Chapter II

When the body had been exhumed from its lakeside grave, Zavey got back into his car and drove down to headquarters of the military police downtown. The building was a large gray brick structure with the lobby made of glass walls and doors. Zavey pulled his car into the parking lot directly outside the front doors and walked leisurely up to the building. An armed guard opened the door and rendered a salute. "Good morning, Colonel Zavey."

"Good morning." he replied as he returned the salute. He walked to the reception desk and looked up at the pretty, chestnut haired receptionist. "Good morning Caryl."

"Good morning, Colonel Zavey." The detective handed the women his ID card. She ran it under a small scanner beside her computer and punched in a few numbers. "All checked in." she said, handing the card back to Phil. "Thanks Caryl. Has Major Elthman checked in yet?"

"Yes, he's over at the coffee bar." she said, pointing over Phil's shoulder. Zavey turned his head to see his friend seated in front of the coffee bar, sipping from a large mug. "Thanks." He turned and was about to walk over before Caryl stopped him. "Oh, Colonel, there's a message for you here." He turned and walked back to the desk, placing his arms on the top. "I know you're new here, but you don't have to call me Colonel. I hate formalities."

"Yes, Colonel." Zavey sighed as the young women looked down and began typing on her computer. "Oh, here it is. General Waldfeld says he'd like to see you as soon as you can." Zavey nodded.

"Thanks." he said before turning and walking over to meet his friend. He sat down next to Dearka and removed his cap, placing it with his briefcase on the seat next to him. "So what's the word with the two witnesses?"

"Well, both of them say the found the body on a morning jog, but didn't see anyone dumping it. I have my doubts about their story though."

"Why's that?" asked Zavey as the barmen brought him a large mug of black coffee.

"Well, they said they found it around 7:00. Now that body was in the lake for a while, but I'm guessing no more than three hours by the time we got there". Dearka paused and took another sip from his mug.

"Go on." urged Phil.

"They came forward around 9:30, meaning that they waited two and a half hours before reporting this. Now if that body is only three hours old, they must have seen it when it was dumped."

"Hmmm, I'll talk to them a bit later. When the analysis gets back from forensics, I need you to start working on the preliminary report." The senior detective hopped down from the stool and gathered his cap and briefcase. "Mind if I take this with me?" he asked the barmen, pointing to his mug.

"No, go ahead."

"So where are you going?" asked Dearka.

"I gotta' go talk to Waltfeld. I'll see you later." Dearka said nothing and simply returned to his mug. Zavey turned and walked towards the elevators.

XXXXXXX

"On behalf of the ZAFT ministry of tourism and Supreme Chairman Zala, it is our greatest pleasure to welcome all of you Aprilius Auxilium, the capital of the Greater ZAFT Empire." Miriallia Haw paid little attention to the speaker at the front of the bus, instead choosing to look out the window at the passing countryside.

"Your visitation here marks a pivotal turning point in the history of our two great governments, as you are the first Natural tourists to be allowed into the capital since before the war. It is our sincerest hope that your visitation will be the beginning of a new era of peace. Supreme chairman Zala says he would like to express his deepest regrets for the violence that occurred during the war, and promises that upon the signing of the treaty between earth and the colonies, he will do his best to forge better relations between Natural and Coordinators."

"You ever been to the colonies?" Miriallia turned to the man sitting next to her. He was about 25, slim with brown hair and purple eyes.

"When I was a teenager, I used to live on Heliopolis." she replied.

"Oh really. My parents both lived here before the war." The man reached out his hand. "Mike Prinz." he said. She reached over and shook his hand somewhat weakly.

"Miriallia Haw." she said.

"Please, the war ended so long ago. The time has come to forget our past aggressions and begin working towards a better tomorrow for both our peoples."

"I hope for our sakes he's being sincere." said Mike quietly under his breath.

"Yeah, so do I." replied Miriallia. She turned her head back to the window and watched a huge placard of the dictator bearing the slogan Zala Means Peace! pass by.

XXXXXXX

Phil walked up to the door marked with Walfeld's name and flashed his ID to the guard. "Ah, go right ahead. General Waltfeld is expecting you." Zavey nodded and opened the door. The general was sitting at his desk his focus on some paperwork. He glanced up and smiled. "Ah, Zavey, come in." Phil complied and walked slowly into the room, having the guard close the door behind him. "Please, sit down."

"Thank you." replied Phil. The detective walked forward sat himself down in a small leather chair in front of the General's desk. Waltfeld reached forward and grabbed a picture from off his desk, then handed it to Phil. "Look at that. That's my son and his new wife. In nine months I'm going to be a grandfather."

"Congratulations General." replied Phil as he examined the picture, then handed it back to its owner. "It's been ten years now since the end of the war, and yet, we still remain in a state of conflict."

"What do you mean by that?"

"Blue Cosmos. It used to be that we would about isolated incidents against the general populace. Then they got bolder and started to attack the military and the government. Now it's full scale war. We should have seen this coming long ago."

"We're making progress with them, aren't we General?"

"Of course…Progress. You mean just like last year? And the year before, and the year before that? And ten years ago?" Zavey nodded. "The Grand Council's word, or should I say, Zala's word does it's best to try and keep the masses calm. We need this alliance with the Earth. If not, the war could drag on for another decade or more."

"Yes sir." replied Phil, a slight smile on his face. He knew that one of the few people he could talk to about Zala freely was the man before him. "That's why I've called you in here. I need you to keep this little murder under wraps for right now. We have reason to believe that it may be in connection with another series of killings, and the last thing we need is mass hysteria over a possible serial killer."

"Yes General."

"Good, I'm glad we had these words. You can get back to your work now."

"Thank you sir." Phil stood up and walked out the door.

XXXXXXX

Ten minutes after his little discussion with the general, Zavey arrived in the forensics lab. The body was sprawled out on an operating table while the pathologist in charge, a man named Sam, was wiping clean some of his tools. Dearka stood to his left, taking down some notes on a clipboard. "We ran a DNA sample through the computer, but we have yet to find a positive match."

"How soon do you think you can find that out?" asked Phil.

"Oh shouldn't take more than an hour. Meanwhile, I'll begin probing for a cause of death."

"Did you find any foreign DNA substances?" inquired Dearka.

"None. Whoever did this must have had some expertise." replied Sam.

"Alright. Dearka, have the students been released yet?" Asked Phil.

"Yes, they said they needed to go back to academy."

"Good. Get me their names. I think I better go pay a visit to them."