Chapter Thirteen

Interrogation 1, Police Plaza

The two officers observed their suspect intently through the one-way mirror that took up most of the wall. Holly and Trouble were accompanied by Artemis and Root, the latter of whom was smoking a goodly sized fungus cigar with deep satisfaction.

"Gods, it's been a long time since I had one of these", Root said almost fondly as he inhaled another puff. "Now then", he continued, "before we start interrogating McGregor, let's look at where we stand."

"I'm listening", said Trouble.

"First off, you've narrowed down the suspect list to either Ark Sool or Yolande McGregor; is that correct?" Root took his cigar out of his mouth to think.

"Yes", agreed Holly.

"Are you certain it's one of them, and not anyone else?"

Holly and Trouble exchanged a glance. "Yes", Holly affirmed after a moment's hesitation. Root didn't miss that.

"Hmph. You paused, Holly – that's not good. Certainty is not preceded by pauses. Are you absolutely sure it can't possibly be anyone else who's doing this?"

"Yes", Holly repeated with more conviction. "Foaly was the one who came up with the list, and Mulch whittled it down to two for us."

"The convict's still sticking his nose in LEP business, eh?" Root sounded unperturbed. "Somehow I'm not surprised at that. He still up to his criminal ways?"

"He's gone straight, Julius", said Holly. "He got a full pardon from the Council and he's been running a PI firm with Doodah Day for the past four years."

Root snorted. "Full pardon, eh?" He squinted at Artemis calculatingly. "How did that happen?"

Trouble coughed. "It was discovered that the, er, date on the original search warrant for his cave was after you actually searched it", he explained delicately.

Root sputtered on his cigar smoke, his face starting to turn a familiar shade of purple. "Date was after…D'Arvit, I know I obtained the warrant before I searched his cave. This has Mud Boy written all over it." He glared at Artemis.

"I required his services to reverse the mind-wipe", Artemis responded calmly. "It seemed prudent to provide a means of escape for him."

Root scowled. "Hmph. It obviously turned out for the best, so I'm going to pretend we did not just have that conversation. Now, getting back on topic…Holly. You trust Foaly and Diggums to be accurate in their observations?"

"I do", Holly affirmed.

"Very well, then. Since I trust you and you trust them, we will proceed under the assumption that it is only either Sool or McGregor who's causing this mess." Root drew another breath on his cigar. "Who's interrogating the suspect?"

"I'll do it", Trouble asserted.

"Good. Get to it."

~AF~

Outside the Ops Booth

Mulch complained long and loudly as he did various things outside the Ops Booth. He cursed as he jiggled his wiry hairs through the cracks in the electronic devices. He prattled about how underappreciated he was while he attempted to drill his way through the cement. He carped about Foaly's 'stupid, useless, unfounded paranoia' when he was unable to break the blacked-out, bulletproof windows with a heavy bowling ball. He vowed untruthfully that he wished he'd never been involved with the Artemis Fowl affair as he continued to try to get Foaly out.

"Stop complaining, Mulch – at least you're not the one who's stuck inside the room", said Foaly.

"No, I'm supposed to be the one who breaks myself into the booth, not try to get you out", Mulch retorted. "D'Arvit, Foaly – just how much security have you put on this booth?"

"A lot", Foaly replied.

"Well, it's a right pain in the behind to bypass all the alarms and lockdowns."

"Mulch", said Foaly patiently, "Maybe you could work faster if you stopped talking."

"Listen, centaur, d'you want me to get you out or not?" Mulch asked testily as he finally succeeded in prying the lid off the circuitry panel that controlled the doors with several twisted strands of stiff, wiry dwarf hair. "Right, I think I'm getting somewhere. What's the code to open the doors?"

"3126089", Foaly answered. "And then Alpha Beta Two."

"Sheesh", Mulch remarked as he tweaked a blue wire within the circuitry panel while punching in the code to the control pad with the other hand. "Talk about paranoid."

The doors slid open with a swish and Foaly gratefully stepped out. "Thank you, Mulch", he said sincerely. "I owe you one."

"I won't let you forget it", said Mulch. "Just don't make a habit of getting locked into your booth, okay? I've never seen so many security features trained one area. I think the experience had permanently put me off trying to break into the Ops Booth."

"That, at least, is a good thing." Foaly stretched and yawned. Then he pulled out a cell phone.

"Calling Holly?" asked Mulch.

"Caballine", Foaly replied. "I'm going to let her know I'll be home in a bit."

Mulch nodded and peeked inside the Ops Booth, just to see the condition it was in now. "Uh…Foaly?" he said. "Did anyone authorize the release of the mesmerized fairies the LEP apprehended two days ago?"

"What?" Foaly cantered (pun intended) back into the booth with his cell phone still in hand.

"Look", said Mulch, pointing at the unheeded notice pulsing gently on the screen of one of the computers near the top of the wall. "Pi 62-91-4876 Gamma Nine. Whose code is that?"

Foaly glanced at the monitor and reared back in shock. "D'Arvit!" he swore. "How could I miss that?" Tossing his phone onto a table, he started typing furiously into a keyboard. Calling Caballine would have to wait.

A/N: Now we're getting close to the action scenes. There will be maybe ten more chapters, and an epilogue - or is that nine chapters and an epilogue? I forget exactly. Thanks to dimka-roza-belikova, Slip On Ice, mischievous101 (such a lovely long review), and ghostsaliensteletubbiesohmy.

Disclaimer: I wish. If that were the case, my dream of becoming an author would be fulfilled. It's not - not yet, anyways. I plan to reach it - soon.