Ezekiel Jones And the Silver Coin

Chapter Two

When Eve and the Librarians passed through the portal from the Annex, they all walked through a door that led them straight into Kitty Allgood's home, right into the very room it was apparent she had been murdered in as they found that it was still marked as a crime scene. Luckily for them, there was no one inside the room as they appeared. It wasn't exactly easy to explain how it is they always seem to step in from out of nowhere.

Cassandra was the first to speak up as she noticed the red still coating the floor where the woman's body fell after she was killed, as she said with disgust, "Oh my, that's a lot of blood. I mean, that poor woman."

Baird nodded in agreement as she knelt down to observe the area and answered, "It does seem like a lot of blood for a simple knife wound. I don't think it was a simple kitchen knife or even a switchblade like knife our killer used. From the amount of blood here, not to mention the large space where the blood spatter reached, I would say that he or she used a serrated knife or large dagger."

"What's strange is that there's no indication of there being anyone here," Jake continued as he looked around the room. "Usually with a gruesome murder like this, the killer leaves behind some kind of evidence of him being here, like maybe footprints in the blood."

"Perhaps whatever kind of magic he used to break in here helped him, or her, to come and go without a trace," Ezekiel replied as he too looked around the room, not for the same reason as Jake, but because he was looking for the woman's possible valuables like any good thief does. "Wow, this woman really was loaded."

Stone glanced over at their own thief and glared at him as he noticed Ezekiel lifting up a small jade statue to exam its value, then stated angrily, "Would you quit eyeballing the woman's possessions, Jones, and pay attention to the real reason we're here?"

Jones rolled his eyes and looked up at the chandelier hanging down from the ceiling above them as he responded, "For your information, I can do both. I am multitasking. And just so you know, I think we're about to have company."

"What the… who the hell are you all now?" a security officer, who was obviously under Mrs. Allgood's employ, shouted as he suddenly walked through the door and quickly pulled his gun from his holster and aimed it toward the new intruders. "Don't move!"

"Whoa, whoa, just take it easy pal," Eve spoke up saying as she too raised her own weapon, while using her other hand to try to indicate that she and her charges were of no threat to the guard. "It's okay here, we're all… well we're just here to investigate Mrs. Allgood's death."

The officer looked between the four strangers and nervously said, "None of you look like policemen that were already here earlier. And how the hell did you get in here? Are you with our employer's killer?"

The Guardian quickly answered, "No, no, no, of course not. And no, we're not police, nor with the cops that were here, but I promise that we mean you no harm. A judging by your nerves, I'm guessing that you saw the killer. Perhaps you might have seen something, strange about him or her?"

"What do you mean, strange?" the man asked even more anxiously than before as he slowly began to lower his weapon. "I don't know what you're talking about."

"Hey Dennis!" the other guard called out just as he entered the room behind him, then froze upon seeing the others, one of them with a weapon raised and aimed at his partner, then pulled his own gun. "What's going on here? Who are you?"

Ezekiel finally spoke up again saying frustratingly, "Ugh… Are we really going to go through this again? Look mates, we're Librarians and we're not looking to hurt you or your partner here. We just want to know what really happened to Kitty Allgood."

The second officer looked at the younger man as he stated coldly, "Your accent, I know that accent."

"Yeah, it's Australian," Jones replied in confusion. "I'm Australian. What of it?"

"The man who killed Mrs. Allgood had your accent," Dennis responded for his friend, with just as much suspicion in his voice as he and the other guard both turned their weapons on Ezekiel, who stepped back as he raised his hands high in the air. "It fact, you sound just like him."

Jake swiftly moved to stand between Jones and the two security guards to protect him as he said, "Wait! You've both got to listen, Jones here is a lot of things, but he certainly not a murderer. Besides, he wasn't even here early this morning when your boss was killed. Trust me, he was too busy annoying us like he always does."

Dennis looked over at his partner as he spoke again saying, "I think they're telling the truth, Mike. Besides, the guy who killed Mrs. Allgood, he had a somewhat deeper voice and I think he was taller."

"It's a strange coincidence that two men with the same accents would appear here within a few hours of each other, don't you think?" Mike answered skeptically, then glared again at Jones. "Can you do what he did too? Is that how you all got in here without us or the cops keeping an eye on the place seeing you? Are you here to steal more of Kitty's valuable possessions?"

Cassandra looked at the two guards as she replied, "No, of course not! Exactly what do you mean by, what he did too? What did you see here last night?"

Dennis nervously responded too quickly, "It's nothing. We didn't see anything. What we told the cops out there is what happened."

"You lied to the police," Baird stated, recognizing what the officer really meant. "You gave them some bogus story so that they wouldn't think you're crazy. Please, I promise you that we won't think you're nuts. Strange and the unexplained is what we do for a living. Tell us what it is you saw."

"If seeing a monster dressed all in black, almost appearing as nothing more than a dark shadow or apparition, who has the ability to phase right through walls doesn't count as crazy, then I don't know what does," Mike answered fearfully as he finally lowered his gun, while keeping his eyes locked on the woman appearing to be in charge, his partner following suit. "I never saw anything like it. That's all we saw. He spoke with your friend's accent, saying something about Mrs. Allgood not being as good as she appeared to be, but that wasn't why he killed her. Then, he ran right at that wall right behind you and passed right through it like nothing was there."

The other officer added, "Neither one of us could see his face. It was dark and he was dressed just as Mike said."

Cassandra looked between her friends, then back at the guards as she replied, "We do believe you. We appreciate you telling us the truth."

"I promise you that we'll find out the truth of what happened here last night," Eve said with assurance. I have one more question. Did the emerald necklace that was stolen have more than just price value to Mrs. Allgood?"

"We know that it was her most prized possession and that that necklace is the reason why we were both hired on," Dennis responded. "To make sure that no one could break in steal it, not to protect her. She was almost paranoid to its protection, at least until last week when the surveillance equipment failed. She wouldn't pay to have it fixed, acted as though protection no longer mattered. It was strange."

Ezekiel grinned like the Cheshire cat as he spoke up again saying, "It looks like I've got some research to do on that emerald necklace."

Jake glared at him, then specified, "So long as it's to find out why the killer broke in to steal it and not to scope the black market for its street value. Let's get out of here."