Chapter Two
Balamb Garden Headmaster's Office
May 20, 3:30 PM
Commander Squall Leonhart stood stiffly, as usual. His eyes fell on Quistis, then on Aries, and back to Quistis. Clearing his throat, he finally spoke. "I'm sorry to hear the news. It's always especially disturbing when a fellow SeeD dies."
Quistis only stared at her feet grimly.
Impatiently Aries stepped forward. "Mr. Leonhart, do you have the files we requested?"
"Yes, here they are." Squall reached to the desk behind him and picked up a crisp, clean manila folder and handed it to the detective. "We ran her fingerprints through the database, and we found a match. Her name was Felicity Sol. She transferred from Galbadia Garden last year."
So no wonder Quistis didn't recognize her. As Aries carefully studied the file, she questioned, "Squall, do you think it's possible we could search the girl's room?"
The Commander nodded. "Yes. I'll get one of my assistants to give you the master key. I hope you'll find something useful."
"Hey, it says here that Felicity was a Rank A SeeD," Aries suddenly burst out. "I guess all that training didn't help her this time, eh?"
Quistis felt like slapping him.
**
Aries scanned the bookshelf, occasionally reading some of the titles out loud. "Purgatio, Queen of Souls, Liberi Tenebri…this girl's got good taste."
Quistis nodded halfheartedly and scrutinized Felicity Sol's dorm. She hadn't even met the girl, yet a wracking sinking feeling pulled at her chest. All SeeD's – strangers or not – were brethren.
Aries finally broke the heavy silence. "This girl was neat." He indicated to the tidy stacks of paper on the desk. "She doesn't seem like the disturbed type, does she? Not the kind to make a lot of enemies."
"Excuse me, who are you?"
Quistis and Aries whipped around in unison. A petite, redheaded girl stood at the half-open door. "Who are you guys?" she demanded again, with more force. "And what're you doing in Felicity's room?"
"I'm Detective Aries of the Balamb P.D. and this is my partner, Ms. Trepe." Digging his hands into his pockets, the detective sighed. "I'm sorry to inform you, but Felicity is dead. We're investigating her death."
The girl's jaw dropped. "W-what? H-how…?"
"Her body was found this morning in Balamb," Quistis said. "Were you Felicity's friend?"
"Yes, I'm Ruby Constontino," the petite girl replied. "How…how did she die?"
"She was killed," Quistis answered. "We're going to find out who did it."
"Sorry to ask you this, but where were you last night around eight?" Aries's rough tone contrasted sharply with his partner's gentle one.
"Um, I was out clubbing from seven until….one, I think," Ruby said. "You can ask some of my friends, if you need to." The girl leaned against the doorway for support. "Damn. I can't believe she's dead."
Aries continued questioning, "Do you know if Felicity had any enemies? Anyone have a reason to want her dead?"
Ruby ran her fingers through her red hair. "I'm not sure," she said after a long pause. "We were only at B-Garden for a year."
Quistis raised an eyebrow. "You two transferred together?"
"Yeah, we're best friends."
"So do have any idea what Felicity would be doing at Balamb?" the detective inquired. "According to her files, she wasn't on duty."
"I have no clue." Then, Ruby's green eyes widened like saucer. "No, wait….I think I remember she said something about a date. You don't think that...?"
"We'll look into that," noted Quistis. "You wouldn't happen to know who she was going to see, would you?"
Ruby shook her head. "I don't know who he is. I don't even know how she met him."
**
Back at the precinct, Aries dug into a sub sandwich that was a late lunch or an early dinner. Glancing at Quistis Trepe sitting across from him, he pointed to the other half of the sandwich sitting on his plate. "You sure you don't want some?"
Quistis shook her head. "I'm fine." She shifted in her seat uncomfortably. "So how about that Ruby girl? She didn't seem too teary about her best friend's death."
Munching on his food, Aries focused on the papers on his desk. "You think she had something to do with the murder? Her alibi checks out."
Quistis shrugged. "I don't know. It just seems strange. SeeD's are hardly transferred between Gardens, much less two at a time." She paused. "But first, why don't we focus on this guy that Felicity was supposedly seeing for a date?"
"About Felicity's mysterious date…according to her phone records, somebody made a call to Felicity's room the day she died. Uniforms traced the number back to…" His face fell. "…a pay phone."
"So we're still back at Square one," Quistis murmured, going over the crime scene report again. "She was dumped in the alleyway, right? So we don't even know where she was actually killed. This whole thing is getting so frustrating."
The gray-haired detective grunted in response. "Welcome to my job."
Brring.
Aries picked up the phone next to him. "Aries here….yeah?" He listened for only a brief moment. "Okay, we'll be right over." He hung up and turned to his partner. "That was the forensics lab. They want us to get over there right now."
Quistis nodded and grabbed her coat.
**
Balamb Crime Lab
May 20, 6:15 PM
Reid Murdoch was dozing in his chair when Rocky Aries and Quistis Trepe walked through the door of the laboratory.
"You wanted to see us?" Aries greeted dryly.
Murdoch sat up sluggishly and rubbed his eyes. "Nice to see you too, Roc. Now if you'll come this way." He led the other two past rows of microscopes, beakers, and other mad scientist-looking things. "You remember the girl you found this morning that was wrapped up in that sheet?"
"No Reid, I don't remember. Please, remind me."
Murdoch snickered at the detective's sarcasm. The man then stopped in front of a long table. Picking up a large white sheet, he unfurled it dramatically. "I give you…that very sheet!"
Trepe and Aries just stared.
"I bet you're just dying to know what I found out about this sheet."
"Just get on with it, Reid."
Reid sighed. "You're never any fun." He laid the cloth back on the table. "As you can see here --" he pointed to the frayed edges "—the sheet was cut off from something else. The question is, what?"
The crime lab specialist then led Quistis and Aries to a nearby microscope. "On further examination," Reid continued, "I discovered that the cloth was made of a very tightly woven polyester material, known as Dacron to many people."
"So you can tell where this cloth came from?" Quistis asked excitedly.
"Yup," Murdoch replied. "It's part of a sail from a fishing boat. Looks pretty old too. It's been worn down badly." Reid leaned casually on the table. "From the weave pattern and thickness of material, I was able to narrow it down to the exact brand of sailcloth. Turns out, it's a local Balamb company."
"Looks like we're taking a trip to the docks," Aries muttered.
**
Balamb Harbor
May 21, 9:30 AM
Quistis breathed in the ocean air deeply. She had always loved the open sea. Even at the orphanage, the sound of the waves was all that she needed to relax. Aries, on the other hand, didn't quite share his partner's appreciation for the ocean. The smell of salt in the air reminded him of his unusually potent seasickness.
"Let's split up," the older detective suggested, pointing at the surrounding fishermen. "We'll ask if anybody's missing part of their sail…or something."
The SeeD nodded and headed off in one direction. Leisurely she made her way down the dock, the wood of the platform creaking under her boots. By an off chance, she looked down and suddenly halted. A large, irregular spot had seeped on the wood. Quistis gasped softly. She recognized blood when she saw it.
"Aries!" she called. "Come look at this!"
Aries rapidly strode to Quistis's side and saw what she did.
"So here's the crime scene."