2. Discussion
"Can you think of anything, Dagran?"
"Nope."
Dagran and Zael were currently hanging out in the condo they managed to buy only a couple months ago. It had been expensive, but it was worth it because they didn't have to worry about rent, at least. And the apartments in Lazulis were cramped for them—they needed more space simply for the sake of needing more space for them to run around in and put things (before the condo, they were in an apartment that was literally like a one-bedroom room they shared and another room for the bathroom and that was it).
The two sat on the couch, just staring at photos and reports included in the file about the case.
"Hm." Dagran sighed, putting a photo down on the coffee table in front of them. "I think we're going to have to sleep on this one, Zael. It's really late, and staying up wracking our minds about it isn't going to help."
Zael sighed, nodding in agreement. "Good point. Though I really don't get how the criminal could have broken into the place if even the windows were locked and everything..."
Dagran gave him a reassuring grin. "Hey, don't worry. I'm sure we'll think of something by the morning. But we should really sleep." He yawned at that.
Zael chuckled. "Yeah. We should."
"This is so delicious!" Mirania nearly squealed as she ate her third burger. Syrenne chuckled as she watched her girlfriend eat. Mirania always had a thing for eating a lot. Sure, it cut into their living expenses at their apartment currently but hey, it was food. It was worth it, especially to see her girlfriend smile like that. "Oh, Syrenne, we have to go to this place again sometime! They have some really good food here!"
Syrenne cut into a steak, taking a bite of it and chuckling a bit. "Yeah, I know. Thought it'd help to have some really good food in your stomach before we discuss the case. You looked like you were going to wilt earlier..."
Mirania nodded, blushing slightly. "Yes, I probably would have. Thank you for taking me here. I should pay you back..." Her eyes then widened. "Oh no, the rent! The rent is due in a week and I still haven't got my paycheck!"
Syrenne chuckled at that. Mirania could always be such a worrywart. "Oy, it's fine. I already got my paycheck yesterday for caring for all those dogs for the past month yesterday, remember?" She then groaned, eating another piece of steak. "I can't believe I did that. But at least we have more than enough to pay for this—and the rent, too."
"True." Mirania was the one with the stable job between the two of them, being a florist part-time. The rest of the time, the two were tying up loose ends with odd jobs here and there. It would be nice to get the reward money from Mayor Arganan. They had to find the Arganan heirlooms before everyone else did. "I was thinking, Syrenne, about the case...we should go to the actual place where the Arganan heirlooms were kept. If we can figure out how the thief took them without the security catching him or her, I think we could narrow down the list of possible suspects."
Syrenne grinned. "Sounds great! But first..." She looked to a waiter. "Oy! Two beers, please!"
Mirania groaned. "Syrenne..."
Meanwhile at a table not too far from them, Asthar ahd Therius were both eating quietly. Both of them could easily hear the two women, and Therius sighed after sipping some water.
"Asthar, what do you think? Of the others investigating this case? I'm not quite sure if I can trust those two brothers, Zesha and Zepha. They are in the maifa..."
"That is true. But, there must be a reason why Zangurak assigned them tot he task from the start." Asthar responded after swallowing some garlic bread he bit into. "I have the suspicion that Zangurak himself must have some motive for wanting to investigate this, for his own gain. Zesha and Zepha may be serving as a distraction while he carries this out. But we can't label him as a suspect yet—it was proven earlier that he was at this restaurant with Zesha and Zepha the night the heirlooms were stolen. They had the receipt and everything. Zangurak's mafia usually also has a signature symbol of sort that they leave behind whenever they go and commit any crimes such as vandalism and such. But this case in particular, in terms of evidence left behind was...well, nothing. So we can't just point fingers yet, Therius."
Therius bit his lower lip. "I see." He looked to Mirania and Syrenne. "Those two plan to go to the actual crime scene. Asthar, should we do so as well?"
Asthar nodded, grinning slightly. "Yes. I'm thinking, if we can find some cooperation with the others, it will help us all to find the Arganan heirlooms—and the culprit who stole them. I think it's fair to say that the two of us are more interested in catching the thief, yes?"
Therius had to smile slightly at that. "That is true. Catching the thief will be of great benefit to find the heirlooms. We find him or her, arrest him or her, interrogate them and find out where those heirlooms are. After that...we find the heirlooms and everything is set right again."
Asthar's grin widened at that. "Exactly." He chuckled a bit as he sipped a glass of wine. "As they say...the game is on."
"This is very...very..."
"Very what, brother?" Zepha asked, looking up from reading the notes that he and Zesha made from their interview with the Mayor earlier.
"Sad." Zesha finally managed. "I don't think I really wrote down enough. Or maybe the Mayor didn't say enough."
"Well," Zepha responded, flipping through a few pages, "He did look rather distressed during the interview we had with him briefly."
"Brother, I believe that 'briefly' means only a moment, not one and a half hours."
"Oh. Right."
The two stared blankly at the paper, then stared up at each other quietly.
"I think we should assume one of two things." Zepha started."
Zesha stared. "Like what?"
"Either," Zepha took out a marker and started drawing out diagrams that probably didn't make any sense with what he was saying, "Either the Mayor finds those heirlooms extremely important to him and therefore it is in our best interest to get them back to him as soon as possible, or we might have scared him during the sudden interview somehow and that might have caused him to forget some details."
Zesha looked at the diagrams (that made, still, absolutely no sense since his brother was terrible at drawing) before responding. "Maybe we should assume both assumptions, brother. We should go back to interview the Mayor again. Maybe after a night's rest he can remember some more details. And..." He grinned. "That mafia heir was there at the time, too. And the Mayor's niece, Calista. We should talk to both of them as well if we can find them."
Zepha merely grinned. He may have self-proclaimed himself the brains of the two while Zesha was the brawn, but that didn't mean that Zesha didn't have good ideas. "That...sounds like a good plan, brother."
Yurick sighed as he stood in the shower, grabbing the bar of soap and rubbing it between his hands. He put the bar of soap down, lathering the soap on his hands all over his body.
The case was really annoying him. It really was. Why oh why did Lowell have to go and have him and Yurick pose as private detectives? Why not, say, paparazzi or freelance interviewers for a newspaper or something? Then they wouldn't have to take on this case and things would be so much simpler.
Being a con artist sucked sometimes, but hey, Yurick supposed that they had to do something that would make them some quick cash, after all.
That was when Lowell stepped into the shower. "Oy, Yurick, pass the soap, will you?"
"WHAT!?" Yurick stared at Lowell, who was, well, stark naked in the shower with him now. "What the hell are you doing in here!? Get out! I'm almost done bathing! This shower barely fits both of us, anyway!"
Lowell laughed, grabbing the bar of soap, lathering some suds in his hands as he spoke. "I was just thinking about the case, Yurick, and I have an idea." He spoke up. "You know how the heirlooms were stolen from a place they were kept? A hidden vault in a locked room? I think we should check it out."
Yurick groaned. "Well, that's nice to hear, considering you're not the brains of the two of us. I was already planning on doing it tomorrow."
Lowell gave a dramatic gasp as he putt he soap back. "What!? Oh, I'm hurt!" He gasped, feigning shock. "Yurick, we're best friends! How can you do this to me!?"
Yurick slapped his own forehead. "Lowell, do you need to be a drama queen?"
"Well—" Lowell started, regaining composure, when he looked down.
And stared.
Yurick blinked, before looking down awkwardly. The two then looked up at each other, silent until Lowell broke the silence.
"...Damn." The blond managed. "You're bigger than me. Why didn't you tell me about this!? I mean, I guess you kept this secret 'cause you're so shy and anti-social and all that, but seriously. If the ladies know of this, you'll be a hit with them!"
Yurick blushed, failing to properly glare at the now laughing Lowell. "Shut up, Lowell."
"Jirall..."
"Hell, yes...say my name, Calista..."
"Jirall, this is serious!" She pushed him away from her a bit, sighing. "We need to seriously talk about this case, Jirall, if we're going to work away at it."
Jirall groaned, pushing a few locks of hair out of his face as he lay on the bed beside her. The two were half-dressed, in heat really, and Calista was just ruining the mood now. "C-Calista—oh, come on! Seriously!?"
Calista sighed, nodding. "Yes, Jirall. I mean, the sex is fun and all, but still. We really need to take this seriously. These are the Arganan heirlooms we're talking about!"
Jirall cuddled up close to his fiance, sighing. "Alright, alright. What is it that we should do first, dear?"
Calista held him close, kissing his forehead. "We were there that night with my uncle at the opera when the heirlooms were stolen, yes?"
"Well, technically, he was at the opera watching act three of Carmen while we were fucking each other in the bathroom, but yes, we were with him in a way that night. What about it?"
Calista blushed as she heard her fiance chuckle at that. "Well, the other people involved in this investigation will probably all go try to question us first. They'll want to get details. So we should talk wtih them, obviously. While they get information from us, we can get information from them."
Jirall smiled, kissing her passionately. "Now that's an idea. But how about..." One of his hands went underneath the skirt part of her dress, massaging her thigh. "How about we continue, ah, sleeping on it?"
Calista kissed him in return, embracing him closely. "That sounds like an idea..." She purred, curling up against him as the unclothing continued.
The Mayor sighed as he looked at the case file. He was getting a headache thinking about it.
That was when his cellphone rang. He growled in frustration, picking up the phone. "Yes?" He half-hissed.
A deep laugh was heard from the other end, Zangurak's voice resounding afterwards. "I take it that you have no idea where to start with this case, do you?"
Arganan sighed, shaking his head. "No, Zangurak, I have no idea. Any advice?"
That was when the door to his office opened, and in walked none other than Zangurak, who smirked as he held a cellphone in his hand.
"I thought you'd be here." He murmured, his eyes shifting towards Arganan with a bit of a leer.
Arganan stared at him blankly. "How the hell did you know where I was?"
Zangurak laughed as he put his cellphone in his pants pocket, approaching him. "Relax, Mayor," Zangurak sneered. "It was merely a lucky guess on my part. Though assuming that you're rather distressed over this whole case would give me an idea as of where you are. You wouldn't be resting at home. You'd be here in your office, worrying the hell out of your senses."
Arganan glared at him. "Two things. First, don't scare me like that again. Second, continue to do such crude behaviour and our little alliance is at an end."
Zangurak frowned. "Honestly, you're a stick in the mud. It's no wonder everyone thinks you're so serious." He sat down across from Arganan, putting a bottle of wine and two glasses onto the desk.
Arganan eyed the wine and glasses carefully. "Explain to me why you brought wine...?"
Zangurak grinned slightly. "I thought a loose tongue might help give the both of us information. It's helped me with clients in the past."
Arganan hesitated, before he sighed. "Fine. But you better stay with me the whole time. And...don't try to use any of this to exploit me or anything like that."
"That is understood." Zangurak opened up the bottle, pouring a good amount of wine into both glasses before handing one to Arganan. Arganan took his glass as Zangurak lifted his glass. "Cheers."
"To what?" The Mayor asked, blinking a little.
The red-haired mafia boss smirked. "To getting drunk."
Arganan smiled slightly in amusement. "Cheers."
The two clinked the wine glasses together before beginning to drink.
