To Alex, Sophia, and Neil, having your friend accused of murder and sentenced to death was sort of a big deal. To the people on the Ring, however, it was a Tuesday. Patrons sat back and relaxed in their seats, the end of the cycle was approaching, and you could tell it on their faces. Pollum Mock, now free of the drama and potential liability of the crime, went about his work mixing drinks and shining dishes behind the bar. To Neil, it was like there was a fire in the building that only he and his friends could see, which made it their job to extinguish it.
Alex adjusted the glasses on his nose and started to pace back and forth in place. It looked like he was hot on the trail of a very dizzy culprit, Sophia couldn’t help but be a little annoyed. “Do you have to do that?” She asked, crossing her arms.
“It helps me think,” Alex replied.
Neil shrunk inside his coat as he sat down at his booth. “You better start running then, because I have no idea how we get through this one.”
“Oh, it’s obvious how we get through it.” Retorted Alex. “We just have to solve a murder… any ideas?”
The boy in the tattered coat and the girl in green looked at Alex with blank and empty expressions- a heatsinking no. “I’d tell you to investigate the body if the cosmic space horror hadn’t got to him first.” Said Neil with a sentence he knew thought he’d ever say.
Sophia approached Alex, stopping him in his tracks. “Look, Alex, do you think we can do this? Like, actually? We’re not detectives, we weren’t trained how to do this shit. I know you’ve seen a lot of plays, or whatever, but this isn’t scripted! The good guys don’t always win at the end, they mostly just get shot!”
Alex shook his head. “Sophia, you don’t have to tell me that, I know. But what do you want me to do, just give up? If Timothy… passes on… then we lose the only way that any of us can get back to Earth!”
Sophia seemed surprised as she took a step back. “Oh, so that’s why you’re doing this.” She shook her head, almost disgusted. “I thought for a second there that you were actually worried about Tim, but I guess he’s just a tool to you.”
“No!” Alex cried, almost hurt. “Of course, I’m worried, it’s just that… I mean…”
“Well, spit it out.”
“Sophia, we’ve only known him for what? A few days? Yes, he’s our friend, but we can’t rule out the possibility that he did do it.”
The girl practically gawked at the suggestion. “What? Are you insane?”
“I agree with him.” Neil chimed in from his seat, Sophia almost looked betrayed. “Look, Soph, I’m not saying we stop helping him, I’m just saying we don’t really know him all that well! He could be crazy, there’s no telling!”
“I can’t believe this!” Sophia cried, putting her hands over her forehead. “Are you guys blind or something? Have we been hanging out with the same guy? The same kid that apologized for having a head injury? The same kid that politely asked a man not to kill him? The same kid that attempted to make introductions with a gang of pirates?”
“The same kid that was holding a smoking gun over the body of a dead man?” Alex looked down at his feet, the truth was that he didn’t believe that Timothy would be capable of something like murder, he just couldn’t rule it out. “We have to consider all of the options.”
“Even the stupid ones, apparently!” Sophia turned away, feeling like the only sane person in a group of idiots.
“Listen, I’m going to do everything I can to help Timothy, okay?” Alex pleaded. “But… we might be on the hunt for a goose here, we may be looking for answers that aren’t even there!”
Sophia tried to hide it, but Neil noticed as she bit her lip hard and tried not to cry. “Soph, Tim will be fine, I’m sure of it! We’ll figure something out!” Neil stood and walked over, going for a hug before remembering that she didn’t do that and awkwardly hugging himself instead.
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“Neil, you’re a shit liar.” The girl replied, seeing through him instantly. “Don’t try it.”
There was a tense silence despite the bust atmosphere. Alex felt a question rise in his throat, the same question he had wanted to ask before, but again he shoved it down- now wasn’t the right time. He opened his mouth to say something, but Sophia beat him to it. “What do we do?” She asked, turning back around, her face firm and emotionless. “How do we solve this?”
Alex thought for a moment, “we have to question as many people as we can. We need to figure out why someone would do this and how they did it, the only way to do that is by talking to the people that were there.”
“But isn’t obvious what happened?” Neil questioned. “Like, we saw the aftermath. Corpus was dead on the ground, shot with his own gun which Timothy just so happened to be holding, what else is there?”
Sophia looked over to the spot where everything had gone down, only now paying attention to the broken glass that was currently being gobbled up by the snail-like Broom. “There was the glass that broke… did any of you see where that came from?”
“Now that you mention it, I did see Timothy messing with some bottles.” Recalled Neil. “I wasn’t focusing on him… Damn it, I should’ve kept an eye on him.”
A groan of recognition escaped Alex’s mouth, pulling the attention of his friends as he slapped a hand against his face. “The glass was Timothy’s! He was getting a drink for WaldAcker, I bet… Jesus, why does he have to be so conscientious?”
“Why would Tim get someone a drink… then walk over and just shoot another dude?” Sophia rolled her eyes. “And you guys think he’s a murderer.”
“Still doesn’t explain why he had the gun in his hand.” Neil counted. “But assuming that he didn’t do it, who else would want to kill Corpus?”
The three all simultaneously replied, “everyone.”
Alex started to pace again, getting his mind going. “The more important question is why would they do it?”
The thought occurred to them all at once, the lottery ticket. So much had happened that they had almost forgotten about it, now it seemed quite obvious. “Do you think that someone stole it?” Sophia asked, all three somehow being on the same wavelength.
“Maybe, or maybe the Janitor took it when it… you know… did its thing?”
Neil shook his head. “No, if someone managed to get the gun off of Corpus then they could’ve gotten the ticket too, somebody has to have it!”
“So, if we find out who has the ticket, we find out who actually killed him?” Alex managed to crack a smile. “Hey, we’re not half bad at this!”
Sophia remained stone-cold. “Yay us.”
“What’s our next move?” Neil asked, ready for action.
“We have to question the suspects, find out more about them, try to get them to tell us a secret and have them slip up or something!” Said Alex, his legs a blur as he paced. “We need to split up, we’ll cover more ground!”
Neil and Sophia exchanged looks, they both had seen horror movies before, and this was always where things went wrong. “I… I don’t think that’s a good idea.” Said the boy in the tattered coat, holding himself close. “Splitting up is always a bad idea.”
Alex looked down at his watch, then realized he didn’t have one and looked back up. “We don’t have enough time to do this all together, Mr. Ham has only given us until tomorrow to sort this out, we can’t waste time!”
From deep within his chest, Neil could feel his heart start to race. It wasn’t the ticking clock, the murderous aliens, or the possibility of being lost in space forever that started it, it was the possibility of being alone. He felt colder all of a sudden, even in his oversized coat. It was like he was back on the cold floor of the Lavender, begging for someone to hold onto.
A firm squeeze on his shoulder took Neil out of his daze, Sophia looked down at him and gave him a knowing smile. “It’s okay, Neilsky, you’ve got this.”
He shot her a smile, “thanks.” He said as he took a deep breath. “Fine, you’re right. Who do we talk to?”
“Sophia, you go talk with Jenny,” Alex suggested, Sophia had already made some sort of rapport with the pirate, it would be easier if she did it. “I’ll go find Vander and his robot, if I had to place money on it, I’d say that he had something to do with all this.”
“What about me?” Neil asked, awaiting orders.
“Stay here and talk to those two.” Alex pointed over to where WaldAcker was striking up a conversation with John-John- it seemed very one-sided. “Have either of you seen that blue chick? Sally, or whatever she’s called?”
“No, I think she dipped right after it all happened,” Sophia recalled. “Didn’t she take Corpus’s gun too? Maybe we can get something off that if we luck out.”
“Good idea,” Alex said, taking a deep breath as his plan was completed. “If any of us see her, we’ll go talk to her. One last thing, Sophia… I know you don’t think that Tim did anything, and I don’t either, but we still need to question him too. After you’re done with Jenny…”
“Yeah, yeah, I’ll go talk to him.” The girl interrupted, hoping that she could remember which way Mr. Ham had led him.
“Alright, is that the plan?” Neil said, standing on his feet and trying to keep his nerves down.
“I think so…” Alex stopped pacing and looked at his friends. So much was relying on this going right, if he got this one wrong, he could lose a friend… or three. The thought of it scared him to his very core but he managed a smile. “Let’s get going.”