‘It’s not inconceivable that someone could have framed him,’ said Garovel. ‘And according to Ibai’s own account, Fuad was dead before he arrived.’
“He also sounded extremely confused,” said Lorenzo. “Could be that he didn’t realize what he’d done until it was too late, but that doesn’t change the fact that he did it.”
“That is not a fact until we confirm it as such,” said Carlos. “You are also not a part of this investigation. You’ve given us your witness statement. You may leave now.”
“And who put you in charge, exactly?” said Lorenzo. “This isn’t Roth.”
“You are correct,” said Carlos. “But this is not Deynos, either. This is Moaban. And as we are guests here, we should defer to the Lord Najir. Agreed?”
Lorenzo gave a slow nod before he and everyone else turned to Asad and Qorvass.
And despite having been put on the spot rather suddenly, the tattooed Sandlord lost none of his composure. “Lord Lorenzo. It is my understanding that you worked as a constable in Deynos for many years, no?”
“I did, yes.”
“And Lord Carlos, you served in the Vanguard’s OSI, did you not?”
“Yes.”
That caught Hector’s attention. ‘OSI?’
‘Office of Special Investigations,’ Garovel said privately.
“I would like the both of you to head up your own investigations, independent of one another,” said Asad. “Do not waste time sharing information. Simply return to me in six hours with whatever you have learned.”
Lorenzo shifted his feet and tilted his head. “Six hours isn’t much to work with.”
“You’ll keep investigating afterwards, but I need your preliminary reports by then. At most, I can buy us twelve hours before Hahl Saqqaf shows up and starts asking a lot of difficult questions--not the least of which will be why the hell I chose to give refuge to so many Rainlords without informing them.”
“Do you think they will kick us out?” said Carlos.
“No,” said Asad. “This is my jurisdiction. But they will certainly not be pleased.”
“All the same,” said Lorenzo, “perhaps we should be ready to leave in a hurry.”
“I won’t discourage your people’s caution,” said Asad, “but just focus on the investigation right now. I will inform Abel and Salvador of what I am having you do.”
‘What about the Blackburns?’ asked Garovel.
A dark serial novel. Set in a modern fantasy world called Eleg. Mature language. Updates every day at noon PST by ~400 words.
Tuesday, April 28, 2015
Page 1020 -- CXVII.
Chapter One Hundred Seventeen: ‘Riddle in the sand...’
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‘So what do we know?’ said Garovel, addressing the full audience of investigators, which now included the three Najirs and their accompanying reapers. ‘We don’t have the luxury of a DNA test to confirm whose blood this is or even if it all belongs to poor Fuad here, but we are all in agreement that these blood patterns seem strange, at least.’
‘It’s difficult to tell,’ said Qorvass. ‘Given the extent of mutilation, one would assume that there would be plenty of blood on the walls, counters, and ceiling, but it is only on the floor.’
‘Which suggests that Fuad was not killed here in the south kitchen,’ said Atalim.
‘But that could also be consistent with Ibai’s story,’ said Qorvass. ‘He said he teleported AFTER colliding with the body. We assumed he meant from one end of this room to the other, as described by the two separate blood stains, but he could have just as easily teleported twice. The first teleport would have been from wherever the murder took place.’
“Can any of you corroborate that?” asked Asad. He was staring at the group of reapers who’d been close enough to sense Ibai.
They each shook their head.
‘He was too difficult to follow,’ said the one bound to Lorenzo Delaguna. His name was Marosso, Hector was pretty sure.
Garovel decided to move on with the summation. ‘Pretty much everything we’ve found points to Ibai. He was also the only one in here just prior to the disappearance of the soul that we can only presume to have been Fuad’s. That’s fairly strong evidence that he consumed Fuad’s soul, even if we DO assume that he didn’t actually murder him.’
“However, the position he was found in was also odd,” said Carlos Sebolt. The thick lines of his middle-aged face deepened as he spoke. “His foot was stuck inside the body, as if he had decided to stomp the boy to death, but this is inconsistent with the extensive mutilation. He would’ve had to tear the body to shreds in a matter of seconds before suddenly resorting to stomping. Why would he have done that?”
“Because he’s an aberration,” said Lorenzo Delaguna. “It’s no use trying to understand how they think.”
Hector had a pretty good idea whose side that guy was on. Not that he completely disagreed with him.
Click to display entire chapter at once -- (mobile link)
‘So what do we know?’ said Garovel, addressing the full audience of investigators, which now included the three Najirs and their accompanying reapers. ‘We don’t have the luxury of a DNA test to confirm whose blood this is or even if it all belongs to poor Fuad here, but we are all in agreement that these blood patterns seem strange, at least.’
‘It’s difficult to tell,’ said Qorvass. ‘Given the extent of mutilation, one would assume that there would be plenty of blood on the walls, counters, and ceiling, but it is only on the floor.’
‘Which suggests that Fuad was not killed here in the south kitchen,’ said Atalim.
‘But that could also be consistent with Ibai’s story,’ said Qorvass. ‘He said he teleported AFTER colliding with the body. We assumed he meant from one end of this room to the other, as described by the two separate blood stains, but he could have just as easily teleported twice. The first teleport would have been from wherever the murder took place.’
“Can any of you corroborate that?” asked Asad. He was staring at the group of reapers who’d been close enough to sense Ibai.
They each shook their head.
‘He was too difficult to follow,’ said the one bound to Lorenzo Delaguna. His name was Marosso, Hector was pretty sure.
Garovel decided to move on with the summation. ‘Pretty much everything we’ve found points to Ibai. He was also the only one in here just prior to the disappearance of the soul that we can only presume to have been Fuad’s. That’s fairly strong evidence that he consumed Fuad’s soul, even if we DO assume that he didn’t actually murder him.’
“However, the position he was found in was also odd,” said Carlos Sebolt. The thick lines of his middle-aged face deepened as he spoke. “His foot was stuck inside the body, as if he had decided to stomp the boy to death, but this is inconsistent with the extensive mutilation. He would’ve had to tear the body to shreds in a matter of seconds before suddenly resorting to stomping. Why would he have done that?”
“Because he’s an aberration,” said Lorenzo Delaguna. “It’s no use trying to understand how they think.”
Hector had a pretty good idea whose side that guy was on. Not that he completely disagreed with him.
Saturday, April 25, 2015
Page 1019
‘I see,’ said Chergoa. ‘Er, I mean--I understand.’
Emiliana just looked at her.
‘Well, hey, you barely even need your eyes anyway. If it comes down to it, I’ll just tell you where everything is.’
That reminded Emiliana that this was going to happen again. It was only a matter of time. Unless she did something about it, of course. She knew she only had herself to blame on this one. Chergoa had warned her previously that she needed to use her power in small, controlled ways, and Emiliana had been neglecting that. It might’ve been irrational, but a part of her had been hoping that she could just sit back and never have to worry about making things worse.
Foolishness, she knew. She was just grateful that Chergoa wasn’t rubbing it in her face.
She didn’t know how she was supposed to get used to this. Everything was so bright, despite all the gaps everywhere. The oddest thing, though, was that not all of the holes were the same. There seemed to be two types, actually. Some were just strange fluctuations in light, occasionally even moving to and fro, shrinking and growing, creating an illusion of distance from her. The others were just big dark spots, blurry and completely stationary, making it feel as if she were stuck looking through a pair of mucked up binoculars.
Before they made it back to the room, however, a commotion at the far end of the hall caught Emiliana’s attention. A number of Rainlords had gathered there, and when she turned to Chergoa again, she saw that the reaper had stopped and seemed to be concentrating.
“Is something happening?” Em asked.
‘I think so. There’s a lot of movement a couple floors below us.’
“Do you want to investigate?”
Chergoa thought a moment. ‘Nah. It doesn’t seem like a fight’s broken out. We should stay close to Zeff. I’m sure someone will find us if there’s anything we should know.’
Emiliana had no problem with that. They finished returning to their room.
Something still felt odd, though. She couldn’t quite tell what it was. A stray shiver ran down her spine, and she became abruptly conscious of the hairs on her arms and the back of her neck. And even after rejoining her family, the feeling didn’t go away. It lingered, keeping her on edge and making her scan the room over and over again, trying to reassure herself that nothing was actually wrong.
If not for the holes in her vision, she might’ve had an easier time believing that.
Emiliana just looked at her.
‘Well, hey, you barely even need your eyes anyway. If it comes down to it, I’ll just tell you where everything is.’
That reminded Emiliana that this was going to happen again. It was only a matter of time. Unless she did something about it, of course. She knew she only had herself to blame on this one. Chergoa had warned her previously that she needed to use her power in small, controlled ways, and Emiliana had been neglecting that. It might’ve been irrational, but a part of her had been hoping that she could just sit back and never have to worry about making things worse.
Foolishness, she knew. She was just grateful that Chergoa wasn’t rubbing it in her face.
She didn’t know how she was supposed to get used to this. Everything was so bright, despite all the gaps everywhere. The oddest thing, though, was that not all of the holes were the same. There seemed to be two types, actually. Some were just strange fluctuations in light, occasionally even moving to and fro, shrinking and growing, creating an illusion of distance from her. The others were just big dark spots, blurry and completely stationary, making it feel as if she were stuck looking through a pair of mucked up binoculars.
Before they made it back to the room, however, a commotion at the far end of the hall caught Emiliana’s attention. A number of Rainlords had gathered there, and when she turned to Chergoa again, she saw that the reaper had stopped and seemed to be concentrating.
“Is something happening?” Em asked.
‘I think so. There’s a lot of movement a couple floors below us.’
“Do you want to investigate?”
Chergoa thought a moment. ‘Nah. It doesn’t seem like a fight’s broken out. We should stay close to Zeff. I’m sure someone will find us if there’s anything we should know.’
Emiliana had no problem with that. They finished returning to their room.
Something still felt odd, though. She couldn’t quite tell what it was. A stray shiver ran down her spine, and she became abruptly conscious of the hairs on her arms and the back of her neck. And even after rejoining her family, the feeling didn’t go away. It lingered, keeping her on edge and making her scan the room over and over again, trying to reassure herself that nothing was actually wrong.
If not for the holes in her vision, she might’ve had an easier time believing that.
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