The sun shined luminously, despite the demoralizing days that preceded it. The sky was clear, only showing its boundless light-blue color. Ainsley had been staring at it for the past hour, still in her nightgown, under the parasol that was purchased on her 9th birthday.

"Ainsley…stop doing that, you may hurt your eyes" One of the service maids had placed down a glass of water and apple slices. "Oh, really?" Ainsley said turning around. "Maybe I do want to hurt myself, after all…I never felt like I belonged here" The young girl sat on the white, wooden chair and began to eat her snack. The maid stood there silently, not knowing how she could possibly respond. Ainsley's current pessimistic nature was so ill-sounding compared to her jubilant days as a toddler; it almost put fear into those around her. "What is the current status on my father's return?"

"He should be home within this hour!" The maid replied suddenly, more alert with her concern. The child responded to this statement with a grin; it cheered up her maid despite being phony.

As the maid exited, Priscilla entered her child's room. "It's good to see you awake! Are you enjoying the snack?"

"Yes!" Ainsley responded with content contradicting her earlier mood. "That's good…" Her mother spoke with a noticeable amount of relief. She must still be worried over my injury… I hardly even feel it now… "Ainsley!" Her mother interrupted her train of thought. "I am taking you to the nurse"

"So you are worried" Ainsley said confirming her thoughts. "What kind of parent would I be if I wasn't?" Priscilla took her daughter's hand and walked her down two levels of their home until they reached Nurse Hannah's room. "Good Day, Milady!" Hannah smiled. Ainsley stared at Hannah with a 'Déjà vu' type of feeling. The nurse looked down at her and her eyes opened wide with disbelief. "Miss Ainsley? It's been so long! Where have you been?"

"How could you not know about her return? That news was buzzing for hours without end." Priscilla said bemused at her servant's unawareness. Hannah had paid no attention to the 'lady of the house', and was still inspecting Ainsley. "So that's the reason why you're here" She said, poking at the developing scar on Ainsley's side. "No reaction…it must not hurt that badly…"

"It doesn't hurt at all!" Ainsley smiled. "Can I leave now?"

"No, you are going to have that ghastly scrape checked further! Miss Hannah, if she gives you any difficulties…"

"She won't and she knows it" Hannah said bluntly, but not to be rude. What she said was true though. Hannah is a very confusing (scary) person to be around at times, for she may act bipolar while treating injuries. Ainsley lives in fear of ever being treated while Hannah is on her 'angry side'.

Nearly six hours have passed since Nathaniel made his arrangement with Oliver. Since then, he had been thinking on where to start with this investigation. Miss Vienna Greene seems to be a good place to start off…After all; the real drama began to happen once he left her house…What do I do about this 'other boy' Oliver began to talk about? This is terrible, I need more leads, but I have to work with what I have. "Welcome back Lord Harris" multiple servants had greeted Nathaniel as he entered the household. "I'm glad to be back" he said only to the last one. Even though he said he was happy to be home, his face displayed an abnormal amount of stress. Maybe I can find another lead in my own home. "Where are my daughter and Priscilla?"

"Most recently, your daughter has been seen in Nurse Hannah's office" said the same maid who was serving Ainsley before she headed there. "Thanks"

"Calm down a little bit, won't you?" Hannah became slightly frustrated at Ainsley's hissing. "But it hurts!" responded Ainsley as Hannah continued rubbing alcohol at the wound which supposedly 'didn't hurt at all'. "There, I'm done!" Hannah took a few steps back, "I'll just get some bandages now…"

"Before you do that, let me see something!"

"What? Why…Lord Harris?"

"I need to see something…" Nathaniel looked down at his daughters cut, and examined its details the best he could; then he stood back up. "So it wasn't as bad as I thought it might be"

"Of course, I have been tending to it for the past ten minutes. It took a little while, but she is finally ready for bandages."

"Thank you for your hard work Ms. Hannah"

"It's no problem at all!" She smiled at Nathaniel. "Well I'll be leaving…" He headed to his bedroom, so he could have some more time to relax and think. Ainsley's attacker must have been left handed! The cut started from slightly past her right side, and it ended partially in front of her stomach growing deeper! I think it's safe to assume he was facing her…If he had attacked her from behind, the part of the cut closer to her back would have been deeper instead. Interrupting his train of thought, Priscilla came over and embraced her husband. "What have you been doing all night? You had me worrying that you may have been…" Nathaniel kissed her before she could finish that statement; she returned that kiss with slightly more passion. "I would never do that...whatever you're talking about..." Nathaniel said to reassure his wife and relive her of her concerns. That way, he could focus on his concerns. "Oh, well...never mind, it was silly of me to get flustered..." Priscilla turned away, blushing. It has been so long since he had even touched her, let alone kissed her, so she was not sure how to react.

That worked even better than I had hoped... Now what was I thinking about again? Nathaniel put on his 'business' face as he simultaneously thought and walked to his room. If I remember well enough, Oliver is right-handed; at least I'll assume that since the little bird always rests on his right hand. Now for 'that boy'...I don't have the slightest clue who he could be. I should send someone to that town and interview this 'Ms. Greene' Oliver spoke of. "Oh, wait...They're all in the kitchen area...and I'm up here. I don't feel like walking down again." He groaned before recalling he had a dumbwaiter. To get his servant to come up, he would simply write a note and send it down. Maybe he would ring the bell as the dumbwaiter went down, that would get their attention. "Master, I'm here"

"Eh, what?" Nathaniel quickly turned around, dropping the bell in embarrassment. "Your promptness amazes me once again, Aaron"

"It is only natural that I come quickly?" Aaron responded. "I need you to do something, and that may take a while, of not your whole day" Nathaniel began.

"What is that?"

"I need you to take a trip to the town that I just came back from; you must ask around for a woman named 'Vienna Greene'. Once you have found her, ask her the following questions on this paper." Nathaniel ordered while giving Aaron the slip of paper. "Also, you must write down what she says, word for word."

"Understood Master, I'll be on my way"

As Aaron rode to the town alone, he wondered why he was requested to do something so suddenly. Yes, he is the Lord's most trusted servant, but still...I'd much rather be cooking...The civilians of the town looked at him as he passed through in the buggy given to him. Aaron could sense some sort of tension in their expressions; he could also took notice on how parents watched very carefully over their children, as if something could go wrong at any moment. Since the adults looked too tense, he decided to ask a younger person if they knew where 'Vienna Greene' lived. "Of course I know where Miss Greene is! She's the nicest lady ever, after my Mother, of course!" the young boy had started. "She lives at the end of this street here!"

"Thank you so much... Kyo?"

"You must be the first to say my name right..." Kyo said somewhat shocked. "Anyway, I want to play now...bye, sir!"

"Goodbye" Aaron walked to the end of the street where Kyo was referring to. A young, Green-haired woman was tending to plants in front of the house. "Good day, Madam. Are you Miss Vienna?" The young woman sharply looked up. "…Yes, I am. Why do you ask?"

"Well you see…I have orders from my master, or 'boss', that I must question you on certain topics"

"What topics?" Ms. Greene asked Aaron suspiciously. Even the 'nicest lady ever' seems to be somewhat tense. "I'm not aware of those topics yet myself…they are written on this paper" Aaron said as he began to read. "It says to 'go somewhere more private', so I'm presuming that this information will be considered 'classified'."

"I guess I can stop tending to my garden for one day…Why not come inside?"

The two sat across the table, facing each other, as Aaron began to speak. "Before I question you, I would like to introduce myself. My name is Aaron Harris, the adopted son and servant of Nathaniel Harris. He is the one who told me to question you."

"Can we go through this quickly?" Vienna asked, not being given a good impression. "Sure, I would like to go home quickly myself" Aaron cleared his throat. "What do you know so far about the murders that took place here?"

"…! Well, I know that a young boy named Oliver was the accused, and the two killed were his sister and friend." Aaron began to jot her words down.

"How do you know 'Oliver' and the other kids who were once with them?"

"That group of kids… grew very popular in a short amount of time. Many of the other children would talk about how they got to 'play with them today'. Oliver specifically…he visited my house not even a day before the murders occurred." As Aaron was about to ask the next question, he was a little stumped on how to deliver it.

"Umm…Have there been…'other young boys' around Oliver's age that came over to your house?"

Around Oliver's age…What could he mean by that? "There was a boy that lived in my home for about…two days. If I remember correctly, his name is 'Henry Lou'. The odd thing is that I don't recall him telling me his name. I only heard it by eavesdropping on one of his conversations with two men."

"Who are those two men?"

"…Heinrick and Dylan McCarter. Heinrick's an unemployed bum, and Dylan is a successful, local merchant."

"Was there anything that seemed 'strange' about those few days?" Aaron didn't appear to be reading off the paper anymore. "The day Henry Lou was brought over to my house was a little strange. Heinrick and Dylan brought him over, claiming he was an abandoned child. The boy sure looked like it, but I still thought it was weird. Heinrick is not the type to do good for children."

"Why?"

Vienna explained what happened on the day Heinrick got fired. Aaron listened with as much intent as he could. "By chance, who were those two young thieves?"

"I don't know…"

"Oh…well, do you know where Henry Lou is now?" Aaron asked, ready to wrap up this interview. "That was another strange thing…He practically disappeared…the same day as the murder, and the two men I talked about gave me a letter."

"May I see the letter?" Vienna answered 'yes' right before she went to get it. The moment she gave it to him, he skimmed through the letter's contents. This letter…seems to be fabricated. What father would take a child from a home near the middle of the night, without saying a word as well? Why would he use a letter instead of speaking to Miss Vienna anyway?

"Thank you… This conversation has been helpful...I'll take my leave now."

"Here! Take some scones to help you on your way back!" Ms. Greene said before he got on his buggy. Well, I am kind of hungry...

Aaron, who knew nothing about this case at first, suddenly wanted to be an investigator in it. However, it was getting too dark for him to stay any longer. He ate some of Miss Vienna's scones as he rode away back to his master's home. If I don't hurry, I'll miss dinner and cleanup. The typically busy mansion was quiet; not a single servant or maid was out there. To add to the unforeseen circumstances, Nathaniel was waiting outside for Aaron. Upon seeing this, Aaron rushed up until he was facing Nathaniel, and got off the buggy. "Master! How long were you waiting for me? You shouldn't do so in this weather, it can cause a cold!"

"Now, now...don't worry so much, I should be worrying about you. You took very long, and you missed dinner"

"I'm so sorry!" Aaron bowed his head, only to get it patted. "You act far more like a servant than my son, you know that?"

"I'm sorry Master-"

"Father"

"...Father"

"Anyway, can you please hand me over the 'results'?"

"Of course!" Aaron took several folded papers out of his pocket, unfolded them, and then handed each one over to Nathaniel. Nathaniel looked over each paper, taking his time so that he could absorb each detail. He let out a satisfied smirk once he finished reading. "You did a good job kid!" Nathaniel said while patting on Aaron's head again."Mas-Father, can you please stop doing that?"

"Nope, I'm too happy! Anyway, let's head back in."

"Right..." Aaron followed Nathaniel back inside, noticing that Hannah right behind the entrance. "You two took so long! I though you would come right in, so I was holding the door..."

"I'm sorry Miss Hannah!" Aaron said. Nathaniel continued walking.

"Hey, Aaron, what did master make you do?" Hannah whispered to him. Aaron was hesitant to answer. "Umm...I had to interview someone..."

"On what?"

"Something that took place in another town...the one I came back from. The way he's acting, I assume he has some business there."

"I see...okay, bye. I'm turning in for the night" Hannah headed downstairs, to her bedroom. Without changing, she laid down on the bed, staring at the ceiling. "Business in another town?" She covered her eyes with one hand. "This could be both a great advantage and a difficulty...

…

I better act quickly then."