Chapter Twenty-Six: What Drives Detective Sergeant Navi?

…

Neither Link nor Navi knew what to say after Afra Hremorson broke down. They both took a step back when someone from the kitchen staff rushed to her side, an older woman who seemed to fuss over her mistress like a mother to a hurt child. She conducted Lady Hremorson to the dining table and immediately called to the rest of the staff to bring chairs for Link and Navi. Mabel rushed in a few moments later and comforted Afra, trying to reassure her that the Watch will find out who had killed her daughter. She left and returned with three tall glasses of tea.

Lady Hremorson sat with Mabel standing behind her ready to push a handkerchief forward if it was needed. Navi sat with the corner of the dining table between them, carefully sipping tea almost at the same time Lady Hremorson deigned to take a sip. In spite of a third chair being brought for him, Link stood next to Navi with his glass in his hand. He had to admit some awe at the closeness of the lady to her servants. He had never seen a noblewoman cry in public; even Claire Merrill had struggled to hold onto her dignity as she had spoken with them about her daughter Yoanna. It was a level of comfort he had not expected to see. And it astounded him how sensitive the staff was to her anguish. It did not come across as just being on-hand for some shallow words meant to reassure her. The staff acted like she was a blood relative having a breakdown and actually taking an interest in her emotions.

For a while, neither woman spoke as Afra Hremorson stared through the glass in her hands in contemplation of another time. Navi was familiar enough with grieving Hylians that she wanted to let Afra speak when she was ready. Link understood this, but he was getting antsy and tried not to let his discomfort show.

Afra Hremorson finally took in a deep breath and looked up at Navi. "I… am sorry you had to see that, Detective," she said in a soft voice.

"Even the king weeps, ma'am," Navi replied.

The lady nodded. "You asked of my husband's relationship with the other noble houses. Is it really possible that another House is responsible for this?"

"I was hoping to understand that by asking about your husband, ma'am," Navi replied. "You said your husband is a knight. Does he… do any business? Own a company?"

Afra sighed and turned her head a bit as if to look over her shoulder at the man building a coffin in the back yard. "My husband prides himself most of all as a carpenter," she explained. "You've seen the furniture around our house. Most of it was made by his hand; I have only bought a handful of items since we married. He trades with his close friends, and he has taken commissions from other nobles interested in his craftsmanship. He mostly supports this House through his service for the Royal Family, supplemented by his status as a competitor. We are not a wealthy House, but we live in comfort. That is enough for myself and my husband; there is nothing else we wish." She then looked down at her glass. "Except for our daughter."

"You mentioned that she was the only one you could have," Navi said. "I do not wish to pry, but…"

Afra closed her eyes as a pained look crossed her face a moment. "It is as you understand, Detective. I am barren. An unfortunate defect of my family line. Myself and my younger sister lost the ability to conceive when we turned thirty years old, as had my mother. I do not understand why, but even conception was difficult for me. I had three miscarriages before Fiametta was born and one miscarriage after. My sister had four children before she reached her point of sterility."

Navi bowed her head and said, "I apologize, ma'am."

Afra shook her head. "Fiametta was our victory; we were happy to just have one child. I have seen how chaotic my sister's home could be." She gave a soft giggle before adding, "And Fiametta loved to egg her cousins on. They were the closest she would ever have to siblings." She made to say something else, but she choked, and Mabel immediately offered her handkerchief to Afra. Afra paused as she wiped away a couple of fresh tears. "I wish whoever had done this understood how precious she was to us. We have no other heirs, and my husband has no siblings. This House will be no more upon our passing." She hiccupped and paused as she tried to assert control of herself. "Please, I beg of you, Detective. Avenge the slow demise of House Hremorson."

Navi put on a determined look, and Link saw her hair shift to dark blond as she said, "We will do our best to bring the killer to justice."

…

Link and Navi did not leave right away, having subconsciously agreed to wait for Afra Hremorson to give suitable permission. Link felt sorry for her, especially after hearing about her difficulties with conception. While not pertinent to their investigation, the two Watch officers entertained her by listening to stories about Fiametta's rambunctious nature, especially in the presence of her cousins. Link had to admit that he was almost developing a crush listening politely, and it seemed to fuel his desire to find the person who had killed her.

Over an hour had passed before Afra, relieved of her grief through reminiscence of her daughter's fire, realized that she had been keeping the officers from their duties. After a few more pleas to find Fiametta's killer, she wished them luck and sent them on their way. Once outside, Navi gave a terse instruction to White to take them back to headquarters.

When the carriage cleared the gate of the Hremorson property, Navi drew herself up like she was about to command Link to shoot himself in the head. In fact, with the glare on her face and her hair glowing blond, Link was afraid that she was about to make such an order.

"Contact Layla."

It was not a request. Link had never heard such a clear-cut order. Granted, having been through three district stations, the atmosphere was a casual sort of professionalism that only ever pretended to be strict when a district commander walked through the door. For Navi, though, the order was like getting hit in the head with a hot frying pan. Link was stunned by the tone of voice, and, for a moment, he could not think of what to say.

Then he put on his professional demeanor and replied, "You think she was hiding something."

"No," was Navi's hard-toned reply. "But I am personally offended that this House was attacked." As if to emphasize (or perhaps to actually emphasize; Link still was not sure how voluntary Navi's hair changing was), her hair shifted to bright red. "You saw the chair in the sitting room, right? The one with fur upholstery?"

Link nodded. He wanted to make a comment about how ugly the chair was, but he felt that any smart remarks about it would earn him a punch through the carriage wall behind him. "Yeah, I've seen it before," he instead answered. "His knighthood medal indicates he's from the same order as Brettson."

"I had not recognized the name, but, once I saw that chair, I knew whose House we were in," she said. "Hremorson's family is one of a line of carpenters who were knighted together. Very close friends; their families have always known each other. This man is cut from the same cloth as Reba. It's disgusting that someone would target one of them like this."

"Uh… with all due respect, Detective Sergeant," Link said, his words cautious as he felt the violence aiming for his face, "we still haven't established that Fiametta Hremorson was the target."

"It doesn't matter anymore, Constable. Whether deliberate or by mistake, it is appalling that House Hremorson has to end like this. You've met both of them; they have never been nobles. Their families have remained untouched by the driveling and greed of the rest of the nobility. So for this to happen, for a professional marksman to end a feeble house such as this, I fully intend to use all of our resources to find this person."

Link thought he could sympathize, but he really did not see this fire coming. He had always expected her to have that professional demeanor broken by her frustration with his smart-aleck comments. She was genuinely taking this case to heart, and he was afraid to remind her of Homicide's dismal record for closing cases.

He took in a deep breath and pulled his notepad out of his breast pocket. "Did you get her friends' names? In case nothing pans out with House Hremorson?"

The question seemed to calm her; her hair settled back to its nearly-black color as she pulled out her own notepad. She had to flip through a few pages before replying (reading them slowly so Link could scribble the names down), "Bolton… Affini… Highland… and Gord. Bolton and Affini reported that they were in front of Fiametta at the time; they are likely to have been the targets if Fiametta wasn't."

"I take it we'll be interviewin' them next if nothing comes up."

"It's the next logical step, isn't it? Like you, I'm inclined to believe that this was a mistake on the shooter's part. It was a big mistake."

"Clearly," Link said. A flicker of red hair reminded him of her mood. "I mean… Yeah. Yeah, of course it was." He paused for a moment before asking, "Aren't you… takin' this a little personally?"

"Maybe. Is there a problem with that, Constable?"

Link's neck recoiled at her tone. "Yeah, if you don't want Watch Conduct lookin' at you."

Her hair flashed maroon for a moment. Then her face softened, and she heaved a sigh. "No. I suppose I am taking this personally. Between Reba's House slowly falling and now one of his friends' is coming to an end…"

Link nodded and said, "I'm with you, believe me. But I'm sure Wheatland'll have something to say if you're goin' at this breathin' fire the whole time. Uh…" He gave her a worried look. "Speakin' of Reba, do you… think we should let him know?"

"I had that thought, too, but I think Sir Hremorson would prefer to contact Reba himself. The first thing Reba will want to do is go to see him, and I'm certain Hremorson would like some warning first. Not to mention it doesn't look too professional to contact him about someone else's dead family member."

Link nodded. "Sooo… should we head out to find Layla now?"

"I'm going back to headquarters to contact the coroner's office. I want to ask if it would be possible to get Fiametta's autopsy done so that the Hremorsons can get her back as soon as they can."

"A courtesy?" Link asked with one eyebrow raised.

Navi pulled back one corner of her mouth before glancing down at the floor. "Iiii… I have to admit, this really bothers me. I'd like to at least put out something to help comfort them. You've already been told about our bad record for closing cases. If we can't close this one, I want to give them whatever courtesy we can afford."

Link heaved a sigh and put away his notepad. "Yeah, sounds fair enough," he told her as he leaned back.

Navi stared at him for a bit. Then she cleared her throat and asked, "Would Layla happen to have any offhand information about House Hremorson?"

Link clicked his tongue and said, "Nah, probably not. Layla's familiar with the folks in the East District; we lucked out with House Merrill. I 'magine it'll take her a couple days to reply to us; she'll have to see if any of the Guild in the Autumn District know anything. Might even take longer."

"Any information at all would be appreciated by this point, Link," Navi said.

Link blinked at her for a moment. "What'd you call me?"

Navi gave him an irritated glare and said, "Constable Fieldview."

"Aww," Link groaned, although he sported a large grin. "For a moment there, I thought we were getting a little friendlier."

"You must be hearing things, Fieldview, and that is an order."

"Yes, ma'am…" Link said, his head leaning back so that he could stare at the ceiling.

…

Navi disembarked at Watch headquarters, and Link directed White to Stable Road in the East District. He had to admit that he was a little bored traveling by himself. He did not have anyone to share ideas with nor was Navi around for him to make fun of. It left him alone with his thoughts, and he found himself dwelling on the Merrill case once again. However, this time, he was only thinking about it as a reference for this new case. He remembered that Merrill's killer had gone to some trouble to figure out Yoanna's itinerary and even knew where she would be at a specific time. He began to wonder if Hremorson's killer might have done the same thing. Each girl had a separate class schedule, surely, and it was possible that this new killer may have been following that schedule to find an opportune moment to strike. Maybe they should look at Fiametta's schedule along with those of her friends. He regretted that there was no way to check who might have looked at the schedule before the shooting, but Link kept in mind that the office staff might remember something about an unusual person asking for it perhaps a day or two before. It would be a long shot; such an encounter was easily insignificant enough at the moment and could be forgotten just as well. He would have to talk to Navi about it when he returned to headquarters.

White pulled onto a road leading onto Old Stable and stopped just as Link had instructed her. Link stepped out and looked up at her. "Sorry, White, but this is where you sit here and be bored again," he told her, his arms wide to indicate his helplessness.

White shrugged and leaned back. "Don't sweat it, Fieldview," she said. "This isn't much different from what I usually do anyway." Link almost turned away before White spoke up, "Just one question."

"Yeah?" Link asked.

"What are we doing here again?"

Link feigned a look of incredulity so that he could come up with an answer. Not that it was necessary; White was more interested in the clouds overhead. "Looking into noble affairs," he offered.

"Sounds boring," she said.

"I'm also visiting my girlfriend."

White let her eyes roll back down to look at him. "Really?" she said with a skeptical tone.

"Trust me, it makes more sense if you know me," Link told her. "But, if you're ever in trouble, she's a good person to turn to."

"Layla, right?"

Link raised an eyebrow. "You know her name?"

"You and Detective Sergeant Navi mentioned her name in front of me before. It sounds like she hates you, by the way."

Link shrugged. "I'm workin' on it. I'll be back in a few."

"Don't rush on my account, Fieldview," White said as Link started walking away.

"Enjoy that pay today!" Link fired back over his shoulder before he disappeared around the corner.

Link had directed her to a side street far enough from Layla's usual area so that he could avoid having to chase her again. He also crossed to the other side of the street so that her partner would not react to his presence by giving her the signal to run. He had not doubt that he could catch her again, but he was tired from the walking around he had done for most of the day and was hoping to not have to chase her through the East District.

Layla's elderly partner was focused on the foot traffic on the other side of the street, something he had to maintain since he had to be able to spot targets through the wagons and livestock that was constantly crossing in front of him. Link suspected that he still had some excellent sight for an old man since he had to be able to identify the nobles by their profiles and do it fast enough to send a signal Layla so that she could pick pockets. The tradeoff was that he had no idea of who was passing by him on his side of the street. He did not acknowledge Link's presences even after Link leaned a hip on the back of the bench.

So, Link spoke up, "Lot of noble faces in that newspaper, sir."

The elderly man gave a grunt of a chuckle. "Layla know you were coming?" he asked.

"I don't wanna spoil the surprise," Link told him.

The man folded the newspaper and set it next to him on the bench. He turned to rest his arm on the back of the bench so that he could see Link. "She told me you were working Homicide now. What are you doing back here?"

"What, I can't drop in to see my girlfriend?"

The man gave a more audible chuckle. "You really don't know when to quit, do you, Constable?"

"Haven't yet," Link said.

Both of them glanced at the street just in time to see Layla, donning a short, blond wig and a work jacket with unusually large pockets protruding from beneath the bottom hem, march across the road. "Uh oh," the man grunted. "She looks pissed."

"That's just a façade," Link assured him.

Once Layla set foot on the sidewalk beside the bench, she asked, "What the hell do you want now?"

The old man quickly held up a hand just as Link opened his mouth. "Now, before you say anything, Constable, can I at least get out of the way?" He indicated the white dress shirt he was wearing. "I don't want blood all over my good shirt."

"You're not being cute, Raynard," Layla told him.

"Who's being cute?" Raynard replied. "I'm serious."

"Fieldview, you're ruining my partner," Layla said. "It's bad enough you're still pestering me when you don't even work the East District. Do you have to get the people I work with to join in on your stupid shit?"

"What, did I catch you in the middle of a good haul?" Link asked.

Layla quickly clapped her mouth shut when she realized that she was about to answer the affirmative. Instead, she crossed her arms and told him, "No. It's been a bad day. Haven't even gotten a paper clip."

"Want mine?" Link asked as he reached into a pocket.

"I want you to go away."

Link pointed as he said, "But… I wanna chat with Ray."

"Now, Fieldview."

Link gave a dismissive wave as he told her, "Okay, okay, I'll stop. I'm here for another favor."

"What would that be?" Layla asked.

Link glanced back and forth down the street to make sure there was no one listening nearby. Then he reached into his breast pocket for his notepad. "There was a shooting this morning. Grand High Academy."

Raynard exchanged surprised looks with Layla before asking, "The academy of snobs, snots, and snoots?"

"Yep," Link said. "Another daughter of a noble was killed. The gunman shot her from across the campus."

"Whoa…" Layla breathed. She checked around before saying, "Someone must have been seriously pissed off if they shot her at the academy."

"Was anyone else hurt?" Raynard asked.

Link shook his head. "Just the one girl. There wasn't even a second shot."

"Know who she was?" Layla asked.

"Her name was Fiametta Hremorson, the only child of House Hremorson."

Layla and Raynard exchanged frowns. "Never heard of that one," Layla said.

"I'm not surprised," Link said with a nod. "They're a small House, and they live over in the Autumn District, so I imagine they don't come this way a lot."

"So why come to us?" Layla asked.

"Well, you Guild folks are all over the place," Link pointed out. "So, I assume you have a group around the academy, too. Right?"

"Well, around the academy is a little too risky for the Guild," Raynard said. "But, yeah, we have some Guild members in the Autumn District."

Link ripped a page out of his notepad and offered it out to Layla. "We'd like to know what you can tell us about these Houses," he explained.

Layla took the page and opened it. "Are these supposed to be suspects?" she asked.

"No," Link said. "Hremorson was one of five girls that were grouped together when she was shot; these are her friends. We don't know if she was specifically targeted or if the shooter hit the wrong girl and decided to leave before he could fix it. We need to know if there's anything about these Houses that would make them a target."

"This is almost like the Merrill shooting you were working last week," Layla commented. "It almost sounds the same, anyway. What good is targeting the daughter supposed to do?"

Link shrugged. "Like I said, we don't know if she was supposed to be the target or not."

"What kind of House was she in?" Raynard asked.

"A knight House," Link said. "The guy splits his time between competition and duty to the Royal Family. And… well, according to Detective Sergeant Navi, he's actually friends with House Brettson; he's the guy who patroned our entries into the Watch."

"Yours and… who's?" Layla asked, her face betraying confusion.

"My partner, DS Navi," Link said. "She introduced us."

Raynard shook his head. "Knight Houses gain their prominence from service to the Royal Family," he said. "They aren't the most prestigious, but they seem to do well enough. It honestly sounds like your gunman shot the wrong person."

Link nodded and told him, "That's why we'd like to examine the girl's friends without buttin' in. We figure that, with as little turnin' up in House Hremorson, our gunman might've actually shot the wrong girl, so we'd like to look at all of them."

"This might take a bit," Layla told him.

Link put on a disappointed look and said, "Yeah, that's what I told DS Navi. But we need that information as soon as we can get it."

"Why so fast?" Layla asked.

Link scratched the back of his head. "Well, like I said, Lord Hremorson's friends with the House that sponsored me into the Watch. DS Navi is… not takin' this well. I told you Hremorson only had the one daughter, right?"

"I think you said something about that," Layla said. "Why?

"Well, it turns out that his wife is barren. The daughter was their only child, so the House is probably gonna collapse once Lord Hremorson passes away."

"That's rather sad," Raynard said, shifting uncomfortably. "I'd cheer any other noble into a grave, but… a knight House? Yeah, there must have been a mistake."

"That's what we wanna know," Link said. "And we need to know fast. DS Navi's tryin' to extend whatever courtesy we can while we look for this guy. She also wants to know everything she can. House Hremorson is on its way to simply fadin' out, so the least we could do is find out who arranged this."

Layla contemplated the list for a moment. Then she asked Raynard, "What do you think?"

Raynard looked up at the sky. "Well, it's too late to get over there now," he told her. "We should try early tomorrow morning; the sooner we get the Guild moving on this, the sooner we can get you that information. Though… how many names do you have on that list?"

"Five," Link answered.

Raynard nodded. "It might take some time to get the information together."

"I'll bring it by," Layla said.

Link gave her a smug look. "I thought I'd never get you to come to me," he said.

"For DS Navi," Layla told him, her glare returning. "You can go drown in the Zora River."