A/N: Shout outs to my anonymous reviewer and James Birdsong! Glad you liked the last chapter. More on our suspicious circumstances now. Thanks!
Chapter 19
"So, what do you think?" Elphaba asked Fiyero. The two had met up after they had finished questioning the mill worker and the mill owner. Mopsi and Popsi had joined them inside Morrible's old office. Lieutenant Zetti had taken out a continent of soldiers to search the mill, Mr. Farhidi's house, and Nick's room at the boarding house where he was living.
"Well, Farhidi didn't seem to know what we were talking about, but he did give us a list of workers at the mill. Still, something about him… I couldn't put my finger on it," Fiyero told her. He was sitting in one of the overstuffed chairs.
"Something is off. While I had suspected that Nick would be hard to crack, he folded, almost like a hanky and gave us good information," his betrothed quickly explained what the Munchkin had told them from her spot in the overstuffed chair next to him.
"Yeah, I don't think he sounds like someone who would have the ability to pull this off – at least by himself. Are we sure that Larry is clean?" The Prince wondered.
"He's been delivering flour to the Palace back when the Wizard was in power, so I suppose it's possible he's not, but why wait until now?" Elphaba asked.
"Good point. Ok so do we really think that someone at the mill tried to put the poisonous flower in the flour – wow that's a lot in one sentence – and managed to do it with no one noticing?" Fiyero gave her a look.
"Farhidi seemed off to me as Prince Fiyero said. Could he be a part of it, but perhaps not a willing participant?" Popsi spoke up. He and his brother were sitting on the sofa, across from the chairs.
"Ah blackmail. That I could see. We need to know if Bayram's inside man has heard anything. Who was in contact with him after Bayram got sick?" Elphaba wanted to know.
"Boq. They weren't meeting in person. There was a letter drop and Zetti was picking up the coded messages and dropping them off to be decoded," her fiancé said.
"Ok. Let me talk to Boq about reaching out to this contact. Now that we're snooping around the mill and the workers there, could be someone is getting spooked. Last thing we need is someone getting away or making any sort of announcement," she said.
"Good plan. I told Zetti to have Farhidi followed, just in case," Fiyero gave her a wink.
"Always thinking," she chuckled. There was a knock on the door and Fiyero bade the person to enter. It was Corporal Kaplan.
"What's going on Damla?" Elphaba wanted to know.
"Nick is asking if he can see Larry. He seems genuinely concerned for his coworker," the Vinkun soldier told her.
"Could be his only friend since he came to the Emerald City," Mopsi spoke up. Elphaba nodded before saying,
"He can't see him just yet. I haven't checked in with Doctor Talib and we kind of told him that Larry had been poisoned."
"Well, we couldn't tell him differently," Mopsi said.
"No, we could not. I'll check in with Doctor Talib before talking to Boq," the green woman promised.
"Why don't you let us talk to our fellow Munchkin and you handle the Doctor?" Popsi offered.
"Sounds good. I may need to assist the good Doctor," Elphaba figured.
"Corporal Kaplan and I will check in on our squads out in the field," Fiyero smiled.
"Take some back up with you. I don't want anyone thinking my fiancé is a target," she gave him a look.
"Oh, they can't get me, but I'll make sure I take some back up," he winked. The group then separated to do their assignments.
To Be Continued…