He led her into the parlor and set her down in an elegant wire chair. Dark reds and pinks were the colors of choice here. As much as she would have suggested various shades of yellow, she had to admit that it added a sense of maleness to such a lovely room. He did have his tastes in colors.

He had no servants, much to her surprise. He preferred to get things for himself. He always said that servants were an air of laziness. The only time he would ever think of getting one was if there was no other choice. She could only laugh to herself at the mere thought that no servant would want to live here. Each door had the most confounding puzzle locks that I had ever seen!

He sat down and gestured to the opened envelope on the heavily clothed table. She nodded and picked up the typed letter. At the recognized authority insignias and wax seal, she was a touch surprised.

"An invitation to go to an Officer's Ball?" she smiled.

"Yes. Mainly for recreation, but do note that last bit on the end," he sighed.

"To bring a guest?" she rose a brow. "Am I to help you find one?"

"I'm already looking at her," he smiled. "I could trust no other to escort me to such a fine occasion. What do you think? Will you come with me?"

"Oh! I would be delighted! But, I fear I have no true gowns. It does state formal dress attire only. Um, I fear I would look rather drab," she cringed lightly.

"Nonsense! I chose you as my assistant for your wits. Not your looks," he said point-blank. "They'll have to go through me to point out any remarks at you. You have my word of honor."

"Of course, Dupin," she nodded. "Should I refer to you as Detective Dupin?"

"No," he said with a shake of his head. "Others can. Not you. We won't be working. This is purely a recreation. Nothing more."

"And, if it becomes something more?" she asked.

"Hopefully it won't."

"It tends to. You know how things suddenly happen when you're around."

"I'm trying to be as logically positive as possible! Don't change the situation!" he scolded lightly at her mischievous smile. "I'm hoping that it will be a smooth event. Now, you said you had no gowns?"

"None. I never needed them. And I doubt this will suffice," she said and gestured to the modest dress she currently wore. "Dresses like those are also awfully expensive. How am I supposed to come up with the funds for something like that? And this invitation notates that the event is in two days."

"Well, you are crafty when you need to be," he thought. "Another reason I chose you."

"Thank you," she said softly with a soft blush. He found himself smiling back.

"Anyways, I'm sure that I can see about loaning you the funds."

"Oh, heaven's no! Don't even think about it!" she said adamantly. "I refuse to have any form of debts. I'll see what the seamstress can do for me. I'll get a price within my means. I'll work on it."

"And what is, exactly, within your means?"

"What I know I can afford without falling into debts on paying my rent," she said calmly.

"Of course," he nodded. He still made plans to contact whoever was to make her dress to make a secret half payment in advance. As her mentor and colleague, he liked to look out for her when he could. He felt it was only proper when he mildly lost himself in thought. She had risked her life for me on so many occasions! And she even saved my life, too.

"It's early enough in the day. If I leave now, I can speak with the seamstress," she said and rose up to leave. He gestured for her to sit back down.

"You just got here. At least let me get you some tea?" he asked with a small smile.

"If you insist," she nodded. Now he rose up and went into the kitchen. As she sat there, she noticed the cuckoo clock on the wall. It appeared to be broken. Getting up to inspect it further, she saw that it wasn't wound up. Searching the table near her, she found the wind up key for it and used it on the clock. When the small bird came out, it had a small key strapped to it. Pondering at this, she took the key and set it in her pocket. It may come in useful later.

"Did you fix my clock?" he asked, as he set down the tea tray.

"I did. I also found a key strapped to the bird," she chuckled.

"You did?! Interesting. I never recalled that before," he frowned. She showed him the small silver key. On thinking, he blinked in recognition. "Now I remember. Yes, you can hold on to that. Don't lose it, though. It's to something important. I just can't quite remember what's important."

"Really?" she grinned.

"It will come to me in time!" he said quickly. She giggled softly and sipped the tea he offered her. After an hour of chatting, he escorted her out the door to let her get her possible gown underway. Then he went to his phone to call up the local seamstress to arrange for the secret partial payment.

While he did that, she was able to spend thirty minutes getting to the seamstress. She was lucky enough to flag down another horse-drawn cab to take her there. When she walked in, the seamstress recognized her from the description that Dupin gave her. She was able to show the usual enthusiasm needed for new guests. He had disclosed to her that Marjery was not to be given any ideas that she knew of any contact. He wanted a decent figure sum, and to contact him the moment a dress was decided on.

"I'm honestly not sure what to expect at an Officer's Ball," Marjery admitted.

"I have just the thing," the middle-aged woman smiled. She pulled out a catalog of various designs and pointed to one of a soft cream-colored dress with straps and a plunging neckline. When the price was given, Marjery was surprised. It seemed to be much cheaper than I thought it would be.

"I'll take it!" Marjery said with a smile. Little did she know that the true figure was only cut in half. She didn't pay it any mind, though. She was just happy that she would get a decent gown and still be able to pay off any future rent. She was told that it would be ready the very next day, and she had her measurements taken. With that done, she was able to catch another cab to take her back to her home.

When she walked into the main lobby, she was called over by the receptionist.

"You have a letter. Please go to your mailbox to retrieve it," the man said.

"Thank you," she smiled. She walked over to the mailbox and sighed that all of the mail was always jumbled up. She was able to sort the mail carefully to put everything back into their respective boxes and found her letter at the bottom of the pile. Getting back into her apartment, she locked the door behind her and sat down to open it. On reading it, her eyes widened with disbelief. She set the letter on the table with a shaky hand and pressed a fist to her chest. She didn't know what to do. Then she took a deep breath and rushed to the phone. There's only one person I can call for help.

"Detective Dupin speaking," he said when he answered on the fourth ring.

"Dupin, it's Marjery! I...need your advice..." she said in a trembling voice.

"My dear! Calm down. What's wrong?" he asked.

"Well..." she said with a deep breath. "my sister sent me a letter. She is...requesting for me to go back to the village of my birth. To...help her with an incident. I...honestly don't know..."

"What is the incident?" he asked.

"I can't speak of it," she whimpered softly. "It's just..."

"I'll be there shortly!" he said and abruptly hung up. She hung up right after and hugged herself. She wasn't sure what to make of it. For a hectic forty-five minutes she waited and fretted. When the knock finally came to her door, she opened it and let the detective in.

"Thank you for being here," she said softly.

"It's fine. Now, what's the matter? I got here as quickly as I could," he said. At the gesture to her opened letter on the table, he walked over and read it calmly. "So, someone vandalized the graves of your parents? And she reports that the bodies are missing?"

"That's what she tells me," she nodded.

"As you are a dear friend of mine, we will take this case. How soon can you leave?" he asked.

"But...the Officer's Ball..." she frowned.

"If we miss it, then we miss it. This is too important. It's a desecration of the resting place of your parents. We can't wait. Hmm. This letter was dated three days ago. Now...that's strange. Why does the date appear to be scratched out? A careful way, yet...that is extremely strange. And yet, if I study the ink of the actual letter, it is far too dried for just three days. I think she wrote this and waited to send it. The writing on the envelope looks fairly new, but this letter? No. It's clearly a different ink. The same as this new date, now that I study it. The body of the letter is completely different."

"What?" she blinked.

"Either she was hesitant, or she wrote it and forgot to send it. Even the edges of the page look a touch crumpled. As though it was put in a pile. That's...odd. Where is your place of birth located?" he asked gently. "It will give us an idea of travel time."

"Oh. It is about half a day's travel south. I'm from the village of Luxxon. A fairly simple town, really. It's been a few years, since I've last been there," she said quietly. "At least four years. Since I've known you, actually."

"I'm going to ask you a very simple question. Why did you leave there to be here?"

"Well," she frowned and sat in a chair. "for the short story, my parents wanted to engage me to a farmer's son. I wasn't ready for marriage. The man they chose for me wasn't much to my liking, either. I think it was just to get me out of the house to avoid further payments for another grown child. My sister was too much for any man to be with. She had much higher standards than me, being my younger sister, too. My parents also liked her more than I. I call it favoritism."

"Definitely favoritism. Has she married?"

"Not that I know of. When I said I was leaving home, I was cut off. This is the first time I have heard from her since then. I don't know how she figured out where I lived."

"Very interesting," he mused. "But, how did you know of your parents' death?"

"She was able to contact me before I moved into this place. I had foolishly given over my details of where I was living to her. I thought, at the time, that I could trust her with the knowledge. As a sick joke, she would have men call on me constantly. She thought she would martyr the idea of having me married off, as my parents wanted. After several months of the torment, I finally put my foot down and moved to this location. I've been happier here, too. As for my parents, they had passed on a month after I left. I had received her letter on it. Ah, here. I still have it."

She rummaged through the old mail and pulled out the yellowed parchment. He took it carefully and studied it fully. His eyes narrowed with thought.

"When did you receive this letter?"

"It was two months after I left. I had given her the information of my prior address the moment I settled in. That was just a few days after coming here. It took about two days for the letter to be sent, to my knowledge. The postal service agreed to inform me of the distance it took to send it. This letter was what I had received, as her first letter back to me."

"So, instead of contacting you right away, she waited a month out after your parents died? And she didn't bother to write you back to inform you that she had received your information, too?"

"I...guess so..." she blinked at this insight.

"This letter states that they had just perished. But, look at the date of the letter. She put that they died a month ago, but that 'the funeral was lovely a month later'. Her words are very contradicting. I also recall you telling me about how they perished. That the night was clear, but the roads were muddy enough for horses to slip off of a track. It even states it here in the letter, but that the horses were fine. She further explains that it was the carriage that toppled, and I find that highly unlikely. There are a lot of things that aren't adding up. Besides, who would wait a month to bury a corpse in this day and age, unless it was held for evidence? None of this makes any sense to me at all."

"I was just so distraught on learning that they died..."

"She tried to pin this fault on you. Maybe as a way to get you to move back?"

"Well...I didn't even see it that way before!"

"My dear, I'm going to give you an evaluation. Right now," he said. "I think your parents are still alive. I think your sister is playing you for a fool."

"What?!" she gaped.

"And, like the fool that she is, we are going to work with her cards. Half a day's travel? Good. We leave within the hour. Pack up as though you are moving back. No such thing, of course, but that will be a part of our cards. I already have the deck picked out. And you are my ace," he grinned.

"I still don't know how she figured out where I lived."

"My dear, if there is one thing that I learned, anyone can hire a man to scope out a town. You live in an apartment. Your name appears on the mail here. It can be fairly easy for anyone to simply come in, look at a list of names on a building roster, and make an assessment of a mailing address. Furthermore, it could be why the mail is always tampered with when you check it. You know how you always complain to me how it's in a jumbled pile every now and then? As though it was simply tossed on the ground?"

Her jaw dropped with complete shock. At this, he simply rose up elegantly with his cane to walk over to her. He closed her jaw gently with a white-gloved hand. She looked completely distraught at the idea that she was being played by her own blood relation. She swallowed and said, "I am being baited?"

"I believe you were being baited, since you left the village of your birth. Now we get to go back and find out exactly why," he smiled. "I'll meet you back here in an hour. Better make it two. I'll have to pack, as well. We'll talk more on the ride there."