Chapter Six: Interrogation
…
Catskill remained in his dazed state and left sitting on the edge of the road with a line of drool dangling from his drooped-open mouth. While they were waiting, March had returned and took the opportunity to search around the empty Kasill house. Emphasis on "empty". March had expected to find more jewelry or other evidence of Catskill's usual activities. Not that he was trying hard; any charges he could add would be automatically struck down by the Crown charge he had heard Detective Sergeant Navi level on him. Even if the local courts wanted to put in new charges, Catskill would be locked away in Hyrulia by tomorrow evening, leaving the charges pending until the Crown charge was resolved.
While waiting with Navi and Link, he decided to ask, "What did you do to Kasill here? Why's he like that?"
"Fairy magic," DS Navi replied.
"Fairy magic?" March asked, confused.
"Didn't you wonder why her hair was changing color earlier?" Link asked.
March silently stammered for a moment before saying, "I-I just thought it was the light."
"Even in the restaurant?"
March scrunched his face as he thought. "Was it changing in the restaurant? I wasn't paying attention to her."
Navi let out a calm, quiet sigh. "I can certainly understand why Fieldview has been an asset to the Sheriff's office," she told him. "Observation is not one of your strengths. Is it, Officer March?"
March groaned and rubbed his sweaty forehead. "I'm more of a beat officer," he admitted. "They only assigned me to this because a bunch of our investigators are out sick. Someone brought in a bad batch of egg sandwiches."
"Aaaaaamuh vaaaaaagh…" Catskill moaned, his eyes trying to focus on the sky above.
"Yeah, they were making kinda the same sounds," March said, pointing at Catskill. Then he nodded at Link. "I… also sometimes go get him. It's easier to send a beat officer than an investigator."
Navi sighed and gave Link a contemplative look. Link raised an eyebrow in response. "Something wrong, Detective Sergeant?" he asked.
"How are you… comfortable with all this?" she asked. "Has it just become a habit for you to chase after petty crooks and deal with insane paupers?"
"Well, the horses make good conversationalists, too," Link replied with a smart grin.
"Have you ever handled a serious case? Something with more substance than just stealing jewelry?"
"The Sheriff won't let him," March spoke up. Navi glanced at him in response. "Aside from the fact that crime doesn't get nearly as dire out here, the fact is that we already have plenty of trained investigators for things like murder, rape, and grand theft. Even if the Sheriff saw some merit in that, the problem is that cases that serious would eventually ask why the Ordon Sheriff allowed a teenager that isn't deputized to handle the kind of case where everything would be called into question. It isn't a question the courts'll wanna deal with, and the Sheriff's office would rather make it a non-issue. Not to mention some of those cases can get pretty grizzly, much too grizzly to let a teenager be exposed to. I really don't wanna be the guy who has to drag Fieldview broken back to Mara and have her roast my ass. I'd sooner choke on my badge."
"I can certainly understand your point, Officer March," Navi said, "but it still seems like a waste. Link, do you at least have designs on joining the Sheriff's office?"
"I've thought about it," Link replied. Then he crossed his arms. "But then, what would the City Watch of Hyrule do without me?"
Navi gave him a look of half surprise and half confusion. "The Watch?" she asked while March gave a disbelieving shake of his head. "You mean… you'd rather join the Watch?"
Link replied with a casual shrug. "Something to think about," he told her. "The recruitment age is seventeen, and I don't have a criminal record or any litigations pending right now. The only thing I need is a patron among the nobility in Hyrulia. Now, unless you fairy-dusted your way through the front door, Detective Sergeant Navi, I'm guessing you had one paying you in."
March turned a surprised look on Navi. "I… I thought you fairies had royalty or something like that," he said. "You had to have a Hylian patronize you?"
Navi took in a deep breath and heaved out a long sigh. "Fairykind has been in a scattered state for a while now," she admitted. "Not that they're really on talking terms with the royalty of Hyrule. Ever since the Twilight Incursion, even relationships with the Gorons and the Zora have been strained. The Great Fairies… hardly even leave their fountains." She then turned to Link. "I was patronized by a knight family, someone I'd been introduced to about a decade ago. They seemed eager to patronize the first fairy in the Watch. So far, well… it hasn't done a whole lot for recruitment. I'm the only fairy in the Watch."
"Don't you need an education to get into the Watch?" March asked.
"Under normal circumstances, yes," Navi said. "But having a patron from a noble family can…" She shrugged. "Change the rules a bit."
"It changes the rules a lot," Link said.
"Mister Fieldview, you do realize that the province has just opened up a college," Navi pointed out. "In four years, you could join whatever police force you wanted. Being uneducated and patronized into the Watch is not an easy venture. You would need two years as a provisional constable before you could apply for specific assignments. With an education, you'd be inducted as a sergeant or a detective constable."
Link gave her an obnoxious grin. "I don't have that kinda patience," he told her. "I bet I could go from provisional constable to detective constable in three years."
"You may think that saving yourself a year might work to your advantage," Navi said, "but that's more hard work than it would be to go to college. What do you expect one year's difference to do for you?"
"One always counts," was the reply.
"I think you oughta listen to her, Link," March said. "She seems to have an idea of what it's like to do it the hard way. Personally, if we had the college when I was a teenager, I'd've taken that route myself. I wouldn't be stuck on patrol otherwise."
"There's also the part where you need a place to live," Navi said. "I had the benefit of the knight's home for a while, but I cannot guarantee that he will put you up as well. His house has been falling on hard times lately."
"This whole morning I've been leading you around, and you don't trust me to work it out myself?" Link asked.
Navi shook her head. "I get that you're confident," she said, "but that confidence can only get you so far."
"If it gets me into the Watch, I can figure it out from there."
Navi was about to say more, but the sound of wheels grinding the road called the group's attention to the carriage approaching. March's immediate response as the metal-clad cart came to a stop was to shrug his shoulders with his arms open wide and ask, "What took you guys so long? I called for you almost half an hour ago."
"Sorry, March," the driver said as the officer seated next to him slid off the carriage. "I was waiting on Tenth for you to call."
March gestured for the other officer to help him. He spoke as he hauled the still-dazed Kasill to his feet, "Seventh. I said Seventh. That's three streets in the wrong direction."
"Ooooh…" the driver droned.
"Don't give me 'oooooh'," March growled as he and the other officer walked Kasill to the back of the cart. "'Seventh' in no way sounds like 'Tenth'!"
"Duuuuuuur…" Kasill groaned as the two deputies paused so that the barred door on the back could be opened.
"I don't need any help from you, Catskill," March told him.
"Gup," was Kasill's best response as the other officer directed him to step up into the wagon.
Link, having stepped to the back of the wagon with Navi behind him, watched them slam the door shut. "He's gonna be pissed once he comes to," he noted with a bit of glee in his tone.
"After an hour, I will be too far away to care," Navi said. "Officer March, I intend to return to Hyrulia tonight. A wagon will be sent to retrieve him as soon as possible, hopefully by tomorrow. I expect him to remain in jail until he is retrieved."
March nodded. "We know the drill," he assured her. "Put the Watch's stamp on it, leave him off the docket."
"I don't anticipate more than a day to have a wagon sent here," Navi said. She turned to Link. "Mister Fieldview, we will contact you in the event your presence is required for trial. Your testimony will be compensated for should the need arise."
"Doesn't seem like an issue," Link said. "I'll be right there with you in Hyrulia taking care of my provisional assignment."
Navi gave him a hard stare, her hair slowly switching between its normal, blackish-blue coloring and maroon, much to the confusion of the extra officer standing nearby. "I will… pass your interest to the appropriate people once I have the time," she told him in a slow, even tone. "I cannot guarantee anything."
"Get me a lunch with your patron, and I'll handle the rest," Link told her.
Her hair turned bright red for a moment, and March took a step back as if he expected her to explode. "I will express your interest to my patron," she replied as her hair changed back to black. She turned before Link could open his mouth again and moved to climb into the seat at the front of the wagon.
"You coming, March?" the extra officer asked as he used a handrail to haul himself onto the side.
"Nah, you guys can handle the booking," March told him. "I'm gonna get back to my patrol."
"Okay," the officer said. "Take us home, James!"
"Yah!" the driver yelled as he snapped the reins.
The wagon started off, and Link and March watched it until it disappeared around a corner further up the street. Then March tapped Link's shoulder. "Walk with me a sec, Link," he said.
"Sure," Link said as he turned to join March in stride alongside him, their direction opposite the wagon. "What's on your mind, Devon?"
March sucked in a breath through his teeth. "Well, I'll tell ya," he said. "I know you're a pretty smart guy, and the Goddesses know you got a streak of confidence that stretches the length of the kingdom. I don't doubt you'd make a pretty good policeman, but I kinda wonder if you aren't getting yourself in a little over your head."
"You think I'm being brash for skipping the education and going straight into the job," Link reasoned.
"Link, there's being brash, and there's charging into a wall head-first with a blindfold on. You have to admit it; you don't know what it's like in Hyrulia."
"Oh, I have no doubt I don't know what the city's like," Link replied with an amused tone. "That's the whole reason for the two-year provisional period. Sure, they'll give me some menial duty for two years, but you know something? I'd rather be doing that than doing some menial studying for four years. I figure, the moment I get past the provisional period, I can go right to the detective's exam. That's about a six-month waiting period. That will be the time I study my ass off. The moment I'm a detective, I get assigned to one of the major criminal divisions. And that's when I make an impression on the brass."
March afforded himself a chuckle. "Boy, you think you got this planned," he said.
"Do you know what I do when I'm not just causing trouble with my friends?" Link asked.
"Causing trouble with the petty crooks you bust?" March replied.
"This town didn't have a college until now, but it does have a library. Any meritless twerp can get into the Watch if they have someone pay them in. It's like compensation for having to train an idiot to do a job better suited to someone with a brain. But if you pay to put in someone with a brain…" He paused and placed a hand on his chest for emphasis. "It'll make the patron look good, and I can probably pole-vault over all the goat crap to get where I wanna go."
"Where is it you wanna go?" March asked. "Because I seriously doubt you wanna hang around taking care of petty crimes all day. And, let's face it, patrolling a beat isn't your style."
"I was thinking 'Homicide'," Link replied.
March raised an eyebrow. "Homicide, huh? That's pretty ambitious. And pretty deep, too. The Homicide folks out here always sound like they've really seen some shit. Have you talked to Mara about all this?"
"Mara already knows that I'm out to join the police once I'm the right age anyway. This way, she doesn't have to wait a year to start worrying." Link turned to look down the street they were crossing. "And I can start paying her back."
"Paying her back?" March repeated, giving Link a concerned look.
"She's not my mom, Devon," Link said, still paying more attention to the direction opposite of where March walked. "If it hadn't been for White Death, she'd've never had to take care of me. She's an unmarried woman, and that's my damn fault."
"Oh, c'mon, Link, you can't hold yourself responsible for that."
"The hell I can't. Mara just about starved to death raising me. She lives in that lousy hovel, and she's had to take two jobs for the past seven years just to keep up with everything. It isn't right."
"Sure, it isn't right, but it's her choice. Link, I know Mara about as well as you do. The woman has had maternal instincts all her life. It was just natural for her."
"There's nothing natural about raising someone else's kid. That's why I want the Watch. It isn't just about the cases, it's about supporting Mara. I get where I need to be, I can get her out of that rotten shack. Let her have some comfort in her life."
"Link… wh-where are you going with this? You make it sound like you just wanna pay her off and stay out of her life. Is that what you want?"
Link heaved a sigh and looked down at the ground. "I don't know," he admitted. "I just… I feel like I owe her."
"Of course you do, Link, but not with that attitude," March said, delivering a light slap to Link's shoulder. "There's nothing wrong with paying back your adoptive mother or your real mother. Just don't make it sound like you're paying back a loan. That isn't right."
"Yeah…" Link uttered.
"You've got a good head on your shoulders, Link," March told him. "But I think you need to stop with this idea that the whole world works just the way you think it does. I know you're a teenager, but there's a lot more I don't think you're seeing."
"More of that 'I don't know, so I shouldn't judge' talk?" Link asked as a small grin crept onto his face.
"You honestly think the Sheriff of Ordon Province would give you that kinda talk if it wasn't true?" March said, his own lips curling into a smile.
"And to think I wanted to accuse him of wearing a tie on the wrong day…"
"I think he's petitioning to get that law reviewed," March told him. "He says he likes wearing ties any day he damn-well pleases. And he doesn't like snot-nosed teenagers calling him out on it."
Despite the grin, Link gave an irritated groan and ran his fingers through his hair. "Boy, no one here lets you forget the dumb things you do when you're younger…"