Death opened in his eyes slowly. His lids felt like lead weights. Did I fall asleep? He got up to a sitting position and saw that the Chief was doing the same thing.
"What happened? I don't remember falling asleep."
"I think we were drugged."
"Why?"
"Probably because of that." The Chief pointed to the display in front of them. It was a platter or food and a few liters of water. "Looks like whoever has trapped us here doesn't want us to die of thirst or hunger."
"Isn't that nice." Death said sarcastically but both of them dived into what was provided to them.
Right after dinner De Tanga went straight to his room. Hallas followed with a confused look on his face.
"You're going to bed now?" Hallas asked as De Tanga started to put up a larger barricade then yesterday.
"Yes and aren't you going to help?!" De Tanga demanded with a huff.
"But isn't it too early to sleep?"
"Considering how you fell asleep when you were supposed to be on your watch last time, no."
"Oh come on!" Hallas cried. "I was just really tired that day I wont do it this time!"
"I can't trust you to stay awake so I'm going to bed extremely early. Just wake me up when you are tired." De Tanga turned off all but one light and hopped into bed.
The one light left on was the one on the table where Hallas went and sat down at.
Later on in the evening after most people in the manor had went to bed Hallas found himself somewhat nodding off while playing yet another game of solitaire.
De Tanga rolled in his bed and glanced over to Hallas. "Hallas I told you to wake me up when you started to feel tired." De Tanga got up and walked over to the near half asleep officer. He spied a look at his watch. It was around one am. Good enough sleep for me.
"I'm not tired." Hallas protested while yawning.
"Yeah sure you're not. Has Death come back yet?"
"No haven't seen him yet."
Damn. "Well get up and go to bed." De Tanga coxed Hallas to bed, which wasn't that hard.
Once Hallas was in bed and snoring very loudly De Tanga opened up his case file and looked over his notes once again. The only two people he was yet to speak to alone was Sergeant Zelgadis Grey and Miss Filia Peach. The most logical choice was to talk to Filia since that would be the easier of the two. But he still wanted to get the talk with Zelgadis over with as soon as possible. I don't like procrastinating this much. That's it in the morning after breakfast I'm going to talk with Sergeant Gray first and then Filia Peach. Now the only thing to worry about is what am I going to say to him and what the hell am I going to do about Death. He's not back yet!
Morning soon came and everyone made their respected ways down to the dining room for breakfast. Officer Death Noir was still nowhere to be seen.
"Detective where is Officer Noir? Don't tell me he's going to skip another meal!" Amelia exclaimed as she served everyone breakfast.
All eyes turned on De Tanga and felt uncomfortable under their gaze. How the hell am I supposed to answer this one?
"Detective Tealson?"
"I have no idea where Officer Noir is he seems to have disappeared." De Tanga said in a hushed tone. Well that's not exactly lying.
Everyone gasped in shock.
"What happened to him?"
"I have no idea. I had expected to see him last night after dinner but I he didn't show up." I just hope I've given him enough time to get to Melissa Potiron's home.
"Do you think fowl play is involved?" Sylphiel asked quietly.
"I haven't the faintest clue. Hallas and I are going to search for him once breakfast is over." De Tanga spied looks at everyone sitting at the table. None of their reactions seemed to be out of the ordinary. He looked over at Hallas. Hallas looked very confused at the current conversation, but thankfully enough Hallas chose not to say anything.
Breakfast went on without much more said and once they were all finished De Tanga left on his search for Death with Hallas following right after.
"What did you mean when you said that Death was missing? I thought were weren't supposed to say anything about him." Hallas questioned De Tanga with a stern look.
"I couldn't exactly go on and keep saying that he's out doing something all the time. They would get suspicious very quickly. So I had to make something up. And when Death gets back we can get our back up. He should be at Melissa Potiron's place by now."
"And what if he isn't? I mean if he got there then he would have came back as soon as possible. He should be here by now." Hallas said frowning.
"What are you suggesting Hallas?"
"What if he didn't get there? What if someone found out about his planned trip and get to him somewhere on the road? What if something's happened to him?" Hallas' face conveyed his unsettlement. De Tanga knew from observation that most people at the station didn't like him too much and only was nice to him if they wanted to use him for some reason. So Hallas didn't have too many friends as a result. But from what De Tanga had seen Death and Hallas seemed to have become good friends quite quickly.
"That's a lot of 'what ifs' Hallas. But if they have gotten to him then the gods have mercy on our souls."
To keep their minds off those disturbing thoughts Hallas and De Tanga continued their little search around the manor. They did this for an hour or two before De Tanga decided he'd done enough searching around. He ordered for Hallas to keep on pretending to search while he went to go look for Sergeant Zelgadis Grey.
De Tanga still had no idea what he was going to say to the young sergeant when went to interrogate him about the Boddy murder, but he was determined to do it as soon as possible. Looks like I'm going to have to wing it a bit.
He eventually found Sergeant Zelgadis Grey reading books with Lina Scarlet in the Boddy Manor library.
"Sergeant Grey may I have a few words with you alone?" De Tanga asked in a very calm and quiet voice.
Lina looked up at him with curiosity, a small mischievous smile tugging at her lips. Zelgadis gave her a stern look before getting out of his chair and joining De Tanga at the library doorway. The two of them walk a great distance down the halls till they reached the main hall.
Zelgadis motioned for the two of them to go outside to the courtyard. Once outside the two of them sat down on the steps.
"Any luck finding Officer Death Noir yet?"
"No not yet Sergeant. I've got Hallas searching for now."
"So it's my turn for the interrogation now is it?" Zelgadis' voice was flat and emotionless.
"I just want to ask you some questions that's all Sergeant Grey." De Tanga pulled out his notepad and pen.
"Because I'm a suspect just like the rest of them."
"No just because I'm -- " De Tanga started to say but Zelgadis cut him off.
"Don't worry about upsetting me. I was aware that they suspected me when the station didn't contact me further about the investigation. And when they sent you three down here it just confirmed what I suspected. But if I were in their shoes or even yours I would suspect me. Any person here at the scene of the crime within such a close amount of time to the death in such a secluded place like the manor would be a suspect. So that's why I've been carrying on my own little investigation, to see if can find out anything about the murder on my own. Care to swap notes?"
De Tanga didn't directly answer the sergeant right away. If he's the one he's very convincing at making people believe he's innocent. But even if he is or isn't the killer I can exactly reveal what I know so far to him. Anyone could be listening. "What was your relationship with Mr. Boddy?"
"I'd known him for years. He was friends with my family and he'd always invite us over for dinner parties and such. Even as a kid he had great trust in me. And when I joined the police he only trusted to deal with me if the police ever had to be involved with something to do with him. Like when he had that burglary a few years back. He didn't trust anyone else to investigate the crime except me."
De Tanga thought back on the most recent theft at the Boddy Manor. He had remembered hearing about it and how Mr. Boddy had specifically requested Sergeant Grey. "So he trusted you? From what I've heard Mr. Boddy didn't trust too many people."
"To my face he probably trusted me. Behind my back I'll never know. He was a strange man. He didn't seem to trust anyone. But either way he preferred to have me investigate the crimes centered around his manor. I think he was paranoid that he had any other officers come to his home they would surely steal. And then soon after he'd have people who were almost complete strangers stay at his home. His moods changed often."
De Tanga nodded while looking over his notes. Again more mentions of his sudden changing behavior. "Were you aware of his relationship with Sylphiel Peacock?"
Zelgadis blinked a few times. "What relationship?"
"They were a couple."
"No I hadn't known that. I didn't visit Mr. Boddy that often."
"But you were in the area during his time of death. You said you were checking on one of Mr. Boddy's neighbor because she claimed to see a prowler." De Tanga stated looking through his notes.
"Yes I went to check on Melissa Potiron. Her mother is on vacation at the moment so she had been alone that night. I figured it would be best that I'd go check on her myself."
"Yes and you knew Miss Potiron quite well because her mother used to baby-sit you when you were little."
Zelgadis almost flinched when De Tanga had said that. "Doing some checking up on me I see."
"Just routine investigating Sergeant."
"Yes her mother used to baby-sit me. Her mother was friends with Mr. Boddy as well. So my mother and her mother got to know each other from her. And Melissa's mother was so lonely with just her and her kid that she welcomed the chance to baby-sit me. She knew having Melissa so far away from any other kids that having me around would be good for her. And it was we got along very well that I started treating her as if she was my little sister."
"I see." De Tanga comment as he jotted down some notes in his notepad.
"Who do you think murdered Mr. Boddy?"
"At the moment I'm trying to keep an open mind. So I'm not making any assumptions at the moment of who is more likely to have done it then others. Nor am I assuming anyone's innocence. But what's your take on the case so far?" De Tanga decided to bite, Zelgadis had been trying to bait him after all. Probably because he wants to know what I'm thinking concerning the case. And I bet it's not just out of curiosity.
"At the moment I'm leaning towards two suspects. Professor Xellos Plum and Miss Filia Peach. As you know Professor Plum had been in an argument with Mr. Boddy shortly before his death. But what you probably didn't know was some of the words they had exchanged. Miss White had told me some of what she had heard when she had been cleaning that night."
"When I talked to Miss White she said that she couldn't make out anything they had said. Their voices had been too muffled."
"She probably lied because she's afraid of Professor Plum. But she did confide in me though right after Mr. Boddy's body had disappeared. She hadn't been able to make out much of the conversation as she had told you, but she did hear a few phrases when they had raised their voices in their argument. Apparently Professor Plum had made a death threat to Mr. Boddy before leaving the study."
De Tanga said nothing. He just jotted down what Zelgadis was telling him. Funny, Professor Plum didn't mention that to me when I talked to him. "Any other reasons why you suspect Professor Plum a little more then the others?"
"I'm sure you've heard of their odd relationship growing up."
"They grew up together and where best friends. But Mr. Boddy never allowed anyone to call him by his first name not even his best friend."
Zelgadis raised an eyebrow. "Well Mr. Boddy did trust me more then most people so he used to tell me some of the things he thought about others."
"Yes like how they were out to get his money."
"Yes. Only with Professor Plum, Mr. Boddy feared for his life. He claimed that Professor Plum was planning to kill him."
"To what end?"
"To get his money naturally enough. Professor Plum had on many occasions tried to persuade Mr. Boddy to change his will so that Professor Plum got most of his fortune. Professor Plum claimed that he wasn't out to get his money but trying to protect him. Mr. Boddy always refused."
De Tanga frowned. Again another thing that Professor Plum didn't tell me. "And why do you suspect Miss Peach?"
"Because ever since I've come here she's been looking around the Manor searching for something. And for some strange reason she seems to know the whole layout of the manor very well for someone who has never been here before. And I don't buy that story about her being a relative of Mr. Boddy either."
"Thank you for your time Sergeant Grey." De Tanga gave the young sergeant a nod before getting up.
"If you ever need some help with the case I wouldn't mind teaming up."
"I'll let you know." De Tanga retired back to the manor. So I just have Miss Peach to talk to now. Only now I have to talk to Professor Plum... again.
Act 20 | Story Index | Fanfiction