Hahaha. Here we go again! Chapter 6! This chapter deals with the poisoning of Nestra and the investigation of the Tisiphone. You'll find a lot of clues. Hope you liked the cliff hanger last chapter.

Thanks to TimeMage0955 for reviewing! I also appreciate her advertising in her story In The Envelope. It was really nice to do for me, because I needed it! (Not to mention the story was good too! Sorry that I'm not allowed to review other authors stories!) Thanks again:D

Also thanks to penguinsrock12, and Samantha for reviewing!

Chapter 6

Peter stared at Edmund blankly, overwhelmed by the news that Nestra was poisoned, "What do you mean 'poisoned'?" he said disheartedly. Edmund could tell he was disappointed in not finding the murderer, "She was stabbed, the doctor said so."

"Yes he did, but someone painted red makeup on her to make it look as though she had been stabbed. Her face was an unnatural color: a tinge of purpleish blue which suggests that she has been poisoned by hemlock," Edmund said but he thought privately, Hemlock... Is that connected with anything else we know?

"But why would someone make it look like she had been stabbed? What would be the point?" asked Peter.

"To un-incriminate himself or frame someone else," said Edmund, "It puts the focus on someone else rather than the real murderer (also called X), which blames someone else like Orest for the murder. Or also as another possiblity," Edmund noted as a second thought, "Orest could have also planted it there so that he wouldn't be suspected. Once it was found that Nestra was poisoned rather than stabbed, it would be clear that the knife was put there by X, so Orest would immediately not be suspected to be X. It's all quite clever either way."

"Well," said Peter looking around, "What do we do now?"

"The scene of the crime!" Edmund said, "We'll exam the Tisiphone top to bottom!"

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Jormun was clearly excited to have them search his ship. He assured them that everything was "ship shape" as he called it while laughing heartily and wondered if he could come with them.

"I'm afraid that we must to conduct this investigation alone," Edmund stated.

"You don't trust me," Jormun said in fake surprise.

"No, I mean, yes we trust you," Edmund grinned, "But it's just better that we keep all evidence to ourselves." Personally he thought dragging Jormun along would be a mistake; he'd tell the whole crew what clues they found before dinner.

"All right," he said while handing Edmund his keys, "Just make sure you keep my beauty the same that it was!"

The investigation was long and tiring. They searched the galley and the sailor's quarters first and found nothing that would help them. Edmund was beginning to feel a little frustrated. Surely something would have turned up by now?

They entered Lady Nestra's cabins. Lady Nestra seemed to have been very clean and neat when she was alive. There wasn't a speck of dust on the cupboards and her trunks and clothes were stacked in an ordered pile in the corner. Slowly Peter and Edmund began to comb through the room. They didn't find anything for the first five minutes, but as Edmund looked on the top of Lady Nestra's bedside table, he noticed an almost empty cup of clear brown tea with a powder collected at the bottom.

"Peter come over here!" Edmund shouted. Immediately, Peter left his rummaging through the dresser. "I was right," Edmund told him while showing the glass, "See, look at this! Poison!"

"I wonder who brought the tea in here?" Peter said.

"Whoever it was might have put the poison in her tea or might not have. We don't know if it was set down somewhere and X had the chance of slipping it in during that time," said Edmund. Peter reached out to take the cup, but Edmund grabbed his hand, "Don't touch it! X might have left fingerprints!" And he got out a brush and some dust. It took him several minutes and when he finished he wiped his forehead saying, "No fingerprints at all. X is extremely professional; he wore gloves. Oh well, let's keep looking for more clues."

Edmund moved toward the window and looked down. The ocean beneath him was sparkling cheerily against the summer sun and occasionaly a wave would make a loud thump against the boat. And during this happy picture Edmund thought, What was it like? That night when Lady Nestra was murdered? What was X thinking of when he slipped the poison in that fateful cup of tea? Was X doing it out of revenge? Anger? Madness? Money? And as he was thinking, to his surprise, he spotted a bottle on the little ledge of the Tisiphone that was about ten feet below him. The ship was bordered by a railing and the ledge was no more than a foot wide.

"What's that?" he said aloud.

"What?" Peter said, coming towards him.

"That bottle down there," Edmund pointed, "Do you know how we can get that?"

"Not unless we can get reach it from the cabin below us," Peter answered, "What do you suppose it is?"

"The poison, maybe," said Edmund darkly, "Or it might be that red makeup that X put on Nestra. Or it could just be ordinary perfume, soap, or something else. We don't know until we can see it." And they both went down to the cabin below them.

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When they were walking down the hall, Jormun ran up to him. He looked worried which was very unnatural for him.

"Your majesties," he panted, "Someone has broken into my cabin! They've stolen my logbook and a few bottles from my room!"

Edmund and Peter were perplexed by this. Bottles stolen? As they followed Jormun into the room they realized that it was the same cabin below Lady Nestra's. Edmund rushed to the window and looked down. The bottle was gone.

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Hope you guys enjoyed that! R-E-V-I-E-W!