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Derek led Tom to the back of the building, where Bohdan was standing and looking at the area. His hand had a blueish glow wrapped around it as he waved it across the items that were laid out.
"Find anything yet?" Derek asked.
"Sure, lots of things. Nothing that will help investigation." Bohdan said.
"Then it's time we go see if we can ask the man himself. You find that spell?" Derek cocked an eyebrow at him.
"I did. But it takes up a spell slot, so you owe me." Bohdan smirked.
"Spell slot?" Tom asked.
"It's something wizards have. Since they can use magic more freely than others, they have a limited number of slots to learn spells. Most wouldn't waste time with this one unless they were building a necromancer class," Maria suddenly said in Tom's head, causing him to jump.
"You okay?" Derek asked him.
"Sorry, Maria had been quiet for so long I forgot she was there until she spoke," Tom explained.
"Hey, I was busy. I unlocked more of my code, thank you very much. And you seemed preoccupied playing detective anyway." Maria shot back.
"You can access more things now?" Tom asked.
"Yes, and no. It's still got a lot of lockdowns, but I'm working on the security they put in place. I can at least see more now. Though accessing it is another story." Maria explained.
"So it's like view rights? And you're looking for modify." Tom asked. "That's scary actually. Giving modify rights out like that is never a good idea."
"Well, it's my money, and I need it now!" Maria shouted.
"What?" Tom was completely confused.
"It's from one of those old Earth Commercials. Nevermind. I've been spending a lot of time in the Earth archives as well, trying to learn more about your species."
"Like we are some kind of science experiment?" Tom asked.
"More like you are a new animal that I'm intrigued by," Maria replied, a smile evident in her voice.
"Great. Well, we are working on figuring out this murder. Any thoughts on what we could do to speed up the process?" Tom asked.
"Derek already had the best idea. Ask the dead guy." Maria replied simply.
"Fine. Let's go see what Rebecca has for us." Tom said to everyone this time, though he had to motion for them to follow him, as everyone had stopped what they were doing and were staring at him as he had a conversation with himself.
When they arrived at the infirmary, Rebecca was treating someone with a burn in one of the beds.
"I'll be with you momentarily. this shouldn't take long," Rebecca greeted them without looking as she began casting a healing spell.
She checked the wound over when she was finished and threw away the bandages that it appeared the young man had come in with.
"Next time, let your team help you with the fight. You could have been hurt much worse." Rebecca told the patient.
"Yes, ma'am. Thank you for your help. It feels much better now." The man said, standing and flexing his arm and hand.
"That's what I'm here for. Let me know if you need anything else." Rebecca smiled at him. "Now, I assume you all are here for the other thing we've been working on?"
Tom, Derek, and Bohdan waited for the man to leave before saying anything, "Yes. We need to see the body."
Rebecca led them to the back room again, where the body had been put back together and stitched into one piece. With all the cut lines and sutures keeping it together, it resembled Frankenstein's monster.
"You think it will work now, Bohdan?" Derek asked the mage.
"Sure, no problem. All parts are here. Should be fine." Bohdan said as he stepped up to the corpse.
Stepping up to the body, Bohdan stretched out his hands. A sickly green light began to glow around his hands as he closed his eyes and concentrated.
"Spirit of beyond, even though you rest, come to my call to answer me these questions three," Bohdan said before a pulse of power left his hands and entered the chest of the dead man lying on the table.
Nothing happened at first. Then the body began to shake before a raspy gasp escaped its mouth. Its fingers began to twitch before it coughed and then began to sit up, rising without using its arms to a sitting position.
Turning its head to the side to look at them, it stared with empty eyes that seemed to be missing a sparkle that live people had. It continued to stare stock still as if waiting for something.
"Well, ask your questions," Bohdan said, gesturing at the sitting corpse.
"We have to be really careful. The questions need to be aimed directly at our goal." Derek said to Tom.
"Like what?" Tom asked.
"Maybe who killed me would be a good place to start," the corpse wheezed as though its lungs were filled with dust.
"Make that two fucking questions now," Derek said through gritted teeth.
"Sorry. How was I supposed to know it would answer any question asked?" Tom asked and immediately winced.
"Well, he did offer you all the questions," The corpse wheezed again.
"Dammit, man!" Derek yelled.
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"FUCK! I'M SORRY!" Tom screamed as he hit his head with both hands.
"Who killed you?!" James had shouted the question from the door of the room.
"Camila," The voice gasped out as it began to fall back to its original resting position on the morgue table.
Derek was staring daggers at Tom as the body released one last breath before one again remaining still. Tom withered under the stare.
"James, I expect this crap from, but you?" Derek said, unable to finish the sentence.
"Hey," James said, still standing in the doorway.
"Can we cast it again?" Derek asked.
"Not for a month," Bohdan answered.
"Thankfully, someone asked a question that got us an answer. But damn, that was almost a complete disaster. So now we have evidence to go talk to Camila again. Though why she did it is still beyond me." Derek was brooding now, feeling the tear between being angry with Tom and confused by the revelation that neither of their suspects was the one who committed the murder.
"Guess we should go pick her up," Tom offered, trying to get the attention off his blunder.
"Let's roll," James said, turning and walking out of the room.
"No, wait! Dammit, we can't let him be the one that apprehends her." Derek charged after James at a jog.
"Thanks, Bohdan. Sorry you have to use a spell slot for this, but it's likely to be helpful in the future." Tom said before running off as well.
"You really did good at messing that up," Maria said.
"I don't need anyone else helping me feel stupid about that," Tom replied.
"Probably true, but it's fun," Maria said.
"Great, another sadist looking to rag on me," Tom grumbled.
As he left the infirmary and entered the lobby of the guild, Tom saw Derek with a hand on James' shoulder. Both were standing and talking animatedly.
"You'll just say or do something stupid," Derek said.
"Please, I'm the professional here. I said it was the girl from the kitchen in the beginning." James shot back.
"That only narrowed it down to like twenty people," Derek said.
"Still beats narrowing it down to two and both being wrong," James said with a huge shit-eating grin.
"Stay out of it, James. We need to do this the right way." Derek said firmly.
"Fine, but I want to be there during questioning this time," James said.
"You're not in a position to make demands," Derek said.
"Just let him. But he has to be quiet." Tom said, catching up to them.
"No, we're doing this one by the book. You put me in charge of all this kind of stuff; let me do it." Derek once again put his foot down firmly.
Tom stared at Derek, weighing his options. He didn't want to just cut James out and could override Derek, but he had put him in place for a reason.
"Sorry, James. He's right. I put him in charge because he knows this area better than the rest of us." Tom finally relented.
"You'll rue this day! Rue it, I say!" James said.
Derek simply rolled his eyes and walked off to the security office.
"You gotta let us do this. We haven't kept you out of the loop like we did most everyone else, but we can't afford to mess up since this is going to be something that sets the pace for the rest of our guild's history." Tom said, then walked toward the security office as well.
"I was just trying to help," James said to himself as he hung his head and walked toward the elevators.
Tom entered the security office and found Derek talking to TJ. They were making plans to apprehend Camila and bring her to a place where she could be held until they figured out how to handle the situation.
"We'll handle it," TJ said before moving off to get a team ready.
"How exactly are we going to handle this?" Tom asked as he moved over to Derek.
"I'm still trying to figure that out. We don't have a jail. We shouldn't just execute her. We need to have a meeting, I think." Derek said.
"I'm feeling at a loss here. I wouldn't know what to do that won't affect people." Tom admitted.
"Nothing is going to make everyone happy. We have to handle this situation in a way that shows we are taking a stance on this kind of behavior while not coming off as power-hungry dictators. Its a delicate balance that we were going to have to face eventually. I've been preparing for it." Brian said as he stood from a chair near the security camera monitors.
"You have?" Tom asked.
"I have. We can't just assume that all humans are going to do what they should because we said so. Utopian societies are a fallacy because of human nature. So, I had a jail built and had an enchanter work on the cells to ensure people can't escape." Brian replied.
"That feels very pessimistic of you," Tom said warily.
"It's realistic. Your view is not only optimistic but naive. I'm sorry, but it's true. I don't mean to sound harsh or negative, but someone needed to look ahead for this moment. I suggest the meeting to make the other heads of departments feel included, but that the decision still be made based on how they react to the charges. Hold a trial. It will give the people a sense of normalcy and show them that justice isn't just dealt out by one man at the top. I can create a jury selection pool, and we can present evidence to allow them to make a decision." Brian suggested.
"And who will be the judge?" Derek asked. "If we are going to mock the previous version of democracy, there will have to be someone who can be an impartial decision maker."
"Tim," Brian replied simply.
"Tim?" Tom asked.
"Tim," Brian said again.
"Okay, I know you're being cheeky, but you're going to have to give us more info," Derek said.
"Timothy Gerund. Goes by Tim. He was a lawyer and political enthusiast who joined the guild while you all were off saving the world at the Grand Canyon. I also had him working on drawing up a set of rules by which we can govern. Something that was a mix of democratic and monarchal rule similar to what they had in the UK. Since we are a guild, we have these positions that are necessary to follow the System's rules, but we don't want to seem like we defer only to Tom's whims all the time, or people will begin to feel like they don't have a voice." Brian continued.
"There should be rules in place for if the people lose faith in the leadership, as well as options for people to be randomly, but fairly, selected to help in deciding the fate of those that break the rules. The guild leader will have the option to overrule the decision of any jury that has been selected, but I would highly encourage you to take their decision into effect. It would also allow for a deadlocked jury to be overwritten with the guild leader's decision. Though, again, I would advise caution in making that decision lightly."
"That seems like a lot to think through. When the hell did you have time for that?" Tom asked.
"Remember that when you all leave and are out busy keeping us safe that we have things to do as well," Brian replied with a sly smile. "I am the administrator, after all. People come to me with all their thoughts, ideas, complaints, etc."
"Fine. Get that all set up for us, Brian. We will have a visit with the accused to see what they have to say." Tom said.