Chapter Twenty-Eight: All This Just for Some Schedules?

…

Link and Navi waited in the office for about twenty minutes before the secretary returned. And she had brought someone with her.

Duke Allight Insallar, headmaster of the academy. A tall, thin man who wore a navy-blue long coat and pressed slacks, Link had the impression he was more of a politician than any other noble he had met before. He invited Link and Navi to join him for tea in his office while the staff retrieved the information they had asked for. How he had managed to make it sound like pulling information out of a filing cabinet would take the rest of the morning, Link was not sure. As he escorted them to his office on the second floor, Link recalled Wheatland's warning about the staff attempting to cover anything that might bring about disrepute to the school. He had a sense that this man would be the kind of person who would rather cover things up, so he quickly decided that most of what this man was going to say would likely be as technically true as he could make it.

Unlike the painted stone walls of the rest of the building, the headmaster's office looked to have been built of fine wood. Three different rugs adorned the floor, most of the shelving and cabinetry looked hand-carved, and his furniture was of a very expensive design. The desk itself, which looked too large to have fit through the door, could have covered Link's expenses for a decade at least. Two deer trophies decorated the middle of both walls adjacent to the door, forever staring each other down. To the left was a corner with a chimney, where a small, round table sat flanked by a velvet-covered, high-backed chair and a smaller lounge chair. Sitting on top of it waited a steaming pot of tea and a stacked tray bearing snacks.

The headmaster directed them to the small table and poured cups for Navi and himself (whether he was neglecting Link on purpose or not, there was no indication; there were two extra cups on the table). Navi sat in the smaller chair, the headmaster having quickly positioned himself in front of the tall chair as if he feared someone else would sit in it. Link did not feel like lingering nearby, so he crossed to the opposite side of the room and started examining the texts on one bookshelf.

Navi and the duke sipped tea in silence for a moment. And then the duke spoke up, "I apologize, I haven't heard your name yet."

"Detective Sergeant Navi of the Watch, My Lord," Navi answered. She nodded to Link, who glanced over his shoulder in response to her. "This is my partner, Constable Fieldview."

The duke inclined his head. "Detective Sergeant. I hope you can forgive my staff their rudeness. As you can imagine, these are highly unusual circumstances."

"I can appreciate that, My Lord. It isn't as if your staff can anticipate one of your students being shot on your campus."

"Indeed. I understand your need to gather evidence, but I am somewhat confused as to what you intend to discover with a student's records."

Navi set the teacup on the table. "My Lord, we believe that the shooter was a professional marksman. He made a killing shot through that fountain in the middle of campus, and he thought to clean up traces that he had been there before escaping. The fact that no one mentioned seeing a suspicious person leave also seems to be an indication. We hoped to see her class schedule. With this professionalism, we suspect he stalked her, so we need to know what her routine was."

"Ah, I see." He set down his own cup and leaned back in his chair with his fingers steepled together. "I hope you understand, even deceased, a student has a right to privacy and security. My staff have been instructed to defend even the smallest piece of our records with their lives; they will easily yield to none other than the rest of the staff."

"Even against the police? Your student was murdered on this campus."

The duke heaved a sigh. "Yes, I suppose the reasoning fails them. Believe me, I take no pride in being so obstructive. You've heard of my predecessor, Duke Harmon Baynight?"

Navi had to pause as she tried to remember the name. "He was headmaster here… nearly fifty years ago, right?"

"Fifty-seven years ago come the end of the semester. He had a… decidedly naturalistic approach to the way he ran this academy."

Navi shook her head. "I'm sorry, a naturalistic approach, My Lord?"

"Edgat Robins." Navi and Insallar looked at Link, who had turned and raised the book he was perusing. "The theory of competitive naturalism, the idea that livin' organisms earn the right to survive by defeatin', even killin', others of their species to ensure their own kids get born."

"A basic overview, young man. But quite accurate." He crossed his arms. "How intriguing. A member of the Watch has read Robins?"

Link shrugged. "Takes time to chew cud, My Lord." Navi, unseen by the headmaster, pressed a hand over her face while her hair turned white.

The headmaster deigned to crack a small smile at Link's joke. "Indeed," he said. "Tell me, young man. What is your opinion of his theories?"

Link turned and replaced the book. "I think he'd've done a lot better writin' it if he hadn't just killed five of his critics and threw his first wife off a cliff. He kept sayin' one thing and then contradicting himself right on the next page. He went so far out his way to justify attackin' people just barely involved with him the courts could've probably used his own book as evidence."

"How did you find him contradictory, Constable?" Insallar asked, his voice tinged with an intrigue that made Navi do a double take in perplexation at the fact that the headmaster was actually enjoying a discussion with Constable Link Fieldview.

Link shrugged and said, "It's all over the place; I don't think you can deny it, My Lord. At least five times, he uses Din's attribute of a warlike state of strength as divine providence for the basic nature of conflict, and then the second half of the book simply says 'The goddesses are a sham brought about to appease the meek and shackle them for the strong'. He flipflops between praising women for havin' a defined role in society and procreation, then he spends the next chapter sayin' women are disposable once the man makes her bear kids to adulthood. The guy was a sadist; he left instructions on the best ways to cheat and dispose of a critic and wanted to establish the use of at-home executions so that others would see people die to the master's gallows and obey his orders just to stay alive."

Navi blinked in surprise and turned to look at Insallar. Insallar sported a humored grin. "A very… policeman-like analysis, Constable," he said with a nod. "And quite accurate to the content of the text itself. Robins was a sadist. It was a sad time that allowed his vulgarity to be published, as it is equally sad that his work is still read to this day. The nobility seems to prefer to take the smaller pieces of the text and leave the larger picture unacknowledged, so it is quite refreshing to see that at least someone is capable of seeing the work for what it is."

"Is this text taught here, My Lord?" Navi asked.

Insallar turned his smile to her. "Only in a course of writers' ethics," he told her. "The only reason these young men and women have these vulgar interpretations of Robins is because their parents grew up with the same thing and they lack the sense to see the contradictions in the text. As you can imagine, the former Duke Baynight wasn't that well-educated. Such writings were the basis for his policies in this academy, and he put the students themselves in danger of political rivals not just within these walls, but from the outside. Our rules may seem absurd and restrictive to you, Detective Sergeant, but the alternative has led to far too much tragedy in the past."

"I can appreciate the reasons why, My Lord," Navi said. "But Miss Hremorson's schedule may reveal details important to our investigation. We would also like the opportunity to question her teachers."

Insallar cleared his throat. "Of course, I have no intention of impeding your investigation, Detective Sergeant. As we have been speaking, I have asked my staff to retrieve the schedules of Miss Hremorson, Miss Bolton, Miss Gord, Miss Highland, and Miss Affini. I trust you do not need Mister Vadas' schedule anymore?" Link raised an eyebrow.

Navi had also caught onto the list of names and asked, "You… you're familiar with this group, My Lord?"

"It hardly comes as a surprise that you may be interested in this group, Detective Sergeant. They have been noted by my staff to be… quite close to one another. They rarely leave any one of them out of their regular activities, and… I have had to discipline them together on at least two occasions that I can remember. 'Familiar', Detective Sergeant, is somewhat of an understatement."

"Troublemakers, My Lord?" Navi asked.

"With some of the other female groups on campus," he answered with a slow nod. "Young Miss Hremorson is usually at the forefront of such confrontation, but her friends are quite loyal."

Navi crossed her arms. "Just… what kind of trouble are we talking about, My Lord?"

"Well, I can only confirm one fistfight on this campus," Insallar replied. "Miss Hremorson has an astounding reputation for punching others. Most young ladies would rather retreat. The one that did not led her own group into a… rather one-sided brawl. Both groups have learned to stay away from each other."

"What exactly is the nature of these fights, My Lord?"

Insallar gave a chuckle. "I am afraid that I cannot be very certain. Argument over courting young men, perhaps? Or just the general disparity between Houses. I am sure you've noticed that House Hremorson is not among the elite circles of nobility." He chuckled once more. "Her etiquettes teacher has been hard-pressed to educate Miss Hremorson in the values of not attacking adversaries."

"Must've been a losing battle…" Link commented to himself.

"Of course, all of this infamy belittles some of their contributions to this academy," Insallar continued. "Their reputation has been a driving force among some of the smaller Houses whose children attend this school. I do not mean by just the fact that they start fights or prank the greater Houses' children. Among the smaller Houses, there is a stronger call for more… physical education, sports being among the more popular pastimes. The joust, sword fighting, wrestling (a favorite of the young men, naturally), the javelin, swimming, foot and horse racing… Miss Hremorson and her group playing these sorts of games on campus when they were barely new students themselves brought about interest enough that we established it as part of the curriculum. While there is no practicality to learning these pastimes for the greater Houses, even some of those students find some pleasure in them. I don't suppose you would care to guess where Miss Hremorson started."

Navi frowned and shook her head. "I'm… not sure, My Lord."

"Constable?" Insallar asked as he turned to Link.

Link gave half of a smile and said, "My money'd be on the joust; seemed to be her dad's favorite."

"The girls donned buckets over their heads and ran at each other with mop handles tied at one end with pillows," Insallar said. "Although meant to spite a teacher for punishing them for throwing pillows at one another, some of the other students descended from the knighthood thought that it was a brilliant form of play. The teachers protested this as 'horseplay', but the student body, including some of the greater Houses, continued to push. Soon, we were flooded with requests for more games. I hired some of the local tournament organizers to put together a curriculum and teach the children the proper way of participating in these official games. Some of our graduated students have even introduced their Houses into the tournament circuits." He looked as if he was about to say more, but he was interrupted when the elderly woman from the Records office knocked on the doorframe. "Ah, yes, Ms. Vaughan," he said, raising a hand toward her. "Please come in." The elderly woman approached the headmaster and offered a stack of folders to him. "Are these the students I requested?"

"Yes, Headmaster," was Ms. Vaughan's response. "Fiametta Hremorson, Jessica Affini, Sarita Highland, Catrina Gord, and Priscilla Bolton."

"Detective," Insallar said as he took the folders and set them on the table, "is there anything you would like to ask the head of the Records office before her dismissal?"

Navi shook her head. "Nothing I can think of. Constable?"

"Yeah, I got one," Link said. "Has anyone reported a break-in in the Records office?"

Insallar raised an eyebrow. "You do not wish to inquire if anyone had previously attempted to access the records of any of these young ladies?" he asked.

"Considerin' the amount of trouble we had gettin' 'em, I doubt anyone else wanted to try," Link said. "It'd be easier breakin' in."

"Then, I hope you don't mind that I inquire about other attempts to access these records," Insallar said. "Ms. Vaughan?"

Ms. Vaughan shook her head. "No, Headmaster, no one has attempted to ask for these young ladies' records," she said. "Even if they had, they would have been among the dozen or so individuals we have inquire for others' records nearly every week. Nor has anyone on my staff reported a break-in. None of our files are damaged, and none of our locks broken." Link, to Navi's confusion, gave a half-grin and nodded in satisfaction of the answer. "Will there be anything further, Headmaster?"

"Did you bring a map of the campus as well?" Insallar asked.

"Yes, Headmaster, in between the folders."

Insallar picked up a pair of folders and found a couple sheets of paper in between. "Yes, of course. Detective, do you require anything further?"

"Are there reports of any incidents between these girls and others, My Lord?" Navi asked. "We may need to question the other students who might have had altercations with them."

Insallar shook his head and said, "I am sorry, Detective, but such records no longer exist. I have always been of the opinion that a new school year starts with a fresh beginning; all incident reports from the previous years have been destroyed."

"What about this year?" Navi asked.

"You will find any incident from this year will be noted in the girls' records," Insallar said. "However, if you need more concise details, we can provide you with a full report."

Navi picked up the top folder and opened it. After a quick glance, she closed it and said, "It doesn't seem like much has happened, My Lord."

"The semester is not even half over," Insallar pointed out. "These girls don't necessarily go looking for trouble."

Navi nodded and asked, "Do you mind if we take these with us, My Lord? We're due to meet with Miss Affini's and Miss Bolton's families; we won't have enough time to make inquiries at this moment."

Insallar nodded and said, "I asked Ms. Vaughan to make copies; the originals are still with our records, naturally. I just ask that, unless your investigation turns up some important leads, they be destroyed to protect our students' privacy."

"You have our word, My Lord."

…

Link and Navi told their driver to find them someplace to eat. Given that they would be wandering the Telma District, this took them a few moments because the driver could at least acknowledge that neither officer actually had the funds to eat at a high-end place that catered more toward its noble residents. This gave them about half an hour to look through some of the girls' records and get a sense of how they would be moving throughout the regular day. Jessica Affini's route seemed especially chaotic, having to cross the courtyard four times to get between classes. The other girls were a little difficult to trace.

When their driver pulled up to a small sandwich shop, Link and Navi ordered and took the records to a corner table, one of the larger tables in the shop, and spread things out. The two debated back and forth until they realized that they were confusing themselves looking at different schedules. By the time their sandwiches were ready, Link had taken out a pencil and plotted the girls' routes on the map they had been given.

When he was done, he dropped the pencil on the table and leaned back in the chair. "Okay, well… there we are," he told Navi before one hand picked up half a sandwich.

Navi, one hand occupied, turned the map to better read Link's handwriting. He had drawn lines back and forth and scribbled the girls' surnames to keep them straight. As expected, the girls' routes met at least once in the courtyard; she could tell because between classes three and four (in other words, their third and fourth classes of the day) was where all five had a line cross the middle of the map. Navi checked the closest schedule, which was Catrina Gord's, and saw that the time appeared to coincide with about the time it would have taken for Homicide to be notified almost an hour later. She at least hoped she had the timeline right; Link having stolen out for lunch made it hard to say if it was accurate. Still, considering that the group of five did not meet in that courtyard at any other time, it was a decent conclusion.

She slid the map back to Link and asked, "So, Constable. See anything that makes this worthwhile?"

Link took a bite of his sandwich while he contemplated the map. Then he looked at one of the schedules when he realized something. "We… we may have a problem," he told her.

Navi halted taking a bite of her sandwich to respond with, "What's that?"

"I think we might've overlooked something." Link returned the map and pointed as he said, "I think Fiametta Hremorson was the target."

Navi raised an eyebrow at him. "Really? What makes you say that?"

Link looked down at the map. "Because…" He had to pause as he tried to get a better grasp of what he had been thinking moments ago. "There were so many other opportunities to target the other girls, there's no reason the shooter had to wait until that moment." He indicated the courtyard and said, "This one, uh… Affini. She goes through that courtyard twice without them. Why wait until she's surrounded by friends?"

"I don't know, Constable. She may have other friends that she walks with."

"Granted, but it seems like he would've had a better time aiming at her alone rather than trying to hit her in a large group of girls." He shifted and pointed. "Look at this one. Gord leaves campus for one of the outdoor classes. Uh…" He glanced around until he saw her folder sitting closer to Navi. He had to lean across the table to read it. "Horseback ridin'."

"If you're making this judgement on the number of students the girls are walking with, I would imagine horseback riding would be a pretty big class. She would probably be walking with a larger group."

"But if we're talking about a guy who's just that good of a shot, targeting her as she's leavin' campus'd be easier; the Watch couldn't shut it down like the campus."

Navi mulled the thought over before giving a conceding nod. "Okay, perhaps Gord wasn't a target. If you recall right, Affini and Bolton were the two most likely to be alternate targets."

Link pointed again and said, "Bolton has an art class that's listed as taking place on the balcony of the main building. The shooter could have just as easily shot her from the same location. In fact, it'd've been easier since everyone'd be focused on the class."

Navi pointed at the map and said, "But that would have been more distance to shoot across."

"The guy shot through a fountain. He can clearly compensate for tricky shots."

Navi shook her head. "Your argument relies on the fact that he intended to shoot Hremorson. If his target was Bolton, then he likely felt that shooting through the fountain was a safer shot than trying to shoot further into the balcony."

Link sighed and scratched his head. "Yeah, I suppose that's about as true…"

"We may want to also consider that they don't always go the shortest route between classes." For emphasis, Navi pointed to the schedule in Gord's folder. "These girls have fifteen minutes to go to a different class. There's a little more leeway than what this shows."

Link shrugged and said, "That'd probably go more toward him scoutin' out their routine since it's damn-near impossible to get a schedule." He paused to take a bite of his sandwich and swallow. Then he heaved a sigh. "This sucks…"

"You had a good idea, Constable," Navi told him. "But the reality is that something like tracing a person's steps on a regular basis can only be so accurate. And they aren't our suspects; someone else is. We need to know his routine."

Link set his sandwich down to cross his arms. "Well, if he'd camped on the roof, he knew how to clean up for himself. No trash, nothing to indicate he pissed in a corner or anything."

"His only traces seem to be the gunpowder you found," Navi said as Link leaned forward to glance at the map. "Of course, he probably found opportunities to throw away trash and use the lavatories during class time, when the students wouldn't be in the halls. Or he was there after the school was locked up."

"Only one student had a class in that building," Link observed.

Navi leaned forward to look at the map. "Hremorson?" she asked.

"I just now noticed it. She'd be the only one goin' toward the building; the other girls have classes elsewhere. She was walkin' straight to 'im" Link then put on a look of realization. "What if he didn't shoot into the girls because it was his only opportunity? What if he shot into the girls to make us suspect he could have shot the wrong target?"

Navi nodded. "It would certainly make us work that much more trying to find a lead. But we're still left with the question of whether he did or not. Is he that good?"

Link growled and scratched his head in frustration. "It's too hard to call," he said. He looked up at Navi. "On one hand, if his target was Hremorson, we shouldn't even talk with the other girls, but our leads have already dried up with her. If it was Affini or Bolton, we still have plenty of people to talk to, but we can't be sure until we have a suspect."

"We may just have to wait until we can talk to their families. I'm inclined to agree with you about Gord; we won't bother with her unless things dry up with the other two."

"What about Highland?"

"You tell me. Was she as exposed as the others?"

Link looked down at the map and traced Highland's line with his eyes. "Probably not." He pointed. "Most of her buildings are right next to each other. She crosses the courtyard twice. The second time is toward the end of the school day. That would've been the ideal time to shoot; everyone around her would be tired. I got a hunch he wouldn't've passed that up if he was just tryin' to kill her."

Navi sighed and looked at Gord's folder. "We have about two hours before classes end. I'm a little tempted to return to headquarters for now."

Link gave a single nod before putting on a pained look. "Uh… y'know, we're talkin' about a murder that only happened yesterday," he pointed out. "Did… you consider that the other girls took the day off?"

Navi shook her head. "I have never known nobility to simply 'take a day off' for anything short of serious personal injury."

Link stood up. "Sure, if they're adults. C'mon, let's go see if Bolton's home."

"I don't really find this likely, Constable."

Link, halfway past the table, leaned back to grab the rest of his sandwich. "Bet you dinner."

"On Watch time? Against regulations."

Link shrugged. "That's fine. I couldn't afford to feed both of us if I lost anyway. I just thought it'd be nice to eat off a detective sergeant's salary."

"Fieldview!" Navi hollered as Link bounded for the door. She watched him exit, and then she turned and scrambled to gather up the paperwork before he could have the idea of leaving her behind. "You're supposed to be the inferior officer, you idiot!" she hollered before chasing him out the door.