Brant: Red Herring

by menofwarhide

Newly promoted Chief Investigator Kassindra Brant's first case upon arrival to her new post is confusing to say the least and with no clear motive things become tricky and with her mother now looking to find her a suitor and a potential rebellion it's not quite the quiet posting she expected

For over ten millennia the forces of the imperium have battled the forces of the arch-traitor Hours Lupercal led by his former first captain Ezekyle Abbadon. With the reawakening of Roboute Guilliman the struggle for survival against massed horrors of Chaos, Xenos and Mutant continues on endlessly as vast armadas of ships and billions of warriors charge head first into the void to defend mankind at the behest of their master the God Emperor Of Man who sits on his golden throne his psychic might still lingering as the beacon of the astronomican shining in the dark guiding Mankind forward.

As these vast armies and fleets wage war a battle is also fought on every world across the great imperium. First against the vile forces of chaos who seek to corrupt the very souls of man and turn them to to ruin, justice and vengeance is brought swiftly by those of the inquisition purging heretics and those that would stand against the might of the Emperor. Second is the war fought against the vile xenos who attempt to take a Galaxy destined to Man's rule, this battle is fought by adeptus astartes, greatest of the emperors warriors, not only do they act as the sword of the Emperor but also his shield as they defend the imperium from the nightmares that assault Humanity in a never-ending war.

Then there are those who defend the very citizens of the imperium but not from xenos or heretics, those who wield the law of the Emperor and deliver justice to those that would break it in a swift and often brutal fashion to keep order and protect the imperium from those who would break it down from within, with the Lex Imperialis as their guide, they are a force established long before the arch-traitor threw the imperium into eternal war, they are the Adeptus Arbites and they are the LAW!

It is the 41st Millennium and there is only WAR!

Brant

It had not been hard to track down the man she was looking for, this wasn't a hive city where the hundreds if not thousands of miles of streets wound together creating hidden places where criminals could hide and continue their operations undisturbed by those that would bring the emperors justice to them.

There was no under-hive where gang lords waged war against each other and a criminal could seek refuge for a price or in return for a favour, no this was only a small city on the edge of a vast desert where the fortress monastery of the Blade Kin chapter of space marines lived and trained new warriors to protect this sector and beyond.

She looked over the snivelling weasel of a man she had used as informant as he lent against a wall and her partner looked on with a squad of enforcers who stood watch over the alleyway, around the corner from an apartment block lit by dull lumens and the odd passing lights of a vehicle.

At this time of night only cleaning servitors roamed the streets freely, as any citizen caught outside without a permit would be questioned by any officer and if found to be suspect brought in for further questioning.

"your sure he's in there?"she asked as the informant stood up straight slowly making sure to keep his eyes low and not make any sudden movements

"Have I ever lied to you?" he said in response before wiping the snot that formed around his nose on the sleeve of his thick brown jacket

She turned to look in the direction of the apartment block, it was at least ten stories high with the usual entrance hall and around one hundred and fifty apartments of varying size and layout, and it was known to be a hideout for the less law abiding of the citizenry, but minor criminals did not concern her, she was after a much bigger catch.

She turned back to look at the wretch in front of her, he was a short ugly man who had once been in the employee of a under-hive kingpin until he had failed a task and was ordered killed, he had fled that hive and world to come here where he had built up connections with several criminal gangs before betraying and selling them out to the local Arbites.

Now he was one of her best informants and he knew everyone somehow, she suspected he was still up to no good and likely used his information to keep the Arbites looking in other directions while he and others committed crimes elsewhere but surprisingly he had his own code and while he was a thief, drug dealer and potentially a smuggler... the one thing he could not abide was unjust murder and the man they were hunting now was a cold bloodied killer who had often tortured victims for days before moving on to another.

"No you have never lied... at least not yet" she responded before handing the man some money and then nodding to her partner

She took the lead as they walked the path towards the block staying as close to the building as they could where the shadows were darkest and the chances of being spotted were lower, she wasn't looking to start a fight with everyone on that block but considering the nervousness of some criminals the rapid approach of two investigators and six enforcers could cause some to try and flee raising the alarm to the man she sought and giving him an opportunity to escape.

As a small Arbites cruiser drove by they ducked into the shadows, they were not at odds with their colleagues in the vehicle but a passing cruiser always drew eyes from those who feared arrest so they waited a few moments until the cruiser had gone out of sight far down the road before moving out and crossing the street to the entrance.

The doors opened automatically as the group stepped through, her partner and the enforcers moved to one side of the foyer as she approached the counter where long thin dark skinned man sat staring down at a book of some sort.

He was likely very tall when stood up, this she could tell from the way he was sat as if trying to lower himself further to get closer to counter top but still he had to angle his head down. He was covered in jewellery with several piercings through his ears and nose with his hand full of rings propping up his head as he ignored her approach.

The dark skin indicated he was from the settlements within the desert where the astartes took their warriors from, they were very nomadic and often avoided the cities and busy parts of the provinces but there were many who did find there way to civilization looking for a better life although they were often rejects of a people who preferred their desert encampments to the metropolis of wider society.

She pulled a picture of a square jawed clean shaven man with blue eyes and dark red hair from her belt pocket and slammed it against the glass that surrounded the counter.

"What room does this man occupy?"

The man at the counter quietly turned a page making no eye contact before responding.

"Honey I don't look at the people who live here I just collect their rent and leave them to their own machinations"

"This man is a dangerous psychopath!" she said as she kept the picture held against the glass

"That maybe sweetie but it aint my place to judge" he said before turning another page

She looked back to her partner who shrugged, the man's effeminate nonchalant responses were getting on her nerves so she pulled her badge from her belt and stuck it in front of the man's vision, there was an annoyance on his face when he looked up directly into her eyes.

"I am investigator Kassindra Brant and you are impeding an official investigation which as I'm sure you know is a punishable offence or would like to go back to the station with an enforcer and discuss it!?"

She saw the lump form in his throat and then get swallowed, he knew that by discussion she meant a beating with a shock maul and a possible hauling in front of a judge, and that was enough to scare any citizen because judges were not kind or forgiving and they were always fond of making examples of those who defied the Arbites.

His eyes flicked to the picture and he stared at it for about thirty seconds before speaking.

"Room 607"

Kassindra nodded her thanks and walked back to the group.

"Williams, Rhone, stay down her and guard the stairwell... no one leaves"

"yes Ma'am" they replied before moving off towards the bottom of the stairwell

"The rest of us will take the lift and catch our man"

The four enforcers entered the lift first while the two investigators entered after with her partner pressing the floor numbered 6.

"Ascending" came a servitors voice as the pod jerked before disengaging it's brake and moving

Both Kassindra and her partner, Devan Vaughn, pulled their weapons from their holsters and check the load.

Devon carried a standard issue las pistol with a modified grip for his rather large hands while Kassindra kept an old revolver from her grandfather that had seen better days but still served it's function and was far more intimidating to look at than a simple las pistol.

Devon was rolling his shoulders back and stretching his neck as if expecting a fight, he was fairly good looking for a man born in the poor slums of a nearby world and Kassindra had considered sleeping with him once but her birth had been one of noble stock and it had been drilled into her from a young age that she must not dirty herself by sleeping with the lower classes in order to preserve her family's genetic heritage.

Being one of the few graduates from the Schola to not be an orphan made no difference to her but to some other officers it did as they say her as some rich girl who just wanted to play at being a detective especially when unlike others she was stationed on her own world of birth, not unusual when one of her uncles was dean of the Schola and was persuaded by her parents not to send her away, back in the Schola there had even been a pool on how long she would last before she quit and went off to live a life of luxury, she had actually put a few credits in on this in the early months due to how hard the training had been but she had stuck with it after finding master Tasoth.

He had singled her out after she found a tome he had been missing for months, the old man had become forgetful and often misplaced things but she discovered the tome had been stolen by another professor at the Schola in an attempt to force Tasoth to retire, he realised despite the effort the other professor had made to cover his tracks she had pieced the theft together from the tiniest amount of information available.

After that he tested her abilities again making the training theft or murder more and more complex each time to see how skilled she was, on many occasions she had failed but each time she got better at tracking and identifying the suspect which built her confidence enough she had decided to stay.

A jolt of the lift broke her train of thought and she glanced at the enforcers.

They all carried short carbines and a shock maul for back up but Kassindra wasn't expecting a fight, all the evidence showed this man worked alone and wasn't trained in any combat style.

She had been tracking him for many weeks now, after the third killing when she had finally got a lead to who he was, like all serial killers he had gotten over confident and clumsy leaving droplets of his own blood on the carpet after his victim attempted to escape.

He was identified as the son of a rich trader who immediately dismissed the evidence and demanded the case be dropped so that his family's reputation would not be tarnished, the Marshall had officially told her to drop the case but unofficially the governor of the city had urged pursuit of the killer because the planetary governor was scheduled to pass through and the last thing he needed was reports of a serial killer lose on the streets and him having to explain he ordered the case dropped just to save the reputation of a traders family, that were not as important as they made themselves out to be, might not go down all that well.

In fact that particular family had been under a lot of scrutiny after an investigation by an inquisitor when suspected cultist artefacts had been shipped to and from some worlds so the last thing they needed was for their only son and air to be revealed as a killer, but he was about to be.

Under private orders Kassindra had pursued the case and had finally got a break after two enforcers came across a man trying to abduct a woman from a office building, he had fled but was wounded and a pic-corder had captured his face confirming his identity and narrowing down his location, after that she had asked her informant to find him and after a three days he had come back with a request to meet, then he had simply led them here.

The caveat to being able to bring him to justice is that the Marshall and governor wanted him alive, mainly so they could use him as a gift to the inquisition by handing him over so they could interrogate him and dig up more dirt on the families potential supply of illegal materials which would look great to the planetary governor and result in some reward like promotion or an investment into new infrastructure which the older parts of the city needed desperately.

The lift groaned as it settled on floor six, Devon looked to her as the doors opened.

"I always get nervous in buildings like this"

Devon wasn't wrong to be nervous, for all intensive purposes they were surrounded by potential criminals and while most of those would never dare lay a hand on an imperial officer there were a few who would happily gun down Arbites and brag about it later, hence why they had brought so many enforcers hoping the carbines would be enough to deter any would be cop killers.

"We get him and get out as quickly as possible" she responded leaning her head out the doors and looking up and down the corridor.

It was quite well lit for a hive of scum and villainy, a few bulbs flickered, none were out but brown hard walls made the corridor seam dark and rotten which created an air of unusual tension.

The group stepped out and looked over the doors, 601 was the first door on the left with 602 slightly further along on the right.

"Metcalf, Satino, move ahead and find 607... Hector stay with the elevator and Palomino follow behind us" Devon said and the six enforcers moved out watching each door carefully as they passed

After a few minutes Metcalf and Satino stopped outside a door staying out of sight of the viewing slit before turning and nodding to Kassindra and Devon who began making their way down the corridor, as they passed 605 shouting between a man and woman could be heard. There was a smash and the man called the woman something rather unflattering before there was the sound of punch and then tears, Palomino had stopped by the door clearly wanting to intervene and Kassindra turned round.

"Not our concern private!" she said sternly

The truth was unless it was someone important many crimes in the imperium went unreported including when it came to spousal abuse, it was frowned upon of course and were she not in the middle of a more important case she might of broken the door down and shoved her own fist in the man's face but a serial killer had to come first.

It wasn't a harsh truth for enforcers and even investigators to swallow that in a universe where you could be eaten by xenos from beyond the edge of the galaxy unpleasant truths about human behaviour sometimes had to be put aside and forgotten about, in another universe, throne even in times past that man would have had his door kicked in and then his head before being carted off to a judge and thrown into a deep dark cell, the woman might of even got counselling and help to get her life on track but in the 41st millennium arresting the man might mean imprisoning the family's only earner and thus condemning the whole family to poverty and death.

Kassindra doubted this was the galaxy spanning empire the Emperor had wanted and she could only imagine what might have been had the arch-traitor not turned against him but she had to put the daydreaming aside, the utopian imperium was never going to happen and the truth was she had a job to do in protecting it.

The door was a standard hab complex door with no sign of reinforcement, Devon lent close to see if he could hear movement, they were all silent for a minute until Devon nodded confirming the sounds of someone moving around and Kassindra nodded to Metcalf who lined up with the door.

His foot sent the door flying, the suspect lunged at the sergeant with a meat cleaver of some sort but Metcalf had been an enforcer for twelve years and saw the swing of the blade coming a mile away, he easily ducked under it before swinging the butt end of his carbine around and smashing the suspects face breaking his nose and sending a spray of blood everywhere.

Satino came in after checking the sides making sure no one else was lurking about before nodding to Kassindra and Devon.

She approached the suspect while Devon went off towards one of the side rooms and Palomino stayed by the door, Metcalf hauled the man up as Satino shackled the man's arms behind his back.

"Jahind Von-drikon you are under arrest for the torture and murder of six imperial citizens, you will be judged for your crimes and sentenced accordingly!" were she not to bring him in alive she would of executed him right there and then

"Kassy you better come look at this" Devon said appearing from a side room

Kassindra followed him through to a bedroom where an unconscious young woman lay shackled to a bed, her toes had been cut off individually and her wounds sealed shut with a hot metal implement the same as the other victims, like them had they not of interrupted he would of then removed her fingers before starting to cut out her eyes and remove her ears, given the almost ritualistic nature she was surprised the inquisition had not taken an interest in the case.

Devon put his fingers to the pulse on her neck.

"she's still alive!" he said with some surprise

"Get a medical team down here now!"

Devon stood back up from the bed.

"Kassy if we start flooding this building with enforcers it might start something"

Kassy sighed angrily.

"She's a witness Devon, won't be any denying it for the Von-drikon after this"

She left while Devon started opening a comm line to the precinct fortress, she entered the other room and confronted Jahind.

"It appears we have caught you red handed which certainly makes our job easier"

He spat blood on the floor and smiled ignorantly.

"Do you know who my father is?"

"Yes!" Kassindra responded "and I look forward to informing him of your arrest"

At that point he threw his head back into Satino's face, Kassindra drew her revolver expecting him to bolt for the door but instead he turned and jumped through the window before Metcalf could grab him, there was a sound of a thud and as Kassindra and Metcalf looked out from the windows in their room and Devon looked out from his, Jahind had fallen five stories, he might of lived except a garbage pod at the back of the building had cracked his skull wide open when he had impacted with it.

Devon looked over to where Kassindra was.

"I don't think that counts as alive!"

The Marshall's office was full of extravagant furniture that was either covered in case files, books or awards that he probably got by screwing someone else over, there were also some photos and she was surprised to see one of him and her from their time at the Schola together.

He had a thing for her back in those days at the Schola Progenium but she had never paid him much attention and when he realized if he wooed the cousin of the planetary governor he could be fast tracked to his current position he focused all his attention there but Kassindra never believed he was attracted to her, only her position and wealth.

Of course he tried to remain friends with Kassindra but his position as Marshall brought them into conflict at times over cases and operational restructuring which he had over seen and had eventually been undone after it failed and caused massive confusion.

Any other Marshall would have been dismissed on the spot but he had protection from upon high so apart from dressing down by the high Marshall he was untouched.

He walked in and immediately went to close the blinds, it was always sunny in this region of the planet and rain was so scarce here massive irrigation tunnels had been dug to the mountains in the east where an underground river was tapped by Mechanicum machinery to ferry water to keep the city and it's citizens hydrated but bottled water was also shipped in from other areas of the planet and very few people drunk the water from the tap.

He was wearing his usual polished up carapace armour that had over the top golden fixtures that were uglier that an an Orks ass, he sat in his chair and spent another minute adjusting it before looking over to her as she sat in the opposite seat.

"Well..." He said with a sigh "As you can imagine the governor is not best pleased that the suspect died and that you did nothing to prevent that!"

"He jumped out of a window Greg! what was I supposed to do, grow wings and catch him!?"

"Of course I understand..." he said with a patronising tone

She hated it when he got like this, trying to be the friendly boss who understood the hardships of the officers underneath him, this might of meant something if he wasn't carrying an expensive sword on his waist that most investigators couldn't afford even if they saved every wage they had ever been given.

"... but as you can imagine if your not a member of law enforcement it could seam as if you were ignoring the orders... you were quite upset about the order to halt the case"

"Because the ability to deliver the emperors justice should not be held hostage by rich family's who don't want their dirty laundry airing"

"But it does come across as if your desire to judge the suspect became very strong and when he broke free you allowed him to jump to serve your desire even if that was against orders?"

"Oh don't be daft Greg, you know as well as I know how unpredictable suspects can be, he did not want to face his family or a judge... I think he expected to be executed as soon as we got him and when he wasn't he took the easy way out"

"Again I understand..."

"Oh stop it Greg!" she said cutting him off "I get the governor is unhappy after he promised the inquisition we would bring Jahind in but I cannot change anything now!

Greg sat back in his chair in deep thought and sighed before looking back over to her.

"Chief Investigator Shafran died three days ago"

"How?" Kassindra didn't know why he had suddenly changed the subject but knew he must be leading to something so she played along for now

"Heart attack, he died at his desk"

Kassindra could of guessed the location, that old man hadn't left his desk in twenty years.

"And of course this leaves an opening in Oxenfrand for a new Chief Investigator... which is where you come in"

Kassindra blinked.

"Sorry what?"

"Kassy the governor thinks it's time you moved on, had you not of had a witness I would have been sending you back to the junior ranks but this situation has presented an opportunity!"

"To send me away as punishment is an opportunity!?"

"Look Kassy all Shafran ever did was send cases that he couldn't be bothered with to us which cost us man power here in the city. but you wouldn't do that which is the case I made to the governor and he agreed to allow your promotion to Chief Investigator. as long as you were out of the way... so congratulations Chief Investigator Brant!" he held out his hand not really expecting her to lean across and take it

"This is completely unfair and disproportionate to the situation... I don't want to go to Higroust"

"But Kassy you can stay with your parents, their manor is more than big enough... besides, it's an order... not a request!"

At that point the friendship between them ceased and it went to rank meaning there was going to be no more politeness, Kassy stood up and saluted.

She wanted to protest and go on about how her parents would spend every waking hour trying to find her a husband but it would of fallen on deaf ears and clearly the decision had already been made, and at least this way she could continue to do her job... even if it was in a small rural township.

"When do I start sir?"

"A week, until then your suspended!"

"What!"

"That will be all Chief Investigator!" he said with a finality

"Yes Marshall" she said throwing a quicker different type of salute.

The Manor that sat closest to town was owned by Archibald Magruff, a retired merchant he had made his fortune trading rare minerals mined from the farthest reaches of the imperium, it had been a dangerous job and many of his merchant ships had run afoul of Orks and other xenos but despite that he had made enough to retire and marry a young woman who had now grown too old for his liking hence why he had developed a reputation for sleeping with young women across Higroust although in truth he kept his affairs to just two women.

The stately room he spent his evenings in while his wife was likely having her own affair was luxurious, with a roaring fire fuelled by wood claimed from the nearby forest and a rich leather chair made by the finest craftsmen in the imperium which is where he sat right now browsing the latest local imperial herald but there was nothing going on, the last time there was something worth reading about was when a serial killer had jumped to his death to avoid arrest just under a week ago.

A knock came at the door and George his head of house entered with his usual glass of wine and placed it on the small table beside the chair.

"Thank you George"

"Anything else sir?" he asked

"No that will be all George but don't wake me if I fall asleep will you, don't really feel well enough to leaving the room tonight"

"Of course sir, have a good evening"

In the morning George opened the door to the room and but instead of finding him reading the morning news he was slumped forward with a bullet hole in his throat.

Oxenfrand was a large region with one large central town that extended to the cost where fishing fleets trawled the seas for the population of this world and beyond, beyond the tow lay verdant fields for farmers livestock, deep forests and country manors owned by the more wealthy and important of this world, beyond this lay a ridge of mountains that were the belt of the landmass and after that the closest city and the desert beyond.

Kassindra had waited at the rail station for twenty minutes before a battered old cruiser pulled up and a short rough shaven investigator got out wearing a simple layer of body armour, his military boots however, looked far too heavy for job he did and also they were clearly too big for him, something she would have to discuss later.

In contrast Kassindra had done the thing she rarely did and got her light brown hair cut, not short but just cut down so it wasn't as thick which was partly to make it easier to tie back and also to appease her mother who didn't like thick hair on girls because it made them look like tramps. She had donned her usual armoured suit with her house insignia. Everything else she owned was in the case she had with her except her ID, badge and gun of course which were on her belt.

He held his hand out and she shook it.

"Investigator Sargent Alexander Tohmas"

"Chief Investigator Kassindra Brant" she said in response

He opened the boot of the vehicle and moved her bags inside before opening the door for her, she got in as he moved round the other side and started the engine.

"I must say it's nice to be able to work with someone other that CI Shafran... Not that I'm happy he died, it's just... we never did anything because all the cases got sent off elsewhere and we just sat on our asses solving misdemeanours or keeping the locals in line" he said as the pulled away from the pick up point

"Well I'm glad to know your eager, tell me about the rest of the team"

"Well Ma'am there's myself and Investigator Louse, he's the junior... a bit of a sarcastic git at times but he's could be a hard worker but without any real cases he had become a little lax, but he's very loyal, then there's Missy Green our inelegance gatherer and forensics specialist... bit of a dork that girl always has her nose in a data pad but very smart when she actually puts her brain in gear!"

Kassindra nodded as he spoke.

"Doc Ryford does all our examinations and that's about it really other than the Arbites and enforcers"

"Such a small team for such a large area" Kassindra responded

"Well Ma'am it's mostly stately homes and small villages dotted about, only major hub is the port and the town of Higroust it's self but you should know that we also make sure to keep a close eye on the local population... the city isn't the only place the scum of the galaxy show up!"

Kassindra nodded.

"Yes, quite true" she said watching a bus go past

There was quiet for a few moments as they waited at a junction.

"We don't get a lot of big crimes out here, the odd murder and sometimes the dock workers kick off but a few dozen beatings usually brings them back into line" Alexander asked

"You have enough enforcers to cover the whole region?" Kassindra asked knowing an area like this where crime was minimal would likely have a small garrison at the fortress precinct with very few judges and probably no inquisition representative.

"It's not as lawless as a hive city or a the factorum region, most folk round here know not to cross us"

Kassindra expected them to turn right towards the main town but Alexander went left.

"This isn't the way to the fortress"

"Sorry Ma'am I assumed you knew" he said speeding down the country lane

"Knew what?"

"There's been a murder!"

The Magruff Manor was small compared to many but it was no less stately than any other, a large garden sat in front and back surrounded by walls and a large gate that made a hum with power as it swung open for the cruiser as it approached.

In the courtyard just before the stairs into the house were two Arbites Cruisers and another vehicle that looked like it belonged to tramp, Alexander saw her looking at it.

"That's the docs, he's had it for years but won't replace it even though it's in for repair every other week"

"Whose the Victim?" she asked changing the subject

"Archibald Magruff, 78 year old retired merchant, created a living out of shipping valuable minerals and gemstones from the more dangerous parts of the galaxy, known as a bit of a cheat around these parts... prefers women of a certain age"

The two got out and made there way up the stairs.

"Any known enemies?" Kassindra asked as they made their way to the top

"None in terms of his business dealings but there are a fair few broken hearted women who might like to take a shot"

"I see" she responded

As they reached the top they were greeted by an enforcer who led them to a room on the lower floor, it was fairly large with a fire place where the fire pit extended out a little from under the moulded marble surrounding it, apart from the large window the rest of the

room was covered in dark wooden panelling with a few portraits of people or landscapes dotted around to make it feel less sparse but clearly it had been designed to be a private sanctum of sorts.

Between the fire pit and the window was a leather chair with a dead man sat in it while another man sat with a medical glaive swabbing the wound on the throat.

Alexander coughed and the doc stood up and turned round.

"Ah you must be are new CI" he said with a raw accent that indicated he was from one of the moons

"Chief Investigator Kassindra Brant this is Doc Necilous Ryford"

The two shook hands and Kassindra got straight down to business.

"So what's the cause of death?"

"Bullet through the throat..."

"Went all the way through I see" Kassindra said moving past him and looking at the wound

It was small and you could see where the skin had been shredded as the shot had exited, she traced the line with her fingers to to a splintered bit of wood on the floor that had been circled in a white chalk.

"Where's the bullet?"

"We couldn't find it" Alexander responded as Kassindra looked across from the marker to the fire pit that was covered in white ash

"So either it bounced into the fire or the killer took it?"

"No that can't be possible Ma'am"

Kassindra stood up and responded.

"Why?"

"Well he was killed from outside the room" he said before walking around the the window where through one of the anti-shatter panes a hole was found "We think the shooter was on that edge of the wall" he said pointing out to the boundary redbrick wall "Took his shot and then left before the security patrol could spot him"

Kassindra examined the hole and looked over to the chair, the bullet had gone right through the leather and then through the victims neck.

"The shooter could of crept into the house afterwards and..."

She suddenly noticed a slight mark on the top of the leather chair directly above the bullet hole, it was a few centimetres long and looked as if something hot and fast had passed over the top, she looked down and brought her self level with it and looked across the room to the moulded marble fire place that sat across from the chair, she walked over and noticed several ninety degree angle indents in the undisturbed dust and then a small hole in the wood which would have been unnoticeable to a casual observer though she was slightly annoyed that none of the officers had noticed it.

"There were two shots fired" she said as Alexander came round

Kassindra pulled the switch blade knife she kept as back up from her belt and pushed it into the hole and pried a bullet out, Alexander handed her a an evidence bag and she dropped it in making sure not to touch it with her own fingers.

She handed the bag to Alexander who looked it over.

"Looks like a standard 222 calibre round, not uncommon in these parts with all the livestock farmers, they use rifles regularly to protect cattle from wolves and bears... this close to the town seams a bit redundant though"

"Yes thank you Alex I do know something about guns!" she responded before moving off and looking around the rest of the room before positioning herself behind the chair and making a stance like she was holding a rifle.

"Too steep" Alexander said "but that would explain why there's only one bullet hole in the pane"

Kassindra looked out the window to the wall.

"Has anyone been out there?"

"Yes Ma'am, enforcer Mikos... she found one empty casing which..."

"Is why you assumed only one shot had been fired?"

He nodded in an acceptance of the fact he had been mistaken.

Kassindra looked around the room slightly despondent.

"It doesn't add up, one hole but there were at least two rounds fired, one goes high and hits the wall just above the fire place, the other is a kill shot..." she trailed off pausing in thought for a few moments before turning to the Doctor "Time of death?"

"Difficult to say for certain but I'd say anywhere between midnight and early morning" he said as two mortuary assistants came in with a body bag

As they began to move the body Kassindra walked over to the fire pit and picked up the iron poker close by that would be used to stoke the flames.

"So it has to be a professional then, two shots through the same hole" Alexander said as she pushed the burnt wood aside, breaking it up where necessary

"Perhaps, but you would think a professional shooter wouldn't make a rookie miss like that" she said indicating where the missed shot had gone

She pushed one piece of wood aside then bent down and found what looked like several shattered pieces of a pot which she picked up carefully and before motioning Alexander to give her another evidence bag.

She looked around the room one more time before turning to Alexander.

"Who found the body?"

"The head of the house serfs, he's with the victims wife, Henna, in the study"

"lets go say hello then" she said but as she approached the door she stopped and looked down

In the parting between the carpet of the main hall and the wooden floor of the room she was in were patches of still slightly wet mud.

"Officer Mikos!" she shouted and a young girl with auburn hair came from across the hall

"Yes Ma'am?"

"Show me your boots"

"Ma'am?"

Kassindra sighed

"lift up your feet and let me see the underside of your boots"

Mikos did as asked and Kassindra noticed there was no mud on them.

"Thank you, your dismissed"

The Enforcer walked off and Kassindra stood up and turned to Alexander

"Raining last night?"

"No it hasn't rained since last week" he said

"Then why is there fresh wet mud on the floor?"

Alexander shrugged, he couldn't explain that and Kassindra tilted her head as if expecting some answer from him.

"Lets go speak to the widow" she said after a tense few seconds that seamed like forever to Alexander

They made their way across the hall and into the study that was covered wall to wall in book shelves, two arm chairs and an ornate leather couch were placed around a coffee table in the centre of the room and another similar moulded marble fire place was on the back wall but the fire pit was deep within the chimney alcove unlike the exposed pit in the other room.

A woman in her late forties was sat in a dressing blue dressing gown crying into a handkerchief while a tall dark skinned man in a butlers outfit had his hand on her shoulder as she wept.

As Kassindra and Alexander dismissed the enforcer present the woman blew her nose and the butler stood back as if realizing how over familiar his contact looked but Kassindra had already made note of it.

"Mrs Magruff I'm Chief Investigator Kassindra Brant and this is Investigator Sargent Alexander Tohmas, do you mind if I take a seat?"

The woman shook her head and Kassindra sat down but Alexander didn't and stood by the window.

"I'm sorry for your loss but can you tell me the last time you saw your husband alive?"

"Lunch time yesterday, before he went off to his first mistresses place" she said still wiping her eyes

"What time did he get back?"

"The master always got back at around seven thirty"

Kassindra turned to the head serf and looked him over.

"And your name is?"

"George Atreau, head of house"

Kassindra nodded as if acting like she didn't already know his title

"You found the body yes?"

"I did" he responded bluntly

"What time was this?"

"Around six thirty this morning, I always go to see him around that time with his medication"

"What medication would that be?" Alexander asked pretending to be looking over an old leather bound tome and not listening

"The master had a neurological disease that affected his nervous system, he couldn't lay flat for too long which is why he mostly slept in his private room... the medication helped elevate some of the discomfort"

Kassindra continued on.

"Nothing unusual about the room, no one else entered during the night?"

"The masters room is is monitored with a tracking system, it registers when someone goes in and comes out and I assure you no one entered until I did in the morning"

"Then you won't mind of our Intelligencer examines those records will you?" Alexander said giving him a narrow stare

"I'd rather you didn't look over sensitive security information..." Alexander tapped his las pistol and the head serf stopped, took a breath and then changed his answer "I mean..., of course not investigator... I will go get the data transferred and get access runes for you" he said leaving the room at a pace

Cleaver, Kassindra thought, Alexander had worked out the head serf was trying to protect the wife from deeper questioning and found a reason to get rid.

"I think I will go with him" Alexander said and Kassindra gave him a nod

After they both are left Kassindra turned back to the grieving widow.

"I hear your husband was quite the ladies man?"

"That is the polite term for it, however it is a family matter and not your concern"

"It is when it's a motive for murder, and a good one at that... and especially when it's clear your not having your affair too far from home!" Kassindra bluntly put the point to her

"How dare you!" the widow snarled "First of all my husband kept his philandering to only two women that I personally made sure were decent and not whores, secondly who I'm sleeping with is..."

"Don't say none of my concern because if you try to hide anything from me I will break you in an interrogation chamber away from your boy toy butler!"

The widow straightened her self up a little trying to appear unnerved by Kassindra's comment but the increase in her respiration was obvious, Henna might have been a little bit better off than the standard imperial citizen but even she had to fear just how far an investigator would go to get at the truth.

"George has been with us for just over six years and we have been together for the last few, my husband may or may not of been aware of that fact but I had children with him and still cared about his well being... I would never hurt him"

There was a sincerity in her voice Kassindra could not deny but that meant nothing to a investigator when all citizens of the imperium should be considered guilty, still though she couldn't deny the widow was clearly distraught so either she was truly devastated by her husbands murder or she was an excellent dramaturge.

"Where were you last night and and early morning?" Kassindra asked looking around the room

"In bed with George, he didn't leave until early morning to get Archibald's medication"

Kassindra's eyes flicked up when she noticed a small pot of the fire place, even from her seated position she could see the bottom section rested on ninety degree square feet that reminded her of the shapes in the undisturbed dust.

"That is a rather simple piece of pottery for such and big house" she said and the widow turned round to look

"Oh yes, Archibald got for me as an anniversary gift many years ago, that is one of a pair... the other one he keeps in his study"

"I see" Kassindra said recognising the wife had no idea it had been smashed "You must gain much from your husbands passing?"

"Enough to live out my life on, our son runs the family business now whilst our daughter went off to kill her self in the imperial guard"

"Fighting in the name of the God Emperor is a worthy calling, you didn't approve?"

The widow looked up at her with a face of disgust at the idea.

"There are many better ways to serve him than putting yourself in harms way, I imagine your parents were not happy with a choice that you made considering your standard of birth" she said trying to turn the conversation around

Kassindra could see she was trying shift some of the focus away from her relationship with her parents and on to her own..

"It was my decision to make and not theirs" she responded swiping the question aside quickly "...but was marrying Archibald approved by your parents?"

"No" she said with a sadness in her voice "They saw him as a user who would discard me as soon as I got old and they were correct... but I loved him"

Kassindra could tell from how her voice broke as she spoke about her husband she truly did love him but that did not mean she wasn't the killer.

Alexander followed George to a security panel where he began to down load the logs from the security cogitator.

"Ever fired a rifle George?" Alexander asked

"In my youth I would join hunting packs keeping wolf and bear populations under control but the last time I did that was nearly twenty years ago" he responded as the cogitator began transferring data

"I see, must be hard working for a master like Archibald, was he the type to look after his serfs?"

"He was honest about who he was and yes at times he could be demanding" George responded as the last access rune was transferred "I must make sure the data slate contains all the information..."

Alexander put his hand to his pistol.

"Give it here" he said holding out his other hand

He looked at George as he starred back at him and looked down at the data slate and motioned him to hand it over again.

"If any information is missing we will return for it later" Alexander said but George still hesitated

Alexander couldn't tell whether there was some guilty reason for doing this or if the head serf was just trying to protect his household like he had been trained to do but his hesitation was angering him now.

"Listen George..., I know I'm gonna get a tongue lashing from my new CI sooner or later about certain things on this case so I'm trying to be understanding with you but if you don't hand me that pad I will shoot you!"

Slowly George took a step forward and handed him the pad, he took it as George looked him over with some disdain.

"The way you treat us, with threats of violence and torture, this is not the way of the civilized empire!"

Alexander looked over the pad to make sure it had the data recorded on it and responded.

"I suggest you take that up with the Grand Provost Marshall, lord Guilliman or the emperor himself because I have no time for it..."

Alexander turned to leave but stopped and looked back.

"If we find any data has been purposely omitted then I will come back with a full squad of enforcers and won't be as polite!"

Kassindra found Alexander waiting by the main door.

"Did you get the security data?"

He tapped a pocket on his belt.

"Good, I want to take a quick look outside then we can go"

"Why?" he asked as he followed her down the stairs and into the garden

She took him around to the window of the room where the murder had been committed, she bent down and looked at the flowers which were a multitude of colours but didn't match the flower bed next to it it.

"Just some azaleas and rhododendrons, bit of a mistake in my book, Wild flowers go better with Azaleas" Alexander said

"But the colour pattern is different to the first flowerbed" Kassindra mused "and they look freshly planted"

"It's different here as well" Alexander responded from the next flower bed on

Kassindra came over and looked, it was different and again looked freshly planted

As they were walking back to the cruiser the widow appeared, she had changed clothes and was wearing a black veil, Kassindra approached her.

"I noticed you had some gardening done recently, odd mix of colours though"

"A little too much isn't it, but that was Archibald's domain, gardening, I kept telling him if he cared so much about the look of the garden he could hire a proper gardener and not rely on those old servitors that keep making errors!"

"Well you can make that change yourself now can't you, as well as the colours"

Henna gave Alexander a scowl before responding.

"I might hire a gardener but I won't change the look Sergeant because I want to remember my husband when I look at them!"

She walked off clearly a little upset at Alexander's suggestions.

As they got back into the cruiser Kassindra looked back at the garden and the flower beds outside the window, something was wrong about them she just couldn't quite put her finger on it yet.

"I'm still thinking it's a professional, perhaps an old business partner who lost out somehow hired one"

"I thought you said that there was no old enemies from those days?" she said with some curiosity

Alexander rubbed the back of his neck in a nervous way.

"You see Ma'am, we hadn't really started looking at his old business dealings much, just you know, it's well known he supposedly put all all his demons to rest, so we assumed it meant he had no enemies"

Kassindra glared at him for a few minutes before motioning him to start the cruiser up.

"When we get back to the precinct fortress there will be a discussion!"

"I understand" he said with no resistance

"But first I need you to take me home!"

"Why?"

"I want to drop my luggage off and I refuse to drive around in this ratty old thing"

Alexander let out a little smile.

"It's old but does it's job Ma'am, plus it is regulation"

"Regulation for you maybe but as a Chief investigator I am allowed a different option, my father has enough cruisers for himself, he won't mind me borrowing one, especially when he sees the state of this one!"

The drove for about an hour well away from the main town and the familiar shape of the precinct fortress until they arrived at a large pair of gates guarded by sentry servitors private security soldiers and two Kastelan battle droids with their servitor master.

One of the soldiers approached the window and Alexander rolled it down.

"This is private property..." he began to say before Kassindra turned and he recognised her "...oh, sorry miss didn't see you there, go right ahead"

The gates swung open and they drove down a long road that ended in a house almost three times the size of the Magruff manor, here more soldiers and battle servitors were guarding entrances and exits to the building and a tall man in a butlers suit opened the door for Kassindra as they pulled up.

"Welcome home miss, we were not expecting you till later"

"Kalstin my luggage is in the boot, can you have it taken to my room please"

He nodded to Kassindra and then to two lower serfs who went and opened the boot.

Alexander followed her into the vast entrance hall where an older woman came striding down the stairs in a green dress with a tiara of sorts in her well maintained hair.

"Oh my dear their you are!" she exclaimed as she saw Kassindra "Lets see, good you got your hair done, armour could use a polish and what's that smell!"

she said before looking at Alexander with some disdain "Oh I see"

"Mother this is Investigator Sargent Tohmas, is daddy home?"

"He's out in the capitol looking for more useless antiques why?"

"I need to borrow a car"

The lights came on in the garage as they entered, at least a hundred different vehicles were lined up some covered in dust sheets others exposed with one or two above maintenance pits.

"I assume you want something with some style, not some bulk carrier?" Alexander said as he walked down the first row of vehicles.

"I think anything would be an upgrade from that trash cruiser, I came this close to telling Kalstin to have it disposed of"

She pulled the cover off of one car but it was a tiny thing and not really good enough, she needed it to be fast but look good with of course a few extra security features.

"What about this?" Alexander said pulling the dust sheet of of a large four wheel drive vehicle

"A bit too big, no style"

She wondered down a few rows until she noticed a shape she liked the look of and pulled the sheet free from it as Alexander came over.

It had a long front bonnet with four wheels at the front and just two at the back with a decent sized boot. It was a burgundy colour and had a bright silver front grill with the model of an old Terra big cat at the front.

"Very nice" Alexander said "but won't your father miss it?"

Kassindra shook her head.

"Not really, besides he probably has the same one in another colour somewhere in here"

She pushed a button on the podium near the car and a servitor marched over with the keys, she tossed them to Alexander.

"So I guess I'm like your chauffeur now?"

"When you become a Chief Investigator you can get someone to drive you around but until then" she responded getting into the passengers seat.

Alexander started the car and almost expected it to stall given that it had been sat under the dust sheet for a while but it purred like he imagined the big cat, whose model sat on the bonnet did, when it had existed many centuries ago, it moved like silk as well as he pulled out and weaved it between the other vehicles and out into the drive.

After getting the the weapons and other items from the cruiser and putting them in the boot of the new car they drove off back towards the town and the fortress precinct.

"Can I ask a question" Alexander said after about twenty minutes of driving

"I don't see why not" Kassindra responded absent mindedly looking out the window at the passing fields and woods

Alexander was still getting used to the speed and agility of the car so he waited until he had carefully navigated a narrow, weaving part of the road before asking.

"Your family had a lot of security around their house?"

Kassindra turned away from the window and glanced at him.

"There were six major families who led the campaign to settle on Tallindara when it was discovered, the Brant's were one of those"

Alexander gave a slow nod.

"I see, I know this world was colonised long before the heresy so is that your original home?"

"No" she responded as they entered the outskirts of the town "The heresy cost most of the other great families there lives only ours and the Yatzinees still exist, so like with the their family we are given certain protections from the regent because we can trace our lineage back to old Terra, hence the security"

They pulled up at a junction where Kassindra watched an old man cross the road along with what appeared to be his grandchild.

"Shouldn't you be walking around with a body guard then?"

"I'm a highly trained officer of the Adeptus Arbites who is more than capable of defending herself, besides I have you to watch my back"

Alexander felt a wave of confidence with that said, it made him feel like Kassindra was putting some faith in his abilities, he gave a nod back to her to acknowledge he would watch her back.

The precinct fortress was much smaller than the one in the city, it was only six stories high compared to the fifteen she was used to but it was no less imposing, thrusting up into the skyline like a spear ready to pierce a foe's heart with it's core building at the centre of it's defended outer walls. On the roof anti-aircraft guns sat probing the sky with auspex waiting for a potential attack or emperor forbid, an invasion. Other large guns sat dotted around the battlements as enforcers assigned to man the fortress kept watch.

A tunnel where an Arbites cruiser was just exiting led down into the motor-pool, like most precinct fortresses it had an array of vehicles at it's disposal from basic cruisers to heavily armoured personal cruisers, this precinct only had two and one was armed with a heavy water cannon but the other had it's original laser turret still equipped in case a more lethal response was required.

As they pulled into a parking space marked as "Reserved For Chief Investigator Brant" a Mechanicum adept in a red robe hobbled towards them on spindly legs that hissed as the pistons pushed and pulled him onward and he approached Kassindra as she got out.

"Greetings Chief Investigator, I am ignoblous five"

Kassindra looked back at him, his face was still mostly flesh though his cranial cap had clearly been replaced with some cybernetic device and as usual for a tech-priest he had a device on the back

from which several tendrils sprouted.

"A pleasure, I assume you are in charge of repairs here?"

"It is my pleasure to serve the Omnissiah in this role" he said with veneration although the metal sound to his voice cost it some of it's impact

Kassindra nodded and the indicated her car.

"This needs a vox link installed"

The Martian moved his head in what looked like a nod.

"Perhaps also some other modifications?"

"Fine but don't change the bodywork!"

Again something resembled a nod and she and Alexander left and entered the lift.

"We call him Iggy for short" Alexander said indicating the Martian who was consulting a servo skull

Kassindra said nothing and just nodded.

When the doors opened again they were on the top floor, it was fairly large room with senior Arbites and Enforcers looking over data slates or talking with each other.

Alex led her through the cluster of people to the front, as they realized who had arrived the noise of conversation halted and Kassindra turned to face the crowd.

"Good afternoon everyone, I have little to say as I am sure you all know your jobs but unlike CI Shafran I will not be sending cases elsewhere so it is likely we will get busier so expect you all to double your efforts... crime may be less in this town but that is no reason to slack off!" as she said this she glanced at Alexander who felt like he was about to be locked in an interrogation chamber himself "...right that's all I have to say so get back to work"

There was a few nods from some senior Arbites and Enforcers but most just carried on with what they were doing before.

They then entered a second room with three desks and another large office already rebranded with Kassindra's name and title lay to the side.

The two people at the desks stood up in attention as she marched in.

"These walls are thin so I imagine you just heard what I had to say?"

"Yes Ma'am" they chorused

"Good!" she turned to the young girl with the golden curls sat at the desk that was covered with forensic samples and books

It was a mess and Kassindra though the same for the office as a whole, it was clear years of neglect due to CI Shafran's incompetence and unwillingness to see cases investigated at a local level had meant standards had slipped.

"Where are we with investigating the victims old business partners?"

Missy was unable to answer just shied away before muttering.

"I hadn't really... started..."

"Well then get started, I want to know who he's dealt with in the past and anyone who may be local and have reason to kill!" Kassindra yelled "and you!" she spoke as she looked over at the junior investigator "I take you have just been sat here twiddling your thumbs?"

Alphonse Louse didn't responded and just let his head hang in the air.

"Right then..." Kassindra said through her gritted teeth as she held down the urge to throw something "…. this is no longer Shafran's command it's mine! ...and I will not have useless officers working beneath me so you either start doing your jobs or I will find people who can... is that understood!"

"Yes Ma'am!" They chorused

"Good, Investigator Louse I want you to look into recent vox messages between our victim and all those he knew, see if there is anything suspect there" she said and he nodded before she turned to Alexander "sergeant my office please!"

Alexander walked in just after Kassindra and stood to attention at the far side of the desk as she went round and examined the chair, it was fairly new chair but Shafran had been a large man and she would need to adjust it but for now she chose not to sit in it and just moved it away so she could lean towards him with a rather displeased look on her face.

"I'm not happy about the state of the investigation or the mess in that office!" she snarled indicating the inner office and not the bullpen "You missed vital evidence and made unfounded assumptions about the victims business partners based on hear say and conjecture, I get that things were lax when Shafran was around but this does not continue, so I want to office mess cleared and some discipline instilled in those two officers, is that clear?!"

"Perfectly Ma'am" he responded and snapped a salute

"Good" she said moving to his side of the desk and leaning back against it "What did you get out of the head serf?"

Alexander relaxed a little as the mood shifted.

"He's a big cagey but I would expect that, heads of households can be very protective of their masters..."

Kassindra nodded.

"Yes they can be, I sense a but?"

"He claimed he hadn't fired a rifle for many years and while I have no reason to doubt that, at this time, it did feel like it offended him for some reason and there's something else..."

"Go on..." Kassindra stressed

"I think he may be part of this group that has sprouted up in the area that has... reservations about how we and the imperium as a whole operate" Alexander stated watching Kassindra's eyes narrow

"You didn't think to tell me about the potential seeds of rebellion when I first arrived!" she said running her hands through the front of her hair in frustration

Alexander shook his head.

"No... they are not like the usually group of insurgents looking throw off the shackles of the imperium through armed rebellion, they believe in some old Terra form of governance where one person is elected by the people to represent them!?"

Kassindra sighed in frustration at this.

"It was called dem...oc... racy" she said struggling to pronounce the old word "before the God Emperor revealed himself it was heavily used, I read about it in an old book my grandfather had, it's flawed like most old Terran forms of governance"

"Well they see the current state of the imperium as a failure of the emperors vision, they believe the lords of Terra should be elected and that the way we treat people is not the way of a civilized empire, George was quite amendment that the way the Arbites wielded the law was unpleasant and over zealous"

Kassindra scoffed at this and paced the room a little before looking at him.

"How large is this group and why did Shafran not at least inform someone?"

"I believe CI Shafran may have been a member..." he said cautiously "...and it's maybe a dozen people, I did try to track down their meeting location to keep an eye on them but Shafran found out and forced me to drop it... would you like me to resume looking?"

Kassindra was quite for a few minutes and then she moved over to the window and looked out over the town.

"Good chance Shafran had them move their little meetings once he knew you were investigating"

"We could drag the head serf in and interrogate him for it's location?" Alexander suggested

Kassindra was quiet again for a minute before she turned around from the window.

"No" she said shaking her head "As soon as we make the arrest they will scatter to the wind and we could be waiting months before we get another shot, it will also reinforce their beliefs if we torture one of them for their location... lets focus on the case at hand at the moment and I will make discreet inquiries via family and see what I can discover that way"

Alexander nodded.

"For now lets focus, give Missy the information you got from the head serf and see if she can find anything unusual and find out which of his mistresses he went to see yesterday, we should pay them a visit"

"Yes Ma'am" he said turning to leave but he was stopped by a comment from Kassindra

"Your an investigator with potential Alexander" it was a short statement but not a false one

Alexander didn't respond verbally but nodded back to her in appreciation.

Kassindra had met with the chief enforcer and a couple of other senior officers before she finally came out of her office in the early afternoon.

"So where are we up to?" she asked standing in the middle of the desks

"I've looking to his business dealings right up until his son took over and beyond, there is not much really to say, he had a few run-ins with some rather shady characters over the years but most of those are dead or in prison" Missy responded her desk now cleared of the clutter that had befouled it before

"Anything in the database Alexander gave you?"

"Nothing yet, to the head serfs credit he put the last six months of monitoring on here which seams odd to me when we only needed the last few days"

Kassindra tilted her head in thought and then responded.

"Start as far back as the data takes you and go forward slowly look for any breaks or changes in patterns with patrols or the tracking system"

"Yes Ma'am" she responded before going back to work

Kassindra looked over to Alphonse who had a smile on his clean shaven baby face.

"You have something?"

He nodded.

"I was looking through the victims messages, most of it is just communications between him and friends but he appears to have had a rather nasty argument with Jeanne Lecon"

"And she would be?" Kassindra asked

"His first mistress" Alexander interjected

Kassindra nodded in understanding and then motioned Alphonse to continue.

"Well apparently she was getting upset that Archibald never spent the night with her, this grew to an argument and some unflattering things were said" he held a data slate and Kassindra took it

Her eyes widened as she read the exchanges.

"Very unflattering, some unresolved feelings by the looks"

"I know and also she's quite famous locally as a hunter, often trains others how to shoot" Alphonse responded with a smile

Kassindra smiled and nodded to Alexander who instantly picked up the keys to the car and made a move towards the door.

"Good work, keep digging" she said following him out

The Lecon estate was small, single old house with a tiny garden and no walls to speak of, it was made of local stone blocks and it's windows were very old but well maintained, as they approached the door a plaque with a dead animal head stared out at them.

Alexander pressed the buzzer and a little old lady answered the door.

"I'm Chief Investigator Kassindra Brant this is Investigator Sergeant Alexander Tohmas, we are here to speak with miss Lecon"

The little old lady nodded and guided them to a small room with a low table and several leather sofas.

"I shall go fetch the mistress for you" she said in a withered tired sounding voice

The room they were in was fairly fancy, more trophies of dead animals littered the green and yellow pained walls and the sofas were framed in a rather interesting wood finish, the fire place had a marble frame with more trophies on top of severed claws and jagged teeth from animals Kassindra didn't recognise.

Alexander noticed a rifle leaned up near one of the windows, he pulled back on the latch and a bullet sprang out of it, he examined it before grabbing Kassindra's attention and walking over to her.

He held the bullet up and it looked to be the exact same type of shot they had recovered at the scene, Kassindra took the rifle from his other hand and smelt the barrel, it had been fired recently she could tell from the residual traces of propellant she could smell but there was no way for her to tell how long ago it had been fired, they would need Missy for that.

"Can I help you?" a rough voice echoed from the doorway

"Are you Jeanne Lecon?" Kassindra asked

Jeanne was dressed in a rough jacket with some rather scruffy pants and a blouse that looked to have oil stains all over it, she held a rag in one hand so Kassindra realised she may have been cleaning, probably a rifle of some sort as she was a hunter.

"I am" she said cautiously

"I am Chief Investigator..."

"yes I know my serf told me, what do you want?"

Kassindra glanced at Alexander.

"We are hear to talk about Archibald Magruff's murder, something you don't seam too upset about"

Jeanne sighed and then let out a little laugh.

"Unlike most people I am not tied to being some weeping woman when someone dies because it happens to us all"

"So your not upset that he's dead then? Because we found an exchange of vox messages where it would appear you were growing quite emotionally attached to him" Kassindra said presenting the evidence carefully enough to poke at the woman's earlier remark

At this Jeanne stormed off to sit down on a couch, Kassindra and Alexander sat on the one opposite.

"That man had everything he could want, a wife and two mistresses and a fortune to play with so was it wrong for me to ask one thing of him, to simply request that he spend a night here instead of sleeping with me then running back off to his wife or his other whore!"

There was some venom in her words towards the second mistress and Kassindra jumped on this.

"I take it you did not like the other woman he was seeing?"

"She was nothing but a distraction, I was his favourite"

"I imagine he told her the same thing about you" Alexander interjected

Jeanne ignored this remark and continued.

"The argument became heated and I regret something's I may of said to him but it was not out of hate and I had no reason to kill him!"

"Then can you explain to me why we found a rifle that was fired recently in this room and a it contains a bullet very similar to the one we found at the scene?" Kassindra questioned

"Many of the rifles I own have been fired recently and that one in particular only an hour ago plus I doubt the bullet you recovered is the same as mine are custom made for me alone" Jeanne responded with a lot of confidence

"Then you won't mind of we take these with us to check your story matches up?" Alexander responded

"Be my guest"

"Where were you last night miss Lecon?" Kassindra asked

"I was in the city attending a meeting for the systems best hunters, and yes I can confirm I left the area and did not return until this morning, my serf will bring you the associated documents and recordings but I have work to do so unless there is anything else!"

Kassindra was a bit annoyed, the suspect was clearly in a rush to get away from this conversation but she had provided an alibi and was allowing them to take the rifle and ammunition for analysis so without more evidence to question her on it was difficult to take this further and knowing about the group that was in town she didn't want to force the issue, if they were aware the new Chief investigator was aggressive in the pursuit of the law it might make them go quiet which would make them harder to catch.

"No that will be all for now" Kassindra said "but please don't be leaving town again until we confirm your... story"

"So what do you think?" Kassindra asked Alexander after getting the information from the serf and exiting the house

"She certainly has the skill to kill him and that argument does show some unresolved issues between the two of them" he responded as they got in the car

"We know the first shot was missed and I doubt a hunter with her experience would botch a shot that badly" Kassindra responded

Alexander responded before he started the car.

"Well if she was disturbed, rushed the shot so came back later"

Kassindra moved her head side to side a little.

"Maybe, but why was one bullet still missing and why was there mud inside the room?"

Alexander shrugged.

"Maybe it's genuinely a coincidence, a red herring if you would"

Kassindra took a breath and looked at the sun going down.

"Lets make a fresh start on this in the morning, see what the others have dug up and go speak to the other mistress"

Kassindra had been sat with a glass of the finest wine in the lounge of her parents house when her mother came in and sat down opposite her with a glass and poured herself some from the bottle, it was thick red wine from the planets second moon that was home to some of the finest Amasec and wine producers this side of the core systems.

"I hope your not planning to get like Shafran and become an alcoholic overweight Chief Investigator!" her mother said as a serf brought in a stand with several cakes

"I don't have the stomach for that much alcohol, do you know they hadn't cleared out his office completely and I found twenty bottles of whiskey... unopened!"

Her mother chuckled and took a sip of her wine.

"No wonder he had a heart attack then, what did you do with it all?"

"I dumped it! It was worthless stuff, even the cheapest pig wash in the city was better quality..."

She looked at her mother as she was eyeing the cakes on the stand.

"Do you know anything about a group in town with lets say... certain political beliefs"

"Rumours... mostly, Sadie Karsons daughter said someone tried to groom her into going to a meeting" she said popping a cake into her mouth

"Did she say if she knew who it was who invited her or where she was invited too?"

Her mother shook her head and swallowed the cake.

"No, it was all very clandestine... just some kind of leaflet left on her car, stupidly she disposed of it instead of handing it to the authorities"

Kassindra took a cake from the stand before responding.

"Alexander believed Shafran was protecting the group, may of even been a member"

"Doubtful, Shafran might have been a lazy overweight drunkard but he took the same oaths you did, but he may have been protecting them if someone in his own family was involved... you should ask your father about this, he will be back sometime tonight"

Kassindra didn't wait up for her father, she went to her room and studied some details of the case and by the time she heard someone pull up outside it was very late and she was already in her night gown so she waited until morning.

"Morning Kassindra" her father said as she sat down his face hidden behind a copy of the morning paper, the breakfast room they were in was just a smaller version of the large dining room that sat across the hall, it had rare paintings, an exquisite bay window and a collection of the finest swords mounted on the wall.

"Find any good antiques?" she asked

"Oh yes he found a dirty old servitor that he claims was from before the heresy" her mother said coming to the table to sit down

Breakfast was bacon, eggs and and some kind of mushroom with a selection of seasoning's applied.

"Daddy what do you know about this political group that's been operating?"

"A gaggle of traitors is what they are!" he said folding up the paper revealing his attempts to keep his beard from going completely grey with patches of black from where the dye he had applied was starting to run thin "I assume your going to do something about them?"

"Yes but I need to find them first!" Kassindra pointed out "I was hoping you might have heard something useful?"

"Well when I realised that idiot Shafran was not doing anything about them I put out some feelers and managed to get an address, not sure if it's of any use still but you never know" he jotted down an address on the back of the paper where there was some space then tore it off and slid it across to Kassindra

She took the paper and placed it within her pocket before finishing her breakfast.

"By the way dear we have a guest coming over tonight!" her mother said with some joy

Kassindra's eyes narrowed.

"Who?"

"He's one of the knight pilots from the Brigadier house! he's quite handsome and he has fought in quite a few battles off world"

"Fascinating!" Kassindra said pretending to be interested

"I already spoke with your Investigator Sargent and he said your schedule is clear for tonight so I expect you home on time so we can get you out of that armour and into a nice dress!"

Kassindra was about to protest but she could see it would be no use and the chances of her father helping her were not good unless she had a good argument as to why she wouldn't even meet this man and right now she couldn't think of one.

"fine" she said and her mother clapped her hands in glee

Kassindra walked into the office and over to Alphonse.

"I want you to arrange two Arbites to go and plant surveillance devices and then watch this address, tell them to stay out of sight and they are not to make any arrests, just watch and inform us as soon as people arrive" she said sliding the paper with the address over to him "With any luck the meeting will be tonight"

"Why tonight?" Missy asked

"She's trying to get out of dinner with a suitor" Alexander said before she could tell Missy it was none of her business

"It will just be dinner, I certainly won't be making a massive effort to get to know him and it's none of your business" she said before looking around "But if any of you can think of some way to help me avoid going I'd appreciate it... where are with with the forensics?" she said whilst turning to Missy

"Well Jeanne Lecon's alibi stands up, she was even in a holo pic taken to commemorate the event and the gun was fired about an hour before you arrived at her place..."

"That doesn't mean it's not the murder weapon, she could of fired it again to cover it up?" Alphonse said

"What about the bullets?" Alexander asked

"They are different" Missy said laying them out on her desk where Alexander and Kassindra came over to have a closer look "This one is the bullet you recovered from the scene, they are mass produced and available all across the planet..." she said indicating the one on the left "...but this one..." she said indicating the one on the right "... is specially manufactured here in town, I checked with the owner, it's only made for Miss Lecon... you can tell from the engraving on the bottom"

Kassindra nodded.

"Ok then we move on to the second of his mistresses"

Alexander walked back to his desk and picked up a file.

"Arlene Yamusker, 35, was married but her husband died in a crash a few years ago"

"According to some people the husband took his own life after gaining massive debt and finding out Arlene was cheating on him!" Missy said

"Nothing was ever proven but now she lives alone acting like the grieving widow never wanting to spend time with anyone... although she made and exception for our victim apparently but there were rumours she wasn't just sleeping with Archibald for pleasure, she wanted him to leave his wife" Alexander added

"And of course that was never going to happen" she said leafing through the file "Let's see if that gave her motive to kill shall we..., get the car!"

They had been driving for around twenty minutes before Alexander asked an awkward question that had been on his mind.

"Are you really going to be rude to your guest tonight?"

"He's my mothers guest not mine" Kassindra responded

"So you don't want to get married one day?" he said keeping his eyes on the road ahead

"It's not that, I just thought my mother might at least give me a week to settle in before starting this whole match making thing"

Kassindra watch another vehicle pass by them with two elderly gentleman inside.

"Your brother and sister are married right? What are their spouses like?"

Kassindra leaned back in the passenger seat a little.

"My sisters husband is the most boring man you will ever meet, at the last family get together he cornered me and spent forty minutes talking about bread... did you know know there are over two hundred different types of bread?"

Alexander shook his head.

"Well I do now"

"And what about your brothers wife?"

Kassindra laughed a laugh of disdain.

"She's a lower class brainless girl with little understanding of the universe... her family got taken for a ride by my father"

Alexander quickly looked over at her while they waited at a junction for a bus to pass.

"What do you mean?"

"Her family was desperate to marry her up into a more prestigious family so they could gain power but my father made them give up a lot for that goal, we didn't even need it"

"So just you left now then, no pressure" he said with a grin

"Well why don't you join us for dinner tonight Alex, you can witness it first hand"

Alexander shook his head.

"No way, I'm not getting involved, speaking to your mother over the vox was scary enough, I'd rather avoid face to face contact thank you!"

After passing through an outer gate they pulled up in front of a house of a similar size the the victims, it had all the hall marks of a reasonably wealthy family that had done enough to earn there way in to the lower levels of high society.

A Serf opened the car door for Kassindra and bowed before escorting them into a greeting room with two arm chairs and a small sofa that look quite ugly, instantly a large hunting canid came up and growled at them before the serf ordered it to lay down which it did whilst eyeing the new people in it's home.

The Serf left to fetch his charge and Kassindra glanced at the framed pictures of the woman and her husband, he had been quite the tall man, extremely good looking with broad shoulders and a body that looked as if it would be well toned, there was something else about the way he stood she couldn't quite put her finger on but her chain of thoughts where broke up when a woman in a black dress with a black veil entered the room, she skirted past them and sat down in one of the arm chairs pulling an expensive looking black handkerchief from beneath her rather large bosoms and blowing her nose.

"Can I offer you a drink Investigators?" she said sounding weepy

"No thank you" Kassindra responded "I assume you have heard about Archibald Magruff?"

She looked to one of the photos of her husband.

"Like my dear Richter I felt him die"

Kassindra looked again at the photo before turning back to her suspect.

"He was a very handsome man I see"

"Oh yes" she said sniffing and then letting out a little laugh as if remembering a fond memory "He would always fetch me flowers and other treats for me and for Rockwell here" she said indicating the canid

"The dog doesn't like guests I take it" Alexander said as the animal kept watch on the two investigators

"My apologies, he only ever truly loved Richter, he tolerates me and the serfs I think but whenever he would smell Richter's scent as he would run up and sit on his feet until he paid him some attention... makes me all teary thinking about it" then she blew in to her handkerchief again creating a somewhat unpleasant sound

"Where were you the night Archibald was killed Mrs Yamusker?"

"I was here hosting my daughter and her soon to be husband, he's in the imperial navy" she said proudly

"And they can vouch for your whereabouts all night?" Alexander asked

She nodded.

"They were here till quite early in the morning and then I went to bed, my serfs can vouch for the fact I never left the building!"

"I will go speak with them to corroborate that if you don't mind?" it wasn't really a question and Alexander left the room before any protest could be uttered

"Did you ask Archibald to leave his wife?"

She fiddled with the handkerchief in her hands and looked out the window before looking back to Kassindra.

"Yes because I loved him!" the answer was loaded with emotion and she blew into the handkerchief again "But he was as loyal to her as my Richter was to me"

Kassindra nodded before locking eyes with her.

"But were you loyal to Richter?"

In a way to show her derision at the comment she took a deep breath in through her nose and sent it back out the same way as if suppressing some larger outburst.

"I do not know what you heard but I NEVER cheated on Richter...not with another man anyway!"

"You had a dalliance with a Woman?" Kassindra asked

"It was a silly thing, two women both married looking for some excitement in their life..."

"And you didn't consider it cheating because it wasn't a man?!" Kassindra concluded "So when did you start sleeping with Archibald?"

It was a minute before she responded.

"A couple of months after Richter's death, I met him at a function and he swept me off my feet, but we stopped for a while at one point because I felt guilty but then once I realised Richter would of wanted me to be happy I resumed being with him and if he had of left his wife we would have been forever happy"

She blew her nose hard on the handkerchief again.

"Well I don't think I have any other questions right now, assuming your statement holds up we shouldn't be bothering you again" Kassindra said standing up and looking at the photos once again.

She then noticed a space on the wall for a rifle.

"You appear to be missing something" she pointed out

Arlene looked and let out a sad laugh as if remembering a happy thought

"That was Richter's special rifle, no one touched it apart from him, not even the serfs, he took it with him on the day he died! " she said begin to wail before hiding her face in the handkerchief.

Kassindra wanted to follow up but in her distressed state it would have been pointless besides, there was something about Richter that bothered her still and no matter how hard she tried to remember and it was going to bug her all day.

Alexander got in the car and shut the door, Kassindra had been there a few minutes and was leant back in the passenger seat.

"Well her alibi checks out and I don't think she's capable of murder, at least not without help" he said before looking over at Kassindra who was deep in thought

"Ma'am!" he said with a slightly raised voice to alert her

She jolted into movement like someone had just jumped out from behind her and yelled boo.

"Sorry was just trying to remember where I've seen him before"

"Who?" he asked

"Richter, I swear I recognise him from somewhere but I can't place his face"

Alexander shrugged before starting up the car.

"Maybe he came to the city once and you met him in passing somewhere, he did work for the military arm of the administratum so maybe he audited the precinct case files?"

Kassindra nodded slightly.

"Possible"

When the got back to the precinct before going into her office Kassindra turned to Alphonse.

"What do we know about George the head serf?"

"Not much, just he was hired six years ago to be groomed as a replacement for the then current head serf who was terminally ill and he now manages the entire household, quite efficiently according to Missy" he said nodding towards his fellow officer who Kassindra turned to for clarification

"Six months ago the security patrols were spaced hours apart and servitors were preforming tasks at random but after he was promoted to head Serf he tightened it all up and made sure patrols were regular and servitors only preformed tasks when needed... given how tight these patrols were it's astonishing someone managed to take those shots and kill the victim"

Kassindra was annoyed as this now presented another mystery that made the case even more complex than it already was, too many questions were going unanswered and every time she tried to dig deeper looking for answers a new more complex puzzle would surface, first it was the missing bullet and the mud, then the face of Richter she couldn't quite place and now a tight net of security that should of made the very crime she was investigating impossible.

Someone was lying or she was missing something vital that tied it all together but every time she tried to join the dots they wouldn't connect and she felt as if this whole crime had been designed to keep the investigators running around while whoever committed the crime was able to further obfuscate the truth from them and she knew now time was a factor because the longer it took for her to solve this the harder it would become to ever catch anyone for it.

"Find out more about are head serf, see if you can find out what he did before he got his job" she said to Alphonse before turning back to Missy "Something is not right here, look again through the data, for anything that might seam odd... I will be in my office"

Alexander came into her office towards the end of the day and she was sat staring at a piece of paper with a picture of Richter on it, she had spent the last hour after downloading his image looking at it trying to place him but instead she had just lost track of time until Alexander had come in.

"Any luck?" he asked

She shook her head in response.

"None at all, it's really bugging me" she said finally putting the picture down and rubbing her eyes.

"I know you probably didn't want reminding but it's time you should be heading home for your...date" he said sniggering a little

"Not a good idea to antagonize me right now Alexander, but would be a worse idea for me to antagonize my mother!"

She glanced at the picture one last time, she knew that man but from where she did not know.

The dress her mother had chosen was less extravagant than she had expected, she was sat in the lounge when the man her mother had found for her was brought in by Kalstin.

"May I introduce Harrington Lexicus Brigadier"

"Harri my dear it's so good to see you again!" her mother said who had worn an extravagant red dress as opposed to the more modest one she had chosen for Kassindra that was a short green dress that did enough to show off her figure but kept eyes from drifting to certain areas.

"This is Kassindra" she said indicating her

Kassindra stood up and gave a little curtsey as her mother had taught her to do when she was a child, it felt ridiculous and she was surprised to see Harrington smirk a little at it.

"A pleasure" he said as Kalstin entered the room again

"Dinner is served!"

Dinner was a steak with potatoes, peas and other vegetables which was rather unexciting to Kassindra as she glanced across at Harrington quite disappointed he wasn't unattractive, her mother had actually chosen someone quite physically appealing so she hoped his intelligence and personality would fall down dead allowing her to dismiss him as another unacceptable choice, sadly however her hopes were quickly dashed aside when he started making intelligent conversation with her.

"So your investigating a murder right now? How is that going?"

At first she thought he was just making polite conversation so she responded with a bit of a dismissal.

"Oh it's not that interesting really"

"No honestly it really does interest me, I have seen Arbites at work before but never really learned how they work"

"Rats" she thought "he's not feigning interest he genuinely is interested"

"Well you collect evidence at the scene, try to piece together what happened by examining that evidence and then follow that to your culprit, at least that's the basic idea but cases can be more complex than that"

He leaned forward and she realised how handsome he actually was and suppressed an angry noise at her feeling slightly excited by his looks.

She knew her mother had a big grin on her face knowing she might of got it right this time and she wanted to find an excuse to walk off, she did need to pee and she was about to make the excuse to leave the table when he continued his questioning.

"So does the complexity come from the evidence or the potential suspects!" he said with excitement

"Well both really, and you have to make sure that all the evidence belongs to that scene, sometimes things the evidence says happened in one place has often happened... in …. another..." she said trailing off as she suddenly realized something and started muttering to herself "... so same hole but two firing positions..."

"Kassindra your guest is waiting for you to Finnish your sentence" her mother said

Kassindra looked across to her suitor.

"How tall are you?"

"six foot why?"

"Perfect, come with me,... daddy can I borrow your old hunting rifle?"

Harrington was sat confusingly in an arm chair in front of a window just like Archibald had been, she had dragged one of the older chairs that was going to be sent for repair into the smaller receiving room and sat the knight pilot down in it while she held her fathers rifle.

"I know your mother probably sprung my visit on you but is shooting me really the best way to end this evening" he said as she walked behind the chair

Dammit he's also charmingly funny" She thought

"You wanted to know about my job right?, well your about to learn how solving one part of the puzzle can begin to unlock the rest"

"Are you even allowed to do this?" he asked feeling a bit nervous

"Relax I'm not going to fire while your in the chair" she said as the door bell rang

Kalstin answered it to Alexander who was guided first to wipe his feet and then into the receiving room.

"I got the item you asked for" he held the laser pointer up to show her

"Good, this chair is about the same height as the one in the victims room, go back outside and out to our walls, the Magruff's manor walls are about half the height of ours so position the pointer as if you were firing the shot that killed him" she said chucking a portable Vox device to him.

He went outside and and lined up before switching the laser pointer on, a small red dot emerged on the back of it.

"Good" she said over the Vox "act as if your trying to aim at the neck which is around here in this case" she poked the back of the chair with the rifle

"It's not loaded is it?" Harrington said but Kassindra didn't answer

"I can't make that shot, you would have to be higher, but..." he said adjusting and the beam moved "I can do the shot that missed just fine"

"ok come to the window now"

"This is interesting, do you always work like this?" Harrington asked as she moved round to face him

"Sometimes you have to act out the scene to gain an understanding of what took place, even though it's never going to be a hundred precent accurate it can establish a frame of reference and help establish something you couldn't put together before ….in this case we know there were two shots but only one hole in the window, but what you said during dinner made me realise that despite the evidence suggesting the shots were fired from the walls if, as we have just proven, that the kill shot could not be made from there then another firing position must have been adopted, one that not only was able to deliver the killing blow but also allowed them to fire through the same hole made by the first!" she could hear how smug and passionate she sounded but she didn't care

"That's incredible!" Harrington said leaning forward

"You can get out of the chair now" Kassindra said and for a second as he stood up they were stood up very close looking at each other

"Your …. very pretty" he murmured

Kassindra hated the blushing that followed but worse was that she suddenly felt like she was six again being told she was beautiful by her long since passed grandmother and she felt goosebumps for a moment as she struggled to respond.

A knock came at the window and it broke them both from their nervous stares.

"Ready when you are" Alexander said with a big grin

He had obviously been watching and Kassindra knew he would be poking fun at her about that later, they were not technically on duty she couldn't just order him to be quiet.

Harrington moved past her carefully and stood to the side of the room and she went to the window, opened it and handed the rifle to Alexander.

"First check the beam can be angled correctly" she said marking an chalk X where Harrington's throat would have been were he still seated

Alexander did this and the beam went almost dead centre of the X.

Kassindra traced the trajectory she thought the bullet would take and marked a spot on the floor .

"I'm not going to get yelled at by your mother for damaging your floor am I?"

"This room is getting refurbished soon but... I wouldn't mention what we were doing here if your asked"

Alexander took a firing position and shot, the bullet tore through the back of the chair and embedded it's self into the floor just a few centimetres away from Kassindra's mark.

"So that solves one mystery" Alexander said

Harrington had been invited by Kassindra's father to look at his antiques and she kind of felt sorry for him as she knew how talkative her father could be about the old stuff he collected.

"Yes, you were right with your original assessment, the shots were fired from outside but one at a significantly closer angle which begs the question why not fire from such a close range in the first place" Kassindra responded as they talked in the foyer

"Well it also calls into question the idea that this was a professional hit job, someone with skill would of recognised the wall was a bad vantage point!" Alexander pointed out

Kassindra took a breath.

"So we know how the kill shot was made but it still doesn't help us understand why the bullet was missing nor does it explain the mud"

Alexander folded his arms and tapped his foot.

"I'm struggling to find a motive... I mean no one seamed to dislike the man, the only person who argued with him recently was Jeanne and she has a solid alibi"

Kassindra sighed in agreement.

"Lets call it quits for now and see if we can punch any holes in Jeanne's alibi in the morning"

"Can I say something off the record?" Alexander said

"Well we are not on duty so I can't stop you, but we do have attack canids so tread carefully!"

"You like him!"

"I will admit he is more than what I expected, just not sure I want to validate my mothers choice of mate" She responded

"Who cares what she thinks... you are your own person... but if you need any seduction tips my wife would..." he saw the death like stare she had held on him and stopped "Well see you in the morning" he finished before quickly marching off

Alexander nodded and headed off as Harrington and her father came down the stairs.

"Well it's been lovely meeting you all, I hope we can do this again sometime"

"Why don't you walk him to his ride Kassy?" her mother said but Kassindra was moving with him before she had said it

They stepped out side and walked down the stairs where a car was waiting for him.

"It was very good to meet you and I really enjoyed learning about your work!" he said as a serf opened the car door for him

"yes I'm sorry, I got a bit carried away and I never asked you about your job piloting a knight... I imagine that's interesting, more so than bread at least"

"what?!" he queried looking confused

"I will explain another time"

For a few moments Harrington looked uncomfortable and Kassindra felt the same as she did during the awkward moment in the receiving room.

"Perhaps you would do me the honour of coming to dinner next week... you can tell me more about solving crimes and I can tell you about fighting Orks"

Kassindra gave a shy smile and then a little laugh.

"Sure, it will be a nice change... just let me know a day"

Harrington gave a slight bow and Kassindra definitely heard her mum squeal is some expulsion of excitement.

The morning had dawned and Kassindra came into the office looking some what tired.

"Up all night were we?" Alexander said suggestively

"Yes but being pestered by my mother about what to wear to Harrington's next week not in the way your thinking" she said as Missy entered the room "Find anything we can chip away at Jeanne's alibi with?"

"I'm afraid not, I double checked and everything she said is true... unless she hired someone but I checked her banking records and there is nothing there"

Alphonse had been on the vox since she entered and was just finishing up.

"... your sure... ok thank you..." he said putting the hand set down "Get this... George Atreau's records are missing from before six years ago, there was a fire at the Administratum building... it was contained but records were lost, George's being one of them!"

Kassindra took this in as Alexander and the others looked at her, she paced about between the desks and made motions with her hands as if mapping out something in her head, she muttered to her self and lifted up a picture of George pulling it very close to her eyes as if examining the minutest detail.

"Is it possible..." she muttered one last time before Alexander spoke up

"Ma'am you ok?"

"Yes... yes I'm fine" she said waving a hand at him absent mindedly as she starred at the picture

"You think George is our killer?" Missy said slightly concerned about her superiors close examination of the paper

"Yes... and also no" Kassindra responded before looking over to Alexander "That picture of Richter in my office, go get it and print out a picture of George the same size!"

Alexander didn't protest it was an odd an odd request but clearly Kassindra was on to something even if he didn't understand, he returned a moment later with both pictures and handed them to Kassindra.

She folded first Georges picture in half so only the left side of his face was visible and she did the opposite with Richter's, folding so the right side of his face was visible, before sticking them both together and smiling, then she picked up the image of the two men together and turned to show Alexander and the others.

"That's why he seamed so familiar!"

Alexander came over looking at the joint pictures closely and he started to realise what Kassindra was seeing.

"Richter is George, George is Richter... but how?"

Kassindra turned to Alphonse.

"The crash, I take it no body was found?"

He shook his head.

"The crash was off the side of a cliff and into the river, by the time recovery crews got there it was believed the body would of washed out to sea"

"And what day was this fire at the Administratum?"

Alphonse laughed when he checked as if he was putting it together in his own head and couldn't believe how blind he had been.

"The fire was the very night of the crash, that's far too convenient!"

Kassindra wondered to one side of the room before wondering to the other.

"Ok, so, Richter fakes his death..."

"But he couldn't of got to the Administratum building in time to start the fire if he faked the crash, the building is too far away!" Missy Interjected

"Unless he was never in the crash, he could of driven some time from his home then taken a train to the city while a preprogramed servitor has the accident, he would have had to of disguised himself heavily though or someone at the Administratum or on the train would of recognised him, then he creates George Atreau before starting the fire so any discrepancy in the records can be explained" Alexander postured

"Hang on a second" Alphonse said "He changed his look, why? I mean he didn't just grow a beard or have a nose job, he changed his skin pigmentation and why join the Magruff house hold... your in a region where someone may eventually recognise you?"

Kassindra paced around the room again studding, she was so close to solving this but a few key details were missing, she knew now George or Richter, whatever they called themselves had to be the killer but there was no motive or proof, she could move without it of course but if she didn't solve the puzzle completely then it would bug her for a long time.

"Missy, look into all local body surgery clinics and see if any Magos biologis remembers a man of Richter's description,there won't be many that do skin pigmentation alteration so shouldn't take long"

She turned away from Missy as without needing to acknowledge the order she began her task.

"Alphonse" she said grabbing his attention "I want you to look into the terms of the Yamusker's marriage, I suspect... well I'm not sure... but I believe the basis for our motive lays there... If you need me I will be in my office"

"One more things Ma'am" Alphonse said before starting on his task

"Yes?"

"The enforcers outside that building you asked me to watch over saw two people enter, the surveillance equipment rerecorded them putting out chairs and the audio rerecorded them saying a meeting was tonight... would you like me to arrange a strike team?"

"No" Kassindra said "I will deal with it personally, tell the enforcers outside not to leave their post and continue to stay out of sight"

Alphonse nodded as Kassindra headed off into her office.

A few hours later a knock came at the door and Alexander entered and took a seat opposite Kassindra who was signing off a couple of patrol reports, nothing much was going on apart from a disagreement over money in the local bar that had ended with enforcers breaking up the fight, there was no point in arresting the instigators since they had tried to fight back against the enforcers and had received a good beating for their trouble.

Kassindra could imagine in days past the thugs would have been arrested and sent to some kind of trial which was such a waste of time, people who started a fight only respected one thing and that was superior strength, she laughed to herself a little thinking how much this made the human race seam so primitive, not unlike the Orks.

"I've been thinking" Alexander said as Kassindra perused a data slate with another report "Why would Richter, or George... why would they wait so long to kill Archibald... and why kill him in the first place, it's not like he gets any of the estate or even any money?"

Kassindra put the data slate down and sat back in her chair.

"I think that's been the red herring you were talking about"

"I don't understand?" he said leaning forward

"We quite rightly, initially assumed whoever killed Archibald had done it for some gain or reason of revenge but what if this was never about Archibald... at least not at first" Kassindra said sitting back up straight

"So he was just a casualty of a larger game being played by Richter?"

There was a small knock at the door.

"The best laid plans are often the ones that go wrong... Come In!"

Alphonse opened the door, he didn't enter but held the door open.

"Ma'am I think I've found something!"

Alexander and Kassindra followed Alphonse out into the main office and he began explaining what he had found.

"Arlene's mother was worried that because of Richter's looks and wealth he would likely at some point cheat on Arlene so she wanted him to sign a prenuptial agreement that if he slept with another woman Arlene would have everything handed to her, the estate, the money, everything however Richter's parents put in their own opposite clause saying if Arlene slept with another man then the same would happen but everything would go to Richter"

"Well done" Kassindra said but Alphonse still had more to say

"It gets better, in order to prevent either one of them making false unsubstantiated claims another clause was written in so if either one of them attempted to claim against the other without definitive proof then they would lose everything to the other"

Kassindra studied for a moment, it was almost all in sync just some little details escaped her, she looked over to Missy,

"Did you find a biologis to help you?"

Missy nodded.

"I spoke to one on the other side of the planet who said someone matching Richter's description came in just over six years ago, every change they made had to be reversible so he could go back to his original look"

"But why? Surely if your faking your death to get out of a prenuptial you wouldn't change back!" Alexander exclaimed still puzzled by the case

Kassindra however was muttering to her self and making gestures with her hands again, she looked through the pics and the evidence again "Has to be some truth to it..." then she thought about the contract that Arlene and Richter has signed again and pondered "...Can it really be that simple... but then who did she...Of Course!" she suddenly exclaimed "I can't believe it was so obvious!"

The rest of the team looked puzzled and stared at her.

"Missy, the data you got six months worth right... it was disorganised mess but then became organised?"

"Yes, it looks like George... I mean Richter, really got it sorted" Missy responded

"No he didn't, we were puzzled as to why he gave us six months worth, it's because he wanted us to assume only someone with special skills could of evaded the security and killed Archibald, but if you turn that data on it's head then anyone with access to a weapon could of pulled the trigger!"

"So the reason he was apprehensive in giving me the data was because he was unsure if the reversing of the data had worked?!" Alexander realized and Kassindra nodded "But how did he kill Archibald and what about the mud?"

"And how do we prove Richter is George?" Alphonse said

"Oh for that we are going to need a special witness..." she wrote down something on a pad and handed it to Alphonse "Bring these to the Magruff manor, don't take no for an answer, Missy your with us" she said nodding to Alexander to get up and head for the Vehicle bay

"Where are we going?" Alexander asked

"To the Magruff manor of course, Missy needs to do a little servitor dumpster diving and we need to search George's room"

Kassindra's car and a cruiser with four enforcers pulled up at the Magruff manor, Alphonse had Voxed to say he was on his way.

George was out at the market and due to arrive back shortly so after a few cross words and a few vague threats Henna allowed them access to the head serfs room and the servitor dumpster where any trash the servitors collected was deposited and later removed, when George reappeared he was escorted to the room where they had held the first meeting after Archibald's murder, he stayed stood while Henna sat.

There was a knock at the room door and Alphonse guided Arlene Yamusker to sit down which she did in an armchair near Henna, eventually Kassindra entered followed by Alexander who held something wrapped in a bath towel.

"Thank you all for coming, I'm sure your aware this has to do with Archibald's death"

"Then why isn't Jeanne here?" Arlene asked

"Because she didn't kill him, nor does she have any connection to the murderer and her alibi is air tight like yours Arlene"

"Then why am I here?" the widow queried

"All in good time, first I'd like to tell you all a story about a man, a man who hears rumours his wife his cheating on him, now normally this man would of confronted his wife except he's tied in to a prenuptial contract and if he accuses without evidence then he loses everything so, he hatches a plan..."

Kassindra glanced at George, he was stone faced at the moment but she could see mention of the contract had shook Arlene a little although she had yet to say anything, she wasn't worried about George bolting so didn't focus on him, enforcers were guarding every door so he wouldn't get far.

"He fakes his own death in order to draw out his wife's lover and eventually he finds out who he thinks is the correct person, Archibald!"

"If you are talking about Richter he's dead!...I know because feel a hole in my heart everyday" Arlene said sniffing and pulling out her handkerchief again

"No he's not Arlene, he needed you to think that to let your guard down and when you started sleeping with Archibald he assumed he was the person you cheated on him with, he was almost right though... wasn't he Henna?" Kassindra cast her glance at her and she shrunk a little "See Arlene when you said you had cheated on Richter with another woman it didn't strike me as a problem except that was until Investigator Louse showed me the contract you signed... you lose your money should you sleep with a man but it mentions nothing about if you cheated with a woman!"

Arlene hid her face with embarrassment behind her handkerchief as Kassindra glanced at George, his jaw had dropped open and you could make out the first droplets of sweat coming through as he realised the pressure was building on him.

"So Richter, see, wanted to prove his wife's crime then out her and take his money however as soon as it had started it stopped when Arlene felt guilty... but after a while Arlene being, lonely and feeling Richter would want to be happy resumed the relationship"

"That's ridiculous" Henna exclaimed "Why then did Richter not just out Arlene!"

"Because he fell in love with you, she said indicating George" Kassindra responded but continued on before anyone could say anything else "So he hatched a new plan, to kill Archibald therefore getting revenge on Arlene by depriving her of her lover and being able to have you all to himself Henna, so on the night in question he goes to the wall and takes a shot" Kassindra started walking around the room looking over all of them "but it's been so long since he fired his rifle and he misjudges the height of the wall so the shot goes wide, he panics and then runs to the window... he can't take another shot without breaking another window pane so he climbs the flower bed and angles the rifle shooting Archibald... but now the flower bed is a mess and someone will realise... but the erratic servitors do the trick. Doesn't matter what they plant as long as they cover up the footprints but like at the wall he forgets the ejected casing which has fallen in the mud so he searches for it in the morning but the servitors have already watered it in preparation for planting and simply assumes the servitors will of destroyed it or dumped it... because who would ever thing to check the garbage if the shots were fired from the wall?... we did!" Kassindra said and presented the casing that Missy had found in the servitor dumpster

"Of course there is also the bullet in Archibald's room so he rushed in with the medicine like he does on time every morning but he is in a hurry and on his way out to call the Arbites he clips his boot on the edge of the lobby carpet that knocks off some of the wet mud from where he climbed down the flower bed after searching for the casing..."

Kassindra poured a glass of water that had been brought in for them by a serf when they had first arrived, it was refreshing and after talking so much she needed it.

"This is preposterous, your saying Richter is George?" Henna scoffed

"Richter attended a body modification clinic where he had adjustments made including skin pigmentation" Kassindra could see George clenching his fist as the noose tightened

"Now your just making things up, are all Brant's this delusional?"

"Well lets find out, now did I get any of that wrong Richter?" she said looking directly at George who just stared back before responding

"I have no idea what you are talking about"

"I thought you might say that" Kassindra said heading to the door "That's why I brought a special witness, the only person who loved Richter as much as Arlene..." she opened the door to the canid that looked and growled at them until it set it's eyes on George and it's tail began wagging like crazy, it ran forward and jumped up once before sitting on it's masters feet looking up at him with puppy dog eyes

Arlene stood up and looked him over as if seeing George in a new light.

"It is you! why would you put me through such heartache you monster!" she screeched before fainting and falling back into the arm chair

Henna stared at the man with some venom now and shouted at him.

"You utter disgrace!" she said as the dog wondered over to Arlene and began licking her face to wake her up "All this just for your own selfish desires, why?... we were happy"

"I believe this belongs to you Richter" Alexander said unwrapping the rifle and showing him it "I'm sure forensics will find the last time it was fired was on the night Archibald was killed"

Richter turned to Henna.

"It wasn't supposed to be like this, I thought they would never find out..."

Henna turned her back on him in disgust as Kassy drew her weapon

"Would you mind taking this filth out of my house before you execute him Chief Investigator, his blood does not deserve to be spilt in here"

Kassindra nodded.

"Richter Yamusker or George Atreau it matters not, you are guilty of the murder of Archibald Magruff, you will be taken from here and executed under imperial law" as she spoke two enforcers came and stood either side of him

"Imperial law is nothing but a joke!" he said and spat on the ground

One of the enforcers slammed their carbine into his back knocking him to ground, they then picked him up and dragged him out into court yard in front of the house... a few moments later there was the sound of several carbines being fired at the same time, then silence

Arlene had come round just as the shots went off and knew what had happened but she threw her handkerchief aside unwilling to be the widow of a man who betrayed her.

"Could Rockwell and I get a lift home please?" she said looking at Kassindra

"Investigator Louse will take you back home Arlene"

"If you will follow me Ma'am" Alphonse said opening the door for her and the canid that plodded after her

"I have to say I am impressed" Henna suddenly said "your a marked improvement from Shafran!"

Kassindra smiled before responding.

"Have a good evening Mrs Magruff... oh and one more thing, I found these shards from the pot that was on your husbands fire place" she handed her the bag of shards "I believe they are all there"

"Why did you ever present this as evidence to Richter...?" she asked

Kassindra glanced at Alexander.

"Because it was just a red herring"

Alexander came into to Kassindra's office with a data slate.

"I've finished the report you wanted"

"Good" she said from her seat where she was watching a pict feed

Alexander fumbled with the pad before putting it down

"How did you figure it out, the motive and... everything?"

Kassindra ended the feed, stood up and walked round to him.

"Have you ever herd of an old Terra detective called Holmes?"

"No" he said

"My grandfather used to read me old books with stories about how he would solve these complicated crimes that were not complicated at all to him, only those who could not see the truth through the webs of deceit and misdirection"

"Which is?"

"Once you eliminate the impossibilities of a crime whatever remains must be the truth... no matter how... out there it seams" Kassindra said with a hint of smugness

"And once you knew about the marriage contract it was easy to narrow down everything because anything impossible was eliminated"

Kassindra nodded as she stood up.

"Right anyway, lets go!"

"Go where?" Alexander asked

"We have a meeting to attend" she responded

Kassindra and Alexander pulled up outside an abandoned hall on a disused farm lane, it was a good place for these meetings to take place as there was no surveillance devices for miles in each direction, apart from the ones they had planed of course.

The meeting had been underway for ten minutes as twenty two people sat on chairs arranged mostly at random around the hall as murmurs could be heard.

A very young tall woman took stage at the podium and the crowd quietened down.

"Now thank you all for coming as you know we have a new Chief Investigator and we must discuss how to proceed going forward, we were all hoping for investigator Nico to be promoted to this post as he is sympathetic to our cause but sadly that has not happened"

"They executed George Atreau! we should not stand for this I say we..."

"The way I understand it is that George committed a murder!" another member said

"That doesn't mean we should stand for him just being executed without any trial, we need to start taking action!" a second member shouted

The woman at the podium raised her hands and the group calmed down.

"Let us remember we are but a few and direct action will only lead to more deaths, we need to be calm and discuss how to handle this new situation so we should start with who this new CI is... Mr Halton you said you had acquired some information on her"

An older man with a bowler hat stood up and bowed slightly before standing beside the woman on the podium

"The new Chief Investigator is is..."

"...Kassindra Brant at your service!"

Kassindra had waited for a moment she could make an entrance and when she realised the man was basically about to introduce her she though she might as well make her appearance, Alexander followed behind her with a shot gun, two enforcers stood behind them blocking the doors

"Please continue" she said to the man by the podium "I'm so interested to hear all about me and how you plan to handle my rule over this region?"

No one spoke, a few of the people looked ready to make a run for it but some just stared daggers at her as she walked forward towards the podium.

"I assume your the leader?" she said to the young woman "what s you name?"

"Don't tell her your name!" someone in the crowd said and Alexander swung his shot gun around and blew a hole right through them

A few of the women screamed and one of the men close to the corpse threw up, some bolted towards the door but the aimed guns of the enforcers made them step back.

Kassy stepped up to the podium, she was just as tall as the blonde haired leader of the group.

"Now we can have a reasonable polite discussion about your group and no one else has to die I just need to know your name?"

"Molina Shafran, CI Shafran was my great uncle"

"Ahhh now I see why he made sergeant Tohmas's investigation go away, your great uncle never struck me as a traitor but I guess people change as they grow old"

Molina was angry and spat back at Kassindra.

"We are not traitors, we believe in the imperium but it must change or it will die!"

Kassindra turned and addressed the crowd.

"There was another who spoke like this one does, he tried to burn down the imperium and look what happened to him"

"You dare compare me to Horus Lupercal!" the young woman spat

"Molina, I could of just of easily informed the inquisition of your location or ordered a Vendetta strike but I came here personally because I wanted you all to know that I will not stand for the seeds of rebellion to be sown in my back garden!"

"Typical of a Brant!" an older woman shouted and again Alexander swung the shotgun round and killed her, what was left of her already frail figure was scattered across the floor in blood and entrails

"You see what your doing" Molina said "How you treat the people of the imperium, like they are all criminals"

Kassindra looked around and then back to Molina.

"But you are all criminals, this meeting and it's content is against imperial law!"

"You shame the emperor with your actions!" she spat at Kassindra which was enough

Kassindra had been as polite as she could be but to accuse her of shaming the emperor when everyone in that room apart from the Arbites was truly shaming him was crossing a line, she grabbed a shock stick from her belt and jammed it into the chest of Molina who fell to the floor in pain, Kassindra hauled her back up before holding her head up.

"Traitors are not welcome in this town!" she said before nodding to Alexander who nodded to the enforcers who then opened fire along with Alexander

A few brave souls tried to rush them but with the only exit being blocked it was over before it could begin.

Alexander brought a chair up on to the podium and Kassindra forced Molina to sit in it while her hands were shackled behind it, Kassindra passed Alexander the shock stick and he stood to the side of Molina while Kassindra got another chair and sat opposite.

"My guest is running late but he asked me to get started, you see he suspects a deeper group is at work and you were a splinter group so I need to know who helped you found this group?"

"There's no one else" she said

Alexander didn't need any prompting, jammed the shock stick into her side and she screamed.

"Look I'm not your enemy, if you tell me what I need to know I will put a bullet in the back of your head and you won't feel any pain but the alternative should my guest arrive will be being tortured in ways beyond my understanding"

She said nothing and once again Alexander jammed the shock stick into her and her screams filled the hall, as he stopped an enforcer approached Kassindra and whispered something in her ear, she stood up and leaned over to Molina's ear.

"Too late" she said before getting up and turning to greet her guest "Inquisitor Potts it's good to see you again!"

"And it is good to see you too" the inquisitor responded in a rich off world accent "I always knew I would see you in a Chief investigators role one day, now what do we have he here" he said spying Molina

He marched forward followed by four members of the Blade Kin chapter of space marines in their silver armour, each one had a heavy flamer except the Sergeant who held just a bolt pistol and nodded to her as passed and Kassindra returned the gesture.

Kassindra joined the inquisitor by the podium as he examined Molina, before turning to Kassindra.

"Did you find any material?" he asked as he held Molina's head up by her chin

"just a few leaflets on some of the dead but otherwise very little"

"Typical! I take she hasn't responded to interrogation yet"

Kassindra shook her head.

"Well then let me give it a go"

He sat down opposite her and stared at her, then in a scream-less torture she convulsed and shook violently for several minutes before she collapsed, blood dripping from her ears and eyes and foam from her mouth.

"Well that's disappointing" Potts said standing up

"You get nothing from her?" Kassindra asked

"A few images, and a couple of names I will follow up on but I think she was given as little information as possible by whomever started this group... you have done well Kassindra, we need more good people like you to fight corruption, if you ever need anything let me know"

Kassindra nodded as the inquisitor nodded to the space marine sergeant

"Burn everything!" he said and as Kassindra walked out she smelt flesh burn as it was covered with cleansing flame...

Kassindra Brant Will Return...