Chapter Thirty-Two: Evaluation

…

When Link woke up the next morning, he was miserable. His main problem was having gone to bed so late the previous night, his mind still trying to puzzle together both Merrill's and Hremorson's murders when neither girl had anything in common with the other. Even the connection based on their organs being stolen seemed shaky now that Wheatland had put forward that someone was likely stealing them while the girls' bodies were at the coroner's office rather than at the scene. It troubled him that it felt more like he wanted the two cases to be connected; he knew there was no reason to follow this line of thought and he should have stopped pursuing it and seen the two cases as separate, but there was a voice in the corner of his mind telling him that there was something connected about these cases that he just had not pinpointed yet. He would not fall asleep until the early morning hours, according to his alarm clock.

When he woke up, it was over an hour before his clock was supposed to wake him. He dragged his feet readying himself for the day and hauled himself out of his building with about as much enthusiasm. His pockets dry, the best he could afford was a lettuce wrap with scrap cuts of meat and vegetables. It was not a very healthy meal, but it was enough to help him pick up his pace lest he miss roll call. His mind still dwelled on the two cases, but he had enough wakefulness to put his desire to see both cases worked together to one side. He forced himself to consider Merrill's case cold and focus on what kind of information Layla might be bringing on House Hremorson. What she could bring that might save the case from going cold, he could not be certain.

Link entered the office a few minutes before Wheatland showed up. The superintendent handed out a pair of early-morning calls to Rusk and Gray and got updates from Crosswind and Jester before waking Bohn and ordering him to clock out. Why the man was sleeping at his desk, neither Link nor Navi heard an explanation.

As he approached Navi's desk, he said, "Constable Fieldview. You have an exam you should be at."

Link glanced at the clock over Wheatland's desk. "I still have half an hour, sir," he replied.

Wheatland gave his head a suspicious tilt. "You feeling okay, Fieldview? You look beat."

Link sighed. "Just thinking about these cases too much, sir."

Wheatland sighed through his nose and shook his head. "Look, Fieldview, you need to realize that this department just doesn't operate as efficiently as it should, and that's not really a problem with us. Day after day, we have to deal with all types of people living and dead. That means that a case can go just about any direction, so we don't always get our man. And sometimes, things that should be connected really aren't. I suggest you keep these cases separated until we hear back from Watch Security; they should be able to tell us whether these girls' organs were taken at the scene or, more likely, taken at the coroner's office."

"When can we expect to hear back from them, sir?" Navi spoke up.

"Not sure," Wheatland said with a shrug. "The coroner's office has all kinds of nooks and crannies to hide organs in. Then they'll probably have the coroners examine their inventory, find out if anyone else is missing their organs. They'll probably be at it all day. We might hear from them tomorrow."

"Man," Link commented. "I thought we had it bad."

"Watch Security takes their jobs very seriously," Wheatland told him. "They aren't as invasive as Watch Conduct, but they're thorough. I don't suppose either of you spoke with the Graves officer for Hremerson yet?"

"No, sir," Navi answered while Link just shook his head.

Wheatland grimaced. "Unfortunately, that officer and Sergeant Harlow may be in for a visit from Watch Conduct."

"Even though we already concluded that Harlow didn't do anything?" Link asked.

"If nothing pans out with the coroner's office, even you two might be in for a visit. Granted, there's no reason to suspect you two, but they'll at least want an interview."

"Sounds like a thrill, sir," Navi commented in a flat tone.

"About the same as having you balls cut off," Wheatland said. He turned to look at the clock. "Fieldview, why don't you get to that exam. Punctuality makes a good detective; being early makes you look like a genius."

Link deigned a grin as he pushed off the wall. "Aaah, nothing beats an ego boost before a test, sir," he said as he strode by Wheatland.

"We know you enjoy that…" Navi commented under her breath.

Wheatland waited a couple minutes after Link left sight. Then he turned to Navi. "So. How about that evaluation?"

Navi heaved a sigh and leaned back in her chair. "He has an ego," she replied. "And he knows he does."

"You have to have one if your first assignment request after probation is Homicide," Wheatland said with a nod.

"As much as these cases have been frustrating us, they at least put things into a better perspective for him."

"Yeah, I remember his mood after that first case dried up on you two."

"I think his ego got worse during his stint at the district offices; that's a lot of petty crimes to deal with. The Merrill case put his ego back in check where we need it."

"What about his investigating?"

Navi took in a breath. "Sir, I wouldn't have recommended him to Brettson if I didn't think he could investigate. He has a good combination of book and street smarts, he knows about forensics on the field, he even seems to have a better insight on what the crime actually looked like. He identified where both shooters fired from based on witness testimony. Granted, it isn't too hard, but Merrill's would have been tricky since one of the witnesses moved the body. He understands people; you've seen him with his friend Layla."

"I saw her slap him," Wheatland pointed out.

"And yet he can still rely on her. He's a lot more sensitive to victims than you'd think, and he just has that 'country bumpkin' tone to make himself more personable. I wouldn't have expected him to say anything to the headmaster of Grand High Academy, but they discussed an author like a pair of old colleagues. I think even Insallar was caught off-guard. By the great ones, sir, I think even we might be underestimating him."

Wheatland crossed his arms. "I see. Anything that we should be worried about?"

"If you're thinking politically, sir, not likely. Sure, he might bring in a noble or two kicking and screaming, but Fieldview so far hasn't really done anything that acts against any particular group. Now he may need a reminder about certain sensitivities; that whole thing where he was going to question whether Yoanna Merrill had killed herself or not might still be on his mind."

"I have to admit, it wasn't as if it was a bad question," Wheatland admitted with a nod. "If it wouldn't have caused a scene, I would've let him ask it. Hell, him being a regular constable? He might've gotten away with asking a noble. But considering the direction that case was going, asking if a girl who had her organs taken after death was in the mind to hire a gun to kill herself would have brought some serious issues. Just listening to you two report, I'd toyed with the thought myself. Did it seem as if Merrill killed herself?"

Navi sighed. "Well, when you consider how quickly suspects dried up after we interviewed her family, I suppose it's possible. There wasn't any indication anyone could have known her routine. She conveniently stopped in the middle of a busy street in the business area of the East District, a place notorious for shootings. Fieldview noted that the gunman might have caught her attention and may have been someone that she knew. If she hadn't been killed, it would've been a fairly normal day. I remember working through a couple of suicides since I transferred in, sir, but…" She heaved another sigh. "I can't really tell if the signs are there. If it was a suicide, it was a very quiet one. No one in that house seemed to have that opinion (not that we really asked)."

"You made a comment about there being some kind of… some kind of romance between some of the staff," Wheatland pointed out. "Think she was part of it?"

Navi had to take a moment to mull over the thought while she tried to recall the remarks made by the people involved. "Weeeell… it seemed like it was just a lot of pining and ducking behind bushes, sir. A lot of playing around; none of them seems to have the courage to actually approach one another. I almost thought Yoanna Merrill was involved, but it turns out that those morons were too busy being stuck in their own fantasies to realize I was talking about her. So… I don't know, sir. Maybe. If she had a crush on any of the staff, I suppose she could've become depressed when she found out there wasn't any reciprocation."

"That's a big 'maybe'," Wheatland agreed. He sighed. "All right, so, Fieldview at least seems to know a few avenues of investigation we wouldn't even think of. He knows how to follow the evidence, at least as far as the outward logic goes. I think his major problem is that he lets cases like these first two bother him. It isn't new, but I'd be concerned about his performance once he has a few cold cases under his belt. He'll have to learn to get past it. We all have to. We can't dwell on cold cases if it gets in the way of other investigations. If he can't, he's useless."

"I'm aware, sir. And I think he gets the idea, he just doesn't like it. I'm sure he can get past it. And if he can't, I can see him probably stepping away from Homicide, at least for a little while."

"Are you happy with him? I know you didn't seem too thrilled when he first showed up."

"I'm happy with his investigative skills, sir. I hate the fact that he's a clown."

Wheatland grinned at her. "Well, maybe it's that clown personality that'll help him work through these cold cases. Hell knows they've broken others."

After that, Navi gave an update to the Hremorson case before Wheatland left her to do paperwork. She was nearly caught up with the last of the other cases she had been working and had most of the reports for Merrill and Hremorson filled out. She did not like the fact that they had to pause work while Link was taking his exam, but, considering the amount of paperwork involved in a murder case, she could at least be grateful for the lull.

About two hours had passed since Link had left. Whether he was still taking the examination or he had slipped out for an early lunch, she could not be certain. A knock on the doorframe into the office alerted Navi and Wheatland. "Excuse me, sir," a male constable said as he leaned inside. "I have a visitor for Constable Fieldview."

"Who is it?" Wheatland asked.

"Miss?" The constable then stepped aside and allowed Layla to enter.

Wheatland glanced at Navi just as she was rising from her desk. "I'll take her from here, Constable," Navi said. "Constable Fieldview is busy elsewhere."

"Yes, ma'am."

"This way, Layla," Navi said as she waved Layla inside. "Sir, we'll be in room one."

"Got it," Wheatland said.

Navi led Layla to the interrogation rooms at the back of the office and directed her into the same interrogation room as before. Layla sighed and said as she rounded the table, "I dare ask what Link's doing right now."

"Nothing serious," Navi said as they both sat down. "He forgot about his detective's exam last week, so he's busy with a make-up exam."

"'Detective' Link Fieldview," Layla said with an air of dread. "Only the Goddesses know where that'll take his ego."

"You aren't the only one worried," Navi said. She steepled her fingers together and rested her arms on the table. "Do you want to wait for him, or…?"

"I'm not particular about it, and I'd be glad not to deal with him if I can avoid it. Besides, I feel like we'd get along better without him."

Navi could not help the grin forming on her face and bowed her head for a moment as if to hide it. "So," she said once she was ready. "What do you have for us?"

"Well, probably not a whole lot," Layla said as she pulled a sheet of paper out of a trouser pocket. "I made a few notes, so I hope I got the gist of it for you." Navi nodded. "First, well… Hremorson recently had his affairs switched around."

Navi nodded. "That sounds normal enough considering their only daughter was killed."

"He's not donating like Merrill did, though. He set his will up to give his property to another knight, uh…" She paused to look at her notes. "Sir Reba Brettson." Navi allowed a look of shock to appear on her face that Layla caught before she could duck. "Is this special?"

Navi took in a breath and let it out to steady herself. "It's news, but nothing important to the investigation," she said in a level tone.

Layla raised an eyebrow. "Huh? It isn't?"

"Brettson is a family friend of Hremorson. House Brettson is looking at dissolving from their finances drying up. I would have to guess that, if anything happens to House Hremorson, they would at least like to keep Brettson together a little longer."

Layla gave Navi a concerned look. "Is this…? I'm sorry, are you somehow involved with them?"

"Brettson is a patron for myself and Constable Fieldview," Navi admitted. "Their patronage… at least partially accounts for their financial issues."

"Yeah, Link told me; I forgot." Layla shook her head. "I-I'm sorry, I… This… really is kind of personal for you, isn't it?"

"Probably a little more than it should be," Navi said as she placed a hand on her forehead. She sighed and rubbed her forehead a moment before saying, "Okay, so, if anything happens to the Hremorsons, it serves to benefit House Brettson. Is there any indication of their involvement with any other Houses?"

Layla glanced at her notes again. "Well, there's some kind of connection with a few other Houses, though I'm not sure what. Uh… Houses Mutoson, Doleson, Brackston, and Mactson."

"Mutoson, Doleson, Brackston, and Mactson…" Navi repeated.

"Know them?"

Navi nodded. "If I recall right, they're also knight Houses closely associated with Hremorson and Brettson. They're all descended from a group of carpenters that were knighted for their work… a long time ago. Brettson showed me some pictographs of them when I was staying with them. It feels like that was so long ago, I just barely recognize that group of names." She crossed her arms. "Is there any reason to think that any of them might be, you know… rotten?"

"If they were the kind I'd steal from?" Layla asked. Navi nodded. "Well, probably, probably not. Knight Houses can be as rotten as anyone else, but they generally don't have much worth taking. Besides, you're talking about knights. We try to steer clear just because they like to walk around armed."

Navi nodded. "Are there any other Houses associated with them? Anyone of… questionable intent?"

"Well, according to our source in the Autumn District, there's been some issues with House Highland."

Navi frowned. "House Highland? But, uh…" Navi had to pull her notepad out and check her notes. "Sarita Highland is one of Hremorson's best friends. What's the problem with Highland?"

"Actually, it was the older brother who's been the issue. It was something that had happened at a local bank branch in the Autumn District. I think… yeah, about three months ago. Our contact in the bank was transferring title to a horse from Hremorson to Highland. I guess there was some conversation between the girls at the bank, and Highland's older brother was butting in with some… crude comments."

Navi grimaced, although Layla watched her hair change to pink. "Let me guess," she said. "Miss Hremorson punched him."

"Broke his nose," Layla confirmed with a gleeful look on her own face. "Lord Highland nearly hauled him out of the bank when the girls explained what he was doing. Our contact said he was going to shit himself from laughing so hard. After they left, of course."

Navi's hair turned back to normal as she leaned back in the chair and crossed her arms. "So young Lord Highland has a crude streak about him."

Layla put on a smug smirk and said, "Enough to attract a few pickpockets in his youth."

"Oh?"

"From what our contact said, the horse they were transferring was a prize from a recent joust. Apparently, someone walked off with the young lord's horse about two weeks before."

Navi gave her a suspicious look. "I thought the Guild were only pickpockets."

Layla's smirk widened into a wicked smile. "I didn't say it was the Guild who took him."

Navi almost wanted to point-blank ask Layla if the Guild had stolen the previous horse. Then she realized that she needed to keep the innuendo up in case Wheatland was watching through the one-way glass behind her; he would surely order her to arrest Layla for conspiracy to commit theft. So, she instead asked, "So is it possible that Highland might have had a hand in arranging Hremorson's death? It sounds as if she publicly humiliated him."

"She did publicly humiliate him. Whether he hired a professional to shoot her, it's your job to investigate, Detective. Personally, if this Hremorson girl had busted me in the nose without a second thought, I'd stay as far away from her as possible."

Navi gave her a flat look as she asked, "I don't suppose you have access to the kind of finances the son has."

Layla shook her head and said, "No. But it sounds like Daddy Highland wasn't really that pleased with his son. And I doubt his sister let it go, either. If he's the wrong type of noble, he's been stewing for a couple of months."

Navi nodded. "With this, we have something to look into. What about Lord Hremorson? Has there been any other Houses of interest?"

"Not around here. But the Guild doesn't really operate far outside of Hyrulia. You said the guy was a competitor. Most of the big venues are outside the city; we don't have anything on them."

"I see. What about the… organ thefts?"

Layla sighed and leaned on a hip to put her notes back into her pocket. "It's like I told Link yesterday: if these guys are in the market for selling stolen organs, they're harder to track than the Guild. Do you guys have any idea what the organs would be used for?"

"Well, according to the coroner, the last cases in which a person's organs were taken were done so that they could be given to people suffering from organ failure. But those ended in disaster; the 'patients' receiving them died."

"Now, when you say 'patients' like that, you mean they're…"

"From what the coroner told us, these older cases were organized crime groups. They would steal the organs from someone and use unqualified doctors to transplant the organ. However, none of the cases we were shown had any successes. That's on top of the fact that none of them involved organ theft on this scale; the thieves back then stole one or two organs at a time, not all of the victims' organs at the same time."

"I see… I thought we were talking about someone selling these organs. If they were actually planning to use the organs, it might make a difference in how we ask around. I'll have to check, but I might have something else for you guys the next time I see you."

Navi nodded. "You've already been quite a bit of help to us already. I'm surprised you're so willing, given your… occupation."

"You mean as an accountant at a delicatessen?" Layla asked, confusion prevalent on her face.

Navi blinked at her, her hair shifting purple. "Huh?"

"Didn't Link tell you? I'm an accountant at the Delro Delicatessen there in the East District. I manage the deli's finances."

Navi could not tell if she was being sincere or if this was supposed to be some kind of cover for her Guild activity. "Okay…" she said with a nod.

Layla grinned at her. "You should come over some time," she said as she stood. "I'll treat you to a sandwich."

"Uh… sure," Navi said, standing as well. "You… don't have anything else?"

"No, but I'll ask the folks in the Autumn District to keep their ears open. If we hear anything about organ theft, we'll let you know." With that, Layla rounded the table and opened the door.

"Miss me, darl—"

"YIKES!"

Wump! "Ack—!" Whumph!

Navi quickly moved to the door to see what the noise was. She had heard Link's voice and leaned outside to see him seated on the floor with a dazed look on his face. She then looked at Layla.

Layla had one hand clutching her chest in fright. Then, once she comprehended whose head she had just delivered a knifehand strike to, she gave an irritated grunt and crossed her arms. "Serves you right, Link," she told him in a huff.

Wheatland, standing behind Link with one hand covering his face, heaved a sigh. "No, no, he had that one coming, too…" he seemed to say to himself.

"Ugh! I can't stand you!" Layla said before turning and marching out through the Homicide office.

"What happened?" Navi asked.

"He startled her, she chopped him, and he hit the wall," Wheatland said as he uncovered his face.

Link held his head. "Man… Didn't think she had reflexes like that…" he said in a pained voice.

Navi crossed her arms. "She probably didn't develop those until you came into her life," she pointed out.

Link gave a weak chuckle as he used the wall to haul himself to his feet. "Nice to know she can learn something from me."

"So, you have a new suspect now," Wheatland said.

"Yes, sir," Navi replied. "I had not considered it since we hadn't been able to speak to House Highland or Gord. But then, who would expect Fiametta Hremorson to provoke people in her friends' Houses?"

"This girl really didn't discriminate," Link observed. "We probably shouldn't be surprised that she'd punch out her own friends if they did something stupid."

"It makes me wonder if Affini had any siblings of similar age," Navi said. "They might've left because they suspected one of their own might have been responsible."

"Think it might be worth getting Travel involved?" Wheatland asked.

Navi shook her head. "I'd like to let Constable Fieldview's note have a chance, sir," she told him. "We might cause them to panic if we have Travel look for them. Constable, let's find Highland's address; we should go there immediately."

Link nodded. "Should be on the schedules we got from the school."

"I'll get transportation for you," Wheatland said. "With any luck, this'll be a decent break for you."

"If not, sir," Navi pointed out, "we at least know Hremorson was not above pissing off her friends' families." She pointed over her shoulder. "Constable, let's get moving."

"Got it, Detective Sergeant."