669 returned to his room and changed into his battle gear. He had to get a hold of Emelia and learn more about Maud’s predicament and what he could do to prove the man’s innocent. He had to talk to 777 about it. It wouldn’t be wise to rush out rashly, as his action on the matter implicated the company.

He raced up the spiraling tower stairs to reach his senior’s bedroom floor one level above, and slowed his pace when his boots had hit the plush blue carpet of the wide landing before 777’s hardened oakwood doors, which were lasted with protective magic that was set from 789 blowing the door off. 669 made notes to himself to reinforce his door’s array. Clearly his protection barrier hadn’t been working for a while.

“777! Are you in there?!” He shouted to the door and waited.

When there was no answer, he thumped heavily on the door.

“777! I have to talk to you about Maud. The man is in danger of being falsely accused!”

“It’s nothing to do with us. Go back to your room, 669.”

“Nothing to do with? He’s always been good to me. I mean sure he can be shady, but he’s not a killer! I know this man! If the Soap House is gone….” 669 swallowed his last words with a troubled breath. The idea that his haven from being a henchmen was no longer there to him, pained his heart.

“The innocent apple is plucked from the tree where the rotten one fell to be buried by leaves.” 669 solemnly stated his view of Maud’s arrest with an idiom.

“And what if he’s guilty? You’d want us to free him?”

“Open the door, please. I believe he’s being made a bureaucratic example just as I was.”

There was a moment of heavy silence before the door was unlocked for him to enter through.

669 coolly stepped across the threshold into 777’s bedroom floor. Unlike, his and 789’s where they had lavishly designed their rooms to suit their tastes. 777 opted for pragmatic to the point his floor was just a plain writing desk, high back chair, plain bed and a couple of weapon racks and closet for his clothes. The walls were all stone with no pictures and there were no curtains on his windows, which were the original versions of narrow and small. Naturally, his senior saw no reason to waste money on what was already solid fixtures and anything that was more than being a bed, desk, closet and chair. It made 669 wonder why 777 lusted for credits when he barely used them.

He dumped himself on the man’s bed. 777 stood before him and leaned on the edge of his desk to give him support.

“What makes you think Maud is being setup?”

“Bosgar Poirot.” 669 bluntly stated that caused 777’s face to betray genuine shock.

“But you’ve slept with that lord many times. Is there a specific reason that makes you doubt him?” 777’s deep and grunting tones were lower to reflect his grave thoughts on the matter.

669 assumed a moment to collect his thoughts and facts toward a conclusion. It’s clear that Bosgar had a motive by being at odds with his brother, but he wasn’t convinced their tiffs would lead to murder. And he had recalled Bosgar’s expression of genuine shock at hearing of the fact when he had seen him during the window repair job. However, this didn’t discount him from the case entirely.

“I’m not entirely sure how deep Bosgar and Marcus’s dislike for each other went. But...” He thought back to past conversations with the man.

“... He disliked my preference to bed men…” 669 repeated the words aloud of what he had recalled Bosgar saying when they were chatting at the coffee shop. “... I was a disgrace to the family…”

“It could be possible that Marcus disagreed with Bosgar for having sex with men, because he saw it as a disgrace to family honor.” 669 concluded.

777 shook his head. “No. I feel that there had to be something more going on between them. Marcus wasn’t seen in a favorable light to being with. The brothers shared a similarity in being promiscuous playboys. Maybe they were being competitive with each other.”

“He said Marcus didn’t see eye to eye because him having sex with men was a disgrace to the family… Is it possible Marcus had a strong phobia for same-sex attractions?”

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777 rubbed his chin. Again, it didn’t feel that Bosgar was behind the man’s death. But…

“No. But what if Marcus, instead, was suppressing a strong desire to have sex with men. But he had to look credible before his father.”

“Wait! The auction loss to Ashton. Maybe that was a last chance to gain respect with his father. Or face all his privileges being taken from him if he had failed.” 669 stood to meet 777 at his level.

777 groaned as he pieced together the sick outcome Ashton had taken full advantage. “So Marcus makes a foolish, desperate attempt to ambush Ashton for the artifact item. But instead is double-crossed by Maud’s henchmen who watched him being raped by Ashton in the process.”

“Not just watched, maybe some participated. It explains why Marcus was hiring out for call boys. He might have been trying to get revenge on those henchmen before dealing with Ashton.” 669 gasped.

“But who would have suggested to Marcus on hiring henchmen from Maud’s reserves?” He thought back to conversations on the incident and Bosgar’s words about Marcus seeing him as a disgrace.

“By Zallayl! What if Bosgar had somehow manipulated the ambush event to occur through Maud, who gave men Marcus couldn’t refuse due to their physic and strength. Men who would make his ambush seem a strong success. Then when his plan failed, and he was raped, he demanded that Maud offer those henchmen up to him as call boys for his revenge, before seeking to end his path of revenge on Ashton. Naturally, he wouldn’t want to admit all of this to his father, because it would only make their family look worse. So Marcus had used the only recourse available to him.” This notion was making 669’s head throb with a headache. It was a scary thought if it all proved to be facts.

777 began pacing the room, rubbing his chin with his thoughts. “So Bosgar sets up Marcus’s disgrace to their family using Ashton and Maud as the means. This would see his father disown Marcus. What motivation does Bosgar have in doing this if there’s no stake in it for him?”

“And would Bosgar have known that Ashton would have raped Marcus? Maybe or maybe not. Ashton had always been a deviant wild card.” 669 mused.

“You tell me. You know the guy better than anyone of us.”

669 thought about it for some time then shook his head. “My gut says no. Not even Bosgar is that twisted to view rape objectively or as an opportunity. And he maybe a tease, but he’s not someone who bothers with politics. At least, he was never before.”

“Then maybe one of the others gained more from Marcus’s disgrace than Bosgar.”

“Are you saying another brother could’ve set him up?

“Who knows.”

669 told on what Bosgar had shared with him of his family, which was common knowledge to all interested in the who’s who gossip club. Lehen held the most sway being the eldest who was serious about business success and made many decisions that increased the family wealth. Their fourth son, Lau, was the second nominated heir due to being the son who did no wrong and had a spotless record to prove it. All according to Bosgar.

“Arren wanted to oversee the business near the Skeleton Palace and is still there. From what Bosgar has said, it had been ten years since his last visit to the family mansion.”

“Hmm then it’s either Lau or Lehen to benefit from Marcus’s fall from family grace.

“More Lau.” 669 added.

“Okay, so we feel that Maud was dragged into the Poirot and Sommerville issues because of a Poirot brother. But how does that explain his hand in the murders? Or motivations?”

“There is also Fairy Blossom who was angry at Marcus for ignoring her over his requests for other call boys and girls post the rape. Maybe she found out about it during her raging fits and went to tell Lucy.” 669 eased back on the bed with his thoughts sorting information on the facts, liking piecing together an unsolved puzzle. “So, Fair Blossom is outraged that Marcus ignores her. She complains to her friend Lucy, who gives her comfort. Hm, Lucy Tank, could she perhaps be related to Harper Tank?”

777 shrugged his shoulders. “Let’s assume that she is his sister. Hadn’t that Harper guy argued with Ashton on the night he died because that lord had assaulted his sister?”

“Did he rape her, I wonder?” 669 frowned. If that was the case, the world was better off without that monster. “Well, she was awfully composed when I had seen her. But poor woman if that was the case.”

“But this doesn’t tell us who killed Ashton at his family’s spare mansion on the Holy Order side of Salem. Even if Harper wanted to kill the man, he’d have to cross the border.”

“Ashton was last sighted two days before his body was found. So this was around Artusdesa-deireair, which was one day after the night Marcus had died. Harper Tank had been one of the last people to see Marcus alive. Then Bronte Finch found Marcus’s body in the morning and reported it to, I assume, that Butler Morton.”

“So where was Maud during Artusdesa-deireair and Artusdesa-demun?” 669 eyes lit up when he realized that Maud might have a strong alibi that could save him.

777 nodded. “Okay, it could be that Maud was being played by the nobles. I’ll get in touch with Emelia. You round up 789.”

A small butterfly flew off the window sill it had been perching on and sailed out of the partially opened window.