Chapter Three: Background Check

…

When DS Navi had returned with Link to his home, she was a little surprised to find that the Fieldview residence was as small on the inside as it had looked on the outside. The kitchen at the back of the house barely had room for a wooden dining table and a small, wood-burning stove. She tried not to let this discomfort her, but the proximity between the table and the stove's firedoor made her wonder how they had not succeeded in burning the house down. She had seen the loft above, and there were at least three other rooms with doors to the kitchen in the middle of the house. Navi was sitting in the only chair in the room while Link stared at Joth's pictures spread across the table.

Mara came in the back door and was a little surprised to see Link back. Then she took notice of Navi sitting at the table. She crossed her arms and stepped up to Link's side. "Link Fieldview, what have you done now?" she asked, although her strained attempt to hide a smile removed all doubt that her half-hearted tone was serious.

"Mara, this is Detective-Sergeant Navi of Hyrule's City Watch," Link told her, indicating her with a hand as he kept focus on the pictures.

Mara frowned at him, accenting the wrinkles around her mouth. "Link, what have I told you about being a good host?" she asked, her voice now carrying a scolding edge. She then clasped her hands together and turned toward Navi with a soft, polite smile. "Might I offer you some tea, ma'am?"

"Thank you, but that will not be necessary," Navi replied, having risen when Link introduced her.

"Some raisin toffee, perhaps?" Mara pressed.

"Bad idea, Mara," Link said. "Give a fairy too much sugar, and we'll be scraping her off the ceiling."

"No, tha—" Navi froze. She slowly turned her head to give Link a shocked look.

Link still did not raise his eyes as he told her, "Oh, don't look so surprise; I had you figured for a fairy the moment you showed up at Joth's place. I've been annoying you to see how many different colors I can get your hair to change."

Mara tilted her head. "I thought it was strange for someone so young to have gray hair," she said.

Navi looked up at her bangs. Then she sighed and told Mara as her hair changed back to black, "He is correct, Missus Fieldview, I should not eat any sort of candy."

"I'm not 'Missus Fieldview', but I think I understand," Mara replied.

Navi stammered for a moment. "I-I'm sorry, I… when did your husband die?" she asked.

Mara gave her a wider smile. "I've never been married, Detective. My family name has always been Youngberry."

"'Youngberry'?"

Link started clicking his tongue. Navi turned to find him shaking his head. "Detective-Sergeant Navi, you're not talking to my mother," he told her. "You're talking to my custodian."

"Your custodian?" Navi asked. She looked back at Mara. "You mean you adopted him?"

"You don't need to be insulting about it," Link told her in a tone that sounded barely offended.

"Mister and Missus Fieldview died of White Death when Link was only a baby," Mara explained as she stepped to the shelves at the front of the room. She retrieved a tea kettle and checked its contents as she continued, "Noké Fieldview, Link's mother, was a very dear friend of mine. Once the plague was quelled, I found him in a shelter. I took legal custody of him, and I've raised him since."

"But… he's never called you 'Mother'?" Navi asked. "I thought that was tradition, even for an adoptive parent."

Mara took the kettle to the sink and put water in it. "Link hasn't called me 'Mother' since he was ten. That was when he found out about the plague and his parents."

"I keep telling you," Link spoke up. "I started investigating it when I was eight."

"Yes, when he found out that he and I don't have matching family names," Mara said, giving him a smug look. She placed the kettle on the stove and turned to Navi. "He was trying to prove that I wasn't his real mother."

"For what reason?" Navi asked.

"I was trying to prove that she was a man from space," Link answered. Navi turned a confused look on him, her hair changing a dark shade of purple in the process. "I was eight."

"He only gave it up when I took him to a movie about space men," Mara said. "Even then, he still took a little convincing."

"Convincing?" Navi asked, the shade of her hair brightening slightly.

"Those space men were cleverly-disguised," Link said. "I had to break down their disguises before I was convinced she wasn't one of them."

Navi gave him an annoyed look, her hair shifting to a lighter shade of blue. "You mean you were trying to figure out they were actors in costumes," she said.

"It was Them," Link replied with a shrug. "What can I say?"

Navi turned to Mara, her hair shifting to navy blue, and asked, "Is the extent of his skills limited to what he sees in movies?"

"I'm sure it couldn't be so if the local police were so invested in him," Mara replied. "They have often complimented his analytical mind and attention to details. He has been credited with twenty arrests and has even provided defense for the wrongly-accused. As I'm sure you may have been told, if it were not for his age, he would already be part of the local police, maybe even the province."

Navi crossed her arms and glanced down at them in frustration. "Well, I think an exception should be made," she told Mara. "That kind of talent is extraordinarily rare. Were his parents like this as well?"

"Noké was quite intelligent herself," Mara said. "I often wondered what it would've been like if they hadn't passed away. Maybe Link would have a better channel for his mind." Then she shrugged and added with a helpless grin, "It might have at least kept him out of trouble."

"What kind of trouble would that be?" Navi asked, casting Link a flat look.

"What, you don't think I call people out when it looks like they're doing something wrong?" Link asked. "I used to see people standing on grass next to a sign that says 'keep off grass' and ask them if they were blind."

Navi shrugged and said, "Annoying, but hardly troublesome."

"Unless they are actually blind," Mara pointed out.

Link scrunched his mouth as he remembered something. "Those canes really hurt," he said.

"Yes, someone certainly learned how to judge situations better from that," Mara said. She moved back to the shelves and pulled a ceramic mug and a paper filter out. "He still has his moments, but Link is really a remarkable young man."

Navi turned to Link as Mara set the mug on the table with the filter on top. "So, what are you looking for?" Navi asked. "You've been staring at those pictures for a while."

"Not sure yet," Link admitted. "I almost wanna tell Joth to get a few different angles next time, but neither one of us was really counting on a crime being committed."

"Has something happened to Joth?" Mara asked Navi, concern coloring her tone.

Navi heaved a sigh. "Officer March identified Mister Brookstone as a potential suspect in the theft of property belonging to the Princess of Hyrule," she said. "However, Mister Fieldview has provided proof that Mister Brookstone is innocent." She crossed her armed and pointedly added, "For the time being."

"If I can give them the stolen jewelry back, they'll leave Joth alone," Link said. He paused as Mara dumped a scoop of coffee grounds into the filter on top of the mug. "Finding the jewelry will be easy. It's catching the one who stole them that's gonna be difficult."

"Why would that be?" Navi asked. "Surely, the two should be found in the same place."

"Detective-Sergeant Navi, why do you think someone would go through the trouble of stealing jewelry?"

Navi just blinked for a moment. "I… I would think that stealing the jewelry would be used as a keepsake," she said. "Maybe a fallback if the thief runs into hard times."

Link picked up one picture to examine it closely. "Pink rose earrings," he said. "Very nice details, very fine piece. Garnet necklace? The stone isn't very impressive; the chain is worth more. Gold bangle? Nothing but gold value." He dropped the pictograph on the table and looked up at Navi. "Suppose for a moment that the thief is your typical, southern country hick who just happens to have a knack for stealing."

"I don't really see what the difference is," Navi told him.

"Coming from the city, you probably wouldn't," Link said. "Down here, there are very few reasons to steal jewelry. Sentimental value is not one of them. Now, if you're broke or homeless, you've got quite a reason."

"You're suggesting that our thief might be homeless? Even though he's intelligent enough to induce a child to steal for him?"

Link shrugged. "It doesn't take a lot of brains to set a kid to do your dirty work, just luck enough that the kid won't get caught. One of the key components to jewelry theft is return. I don't know if it's different up there in the city, but, down here, jewelry only means so much. You can only find a few stores that bother with fancy jewelry."

"What kind of 'return' are you talking about?"

"The kind that puts food in a person's belly. Around here, jewelry can be sold as scrap to pawn stores or some of the cheaper jewelry vendors. The earrings may be worth something because of the craftsmanship, but the necklace and the bangle are good for making quick money. They'd likely be melted down so their weight can be evaluated. The thief effectively erases trace of the crime and gets a sandwich to last for the next two days."

"That… Are you telling me there's a process to this?" Navi asked.

"That does seem to be the case," Mara said as she pushed the finished mug of coffee across the table to Link. "Detective, you must understand that Link has seen quite a few of these crimes. In all likelihood, he may have even caught your perpetrator before. Jewelry theft is a common occurrence here simply because some of the unfed have no other means. It isn't hard to learn the trade. And, as Link has told you, it is easy to turn them over for money. People are always in and out of those pawn stores selling old jewelry they have no need of anymore; a man in shabby clothing wandering in with a necklace doesn't necessarily look like a thief. Oh, some will hear the sob story, some will question it all, but, in the end, it's very hard to tell them apart from someone who is just clearing out the closet."

Link grabbed the mug and took a sip. "I don't know the area around Mayor Bo Park too well, but I know a few people nearby," he said. "I can get a look at the park, and then we'll see if anyone has anything useful."

"Surely, we should have Officer March send officers to the local pawn shops in search of the jewelry," Navi told him.

"If he knows the routine by now, sure," Link replied. "It's usually the first thing I tell him if we're talking about jewelry theft."

"Who do you know in the area? Officer March can have them brought in for questioning."

Link paused as he went to take another drink. Then he heaved a sigh as he placed the cup on a bare spot on the table. "You don't quite get it, do you?" he said. "You can't just rampantly arrest someone without some justification."

Navi's hair turned a few shades purple as her eyes darted between Link and Mara, who gave her a disappointed look. "I-I wasn't talking about arresting someone," she said.

"Someone being led away by the police is just as bad," Mara said. "I do not know how it works in the city, but, here in Ordon, that kind of spectacle invites gossip and misunderstanding. You cannot have a scene such as that and expect a person to simply come home afterwards. The sheriff knows this, too. If you refuse to give the local police information, the sheriff's office will make a commotion of taking you to their headquarters even if all they intended to do is ask questions. Link is possibly the only exception to this."

Navi wrinkled her nose and crossed her arms, her hair transitioning to rust red. "Does image really need to play into this?" she asked them.

"Would you trust someone that was just led away by the police?" Link asked. Before Navi could answer, he held up a finger to stop her. "People here don't exactly have anything against the police; the provincial Sheriff is a pretty decent guy. But the folks around here would rather believe that the police didn't have to be so busy. There's nothing rational about it, but it's what people think here. If you're under investigation, people would rather keep their distance from whatever repercussions you might be dragging along." He pointed the finger directly at Navi. "And, let's face it, a member of the Watch nosing around makes a person wonder if someone's on the hook for noble murder."

"This only makes the process drag on," Navi told him.

"Actually, it should make things quicker," Link told her. "If you're around, you might scare our suspect and make him run for it. I like to think I've got a pretty good set of legs on me. Being in the field also gives us the advantage of moving place to place. If we had to drag everyone back to the station, we'd easily lose an hour or so to find our guy. We need to act now while everyone can remember the last two days."

Navi sighed and covered her eyes with a hand. "It seems that we should have addressed you on this matter first," she said. "I feel like I should know better, and that we wasted a day with this nonsense."

"Things out here in the sticks don't seem to work the same, huh?" Link said, pausing for a sip as if to cap off the smug remark.

"Why don—" Navi began, her hair turning rust red again.

Kon kon!

"Ugh!" Link declared, his face turning skyward in exhaustion. "Why doesn't that guy use the bell!?" Kkkkling kkkkling! "Oh, c'mon!"

"That was Officer March?" Navi asked as she turned toward the front of the house.

"Yeah," Link said as he set down his mug. He began gathering up the pictures. "C'mon, he's probably got the cart waiting."

"Link?" Mara spoke up.

"I know, milk," Link said. He slipped between Mara and the table and slid past Navi on the way toward the front door.

Navi turned to Mara. Mara gave her a soft smile. "He's a brilliant boy," she said. "His mind is wasted here. He gets along well enough, but this is all hardly a challenge to him. If he ever gets bored, he may decide to give this up."

Navi heaved a sigh and turned to follow.