Emelia had confronted Simon Miller on what she had learned, which alluded to the fact he had been lying. Instead of defending himself, he blurted a few non-coherent words, pulled out a smoke-glass ball artifact, smashed it on the ground and was whisked out of the room in a cloud of smoke that flew out of the window.

“He escaped?” 789 gasped and bellowed out her exasperation. “What royal guard tit lets a mousy wimp get one over you and escape?!”

“Calm down 789.” 777 coolly stepped in to keep it all cool. Everyone was going through an emotional hit from being caught in an expected situation.

“Leave it 789. Butterflies don’t linger around dead flowers. The Royal Guard’s reaction to our involvement in this case was, if anything, predictable.” 669 sighed as he coolly fanned off his disappointment to the case with his hand fan, and added to the remaining royal guards in their barroom, “No offense.”

“Well, it’s clear he is a person of suspicion to this case.” Detective Morse calmly noted.

“Tristan Miller’s, maybe.” 789 added, having calmed down a bit. She lapsed into an expression of deep thought. “But was he really connected to the other cases?”

“True. He might only be part of it.” Emelia snapped her fingers as she caught on to 789’s train of thought. “We still have no lead for Marcus Poirot’s death.”

“We don’t?” 669 asked and began a recap of the leads they did have.

Marcus Poirot was found dead on his mansion's side path, directly below the window adjacent to his bedroom door. This was in the morning of Artusdeireair-Deurs, which was about 17 days ago. Then Ashton Sommerville's body was discovered in the same way as Marcus but with a silver lotus seal on his forehead, about a few days after Marcus's death. Then Tristan Sommerville turns up dead as the same way as Ashton about a week later with his brother, Simon, turning up on the scene a day later. And convincing everyone he had just arrived at that time, but it was a lie, because pay orders indicated he had been in the area for a month.

“What is the connection to Fairy Blossom?” 789 asked.

669 explained that she had been one of Marcus Poirot’s favorite call girls, but she didn’t like the fact that Ashton had slept with him. More so for the impact it had on his clientele choices post the incident where he started to switch his preferences on call boys instead. And her prestige was taking a hit because of it.

“I wonder if Bosgar had motivation to use this knowledge against his brother as well?” 669 mused on the thought.

“You’ve slept with that sadistic guy a few times, you should know.” She sarcastically scoffed.

He huffed and said that having friendly sex with the man was different to liking him out of the bed. “Liking his body and manhandling of me in bed is far different to liking his politics and moral views on whatever.”

She flashed him a wry expression, clearly not getting the guy's weird distinction.

“I feel we’re getting off track a bit.” Detective Morse interrupted to take the recap back to the beginning. “Who was the maid that discovered Marcus’s body?”

Emelia nodded and pulled out her notebook. “I asked the family butler for the details and was only given a first name - Bronte.”

“Then that’s a lead we have to further investigate, Constable Rice.”

“Got it.” She acknowledged her senior’s task.

“Meanwhile there is Lucy Finch and Fairy Blossom.”

Emelia went over her notes of what she had gathered from everyone’s investigations. Lucy Finch operated the Solace Tailors shop. And it seemed to be a sole trader business, which catered suits for a few Peony Soap House customers.

The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

“Hmm good point. Could it be that Fairy Blossom was recommending her customers to the tailor shop?” 669 mused on the idea as he thought over the possibility being high. “It would explain why Fairy Blossom continued to be her friend, if they had such a business agreement.”

“And how are Harper Tank and Alder Finch connected?” 777 asked.

Harper Tank was a water seller for the Miller Estate who delivered and traded with the Sommerville Estate.

“He said something about Ashton assaulting his sister.”

“We need to investigate this sister.” Detective Morse gave another task to Emelia who took note.

Alder Finch’s connection was with Miki who was attacked by Corpse Resin Puppets under some mysterious person’s control. It wasn’t clear what his connection to all of it was. Like Harper, he was a water seller for the Miller Estate. And had supposedly been at the Poirot mansion on the day of Marcus’s death, but it was unclear where he had been that night. And hadn’t been seen since.

“Added another task to track down Alder Finch and question where he was on the night of the murder.” Emelia recapped on her added task from her notebook.

“Can you also confirm what that Silver Lotus is that all the dead bodies had?” 669 soberly asked and something else was nagging his mind about it, but he couldn’t pinpoint what it was.

“Noted.” Emelia scribbled into her notebook.

“Well, it looks like we have our next steps.” Detective Morse heaved a weary sigh. “But, obviously we can’t ask you to continue this investigation with us. Although, if you happen to stumble upon leads during your daily business, we won’t turn them away.”

Shiyan chuckled cynically from the far end of the bar counter. In his rabbit form, he had been quietly observing the exchanges with careful consideration.

The whole situation was a farce, but reputations were on the line. And the Royal Guard, in general, had made it clear that they didn’t want the Cannon Fodder 4Hire company further involved. Yet, this stupid civilian enforcement organization had started the snowball mess with his order’s house. They wouldn’t have been involved it wasn’t for their invitation. So whether his company could walk away from the case, even given the permission and ticket to take a hike, it would be another story.

And there was the fact that Cannon Fodders was a new start-up, and needed the clout and partnership of a civilian establishment to continue running. Having the Royal Guards as an antagonist wasn’t going to do them favors in the end. It would likely have them disbanded and shame go back to their Grand Demon Overlord - Asta, who was an intimidating and unhinged tyrant on bad days and, especially, when hearing bad news. Any pitiful attempts to try and either save-face or explain Cannon Fodder’s failure to operate, would likely see all of them suffering in the Pits of 8 Hells before being granted death. Not a sub-fate even an enemy would wish on another teshakind. It was best to keep their Grand-lord Asta on his good side, which was the public image demonkind saw and revered.

So…

“The Royal Guard dragged us into this mess, and now, when it’s clear when we’re doing a far better job than you monkeys, they take our leads and throw the book at us.” He hopped off the counter and headed for the door. “Fine. You, Royal Guard stooges have your job to do. Get your bosses to pay our fees and close our contracts. We’ll stay off your backs.”

“Boss…” 777 tried to say his piece on the matter was stopped short with Shiyan’s order.

“That is an order to you all here at the company. Any leads you get, had them to the Royal Guard using the proper process. Do nothing more.”

The rabbit left the room and building.

At that point the pixies and pheasants entered in their natural forms, taking up seats around the room but keeping their uneasy silence and thoughts on the situation to themselves.

Detective Morse and Emelia clearly read the room.

“Well, we’ll leave you to your business. Thank you, my friends, for your help. I’ll make sure it’s not in vain.” Detective Morse patted 777’s shoulder with his thanks.

The remaining Royal Guards took their leave.

“Is this right?” Reddy sighed. His thoughts clearly on his hope for Miki’s well-being at the new place. “I’ve heard scary things about that house they’re sending Miki.”

“You heard the boss. Don’t get involved any more Reddy.” 777 sternly ordered him.

“But…”

“Let the justice and civil system do their thing. It has nothing to do with us.” 777 closed conversations on the matter and for the night.