Interrogation

The crowd was shocked and some were even offended. They didn't know how to react.

"I cannot believe you would accuse us of being the head of that evil group of bandits!" Wong said.

"Not only will I show that such a thing is possible, but I will even prove to you that I am right!" Kyle said.

Kyle walked slowly around the room and stole a glance at some of those gathered. He swished his cape dramatically as he turned.

There were many elements to being a good superhero. There was a lot more to it than platitudes of justice and punching things really hard.

A hero who did not seriously learn their tradecraft would be little more than the hero equivalent of a minion, which is a sidekick. No matter how powerful you were, you would have to align yourself with someone with brains while you acted as the muscle.

For Kyle, his powers being unreliable forced him to hone all of his other hero skills to the maximum. He learned every other element of superheroing to the maximum level of perfection he was able.

Interrogations were one of the most important interactions a hero could have with the criminal element. He needed the information they had.

He also needed to subtlety move them into his trap to force them to say it was in their best interest not to say.

Skilled acting could help manipulate and direct emotions. Take someone who is nervous and make them more nervous. Someone who was playing it cool and paranoid, and make them relax.

Swishing the cape suddenly spoke volumes to those present. It let them know he was both in charge and confident in his handle on the situation.

"Tell me, Mrs. Saseo, the library has a pretty good view of the entire village, does it not?"

"Y...Yes..." she was clearly intimidated by the performance.

"You can see people coming and going in most places, can you not?" he asked.

"If I'm watching out the window, I suppose I could," she admitted to him. She was very nervous talking with Kyle.

No one understood why she was at the interrogation, she was just the village librarian. She always kept to herself and only interacted with people while performing her duties. Could it be that she has seen something?

"Do you spend a lot of time looking out the window?" Kyle casually asked and didn't even look at her.

"No, I spend most of my time running the library," she said.

"Would you describe yourself as a creature of habit?" Kyle again asked very casually.

"Intelligent people, such as yourself seem to like schedules. Do you find this to be true about yourself?" he asked.

"I suppose I do like a schedule. A disorganized mind can never fully utilize its abilities."

"I have been investigating the village for several days now, and do you know something? I realized that you like to sit in your tower in the evenings. From about seven in the evening to as late as ten in the evening," he said.

"I do enjoy sitting next to the window in the evening after dinner. I find it very relaxing," she admitted.

"Tell me, did you see anyone suspicious between the times of seven and ten last night?" Kyle asked with a sudden swirl of his cape. His movement startled everyone and drew their attention immediately to Mrs. Saseo.

"No, last night, I was called away and unable to look out my window during those times." She shook her head apologetically and wrung her hands.

"It's okay, Mrs. Saseo, I understand. Even nosy people have to take a break from time to time," Kyle said as he switched his attention to Mr. Mahony. Mrs. Saseo was surprised by Kyle's abrupt frankness.

"Mr. Mahoney, at around eight of last night, where were you?"

"I was here in the tavern, like always," he said.

"Could you point out where you make your food?" Kyle asked.

Mr. Mahoney turned towards the bar area. "Right behind the bar is the kitchen. You can see it from here," he said.

"Your Tavern is really more of an inn than a tavern isn't it?"

"Yes, well, it started as just a tavern but business was good so we expanded and added the inn to the original tavern," Mr. Mahoney replied nervously.

"Why do you seem nervous, Mr. Mahoney?" Kyle asked him as beads of sweat trickled down his forehead.

"Because, your questions got me thinkin' you're goin' somewhere, and maybe I don't want to go with you," he responded.

"You would only feel that way if you were guilty of something. Mr. Mahoney, are you guilty of something?" Kyle asked.

Rollins and Mage Melfor squinted their eyes as if ready to pounce the moment he admitted to the wrong thing.

"No, no, no, of course not young man, I just don't want anyone to accuse me of something I didn't do," he said.

"Don't worry Mr. Mahoney, I promise to only accuse you of things you have actually done," Kyle smiled.

Mr. Mahoney returned the smile before realizing maybe he was going to be accused of something like he feared. He was a powerful man in town.

The Tavern served as the center of political and social power. He knew a lot of secrets he shouldn't know and he certainly used that knowledge to his advantage.

For these reasons and several others, Mr. Mahoney was sweating even more.

"Do you usually work in the tavern or the inn?" Kyle asked.

"I think everyone knows I'm usually in the tavern, greeting my friends and welcoming customers," Mr. Mahoney made a grand welcoming gesture.

"Then at eight last night, you were here, in the tavern, as always?" Kyle asked.

"Hmm, you know, I don't think I was. I seem to recall needing to run down to the beer cellar," he said.

"Interesting," Kyle said.

"Mr. Yakada, where were you last night about that time?" Kyle asked.

"My men and I were here, actually."

"Did you see Mr. Mahoney at the time?" Kyle asked.

"No, not that I recall."

Mr. Yakada, some friendly advice. Now is the time to think more about self-preservation than keeping up appearances.

It's especially important for you to tell the truth and not try and cover up anything for anyone," Kyle said sternly to Mr, Akada who was getting angry and then worried.

"I'm not covering for anyone!" Mr. Yakada yelled.

"Really, then things aren't looking good for you," Kyle said with a shake of his head as if Mr. Yakada was a poor unfortunate soul.

"What...what do you mean?"

"I mean, we're here to solve a murder, and right now, you're the top suspect," Kyle said with a steely gaze. The others present were shocked. Even Sir Rollins was surprised.