Chapter twenty-three: Playing catch-up
Trigger warnings for those who need them
No trigger warnings.
I wrap my arms around the Griffin’s gondola and rest my head against the window.
“I missed you so much out there.” I tell her while Dana sneaks past me and into the ship.
The trip back took nearly the entire day. The sky is already dark and I wouldn’t be surprised if Xuiyo and Hamala have already had dinner.
If so, Dana and would have to make due with what leftovers we have.
“Hey.” Xuiyo sticks his head out the door “I wondered if you were ever gonna come in.”
“Just a minute, I need to truly appreciate how amazing this ship is.”
Xuiyo chuckles “All right.” I expected him to go back inside. But to my surprise, he steps down the little staircase and sidles up to me to ask “How did it go?”
“Oh uh, I passed the exam but then we had to run away because one of the people there recognized us so that was…intense.”
“Is that also why..?” He gestures to my, now much shorter, hair.
“Yeah.”
“I like it.”
“Thank you.”
“But that’s not what I meant to ask about.”
He points his head back to the door “You did tell her right?”
“Oh…” my voice falters “Yeah, I did.”
“Doesn’t sound like it was good news then?”
I bite my lip, then sit down on the griffin’s landing gear. I pat the steel beam beside me.
Xuiyo sits down.
My eyes drift up to the sky and stars above and it only now dawns on me that the sky back in Choumuri and the sky here in Venusia are still one and the same.
I think back to when I told Xuiyo about my crush on Dana years back.
So much has happened since then.
I’m surprised he even remembered.
It doesn’t quite feel like my life anymore.
Then I take a deep breath. “I don’t think it’ll come as a surprise to say she rejected me.”
“I’m sorry.” He puts a hand on my shoulder, I lean onto him and just sorta stay like that for a bit.
Should I tell Xuiyo why?
I want to tell him about how silly I feel. How annoyed I feel that I fell for someone who cannot reciprocate my feelings. How embarrassed that makes me because I don’t want to be annoyed at who she is. I love Dana for who she is and I should feel honoured she decided to share something this personal with me.
Which is exactly why I don’t think I can tell Xuiyo all that right now.
“Thanks. I’m not sure how I feel about it- I mean I know I’m not happy about it… but beyond that I just feel. Tired, mostly.”
“I can imagine.”
“At least she was very good at rejecting me- wait that sounds weird- there’s good ways and bad ways to reject someone and she did it a good way? I think that’s what I mean to say. Does that made sense?”
“I think so?”
My heart is too heavy. I need some levity. “And we ate at this Xjawax restaurant. Which was nice and Xjawaw food is really good.”
“Is it?”
“Yes, they use a lot of spices. Like Jigani food but they use different spices than you and it’s just different, it’s hard to explain”
“Sounds like I should ask Dana to cook for us at least once.”
“Mint! they use mint in their food and then mix it with peppers and other spices so it’s a really odd mix but it tastes really good.”
“I never had mint.”
“Really? Back in Cygne we used it for tea a lot, maybe a mint sauce for veal but that’s about it. Oh! Another thing is their restaurants. People don’t have their own plates they just set down big bowls of food and bread and fruit and people just share.”
“Do they just stick their chopsticks in a communal pot?”
“No no they don’t have chopsticks it’s like-“ I hold out my hand as if I’m holding something “They just take pieces of bread and use that as a spoon, then they eat it and grab a new one.”
“Huh, that’s interesting.”
“And they only have like three dishes to choose from because they hate wasting food so rather than make a bunch of dishes separately they make a couple big pots and then serve everyone from there.”
“Xuiyo? Alice?” Hamala asks from the door opening.
“We’re down here.” Xuiyo calls out.
“Oh! Hi, is everything okay under here?”
“Yeah we were just catching up, wanna join?”
“Sure, what are you talking about?”
“Restaurants.”
“Really? Did you tell her without me?” Hamala asks, tapping her foot accusingly at Xuiyo.
Xuiyo’s mouth pulls into a wide, mischievous grin. “Not yet.”
“Tell me what?”
“Hamala and I signed the contract for a small shop in the high tops.”
“What!? That’s amazing! Why did you let me ramble on about that stuff when you had such amazing news!?”
He shrugs. “You looked like you needed it.”
I open my mouth, close it again and hug him instead “I’m so happy for you two.”
“Thanks, it’s a good size smaller than Shiwaso used to be and that place already couldn’t house many but Hamala had the idea of making long bar-style seating so more people can fit inside the floor space.”
“Sounds like a plan.”
Hamala sits down next to Xuiyo “It only has a shop room, kitchen and bathroom so we’ll have to be careful with storage but considering there’s a marketplace one level down, getting fresh produce shouldn’t be a problem.”
“I’m sure you’ll figure it out. And if you need help-“
Xuiyo scoffs. “We’ll definitely need your help. The place is a mess so cleaning, painting and getting rid of the rats are the first priorities.”
“Rats!?”
“Rats.” Hamala confirms.
“Wow.” Then my stomach growls like crazy, completely ruining the moment. I look at it indignantly “We talk about delicious food for ages and it’s the rats that sets you off!?”
The others laugh, I laugh along with them.
The Xuiyo gets up from the beam and stretches.
“You should eat something. I anticipated the two of you returning either tonight or tomorrow morning so I made extra bino.”
“You’re amazing.” I tell him.
He ruffles my hair. “I know.”
We head back inside.
It feels like putting on a coat you’ve finally found back after accidentally misplacing it.
It’s familiar, comfortable, even the smells are pleasantly recognisable.
Dana has taken up station on the sofa to read her magazines.
“I’ll warm up the bino” Xuiyo excuses himself.
“Sure thing, thank you.”
Then Hamala drags me back to the table with stars in her eyes. She pulls out a stack of papers and then shows me a floor plan. “This is it”
Xuiyo wasn’t kidding when he said the place was small. I’ve seen sculleries bigger than this. But this is not the time to point that out.“Very nice! Do you have the key already?”
“Not yet, we’re getting it next week. And there’s a lot of work to do before we can start receiving customers.”
“Like the rats?” I ask.
“Like the rats, and we need to paint the walls and build the kitchen. They already have water but for some reason the water and steam line got combined.”
“What? How?”
“No one knows, but we figured Dana would know what to do with that.”
“I can give it a look tomorrow if you like?” Dana offers from the couch.
Hamala scratches the back of her head awkwardly. “Oh! Uh, well, tomorrow I’m already expected at a funeral and so is Alice.”
“What? What do you mean?” I ask flabbergasted, pulling my attention away from the papers.
Hamala pulls up a small stack of envelopes. “I wanted to find a more… tactful way to mention this but the police has wrapped up the case while you were away.”
WHAT!?
“But I’ve been gone for only five days!? Surely they still need the bodies for the trial, right?”
“The trial was yesterday. They have been found guilty.”
“Well, who did it then?”
“They arrested Jerebiah Nek for making the knife, but I forgot the other name, hold on.” She brushes some forms aside with her hand and digs up a newspaper dates three days ago. “The one is the snake costume is called…Otto Zelios.”
“What!?” for a moment I feel like my legs might just give out from shock. I pull back a chair and sit down. “Can I see that?”
“Sure.”
THE MAGNOLIA MURDERS SOLVED
Last night as the Barlymoore theater was about to close for the night, the Venusian Arrestation Team or VAT pulled up inside the infamous tunnel and took Mister Otto Zelious into their custody.
The man, 32 years old, Kaschmali and former ballet dancer for the Magnolia theater. Has been accused of having inhabited the heinous snake-costume as poor miss Gerris got stabbed in the middle of the stage.
According to the officer responsible for solving this mystery the man auditioned for the role but didn’t get it. In fact he wasn’t allowed any role and asked to leave. Feeling bitter by this treatment he colluded with another man, unhappy with Magnolia’s management, Jerebiah Nek.
Mister Nek got arrested this morning on his route to work. He’s responsible for making the props and sets that the theater uses. While a respectable sort on its face the man has been hiding a dark secret for a while now. Dealing in jewels, setpieces and other knickknacks that belong to the theater get sold to rich patrons to line the man’s own pockets.
So when mister Zelious came to him with a large sum of money and the chance to take revenge Jerebiah Nek wouldn’t refuse.
They killed Darren Johnasson in his dressing room, but there was a witness. Donna Gerris came in without knocking and witnesses the two men as they were in the middle of hiding the body.
Darren tried to intimidate Donna not to tell on them but Mister Nek didn’t want a loose end and made a prop weapon that would kill Donna without mister Zelious’ knowledge giving the man a lot more than he bargained for.
We have gone to mister Craig, the owner of the threatre, for comment but he has refused to talk to us. Probably out of embarrassment for harbouring a murderer all this time.
As we say in the business, all’s well that ends well.
And here at The Daily Report we’re grateful to be all the safer for the police’s detective work.
I look at the article dumbfounded.
This is nonsense!
The article is full of discrepancies. A ten-year-old would do a better job!
They got sentenced guilty from this?
I can feel my fingers digging into the pulp paper and have to lay it down to ensure I don’t tear it to shred.
“Hamala?” I ask.
“Yes?”
“Do you think Jerebiah Nek made the knife that killed Donna?”
She sits down across from me and thinks “From what I saw of him he might be capable of it. But I don’t think the time between costume and would be too short to make it, especially for such a meticulous worker.”
“Thank you!” I drop the correspondence on the table and slide back in my chair, rubbing my temples. That’s not the only discrepancy inside this story but it is the most glaring one.
I can’t believe mister Nek got sentences guilty over this, and Otto Zelios is even more- “Alice? These also came in for you.” Hamala carefully puts a small stack of envelopes down in front of me. “The top one is the invitation to the funeral. The other ones were addressed to you alone so we didn’t open those ones yet.”
I go down the stack which has three letters in total. Finding one addressed to Miss Castella, one to Alice and Hamala which I presume to be the funeral invitation since it’s already opened and one letter addressed to ‘miss detective’ of all things.
“Which came in first?” I ask.
“That’s be the one addressed to miss Castella.”
I place the other two letters back on the table and read;
Dear Miss Castella
I hope this letter find you in good spirits for there is much to celebrate.
The case we have been toiling over is solved at last and the people responsible put into custody. Going to Barlymoore was a stroke of genius on your part and I’m not entirely sure how you figured out that mister Nek was selling bits and pieces of the prop department to collectors but that was the missing piece we needed to interrogate him and get him to confess his crimes.
Your notes have been integral at catching Otto Zelios and Jerebiah Nek.
Inspector Bailey is impressed with my speed and has given me a bonus in appreciation but it would have felt wrong to take all the money for myself so I have split it 50/50 and now gift the other half to you as a token of my appreciation. I hope this will mark the start of a glowing business relation.
Officer Menfrey.
With a sinking feeling I look into the envelope again and find an iou worth twenty silvers.
“What does it say?” Hamala asks carefully. “It says I shouldn’t have traded my notes. That guy would never have thought to go to Barlymoore to investigate. And he should know I talked to the establishment’s owner and Otto was nowhere near Magnolia when the murder happened. But of the people who know the choreography I guess he was the easiest to pin a story to.” I could kick myself.
If it weren’t for me, Otto could have been left out of this entirely and now his seven brothers and sisters will have to miss him.”
“And- and he paid me too which is convenient, I guess, but it makes me feel super gross.”
“Sounds sketchy.” Xuiyo cuts in carrying two bowls of soup.
“Very sketchy. And I was a fool for falling for it.”
Xuiyo’s hand ruffles through my hair “You should eat. Dana are you hungry?” He calls over to the sofa.
“I’ll be over in five.” Dana calls back.
“Guess I have time to read another one then.” Xuiyo sets the bowls down and sits down. “Are you sure?”
“Wanting is a big word…but they’re not gonna go away. Which one came in next?” I ask Hamala.
“That’s the funeral invitation, it came in right after the trial.”
“Thank you.” I accept the envelope and pull the letter from within. Unfolding it I find it’s written in the mechanical hand of a typewriter. Supposedly it got dictated back at the post office.
Dear Hamala and Alice,
Thank you both for your help. I’m very happy the case is solved now.
While the knowledge that my trusted colleagues could do something this harrowing fills me with grief.
I’m glad to know the truth.
And I’m glad that they were caught.
Now we can finally put my dear sister to rest on Wishu Island on this Sunday at ten in the morning.
I hope you find the time inside your busy schedules to come, it would mean a lot to me.
George.
That… did not help in any way shape or form in cooling my anger.
Not directed at him of course. He did nothing wrong but it’s outrageous that the police are so careless and now if I go and tell him the police was wrong it’d probably break his heart all over again.
I want George to be at peace but I also want the true villain getting punished rather than the first person who doesn’t fight back had enough.
I sigh, pick up the final letter.
Considering how this has been going I don’t have high hopes.
But I’d be lying if I said I weren’t curious.
Hello Miss detective,
I know you know that the police arrested the wrong people. And I’d like to let you know that the real killer will be at the funeral this Sunday, I take it you were invited but if not it’s on Wishu Island at ten so if you like to catch him still, then will be your chance.
That is if you haven’t taken the easy way out and given up.
Good luck,
A friend.
“Well, at least I’m not the only one to think Otto is innocent” I muse softly. But I have no idea who wrote this. Should I even trust someone who signs their letters with ‘a friend’ rather than their actual name.
I do agree with the sender.
I definitely know Otto didn’t do it.
And this might be my only chance to find out who did.
If I do then surely the other ones will be let go right?
I read the text over and over again.
Looking for keywords or mannerisms, I pull out my notebook and cross reference anything said by anyone I talked to.
These speech patterns there’s a definite smugness running across the page.
‘I know you know’
That should be recognizable right.
Barnaby?
I don’t think he’d be all coy about it.
I want my notebook.
Maybe I can recognise the speech pattern if I compare it to my notes…
Dana sits down just as I want to get up.
I sigh inside.
But I guess this can wait till after dinner.
