A/N: I am so, so sorry it took this long to upload the next Janaverse fic. Also, the first half of this was written like six months ago, haha... ha... but at least I have real beta reader now. Which would be the guy who teeechnically owns this account even though I've probably posted more fics on it than he has.
Anyway, here it is. No time-travel in this one, but it's still moving the overall plot forward. :3
Crap, crap, crap, he thought, crashing through the sparse undergrowth. How did I get myself into this mess?
He cried out sharply as his foot collided with a low fence and he skidded across the gravel. Where am I now? he thought dazedly, covering his mouth with one hand. Better keep quiet, or she would find him…
The bushes he had just thrown himself rustled behind him. He craned his neck, slowly and fearfully - his instincts were screaming at him to jump up and keep running until he was at the train tracks, but his lungs and legs and feet were screaming at him to give his body a break.
"Mr. Willems?"
His heart leapt up into his throat. It was her. It was her.
"Mr. Willems, are you alright? Here, let me help you up-"
If his heart was in his throat, that would certainly explain the pulsing as his blood sprayed out of it.
March 2, 9:30 AM, Wright Anything Agency
"What is that, Maya Valerie?"
Maya Valerie Wright turned another page, and looked up at her best friend and pseudo-cousin, Jana von Karma-Gavin. "It's a book of obscure English words I found. Most of them are actually French or Latin phrases, though."
"Hmm," Jana said, sitting next to her and attempting to read over her shoulder. "I suppose Uncle Miles must have bought it."
"Yeah, probably." Maya Valerie pointed at the word 'acherontic'. "This one is my favorite on so far - 'dark, gloomy, forbidding'."
Jana pointed at the word 'aceldama', a little further up the page. "'Field of bloodshed'; that could be a crime scene."
Maya Valerie pointed at the word acediast: one afflicted with apathy or boredom. "That sounds like Daddy."
"Which one?"
Instead of answering, she flipped through a few pages and showed Jana argumentum ad captandum vulgus: to argue by courting the crowd emotionally, even if using unsound reason. "And that sounds like Daddy."
"The other one, I assume."
The other one walked over, carrying the phone with his free hand over the receiver. "What are you two up to?"
"Indulging in our logolepsy," Maya Valerie said. Jana took the book and flipped to the L's; apparently they were indulging in their fascination and/or obsession with words.
Wright blinked. "O-kay," he said, "Jana, how do you feel about going up to Kurain Village for a case again?"
Jana wrinkled her nose. "Did one of Pearl Fey's children get arrested again?"
"…well, yes, but-"
"Is Jana going up to Kurain Village?" Wright's older daughter, Misty, poked her head into the room. "She needs someone to go with her, right? Since Maria's not here…"
"Actually, Maria said that she will meet me at the detention center whenever I go next," Jana said, "apparently she is fit to go back to work now."
"That's good," Wright said, blinking, "so are you going to tell her you're going up to Kurain Village?" He paused just long enough to take a breath and added, "you know she'd really like that."
Jana rolled her eyes. "What exactly is the case?"
"Well," Wright said, "some drifter happened to come to town - you'll have to ask one of the Feys more about that, all I remember is that Maya was whining about him a few days ago - and Pearls' daughter Eupraxia was accused of slitting his throat."
"So… Eupraxia jugulated him?" Maya Valerie said, taking the book back from Jana with a sugary smile as butterflies fluttered around her head.
"…what?"
"Although if Aunt Maya was complaining about him, then I suppose Eupraxia committed hereticide."
"No, no, I need to prove that Eupraxia Fey did not do it," Jana said, pulling out her phone to text Maria.
"Maybe the real killer has dacnomania…" Maya Valerie said as Wright took away the obscure words book.
"We are not going down this route," he said firmly.
"Smellfungus," Maya Valerie muttered under her breath. Wright gave her an 'I don't know what exactly that means but you had better toe the line this instant, young lady, or you're grounded' look and turned back to the phone.
"So I guess this means I'm taking you up to Kurain," Misty said.
"Please," Jana said, "I am fifteen years old. I can use the train by myself. And Maria is most likely going to be with me anyway."
"What's that?" Misty said, holding a hand up to her ear, "'One teenaged girl shouldn't be on the Metrolink by herself, but two teenaged girls is totally fine'? Oh, I totally agree! I'll go get my purse."
"She could be a little more subtle about wanting to go to Kurain," Maya Valerie said sweetly.
March 2, 10:00 AM, Detention Center
If Jana were the hugging type, this would be a good situation for a hug. However, Jana was not the hugging type, and Maria Fey-Armando knew it - and honestly, neither was Maria, all things being equal. So instead they exchanged awkward smiles.
"I heard you had quite the adventure two months ago," Maria said casually, just by way of catching up.
Jana suddenly got an awfully cagey look, and Maria raised her eyebrows. "What… did you hear, exactly?"
Maria frowned. "Just that you and your brother disappeared for a while. I don't know anything more than that, I promise." Jana's shifty expression didn't change, and she quickly turned to the detention center guard when Maria narrowed her eyes. (Of course, Maria did actually know a little more than that - or she thought she did, anyway. At the very least, she knew the assignment given to her by the 'information' branch of Quetzalcoatl Law Firm. She knew Jana and her brother, Alois, were involved in something and she suspected that her own brother, Miguel, had also been dragged into it. But other than that everything and everyone was on a need-to-know-basis. No need to talk about it now.)
Now Eupraxia Fey, a pear-shaped fourteen-year-old girl with dark, sleepy eyes and loose, shoulder-length bottle blonde hair, was seating herself on the other side of the bulletproof glass. She seemed remarkably calm, a commendable departure from the last time Jana and Maria had to defend one of Maria's second cousins…
"Hello, Mystic Maria," Eupraxia said, "hello, Jana. I take it you're my defense."
"Of course I am," Jana said, "when it comes to your family, Uncle Wright would only send the lawyer with the highest guarantee of finding you innocent." Maria sighed audibly. It seemed like Jana would never get rid of that arrogant attitude of hers…
"That's nice," Eupraxia said with an empty smile, "but I don't know if I should be found innocent."
"What."
"Did you actually do it, Eupraxia?" Maria said. Actually, she didn't actually know what Eupraxia had allegedly done beyond the fact that it was a murder case.
"Well… not me, exactly. I don't remember what was going on at the time, though. I suppose I must have been channelling someone, who decided to kill Mr. Willems."
There was a brief pause.
Jana pulled out her phone and hit someone on speed dial. "Maya Valerie, can you ask Aunt Dahlia something for me?" she said in lieu of a greeting.
"What time exactly did the murder take place?" Maria asked Eupraxia, anticipating Jana's question.
"Around eleven o'clock last night, I believe."
"What?" Jana said, pulling her attention away from the phone for a moment, then turning back to it. "Nevermind." She hung up and looked at Maria. "Aunt Dahlia was with Maya Valerie and I around eleven o'clock last night."
"That rules out the most likely candidate for murder-via-channelling," Maria said. She suppressed a trace of amusement at the idea of Jana hanging out with Dahlia Hawthorne - Maria knew full well Jana was afraid of ghosts!
"Should you not remember channelling someone?" Jana asked Eupraxia.
"I thought it was more akin to possession, last night," Eupraxia said. "As I said, I don't remember what was going on. Perhaps I accidentally channelled someone."
"You can't really do that unless you're really powerful," Maria said flatly, "and considering you're from a branch family…"
"Oh, don't say that," Eupraxia said, her brow slightly furrowing, "we in the branch family can be just as powerful as those in the main family. For instance, you could be the next Master, if only you hadn't given up your training and Mairwen didn't exist…"
"This is not about Maria," Jana said, with a slightly disturbed/distrustful expression.
"No, it's not. And anyway, she's right about me," Eupraxia said, "my powers are fairly middling. Perhaps I really couldn't accidentally channel someone."
"And there's only so many beings who could have possessed you in the first place," Maria pointed out, "so for now let's focus on the possibility of a living killer who somehow took advantage of you."
"We should have started there," Jana grumbled, then said, "Eupraxia Fey, tell us everything you know about the crime."
"The victim's name was Avvakum Willems," Eupraxia said, making a thoughtful gesture, "he had been in Kurain for almost a week, a drifter… but he had quite a lot of cash for one. I've heard you can make a lot of money panhandling, but I don't know if that was what he did. Nor do I know why he was in Kurain… I don't think anyone knows, but (yawn) perhaps he told Mystic Maya. But even Mystic Maya didn't like him… he was very rude and disrespectful of our traditions. Around sunset yesterday, Mystic Maya finally got fed up with him and banished him from the village. Last time anyone saw him he was headed for the train station… well, except for the fact that my brother, Booker, found his bloody carcass in a karesansui early this morning."
"…karesansui?" Jana said.
"A rock garden," Maria explained. Jana made a little I-knew-that noise and gestured with her riding crop for Eupraxia to continue.
"I was arrested because they found me covered in blood on the other side of the karesansui."
There was another brief pause.
"Maybe Uncle Wright only gave me this case because no one else wanted to deal with it themselves," Jana muttered, "How unfair. Watson Justice should be even further down the pecking order than I am, and yet…"
"I heard that," Maria admonished. She turned back to Eupraxia and said, "do you have any idea how you got in that state?"
"Possession," she said simply.
"Any idea that actually makes sense," Jana snapped.
Eupraxia's eyes flashed. "Be careful, Jana," she said, "I'm sure that Mr. Willems was killed because he took our clan too lightly."
It's a good thing Jana's not easily intimidated, Maria thought dryly, as Jana crossed her arms, glared at Eupraxia, and said, "any other ideas, Eupraxia Fey?"
"…as I said, I don't remember anything."
"In that case, we should head up to Kurain, now," Maria said.
"Anything else you would like to tell us before we go?" Jana said stiffly.
"Ah… actually, I was injured when they found me." She lifted one arm and pulled back the sleeve of her acolyte uniform to show them a smear of fresh bruises with a few bandages slapped on top. "Not terribly injured, of course… but I was. It seems that the spirit possessing me was too powerful for my abilities."
"In that case, it would have just left prematurely," Maria said, sighing, "I've never heard of someone getting bruises and cuts because their connection was weak."
"We will talk to you later," Jana said, walking out the door without even glancing over her shoulder back at Eupraxia. Maria rolled her eyes and followed her out. "What is wrong with her?" Jana asked as soon as the door shut behind them.
Maria shrugged. "I honestly don't know most of Aunt Pearly's kids very well. It seems to me like she reads too much gothic horror, though."
Jana scowled. "That, and she seems a little too preoccupied with spirit channelling."
"She does," Maria said, nodding and holding one hand up to her chin in thought, "that's pretty unusual nowadays, I think. Especially for someone as far down the line of succession as she is…"
"I am curious - how far down is she?"
Maria frowned. She was starting to get a headache. "I think twenty-one different women stand to inherit the title of Master before she does. Obviously Mairwen is first, then me - although I would never take the title, myself - then Aunt Pearly, then eighteen of her daughters… I think Eupraxia is just behind Olivia and Olivier - you know, Oliver's triplet sisters."
Jana blinked several times. "How many children does Pearl Fey have, exactly?"
"I'm… not really sure…"
March 2, 1:30 PM, Kurain Village
"Are you serious, Alois? You took this case?!" Alois just stared at his affronted sister, grinning.
"Selbstverständlich, I did," he said. "Why shouldn't I?"
"Because I am on this case."
"All the more reason for me to take it, kleine Schwester."
"Oh, get along, you two," Maria sighed irritably, rubbing her temples. "Also, Misty did come with us on the train here and then wandered off, or did I just hallucinate that whole thing?"
"She came with us," Jana grumbled.
"…do you usually hallucinate things, Maria?" Alois asked, seemingly genuinely concerned.
"It's not an issue, nevermind," Maria said, waving him off, "why don't you show us to the crime scene?"
Alois raised his eyebrows, unsure if Maria meant that she did not, in fact, hallucinate, or that the hallucinations simply didn't bother her - regardless, as he was never really one to turn down a request (…ha) from a beautiful woman (haha?), he led his sister and her assistant to the crime scene… or at least in the general direction of the crime scene.
"It's in the rock garden behind this house," Alois said, stopping right in front of it. "Frau Detektivin Noir is already back there, cataloging it for me."
"And where can we find you when we're done?" Maria asked.
Alois smiled lightly. "Herum," he said, "I'm sure that Amaryllis will notice that I'm here soon, so just look for her." Jana rolled her eyes.
"Alright, thank you, Alois," Maria said, then pointedly nudged Jana who muttered "Thank you" as well.
"Keine Ursache," he said.
"He's still severely hemophobic, of course," Maria said with no preamble, once they were inside the house and headed towards the back. "Nothing's changed since December."
"No," Jana said firmly, "nothing has changed."
"I would've hoped that you changed, at least a little."
Jana snorted. "The only lesson I learned from that trial is that if I continue to pursue victory, it will always come to me."
There was a long pause. "I think you learned the wrong lesson, Jana."
"Perhaps. But Alois is not in prison and you are not in the hospital, and Clay Justice is." She felt the corner of her mouth twitch unconsciously. "An almost perfect victory."
Maria laughed. "Interesting that you count my recovery as part of 'your' victory."
"It was our victory," Jana corrected her.
There was another long pause, and Jana internally cringed and externally blushed. That was such a lame line. Jana was supposed to be the cool professional riding crop-wielding beauty, not… that! And what was worse, Maria seemed to be dwelling on that comment instead of just dismissing it.
"And I suppose it wasn't a perfect victory because there were too many questions left unanswered?" Maria said abruptly, her voice slightly low.
Jana opened her mouth, about to excuse her slip of the tongue with the fact that Clay Justice was in Los Angeles Central Hospital's psychiatric ward instead of a maximum-security prison, but then closed it again. Was this turning into the sort of conversation where every phrase was supposed to have a second meaning? That was Alois' forte, not hers. She kept her mouth shut.
When they arrived at the aceldama, the first thing Jana noticed was that Detective Noir was arguing with another… woman? or maybe a very pretty man.
"Ah, close your head, you abercrombie frog."
"Mais, I won't get in ya way. Il n'y a pas besoin d'be so rude."
"Sing or scram, shamus."
"J'ai pas some'un to 'sing' about, mam'zelle. I'm just here to… observer."
"Is that so? Blobber?"
The second thing that Jana noticed was that the woman(?) Detective Noir was arguing with was former LAPD detective, Airey Verkhovensky, who had died over a year ago. Jana was sure of it. The thin, bespectacled androgyne with short dark hair and pale skin (although now she was wearing a loose black turtleneck and ripped jeans instead of her then-characteristic purple overcoat, and her hair was much more burgundy now) had been the victim of her very first case.
"What?" Jana said out loud.
Both the detectives turned to Jana and Maria. Detective Noir pulled a very impressive 'I know, it's her,' face, and Detective Verkhovensky grinned widely and strode towards Jana and Maria, hand held boisterously out.
"Bonjour, ça va? I believen't we've met?" she said in a light voice with a heavy French accent.
Jana looked back to Detective Noir, who shrugged in irritation, then glanced at Maria, who was looking impassively at Detective Verkhovensky. Maybe she didn't know…?
Left hanging, Detective Verkhovensky dropped her hand, but not her smile. "Y'all must be the little Mam'zelle L'avocat and son assistante charmante. I call myself Anna Grantaire; I'm an investigatrice privée, working for QLF's information-"
"I work there too," Maria interrupted.
Investigatrice(?) Verkhovensky/Grantaire blinked. "Ooh là là. I thought that you had a familiar air."
"So do you," Jana said, leaning away from her slightly. "Also… you are a what, again?"
"A meddling spook," Detective Noir said.
That does not explain it, Jana thought exasperatedly, but kept her glare directed towards Detective(?) Verkhovensky/Grantaire. "Are you… related to that police detective that died last January?"
She blinked again. It didn't look as though she had a whole lot going on upstairs, although Jana really didn't trust that impression. "Who, Airey? Elle n'était quoi my cousin, who happened to look a lot like me… about her death, c'est dommage."
I only understood about half of that, Jana despaired. This case was already going to be hard enough with Detective Noir's crazy-talk.
And the fact that another person from QLF's shady information division was hanging around her and Alois.
Shaking herself of the thought, Jana pointedly ignored Detective Grantaire and turned to Detective Noir. "Does this case have anything to do with QLF?"
"Nada, little broad," Detective Noir said, rolling her eyes. "we've been trying to crab it ever since this fakeloo artist first showed up and started making lines, but it's been a trip for biscuits."
"She's not making lines," Maria said, "she really does work for QLF."
"And QLF has squat to do with this bump-off."
"En fait," Detective Grantaire awkwardly cut into the conversation, "the victim had certain… relations with QLF. Chuis ici to follow up on these relations."
Detective Noir gave her an extremely irritated look. "In that case, dolly, spew your guts."
"Non, c'est classified."
"Do you want your elbows checked?"
"I'll keep y'all feuks on a need-to-know basis, mam'zelle."
"Maria, can we just go investigate the crime scene now?" Jana said impatiently. She was going to take the vague comment about Willems having a connection to QLF to mean that Detective Grantaire had nothing to do with her or Alois or that business with Watson Justice and time travel and everything else. She could focus on a case for the first time in what felt like forever.
"Yes, and let's ask Detective Noir for more information after she deals with Grantaire," Maria sighed.
Avvakum Willems was a tall, attractively scruffy man with kinky brown hair and an olive skin tone. He was face down on the ground about a meter away from the low fence that outlined the zen garden; a wide skid was cut into the gravel, where he must have fallen and been carried by his momentum. The cut on his throat was deep enough that it was visible even from where Jana was crouching next to his body, and his blood not only pooled around his head, but shot about 45 centimeters away from it, too. Looking around, Jana saw that a bloody hand-knife had been tossed a bit away from Willems. Most likely the murder weapon, she thought. She also noted that Willems was dressed warmly - not really unusual at this time of year (especially up in Kurain, brr) although she supposed it could indicate that he had indeed been attacked after leaving Fey Manor for good.
"I think this is where they found Eupraxia," Maria called from the other end of the crime scene, pointing at a disturbed spot in the gravel. It was almost dead center of the garden.
Jana looked around. The pebbles had clearly, at some point, been carefully raked into ripple patterns, but now there were little depressions lined up everywhere. "Which set of footprints belong to Eupraxia Fey?" she wondered out loud.
"None of them," Detective Noir said, abandoning Detective Grantaire and walking over. "Those were all made by flatties giving this dump the up-and-down." She pulled a photograph out of her trenchcoat and handed it to Jana. "We had one of they Feys take this before the croakers arrived." It was the crime scene, minus any tracks - apart from the corpse and Eupraxia herself, the gravel was still perfectly groomed.
"Huh," Jana said, carefully looking over the picture and then turning around to scrutinize the garden again. How did Eupraxia end up in the middle of it without leaving any marks? It was too far to jump, and there wasn't anything above it that she could have fallen from.
"Let me see that," Maria said, taking the photo from Jana and looking at them herself. "Detective Noir, do you have any theories as to how she managed this?"
"We're working on it," she said, crossing her arms. "We've got a rake - for prettying up this racket, I mean - that we think might be pretty hinky. I'll put you wise if anything else comes up."
"Thank… you?" Jana said, adding the photograph to her court record. "Is your theory that Eupraxia Fey used the rake to remove her footprints?"
"On the nose, little twist."
Whatever that means, Jana thought.
"Was she found with the rake?" Maria asked.
Detective Noir was silent for a moment. "No," she said at length. "It was a pretty clean sneak."
"Other than the fact that she was still at the crime scene."
"But," Detective Noir held up one finger, "the rake was found within throwing distance of that dolly." She pointed at one edge of the garden, close to the house, directly across from where Eupraxia had been found.
"That is pretty far," Jana said. "Could Eupraxia Fey really throw a rake all the way over there?"
"She's on a javelin throw team."
"Oh," Jana and Maria said at the same time.
"…we should go talk to some witnesses now," Jana said, turning to Maria, "Booker Fey was the one who found the body, correct?"
"Yo," Detective Noir said, nodding.
Jana turned around to set off to go find him, then stopped, blinking. "…where did Anna Grantaire go?"
"Lammed off, hopefully," Detective Noir grumbled, "I don't need some op bumping gums in my crime scene."
Avvakum Willems' name comes from Avvakum Petrov and Dirk Willems, respectively. Both were burned at the stake for heresy - by the Eastern Orthodox and Roman Catholic churches, respectively, in 1682 and 1569, respectively - and became revered later.
Eupraxia is a Greek name meaning "good conduct".
Translations (actually I do speak French), and no, I am not 'translating' Detective Noir's dialogue because it's SUPPOSED to be obfuscating:
Selbstverständlich, (DE) Of course,
kleine Schwester (DE) little sister
Frau Detektivin (DE) Detective literally, Ms./Mrs. Detective
Herum (DE) Around
Keine Ursache (DE) No problem
Mais, (FR) But,
Il n'y a pas besoin d' (FR) There's no reason to
J'ai pas some'un (FR) I don't have someone "some'un" is a combination between "someone" and "quelque'un" (someone)
mam'zelle (FR) miss a shortening of "mademoiselle", which is used towards young women
observer (FR) to observe
Bonjour, ça va? (FR) Good day, how are you?/Hello, what's up?
Mam'zelle L'avocat (FR) Miss Lawyer
son assistante charmante (FR) her charming assistant
investigatrice privée (FR) private investigator
Ooh là là. (FR) an exclamation of surprised dismay
Elle n'était quoi (FR) She was just
c'est dommage (FR) it's a pity typically used ironically or insincerely
En fait, (FR) In fact,
Chuis ici (FR) I'm here "chuis" is a shortening of "j'suis" which is a shortening of "je suis"
Non, c'est (FR) No, it's
feuks (FR) cops verlan (similar to AAVE in English) slang