Author's Note
This work was inspired by a r/dragonage prompt: Modern AU - I need a place to stay. It sparked this murder mystery story that I hope you will enjoy! I'm halfway through writing the story, so I will update on a weekly basis. You can also read this work at Ao3 under the same name.
As a disclaimer, I do not own Dragon Age or any of the characters or elements that appear in this work. It is purely a fan work and I'm not profiting in any way from it. Thank you for reading!
Alistair stared blankly at the screen of the monitor, having reread the same line for the umpteenth time. It was late, he didn't have the heart to check how late it actually was, but he was sure it was well past midnight. He sighed, drinking the cold coffee from the chipped mug. Where was he? Oh yeah, checking emails. He had to reply to his boss, what a bother.
"Come on, Alistair, it's not that bad! Think about it, just a few more hours and we get to look forward to the weekend!"
Alistair looked from behind the monitor screen to glare at the woman at the desk across from his. He usually appreciated his friend's optimism, but not whenever they had to cover one of the late shifts. The blonde woman just shrugged at him and kept typing away.
"Don't look at me like that, we get three days off! You're not the only one that can't wait to jump into bed and not have to wake up until tomorrow afternoon but scowling at the screen won't make time pass faster."
"Easy for you to say, Kallian. I haven't even finished replying to all these emails and I still have all the paperwork to file." He took another sip from the stale coffee and tried not to gag, "Man, if I only I could travel to the past I'd tell myself to go play football or try out engineering. Kid-me would have scowled at how boring policework actually is."
"Aw don't be like that, I know hardly anything exciting happens, but don't you love it when something actually does, and you get to be there helping people? Isn't that why you joined the force in the first place?"
His friend was right, paperwork be damned, it did feel good whenever he could do something to help others. And he did get to meet cool people at the job, his co-workers were pretty fun, and his boss was like a mother to him. But Alistair was in a foul mood and was content with keeping the scowl on his face and continuing to glare at the screen in hopes the emails would write themselves.
"Oh yeah, I love all the exciting things that happen around here. Didn't you get a call last week about someone complaining about a car alarm going off for hours in front of their building? How thrilling."
Kallian rolled her eyes.
"Alright, have it your way. Your problem, not mine." She hummed as she left the room, presumably for fresh coffee or something to keep her awake.
Kallian did indeed leave for the communal kitchen they shared in the office. It was empty, for it was nearly three in the morning and not many people had the misfortune of being stuck on the late-night shift on a Thursday. Time had flown by, but she was almost approaching her seventh month since joining the Highever forces, nicknamed by the town as the Grey Wardens. She had still to be told the reason for the nickname.
She had lived all her life in the Fereldan capital, Denerim, where she enlisted, but after passing the training and officially acquiring her badge she had been transferred to the north coast. At first, she had trouble adjusting to the city: she missed her family and friends dearly, the familiarity of the borough she had grown up in, even the strong smells she always complained about. But Highever had been accommodating enough. She was lucky her best friend had moved to the city three years prior. Staying with her for the first weeks gave her enough time to get to know her surroundings, get used to the atmosphere in the office and start looking for a flat. Having a familiar face around made her feel less lonely, and her co-workers made moving a lot easier.
She was no longer referred to as 'the newbie' and had managed to make friends with most of her fellow co-workers. Alistair was the first person she got to know. He was friendly, mostly goofy, if not a bit whiney, but they got along. He was a year her senior and showed promise; Kallian could see him becoming chief inspector or whatever he set his mind to. They were often paired together for most shifts, a reoccurring partnership that eased her fears of failing at the job.
Leliana was lovely, she was aiming for a position in the forensics team, but was stuck doing the same job both her and Alistair were doing for a few more years before she could be promoted. As fiery as her hair, Leliana had the craziest stories of cases she had worked in. Kallian doubted some of them, but never told her. She was sweet, helpful and resourceful, but had a bad temper when crossed, so she tried her best not to get on her wrong side. It was thanks to her that she got to know most of the rest of the police force, that girl knew everyone.
Wynne was her boss, sweet, if only a tad condescending. She fussed too much over her, but especially over Alistair, worrying unnecessarily for them as if they had not chosen to become police officers of their own accord. As sweet as she was, Wynne knew her way around the force and didn't hesitate to spring to action whenever it was necessary.
It was actually thanks to Leliana and Wynne that she had managed to find a place to stay in Highever as quickly as she had. They managed to find her a sweet little two-bedroom house in the outskirts of Highever. It was cheap and the garden more than made up for how old the house was. She was close to the station, a bit further away from the centre of the town, but she liked it. She could smell the clean sea, a scent that was still unfamiliar to her, after living in busy Denerim all her life.
The kettle stopped and she poured the coffee in two of the office mugs, adding plenty of sugar and milk to Alistair's drink before heading back to the room. Alistair was, for once, typing away at the keyboard. She almost felt bad for interrupting his train of thought. She smiled at him after depositing the mug next to the old one and took a seat behind him, looking over his shoulder to see what he was working on. When he finished his task, he turned to her and gave her a big toothy smile.
"Aw, thanks, I was dreading having to finish that cold mug." He stretched, muscles sore from sitting too long at the desk.
"I'm sorry if I came across as condescending earlier. You're right, this is a bore. I can't deal with more paperwork, can't wait to be done with this shift." She hoped the coffee was enough of an apology.
Alistair laughed, "Nah, don't worry. I was being crabby too. Being cooped up in this office gets to you sometimes, you know? Especially when it's a late shift and nothing happens. I'm thankful you're here, it helps the time pass faster."
"I think we deserve a break, it's not like anything important will happen if Wade is the one that has to deal with all this paperwork tomorrow morning. He lives for the menial tasks. Let's chat for a while."
"Sure, I'd like that. How are you finding it here, by the way? Are you adjusting well enough? I know Highever is nothing exciting compared to Denerim, but still…"
"Yeah! It's mostly fine, I call back home often enough and they're doing great, I'm thinking of visiting next month, there's a lot of things to organise as you can imagine! Other than that, yeah, Highever is fine. I like it here, the company definitely helped. I love all the crazy things Leliana gets up to on her spare time."
"I never understood her. She seems so innocent, like she's never hurt a fly, but when you see her at work it's almost scary how focused and ruthless she gets." Alistair had known Leliana longer than Kallian had, but he hadn't really bothered to get to know her. It was only after she became friends with Kallian that he started actually hanging out with her, and he couldn't believe how much he had missed out. That girl was crazy in a good way.
"Yeah, she's even scarier when she gets angry. Trust me, I'm never leaving unwashed mugs on the counter again… I thought she'd throw me out of the window! And then, later that shift she knocks on the office door and offers me cookies from the bakery as an apology for her outburst!"
Alistair laughed. He liked how at ease he felt with Kallian, conversation always flowed between them. They had only known each other for a little while, but they had become friends almost right off the bat. Alistair was only a year her senior, but she sometimes made him feel like he was her junior.
"Yeah, you have weird friends…"
"Hey, they're your friends as well!" Kallian gave him a light punch in the arm and rolled back to her desk, returning to work.
Alistair hesitantly resumed his typing, but she noticed his expression had changed and he seemed unsettled. The silence had become awkward. Oh no, not this. Not now.
"Um, about your friends…" he started, peeking from behind the monitor to look at her.
"Alistair…"
He interrupted her before she could say anything. "No… no, it's not like that. I just want to know how she's doing… Nothing personal! I swear! I just don't want there to be any bad blood between us, you know? Every time the group hangs out and she's there she looks at me like I have the plague and…"
"Alistair, you did say pretty hurtful things to her. Don't make me pick a side, you know Morrigan's been my best friend for years and it's already a miracle she still comes to these gatherings. It'll take some time for things to get back to normal, respect her boundaries."
"She wasn't very nice to me during the breakup either. Look, I just wanna make sure she won't, I don't know, stuff my shoes with spiders or set my coat on fire."
"Oh, come on, she's not the witch you make her out to be."
"She is studying the occult…"
"Alistair!" Kallian sighed, she wasn't going to get anywhere with him. "Don't worry, I'll politely ask her not to set you on fire. You guys just weren't compatible, you need to accept it and move on. I'm here if you want to talk but please don't make me choose between you two."
"You're right, Maker, I'm sorry, I'm just not used to all of this-"
Alistair was spared from coming up with whatever excuse to change the topic into something less awkward by the telephone ringing. It was so unexpected it made them both jump out of their seats. They usually did not get many calls during night shifts. He hurried to pick up the phone, eager to leave the conversation with Kallian behind.
Alistair remained calm during the phone call, jotting down a few notes and repeating some information back to the speaker, but she noticed he was frantic in his writing and signalled her to get ready. It looked like it was an emergency. She tried to remain calm while getting ready, picking up the keys of the car.
"Call Leli, tell her to go to the docks. We've just had someone report an attempted hold-up inside the last ferry to dock in Highever tonight. It is pretty urgent, so run across the hall and tell Oghren we're leaving immediately and to take any redirected calls."
Kallian's heart threatened to burst from her chest, adrenaline rushing through her while she notified Oghren of the emergency, ignoring his usual grumbling about not being involved in anything fun. Her mind ran on autopilot as she rushed out to the parking lot to wait on Alistair. She was nervous, she had only been involved in minor cases, and definitely nothing similar to a hold-up. She hoped she would not let her nerves get the best of her, but with Leliana and Alistair by her side she was sure she'd be fine. She tossed the keys to her partner and jumped on the passenger seat. Alistair turned on the alarms of the car and rushed through to the location, eyes focused on the road.
"What is it? What's going on?"
"As I said, an attempted hold-up. It seems they had a group infiltrate the ship; the rest is waiting outside the docks. How they got past security I have no clue. I guess it's dead quiet at this time of the night. I didn't get many details, but I'm assuming it's gang activity, I doubt there's anything of value in that ferry."
"Gangs? In Highever?"
"Ach, Kallian, there's gangs everywhere. They usually keep quiet and under radar, so this is suspicious, but it's nothing we can't handle. I made sure to call reinforcements in case we need it." He paused, finally realising what was going on. "Oh wait, this is your first real case, isn't it? Don't worry, make sure you stay alert, you need all your senses working overdrive. Just make sure to not hesitate and doubt yourself, but me and Leliana will be there in case things turn sour."
"You're certainly not painting it great."
"Don't worry, I know you'll be fine. Make sure to tell Chief Duncan afterwards, he'll be so proud."
Alistair parked the car near the fence that divided the port and rushed through, flashing his badge. He spotted Leliana talking to the transceiver. She lived closer to the port, so it made sense that she had arrived first. Once she noticed them, she beckoned them over. The situation was still weird, it was oddly quiet, no commotion expected from a hold up. And there was no ship to be seen.
Her face was grim. "We have an odd situation here. As you can see, there's no one here. The ferry is about to arrive. We thought this had been a prank, but they got a call from the captain over at port authorities. There's been an incident inside, attempted robbery, mass panic, the captain is being held-up, we believe the ferry has been hijacked, but they should arrive soon."
"What? That's nothing like what I was told over the phone. I assumed gangs would be involved."
"Yeah, well, it gets worse: turns out the person who called is an undercover member of the Antivan Police force who's attempting to keep the situation at bay. I don't know why he fed you wrong information, but I believe there's something or someone important inside that ferry, important enough to send the Antivans over. We can't do anything until the ferry arrives. We've sent armed forces over to storm the ferry; we've been told to oversee the arrest in dry land."
Kallian was confused. Antiva never got involved in foreign politics. What interest would they have in a ferry to Highever, of all places?
"Wait that makes no sense. So, we were alerted of a situation before it even happened? By the Antivan police?" It looked like Alistair was as much in the dark as she was.
"Seems so. I believe this Antivan had been tipped off and sent as an undercover cop to make sure nothing happened but felt like he lost control and alerted authorities. I have no idea why they didn't contact us first. All we can do for now is wait. Reinforcements should be coming through soon; they'll deal with the arrest and mitigate the circumstances. We are to stand back as support, probably will have to take everyone's statement and tend to any injured. It's gonna be a long night…"
Soon, the ship came into view, and the three of them jolted up, tired of waiting. It made sense that they were tasked to stay back and oversee minor problems. They were still pretty much juniors after all. Kallian couldn't deny feeling slightly disappointed, but decided it was for the best. This seemed too suspicious to be more only a hold-up, if the Antivans were involved.
Once the perpetrators of the hold-up were arrested and the passengers were checked, the area was closed off; the ferry would remain under investigation. After a thorough check, most passengers were allowed to leave, but Leliana would have to take statements of those directly involved or affected. They had to establish a motive and prevent anything similar from happening. It looked like her prospect of a relaxing night was gone. Kallian made sure to avoid her and decided to stick to Alistair.
They received a report of a grave injury, someone had been attacked amidst all the commotion, and while it was not fatal it required immediate care. Kallian thought it strange; there were a few incidental injuries, mostly due to the panic state of the passengers, but the officer on the transceiver insisted that this passenger had been intentionally injured, the perpetrator probably taking advantage of the dire situation aboard. He notified them that he was helping the passenger out of the ship but needed medical assistance to be present when he landed.
They hurried to the landing, the ambulance crew readying the stretcher for the patient. The officer, or who Kallian assumed was the officer, for both was dressed in civilian clothes, was helping a young man walk. The man was limping, looked barely conscious. Alistair made an attempt to get closer but was cut off by the ambulance staff, who took the man off the officer's shoulder and helped him onto the stretcher. Upon closer inspection, Alistair noticed that the officer looked beat up.
"You must be the Antivan officer, right?" Alistair demanded. The man held his hands up in surprise and flashed a grin, looking for his badge and presenting it.
"You guessed because of the accent, yes?" the man jested.
"Yeah, we don't get many Antivans here in Highever."
"Oh, of course."
"I'm officer Alistair Guerrin, my partner here is officer Kallian Tabris."
Kallian took some time to inspect this officer. To say that he was beautiful was an understatement, even in his roughed-up condition. It was too dark to tell, but she thought she saw a few dark lines tattooed on his face; his blonde hair stood in contrast with his dark skin, and his smile was warm, as if he had just been back from a shopping trip, not a crime scene.
"Officer Zevran Arainai, at your service. Is your friend alright? She looks like she has just seen a ghost."
"Oh… I'm fine, please don't concern yourself with me. It's just my first time in an incident like this. I just need a moment."
"Regardless, I will need your statement. You should have alerted us from the start and not give us false information." Alistair's tone was accusatory, as if he suspected Zevran of causing the whole incident.
"Ah, but I never gave you wrong information, no? We were tipped off that there was going to be a hold up in this ferry, so the Antivan force saw fit to transfer me to Ferelden to oversee this operation and make sure the ship was safe. I believe your office was notified of my transfer."
"Then why did we not know anything about this until today?"
"Alistair, calm down, he's just come out of a dire situation, don't add to the stress!" Kallian knew attempting to calm down Alistair would be futile, but she had to try. The last thing she wanted was another incident.
"You will have to ask your boss for that information, officer. I was under orders to only to contact Highever if things got out of hand, which they did. There was an attempted murder and we will need to solve it quickly, yes? Now will you lead me to the office so I can give my statement?" Zevran remained surprisingly calm and followed them both to their car, leaving the scene to the rest of the officers.
It had been a long night and the sky was starting to light up. Kallian yawned as they finished up questioning the officer. Zevran's statement wasn't filled with relevant information. He was slightly older than them, grew up in the Antivan capital, Antiva City and lost his parents young. He mentioned being raised at an orphanage until he was old enough to fend for himself. His report was filled with irrelevant information about Antivan customs and culture. It had taken him a long time to get to the point, and while flirty and slightly inappropriate at times, he had been pleasant enough. He had joined Antiva City Police force four years ago and claimed to have successfully arrested plenty of strange suspects. He received an anonymous tip alerting the Antivan force of the ferry hijack three weeks before. No one had a clue as to why they had alerted Antiva, but he volunteered to oversee the ship and control the situation. Zevran cited an interest in leaving Antiva and visiting Highever as the reason behind his volunteering. He had indeed been transferred to the Highever Police Department.
"So you are claiming that this hijack was important enough for you to be tipped off? But why did no one alert us?"
"In all honesty, my dear officer, I believe we are dealing with attempted murder. The hold-up was just a ruse, meant to cause panic and confusion to distract from the real action. The culprit got quite close to murdering the gentleman I escorted out of the ship but failed before he could finish the job."
"We weren't able to figure out the identity of the passenger, but I'm sure Leliana will check on it. Either way, we haven't received any report of anyone important arriving in Highever, and if it was someone important enough to attract a hitman, why didn't he have security with him? Why would he travel in a normal ferry if he was such an important person?"
"We don't know if he had hired private security," added Kallian.
"Our lovely officer is right. Perhaps he had hired security, besides, you'd be surprised at how many seemingly unimportant people attracted large bounties to their head."
"Okay, I'll humour you. Why, pray tell, would the Antivan force be notified of this? This ferry's origin was a Fereldan city, not Antiva. It didn't make any stops at Antiva, it makes no sense as to why you would receive notice of this."
"I'll humour you," Zevran's face turned serious. "I believe we were notified because this is the doing of the Crows."
The colour drained from Alistair's face and he slammed against the table. "The Antivan Crows? Why would they send an assassin guild after this man? Why do you think it was the Crows?"
"I have no idea why they would be after the man; I don't even know who the man is. But it is the only logical explanation as to why we would receive alert. After all, the Crows are infamous in Antiva…"
"And why do you know all this? You seem oddly familiar with the Crows!"
Zevran snorted, and deliberately took a long time to choose his next words. He played with his hair and tucked it behind his ear before looking Alistair in the eye.
"Who wouldn't be oddly familiar with the Crows in Antiva? They rule Antiva for a reason. You'd be daft not to be at least slightly familiar with the Crows and work in law enforcement, officer. Are you claiming I'm a suspect? You can confirm with my office if you'd like, but I warn you that they might make fun of you for asking such foolish questions."
Kallian laid a hand on Alistair's shoulder, attempting to calm him down.
"Zevran is right, Alistair. Everyone knows of the Crows, especially in Antiva. Besides, you can't deny that he did help defuse the situation onboard until the rest of the forces arrived. His statement will be useful to the rest of the team, we can at very least humour his assumption and attempt to connect the dots. We'll figure out who the passenger was tomorrow, but for now I think we have done as much as we can."
Alistair reluctantly agreed, groaning as he left the office, sleep deprived. So much for a start on a long weekend. They finished typing Zevran's statement and let him go, packing their things and leaving their offices.
Kallian was more than ready to go home, hop in the shower and sleep until the evening, she was done with the situation and it was not like a case had been built, or she had been assigned to the case investigation at all. She walked with Alistair to the parking lot when she heard a cough behind them.
Zevran was trailing behind them, looking unusually sheepish. "Sorry to disturb you, but all my belongings were in a case that's being held up onboard of the ferry, currently locked down…"
Alistair looked at Kallian, he knew where this was going.
"So you need a place to stay?" he finished for him.
"Only until I can get my belongings, I don't really know my way around here either, so it'd be difficult to find the office tomorrow! I can do anything, I will cook, clean, do laundry…" he paused and looked at Kallian, "I will stand around and look pretty if that's what you fancy?"
She laughed. "That will not be necessary, Zevran. You're a co-worker after all, right? I have a spare room you can have, hop in."
Alistair looked at her as if she was crazy. "You're letting this guy stay with you? A stranger? A suspicious stranger? Have you gone mad?"
"A suspicious stranger that is also a fellow co-worker starting Monday. I'd rather he stayed with you, but you only have one bed. You guys helped me out when I had just moved in, I'm just paying it forward! Besides, I'm sure he's harmless, I'll arrest him if he tries anything stupid," she joked. Her friend was tired, and there had been enough tension for the day, so he let them go without much protest.
Zevran was mostly quiet on the way back, probably tired from the long journey and the stress of the evening. She was thankful, she doubted she could let her brain function enough to follow a conversation. Once they arrived, Kallian hastily showed him the bathroom and showed him to the guest bedroom; she shoved some towels and spare clothes into his arms and bid him goodnight.
Zevran did not spend too much time in the shower, he wished to get as much sleep as he could after the hectic day he had had. He noticed Kallian had left a first aid kid by the night table and several clothes on the chair. He smiled at the gesture and dropped onto the soft bed. Before turning off the lights, he gave the room a once-over and noticed how bare the it was, only containing the essential furniture. He wondered about Kallian, how long she had been a police officer. Probably not long enough, judging by how skittish she was during the whole chain of events of the night. If he had any other thoughts he didn't remember them as he fell into a deep slumber.