Chapter 2: Bad Blood
"What, will these hands ne'er be clean?"
Isabelle murmured under her breath as sink water plunged from the spot of the faucet. She rubbed her wet, furry paws together, watching as some of the Mayor's blood dripped off her fingers and into the alabaster sink. She leant down to sniff them.
"Here's the smell of blood still," she muttered. "All the perfumes of Arabia will not sweeten this little hand."
Her paws were pure yellow, once more, but she felt the heaviness of her deed weighing upon her heart. As she turned the sink off, she wondered if she'd even committed it at all, and if she had, how; she was a small, effeminate pup, soft-hearted to the last. Had she been pushing her feelings — the anger, the desperation, the helplessness — down so much through the years that she'd finally burst and become someone different? Someone completely new?
And was that someone… better?
The flicker of a shadow caused her to scream and spin around. However hardened she'd had to become to murder her employer, it hadn't assuaged the fear of being caught. Her eyes darted from one side of the office to the other, and when she was sure no one had entered, she hurried toward her desk.
She pulled her rolling chair out and glanced underneath, just making sure the Mayor's corpse was exactly where she'd left it. There he lay, rolled up in one of his custom-designed rugs he was so proud of — this one adorned with oddly cartoonish characters from some television program called Steven Universe Isabelle had never heard of — still and safe where she'd left him. She didn't know what she thought might've happened; dead bodies don't just get up and walk away. She'd admit, though, that she doubted her own competence. Maybe she hadn't finished the job quite good enough. Maybe he was still alive.
Deep down, of course, she knew there was no way. She'd punctured his weird, almost-invisible neck with a goddamn letter opened. Blood had spurted all over the carpet that she'd just had cleaned. The Mayor couldn't possibly have survived.
…and where, exactly, did that leave the town? Without a mayor, who was next in line to take over? Isabelle figured that she herself might've been somewhere in the hierarchy under normal circumstances, but as the Mayor's murderer, she anticipated the town might have some kind of problem with that. Unless, of course, her upcoming murder of the town's resident financial tyrant bought her some good will with the citizens.
You see, I had to murder the Mayor.
He refused to stand up to Nook, and when I wanted to, he stood in the way.
He left me no other choice.
She peeked over the desk at the door. The world outside was a much stranger thing now, after her horrific act of violence. But she knew that to complete her task and have any leg to stand on when defending herself to her fellow citizens, she had to brave it. Beyond that door now lay dangers untold, but she had to get to Nook.
Taking the first step outside was easier than the thought. As she shut the door behind her, she glanced around. On the surface, everything was much the same: peaches grew on the trees; butterflies fluttered through the air; altogether random objects lay in equally random spots on the ground just waiting for travelers to pick them up. The shih tzu wondered how the island had managed to adopt such a ferocious 'finders keepers' philosophy.
"Isabelle!"
The dog turned, whipping her umbrella up and pointing it, as if it would work as some sort of piercing weapon, and the source of the voice. Her eyes widened a bit as she stared down the pointy-eared, blue uniformed visage of Copper, one of the town's two police station dogs.
"…a bit jumpy there, aren't ya?" Copper chuckled, placing his paw on the tip of Isabelle's umbrella and slowly guiding it toward the ground. "Everything alright, m'dear?"
"Oh," Isabelle forced a smile, adjusting the strap of her purse and straightening up her posture. "Oh, yes, Copper, everything's just fine!" she lied through her teeth, "just, uh… taking some bells to Mr. Nook. Mayor's paying off some more debts, y'know."
"Oh, good," Copper nodded, placing his paws on his belt, "I hear Nook's looking to expand more soon. We might be getting a department store here on our little island!"
Isabelle's forced smile became even faker. That greedy motherfucker.
"That's… swell," she nodded.
"I think so," Copper agreed, completely oblivious to Isabelle's resentment. "Say, I'll let you get going then — I've actually gotta head inside and talk to the Mayor about upping some safety precautions for the May Day event coming up. Never know what sorta dangers are lurking out here on our little old island, eh?"
Isabelle giggled, finding an unfamiliar but comforting satisfaction in the knowledge that now she, too, was one of those dangers. Nevertheless, there was absolutely no way Copper was getting into the Town Hall.
"The Mayor's not here," she said quickly, sliding ever-so-slightly into the path between Copper and the door.
"Not here?" Copper responded, tilting his head quizzically.
"No, he's not, he's, uh," Isabelle stammered a bit, "actually headed off to one of the other nearby islands today. Said he needed to have a 'diplomatic meeting' with their Mayor, whatever that means." She let out a hearty, but completely fake laugh, but Copper's quizzical look did not subside.
"That's weird," the akita responded, "Mabel and Sable said they'd run into him this morning and he said he was on his way to get the turnip reports from you."
Isabelle blinked. "He… did," she nodded, "he came by and got the forecasts and then hurried off to the train. I think he wanted to try and sell some turnips on the other island. You might be able to catch him if you hurry!"
She smiled, hoping and praying that Copper would believe her story and leave her the fuck alone so that she could go rid the world of Tom Nook. Copper was a cool enough cat, but he took his job very seriously, and he just wouldn't understand the necessity of her actions until she'd had a chance to get Nook off the board — until she'd had a chance to perform the act that would usher in real change here on the island. She glanced over her shoulder in the direction of Nookway. She had to get to him.
She met eyes with Copper once again, and for a second, she thought she caught a flash of suspicion in his glare. If it existed, he didn't follow through on his instinct.
"Well, then, I guess I'd better get to the station, eh?" he smiled, and Isabelle felt herself breathe again. "But Izz — before I go — ya sure you're alright? I haven't seen ya at Morning Aerobics recently. You love that stuff."
"I do, I do, Cop," Isabelle sighed, "it's just been kind of a… busy time, here. What with Tom wanting to expand, the Mayor's been under a lot of pressure to deliver some profits, and… well, it's just a lot of our time and energy. Not much energy to stretch when work is stressing you out so much." She chuckled, and started to step away.
"I get ya," Copper nodded, and called after her. "Well, aerobics is supposed to destress ya, so maybe check us out again soon? And, hey… maybe I could take you out for a nice, de-stressful snack at some point? We could get donuts?"
Isabelle stopped in her tracks. "Cop," she bit her lip without turning around. "You know I can't. You know I just started seeing someone."
"Yeah," the akita frowned, "I know."
Isabelle turned to face him, and for a moment, the several feet between them felt like miles, ballooned by the awkwardness.
"Well," Copper finally said, "Be good."
Isabelle smiled, and spun around, back on the charge to Nookway and her next prey.
She would not be good. She was planning on being very, very bad.