‘I suppose that’s as good a place to start as any,’ said Garovel.
‘Well, it WOULD be,’ said Hector, ‘if there was any sort of evidence to go on.’
‘Actually, the lack of evidence might itself be a kind of clue.’
‘How do you mean?’
‘Just think about it. If someone framed Ibai, then they did it without leaving any real evidence behind. And which ability type has the easiest time not leaving any traces of their work?’
‘Ah. Materialization.’
‘Yup. Not that it proves anything, of course. I’m sure someone with one of the other types could’ve figured a way to be clever with their power. And moreover, absence of evidence is not evidence of absence. But it’s something to think about as we investigate.’
Hector paused a moment. ‘Isn’t it also possible that Fuad Saqqaf is still alive? I mean, Qorvass only identified him by his shoes. Someone could’ve taken them off him and used them for the frame up, right?’
‘Mm. Technically, yeah, that’s possible. Not very likely, though. For such a plan to work, the culprit would’ve had to know that Qorvass could identify Fuad from those shoes. And if you’ll recall, even Asad seemed surprised when Qorvass pulled off that bit of absurdity.’
‘Absurdity? You don’t think you could’ve done the same thing?’
‘Sure, if I paid attention to the shoes of everyone we meet. But why the fuck would I do that?’
‘For situations like this, apparently.’
‘Apparently.’
Hector smirked. ‘Oh well. I guess Qorvass is just better than you.’
‘Oh, fuck you. I remember plenty of other seemingly worthless shit. Like your dumb birthday.’
‘What does that have to do with anything?’
‘It’s in two weeks, you know.’
‘Is it? I thought it was closer, actually. How long’ve we been in Sair?’
‘Hardly even a week.’
‘Seriously? That can’t be right. It feels like ages already.’
‘When we weren’t waiting around for something to happen, we were busy trying not to be mashed into a meaty pudding, as Lord Xuan phrased it. And both of those things tend to make the time drag.’
‘Hmm.’
‘Anyway, my point was that I doubt the killer would’ve expected Qorvass to identify Fuad the way he did.’
A dark serial novel. Set in a modern fantasy world called Eleg. Mature language. Updates every night at midnight PST by ~400 words.
So Garovel memory of other worthless stuff might come in handy...chance to one up Qorvass...perhaps?
ReplyDeleteI had the same reaction as Hector to the info that we've only been in Sair just over a week. Seriously?!
ReplyDeleteI can relate with Hector. It feels like way more than 24 hours since the last chapter was released.
ReplyDeleteFFFFRRRRRRRROOOOOOOOSSSSSSTTTTTTT. DID YOU INCLUDE THE THING ABOUT THINKING THE SHOES MIGHT HAVE BEEN PLANTED BECAUSE WE MENTIONED IT IN THE COMMENTS. DO YOU LOVE US THAT MUCH?!
ReplyDeleteI think this whole page screams Fandom Nod. Hector's birthday, the shoes, the possibility of Fuad being alive (and possibly in on the deception), timeline stuff -- all things that have been mentioned in the comments before.
ReplyDeleteIn on it? Where is "in on it" as an option? /paranoia
ReplyDeleteIf it's reasonable for us to think of it, it's reasonable for them to think of it too. Most of those thoughts really aren't that out there or strange, when you're grasping at straws.
ReplyDeletePersonally, I'd gotten the sense that they had barely gotten settled in, three days tops.
ReplyDeleteHaha.
ReplyDelete