Chapter Thirty-Six: A Legacy Unchanged

Wheatland waited for Link to get dressed and took him to the carriage outside. He ordered the driver to headquarters, and then he handed Link one of his old wallets so that Link could clip his badge to his belt instead of pinning it to a uniform jacket that Link was no longer wearing. In other circumstances, Link would probably be beaming with smugness, but now was not the time as he started going through the facts of both the Merrill and Hremorson cases. Nothing had changed, but, since this new case produced another body without organs, there were some new connections.

First, if Watch Security had done their job (Link would have to double-check later, as the interviewing officer Wheatland had previously mentioned never appeared), the coroner's office was already cleared of wrongdoing, and even the officers running the body wagons had not been found responsible. This could only mean that the person committing these murders, however they were achieving this feat, was likely the one responsible. Second, this murderer had a desired target, although Link was concerned that more bodies would be showing up before they could narrow down the criteria he used to choose his victims. Being of noble descent appeared to be one of the deciding factors, although it was hard to say if there was a difference in the relative influence of the House itself that made a person a target. He was inclined to say yes since killing someone from a prominent House would likely bring too much attention to the situation. While he was not sure if killing the daughters of the target House was conclusive, it was at least apparent that the children were the target and not the adults. He would have to wait until they looked into this latest shooting, but he suspected that the killer was only targeting children of a certain age, or else Merrill would have likely lost their other child by now. This also meant that the killer was not necessarily aiming to eliminate Houses; Hremorson's inevitable downfall seemed more of a coincidence than a goal. Third, this killer was arrogant, and perhaps justifiably so considering this was the third successful kill and no obvious suspects had presented. If what Wheatland had said was consistent with Merrill and Hremorson, this new girl, Hollis, was shot in the middle of the day in public from seclusion while she was going to a routine appointment.

Link had seen himself strutting into Homicide fully aware that he was allowing his smugness to show when he would have made detective. However, given that he and Navi were now potentially dealing with a serial killer, his first step into the office held a little more weight than he had expected.

Although, it was not as if he did not have the opportunity to let his pride show.

"Uh oh," Crosswind, looking up from sorting paperwork on his desk, spoke up as Wheatland and Link entered. He crossed his arms and let a grin show. "Watch out, everyone. It's Detective Hop-Along."

Link smiled. "Thyaat's rahght, pilgrum," he replied, tugging the edge of his hat over his brow. "An' Ah aim t' clean up this taeown." Crosswind snorted and shook his head as he dug something out of his paperwork. Wheatland deigned a grin as he and Link stepped closer to Navi's desk.

"Who is talking like tha—" Navi was speaking as she stepped into the office. Upon seeing Link, she froze, her hair turning a brighter shade of blue.

Because Link was dressed in a green tunic over a plain, white, long-sleeve shirt and brown work trousers. The ensemble was completed with a green, pointed cap pulled snug on his head (even more snug since he was messing around, but he quickly tugged it back up when he turned to look at her). She glanced down at his feet to see a beat-up pair of boots.

"Siiiir…?" she addressed Wheatland.

Wheatland held up the letter and said, "I know what you're thinking, Detective Sergeant."

"I highly doubt that, sir," she replied as she leveled an irate glare at him.

"Your case was the first of a pattern," Wheatland continued, "so you two need to work it. Fieldview's already passed his exam; I just got Personnel to fast-track it. You'd be dealing with him sooner or later anyway, and I'd like to be able to tell my superiors that I have detectives working on it."

"Sir, considering our lack of progress on this," Navi said as she moved further into the office, "don't you think we should assign one of the senior detectives on this matter?"

"Why?" Wheatland asked while Link gave her a mock-look of shock.

"I think a more seasoned detective would be appropriate to this case if it is a serial murder, sir. So far, we haven't turned up any leads. A detective with experience might spot more than just m—Constable, wipe that look off your face."

"Yes, Detective Sergeant!" Link quickly replied.

Wheatland glanced at Link, wondering what kind of expression had elicited that response. Then he told Navi, "In other circumstances, I'd tell you it's regulation. But you have to remember that Fieldview has done quite a bit to earn his detective status, and even you, who has had a bad impression of Fieldview from the start, can't deny that he's had some interesting insights on this matter. Even if you two haven't had any success finding suspects, I challenge you to explain to me if any other detective in this office would have done anything different."

Navi glanced around, but Crosswind was the only other detective in the office, the rest of the division likely spread across Hyrulia using their time in the late morning working on cases. Still, she was familiar enough with the other detectives in the division that, as much as she would have expected different being partnered with them, she truthfully could not picture much difference between their usual work and the progression of these cases as they had been. If anything, Link had been an advantage, still fresh from his district assignment. She did not want to admit it, but Link was probably a better choice since Castlefoot had been his last assigned location.

Navi took in a deep breath. "I suppose we don't really have as much of a caseload holding us down…" she reasoned aloud.

Link grinned at her. "So, what's our first move, Detective Sergeant?" he asked.

"Oh, it goes something like this," Crosswind spoke up as he stepped toward them. "I formally transfer the case to you two…" He gave a folder to Navi. "I wish you luck, and I pretend I never had anything to do with it."

Link gave him a mildly amused look. "Are you turning it over, or are you ditching it on us, sir?" he asked.

"Little bit of both," Crosswind said. "I've already heard you two talking about this around the office. It's tough enough having two bodies on your hands, and I have no idea what you two are dealing with. If there's a connection to follow, you two probably have a better picture of what this is about than me. So, it's just as well that the regs say I have to hand it over."

Navi, who had opened the folder to read Crosswind's paperwork, looked up and asked, "What was the coroner going to rule as the cause of death?"

Crosswind sighed and scratched the back of his head. "Beau got the case; he said he'd get back to me once he spoke to Justine about it," he said. "He told me he'd normally rule it a homicide based on the bullet wound, but with her organs gone? He wanted to compare notes with Justine before he made a ruling."

"Which reminds me," Wheatland spoke up. "What was Justine ruling the first two as?"

Navi frowned and strode to her desk. She set down Crosswind's folder and picked up another folder sitting on her desk. She flipped through forms before finding the coroner's report. "Justine ruled it 'death, mysterious circumstances', sir," she reported. Then she said to Crosswind, "I take it he told you that the places where her organs had been connected were atrophied, so there was no possibility that she had them when she was shot anyway."

"Yeah, and that was the point I realized I was a little out of my depth," Crosswind said. "I was already having a hard time grasping how she was wandering around without organs, because it's clear she was just fine that morning she left the house."

"Wasn't easy for us to wrap our heads around, either," Link said.

"Did you include your notes when you interviewed her parents?" Navi asked as she glanced down at the folder she had put down.

"Not really," Crosswind replied, a pained look flashing across his face. "I went through the regular questioning, asked about her family, whether there was anyone who'd hurt her, things like that. I didn't really find anything suspicious, and I figured I'd be writing it off as a cold case until Beau got back to me."

"The East District is rough like that, sir," Link spoke up, "but I noticed random shootings don't occur in Castlefoot with the same frequency. Not only are the Watch patrols a little heavier, but there's also the Royal Knights wanderin' around. Anyone carryin' a gun but no badge is almost instantly in their sight."

"I did my assignment in Ice, so you'll have to enlighten me," Crosswind told him, one hand gesturing for Link to continue.

"The district office in Castlefoot has a crime arrest rate of about eighty-five percent, sir. At least, that's what it was last I checked. That'd be higher if the Royal Knights were obliged to turn over petty crooks and street brawlers that assault people other than commoners."

Crosswind joined Navi in giving him a confused look. "You mean the knights should have jurisdiction? They let me walk away with this one."

"Not necessarily, sir," Link told him. "Both the district office and the knights got a kinda 'first come, first served' deal. Whoever nabs the suspect first handles everything else. But the Royal Knights don't have the same resources for investigatin' if the suspect gets away, so they let the Watch take care of it."

"What does this mean for this new case?" Wheatland asked.

Navi heaved a sigh, which halted Link's response. "It means that not only does our perpetrator still have his balls, sir, but he's smart enough to do it under both the Watch's and the knighthood's noses. Who was the first on the scene?"

"Siiiir Cauldron," Crosswind said. "He called it into the district office and handed it over to Inspector Ibis when she responded." Crosswind frowned and crossed his arms. "I spoke with both of them on the scene, and… I couldn't help noticing…" A smile broke on Link's face. "I think they were flirting with each other. It was one of the most awkward scenes I'd ever responded to, and even I handled Red Light Row a couple times."

"Not particularly professional of either one of them," Wheatland observed.

"Yeah, but they're always like that, sirs," Link spoke up. "The first time they showed up to a scene I'd called in, they kissed."

Wheatland's eyebrows rose, and Navi's eyes widened as her hair turned stark white. Crosswind chuckled and commented to Wheatland, "Very unprofessional, sir."

"Can they do that, sir?" Navi asked Wheatland.

"Sure they can, Detective Sergeant," Link answered before Wheatland opened his mouth. "They're married."

Crosswind moaned, bowed his head, and slapped a hand over his face. "Of course…" he commented to himself, a slight chuckle escaping.

"You couldn't tell us that part first?" Navi snapped at Link.

Link held up his hands in surrender. "They got me when they first did it," he said. "Inspector Ibis says they do it all the time to probationary constables. I just wanted in on the gag; I completely missed the hints the first time they did it and got my ass chewed when I reported it to my supervisor."

Navi sighed and turned back to Crosswind. "Did you follow up with this… Sir Cauldron?" she asked.

"I was waiting for Beau's verdict before I did," Crosswind said. "He said he heard the shot and thought he could tell where it came from, but, when he went and investigated, he couldn't find anything."

"Where'd he go, sir?" Link asked.

"One of the buildings further down the street."

Navi glanced at Link before asking Crosswind, "Did you get an address?"

Crosswind shrugged and said, "I checked it out myself. I went to the rooftop and looked around. There wasn't anything to find."

"Maybe," Navi said as she rocked side to side, her eyes contemplating her desk. "But… now that we know it's our shooter, we might be able to find something you missed. The other two scenes, he wiped down anything sprayed with gunpowder, anything he was bracing the gun on. He can shoot from concealment, so there are no witnesses to the gunman himself." She paused to take in a sigh. "And, in spite of how careful he is, he likes to shoot in broad daylight like he's invisible to the world."

"Probably the only thing savin' us from a massacre is his purpose," Link said.

Navi looked up at him. Wheatland shifted his weight and asked, "His purpose, Detective Constable?"

Link shrugged and said, "Well, it isn't like he's just shootin' people on the streets just for the fun of it, right? Seems like he's got certain targets in mind, or else we'd have more people in the morgue with their organs missin'."

"You've determined his agenda?" Wheatland asked.

Link shook his head. "Not exactly, sir," he admitted. "But we know he isn't just shootin' 'em for the fun of it. Our first two victims, he knew their schedules, either by gettin' a hold of them or by observation. He put in the work to target these ladies, and I'll bet he did the same to our new victim."

"What was the young lady doing when she was shot?" Navi asked Crosswind.

"Well, to tell the truth, I forgot," Crosswind admitted. "Best I can tell you was it was something pretty mundane, so I didn't even write it down." He glanced between her and Link quickly. "Is it relevant?"

"The activity?" Link replied. "No. But if it was just as mundane as the others, and she was shot by our perpetrator, it means he caught her in the middle of her schedule."

Crosswind blew out a sigh and grabbed the back of his neck. "Great Goddesses, this is crazy…" he commented aloud.

"You think we need to look at the victim's schedule again," Navi reasoned.

"Might help," Link said with a shrug.

Navi nodded. "I want to look at the scene first. I'd also like to make contact with Sir Cauldron since he conducted an initial investigation."

"Need me to dial up the district office and see if they can track him down?" Wheatland asked.

Link quickly raised a hand. "No need, sir," he said. "I know where to find him; I know his patrol route through the district. Or, more accurately, I know someone who knows his patrol route. I'm sure Inspector Ibis'll be glad to help us follow up on this."

"I think the only thing we need at this point is a carriage, sir," Navi added.

Wheatland nodded. "I'll order it up for you."

"With a side of fries?" Link asked as Wheatland stepped toward the exit.

"When you're promoted," Navi, Wheatland, and Crosswind told him at the same time, each one with the same degree of irritation.

Link put on a sour look and glanced across the office as he said, "Knew I shouldn't've trusted Jester…"

The City Watch's Castlefoot district office was situated on the edge of the district close to the dividing street between Castlefoot and Fountainhead Districts. This served two purposes. One, it allowed the Watch to respond officers faster to the Fountainhead District, which was too small for the city officials to declare it an independent district (instead making it a "sub-district" of the Central District) and therefore depriving it of its own district office.

Two. It made driving to the Castlefoot district office much easier. Being an older area of the former Castle Town, the streets were incredibly narrow and prone to traffic jams due to so many people living close together. This was probably also why part of the district was patrolled by the Royal Knights of Hyrule since City Watch could only meet the demands of a limited part of the population in such a crowded area.

Link opened the door to the office for Navi and subsequently followed her inside. Before she could ask, Link stepped to her side and indicated a desk toward the back of a wide-open office space. "District commander's over there," he told her.

Halfway to the desk, at which sat a large, round, middle-aged man pondering over paperwork, a commotion rose from the back of the office. Loose pages had been flung into the air, and a loud slam signaled someone diving into one of the restrooms. Link and Navi froze and stared with some of the other Watch officers in confusion of the small bout of chaos.

Then the district commander turned to see who had just walked up to his desk. He grinned at the detectives and stood up from his chair. "Well, well, Constable Fieldview," he said. "That explains the commotion then. Your poor, temporary field supervisor…"

Link chortled before pointing and asking, "What? Was that Sergeant Lomex?"

The commander nodded. "Some of the other constables have been gaslighting him into thinking you never left," he said with an obvious trace of glee in his words. "He dives for cover at nearly anyone saying your name."

"Yes, the constable has that charm…" Navi commented.

"Yeah, but it isn't my fault," Link told her.

"It isn't?" she asked.

"Weeeell, not directly," the commander said. "Fieldview and Lomex were only partnered four times." He gave a helpless shrug before adding, "And Lomex got shot all four times."

Someone walking past snorted, and Navi turned to look in response before asking the commander, "He did?"

"Still don't think that last one should count," Link said. "It was just a graze."

"A graze the thickness of a pencil," the commander retorted. "That still didn't endear him to you." He then indicated Navi. "Your partner?"

"Oh, yeah," Link said, reminded that there had been no introductions yet. "This is Chief Inspector Brodest. Chief, this is Detective Sergeant Navi from Homicide."

"A pleasure, Detective Sergeant," Brodest said as he offered a hand across the desk.

"Likewise, sir," Navi answered as they clasped hands.

Brodest then crossed his arms and observed, "So, the constable is in plain clothing. You can't have seriously gotten your detective mark that fast."

Link gave a broad grin and replied, "Promoted this morning." He then patted the badge hanging from his belt.

Brodest blinked in surprise. "Oh, you're… not kidding, are you?"

"I only wish he was…" Navi groaned.

Brodest chuckled. "Detective Constable, have you been rotten to Homicide?" he asked Link.

"Nah," Link replied. "She hated me before I joined Homicide."

Brodest chuckled again and nodded. "So, what brings you up here? Another homicide investigation? We've already got one going this week."

"Actually, that's why we're here, sir," Link said. "We're taking over for DS Crosswind on the Hollis shooting."

"Did something happen to Hollis?"

"No," was Navi's heavy, curt reply.

While Brodest had stopped smiling when he switched to talking about Watch business, his face quickly changed to a shocked expression as the implications dawned on him. He glanced around to check no other officers were nearby before leaning forward to ask in a hushed voice, "It's a serial?!"

"Third of a pattern," Navi said.

Brodest sucked a breath in between his teeth. "Oh, boy…" he uttered. "You guys have a problem."

"I'm sorry?" Navi asked.

"Which one?" Link asked, causing Navi to give him a confused look.

"Hyrulia Today," Brodest replied. "A street writer was here asking questions yesterday. They'll probably put out a story tomorrow."

"You mean a newspaper," Navi concluded.

"Reporters are rare elsewhere," Link told her. "But if it happens in Castlefoot, guaranteed one of the big newspapers heard about it."

"How?" Navi asked.

"Castlefoot is where most of the major newspapers are headquartered," Brodest explained. "When the Royal Family doesn't make news, the streets will. What's that do for your serial?"

"Long run?" Link replied. "Nothing much. The shooter's been to two other districts; he's probably wonderin' why the newspapers don't report on those yet."

"And we need it to stay that way, sir," Navi pointedly told Brodest.

Brodest raised his hands in surrender. "I know the regs, Detective Sergeant," he said. "You don't have to lecture me. So, what do you need from us?"

"We need to borrow Inspector Ibis, sir," Link said. "Gotta track down her husband."

"Of course," Brodest said with a nod. He peered past them as he said, "She's… uh…" He then turned to look back into the main office. "Op—there she is. Inspector Ibis!"

The woman Brodest had called to was, to Navi, unexpectedly short. Link probably had about a hand's thickness in height greater than her. Her brown hair was a bob that framed her bespeckled face. As she approached the desk, Navi noticed that her uniform was baggy on her, and she wondered if the inspector was wearing a larger uniform on purpose. Once she was beside the desk and addressed Brodest, Navi felt that she understood what kind of person she was dealing with.

"'Cha got, Chief?" Navi tried not to wince at the sound of an accent stronger than Link's assaulting her ears.

Brodest indicated Link and said, "Look who's back."

Inspector Ibis's grin became wider. "Oh, Ah heard 'em," she replied. "How ya doin', Constable?"

"Just movin' along, ma'am," Link replied.

"Detective now, huh?" she asked. "Ya said ya had a plan, but Ah didn' think ya'd get 'em done that fast."

"Circumstances changed," Link told her.

"Our Detective Constable here is taking over that shooting from a few days ago," Brodest spoke up.

Ibis's eyes widened behind her glasses. She turned to Brodest and delivered a flat, "Oh."

"Yeah…" Link uttered. "We need to find Sir Cauldron."

"Ol' Pete's on his rounds 'bout this time," Ibis replied. She turned to locate a wall clock hanging nearby. "Prob'ly be o'er on Gar'entime time we find 'im."

"Are you okay for a walk?" Brodest asked.

"Chief, with all respect, sir, how old ya think Ah am?" Ibis asked him, her tone only revealing a small amount of indignation.

"You know this isn't about how old you are, Inspector," Brodest told her, his own face amused.

"Ah'll be fine, sir," Ibis said. "If Ah have any trouble, Fieldview here'll carry us."

"We have a carriage here, ma'am," Navi spoke up, her hair already a brilliant shade of purple.

"'Round here, Detective, you'd walk the block faster 'n a carriage can carry ya," Ibis said. "Gar'entime's three hours away by carriage; we can hoof it in an hour at most."

"The Chief does have a point, ma'am," Link spoke up.

Ibis made a show of crossing her arms as she leveled an irritated look on Link. "Ah know Ah'm not gettin' coddled by a constable. E'en if he just got his detective mark."

"Just tryin' to watch out for the little people, ma'am," Link replied. Navi cringed, her hair immediately shifting to gray; she could not believe he was insulting the inspector's height.

Ibis tilted her head, her voice still tinged with irritation as she replied, "Y'all want mah help findin' Pete 'r not? Ah ain't seen mah husband today anyway."

Link snapped to attention and spoke with the tone of a Watch officer that had just gotten himself into trouble as he replied, "Yes, ma'am, appreciate it, ma'am!"

"Good," Ibis replied, a smirk on her face. "Meet me out front; Ah'm puttin' on some more comf'terble shoes." With that, she turned and started walking away.

Brodest waited until Ibis was out of earshot before telling Link and Navi, "If anything comes up, phone the station. We have Taggert and Bose specifically waiting if anything happens to her."

"Got it, Chief," Link replied, delivering a wink.

"Let's go, Detective Constable," Navi said.

Link followed Navi out, taking notice that her hair had gone back to purple instead of returning to the usual bluish-black color. He had a feeling about what might have been on her mind. No one had said it aloud, and it surely had not escaped her attention how everyone had been treating Ibis. His main question was when she would finally realize.

It was not until she had just opened the door to the outside when Navi's hair suddenly blinked to gray once more. Link quickly covered his ears.

"IS SHE PREGNANT!?"