Chapter Twenty-Seven: Rotten Morning in the City

…

Link returned to White to find her actually falling asleep in the carriage's driver seat and knocked on the side to startle her awake. After trading comments, he requested her to drive back to headquarters. The sun had disappeared behind the taller buildings by the time they arrived, appropriate enough since Link's stomach was growling. He wanted to run off to find something quick for dinner, but he reconsidered it since Navi was probably waiting.

When he reached Homicide's squad room, Navi was at her desk, pen in hand as she filled out paperwork with an angry scowl on her face. She was not so focused that she missed Link entering, and she immediately looked up when he stepped up to the front of her desk. "What did Layla have to say?" she asked, her tone professional.

"Well, like I figured, she didn't know anything about Hremorson," Link answered. "It's too late for them to get to the crew in the Autumn District, but they'll be out there tomorrow morning."

"'They'?" Navi asked.

"Yeah, Layla and Raynard," Link said. Navi just stared at him. "Raynard? Her partner?" Navi shook her head. "Old fart on the bench?"

Navi gave an annoyed grunt. "How am I supposed to know who you're talking about when you've never mentioned his name?" she asked.

Link shrugged. "I thought I told you already."

Navi sighed. "Well, I called Teun after I got back," she said. "He put Hremorson's body on the priority list, but it doesn't mean much; the Watch is always on the priority list."

Link glanced around to see that the only other ones in the office were Detective Inspectors Dover and Bohn, both immersed in their paperwork. "How many bodies does the Watch have lined up?"

"At the rate assignments are given out around here, maybe four or five," Navi said. "Unless someone signs off on skipping the autopsy, we'll have to wait a couple days."

"Ugh…" Link grunted.

"Keeping in mind, of course, that not all the bodies for the Watch are necessarily murders," Navi told him. "We cover any sort of death that occurs in public or with suspicious circumstances. We've even had people call the Watch to report natural deaths mostly because they don't know what to do next."

"DS Navi?" Link turned to find Winterbean approaching from the squad room's doorway. "Just got a call from a…" He paused to check the note in his hand. "Sergeant Ingelson from the Autumn District's office. He said he made contact with Clover Raneri, and she confirms meeting Mister Vadas after school, going home with him, and… sleeping with him." The last comment, emphasized by Winterbean's apprehension in saying it aloud, caught Dover and Bohn's attention, their heads raised in intrigue. Their responses did not go unnoticed by Winterbean, who cleared his throat before adding, "She reported that she spent the whole night and most of the morning with him."

"Thank you, sir," Navi replied while Link aimed an amused look in the other detectives' direction. "Constable, I think it's safe to say that Mister Vadas' moment of passion is not grounds to make him a suspect."

"Unless he could put in a call to a professional while he's still in bed," Link said. "Phones reach that far?" Dover snorted in response.

Navi sighed. "It was a long shot anyway," she said. "Vadas may be a hotheaded idiot, but I doubt if he could easily set this up overnight. We're looking for someone who has had a grievance with Hremorson much longer than him."

"Who does that leave you with?" Winterbean asked.

"No suspects, sir," Navi said. "We're going to speak with friends of Hremorson in case this professional missed his mark." She sighed again and said to herself, "This will not be easy."

"Wouldn't really expect trackin' a professional gunman would be easy," Link said.

"Again?" Winterbean asked. "Like your first case?"

Link shrugged and said, "We've been lucky like that, I guess, sir."

"I'd've thought Wheatland would be taking it easy on you two."

"I suspect he was, sir," Navi said. "You can hardly expect to solve a random shooting in the middle of the East District, but things got complicated when the victim's organs went missing."

"Did the coroner turn up with anything on that front?"

"She found a bunch of old case files where organ theft was noted. Nothing like our victim, but there is some hope that, if her organs were taken for transplanting into others, we'll have other victims show up right beside Yoanna Merrill's organs." She shrugged and added, "Well, if you can call that sort of thing 'hope'. It's…"

"Actually… kinda gruesome now that you said it," Link commented. Navi nodded her head in agreement.

Winterbean turned to Dover and Bohn. "Either of you working something like that?"

Dover glanced down at his paperwork and shrugged. "Drowned body in the Zora River and two shootings in the East District, sir," he said. "Nothing about a mysterious death from a bad organ."

"Bohn?" Winterbean prompted.

Bohn had to turn over a form quickly. "Nothing since that suicide a couple weeks ago," he said. "I'm just doing a little follow-up paperwork before I shut it."

"Didn't I give you an assignment two days ago?"

"That robbery? They already had the guy, sir. That was just the usual courtesy."

"Oh…" Winterbean clicked his tongue and turned back to Navi. "You might have better luck asking the day shift."

"It'd certainly be worth it solving that case," Link commented.

"Agreed, Constable," Navi said, "but, until something comes up, we focus on Hremorson."

"What's your next move, then?" Winterbean asked.

"Well, sir, assuming Hremorson's killing might have been an accident," Navi told him, "we keep to the plan to interview her friends, um… what were the—Bolton and Affini. They were standing in front of Hremorson when she was shot. We'll see to it in the morning; it's getting late to be calling on them now."

"You have addresses?"

Navi nodded and said, "One of the district officers retrieved them for me before we left, sir." She glanced at Link. "I don't suppose you have any other ideas."

Link shrugged as if to say he was not sure, and then he snapped his fingers as he remembered something. "Oh, there was one other thing," he told her. "I don't know how well it'll pan out, but we ought to ask the academy about the girls' schedules."

"What schedules?" Winterbean asked. "Their class schedules?"

Link nodded and continued, "If this shooter set himself up by followin' one of the girls, he probably got her schedule. Definitely goes toward the idea that he'd been stalkin' her for a while. We might even luck out if the office staff happens to remember someone nosin' one of the girls' schedules."

Navi pulled out her notepad and flipped it open. "Well…" she said as she looked at the list. "… Okay, Affini lives in the Castlefoot District… And Bolton is in the Telma District, so we can interview her first, and then we should probably stop by the academy's main office and check on the schedules."

Dover chuckled and spoke up, "I like this kid. That's a pretty sharp move. Whether it gives you something to work with or not."

"You had that same revelation during the Merrill case," Navi commented. "Do you often try to pry into a person's routine?"

Link shrugged and said, "If they got a routine, why not ask about it? Especially if someone else is using it against them."

"Agreed," Winterbean said. "And I certainly hope something comes up. I'd hate to see you put this work into it and come up empty."

"So would we," Link said.

"Uh, sir, one other thing," Navi spoke up. "And I'm telling you this in case I forget to at least mention it to Wheatland. Um… I don't know what kind of relation you might see it as, but Constable Fieldview and I may have a connection to House Hremorson."

Winterbean folded his arms. "How so?"

"Our entry into the Watch was sponsored by House Brettson. Brettson has a close association with House Hremorson; both are knight Houses of the same order, and they communicate regularly."

Winterbean shrugged. "That's it?"

"Well… I don't know Lord Hremorson personally," Navi admitted. "I just thought I'd say something."

"I'm sure it seems like a prudent thing to say," Winterbean said. "But unless you want to confess that you're being bought by Hremorson through Brettson, I don't really see any conflict."

Link shrugged and said, "Well, we don't really have that much contact with Brettson. I haven't heard anything from him since I joined."

"Do you think you should be taken off the case?" Winterbean asked Navi.

"I… I mainly just want to know if our working the case looks suspicious," Navi said. "I don't believe there's any conflict, but I would rather be safe about it."

"Well, if anything happens, Watch Conduct might have some questions about it. But, really, I don't see anything wrong. Just make sure everything is done according to regulations."

"What about Wheatland?"

Winterbean shrugged. "I won't worry about saying anything. You're welcome to, just to make sure he's at least aware of it, but there's no need to stress over it."

Navi nodded. "Yes, sir." She heaved a sigh. "Well, that's partially out of the way." She leaned back in her chair. "Constable, I think we're done for the day. I'll start writing up our report, and we'll start with the Bolton House tomorrow morning."

"I'll leave a transport request for the morning," Winterbean said. "You should be able to head out as soon as you get here."

"Whoa, how early are we talking?" Link asked with concern in his tone.

"We should probably be early enough to catch Miss Bolton before she goes to school," Navi told him. "If she gets to school, we technically can't interview her anymore."

"Really?" Link asked. "We can't?"

While Navi shook her head, Winterbean explained, "Standard procedure lets us interview victims of any age at the scene soonest after an incident occurs. But, if we need to do a follow-up interview, we have to do it in the presence of their parents. You can thank the nobility for that one. They put that through years ago because their kids are too stupid to keep their mouths shut."

Link sighed. "I miss Ordon. It's a lot easier to capitalize on stupidity."

Winterbean chuckled. "I'm sure it is, but my experience says that stupidity doesn't necessitate guilt. Procedure all the way, Constable."

"Yes, sir…"

…

The next morning, Link had an early start due to waking up before his alarm clock could sound. Unlike before, now that he at least had a taste of how homicide cases went, he was not so focused on it that he was losing sleep again. He had actually gotten to sleep earlier that night and slept through the night. That was not to say that he did not dedicate any time to thinking about the case; it was easily the first thing on his mind as he dressed for the day. However, the current collection of facts and evidence did not yield any solid conclusions even after a well-spent night of rest. He hoped that the visits to the other girls' houses would turn up something they could investigate.

He picked up a potato scone for breakfast on his way to Watch headquarters. He had the last bite in his mouth when he tackled traversal through the main lobby, and he almost spat it out when he took an elbow to the stomach from a struggle between two patrol officers and a woman who had suddenly decided that she would steal the manacles she wore and tried to bolt with Link almost directly behind her. He decided it was easier to swallow it and deal with the resulting lump in his throat than lose the last bit of his breakfast; he probably would not get anything else to eat until their interviews were done.

Two seconds after getting out of the lobby, he found the nearest restroom so that he could get a drink of water out of the sink to wash down the food stuck in his throat. Not that the sink water was fit for drinking, but he was willing to chance being sick if it at least meant he could swallow again.

When he came into Homicide's squad room, he looked miserable. Wheatland, who was leaning on the front of Navi's desk, stood up straighter and folded his arms together. "Something wrong, Constable Fieldview?" he asked with a neutral tone.

"It's… too much of a story for me to explain," Link answered.

"Can you work?"

Link belched and slapped a hand over his mouth. "Yes, sir…" he groaned while DS Gray chucked from his desk.

Navi sighed and stood up. "Then let's move, Constable," she told him. "The sooner we reach the Bolton house, the less we delay her. Even the even-tempered nobles get impatient." Link moaned in response.

RI-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I—! Without warning, a bell sounded from out in the hallway. No, Link quickly realized as everyone in the office froze. The whole building was ringing; he could hear the off-tone ringing of another bell echoing from further down the hallway.

DS Gray and DS Crosswind stood up from their desks and immediately started for the front of the office. Wheatland had already stepped toward Link, so Link felt Wheatland take a handful of Link's shoulder from seemingly out of nowhere and pull just as the two older detectives charged past.

Link stumbled and caught himself on the wall. Then he turned and ask, "What? What's going on?"

Wheatland held up a finger and looked at the ceiling. After another minute, the bells quit sounding. Wheatland heaved a sigh. "Call for rifle squads," he then told Link.

Link's eyebrows raised. "Rifle squads?" he asked.

Not that Link did not know what the "rifle squads" were. The rifle squads of the City Watch operated as the elite firearms and tactical teams in the police. Long-range shooting, storm and detain, riot control, anti-siege, hostage negotiations… To say that the rifle squad officers were the most well-trained individuals overlooked their versatility and danger, especially since these officers were also trained to serve among any of the smaller divisions in the Watch, including being on-hand at the district stations. This made Watch officers quite dangerous, as there was no way to tell when one of them was trained for the rifle squads. Link had a new admiration for Gray and Crosswind, knowing that they had put in the time and training to respond to calls far more dangerous than any task a single division had.

Navi heaved a sigh and sat back down at her desk loud enough that she caught Link's attention. "Well, so much for getting there early…" she groaned to herself.

"Huh?" Link asked, confused by the change in tone. "What? What is it?"

Wheatland also heaved a sigh. "Well, when the rifle squads get called out," he said, "everyone loses their ride. Any carriage sitting and waiting out there has just become the rifle squads' rides."

Link glanced back and forth at them before asking, "Including ours? We're investigatin' a murder!"

"Sometimes, they'll stop a carriage just as it's leaving," Navi said as she leaned back in the chair. "The rifle squads get top priority. Any other police drivers on standby are now hitching up the wagons to transport them."

"As soon as the clear signal sounds, I'll go get you another transport."

Navi sighed and shook her head. "No need, sir," she said. "We were going to interview one of the girls from the shooting. She'll probably be at school by the time we get there now."

"Well, we can still go to the school and ask about the girls' schedules," Link pointed out. "Get that out of the way at least."

"Have you two considered speaking to any of the teachers there?" Wheatland asked Navi.

"I suppose we can try, sir," Navi replied, "but I'm not that confident. You're talking about adults that have to monitor hundreds of these noble kids at a time."

"Maybe, but I would think the two officers who received patronage from Sir Brettson would be more inclined to pursue every avenue of possibility," Wheatland told her. Navi's eyebrows raised as she sat up straighter. Wheatland gave a silent chuckle. "Winterbean told me earlier this morning. I'm not concerned about the connection. Just do your duty, Detective Sergeant, Constable."

Navi nodded as she and Link chimed, "Yes, sir."

"So," he said as he crossed his arms. "Carriage or not?"

Navi heaved a sigh. "Well, after that kind of comment, sir," she answered, "we might as well see what the teachers and the school have to say."

Wheatland chuckled and turned to leave. Then he stopped as DS Jester walked in with a hand over his nose. "What happened to you?" Wheatland asked.

"One of the guys down the hallway popped me in the face with the restroom door as I was stepping out," Jester said through a nasally voice. "Sir, permission to make an infirmary run?"

"Just make sure you don't run into the rifle squads on the way out," Wheatland told him as he jerked a thumb toward the main lobby. Jester nodded and immediately spun to leave. "Watch out for the squads leaving!" Wheatland called behind him.

Link and Navi did not say anything as they watched Wheatland follow behind Jester. Then Link turned and rested his forehead on the wall. "This is turnin' into a rough day…" he groaned.

"If the rifle squads are being called out," Navi said, "then there's something going on elsewhere that's just escalated beyond a few patrol officers."

Link waved a weak hand at her. "Yeah, yeah, I got the lecture on the squads, too."

Navi gave him a difficult look. "Are you sure you can work today? You look like you're a little sick."

"I got a lump of food stuck in my throat, so I got a drink of water from the sink in the washroom down the hall."

Navi crossed her arms. "That water wasn't for drinking, Constable. Why didn't you use the fountain further down the hall?"

"I wanted to be able to swallow again."

She pointed and said, "Why don't you go drink some filtered water before we get going? I'd rather not have a partner that's fit to throw up walk into the Grand High Academy with me."

Link sighed and replied, "Yeah, sure…"

He stepped one… two… three… four steps toward the door. Then he quickly found the trash can next to Wheatland's desk and heaved into it.

…

The all-clear bell sounded about half an hour later, which Navi explained meant that the building could return to its usual functions instead of having to keep the hallways and lobby mostly clear for the rifle squads to move out. Wheatland returned about fifteen minutes afterward with news that their carriage was being readied. With Link's stomach purged and cleansed with a fresher drink of water, the duo left.

They did not have much to talk about during the ride. Link still felt a little nauseous, and it was keeping him from being chatty. Instead, both brooded on what they might glean from the evidence they were about to obtain. Link felt that, once he had an idea of how Hremorson and her friends wandered the campus from day to day, he might find other areas where the killer could have plotted to shoot from. He wondered if the killer was just unlucky to find that the location he chose made the shot difficult (in which case it was easier to conclude that he had shot the wrong victim) or if he was really using the fountain to conceal himself from them (which might mean that he was afraid that one of the girls in particular might have recognized him if he failed to kill her). He would not have a definite answer until they saw the schedules, but, if nothing came of interviewing the staff, he wondered if it would be worth it to speak to Lord and Lady Hremorson about any kind of routine her daughter had. It was beginning to frustrate him that it was difficult to conclude that Hremorson was the target; it just multiplied the possibilities.

Navi, meanwhile, had gone back to what she remembered of Hremorson's corpse and asked herself if there was anything of note. Her immediate response was no. It was a straightforward shooting, a bullet through what was most likely her heart. Of course, she was not expecting something outrageous like Merrill's case, but she wondered if there was something else in play. She was still struggling with the belief that the killer had intended to shoot her through the fountain. As Link had described, it was a very difficult shot to make. But, according to the cops at the scene yesterday, there were no marks on the fountain to indicate a ricochet. That made her wonder if there was something magical about the way this was performed. Magic could not be tracked, but, where there was magic, there was the potential for tracking down someone capable of performing such magic. She wondered if she still had some contacts outside the city.

Their driver brought them as close as he could to the main building of the school about an hour and a half later, part of their path cleared by the rush of the rifle squads scaring traffic off the roads around the headquarters building. When they stepped inside, they had to ask a passing adult, whom they had expected to be a teacher, where to inquire about students' schedules. The man gave them directions to the Records office in one wing of the building. Once they found the office and went in, their presence caused most of the activity inside to ground to a halt. One student took a waiting form and exited through another door further down.

An elderly woman sitting at the counter closest to them stood up. "Officers," she greeted with a formal tone. "Can I help you?"

"I'm Detective Sergeant Navi of the Watch," Navi said as she stepped closer to the woman. "We're with the Homicide division. We would like to ask a few questions about the victim of yesterday's shooting."

"I would expect that the young woman's teachers or perhaps even the administration would be able to help you, Detective," the woman said. "What can the Records office do for you?"

"We were hoping to obtain a copy of the victim's class schedule."

The woman clicked her tongue at them a few times, causing Link to flash an irritated look. "I am afraid, Detective," she said, "that that is not possible. All student records are considered privileged information. If you wish to see the young woman's records, you will have to get authorization from the young woman herself."

Navi maintained a neutral face, but both Link and the secretary noticed her hair shift to a lighter shade of blue for a moment. "You do understand that the 'young woman' is dead, right?" Navi asked her.

The woman shook her head. "Even deceased, the young woman has a right to privacy. We cannot allow these records to be so easily accessed; it would leave our students vulnerable."

Navi crossed her arms, her hair flickering to bright blue once more. "Vulnerable to what, ma'am?"

The woman was taken aback by the way Navi's hair changed and took a moment to compose herself. "Well, all sorts of noble posturing and blackmail, of course. It has been a rule at this academy for a long time that any records made by a student here remain sealed for their protection."

"Fiametta Hremorson is dead," Navi pointed out. "What is there to protect?"

The woman gave a huff as if the answer was obvious. She still obliged Navi with, "Why, the young woman's family, of course. Even deceased, the security of her records could mean the difference between House Hremorson's safety or its desolation."

"Excuse me," Link spoke up. "What about her family? Would they be able to access them?"

The secretary shook her head. "Not without the young woman's permission," she answered.

"Ma'am, we are the police," Navi pointed out. "That information could be evidence in the young woman's murder."

The secretary scoffed. "That may be, Detective," she said. "Or it may be that the information is useless to you, and this academy is liable if that information were to so easily pass into another's hands without permission."

Link caught Navi's hair flare to red and quickly stepped to her side. "Uh, look," he said to the secretary before Navi could get another word out. "We're fightin' time on this matter. Is there anyone else authorized to access her records?"

"Only the secretarial staff is allowed to view students' records," the woman said, her face giving a disgusted response to Link's voice.

"What about the headmaster?"

The woman stared at Link for a few seconds, her face struggling not to reveal frustration. Link's eyebrows twitched upward; he was not expecting to annoy her so easily. She closed her eyes and let out a deep breath. "If you two officers will wait here a moment, I shall… make an inquiry on your behalf," she said. With that, she moved to the door in the countertop, exited, and left the office with her shoes sharply clicking against the smooth stone floor like she was trying to chip it away with each step.

Navi turned to Link, and Link gave her a cheesy grin. "Think I struck a nerve?" he asked.

Navi sighed and said, "I never thought that irritating smugness of yours would actually be useful."

Link shrugged. "I wasn't even tryin' to be smug. It was just an honest question."