De Tanga looked over the three names left on his list of suspects to talk to. Sergeant Zelgadis, Miss Sylphiel Peacock and Miss Filia Peach. Who was he going to talk to next?
There was one problem that De Tanga had with talking to Zelgadis. How could he talk to Zelgadis without hinting at him that he was a suspect? Though chances are Zelgadis was probably suspicious as it is since De Tanga had this investigation going and wasn't informing Zelgadis about the details. De Tanga was surprised that Zelgadis hadn't approached him yet about the investigation.
So that left De Tanga back with his dilemma, who should be talk to next? In a way he wanted to get the whole thing with Zelgadis over with first but he also didn't want to at the same time. I'll talk to him when I've thought of some way of approaching him better about the situation. So that leaves me with Miss Sylphiel Peacock and Miss Filia Peach. I guess it would be pretty obvious about why Miss Peach is here and what she is after, but Miss Peacock's story is a little flimsy. I think maybe it would be a good idea to see her next.
With that decided De Tanga went in search of Sylphiel.
Death slowly opened his eyes as he regained consciousness. His head hurt like hell and he couldn't quite make sense of what had happened. The first thing that he saw was that the room he was in was dark and that there was someone else in the room with him. He sat up slowly to see who it was.
"Ah Noir you're awake finally!"
Death blinked in confusion. "Chief? Is that you?"
"Yeah it's me." The Chief replied with a sigh.
"Where are we?" Death asked testing out his limbs. He was half expecting to have his legs and hands tied up but he wasn't bound.
"To be honest I don't know Noir. I had came to the manor to give Tealson the forensics report on the stiff you guys brought in since none of you where answering your phones. But when I got here I was knocked out by some person and dragged into some underground cellar or something. And then I fell asleep and the next thing I knew I was in a different room and you were in here unconscious. Are you alright Noir?" The Chief said handing him some food and water. During the prison switch, the Chief's captors decided to be nice enough to provide some food and water for them.
"My head hurts and my body is a bit stiff and sore from laying on the ground but I'm okay. What about you?" Death rubbed his head to prove his point.
"I'm fine. Though it looks like the situation here is a little worse then I thought. Do you guys know who the killer is yet?"
"No and my gun and phone and Hallas' gun and phone are missing. And so is Detective Tealson's cell phone charger." Death sighed. I want me gun back...
"But does Tealson still have his gun?"
"Yeah he still has it. He's been keeping that, his case file and notes on him at all times."
"That's a relief. But what happened to you?"
"Well the killer slashed all the tires and stole all the spares. Basically making it impossible for anyone to leave the manor. So Detective Tealson asked if I could make my way by walking to one of Mr. Boddy's closest neighbor's home to call up for backup. But I was jumped on the way there and well I woke up here."
"Did anyone in the manor know where you were going?"
"No, no one except Hallas and Detective Tealson even knew there I was leaving the manor at all. We kept it a secret! I don't know what happened."
"They must have found out somehow."
"Yeah no kidding. Hey Chief do you still have the forensics report?"
"No they took it from me when they knocked me unconscious. But I did get a chance to read it."
"So who was the body?"
"Well you might find this surprising."
De Tanga finally found Sylphiel walking around in the Boddy estate garden smelling the flowers. Though it wasn't a sunny day out it wasn't too cold to enjoy the beauty of the large garden. Sylphiel also had a pair of binoculars hanging from her neck as she occasionally looked through them to see the birds around.
"Miss Peacock?" De Tanga asked approaching the bird watcher.
"AHHH!!" Sylphiel jumped in surprise.
"I'm sorry Miss Peacock I didn't mean to startle you." De Tanga apologized.
"Oh no don't apologize. I really should be paying more attention. I didn't even hear you come at all!" Sylphiel laughed in embarrassment.
"Well I have been known to be very light on my feet. Anyway would I be able to speak with you for a moment? There are some questions I'd like to ask you."
"Sure go right ahead. I'd be more then willing to answer any questions you may I have."
De Tanga nodded and pulled out his notepad. "You said before that you came to the Boddy Manor to see about Mr. Boddy donating part of his estate to the Salvation Society a group that you are apart of. Is that correct?"
Sylphiel nodded.
"How long has the Salvation Society been in existence?"
Rather then answering his question, Sylphiel looked away from De Tanga.
"Miss Peacock?" De Tanga prompted her.
"I'm sure that you know that the Salvation Society hasn't been around for that long..."
"Yes I know, it was only established a month ago."
"And I'm sure you know that I'm the only member of the group too."
"I also know that as well. Would you care to explain?"
Sylphiel took a big sigh before starting. "It had been my dream for many years to make an environmental society with the sole purpose of trying to preserve endangered or rare birds in their natural habitat. But I never had the money to start the group and I couldn't get anyone else to join me on the idea and get it going. So that left me all alone. I didn't think I would ever be able to get my idea off the ground."
"So what happened?"
"I met him."
"Him?"
"Mr. Boddy."
De Tanga raised an eyebrow but motioned for him to carry on.
"I met him at a charity ball. He was tall dark and charming. Very smooth, very hansom any women in my position would have been swept off her feet."
"And were you?"
"Oh yes. And I couldn't understand why he was so interested in, not that I was complaining though. We got talking a next thing I knew I had a date with him scheduled a week later. I don't know when it happened but we eventually got talking about my idea and he offered to fiancé the society until it got off its' feet. I didn't accept right away of course but he eventually wore me down until I took him up on the offer. It all seemed so perfect..." Sylphiel trailed off.
"Until?"
"Until things started to get a little too serious. I told him things were going to fast and that maybe we slow down a bit but he refused. He didn't want to slow it down at all. And it got to be too much for me and I told him that I needed to take a break from the relationship and then he blackmailed me. He said if I stopped seeing him he'd cut the funding to my society. And since my Salvation Society hadn't been doing as well a I had hoped Mr. Boddy was the only source of funding I had."
"No one wanted to pitch in any money for it?" De Tanga asked.
"Would you want to pitch in for a non-profit group that only had one member? So I decided to continue seeing him and hoped to find a new source of funding. But after two weeks of being turned down I decided that enough was enough. Even if it meant loosing my society I was going to break up with Mr. Boddy officially and never see him again. I couldn't handle it anymore and I didn't feel the same way I did about him when I first met him."
"What do you mean by that?"
"He changed. It was this dashing wonderful man when I had first met. And then slowly he turned into this uptight, irritable and paranoid man. And I wouldn't exactly call him controlling but he always wanted things done his way. This change scared me and I found myself more afraid to be around him then to be with. I just couldn't take it so on the night of his murder I came by with the intensions of telling him that I was never going to see him again."
"And that's when you realized he had company over." De Tanga said.
"Yes and at that point I lost my nerve because he was on his best behavior because of his company. He was so incredibly sweet to me that it would have made any woman wonder what the hell was wrong with me to break up with him. I just couldn't do it. At least not with everyone there."
"Because your relationship with Mr. Boddy had been a secret one."
Sylphiel nodded. "I don't know why we kept it a secret. I guess that was one of the added attractions to the relationship, this added sense of mystery. But I didn't tell him I wanted to break up with him and I kept quiet about it. And then..." Sylphiel's eyes started to tear up. Though she may have wanted to break up with the man she still harbored some feelings for him.
"He got murderer. Do you have any idea who it could have been?" De Tanga's voice was unemotional. Though in any normal situation he would feel empathy for Sylphiel's situation, but given the murder case and the fact that she might be acting and actually be the killer he wasn't about to start feeling pity for anyone.
"No I don't. I didn't know him to have any enemies. But he always used to say that everyone was out to get his money. He'd always rant about people planning to kill him to get at his money. That was one of the reasons on why he didn't want me to leave him so much, because out of all the people he knew to him I was the only one he could trust."
De Tanga raised an eyebrow. "Did Mr. Boddy specify on who was planning to kill him?"
"Everyone. Everyone he knew, everyone he worked with, everyone who worked for him, anyone and everyone. Mr. Green, Professor Plum, Miss White, Madame Rose, his electrician, the plumber, the president... I mean it everyone. It was pretty rare for him not suspect someone."
"But he didn't suspect you?"
"Not to my face. But he was extremely two-faced around everyone. So I wouldn't be surprised if he had told someone he had suspected me of dating him only for his money. And that I was planning on killing along with everyone else."
"But he didn't have enemies?"
"Not that I knew off."
"Well thank you very much Miss Peacock I'll leave you to what you were doing before." De Tanga gave her a nod before walking off.
The dreaded hour for De Tanga came, dinnertime...
"Detective Tealson where is Officer Noir? Don't tell me he'll wont be able to join us again?" Amelia asked with a slight look of concern to her face.
"No I'm afraid he wont be able too. He's been far to busy with what he's working on at the moment and doesn't want to eat right now. And he did have a late lunch after all so I suspect he isn't hungry at the moment." De Tanga lied through his teeth. Death still wasn't back from his trek to Melissa Potiron's home and wasn't back yet. He didn't know how long it was going to take Death, De Tanga had thought that he would be back soon if not already. But to put up the front that he was still here, De Tanga got Hallas to eat Death's lunch in the effort to make it look like Death had eaten it.
"Alright. But may I ask what he's working on?"
"I'm sorry I can't divulge that information Miss White."
"Okay Detective Tealson I won't pry. So shall we start eating?"
Thus dinner started.
I hope Death gets back soon. What the hell am I going to do about sleeping tonight? I can't very well rely on Hallas to stay awake for a watch...
"AHHH!!" Death yelled in frustration as he tried to break out of his and the Chief's prison. It was a dirt prison that didn't seem to have a door to it that Death or the Chief could see.
"Noir it's pointless. No one can hear up and we don't know where we are."
"So we just give up and let whoever killed Mr. Boddy kill us?"
"We don't know if they are planning to kill us."
"Well why else would be we be locked up like this?!" Death exclaimed.
"Why else? To prevent us from helping Tealson. Though I don't know him or her is trying to do by delaying the investigation like this." The Chief sighed. When are we going to get out of here?