The soap house was bustling with a full-swing party of fine dining, rowdy rich guests in lavish expensive suits, furs and dripping with wealth in the form of sparkly jewels on necks, wrists and fingers. 669 smiled at the scene, taking in the sight with interest. His smile slightly soured as he remembered that he was there to work not frolic and attract a one-night stand.

“So, we’re to meet up with your sex friend.” 789 bluntly said with a yawn, ignoring the looks of distaste from passing patrons.

“You look like a thug has turned up.” 669 soberly said as he elegantly fanned himself. Deciding to dress in his suit and fur lined overcoat to match the patronage expectations. His gentlemen gestured earned him some respectful nods and smiles from elites.

“If you were to dumb-down our roles, we are thugs. And I’d rather look myself than some rich ponce.” She huffed.

They weaved their way through crowded tables to approach a waiter, who showed them to their table. A serving of wine was placed before them. 669 scanned the room with his magic sight to detect anything of interest as he sipped his wine. 789 took note of the surrounding fixtures and devices more. She noticed the upper balcony rail close to them had a recent repair.

“The upper balcony rail was broken.” She pointed out to him.

669 opened up his parasitic sight to trace the break and caught a faint image of a struggle between a man and woman: patron and worker. He snapped out of his inner vision when the patron’s face he had glimpsed was Marcus.

“Let’s go.”

They discreetly made their way up the stairway to the balcony rail and examined it further.

789 smashed a blue pill over it to recreate an image from the damage. They saw a carpenter repair the rail to Maud talking and paying the carpenter, which reeled backward to the moment of break. However, the image was fuzzy around the pair with some lines clear around Marcus’s face to make him distinguishable. For the women, the only thing that could be made out was a lotus motif on the long sleeve.

Chatter and footsteps approached their space. 789 brushed off the pill’s powder to dismiss the image.

“That woman was the last scene with Marcus. Maybe she could have seen what killed him or been the killer.” She whispered to 669.

“Fancy meeting you here.” Bosgar casually said when he spotted the pair at the balcony’s end.

He looked at 789 and her uncouth image in her roguish leather armor attire. And dismissed her with a screwed up nose. “Even if I didn’t know you, I wouldn’t mistake you both to be illicit lovers about to have a forbidden tryst.”

He chuckled at 669’s groan and wry expression, and 789’s obvious disgust by the thought.

“Lord Bosgar. You said there was information?”

Bosgar nodded. “Not here. Follow me.”

They made their way into one of the far doors, which opened into a large room fit for a king.

“Wow, this room is larger than our entire headquarter’s floor.” 789 whistled as she turned about to take in the room.

A large opened window was on the west wall with lace curtains billowing about the night breeze. Manicured potted firs and houseplants were perched in a row on an oakwood side table beneath the window sill.

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Near the four-poster king-sized bed was a small dining table loaded with a fruit and cheese platter and two jugs of wine.

“Let me sample these while you men talk business.” 789 eagerly got stuck into the food.

Bosgar rolled his eyes and led 669 to the window.

“I know who Marcus was arguing with the night he was killed.” He stared blankly at the street scene below the window.

“Oh. Why should his death matter to you? Or are you concerned you’re a strong person of interest in this case.”

“Of course I am! 669, it’s no secret that Marcus and I despised each other. But I wouldn’t kill him, especially in such a senseless way. He wouldn’t have suffered enough.”

789 gulped down both her cheese and nervous knot at hearing the man’s venomous words on his relationship with the deceased party. It made her wonder if he had hired someone else to do the dirty work instead.

“What’s stopping you from hiring someone else to do the job?”

Bosgar faced 789 and tackled her question with a smirk. “And waste my money on that idiot? I have better things to do with my wealth.”

He dismissed his feelings on the matter with a sigh. “But I called you here to tell you what I had found out from some of the workers I slept with.”

They listened to the facts Bosgar relayed to them. A few months before his death, Marcus had been spending usual time with some of the workers and got rough with them as he usually did. Only he had taken it too far to the point of killing one of the prostitute women. Maud had taken care of the issue, but one of the workers had been secretly investigating the death, for the woman was her friend.

“This Fairy Blossom had cornered Marcus to confront him. Perhaps to blackmail him or seek revenge. Who knows. But a few hours after he had left, she mysteriously vanished. And he died that night. Some pieces of this fact I gleaned from sleeping with one of the high ranking guards.”

789 felt like she wanted to throw up all the blue cheese she had stuffed into her mouth, at the thought of these men using their bodies to get information like sex was taking a ride in the meadows.

“What do you want us to do with the information? Shouldn’t you be telling the Royal Guard?”

Bosgar laughed at the absurd thought. “And let them fumble this case.”

He reeled 669 into his arms and brushed his cheek. “No. I’m hiring you to finish the case with the Royal Guard. Business is going bad and will continue to do so the longer this case remains unsolved.”

789 couldn’t hold back her retching and gagging at the sight of the lovey-dovey men, which was anything but.

669 tapped the man’s hands with his fan to have the hold loosen around him. He abruptly pulled out of the embrace and resumed his professional stance. Taking her side at the table.

“Ducks in the same pond don’t share bread. I’m afraid the Royal Guard would have words about this.” He whipped out his hand fan and daintily fanned his lordly expression.

Bosgar cockily faced the pair with arms folded across his chest. “I’m sure they’ll make an exception.”

789 and 669 shared a glance. 669 sighed.

“Okay. It seems the Royal Guard is keen to keep us included in the case whether we like it or not.”

“Excellent!” Bosgar clapped his hands. “And to show my appreciation for a successful case closure, I’ll pay your company ten thousand credits at the end.”

“Noted.” 789 said as she chucked a green pill into the air and said a spell to capture notes of the exchange and orders into a scroll the pill had transformed into.

“Well, seeing that business is conducted, please.” Bosgar gestured to the door,

669 nodded and led the way to the exit.

“Oh and tell Maud to send in the boys.”

“Right.” 669 sighed and left the floor and descended the stairway to the main entertaining area, where he approached the guard before Maud’s table at a VIP booth near the stage.

“Bosgar,” was all that 669 said to him before turning away to take his leave.

“Wait!” Maud called out from his booth seat to stop them.

789 watched the house’s master issue some instructions to his attendance before approaching them.

“Follow me. We need to talk.”

“Well this is turning into a fun night.” 789 smirked as she followed the men’s lead away from the glitz and glamour, and enter a staff corridor for an end door.