Chapter One

  Part Three

  “is it alright to leave Miss Barnes alone right now?” Ali asked

  “Of course. If I had to stay with all the victims close loved ones, I would never solve any cases”

  “I guess...”

  The were walking through the city, making their way towards the address Miss Barnes had given them. It was taking slightly longer than that Ali had thought, especially since they had to avoid the largely populated areas for Line. This was the first proper case that Ali had worked on, she wasn’t even an investor like Line was. It’s just that Line had helped her out in the past with a case that Ali had been heavily apart of, and since then Ali had stayed with Line. On the condition that Ali be her investigative partner. But that’s a story for another time.

  Line stopped in front of her, and Ali almost bumped into her from behind

  “What?” Ali asked

  “There” she gestured towards the house on the opposite of the street

  This quaint looking house was quite beautiful. Hanging from the windows were flower pots full of colourful flowers of various types, there were two stories, and a small garden out front. But standing outside were guards, these guards wore the official guard attire of the royal court investigators, the colours of their uniforms were a deep blue and black. Why were they here? The investigation should be over by now. Along the way was a horse pulled carriage, made from a dark wood with deep red detailing. Now where did they see that carriage before?

  Line moved across the street, closely followed be Ali. Just as Line was about to walk past the guards, they blocked her movement “halt” they said

  Line produced the monastery token and showed them “I’m working on this case”

  The guard that stopped her hesitated before moving aside, letting them pass.

  Moving inside, they first came to a hallway. Stairs on the left side of the wall led upstairs, to the right there was an open doorway leading into a cosy looking living room. Further down the hallway was another two doors, one of them opened up into a small kitchen, while the other led into a study.

  Ali frowned “is this really where a merchant would live?” she asked

  Line moved to the doorway of the study. The first thing she looked at was a dried red blood stain in the middle of the room, giving off the smell of iron. On the far side was a messy looking desk, papers were strewn about and a small set of scales stood there. Lining the walls were bookshelves with thick ledgers with dates on the bindings.

  But also in the room were two men standing together. One of them had long dark hair half up half down with many plaits throughout. He had piercing eyes with flecks of gold, and he wore a deep musty red long coat with the arms cut at the middle of the arm so fabric flowed loosely revealing a black sleeve underneath. He had black leather wrappings at his wrists, and he was holding a black hand fan. The man next to him, had short black hair tied up into a ponytail with a long black ribbon that flowed behind him. He had deep black eyes, and he wore a deep green long coat with black leather intertwined within it. Tied to his back was two short swords.

  Line ignored the two men and moved passed them into the room, but as she moved pass there was suddenly a short sword pressed against her neck.

  The man in green had stopped her from going further “who are you?”

  “who are you?” Line responded. When faced with danger she usually became quite arrogant, and it was showing.

  The man in red spoke up “Hyde, at ease”

  Hyde pulled the sword away from Line and sheathed it

  The man in red smiled “Prince Vax’dian, and you are?”

  Line looked over at him “Prince Vax’dian, charmed I’m sure” she moved past them again to the centre of the room “Ali”

  Ali who was still stood by the doorway, immediately moved when her name was called. She pulled out the monastery token and showed them as she moved past them towards the desk “we’re inspectors, we’ve been hired to look into this case”

  “Oh? By who?” Prince Vax’dian asked

  Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.

  Ali glanced at Line, seeing she didn’t respond, Ali stayed quite too.

  Line moved her fingers through the dried red iron, it’s been at least three days since blood was spilled. She scanned around the room, her eyes hoping to pick up on something useful.

  Just as a guard from outside came into the room, he bowed “Prince Vax’dian, the body is now ready to look at”

  “good” he turned to Hyde “let’s go”

  Just before they left the room Line spoke up “Prince Vax’dian, if you wouldn’t mind, could you let us come along?” she took a gamble, but she had wanted to look at the body anyway and if she went with them, it would be less of a hassle.

  Prince Vax’dian stopped and turned to face her with a smile “well of course, my good Inspector, but I would need your name before we depart”

  Line tilted her head, but her expression remained indifferent “Inspector Line, spelt line but the e is silent” she even gave him a respectable bow

  *

  They sat opposite each other in his carriage, the smell of new leather and glazed wood spread through the air in here. Ali couldn’t sit still for long, so she was fumbling at her leather wrappings and every so often her leg would kick out of sheer anticipation. Line saw this from the corner of her eye, but stayed quiet, she was quite used this from Ali. They drove in complete silence.

  That’s when Line noticed that Vax’dian was watching her. She mostly just ignored it, pretending that she didn’t notice him and avoided his eyes. But Line started to wonder why a Prince such as him was even looking into this case to begin with. Why would he bother with a mid-ranking merchant? Why would he even care? Ali unconsciously kicked out again, hitting Line in the side of the leg.

  Ali winced “sorry”

  Line looked at Ali, to see that she was very restless, more than usual. Letting her facade drop a little, Line gave her a warm smile. Seeing how unbothered Line was made Ali let out a laugh. She stopped when the carriage slowed, coming to a halt. Ali immediately opened the door and jumped out, stretching outside. Vax’dian gestured to Line to step out first, which she followed his instructions. She stood next to Ali who was jumping and shaking out her arms.

  They stood in front a pure white building. It was tall and imposing, it’s architecture unlike the other buildings of the city. The tinted windows were tall, and the roof arched and peaked, giving off a gothic feel. Line had been here a few times before, this was the morgue. Prince Vax’dian walked past them to the arched doors and made his way through, following closely behind was Hyde.

  Ali had never been here before, so she was hesitant to enter. Line seeing this gave a soft “come” and led her inside.

  Inside felt cold. Not because of the temperature, but because of the atmosphere. There was an overpowering smell of disinfectant that came from somewhere unknown. To the side of them there was a long reception area and very few chairs. Big double doors stood at the other side of the room, and the inside was just as white as the outside. Prince Vax’dian was talking to someone on the other side of the desk, and when they finished talking the person disappeared through a door behind the reception desk.

  They stood in silence yet again, and just when Ali’s fingers began to twitch, the set of big double doors opened. Coming through the doors was a middle-aged man, salt and pepper hair was tied into a man bun. On the bridge of his nose hung small round spectacles, he wore a long white label coat and underneath was a finely made grey suit. Line was very familiar with this man, people just called him Doctor.

  Doctor came forward “Prince Vax’dian” he bowed, when he saw Line, he scowled “Inspector”

  “Doctor”

  Without saying another word, he turned and led them through the doors. They passed through many white hallways, before he led the through a set of doors. This room was also extremely white, tall windows stood at the end of the room. by the side walls were tables and cabinets, all white, and in the centre was a steel table. Lying on that steel table was a body of a man. Brown hair cut at the shoulders and a few greys threatened his youth, on his neck there was a deep stab wound, that had been cleaned.

  Line thought the entrance hall smelt too strongly, but in this room the smell was almost unbearable. It was only thanks to her many visits that she could handle the smell.

  “Line, his neck” Ali said

  “I know”

  That type of wound was commonly used by a group of assassins known as The Sect, a group that Ali and Line were very familiar with, especially Ali.

  “what are we going to tell Miss Barnes?” Ali asked

  “The truth”

  Doctor moved to one of the cabinets and pulled out a file, completely ignoring Line he offered it to Prince Vax’dian “your highness”

  Prince Vax’dian took the files and began read through them

  “Doc” Ali started “why was this ruled as an accident?”

  “I don’t know. I wasn’t in charge of this case”

  “then who was?” Line asked

  Doctor sighed “as far as I know, nobody”

  When Prince Vax’dian was finished reading he offered the files to Line, but before she could say anything Ali had already taken the files and began reading them herself. Line didn’t need the files, she already knew there would be nothing helpful in them, Ali should’ve known too. The Sect has ties with many powerful people in very high positions, with how low ranking they were there was nothing they could do now.

  Line looked at Prince Vax’dian who seemed to be in deep though. He was probably the only person who could at least try to deal with The Sect, so she would have to entrust this case to him.

  “Line” Ali’s voice was small “what do we do?”

  Line didn’t want to say anything, but she was certainly thinking it “Prince Vax’dian, are you aware of The Sect?”

  Prince Vax’dian looked up at her “I am”

  “I apologise, but I am going to have to leave this case to you”

  “My good Inspector, how is it that you know of The Sect”

  “how indeed” she didn’t want to say that Ali used to be a member of The Sect and that she had run in with them with the last case she had worked on, the one that heavily involved Ali “Ali, let’s go”

  Ali gave a sad nod, but followed Line out the door anyway.