Hole in the Ace

Everleason, Casscos, Planet of Regions, April 22nd*, 4:30 P.M (8.00 A.M in New York)

*Earth date equivalent

Daniel was in his office, finishing up some paperwork on his desk, and drinking his last cup of tea, when suddenly a letter flew in from under his door. It glowed a pinkish colour to symbolise that telekinesis was what was being used, as if it was magic, it would either glow violet or not glow at all.

Daniel put both of his hands together and moved them in front of him and flattened them so the letter could land on his hands. The pink glow disappeared upon the letter contacting Daniel's skin.

Daniel then discovered it wasn't really a letter, just a sheet of paper expertly folded in such a way that it looked exactly like an envelope. He removed the tape binding the sheet together and unfolded it.

'Dear Daniel Smith,' the letter read. 'A man has been murdered in New York city. Your skills may be required to solve this case. It will be completely your choice whether or not you assist in this case. If you choose to help, then there are blank teleportation crystals in your drawer, you need to picture the place you need to go and the location will appear on the crystal. Make sure you don't make a mistake as the crystals cannot be rewritten. After the image has appeared on the crystal throw it at a wall to break it, a portal will appear and you can walk straight to the hotel. A picture of the area just in front of the hotel has been included in this letter.

Signed D. Rodgers.'

Daniel looked at the photo, he couldn't believe he was asked of this so close to home time.. But he was interested to find out why the police commissioner wanted him to help out.

He took out a crystal and focused on the image which came from inside the letter and as he did, even though he didn't notice it himself, the image which he was staring at with intense concentration was also being etched rapidly into the teleportation crystal which was being held in his left hand.

When he checked the crystal, the image engraved in it was the same as what was presented in the photograph. He was amazed, he didn't even hear any noise come from the crystal. He couldn't have known that the self-engraving crystals actually never make any noise while they are copying the locations inside the user's mind.

He threw the crystal at the west wall per the letter's instruction, the crystal shattered and the fragments dispersed into the shape of a large ellipsis, suddenly a little blue light appeared in the exact centre of the shape and grew outward until it fit the frame created by the fragments. The portal was about 3% larger than the doorway of Daniel's office, the portal was slightly too high for Daniel to walk through, so the portal lowered itself so Daniel could enter it.

This is when Daniel discovered that portals created in this manner only stick to a single surface, as when the portal lowered the bottom of the ellipsis flattened as it hit the floor.

It stopped descending, but the highest point of the portal was still in the same spot as it was before the portal descending. No, it didn't exactly descend, it must have enlarged, Daniel was too focused to notice the rest of the portal expanding.

The blue of the portal was replaced with an image of his destination. No, it wasn't an image, people were moving within it, he could also see David Lancer nearby. It was like a live video feed rather than an image. The only part that was still blue was the barrier, he also noticed that the texture created by the fragments was no longer there, the fragments must have disintegrated or disappeared as soon as they were no longer required to define the border of the ellipsis.

Daniel was finally prepared to step through this strange ellipsis. He walked through it and when he reached the other side the brightness hurt his eyes, even though it was only just a bit brighter here than in the artificial light from the light fixture in Daniel's office.

"Daniel, what took you so long?" David stated upon seeing him. "You were standing in your office for about thirty seconds before you walked through that portal."

"You saw me?" Daniel inquired.

"Not at first, but after a few seconds your office appeared with you staring amazed at the portal." David stated.

"So, I guess that means it works two ways." Daniel concluded.

"Well sort of," David began to elaborate, "Portals created from crystals can have infinite people come in from either side, the portal only closes once the creator walks through."

"So, you're basically saying that any number of people could have entered or left my office but once I went through the portal anyone who went through it will no longer have access to it as it would have closed." Daniel stated.

"Yes, but honestly, when I saw the portal, I was hoping for somebody else."

"Really, am I not skilled enough to be working here?"

"No, actually if anything, you'll make me look like an amateur, I can't keep my credibility up with you around, since you are so good at this."

"Is that what everyone is saying? I've only solved 4 murders so far, and 2 of them were official."

"Yes, but the way you solve them. How you put the pieces of the puzzle together, it's amazing, or so I've heard."

"You don't think so?"

"It doesn't matter what I think." David stated, turning around with an angry expression with folded arms, he withdrew a cigarette and lit it and then walked toward the hotel's lobby.

"Don't mind him," Stated an older deeper voice. Daniel turned around to see an officer of the Everleason police department. His badge read 'W. Storm' and he was ranked as a police lieutenant.

"Lieutenant Storm, it's pleasure to meet you." Daniel replied, bowing toward the man.

"There's no real need for that Dan, my name is William, but you may call me Bill."

"You already know my name?"

"Your popularity at the moment is quite high. Your style of mystery solving is amazing to say the least, and apparently, you've been studying forensic science during your free time."

"Yes, that is all true, but you have not finished your thought from earlier, what was the rest of your statement."

"See, nothing gets passed you. I was telling you not to worry about David, he wants to make you think he is tough because he believes it is the way a policeman is supposed to act, but I assure you that his heart is still as pure and beautiful as the day he first started working for us."

"That's a shame, I wish I was there to see what he is truly like."

"I wouldn't worry about that; besides he's being opening up since he met you, he doesn't want to show it, but since he met you, he really wants to do better at his job. Oh, you must be exhausted right, since you just came here from Everleason where it is almost night time."

"That's right, I might not be able to focus properly in this state."

"Here." Bill passed Daniel a cup of tea, the liquid inside was glowing blue, similar to some forms of algae. Daniel grasped the cup and slowly sipped the liquid. All of the strength that he had lost during his work in Everleason had been replenished and Daniel felt rejuvenated.

"What is this? It's delicious and all my strength has returned, I fill like I just woke up from a good night's rest."

"This is Eurithral tea, it contains Eurithium, a mysterious element with the ability to heal all wounds and even revive the dead, if it is consumed in great enough amounts, it can even make you younger. It must be used responsibly, Adam Bolmer made a law saying that irresponsible use of Eurithium is illegal, and punished by somebody removing the magic of the substance and 4 years imprisonment."

"I can see why that is, this substance could remedy the pain in people's hearts, but doing such would be destroying the will of nature itself, and when you fight nature, nature fights back."

"Anyway, now that you should be back into the mystery solving mood, I think you should go into the hotel and figure out who killed that man. I have somewhere else I need to be. Commissioner Rodgers asked me to investigate a club nearby."

"Farewell, and thank you."

"I'm certain we'll see each other again."

Daniel returned the cup to Bill and he ran off to Daniel's left. Daniel was now full of pep, he was ready to look over the scene and so he walked into the lobby and followed a security officer to scene of the crime, after he asked politely for her to show him the way of course.

#

The room was still a mess as described in the prologue. There was now forensics scouring every nook and cranny.

Daniel scanned the room with a cursory glance and noted the upturned drawer almost immediately and the card.

Daniel slowly removed the police tape, entered the room and placed the tape back.

Daniel looked closer at the body and something about the victim's left hand (not the hand that was holding the card) seemed somewhat unnatural.

"Hey. No civilians are allowed in here." A stern male voice stated. Daniel got to his feet as fast as his legs would allow him. He came face to face with a guy with straight 30-centimetre-long black hair with a few purple streaks. Daniel didn't know who this was, but he was wearing a forensics getup.

"Are you speaking to me?" Daniel inquired. The man was not amused as the answer was obvious to him and the man scanned Daniel a bit more carefully and noted that Daniel had an official FORMAL badge on his belt.

"Oh, you're a Rhombodian. I have no idea why our mayor thought it was a good idea to sign the 'minimum help' document that enables people from Rhombodian to work on mysteries that occur in New York. We have enough man on our team to deal with this."

"Um, actually, I'm a human like you." Daniel elaborated.

"Don't act like I'm stupid. You must have some sort of ability or magic."

"I'm married to an Owlmeirey, but I have no idea how to use that ability."

"So, you're a human married to a Rhombodian, that at least makes you half Rhombodian. But hey, at least that power that you share with your wife is somewhat useful."

"So, you know what people with my ability are able to do then?"

"Of course, I know. Rhombodians come and solve crimes here all the time. You can't be around them without at least knowing some of the abilities from the place. By the way, I never introduced myself properly, I would first like to apologise, not everyone in the EPD is going to be wearing the uniform, and I'm sorry that I mistook you for a civilian, which I would not have done if you weren't wearing something so fancy."

"Thank you."

"I'm Alfred Tango. I'm in charge of the forensics squad, any questions you like to ask, I'll answer them."

"My name is Daniel Smith. But you may, if you wish, call me Dan." Daniel replied. "I'm a humble detective working for the Everleason Police Department, but you have already deduced that."

"Yes, I have."

"So, I can see the victim was strangled and he held on that card until his last breath." Daniel stated, motioning toward the card in question.

"Yes, he did."

"But I can't help but feel that he may have been holding something in his left hand also as he died."

"Hmm?" Alfred paused, unable to think of what to say next.

"What's the matter?"

"I'm just wondering what could possibly give you that impression, considering the fact that we didn't notice anything of the sort."

"Well, let's go over it step by step. First there is the fact that he was holding that card. It had to already be in his hand when he was attacked or just in reach. Then there is the fact that the drawer had been removed and placed face up on the ground. If the victim opened the drawer than it couldn't have been because he wanted the card I already mentioned. Something was in that drawer but it is no longer here, and I want to know why that is. Also, there is something odd with the victim's left hand, it looks as if he had been holding something in that hand too."

Alfred takes a closer look at the victim's hand and noticed that Daniel may indeed be correct about that assumption. "Yeah, looks like he did have something in his left hand."

Daniel nodded. "What about the card, is it something that was important to him?"

"It must have been, he had a ton of them and each one had a hole punched into them in the exact same location as the hole on that card." Alfred stated.

"That is interesting." Daniel stated. "Any idea what it could mean?"

"Our victim owned a club on First street, it's called 'Ace in the Hole.' I'm not sure if it is the connection we need to find the one responsible for this mess, but I hope it at least gets us a step closer to solving the mystery."

Daniel nodded. "Does anybody have any idea of what was contained in the drawer that was pulled out forcibly?"

"We only found a rectangular box nearby. It was empty, but it contained a certificate of authenticity. Our people are looking into it as we speak."

"So, the certificate didn't identify our mystery item directly?"

"It just said that the article was genuine, it had an id number but not the name of the article."

"Seems odd, doesn't it."

Alfred nodded.

Daniel looked around the room again to see if he could notice anything else. The only thing that caught his eye was a picture of the victim inside a collage, many images were floating around him, and the picture was in a frame with four aces around it, one of each suit. Diamond on the top left, spade on the top right, clover in the bottom left and you can guess what the last one was.

"Well. I'll be heading off then, I don't think there is much more I can learn from this crime scene, at least for the time being. The mystery of that unknown card will be floating around in my head for a bit, but hopefully, it will unravel itself."

"Ok. Oh, and if I news about our mystery item, I will call you."

Daniel waved goodbye and headed to the 'Ace in the Hole' club, but before he left, he took a souvenir with him. One of the other cards that was the same as the one the victim was grasping in his right hand.