"Please lead me out the other way when we are done here."
"The city has retained me to investigate Lady Pembrooke's murder of her son in plain daylight with multiple witnesses. While tasked to determine if her version of what transpired is truthful and if not what actually happened."
"As this is an ongoing investigation, I am intentionally keeping any suspicions silent. My findings so far have revealed a potential poisoning that may or may not be related. This is why I seek this knowledge."
"Well, I understand your reluctance to spill details, but we don't have any books about that. If you have a fresh poisoned body it is easy to determine if it was poisoning. Also one could try to determine from the sensory information the kind of poison. "If the person can tell symptoms that helps also. But that only works if you have knowledge about the poison used. And we have no books about that. Determining the presence of poison is just a simple casting."
"So either you have something to bring to me, that I can examine for you, or you at least have some description of the effects and I could try to find deduce what kind of poison it is. But the first case would be much better."
"The bodies were interred years ago. The couple had physicians and clerics who could not prevent their deaths. Their symptoms were the same and spaced well apart by years. So, I do have means of determining the truth without knowledge of poisons. "
Menan stands and says "Thank you for your time. Please escort me to the door you prefer me to use."
"As you wish." Merileth replies and leads Menan to another alcove and then through a labyrinth of secret doors and corridors until he finds himself outside in a niche that is protected from viewers outside.
"When you step out, turn around and closely examine the passage, as there are many around the temple." She closes the door on him.
The 'door' is an intricate work, but even though you know it is there it's almost impossible to tell the crack of the door apart from the chiseled pattern that covers the whole wall.
Stepping out of cover Menan finds him self at the back of the temple. The passage has a framed round depiction of the Savored Sting chiseled into the lime stone. Or for more numerically inclined people, it is eleven strides away from the southern corner.
Menan makes note of the entryway. He seeks out Arawyn and they head to the campsite for the evening.
After their morning routines the Variel party heads to town. Arawyn heads to the market and Menan appears at the Temple of Abadar again.
"I am here to see Officer Kasadei. Is she available?"
Approaching the temple and seeing that nice follower of Abadar in shiny armor, he remembers, that the officer is found at the city watch, near the main gate of town.
Once there he is sent in to Kasadei's office by the guard he met yesterday.
"Oh, hello. Did you solve the mystery already?"
"I am here to report my findings so far and work out the best plan of action to move forward on this. Agatha expressly told me that a force guided her hand to a dagger she did not place in her purse and then moved her hand to kill the child. I find this believable if magic was involved. But, counter that with what I learned of the family. My findings indicate that Agatha was a maid for the family. Peter's wife Eleanor was taken ill and nothing your clerics or the physicians in consort could remedy. That in itself is odd. Her illness manifestations were identical to those of Peter years later with the same interventions and death. Do you share my suspicion at this point?"
"We can garner the truth with magic. She trusts me as the only one who can and will help her. I recommend your highest level divine caster join me in a magical interrogation of her willingly. I am able to cast some arcane spells that will complement a divine caster and it will also provide a second witness to what we discover. This is one reason I typically charge far more than we previously agreed to. Are you willing to pay me the going rate for the spells I cast? It will most likely put this matter to rest."
"So you suggest to put more money and resources on this case to open another can of worms?"
"How would that help me to dissipate the rumors?"
"It is possible this woman has murdered three people. If she did a simple hanging solves your rumors. It is possible she killed no one and was the target of some enemy. We will not know until we discover the truth. Can one dispel rumors with more rumors?
"We do public beheading, but the effect is the same. And it would kill the rumors, if no other cases of 'the devil made me do it' occur."
"I don't have those divine casters. And Abadar's clerics aren't known for their charity. How much gold are we talking for these spells you need? A year's salary of a guard?"
After Menan leaves the House of Flame
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Merileth withdraws to her personal retreat and rings for her acolytes. "We have a problem. That elf guy that turned up earlier to find that family heirloom is now an investigator of sorts for the city. And he claims there was a murder that involved poison. That came up during investigating the murder of that kid by his mother of the name Pembrooke."
"I need detailed information about the man, the murder, who those Pembrookes are, and where any poisoning could be involved to these. Top priority, everything else can wait. Pembrooke, the name sounds familiar. Wasn't there a shop some time agao? And get me the limping girl from The Pig's Whistle. She met him, maybe she overheard something."
"That's all, get on it."
After Menan leaves Persephone
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Persephone stands there baffled. "That's not nice." she tells, but Menan is already out of earshot. Shaking her head, she closes the door and walks to the kitchen. "Asking all those personal questions and then leaving me standing at the door with no concern for me or even a good bye." She grabs an apple and takes a bite, sits down, and gets back up. She is too agitated to sit.
She needs to get somewhere else to meet someone to distract her. Like Isabella. She puts on a coat and leaves the house and walks to The Pig's Whistle.
Isabella greets Persephone "Hello. I guess you're going to make progress on your way to get rich. There is a note for you."
Persephone accepts the note, reads it and comments "That works too."
To Isabella she adds "Have a nice day." She spins on her heel and leaves. A short hustle later she stands at her entrance waiting for the elf opens.
A short time after Persephone appears at the temple Merileth opens the door for her. "Follow me." she orders and leads Persephone to her retreat. "Take a seat."
"This elf named Menan, that I had you deliver a message to and the plaque. What do you know about him?"
"When I met him the first time, he told where he is from, but I forgot that already. He searched the resting place of his ancestors. We sent him to father Grimburrow and the House of Flame for further inquiries. As you turned up the plaque, went to you obviously?"
"Since then he seems to have taken on a job as investigator with the city watch, investigating the murder of my half brother by the hands of my stepmother. God knows why. It isn't exactly a mystery what happened there."
"He also inquired about the deaths of my parents which is odd. He wanted to know details about their illness and what treatment they received before they died."
Merileth's eyes widen. "Please state your full name."
Persephone just now realizes that not only doesn't she know the name of the elf, but the elf also never cared to ask for her name. "Persephone Pembrooke, daughter of Peter and Eleanor Pembrooke."
"What is your name, by the way?"
It takes all her mental strength to not to facepalm. I'm getting negligent. Mental note: thorough background checks on everyone I use for work.
The question Persephone states is a welcome distraction to play over her own astonishment. "You're not supposed to know my name. And you're not supposed to address me without being asked."
"Please repeat, what you told to Menan about your family."
After listening to Persephone reiterating everything Merileth adds another question. "Where are your parents put to rest?"
"In a crypt on Pharasma's cemetery in the old part on town." There are so many questions that she needs to ask. She is bursting with curiosity as to why she is suddenly the center of interest to everyone. Well, not everyone, but since her parents death no one cared about her, and now...
Merileth can see the curiosity in Persephone's face. As she needs to stay on top and Persephone to accept her as authority without asking questions she needs to throw her a bone. And gold coins won't do this time.
She takes a deep breath. "My condolences to your loss. Even when I'm up to a decade late in case of your parents."
"This Menan is turning every stone. And he suspects foul play with the deaths of your parents. And it can't be that he arrives here and asks questions I don't know the answers to."
"Therefore" she looks Persephone deep into the eyes "I need to find out if these deaths were caused by administering illegal substances. With your parents buried in a crypt this would still be possible for some substances from a few strains of hair. You want to know that too, don't you?"
Persephone's thoughts are running in circles. Rage rises and tears and a fresh hatred for that stepmother. She clenches her fist.
"Don't do anything hasty. IF your stepmother is responsible, she won't go anywhere. She probably is in for life, or even for a death sentence. And if we can prove two more murders that will ensure that even further."
Merileth takes two gold coins from her pouch. "Here take these, in case a donation to Pharasma's temple is needed to persuade Father Grimburrow to allow the disturbance of the eternal rest. The less people know the better."
She then leads Persephone back to the exit.
Persephone walks in direction of the graveyard. Halfway she stops. She looks to the sky to find that it is only noon. Father Grimburrow isn't one to take bribes, is he? And does he need to know?
She changes the direction and walks back to The Pig's Whistle looking for Faerveren.
"Hi Isabella, hello Faerveren. I need you to come along." She grabs Faerveren's hand and drags her out of the tavern.
"Hey, not only do you come and go without ordering anything, now you're even stealing my patrons!"
"What's so urgent?" Faerveren inquires.
"I need hair from my dead parents for some examination. Only a little. But I can't do that. You need to do that for me. I'll distract Father Grimburrow and you get some hair from my father and mother." Persephone explains in a whisper.
"I imagined tomb raiding to be after riches, but ok. What examination will that be?" Faerveren jokes.
"Don't you dare stealing from our family grave!" Persephone tells. "For some substances that might have caused their death."
Once they reach the graveyard Persephone looks around if she sees Father Grimburrow.
The graveyard lies peaceful in the shadows of the large trees on this summy day. There are two elderly women talking in front of a grave. Father Grimburrow is nowhere seen.
Persephone heads inside the chapel and takes a seat on one of the benches. Sitting there she looks around, what the features of the chapel are. And if Father Grimburrow is there.
Faerveren put up the hood of her cloak and strides straight along the main pathway without so much as looking at the women. After a turn she is out of sight of those, and checks for other visitors of the graveyard, before reaching the Pembrooke grave.
If no one is in sight, she moves on to the grave and gives the door a quick look-over. She takes out a vial of oil and applies some to the hinges and the lock. She looks into the lock to determine, which of her tools fits best.
Inside the chapel - Father Grimburrow is sitting in the chapel too, reading in a book.
At the grave - there is no one in sight on the graveyard. Oiling the hinges might have helped to prevent creaking, the lock opens on the second attempt, but the door is made of stone and and the grinding of stone on stone when opened can't be helped.
Faerveren quickly inhales, to hold her breath and moves into the crypt, without checking if the noise drew attention. Inside she checks where the corpses lie.
Inside the crypt the air is stale and dry. There are three bodies wrapped in linen. One fresh, kid sized, and two who lie there for a longer time already. The cloths are stitched up at the head and feet.
Father Grimburrow notices Persephone. He closes his book and puts it down on the pew. He walks over to the young woman. "Can I help you?"
"Yes, indeed. I was wondering - Pharasma gets offerings when a baby is born. And when someone dies, the same happens. But in between it seems she has nothing to say to mortals."
"Is that so, or am I mistaken?"
Faerveren feels the cloth to make sure where the head is where she thinks it is. Then she uses her dagger to make a small cut through the cloth on the bottom side, just big enough for her hand to fit in. She sticks it in, feels for a lock of hair, grabs it and quickly pulls back. She folds the lock into a paper and repeats all of that on the other cloth.
She slowly exhales as she can't hold her breath anymore, but doesn't want to inhale the air in this crypt. She takes a second to listen for voices or steps outside, then steps out of the crypt and pushes the door close. Taking a deep breath, she does the spiral with her right hand in front of her chest and then locks the crypt again.
Faerveren pockets her tools and takes some time to stand in front of the crypt, reading the inscriptions, and look the face of it all over, before turning, and striding to the closest exit.
No one came along in the meantime and Faerveren's intrusion goes unnoticed.
"Pharasma is also the goddess of fate and prophesy, but in this age of conflicting omens many have turned away from searching guidance from her. I'd say your view is an oversimplification, that doesn't do her justice, but it is an understandably one."
"We do public beheading, but the effect is the same. And it would kill the rumors, if no other cases of 'the devil made me do it' occur. I don't have those divine casters. And Abadar's clerics aren't known for their charity. How much gold are we talking for these spells you need? A year's salary of a guard?"
This will require two spells if I judge the situation correctly. The first will cost you 60 gold. I will share her recollection of the boy's killing. The second will cost you another 60 and I expect to know if she killed Eleanor at that point. Should she be able to defeat a spell that I cast, there will be no charge to you."
"That is about the salary of a guard for a year. That's too much for now."
"I'll ask if there will be a public trial and when. And I'll inform those involved of your findings. If they deem it useful to investigate further, then it's out of their coffers and they are much deeper than mine."
"Come back tomorrow. Until then, I'll have that information."
"She has no friends and her business aquatints will not defend her. The contrary, in fact. Beheading her guilty or not should be easy enough with what I have produced. With my investigation now complete where might I gather the 5 gold we agreed upon?"
"Just because I don't agree on your course of action, doesn't mean you're done." Kasadei opens a drawer and takes out a dagger. A dagger, not a simple knife, but a fine dagger, with an engraved blade and a decorated cross guard. And dried blood on the blade.
"She said, her hand was forced, and she didn't put the dagger in her purse. So, someone else did. Who? This dagger costs more than a guard earns in three years. Who would go to such lengths to have her kill her own son in such a graphic way with such an expensive weapon?"
"You see why that would make some people nervous? Imagine a person who has the means to force someone's hand, and the resources to throw in such a dagger. And the guts to tell the whole city: It's not about the money, it's about sending a message. And who is the recipient of that message?"
"Can you at least tell me if the dagger is hers? Because that would make her lame excuse much less believable."
"I have prepared no such magic this day and you seem to be shy of coin. Good day, captain. Where might I gather the 5 gold?"
"You remember our agreement? You either proof she is crazy, or you find witnesses, or hard evidence that someone really forced her hand. Like her making a deal with the devil."
"And the real sweet part of the deal was your offer, that if you can't come up with one or the other, I'd owe you nothing."
"Now you brought some suspicions, that she might be a serial murder. But you're not willing to wait if my superiors are going to spend the money to investigate this further. You brought up another lead with the dagger, but you're not willing to follow up on that either." Kasadei states and pauses.
"It was solid investigative work, and therefore you can have two gold, despite not delivering, if you want to quit now." She puts two coins on the desk for Menan to take.
But you're not willing to wait if my superiors are going to spend the money to investigate this further.
My apologies. I did not realize you are waiting for approval. How long will that take? I am fine with the two gold through this point if we drop it."
Menan takes the two gold.
"Like I told, come back tomorrow, until then I'll have that information."
"As for questioning Lady Pembrooke further, without magic you'd never get her to admit to murders years back, but for everything that would help proving her innocence, she will cooperate. And substantial claims can be cross checked. That's what we muggles do. And it works quite fine."
"Because every lie you tell is a debt you take from reality. And one day reality comes to collect.