I decide to talk to Mr. Silver first. I already ‘heard’ his account from John. Let’s see if he sticks to his story. If it’s a 1:1 replication of what John told me, it either means that both of them have one heck of a memory, remembering every detail or that the whole thing was staged and they’re just reciting their lines. Since I’ve yet to meet anyone with ‘one heck of a memory for details’, it’s going to be the latter rather than the former.

John leads me to the daylight wing. I really don’t know what I expected with the name, maybe the pearly gates of heaven, with light and angelic choirs in the background, but in reality it looks just the same as the twilight wing.
“Huh...wasn’t expecting something so...mundane,” I comment, “This supposedly being the afterlife and all that, I mean. I take it, the midnight wing...”
“Looks pretty much exactly like this, yeah. Since most of the residents are long term, the differences only start when you actually enter a room. They are furbished to reflect a surrounding where the resident feels comfortable in.”
“Even for the bad guys?”
“The house of dreams is neither heaven nor hell, Detective. It’s not the job of this place to reward the righteous or to punish the sinners. It is simply the place where people go once their story is complete. Some of them aren’t even dead yet and often return to their respective worlds.”
“Then...do heaven and hell even exist? I mean, this place basically runs contra to any religious doctrine I’ve ever heard.”
“In all honesty? I don’t know. Maybe this is the afterlife, maybe it’s not. Maybe heaven and hell do exist, maybe they don’t. I only know that we are here now and that this is our reality. And that will need to do.”
“You sure this isn’t some kind of dream? After having a bottle or two too much?”
John shrugs and explains, “Being part of said dream, I wouldn’t know. But seriously, there’s no point in getting all philosophical about this place. As I said: We are here, there’s a case that needs to be solved and that’s all that matters right now. The sooner we crack this, the sooner you can go home...wherever that is.”
“What makes you so sure I’ll be able to go home if I solve this case.”
“Because that’s how these stories usually play out. A problem or crisis emerges, one or multiple heroes stand up, fight and resolve it and everyone is happy after...except for the bad guys, who tend to be dead by that time, of course.”
“This isn’t some kind of fantasy story though. It doesn’t work like that in reality.”
“...yeah, I know. But remember: This is the house of dreams. Clocks are ticking differently in this place. And there’s no shortage of people whose story went exactly like I just described just now. You might want to keep that in mind. Either way, we’ve arrived.”

I look up at the door John had stopped in front of. It looks just the same as every other door in this corridor, save for the number of course. This place really is a hotel.
John proceeds to knock at the door three times and says, “This may take a moment.”

And indeed, it takes about 30 seconds before someone asks, “Who is it?”
“Mrs. Miranda Silver? This is John Doe. We talked earlier. I have a few more questions regarding the incident.”

The door opens and before us stands the fox woman I had seen in the ‘flashback’ earlier. What throws me off my game however, is the room that expands behind him. It’s not so much a room, but much rather looks like someone had hollowed out a tree and built a vast living space within it.
“Please come on in. Simon’s currently out, but he’ll be back shortly,” the woman says.

We enter the room and I find myself asking, “This place sure is full of surprises.”
Miranda chuckles and explains, “Yeah, we were blown away as well when we first moved in. I take it, you’re new? What do you have to do with the whole thing?”
“I think I’m supposed to solve the case. At least the barkeeper said something like that.”
“Oh, so you must be the protagonist! In all honesty, I thought it was John.”
John laughs faintly and says, “I thought so too, but then, all of a sudden, this guy here shows up.”
I think to hear a pang of bitterness in John’s voice as he says that and make a mental note. But then again, I probably wouldn’t be too happy if someone butted into my case and took it away either.

“So, what do you think? Who is that girl and who did it?” Mrs. Silver suddenly says, all but pouncing me, her tail wagging curiously.
John clears his throat audibly and says, “May I remind you about the concept of personal space, Miranda? Furthermore, it is hardly proper for a married woman to get this close to another man.”
“Spoilsport,” Miranda snaps, sticking out her tongue at John, but backs off and I find myself sighing in relief. I sure hope not all the people I’m going to cross paths with are going to be like that.

I clear my throat myself and ask Miranda to sit down at the nearby table, reminding her about the purpose of our visit. It may be a blessing that we have met her without her spouse. This way we can get her account without him influencing her.

After asking her about how they found the body, the surroundings and the color changed again, startling me at first. I really need to get used to these flashbacks. However instead of the room showing the body, this time the flashback starts with the three of them walking down the corridor, having a pleasant chat and looking forward to a little workout session. All of a sudden however, as they were just about to pass by room 404, both Miranda and Mirabelle’s ears perk up and their tails stiffen.
“What’s wrong, girls? We’ve got 413 today.”
“Something...about this room feels wrong,” Mirabelle says, staring at the door.
“The spirits are crying. It reeks of death,” Miranda agrees.
“...seriously? I don’t smell or feel anything,” Simon replies.
“Because you’re as dense as a log,” Mirabelle retorts immediately, making Miranda chuckle.
“Probably just someone performing some kind of ritual, trying to return to their world or something...know what? The room is open. How about we crash someone’s party?”
“Now you’re talking my language!” Mirabelle cheerfully agrees, producing a spear from seemingly thin air.
Simon on the other hand draws a strange gun and says with a grin, “This is going to be fun.”
He reaches for the handle, the door unlocks and the three of them charge into the room, Simon immediately shouting, “Freeze!”
The laughter on their faces dies as they realize that the room is, in fact, empty. Save for the body in the middle of the arena, of course. It only took them a glance to realize that the woman was dead, but when Miranda approached her to try and see if there was anything left to be done, the image of the flashback suddenly distorted and the next thing we see is the three of them leaving the room in a fit of panic, heading towards the elevator.

The flashback ends and I blink a few times, wondering what the heck happened just now.
“Um...I don’t know much about these flashbacks yet, but...why is there something missing?”
Miranda shakes her head and says, “In all honesty? I don’t know. I remember approaching the body and the next thing I know is me and my friends running for our lives. I’ve been in a few hairy situations before and I thought I had seen it all, but at that moment...I’ve never felt so scared in my whole life. Like, if I didn’t run, I was convinced that my entire existence would be erased. I know it makes no sense, but that’s what it feels like. We went to the keeper, told him about the body and he immediately sealed the room, telling us that he’d take care of it.”
“Wait...he didn’t even go to see himself?” I ask.
“No. But what he did is was come to me instead, telling me about what happened,” John interjects and then adds, “In all honesty, I’ve never seen the keeper actually worried...but right then and there...he was worried. If not even scared. He was always the guy who somehow ‘knew’ things, so encountering something actually ‘unknown’...that must have been a shock to him.”
“Hey, how comes this conversation didn’t play as flashback?” I ask, noticing the discrepancy.
John explains, “To my knowledge, they only happen if someone is actually ‘telling a story’. I was merely giving you a summary, so the flashback didn’t trigger. But please don’t ask me how in the world that works, I have no idea.”
“...I guess there really is a lot I have yet to learn about this world…” I mutter.
“So, did you find out anything yet?” Miranda asks.
“Not much. I’m only just getting started, after all. See, the work of a detective isn’t all action packed or exciting how it is often portrayed in movies. Most of the time it’s actually quite boring, collecting clues and testimonies. Either way, when will your husband be returning?”
“Good question...hold on, I’ll call him.”

Miranda pulls up her own bracelet and I take the chance to scan her with my own device.

Miranda (Silver)

Origin: Sigma Star Saga – The forgotten legacy.

Room Number: D453

Abducted into a captured Krill space station by the ‘Enlightened’, she aided Simon Silver, who suffered the same fate as she did during his escape to the planetary surface of an uncharted planet named ‘Eden’. Together with Simon, Esperanza, Kara and Gaia, they took up the fight against the Enlightened, who had ruined their respective lives one way or another to fulfill the legacy of Sigma Star, a genius abductee, who had formed and lead the resistance against the Enlightened in the previous generation.

She is easygoing and friendly with a mischievous streak on her. Before long, she accepts Eden as her new home, having found something more important than ‘a way home’.

Capabilities:

• Accessing a pocket dimension for storage purposes

• Interacting with the spirits of the forest, allowing her to work magic

• Spear fighting

Interesting. That’s a whole lot more detail than what it showed me for John. There is even a button indicating that there’s more information about her available, but I’ll curb my curiosity for now.

“Simon’s still been at the bar. He’ll be coming up now.”
“I take it, he was still trying to get over the shock of having found a body here?” John suggests.
“Him? Nah, he was trying to get information from the other patrons.”
“Wait, so he’s investigating too?!” I ask.
“Of course. As far as I know, Mirabelle is also asking around in the midnight wing, whether anyone had seen anything. We all want to know what happened.”

So basically everyone knows about the incident already...guess I shouldn’t be surprised, but this isn’t going to make my work any easier.