Chapter 3

Pursue the Truth

 Inspector Megara Arsene sat in her office located in the security force building. The office was furnished with the usual things a desk, file cabinets and other seats but had no personal touch to it, no holophotos of family and friends and nothing hanging on the walls. She had been working in the district for two years and had been repeatedly questioned by colleagues as to why she kept her office that way and she would give the same answer each time. "Personal effects are a distraction from the job."

There was a knock at her door. The 35-year old looked up to see Eikki Kivi, a male human in his late thirties enter. "Hey super cop," he said. "Got another one for you." He handed her the file. "Latest victim is the glamorous Adara Basilio."

"Have cause of death?" Arsene asked as she skimmed the information. It contained the usual description of the victim, how they were found and back history.

"No. The body was just sent down to the morgue. They want you to stop by and give it look. Make sure it's defiantly one of yours." Arsene nodded and tossed the file onto her desk "By the way you have some people who want to speak with you." Kivi mentioned as he began to leave. She gave him a questioning look. "A Master Qui-Gon Jinn, his apprentice Obi-Wan Kenobi and Senator Basilio."

"Two Jedi and a Senator?" Arsene looked skyward for a moment. "Gods help me." She looked back at Kivi. "All right, send them in." Kivi grinned and left the office. A few minutes later Qui-Gon, Obi-Wan and Senator Basilio entered. Arsene stood up from her seat.

"Good afternoon gentlemen." She said respectfully as she shook each of their hands. They each sat down and Arsene went right down to business. "Now I'm going to blunt." She said leaning forward. "I see no reason for you gentlemen to be here. With the Jedi this really does not seem like a job that people with your skills would be interested in and Senator Basilio with your daughter being a victim, your presence could affect the outcome of our investigation." She paused. "To sum it up, it will be a waste of your time and a strain on my patience."

The room grew silent after that. Obi-Wan looked to his master to see any type of reaction from the Jedi but as usual there was none. Qui-Gon had taken in the inspector's reasons calmly.

"You present your case quite well inspector." Qui-Gon commented, "but as Jedi my padawan and myself have take a vow as protectors of the republic and this killer is targeting citizens of the republic therefore it is not below us." Obi-Wan looked back at the woman sitting at the desk, proud of his master's reply.

"I have been working on this case for two years now and we are no closer to finding the perpetrator then from day one. I honestly don't believe adding a Jedi Master and his apprentice to the mix will have a big impact." Arsene said leaning back.

"Sounds as though you have already given up on finding this guy." Obi-Wan commented.

"You have to understand what kind of environment we are living in. Do you have any idea how many crimes are committed in this district alone? Now you take that number and times it by the amount of districts there are. The total is staggering and there are just not enough security force personnel to counter. As a result some crimes go unsolved, victims unjustified." She looked to Qui-Gon. "As Jedi you must relate to this. So many problems in the Galaxy but only a limited amount of Jedi."

"We do what we can."

"As do I."

"But why continue an investigation on a case you believe will never be solved?"

Arsene shrugged. "Victims keep showing up and…" She looked over at Senator Basilio, "Victim's family members keep paying big money to keep the case open." Arsene sighed and looked at her chrono. "It's obvious that this will not be resolved any time soon and I have a date with a body at the morgue. I suppose since you are a part of this case now that you should come along." Senator Basilio stood.

"Inspector, I would like to come along also. I wish to see my daughter one last time."

The four walked down the florescent light hall of the morgue in the basement of the medical center. At the end of the hall was a pair of double doors that were marked 'authorized personnel only'. Arsene pressed a button on the panel on the wall and the doors opened.  She looked Over to Obi-Wan.

"Every been to an autopsy kid?" She said.

"No." Obi-Wan replied.

"Well you're a Jedi, you've probably seen more messed up stuff then me." She smiled and walked through the doors.

On the other side of the door was a room that felt refrigerated and smelt of formaldehyde. It reminded Obi-Wan of Biology class when they used to dissect small creatures. There was a male Twi'lek with red skin standing at a metal table where the body of Adara Basilio. There was a sheet covering her body that went up to just below the shoulders. 

"This is Mord Odell. He's the Pathologist who working with us in the investigation." Arsene said to the three men beside her. The Twi'lek nodded to them as way of greeting. Arsene walked over next to the Odell. "Have you done an external exam?"

"Yes I just finished up. There are abrasions on her wrists and ankles from where she struggled against the cuffs that held her. A piece of skin has been removed from about an inch below the ear." The Pathologist said as he pointed out the specific areas. Arsene looked closely at the where the skin had been cut away. It had been the same way for each victim. A piece of skin was cut away very intricately. At first they had thought it to be some type of calling card for the killer or a trophy he took from the victim. But then the question was: why that certain spot?

After some lab test they had found indications that a tattoo had been present on the removed skin. Now the question was: Why remove the tattoo? They had come up with several different scenarios. One person even brought up the topic of  'skin art dealing'. It was know in some cultures for a person with a tattoo to have a clause in their will that says that the skin with the tattoo be removed, persevered and given to the family members after their death. There were even a few art showcases that featured skin art. And as crazy at that sounded they couldn't rule out any possibilities at this point.

"Have you determined cause of death yet?" Arsene asked still looking at the body.

"Won't be able to till I cut into her."

"Well let's get started."

Odell paused. "Should he be here during this?" the Twi'lek asked indicating Obi-Wan.

"You want to leave kid?" Arsene asked.

"No, I'm fine." Obi-wan said indignantly. The teenager was getting a bit annoyed at being treated like a child that needed to be protected from the harsh realties of life. Qui-Gon placed a calming hand on Obi-Wan's shoulder.

"All right then."

The room grew deathly quiet while the autopsy was being preformed like it was out of respect for the dead. Through it all Senator Basilio held the same stone cold look on his face. If he was feeling any kind of emotion at watching the scene before him, he didn't show any indication. That was until he left the room.

"Her esophagus has been crushed from the inside." Odell said.

"How can that be?" Arsene asked.

"You got me there. I've never seen anything like this." Odell said as he began to clean up.

"Thank you for your assistance Odell." Arsene said shaking the man's hand. " We'll keep in touch."

"Glad to be of help."

Arsene, Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan left the room and stepped out into the hall where Senator Basilio waited. The man didn't seem to notice that they had joined him in the hall but only stared straight ahead not looking at anything.

"Senator Basilio, are you alright?" Arsene asked. This was why she hated having family members involved in cases.

"Yes I'm fine." The senator said still staring straight ahead.

"Okay I think we have done enough for today." The inspector said looking over to Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan. "Stop by my office tomorrow and I'll show you the files on the other victims. Their deaths are as odd as Adara's."

After Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan had made it back to the temple. Obi-Wan had gone off to the healer's ward. While they were coming back from the morgue the Jedi apprentice had thought about what had happened between him and Kelilah.   Did Kelilah have these types of visions often? Does she know anything about these murders or was it some kind of coincidence? How had he seen the vision by only touching her shoulder?

This was all just getting more complicated. He needed answers now but with Kelilah refusing to talk about anything personal, Obi-Wan was forced to seek alternative means to get the information he needed and he knew just where to get it.

 Amaele Olvan sat at a computer console in the registration area of the Healer's Ward. It was where patients signed in and out and where most of the filing was done. Lucky for Amaele it was her turn to update patient files. It was a tedious job that took hours.

She heard one of the doors open and looked up to see Obi-Wan enter the room. Oh what does he want?

"Hey Amaele." Obi-Wan said as he walked toward her.

"That innocent tone is not fooling me for an instant. What do you want?" Obi-Wan looked offended by the comment. "Obi please, I have no time for this. Do you have any idea how long I'll be here and I can't fall behind?"

"Okay here's what I need." Obi-Wan said as he went around to the other side of the desk. Amaele rolled her eyes. " I need the medical history of Kelilah Vali."

"I can't let you see personal files."

"Amaele please, it's important. I wouldn't waste your time if it wasn't." Obi-Wan said in all seriousness. Amaele looked at him for a few minutes trying to see if what he was saying was the truth.

She sighed. "All right." She began to type and the file appeared on the screen. The two of them began reading the information that was presented. "Force, This girls been in the healer's ward almost as much as you."

"For what?"

Amaele began reading off the screen "Patient experienced symptoms similar to seizures cause of episode still undetermined as no physical disorder was discovered." Amaele looked at the top of the screen. "That was back January 10th." She clicked back to the main page. There was a whole list of entries similar to the first.

January 22

February 13

April 11

April 25

May 7

June 12

July 23

"It ends after July 23? What happened it just stopped?" Obi-Wan asked when he saw no more entries made after that date.

"No. I think since the healers could never find anything, her Master took her to outside medical centers."

"Can you print this stuff out for me?"

"Sure, why not? I'm only a pawn in your game." Amaele said s the pages began to print. Obi-Wan picked on up and looked at it.

"No," he said "You're a very important piece."