The Great Main Suspect

100 Foxtrot Avenue, Arkahimious, 12:56 P.M

Daniel and Draconias arrived at the property which Ferolian Ferox is renting. Draconias crossed the busy road over to the hotel on the other side. Daniel could finally breathe easily; that man had been irking him with his intense character.

Daniel knocked on the door. Ferolian opened it.

Ferolian was a tall man, halfway between Daniel's height and Draconias' height. His hair was very messy, like he hadn't groomed it in a month. He stank of alcohol and vomit. Daniel didn't even want to know the origins of the stains that lined his red shirt. His hair was red, and his eyes were redder, he probably hadn't slept well in a while. The colour of his irises was blue, but Dan worried that the lines of red would turn them purple. He had a bit of facial hair and a bit of dried toothpaste on his lip. His pants were on backwards.

"How do I look?" Ferolian asked in a tired warn voice.

"Like trash." Daniel proclaimed.

"Good." He said in a chipper tone, contrasting the voice that Dan heard earlier. "When Berry saw me dressed as him, he said I could be his stunt double."

"So, this is not you?" Dan gestured to all of him.

"Nah man, this is not me." Ferolian laughed.

"The way you present yourself now is not the real Ferolian Ferox?"

"That's right."

"I don't know what you looked like before, but I think that if I did know, I would be astounded."

Ferolian laughed even louder. "Thank you. I've been playing stunt doubles for over 4 years, after I was fired from the mayor's office."

"For embezzling."

"Nah man, the aid framed me."

"It wasn't you?"

"Nah, his nephew touched his computer, one thing led to another and boom, $50000 go missing. I'm not even sure if the kid knew what he was doing."

"But you said on the cameras that you would punish him more harshly than he punished you."

Ferolian slammed the side of his door frame and laughed even more. "Oh, stop it! What if one of the staff members of the show I'll be in see me like this, I'll lose my contract. That was acting my friend, I never meant any of that."

"The victim said your name before he died. Would you happen to know why?"

Ferolian cleared his throat and headed back inside and got a photograph of himself.

The Ferolian in the picture looked livelier. His hair was long and emerald, his eyes were a darker green than his hair and he looked very neat, he was wearing a white tank top and boy could you see his muscles. There wasn't a single hair on his face, his lips were glowing, and his eyebrows and eyelashes were gorgeous and well kept. The picture did not include what he wore below his abdomen.

"Maybe he saw this young guy." Ferolian stated.

"That's you? But you look nothing like him." Dan said looking at the photo.

"That's what makes me the best stunt double. Even without the mayor's aid's condition you couldn't tell the difference between the real me and the person I play. You know, before Drew was hired, I was the mayor's aid."

"What happened?"

"Gary started going to the 'seeing the world' club, it's a place for people with eye problems to meet and converse. I'm not allowed in, you probably can't tell because of my contacts, but my sight is 20/20."

"But Gary said that he only had dyslexia. Would they have let him in?"

"Nah man, the dyslexia condition is not a serious enough eye condition to call for your entry. You must be face blind, partially blind or completely blind to join."

Dan put his right hand on his chin. "That begs the question, what was the mayor's true condition?"

"I wouldn't know."

"The police said you had a perfect alibi. Would you tell me what it was?"

Ferolian went back inside and got another photo and gave it to Daniel, it was a rock star on a stage, the face of this man looked like the face that Ferolian currently had, same blue, bloodshot eyes, same stubble on his face, his long red hair was waving about, and his red jacket had a toothpaste stain on its upper right side.

"This is Beryl Bernstain, he's a famous fox rockstar."

"Oh, yes, I heard of him. He was a special guest during one of Electronic Embodiment's tours."

"I thought you'd recognise him, although I don't know why. But on that day, I was disguised as him and he was disguised Sandra, his tour bus driver. The disguise was so good that they asked me to perform some of his songs."

"Oh, I see. No wonder how your alibi is so watertight."

Ferolian laughed again and cleared his throat. "Well, thanks for the chat, man." Ferolian added, mimicking Beryl's voice. "But I have to go now and meet my limo."

Daniel smiled as Ferolian left. But his smile soon vanished when he saw Draconias approaching. He was holding a cup of coffee in his right hand.

"Heavy panting please don't tell me you have finished talking to Feral."

"Sorry, Draconias, but you missed everything."

"Fake sobbing but you could have waited for me." Draconias pulled out his handkerchief and pretended to blow his nose dramatically.

"So, do we have any suspects?"

Draconias folded his handkerchief neatly and placed it back in his pocket. "I've looked, but most are not the ones who did it."

"Then give me a list of who could have done it, people with no alibis."

"Just his wife, she had no alibi, and he had a huge life insurance policy, his son is only one years old, and a one-year-old certainly couldn't have come up with such a dastardly plan."

"So, his wife is the only one who is on your list didn't have an alibi, and had a motive, how much was the policy?"

"Four hundred million."

"Do you have a glass of water."

"I have coffee." Draconias handed Dan his coffee.

"Tell me the policy again." Dan took a sip.

"Four hundred million."

Dan spit the coffee out. "That much!"

"Seriously! That was my best blend, now a mouthful of it is on the sidewalk."

"I think it's about time we speak to Drew's wife."

"Alright. I'll show you the way." Draconias began strolling off, Daniel wondered if he was getting closer to answers, but Daniel felt that something was off, in some of his earlier experiences the criminal isn't always the most obvious. Dan prepared himself to run into a dead end.

#

56 Waltzing Lane, Arkihimious, 1:23 P.M

A fox forest traveller train could be heard approaching Arkihimious station as Dan and Draconias arrived at Cassidy Archive's place of residents. The flowers and garden looked dreadful, as if nobody had tended to them in two weeks. The mailbox was almost full. There was a ramp on the front door and the driveway was soaked in oil from the car atop it. The car itself was a silver one, but it was scratched and dented, it was obvious that people have come along and vandalised it. Daniel had never seen such a sad sight.

Most of the windows were shattered and the wood of the walls were damaged, there were even traces of unravelled toilet rolls.

Dan already had doubts about the lady living here being the killer, but now they were skyrocketing.

Dan and Draconias made their way up the short ramp and knocked on the door. The ramp looked new and very sturdy, in fact the AKPD's seal was on the top of it. Daniel had a bad feeling about this.

The door opened a crack. "Drake, would you be a dear and get me the mail, things around here have been really bad since my dearly beloved was slain."

Draconias went to the mailbox and Daniel had a look of surprise upon his face, he wasn't surprised because he followed orders, no, he was surprised because Draconias didn't correct her.

Draconias returned shortly with all her post in hand. "Your mail mam, delivered thanks to the courtesy of the great, swift and honourable Dr Draconias Myth." He passed the mail through the gap and gave a bow, if he were wearing a top hat, he would have tipped it.

"I asked the delivery people to get it for me but 'it's beyond our line of duty, so, get it yourself.' They simply don't understand." Cassidy announced in a clear and youthful voice, but there was some sadness and some pain in her voice.

"What do they not get?" Dan asked.

"Why don't you come in? Everything will be made clearer if you do, oh and be careful, there is a one-year-old scurrying about in fox form."

Dan and Draconias entered with extreme caution. They shut the door just as a fox pup dashed on by panting as he did.

"I thought it was a one-year-old." Dan noted.

Draconias laughed. "That, my dear friend, is a Rhombodian fox, they age at the same rate as humans on earth, what, were you expecting a fox that was practically on his death bed?"

Daniel shrugged. "I'm sorry, I guess I shouldn't have been so surprised, stranger things have happened."

Dan looked on the floor and sighed a sigh of relief.

"What's the matter?"

"I was right Draconias." Dan said smiling.

"She is the murderer!"

"She is not the murderer."

"How can you be so sure."

"Tire tracks, she's in a wheelchair."

"Yes, so?"

"You knew?"

"Remember, I am the great, heroic and observant Dr. Draconias Myth, famous Rhombodian Vulpinologist, of course I was aware of her being in a wheelchair."

"But if you knew then tell me why you were still suspecting her?"

"You have been to the crime scene in the virtual world, no?"

"I have."

"Then you must have noticed that all the potted plants in the office were plastic. Mr. Archive was no green thumb, his wife was."

"So, the reason the garden is so dry is..."

"That's right, Cassidy wasn't injured until after she heard the news of her husband's passing, she was cleaning the gutters at the time and when she got the news she slipped and fell. She couldn't sue the AKPD because it was a result of her own actions, but they still provided her with a ramp. But you've noticed what happened to her vehicle, without her husband around she had reason to fear for her life."

Daniel nodded. "You are aware that you're contradicting your own accusation."

"How so?"

"She was aware keeping her husband alive meant that she could leave the house without worrying about anything, but since her husband's passing every criminal on the block felt safer attacking her house and her car. Why would she kill him knowing that she would be jeopardising her own life?"

"Well, you are already aware of how much she will be getting upon the closure of the case, right, if she is not guilty. Four hundred million dollars will make you do crazy things, and you forget about the consequences."

Dan nodded. "I suppose the best way to resolve this is to speak with her."

Dan and Draconias moved to the living room, Drew's son was still running about wildly and knocking things over. Cassidy finally wheeled herself into the room. She was slightly fat, but that was to be expected since she hadn't exercised in two weeks. She was wearing a flower pattern blue top, she had a medium sized bosom, and her bronze hair was short as if recently cut. Her eyes were emerald but tired. Her face was imperfect, not a speck of make-up to be found except for some mascara which left streaks on her face, she had been crying. There was a birthmark above her right eye between the top of her eye and the bottom of her eyebrow. Her lips were slightly dry. Her pants were short and bronze, and her shoes looked like new.

"We're sorry to have barged in, but you are a suspect of a homicide." Dan said.

"Yes, but they have yet to find any evidence to arrest me yet." Cassidy spoke in a calm and clear elderly tone; she was speaking like a grandmother even though she couldn't have been older than 27.

"Is that the best act you can come up with." Draconias laughed. "I know you don't have an alibi!"

"Yes, I told you what I was doing, did you forget?"

"I did, until I looked in my notebook when Dan asked me to find him a suspect with no alibi and a clear motive."

"That would be me. But you've seen the damage those hoodlums did to my house and car. I must get things delivered so I don't get hurt. Why would I kill my husband when he was worth more alive than dead?"

Dan looked out the window to his left. "Well, with four hundred million you could afford to move closer to the AKPD and live a much safer life and raise your child without any worries."

"That's true I suppose." Cassidy admitted. "But you have no proof that I killed him, I know nothing of what occurred. I don't even know why he chose to go to work wearing that ridiculous outfit."

"You mean when he went to the office as Lila Protuve."

"So that's her name, the name of the lady my husband dressed up as."

Daniel nodded. "Alright Draconias, let's go for a walk and clear our heads. If the Arkihimious crime lab is as fast as the Everleason crime lab we should have our answers by now."

Draconias got up and gestured to Cassidy with a gaping mouth as if he was trying to say: 'but we are not done here, don't you have more questions?' But Daniel didn't see his gestures and he just left.

"Au revoir." Draconias made quick haste to catch up with Daniel, who was already walking down the sidewalk, on route to the AKPD.

"Heavy panting would you mind telling me what that was about."

"As I said before, Draconias, she didn't murder him." Dan said.

"Ok, but how can you be sure this time?"

"The window in the bathroom, I wasn't tall enough to reach it and maybe she could have been, but for anybody to know that the bathroom window opened they first must have visited it."

"So?"

"Lila Protuve's name is on a name plaque on her desk, Cassidy would have seen it."

"But what if she went there before Lila was hired almost a year ago now?"

"The day when you look like someone else happens yearly, she gave birth a year ago, so she couldn't have killed him then, so the only time she could have found out about the bathroom would be during the time Lila worked there so she would have known her name."

"You could still be wrong!"

"How?"

"Because before Lila was the secretary, the secretary was Drew's wife, so she would have known about the window but not about the name of the one who replaced her after she gave birth."

Dan sighed in slight frustration. "Well, we'll go and see the results for the fur that we found and go out walking for a bit, if I can't come up with another plausible answer then we will confront her, that is, if the fur we found belongs to someone other than her."

So, Dan and Draconias headed off to the AKPD. Daniel was now resolving himself in his mind to prove that Cassidy was innocent. Dan was married and he knew that the guilt she felt and the sadness she had were genuine, those emotions were not fake. But Dan couldn't say anything because what attorney would base their defence on a detective saying that the emotions that she presented him were real?