"…And, as we see, it is very clear that aliens are responsible!" Horace Chesebrough said, holding up a finger in emphasis as he lectured his class. "This type of tragic event is precisely what we must avoid by refusing to consort with aliens!" He fixed a steely glare on Mark Hollander, who did his best not to move. "I was there, unfortunately enough, the previous night. Had he but listened to my warning…"

Mark stared at Chuck, trying to catch his attention. Chesebrough had known about Rick?

Chuck raised his hand. "I've…gotta go, I feel really sick, I probably won't be back all day…"

He rushed out towards the bathrooms, and Mark watched after his friend with concern.

"Elementa Sherlock, Lightning Knight Detective, Second Class," Elementa said, waving her official detective's identification at the mortal. The Lightning Knights didn't need warrants to fight, but they did need warrants to ask personal questions. "We just need answers to a few questions."

"Look, I told you before, don't come near the school!" The kid folded his arms across his chest. "I don't have to talk to you."

"Actually, by the power vested in us by Lightning Knight Command, we do." Elementa shrugged. "I doubt it'll take long."

"We just want to help, kid," Hamish said, trying to smile reassuringly at him. Though the kid was only a few years younger than him, Elementa could seem extremely overbearing when you first got to know her, with her insistence on finishing the job at all costs. When he had first met Elementa he had expected someone dedicated—she was the most talented detective they had, the woman whose career he'd aimed to emulate—but not someone so keen on solving a case that she left no time at all for personal diversion.

"Okay. Chuck called me at a bit after nine-thirty. He said he'd already called the police. Um…are you sure you're with Ace?"

Elementa sighed. "Check the uniforms, kid. We just want to find out what is going on. This is important."

"Yeah, it is. Mr Chesebrough is saying it's aliens and apparently he was actually there just before Rick got murdered. The evils and the Knights are staying out of sight for now, but if they investigate the carnival…"

Mark trailed off. He didn't really need to say any more, Hamish knew. They'd all be dragged off to some mortal research facility.

"Mr Chesebrough? Who is he?" Elementa asked.

"My science teacher. He thinks you people are aliens."

"And he said he visited the victim the previous night?"

The human nodded. "Yes, that's what I said. You want to know anything else?"

"Yes. Where were you last night?"

"I was at the movies with Kat. We walked home, and then I played a computer game, went to bed, and then in the morning Chuck called me."

"Thank you," Elementa said. "And what did you do once you received the call?"

"I called Ace, then I tried to go to the scene to help Chuck, but the police didn't let me. That's all."

"You've been very helpful, kid. Thanks," Hamish said with a smile.

"Good. Can you please go away from the school now?"

"Affirmative," Elementa said, and Hamish put a hand on her shoulder so that he could include her in the invisibility-field. It took more energy, changing two instead of one, but he'd be able to manage it for now.

"To the science teacher, Wattson," Elementa said. "We will observe him. He freely admitted being in the right place at the right time."

"Meaning that you think he is innocent?"

"Meaning that he may very well have observed something of assistance," Elementa corrected him. "That window over there looks promising." Hamish thought she was probably trying to point to it, but as they were both invisible he could not see the direction of her finger.

Elementa sighed. "West, thirty-two degrees."

"Oh. Thanks."

They walked over to it, and as they got closer Hamish noticed the flasks on the windowsill. Observation and deduction. Of course, he thought, wishing he had better long-distance vision.

The teacher—a balding mortal in a long white coat—was bustling around a laboratory, muttering to himself as he set up beakers and flasks on the benches.

"Aliens. It was the aliens, I'll tell them. I'll show them all it's aliens, strange goings-on, around the Carnival, even around this school—this very school—how dare they. If I had my way I'd destroy them all, invaders, horrible green things from outer space…and he was stupid, too. I saw him in that cage, consorting with them, and he should have listened to my advice. Imbeciles, all of them. Public education system going down the drain. It's the aliens. Everywhere…" He shuddered. "Must think of something else now, obey the therapist. Puppies…trees…kittens…peace…"

"He was there," Elementa said quietly. "It's a pity we can't question him ourselves, but I think he will go to the police and we can get our information there. He's insane, certainly, and willing to talk about it, and I doubt he is guilty."

"He could have, in vengeance for 'consorting with the aliens'. Madmen do odd things," Hamish said. "You remember the ninety-eight case of Bearded William the Strange?"

"Yes. But you believe that he would have possessed the mental capacity to use the technology?" Elementa

"Science teacher," Hamish said. He thought he was probably wrong, but at least his arguments were reasonable.

Elementa neatly jumped down from the window, her form shimmering back into visibility. "Remain here and observe," she said. "See if he proves your theory. Meanwhile, our second mortal child should be home alone by my calculations."

"No problem," Hamish said. Surveillance was something he was uniquely suited to, for all his clumsiness when visible.

The science teacher pottered about in the lab for some time more, evidently fixing the chemicals for a class experiment—"wasting the best years of my life on these clod-hopping imbeciles," he muttered as Hamish watched, but the science teacher did not appear inclined to go on talking about the murder and his possible involvement. Hamish supposed this would be one of the boring moments of detective work that everyone had told him about when he'd expressed his ambition; and, to prove them wrong, he settled down to take the interesting with the not-so-interesting.
Elementa looked around her as she directed her standard-issue flyer to land in the mortal's back garden. She couldn't see any people about at this time; most mortals would be at work, she assumed.

She walked up to the back door and knocked on it, hard. And waited.

And waited.

"Anyone home?" she called. "Chuckdude?"

There was no reply.

A/N: Short instalment today. Wait for the next one, coming soon, in which the villains make their dramatic appearance.