Discoveries

Gatsby Hotel, 1:22 P.M

Daniel and David were in separate hotel rooms. David came over to Daniel's room.

"Hey." David stated with an unlit cigarette in his mouth. "We got the time of death now."

"When did it happen."

"Early, real early. Like 5:00 A.M."

"Like? So they were only able to give an approximation?"

"Yeah. But at least we can check with hotel security now."

"Ok, let's go."

David and Daniel began their journey down the stairs and into the room where there were security guards watching the cameras.

"Good evening gentlemen." Daniel stated.

"Good evening?" One guard said to the other with a tone of confusion.

"Don't mind him, he's still on Everleason time, right buddy?" David stated hitting Dan in the back.

"Yeah. My apologies."

"So, how'd you get access to this room?" The guard sitting on the right side of the room inquired. He wasn't the same person who stated 'good evening?'

"We have special cards that allow us to access many locations, they are called 'FORMAL override cards'" David explained, smoking his cigarette.

"I smell strawberries, is that one of those magic cigarettes?" Asked the guy in the left chair.

"Sure is."

"I have cherry flavor, want to try one?" The left guy inquired.

"No thanks. But we'd like to look at the footage of 5:00 A.M today."

"Sure, we'll get that for you." Stated the right seat guy.

After a few moments the cameras showed what they saw at 5:00 A.M. A mysterious tall man, around the same height as David entered the room, he was wearing a hooded jumper and although it wasn't visible from the current camera angle so Daniel and David were unaware of its existence at the moment, he was also wearing a mask.

The mysterious man left the room after ten minutes, his hood was now wrapped around his hand and his hair was visible, however it was a bland style that could be changed in a moment. Daniel and David now saw the mask. Then the man ran off toward the elevator. He then, after a bit, showed up on another camera that was pointing in a hallway near the kitchen. The man ran through the kitchen, and presumably left through there as there was no other footage of the man.

"Well, looks like he went through the kitchen, and as I suspected," Daniel stated, "looks like he was indeed stabbed by the letter opener."

"Looks like it." David noted.

"Well, let's go to the kitchen and see if we can find a witness."

"Good idea, let's go." David nodded.

So David and Daniel left the security office and made their way to the kitchen. The door was locked, so they knocked.

"Sorry," said a man taller than both Daniel and David, he had a beautiful mustache, deep brown eyes and he had his hair in a hairnet under a chefs hat. He was wearing what most head chefs wear. "This area is for…" he noticed the badge on David's overcoat. "Homicide? What do you guys want?"

"We want to know if anybody was here at 5:00 A.M, as they may have witnessed a certain individual that may have come through this area."

"A certain individual? Can you be more clear?" The Chef inquired.

"We're looking for a murderer, we saw him on the camera heading in this direction."

"I don't think he could have come through the kitchen, it's locked most of the time and it's staff only."

"Was it locked at 5:00A.M?" Daniel asked.

"I'm not sure, my sous was on duty at that time though, so maybe she has the answers." The chef stated and opened the door. "This way."

David and Daniel followed him as they led them to a woman who was just a bit taller than half the height of the head chef.

"Detectives, this is Eleanor Rose, Eleanor, this one here is David Lancer, the other, I'm not so sure, he hides his badge on his belt." The chef stated.

"Wow, you must be grateful." David stated. "Being a woman in your position would typically be hard if not for the fact that New York have an agreement with Rhombodian."

Eleanor used her right hand to beckon David to lower his head, and he did. "Listen to me young man," she stated in a fairy like voice, her tone was somehow a half-scolding voice. Was that impossible? Who knows? "Some businesses, like our hotel are unaffected by that agreement. I'm in this position, because I earned it!"

"So, Elenor. You were here at 5:00 A.M as I understand it." Daniel stated.

"That's right, I was setting up for the morning shift, and I also had to make certain that there was food available for those who wake up super early." Eleanor replied with a chipper tone.

"Sounds about right. Was the door unlocked at that time."

"Under my watch, yes. I have to make certain food runners stay efficient. I just wish John sees it that way. You heard what he said when you attempted your entry earlier." Her eyes lit up.

"Seems you have something for him." Daniel noted.

Eleanor now beckoned Daniel to come in closer. Her cheeks were blushing deeply. "Don't tell him." She stated shyly.

"I think I'll take over now." David stated. "Did you see a man who didn't belong here come through this area at any point?"

"Yes. A tall man with a plain black hairstyle. I had to get out my magnifying glass after he left to make certain he didn't contaminate anything."

"Why were you fearing contamination?" Daniel asked.

"Well, no hairnet for starters, duh. We'd get in huge trouble if a single patron found even an eyelash in their soup. Also he had a jumper around his hand, it was soaked in blood. I had to check if any of that dripped into the floor.

"That seems like a good thing to keep a look out for."David announced.

"So did he leave anything?"

"Like I said, I used a magnifying glass, but no. His shoes were also clean as there was no stains from them either."

"Daniel." David stated. "I know I said that drunkard and asshole was our main suspect, but now I have my doubts."

"Well, then if he is our killer then he's doing a good job."

"Why would you say that."

"Our killer is careful, whilst our main suspect gives out an extraordinary careless aura. I think that maybe he has a second colder more calculating side. But that's all just a theory."

"Man, I dismiss him and you come up with an alternate explanation. I don't like to admit it, but I can learn a lot from you."

"That must have taken you a lot to just say that." Daniel noted.

"Excuse me, down here." Eleanor interjected.

"Yes?" Both detectives stated.

"If you don't have any more questions then I'd like you to at least take your discussion outside, the longer you stay, the more chances there are that you'd contaminate my kitchen."

"Actually there is one more question I have." Daniel stated. "Did you see anything that may help us identify this individual?"

"No, he wore an ordinary shirt and pants that can be bought at any corner store, and he was wearing sunglasses over a generic burglar mask, he was wearing cleaning gloves too."

"Sun glasses? Now that's something we didn't see on the camera. Do you know where he might have got those?"

"They were a generic brand. There is a service station nearby selling the same pairs for cheap."

"Thank you, we'll look into that. But for now, I think you should admit your feelings to the head chef."

"Why? I'm not sure he feels the same way about me."

"I know what love is like, that look in his eyes when we spoke briefly about you was all I needed to see to know that he has feelings for you as well." Daniel stated.

"Are you sure." Eleanor asked.

"There's only one way to find out." Daniel stated and then he and David left the kitchen via the back exit.

Eleanor went over to John Quark, the head chef. "John, I'd like to tell you that I have a crush on you."

John smiled hugely. "I was afraid to admit it, but I had a crush on you too. Would you like to go somewhere after my shift?"

Eleanor nodded.

#

Daniel and David were now outside.

"So Daniel, why are we looking into a pair of cheap sunglasses. I only asked because she mentioned 'cleaner's gloves' too, wouldn't those have been easier to track down?" David asked.

"Not necessarily. Remember who are main suspect is?"

"Yes. I'm not a memfer, but I ain't ever going to forget an asshole like Fred Royale."

"He owns a bar, and his rich, he probably has a cleaning company or a personal cleaner working there to help keep things clean. He could have easily obtained the cleaning gloves. So unless you can identify a different suspect with less accessibility to cleaning gloves then I'm sticking with my guts and looking into the glasses."

"Well the local service station is just over there. Come on." David stated getting into his car. "Let's move."

"It's not far, can't we just walk?"

"Have you forgot where we are? This is New York City, look at the traffic!"

Daniel looked around and saw that the roads were crowded with a lot of honking cars.

"Fair point, but how can we get there faster in car then on foot, don't both options have the same problems."

"I know you've only been part of the EPD for only a short amount of time, but I would think that you'd at least have heard of chaos trains and chaos buses."

"Oh, right. I keep ignoring the fact that the EPD is a Rhombodian establishment. I remember now. Thanks for the reminder." Daniel stated and got into the vehicle. "It's that button isn't it?" Daniel inquired, his finger was hovering above a purple button.

"Yep. That button will enable our vehicle to go through other vehicles."

"You know, the intangibility power always confused me, how does the car stay on the road?"

"Because… you know, I have no idea. I just always guessed that they will only go through the floor if they decided to, however I'm not sure how a vehicle can just decide not to go through floors. I always just thought that perhaps the cars use a database of the surfaces of both Rhombodian and Earth so they don't go through the floor."

"Maybe that's the reason. Anyway, let's go."

David pressed the button and started driving through the cars, there was also a chaos bus there also in phased mode. He drove around it and went into the service station. He pressed the button again and a warning horn played to alert others around him to not drive through the vehicle as it soon will no longer be intangible.

"Why did we go around the bus?" Daniel asked.

"Intangible objects can still collide with intangible objects. The bus was in phased mode, so we could have collided with it."

"That doesn't fully explain why that is. I mean, isn't the Intangible ability one that allows you to go through everything?"

"Well there's two reasons why we couldn't go through the bus. The power crystal in my car is a Mysterym crystal, it acts on the ability rules not the magic rules. So the reasons I mentioned are 1: magic and abilities do collide, people can use both, but not simultaneously, and 2: magic rules say intangible objects that got that way via magic can collide with items that were also made intangible by magic."

"But ability rules don't say that." Daniel noted.

"True. But it looks like we're getting distracted by speaking about Rhombodian yet again instead of focusing on this mystery."

"My apologies, anyway, we're here."

Daniel and David left David's car and entered the service station. David made his way to the cashier. "Hello sir, may we speak with the manager?"

"Huh, but I didn't even… oh you're with the police. Yeah, I'll get him." Said the female cashier, she called for the manager via the phone nearby.

"Hey, I'm Mark Avalace. The manager of this establishment." Stated a voice behind the detectives a few seconds later.

"Mr. Avalace. You are from Rhombodian right?" Daniel asked.

"True. But I have no ability to speak of, and I haven't learnt any magic either. I'm an Earling." Mark replied. "Yes, Avalace is a Rhombodian surname. So you are indeed worthy of the rank of 9797."

"You're the second person I've met today that has mentioned my badge number and it's apparent significance. Mr. Bolmer has badge 1, and he's solved as many mysteries as David has solved crossword puzzles." Daniel stated.

"He's right, I have no interest in crossword puzzles, so I haven't solved one. How you knew that Dan is a mystery to me." Replied.

"Solving crosswords is beyond people with your personality type." Daniel stated.

"How dare you make this personal. Come on, ask him about the glasses."

"He seems mad." Mark noted.

"It's not the first time today that the subject of Rhombodian has irked him." Daniel responded.

"So what's this about glasses?" Mark asked.

"Well, we need to know who has purchased sunglasses in the last 48 hours in this establishment. Please." Daniel stated.

"What if I say no?" Mark asked.

"We may have a case to arrest you for not cooperating with a police investigation." Stated Daniel.

"Sounds serious. But are you sure that a pair of sunglasses would be enough to make or break your case."

"In my humble opinion, anything we can find to assist us in coming closer to finishing this case is worth looking into, no matter how small or insignificant."

"Ok, I'll look into our sales record. I mean, it's spring right now so our numbers are slowly on the rise for the item in question so we may have a few sales."

Mark returned to where he came from and returned a few minutes later whilst David got him and Daniel some hot drinks from the coffee machine, he got himself a coffee and Daniel the tea available from the machine, he payed for the drinks and started smoking another one of his magic cigarettes.

"Hey!" The cashier remarked. "Strawberry flavor, that's rare. I can only buy that flavor in Arkahimios."

"Well, when we make our arrest I'll come back and give you my list of dealers." David stated.

"I better not be left with all the paperwork!" Daniel stated.

"Don't worry Daniel. It's getting late in Everleason right? If you solve this case by the end of the day today, you'll get a day off tomorrow anyway. Also, any paperwork I deal with I deal with here. My primary investigations are on Earth after all." David noted.

"Is that why sightings of you are so rare in Everleason despite the fact that you have an office?"

"My mailbox is linked to the in and out folders on my desk. So I do most of my work at home." David stated. "Anyway, looks like our manager friend is back."

"Already calling me friend, that's rather presumptuous." Mark stated.

"You gave us your name, so we can't call you stranger." David elaborated.

"True. Anyway," Mark remarked. "Looks like only three people purchased sunglasses in the last 48 hours. The last two were purchased by Allen Owl and Richard Bronze respectively, both payed by card and also ordered things that required IDs to be shown so the names are accurate, however the earliest of the three payed by cash, so we got nothing on them."

"He had to have spoken to a cashier, right?" Daniel asked. "May we speak to the one on the till at the time of that first purchase?"

"Yo!" The cashier suddenly announced, making David jump. "That was me."

Mark went over to a button and pressed it. A man teleported in almost immediately, they were wearing a FORMAL badge that identified them as part of the Shop Associate Program.

"Yes." Stated the man. "You have something to ask?"

"Would you please substitute for Liam, these men have questions for him."

"Of course. David, Daniel, it's nice to see you both." The man stated and swapped places with the cashier.

"He knows us?" Daniel asked David.

"We all work under the umbrella of FORMAL, knowing us is part of the job." David replied.

"So. You guys have questions for me?" The cashier inquired.

"Liam, right?" Daniel asked.

"At least your hearing works. Yes, I'm Liam."

"Liam, all we are looking for is a description of the man who payed cash for a pair of sunglasses in the last 48 hours."

"He had black hair in a disheveled style and he had piercing blue eyes, unfortunately they entranced me so much that I can't remember any other details about his figure clearly."

"That sounds like Fred Royale." Daniel stated.

"Fred Royale? I've never met the guy personally, but I've visited his bar many times."

"Would you testify to the fact that he purchased sunglasses if necessary in the court of law."

"Oh no! That place scares me."

"It's okay, you could probably just sign an affidavit."

"Really? What's an aff-I-David?"

"An affidavit is a written statement that can be used as evidence in the court of law. I won't think any less of you for mispronouncing that word. You probably know as much about the world of law and order then I know about golf."

"I can confirm. I invited him for a round and I can say for certain that a majority of the balls in the water hazard on the Everleason golf course are because of him." David stated.

"I recall asking you nicely not to reveal that information." Daniel stated.

"Ok. I'll do this affidavit thing you mentioned." Liam stated.

"Well, that's all we needed from you, so we will take our leave now." Daniel stated and he and David left the building.

"So, now what? I mean the glasses thing wasn't a dead end after all, but even with that, he may come up with any number of explanations for that." David noted.

"Don't worry. There's still one mystery that has been heavy on my shoulders. I'm heading back to the hotel for one more time, the answer must be there."

"You're talking about the ace of spades with a hole in it, right? I thought it had something to do with the secret club Jim Talent spoke of, but that was a dead end. Finally met the son of the great Arbane Picture though." David noted.

"You were able to figure that out but not about the letter opener?"

"Crazy, right?"

"Well I'm going back to the hotel, you can distract Mr. Royale for me."

"Really? That asshole? No, I'd rather eat a cupcake made from the spiciest peppers then do that."

"You can come with me if you want."

"Fine, I'd take distracting a chauvinist pig over being embarrassed by your vast intellect." David stated, hanging his head in shame and walking of slowly.

"Come on David, I'm not asking the world of you, if you do this, I'll see to it that you get extra pay for this."

"Well, 9797 is a good number, maybe you have enough sway from that. I'll do it, but I ain't going to enjoy it."

"If you can find someone that does enjoy that man's company then you'd deserve to get double pay this week."

David laughed and left.

Daniel then remember the traffic issue, but he didn't mind walking back. So he walked back.

Daniel pondered as he walked how close was he to solving the mystery. Will the card with the hole in it be the be all end all, the ultimate clue that finally put the case to rest, or will it be a dud? Daniel was about to find out.