Chapter 2: In which Inspector De Blois is introduced to the plot, a case to be solved, along with Mr. Sable's first test

While we were deep in conversation on the top floor, we didn't notice the three figures that had entered the library, and made their way up the elevator lift (another part of the library I was unaware of at the time). As the gate clanged open, I did a double take to confirm what my eyes were seeing was actually real. An odd trio stepped out onto the marble floor, two very similar looking boys (twins perhaps?) holding hands and skipping forward as their ringleader followed close behind. The two boys were dressed in a similar manner, shorts, long sleeved button shirt under a vest, dotted bow tie, and matching newsboy hats. The man accompanying them though was dressed in a fine white suit combo, along with polished white shoes that seemed to gleam and a light pink ascot. I knew a noble when I saw one, and that dandy reeked of fine society even from across the room. Most notable of all though was that rather ridiculous manner in which he wore his hair in a sort of pompadour, perhaps that was the sort of "in" fashion of Sauville?

"Ah! Kujo, visiting again so soon my troublesome Asian fellow! I came to make sure that my dear friend was doing well, but it appears that I could use some council in a new case of mine as well! You could certainly spare the time, right young man?" he exclaimed rather loudly, his sight set on the Asian boy. I crossed my arms over my chest, a frown forming over my face as I thought: who was this man to speak so casually to my students? Upon noticing me, however, he stopped and flashed me a smile, running his hand through his spiked hair, "Oh hello? And who is this? A friend of yours? No matter, rejoice for you have the pleasure of meeting the one and only Inspector Grevil de Blois!" At this, the pair of boys clapped loudly for the man, along with giving a small cheer.

"Will you stop that? What in the world did you come here for anyway Inspector?" Kujo interjected with irritation.

"Come, come baby squirrel, aren't you happy to see the man that saved you? I said that I would keep a vigilant eye over you, and I will keep that promise my Japanese protégé!"

"H-Hey! Who said that I'm your assistant?! Besides, I know you're just a big fraud anyway, so stop pretending you're someone great! It isn't very fair to take credit for the work of others you know?"

At this his lackeys chimed in, speaking practically in tandem, "Hey, you watch how you address the inspector, he could lock you up in an instant you know!"

I stared from one face from another, as the French phrases flew through the air and the group descended into petty bickering. Rubbing my brow and sighing, I said to myself in English, "By God… I'm surrounded by absolute imbeciles, aren't I?"

"Not completely, although I do have the smallest touch of pity for you," I heard a softer voice reply in accented English, causing my gaze to shift towards the blonde haired girl. Taking the time to look up from her books, she nibbled on the tip of a pipe she had produced from her sleeve with a concentrated expression, as if trying to judge my response.

"Almost completely then, but the idiotic dandy, pair of children speaking ad nauseam, and the whiney foreigner make up for it surely. Although you are another breed altogether young Lady, I hope that these boys don't drive you mad," I replied with an indignant look.

I could have sworn that I saw her lips curl into a tiny smile for a moment, but by the time she spoke again I wasn't entirely sure, "Perhaps you might have worth after all…I do hope you can keep me entertained, Englishman. Prepare yourself for what is to come, as Chaos will surely follow." Switching back to French, she called after the her Japanese classmate, "Kujo, stop your childish bickering and let Grevil speak, surely he came here for good reason."

Clicking his tongue, the boy looked towards the stoic girl and nodded reluctantly, "Tck… hah, fine… what do you need now Inspector? It isn't another crazy case of yours, is it?"

Seeming to completely ignore the blonde haired girl, the man named Grevil pulled out a pipe of his own and lit up, a much more serious look now appearing over this face, "Ahem, well then, it seems that I have another murder case on my hands, and the odds seem impossible. An old woman, a fortune teller to be exact, by the name of Roxanne was found murdered in her Manor by her staff. Er… found by her staff that is, not murdered by her staff. The boggling part was that the door and windows were locked inside the room in which she was found."

As the inspector spoke, the rest of us seemed just as stumped, well… aside from the blonde hair girl who still seemed preoccupied with her books. Kujo scratched at his chin, "Huh… so no one could have gotten in or out aside from her? Where there any witnesses? How did they find her?"

"Direct witnesses no, but there were three people around at the time. An Arabian maid, an Indian manservant, and the fortune teller's granddaughter. They had heard a gunshot come from a nearby room, to which the trio gathered outside Roxanne's private study. There was no sound from her room, but the door was locked, leading the trio to believe that something must have happened to her. The Indian grabbed an axe from the toolshed to break down the door, given that it was of lighter, thinner wood to make it easier to open for the old lady. The granddaughter protested, however, not wanting anything to be damaged since the Mansion as a whole would become her eventual inheritance. The maid though used her personal defense pistol to shoot out the lock, despite the warnings of the other two. Apparently she only spoke Arabic and shouted something before doing so. When they opened up the door, they found Roxanne dead laying backwards in her chair, a wound through her left eye. What do you think Kujo!?"

To this the Japanese boy reeled back, startled by his sudden shouting, "I-I don't know, Victorica is the genius here! If I had to guess though… I'd say it might have to do with the granddaughter, she would have gained the house if she died after all, right? What if she hired someone to kill her grandmother?"

Ignoring the comment about the young girl, whom I at least believe to be the owner of that name, Grevil stroked his hair in thought before nodding his head. "I see Kujo, I see, a very good motive indeed, what if she had hired a marksman to fire from afar? Perhaps through the window so as to kill the old woman without any evidence! Brilliant, the case is cracked Kujo! I knew that saving you would have paid off in the long run, bravo!"

Rubbing the back of his head, Kujo nodded in response with a bashful smile, "Oh… well I was just taking a wild guess Inspector, I didn't know you'd like it that much. I'm glad to have helped though of course!"

Suddenly, a loud huff could be heard as well as the slam of a book, grabbing the attention of the group, "Haaa… really, is that the best motive you could think of, and without a shred of evidence? I would not be surprised if it was you saying such things Grevil, but I am a bit disappointed in you Kujo. You can barely call this "case" chaos at all, do I need to spell it out for you all? What about you Englishman, do you have some brilliant theory as well, or are you no better than the others?"

Raising my eyebrow at her subtle insult, I turned towards the others after several seconds of thought, "Pinning it completely on the granddaughter without any real evidence would be completely unprofessional. There… actually isn't any fact in what either of you said, in regards to the reasoning as to why the granddaughter would try to kill the fortune teller that is."

To this she nodded, "Go on then Englishman, show me if you have any skills of value at all."

Holding a finger up, I began, "To start, there couldn't have been a gunman outside the manor, it makes no sense. The report of a firearm changes depending on the distance or if it reverberates against other objects, and clearly the sound appeared to have originated from the manor itself, yes? Furthermore, if the shot did come from outside, Roxanne would have been found dead in a totally different position. Instead of leaning back against her chair, she would have been sprawled out on the ground due to the force of the impact. Additionally, the window behind her would have had a bullet hole or even would have been shattered by the shot. Therefore it couldn't have been a hired shooter."

At this Grevil stared at me with wide eyes, for the first time really taking note of my presence, "Well… I… I suppose that she would be innocent then… but the room was completely locked down! Who would have been the killer then in that case?"

"The only logical option would be the Maid," I replied.

To this the blonde haired girl cut in, letting out a cloud of smoke before speaking, "I hope that you are not taking a wild guess, Monsieur Englishman, do you have something to back up your claim?"

I gave her a soft shrug, "It's all rather simple the more I think about it. The maid shot Roxanne through the door, or more precisely the lock. You said yourself it was a thinner, lighter door, therefore being made of a wood light enough to be chopped down with a normal handaxe. The Indian was going to do it anyway, correct? Due to the smaller size of the door, the lock also needed to be made of lighter metal and in a small amount, easily allowing a 9mm bullet to penetrate through… assuming that was the caliber she was using that is. It wouldn't make any sense for a woman, and a maid at that, to have any sort of pistol that used a caliber larger than that. It's all rather simple ballistics and I'm not expert in the field either. If you look at the point of impact in her skull and the height of the lock, you might be able to find a correlation in regards to the trajectory."

Grevil looked shell-shocked, yet impressed by my explanation, although the look on Kujo's face didn't seem nearly as jovial. "That's a big claim, why would Roxanne have been by the door then? And did the maid do it by accident?" Kujo asked next, his arms folded over his chest as he gave my theory a bit of thought as well.

Pacing around back and forth, I scratched lightly at my chin before eventually giving a large shrug. "I cannot tell you completely, not without knowing more. Perhaps she was hugging the door to listen for an intruder or perhaps more gunshots before the trio arrived. Not knowing what was happening, she stayed silent, listening to the others bicker behind the door. She's clearly an eccentric woman, being a fortune teller and having two foreign servants. Perhaps the Arabian maid yelled something only she could understand, keeping Roxanne close to the door before the shot was fired. That would make sense to me at least, but at that point I would just be guessing really."

Upon finishing my explanation completely, the girl gave a strong nod of approval, adding in, "It was not the same means in which I constructed the chaos, but it was close enough. I agree with him, for the most part, although with a minor exception. The maid wanted to kill Roxanne, for one reason or another. She must have shouted something along the lines of 'Stay back from the door! The other two wish to kill you!' At this, Roxanne couldn't help but peer through the hole in curiosity, thus lining up the shot from the maid. I believe you will find a broken object in another nearby room, perhaps containing the spent cartridge. I can assure you that said object would also hold relevance in your investigation. Any other questions Grevil?" While she spoke, her voice raised and lowered in varying degrees of excitement as if playing a sort of game, before her mood returned back to normal level of seriousness.

It was as if his prayers had been answered, as I saw the Inspector's face light up completely. "Brilliant, that must be it then, no doubt about it! Thank you Englishman, your assistance today might land a criminal rightfully behind bars you know? Ah, but of course, I humbly respect your own attempt, baby squirrel!" Grevil replied once the blonde haired girl was finished, as if meaning to completely ignore her. While snuffing out his pipe, the two boys accompanying the Inspector gave a quick round of applause as well.

Kujo, on the other hand, didn't appear to be nearly as content with the results. Although I wasn't sure whether he was offended by Grevil's treatment towards the boy or something else entirely, he shouted in protest, "H-Hey! We might have helped, but the credit should go to her, she's the one who figured most of it out!"

With a quick shrug of his shoulders, Grevil simply turned upon his heel and started towards the elevator. "Now, now, our English friend here helped out just as much as you or I did Kujo, no need to get yourself all riled up. I can assure you that the suspect will be apprehended immediately! Until then, Adieu!" he said in a proud tone, the grates of the elevator door locking with a clang before the lift descended downwards.

Now with the three of us left in silence, the exciting mood that was in the air earlier seemed to entirely vanish. I stood there with my hands crossed over my chest, the petite girl nibbling on the end of her own pipe (which I was less than pleased at seeing), and the Japanese boy scratching his head in frustration. I could feel some sympathy at least, given how cordial the inspector seemed towards him, Kujo must have had to deal with the strange fellow on a regular basis. With a small huff though, I watched as Kujo put his hat back on and started towards the stairs, "That Grevil... always using use to do his job, I swear! Ack, but look at the time, I said I'd meet Avril in the gardens 10 minutes ago. I've got to run, I'll come by again later Victorica! Oh, and it was nice meeting you as well Sir." Giving a warm smile to the girl named Victorica, he then gave a respectful bow to myself, albeit without as warm an expression, before running down the stairs.

Just when I thought I had done more than enough socializing for one afternoon, I was caught off guard once more as an accented voice in English rose up from behind me, "Haa... and here I was beginning to ponder if those chattering hens would ever leave, all of them that is. Englishman, if you do not mind I would like to have a word with you, now that we are in private." Turning to face the green eyed girl, I felt as if anything she was going to say to me was going to be far from cordial.