A/N: Let the Interrogations begin...!
Sven walked into the room where the woman's cooling body laid. The first thing he noticed was that the body had been moved - twice. The body was now faced down on the mattress, but it was not consistent with how the blankets were moved around the body. She had been planted in that position. He walked around the bed to see a blood stain on one side of the bed. There was also a trail from the stained carpet to where she laid. She was set the first time to cover the stains, he thought as she was picked up and placed into position. Her back continued to bleed out onto the blankets which supported this theory. The comforter was of a dark crushed blue velvet and the marks were consistent, except for one place to the right of the body where the velvet had been moved in the opposite direction.
"You, Legionary. Keep your hands where we can see them!" A trooper barked.
Sven stuck his head out the doorway to see the Legionary pinned against the wall with his hands over his head. "Relax." His calm voice permeated the room. "Sergeant Reid, please separate all of them. I will question once I finish in here."
He nodded as he pushed Vulpes into the bathroom, and ordered him to have a seat, and instructed him to keep his hands out in front of him on a desk.
Vulpes complied. He was certainly at the mercy of whoever Sven was, and it did not make any sense to run or flee. There still maybe a way to salvage the situation and return to the Fort alive. He pondered this as he patiently waited.
Boone walked into the kitchen, where he was ordered to do the same as Vulpes only at the table. Whereas Veronica was shown to the other sleeping quarters where she sat on the edge of one of the beds, and did the same, placing the playing card out in front of her. Two troopers were assigned to each suspect.
Once Sven was satisfied with the separation and arrangement, he returned to the room. Returning to the corpse, he took a closer look at her back, leaning over the bed, counting 17 different stab wounds. Several varied in depth, but as he probed the wounds through her muscles and flesh, with his toothpick, he concluded the slash marks were made by a left-handed individual. The deepest parts were on the right side, as the blade shallowly cut into the flesh at first, then getting deeper as they went to the right. All of the slash marks were the same way. The body temperature was consistent with being dead for less than an hour.
Nodding at this conclusion, he straightened from his position over the bed. He looked over at the pillows, which had been neatly laid out and showed no signs of stress. He lifted the one on the right side of the bed to find a bloody right handprint smeared across it. A playing card was also hidden underneath the pillow. The two of diamonds, with the Lucky 38 logo on the other side. Another clue. He set it aside on the nightstand next to a pair of cat-eye glasses.
He walked over to the other side of the bed, as he noted that the Legionary had a stain of blood on his kilt around his right knee, and blood on the wrists of his hands. It would work if he entered the bed from the left side, and knelt next to the corpse and turned it over. His fingers did not show traces of blood, but the Snipers did, but only on his right hand. This would match the pillowcase, though neither the Sniper nor the Legionary seemed to be covered in blood of any sort. However, the Sniper had been shirtless. Had he tried to hide the evidence?
Sven continued to survey the whole surroundings. Once he was satisfied, he jotted down the notes in a small book he carried with him that was hidden in the interior pocket of his suit jacket.
Moments later, he emerged from the room and shut the door behind him. He decided to begin with the woman in the sleeping quarters.
"Are you finished?" a trooper asked.
"With the room, for the moment. I wish to ask questions of the lady."
Veronica's eyes lifted to the darkly dressed man.
"Hello there, Can I get your name, Kitten?' He said smoothly with charming smile.
"Veronica." She answered, looking up at him from the playing card in front of her.
Sven nodded. "Very pretty. So now, where are you from?"
"What does that matter?" she asked
"Just trying to get to know you a little better." he charmed.
"Hidden Valley." she responded.
"Brotherhood." He commented, in which she responded by nodding. "How are they doing?" Knowing the answer, he watched her reaction closely.
Her face twisted. "Do you not know? That Bitch wiped them all out!" She snapped her mouth shut.
"Ms. Garrison?" Sven questioned.
Veronica didn't answer, as he was verbally cornering her, though she nodded in
agreement.
"Why?" Sven's smooth charm returned.
"She said The Brotherhood were 'hoarders, self-absorbed, hypocritical, fucktrards, and they needed to be exterminated.' I pleaded her not to, but did so anyway, watching me witness the destruction of home."
He looked up from his notes briefly. "Did you want to take revenge?"
"Who wouldn't?" Veronica admitted. "Though I would never."
A curious expression crossed his face. "Why not?"
Veronica paused for a moment. "She said to make it up to me, she would get me a pretty dress. Also, she said they wouldn't listen to me anyway about opening up the Brotherhood. I can never forgive her for what she has done, but she allowed me to stay here."
"I see." Sven was scribbling notes down in his notebook. "And where were you earlier tonight?"
Veronica choked on the words, "I was here."
"Did you see anyone come into the Suite?" he asked pointedly.
She shook her head. "No, but I did hear the elevator a couple of times. Boone went upstairs to the balcony where he works out, I heard that one, another three, and after the forth, I heard Boone shouting, so I came out of the bedroom."
"The one Ms. Garrison was in?" He asked on the sly.
"No, the one we are in now." She looked at him like he had lost his mind.
He turned back to his notes. "What were you doing during the other bells of the elevator?"
"I was watching an old movie in the other room. I left between the second and third, coming in here to read." She commented. The characters in the movie were starting to annoy her.
"Can anyone verify that?" he said, voice slightly muffled.
She shrugged. "Boone knew that I was watching an old movie when he went up to work out. Otherwise no."
"Did you hear anything from Ms. Garrison's room at any point?"
"I did hear some moaning and screaming, but I just thought she was holding congress with a lover. At which times, I just try to ignore it. I didn't have any inclination that anything was wrong. Who would want to walk in on that anyway?"
"Moaning and screaming? Is that common for her?"
Veronica nodded. "Though I have to admit, it was louder than usual." She shrugged. "Didn't want to get involved, as she probably was entertaining."
"Do you know how she selects her lovers?"
"She hands playing cards to each one of her lovers to get them in past security."
"Like that one in front of you?"
Veronica nodded. "The Legionary…he said he was invited, and showed us this card as his proof."
"Uh huh." He muttered. "Do you know who the elevator bells tolled for?"
She shook her head again. "I assume that the first two was the lover, the third for the
Legionary." She shrugged. "Who knew that she would go for something like that, or find a willing subject."
"What do you mean by that? It seems like she had a system, and could get anyone she wanted." He stated in-passing, as he had just come from another case earlier that night.
"Nah, the Legion mount each other just as often as they mount their women."
He lightly laughed. "Is there anything else you would like to tell me?" he asked, setting his pencil down for a moment.
"Yeah. I didn't do it."
Sven nodded and stood from the side of the bed. "Can I take that with me?" he asked pointing to the card in front of her.
She willingly handed it to him.
He tipped his hat towards her and smiled. "Thanks."
"One question for you…Sven, is it?" She inquired.
Sven turned back to face her, nodding.
"How did you get her so quickly? We didn't call for you." Veronica had been wondering about that since they arrived.
He took a deep breath. "Truth be told, I came to ask Ms. Garrison some questions myself, and possibly take her in for the murder of the Tops owner, Benny. Also, when I was at the crime scene, there was a transmission about Mr. House's death. It didn't take long to see what happened there either. On our way back down the elevator, we heard shouting, and therefore stopped on this floor."
Veronica nodded as she scoffed. "Some timing you have."
Stay Tuned for Chapter 3! (Please R&R!)