Chapter twenty-five: Answers

Back at the church for all religions, the chairs are filling up rapidly.
“Actually I need to be behind the piano at first.” George explains when Hamala tries to lead him back to his seat.
“You’re going to play?” She asks surprised.
“Yes.”
“How nice.”
I’m restlessly looking behind me, trying to spot a familiar face.
“Are you gonna be okay here?” Hamala asks George.
“Are there more chairs? If the two of you could sit with me I’d appreciate it.”
“I’ll see what I can do.” Hamala responds.
“-Actually I still need to talk to some people and I don’t know if I’ll be back here before the ceremony starts. But you can definitely stay here, there’s not much room for two chairs to go anyway.” I stumble my way through the excuse but Hamala just says. “That’s okay.”
I quickly bow before retreating back into the crowd.
I pass Barnaby sitting all the way at the front.
Melanie and Tonya, both dressed in white yet sitting on Darren’s side of the church, sticking out like a pair of sore thumbs.
I find Tashi Sashou, sitting near the back with his friends from the theater, the space next to him empty.
Nice.
I walk up to him. “Hello mister Sashou.”
The man looks up with a start, then takes a moment to place my face. “Detective, hello.” he nods politely.
“Is this seat taken?” I ask.
He shakes his head. “You can sit.”
“Thank you.” I sit down. “I have a question.”
“Could it wait until after the funeral?” He asks carefully.
Not really…“Is Valentine Garcia here?”
His eyes grow three sizes. “Why do you ask me?”
“Because I don’t know what he looks like.”
“…Right.” He carefully stands up and looks around the seats, then quickly sits down again. “He’s not here.”
“Really?” That’s disappointing.
Then before I can think of what to ask solemn piano music starts playing throughout the chapel. George is playing his heart out and it shows but the music is different than the booming funeral dirges he playing back when Donna had just passed away.
The music is more gentle. It’s tragic but also comforting. Like a shoulder to cry on or a hug from a friend.
After the last notes George puts his hands on his lap. Two people come to the piano stool to help him back to his chair.
My attention turns to the man in the long grey robe and dish-shaped hat that steps into the forefront.
I never really minded being ignorant on religion. I always felt the natural world, art and science more worthier topics of study.
But now I wish I understood why they want this place to smell like burned plants.
Why Darren’s head is no longer attached to his body.
Why this man, this priest, I guess? Or is he some other form of clergy? Kneels down in front of Donna’s corpse and starts singing in a language I’m pretty certain isn’t Charan anymore.
All the syllables just melt together into a string of rising and falling notes that feel both very important and very peculiar at the same time. To me at least.
When the man gets up again he bows to Donna’s corpse.
He then picks up a small dish from a stand and sticks his finger into it.
He draws a long, purple line across Donna’s forehead, then places a smaller dot underneath it. “Donna Gerris has lived a life of hardships, but also one of success. Her happy childhood years were cut short when she got separated from her brother. For years she sewed the costumes by snips at the ships and it’s here she came to befriend Barnaby Craig. Which allowed her to leave an unhappy home and find a new family among Magnolia theater’s many staff and performers. Her coworkers describe Donna as generous, kind and indescribably stubborn but in a positive way. And perhaps the best example of that stubbornness is how, after six long years of being apart, Donna managed to orchestrate a meeting with her brother George, who joined the theater not long after.
After their reunion the twins were always together unless their respective roles inside the theater directed otherwise. George misses his sister and fears to tackle a future without her. But is also grateful for the ten years they spent together in the theater.”
My eyes drift around the room, vigilant for anything suspicious. While being painfully aware I know so little about what is normal in this context, I probably wouldn’t even notice it.
But then, to my surprise, Tashi leans toward me and whispers. “I was wrong, Valentine is here.”
“Where?” I whisper back.
He gestures with his chin to the group dressed in black on the other side of the isle. “The one in the black hooded cloak and the dahlia’s.”
I let my eyes drift to the other side of the isle for a bit. Spotting said cloak with a crown of weaved dahlia’s.
I wonder how he’s so certain, all I see he fabric and flowers. “Are you sure?” I whisper.
“Yes. I saw his face when he looked back just now.”
“Got it, thank you.”
So now what?
The funeral is still in full swing. Although the service has switched languages to whatever Darren used to speak. The incense has grown even stronger as the man at the front of the chapel lights a candle, sticks in a small bundle of herbs, then leaves that to smoulder while moving on to another candle and repeating the process.
I wonder if they’ll switch to Charan again at some point, explain something about this man’s life. His personality.
I know Darren’s death wasn’t the main objective, an unforeseen and tragic consequence to trying to confiscate the snake’s costume. But I wish I got to talk to Darren’s parents back at the police station. Just to get a more complete picture on his side of things.
Although I’d likely have needed an interpreter to do it.
I wonder if Melanie or Tonya knows the language?
Maybe I can ask them after. I wonder what the priest is talking about right now.
But that’s for later worry.
I try to force my attention back onto target.
I need to talk to Valentine Garcia. Find out if I’m correct about my suspicions and if I am, ensure he gets arrested and Otto and Jerebiah can be let go.
I’ll need to make my case. He’s very familiar with the snake’s role and has performed it many times. Which does not make him guilty by any means but does make him a more likely candidate than someone who had to learn from scratch. He had a crush on Donna to the point of stalking her and disliked Darren, which almost makes it seem like Darren was the true target but then he would have gone home after he strangled Darren in the dressing room.
The motive must be jealousy right? Jealousy for the man he already despised taking his role from him and disdain for a woman he cannot have and does not want him to come near her.
But I think the most damning piece of evidence is him going missing right after the murder up until now, evading questions and investigation, like someone who has things to hide.
I think Tashi knows how Valentine got into the theater. Seeing as how he lied to the police about the snake leaving through the artist exit. I just wish I knew which one of then made the knife.
A loud bell tolls, shaking me in my seat.
Then the other guests start getting up in little clusters.
“Follow me three steps behind but don’t show yourself till I say so.” Tashi tells me as he pulls me from my seat.
His voice changed, did he start crying without me noticing?
The man in the dahlias gets up and starts walking swiftly to the exit.
We follow as fast as we can manage without looking off.
He’s heading to the boats, trying to the the first man to leave this island no doubt.
Tashi rushes after him, wraps his arms around the other’s neck.
They voices are hushes.
I’m out of earshot.
But the pair starts veering off course. Away from the boats and into the little park.
I keep following as instructed.
I’m putting a lot of trust in him right now.
For all I know, he’s just walking with some random guest, giving the real Valentine Garcia ample time to get away.
Or maybe he’s just mistaken.
I hide behind a tree, listening carefully as Tashi pushes Valentine against a tree with both hands.
“Tashi, what are you doing? Don’t you see-“
The punch is immediate and unexpected.
My heart jumps, my legs buzzing to jump into action.
But I force myself to stay put for just a little longer.
“You miserable man, you lying piece of cat-shit you- you promised me no one would get hurt!” Tashi hisses as he struggles against his emotions in order to keep his voice down.
“That was my intention I-“ The hooded man bumbles back.
“You strangled Darren!”
“I had no choice, he didn’t drink the tea. I panicked- I, I promise when I asked for your help I had no intention of doing anybody harm.”
“You stabbed Donna!”
“I didn’t know the knife would do that I swear!”
“Your promises are worthless Valentine. The only way you can prove that to be true is giving yourself up.”
At that there’s silence for a moment. But then, Valentine opens his mouth and he sound significantly more smug. “You don’t really want me to do that do you? If I get caught, so do you.”
“I know. But I can’t live a good life knowing Otto and Jerebiah are sitting out our sentence for us.”
“Tashi, listen to me, you really don’t want to go to prison in Venusia. You think the room you rent is small, just wait and see how you get on in a cell you can’t even lie down in.”
“All the more reason innocent people shouldn’t be in there.”
“Do you truly feed bad about Jerebiah? Otto sure, but I hardly think Jerebiah is an innocent man.”
“He’s innocent of murder.”
“As far as you know.”
Tashi sighs, his knuckles white against Valentine’s shoulders. “Look, Valentine, you can stop trying to convince me to cover for you. I already brought the police with me.” He gestures behind him. I assume this is my cue to come out?
I’m not actually a police officer.
But now doesn’t seem like the time to correct him.
I appear. “Valentine Garcia, I’ve been looking for you for a very long time.”
A dry chuckle escapes the hood. “And I’ve been trying to avoid you for a very long time. But it was my own choice to come here. So I’ll bear the results.” He takes off his hood and underneath is a young man with a straw-brown complexion, dark blonde hair that gathers around his face in tight curls and blue eyes.
I can understand what Tashi sees in him.
He wears a blinding bright smile as he wraps his hands around Tashi’s wrists. “I didn’t think you had it in you to betray me Tashi. Shows what I know.”
The dancer averts his eyes. “Don’t.”
“All right, all right. Which way to jail madam?”
This is too easy.
Suspiciously so.
“Not so fast, I still have questions. Which one of you made the knife?”
Tashi shrugs. “It wasn’t me, all I did was let him enter through my window and tried feeding Darren a concoction I was told was completely safe.”
“Which it was. If he had bothered to drink it.”
“Then you made the knife yourself?” I try, looking at Valentine.
Valentine shakes his head. “The knife is just a regular prop-knife Jerebiah made to look precious and magical. But it’s the Bad one that struck Donna down to teach me a lesson.”
I blink incredulously. “No it’s not. I’ve seen it punch through a box lid back at the police station. The knife has a mechanism inside that shoots out a razor thin knife blade after a set-amount of seconds staying tucked down.”
His eyebrows knit together “You’re lying, I didn’t do anything to the props. All I came to do was dance.”
“I’m not, I can show you at the station. According to Jerebiah it was a really convincing replica.”
“No. No, you already have my confession, what more are you trying to gain here?”
“Answers. The murder weapon-“
“I told you! It’s just a trick knife! Who in their right mind would put in the time and effort to recreate a prop-knife with a complicated mechanism inside, just to kill a woman who did nothing wrong and is beloved by everyone. Including me I…might…a-“ Something shifts in his expression. He closes his mouth.
“Something tells me the answer to that question just dawned on you.”
“Fuck…Fucking fucker that bastard set me up from the start! No wonder he wasn’t surprised when I told him about the stabbing. No wonder he- FUCK.”
I look at Tashi for clues but he seems as lost as I am.
“Who made the knife Valentine?”
“A man who will get away with it if I don’t stop him.”
He pushes Tashi off him and into my direction. I step forward to catch him and watch as Valentine jumps into a sprint towards the boats.
But before he can make off, a hand shoots from behind the tree, he was pinned against just seconds ago. Grabbing a fist full of the killer’s cloak and yanking him backwards like a leash.
The gentle click of a gun safety latch getting pulled out makes everything stop. “Sit down, Valentine.” Xuiyo tells him as he pulls the hood down and places the cold metal barrel of his gun into that little nook between his skull and the back of his neck.
“You’re making a mistake.” He whimpers.
Tashi grabs Valentine’s shoulder “No Valentine, your mistakes are your own, as are mine. I was a fool to trust you. And now I get to live with the result.” He pushes he man down to the grass, sits down next to him and takes a deep breath.
Then he pulls up his knees, rest his head on them and cries.
Xuiyo pulls up an eyebrow as me “The police are coming right?”
I look at Xuiyo, mind reeling with questions around this new development.
But my friend is right, police first, questions second.
“I, uh- I bet they have a telephone inside. Just wait here.”

By the time I come back I find Valentine Garcia and Tashi Sashou both both tied up by their ankles with Tashi’s with scavenged neckties.
“Did you have to tie up Tashi? I doubt he’ll try to run.” I remark.
“He ran before and gave me a good welt while doing so. If I’m one man holding two crooks I want them to be manageable.”
Tashi turns his head to me. He looks tired, resigned “It’s okay. I’ll explain my side of things and get what I deserve.”
I hope he’s right.
Once the police have him, my control over the situation vanishes and if they decide that life in prison is justice there’s nothing I can do about it.
I don’t like this feeling.
Part of me just wants to untie him and tell him to go ahead and vanish, run away.
But life on the run isn’t what’s it’s cracked up to be and perhaps they just let him off the hook and he’d be running for nothing.
“If it helps, I don’t think we would have captured this man without your letter.” I tell him, hoping that’d at least soothes his conscience a little.
He pulls up an eyebrow at me. “What letter?”
“The one addressed to miss detective.” I clarify.
“I didn’t write any letters”
Huh?
“But, you told me to follow you. I thought this was your plan all along.”
He shrugs “I’ve been carrying this guilt with me ever since Donna slumped inside my arms. But you need courage as well as guilt to do the right thing. I guess the funeral gave me just that.”
“I see.” Then I still don’t know who my ‘friend’ is…
“Did you get the police on the phone?” Xuiyo asks.
“Yes! Turns out it’s Menfrey’s day off and he’s not happy about this. But I think he’d rather fix the situation himself rather than risk some other colleague hearing my side of things.
I step away from Tashi and squat down in front of Valentine. “I’m not going to let you go so you can play vigilante but I will hear you out to see if we can help one another, what do you think?”
He shakes his head “You wouldn’t believe me even if I told you.”
“Try me.” I try my best Hamala-smile.
“It’s a long story you know.”
“Well I have time, at least until back-up shows up.”
“I guess” He takes a deep breath and sends his gaze up to the handkerchief-covered treetops. “It all started when I got fired from the theater…”

Twenty minutes later the boats land on the misty shores and a half dozen policemen descent upon the island.
Menfrey straightens his tie. “So, you call me in the middle of my day off. Tell me my investigation was shit and you have the one who killed Donna and Darren at gunpoint. On Wishu Island no less. This better be good.”
“Hello Millard, I like you to meet mister Valentine Garcia.” I tell him gesturing to the tied-up man.
Menfrey pulls up and eyebrow. “Go on”
“He used to be a ballet dancer at Magnolia theater until he got fired for his excessive use of cigs while on the job.
On the night of the murder, he was let into the theater by, then colleague and major fan, Tashi Sashou. The plan was for Darren Johnasson to be asleep, taken-out by a laced cup of tea. But when Valentine sneaked into his dressing room, the man hadn’t drunk it yet. There was a fight and Darren got strangled with his own necklace.
Mister Garcia then put on the suit, entered the stage and danced as the snake throughout the entire first act. Then ran to his dressing room straight after giving poor Miss Pilkee the idea that her partner was ignoring her. She followed him and he held the door shut to prevent her coming in until the end of the intermission. During the second act things seemed normal until Donna started bleeding on stage.”
“So Jerebiah Nek is still involved?”
“No, well, kind of- I think the knife must have been swapped out by its creator, posing as a customer.”
“And which customer would that be? Why didn’t Nek just make the weapon himself, like in my theory?”
I raise an eyebrow “In your theory the knife was made in the span of about an hour if I’m being charitable. You don’t make a prop knife in that time, especially not one with hand-cut half stones and hidden blades on a timer. You have seen it. You’ve held it. Do you honestly think it was the work of a panicked prop-maker who needed a quick ‘out’ of a sticky situation?”
Menfrey silently crosses his arms.
I continue “This was done deliberately. And according to mister Garcia it was done by someone who wanted to not just kill Donna, but hurt Valentine as well.”
“That person being?”
“His name is Adrian Kariakov, he’s a wealthy eccentric who lives in the old centre.”
Menfrey scoffs “Have you talked to this mister Kariakov already?”
“Not yet. To be honest I’m still trying to wrap my mind around the story and there’s a lot that still needs to be verified but-“
“So your explanation to the order of events needs a whole extra suspect to work and for a significant role too. Whereas my conclusion-“
“Your conclusion was rubbish. What money would Otto use to buy Nek’s loyalty with if he has difficulty feeding his own family? Not to mention he already had an alibi and no grudge against the theater as far as I heard him talk about it. I already mentioned the knife couldn’t be made in the time span you think it was and Mister Nek is actively grumpy about having to spend loads of time and effort on the play that was planned but got scrapped as a result of the murder.”
“All right, so suppose I’m wrong and you’re right. Why would this Adrian want miss Gerris dead?”
Valentine grunts loudly. “Look, the man is a lunatic okay? Just go to his house and talk to him. He has this curiosity room full of dead things and a secret door in his massive house. He has murdered people before, he told me so himself.”
“All right, all right calm it. No need to go crazy-eyed yourself.” Menfrey squats down by the man’s side so he’s on eye level. “Just answer me straight, will you. Did you kill Donna Gerris and Darren Johnasson?”
He bites his lip. “Yes. But-“
“That’s all I need. Have Decket make a report of this guy’s whole story, we’ll verify it later but I don’t know about you. I could get off this island already. It doesn’t feel right to discuss murder on Wishu Island.”
“Well, what about Tashi?”
“Well now that he’s finally loose lipped I’d like to make that statement my colleagues didn’t manage and we’ll see how dire his involvement is from there.”
“I didn’t know he was planning to kill Donna!” Tashi explains.
“I wasn’t planning on killing anyone!” Valentine shoots back.
“All right cool it guys. Triss, Charly you get to help the small one up, Drue and Parish you get to escort Garcia. I’ll keep an eye on them.”
“Did you make a promotion?” I ask, surprised to see him delegating.
He shrugs. “Once this case is closed I fully expect inspector Bailey to toss me back on rail duty.”
“Good, you deserve it for putting innocent people behind bars.”
“Honest mistake, it happens.” The man shrugs.
“Well it shouldn’t. Why isn’t the system more robust?” I scoff.
“Because we live in a city where half of the bloody residents are running from either the law or each other. Leaving people innocent until proven guilty just gives them the time to start absolute chaos.”
“I don’t like it.”
“You don’t have to like it. Just help me catch the right ones and you won’t have to worry about us putting the wrong ones behind bars.” He pats my shoulder as if to say ‘well done’. “See you next time, little miss detective.”
And then they leave as fast as they came.
Xuiyo comes up to me and puts a hand on my shoulder. “Looks like you did it in the end.”
“Yeah…”
So why do I feel so restless about it still?
“Also…” Xuiyo directs my attention behind us where the other funeral guests have congregated. “Do you mind repeating your explanation for a bit?”
“Ah…right.”