele stared at him saying nothing. After five minutes of this "live painting" situation, the Grandmaster broke the silence.

`Please, detective, tell me what you need to know.`

`OK,` said Wheele. `Tell me the rules regarding your cat hunts.`

`My disciples are looking for stray cats. When they make sure these cats don’t have any ties to anyone they catch them, slit their throat and carry them to our sanctuary.`

`And what happens then?` asked the detective.

`Then we skin them, roast them and consume them. Our members are entitled to different parts of its body according to their position in the order. For example, I will get the heart, two of my assistants will share the brain and so on.`

`Who does the hunting?`

`Mainly the newest members,` answered the Grandmaster. `But if any of the other ones get the opportunity they will bring some as well.`

`How many cats did you consumed so far?`

`I don’t know the exact number, but roughly two hundred and fifty.`

`Do you know the names of your disciples?`

`Not all of them,` said the Grandmaster. `The recruiting is done in writing and only the one who recommends the new member know who he is. Not even the new member knows who recruited him and they are forbidden to contact each other outside of the sanctuary.`

`That’s all for now,` said the detective and gave a hand signal to constable Ferrall, who stood behind the one-way mirror, to come in. When the constable opened the door, Wheele turned to him.

`Take Mr Brice back to his cell and then come back here.`

The constable waited until the Grandmaster stood up and directed him out of the room.

`Oh, one more thing,` asked Wheele without looking at Brice. `How many members there is in your order?`

`Twelve.`

`Including you?`

`Yes.`

Thank you,` said the detective and lowered his head back to his notebook.

Constable Ferrall returned in a couple of minutes and sat down opposite the detective, who kept writing something into his notebook. When he finished he raised his eyes and looked at the constable.

`Something smells wrong,` said Ferrall.

`You said it,` answered the detective frowning. ‘We are missing one of them.`

`I thought there was less of them when we got out of the cellar,` the constable scratched his chin. `Do you think he got out when the floor was on fire?` he asked.

`Yes, that would be the most probable theory,` answered the detective and added: `Fetch your two colleagues at the Lottery Close and comb the neighbourhood. Try to bring him in as fast as you can. Well, ` he corrected himself,` if you can.`

The constable jumped up, saluted and with `Yes, sir,` ran out to do as ordered.

Wheele called in another member of the Felicio order. When they finally sat down opposite each other the detective appraised the young man. He was about twenty years old and he didn’t look very intelligent. He also looked very nervous as he kept fiddling with a lapel of his cloak.

`What is your name,` asked the detective when he finished with the visual inspection.

`Gideon Rose, sir,` answered the youth and shamefully lowered his gaze.

`Where do you live?`

`Here and there, detective,` he answered. `Right now at 48 Factory Street I.`

`Alone?`

`With my sick dad.`

`For how long have you been a member of the Felicio order?`

`About two months.`

`Have you captured any cats?`

`Yes, sir.`

`How many?`

`Ten, I think.` said Gideon nervously.

`How did you catch them?`

`Well as the Grandmaster taught us. First I find a potential pray, catch it and tag it. Then I follow it for about a week. When I see it doesn’t often return to one place I catch it again and the rest you know.`

`Why only strays?`

`The Grandmaster teaches us,` said the man and looked the detective in the eyes. `That our order is, as anyone else, bound by the law. Even though domesticated cats are more intelligent and thus can supply more for us, not mentioning the health benefits of prey that has been properly looked after, we don’t want to break any laws.`

Wheele took a minute to sort out his thoughts. He finally started to understand the workings of this order.

`Did the Grandmaster ever brought a cat in your sanctuary?` he asked.

`Not that I remember.`

`Thank you,` said the detective and closed his notebook. `That’s all for now. A constable will be here shortly to put you back in a cell.` With those words he got up, left the room and in the reception area he ordered one constable to execute that promise.

After that, he interviewed the next nine members of the order which didn’t bring up anything groundbreaking. One reason for that was that none of them knew who the others were. As Wheele found out the members were recruited by written messages and chosen only by their looks and habits.

When he finished with the last disciple, he got out of the interview room right in time to witness a magnificent display of police work. Both constables, that Wheele previously sent to watch the Lottery Close, were trying to manoeuvre themselves through the main door while trying to subdue another person struggling wrapped in remnants of a black cloak. Larry Ferrall was behind them holding a middle-sized evidence bag and was trying to push the man through the door.

`Get him to the interview room,` ordered the detective over the fracas and ran to the door to help them.

The young man was quite strong because he managed to sweep both of the constables all across the reception room. But with detective's help, they managed to subdue him and finally pushed him into a chair in the interview room where they had to tie his hands and legs with leather straps to the aforementioned piece of furniture.

`What did you found on him, Larry?` asked the detective.

`A dagger,` answered the constable. `Same as the rest of them.`

`Then give it to Gloria in the lab and come back to the observation room.`

Constable Ferrall saluted and rushed out. Cog Wheele sat down opposite the restrained youth and subjected him to his long stare. The man looked suddenly a lot smaller. He stopped trying to free his hands, hunched down and lowered his head looking like someone who thinks he’s done something bad.

`What’s your name?` asked the detective.

The man mumbled something inaudible.

`Speak up, man,` said Wheele in his best scolding voice.

`Jimmy Sinnot,` answered weakly the youth.

`Do you know that flight is considered an admission of guilt?` detective tried a little offensive.

Jimmy straighten up.

`I’ve done nuffin’,` he said in a surprisingly stern voice.

At that moment out of nowhere dr. Gloria White stormed in the interview room and waved a silver dagger, with a paper tag hanging off its hilt, over her head.

`Come on, dr. White,` said the detective. `Can't you see I'm in the middle of an interview?`

`Sorry, detective,` she answered and blushed a little. `But I’ve got your murder weapon.`

`Really?` asked the detective forgetting the intrusion in an instant. `Which one was it?`

`The one constable Ferrall just dropped off.`

`Great,` said the detective and turned back to Jimmy Sinnot.

`As you can see, you are now the main suspect. Your dagger is a weapon used in two cases of dead cats. There is no reason to play innocent any more.`

`But I didn’t do any of them,` relaxed Jimmy.

`How can you say that?` asked suddenly confused Wheele. `You were caught with the weapon in your possession.`

`I was, but it’s not me knife,` answered the man. `Well it is, but only for the last few hours. You see I joined the order only a couple of hours ago.`

`And where did you get the dagger?`

`The Grandmaster gave it o me just before you guys ran into the sanctuary.`

The detective got slightly derailed by this straight answer.

`So tell me where you were yesterday between 1 and 2 pm,` he asked with a frown shuffling his papers in front of him.

`That’s easy,` smiled Jimmy. `At that time I was at the SC5 common chasing a ball on the football grounds. There was about five hundred people there I reckon and that includes some of your bunch as far as I know.`

`That changes everything,` said the detective and signalled constable Ferrall. `I will check that out. Until then, the constable will show you into a cell.`

When constable entered the room, the detective issued the orders.

`Oh and put him in isolation,` he added. `We don’t want him to come to any harm or warn anyone else about what he told me here. When you are done, please get Grandmaster Brice back here again, please.`

In a few minutes, the Grandmaster was sitting in a chair opposite Wheele and looked a little uneasy. Detective subjected him to his signature stare.

`You are in deep shit, Grandmaster,` he said with a calm voice.

`Why would that be?` asked confused Brice.

`The knife used to kill those cats was yours.`

`That's not possible,` he smiled. `As far as I know, the knife belonged to a novice. I think his name is Sinnot.`

The detective smiled and resumed staring at the Grandmaster.

`Are you quite sure about that answer?` he asked.

Yes,` answered firmly Brice.

`And how do you know his name?` smiled Wheele. `As you said yourself you didn’t know any of your disciples by name.`

`…But…` stuttered the Grandmaster.

`And Jimmy Sinnot claims he got his dagger only today and you were the one who gave it to him.`

`That is…` tried the Grandmaster again but Wheele interrupted him again.

`And on top of everything, Jimmy Sinnot has a bulletproof alibi. About five hundred people saw him play football against SC6.`

After that statement, the Grandmaster all but collapsed. He wheezed for a while trying to say something. After half a minute he, however, straightened up.

`You got me, detective,` he said knowing he lost. `I was trying to gain more intelligence from cats. Those strays are of course less intelligent than their domesticated counterparts,` he continued. `A cat that decides to live in someone’s accommodation is logically more intelligent. Just think about it. If you had a chance to live in a place with heating, constant food intake and no small print attached, you would go for it in a heartbeat. That’s why I broke my own rules to extend the benefits of our rituals.`

`I trust your statement albeit one small inconsistency,` said the detective. `Your disciples stated that you never brought a single cat to your meetings. Because of that, I will believe that you hunted those cats by yourself and you consumed them by yourself as well.`

That statement had the same effect for the Grandmaster as a well-aimed cannonball would have for a garden wall.

`Because of that, I am now informing you that you are under arrest for theft and destruction of private property.` With those words, he stood up and knocked on the one-way mirror.

`As the value of the said property is over the amount stated by the law it is considered a punishable crime. Therefore you will be placed in a hold pending a court’s decision. You have the right not to say anything, but if you do it will be recorded and may be used against you. You have the right to an attorney. If you can’t afford one, one will be assigned to you.`

As the constable escorted Grandmaster Brice out of the room Wheele added.

`Put him in a solitary hold and let the rest go.`

`Yes, sir,` said constable Ferrall.

`You can't prove anything!` the Grandmaster hissed like an angry cat in a last desperate effort to save his skin. He raised his head and added. `I’m already smarter than all of you, bastards! You will see who is the lion here!`

Cog Wheele shook his head in disbelieve, with a wave of his hand he sent them away and followed them out.

He stood in the reception area for a few minutes and watched the eleven disciples one by one leave the station. The last of them was Jimmy Sinnot. The detective called to him.

`Can I help you with anything else, guv?` he asked.

`Just promise me one thing,` said Wheele. `When you get back to the streets, stick to the football. That is your way to the outside world. Stop trying to chase an easy way to get something. You will get intelligence by learning things. Get yourself noticed by an SC district team and you will stabilise there. And if you end your kicking career after few years look me up and maybe we can find a job for you with the police. Maybe you can one day clear someone of a charge and then you can give them similar advice.`

`I’ll try my best,` said the youth and ran out of the station.

The detective brushed an invisible speck of dust off his shoulder and tried to figure out what to do next. He went to his office, thought for a few more minutes occasionally consulting his CIS terminal and after that he headed straight to the lab.

`Hi, Cog,` smiled Gloria. `Did you get him?`

`I did,` nodded Wheele. `It was the Grandmaster in the end. He even confessed.`

`That’s wonderful.`

`Hey, Glory,` said Cog with a barely noticeable wobble in his voice and looked into Gloria’s deep eyes. `Do you have anything planned for the next few hours?`

`Not a thing.`

`And would you like to accompany me to the theatre?`

`I would love to,` she answered, grabbed her coat, kissed Cog on his lips which he passionately returned. They looked into each other's eyes for a while and then left the police station through the guarded passage in the direction of the SC6 district theatre.