Day 5 - Daytime - Noon
26th Second autumn, 1152
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Everyone is gathering at a place that looks like a restaurant. The place itself looks very nice and luxurious, the problem is that it's a bit quiet. Except for the restaurant owner, Lady Reila, her two maids and investigator Jeanne are the only ones that appear in this restaurant.
As told by maid Selena, Reila Foss went here to see her friends. The scene appears that the woman is impatiently waiting for them to arrive, but they haven't arrived yet. That's why there's a dish of steak on the table. Reila seems to be trying to push her frustration down, she bites her lips a few times.
Reila is sitting between her two maids, who are now both standing and guarding. The maids aren't allowed to sit, one of them sometimes lowers her face to watch the dish Reila was it enjoying, she seems very hungry. Unlike that maid, Selena's attention is a bit different. She keeps looking at a glass full of water nearby, seems thirsty more than hungry.
Investigator Jeanne sits opposite to Reila's position. Her table side has no dishes, instead there is a glass of water, consumed half. Everything seems quiet, especially the investigator. She only sits there and looks at the suspect and her two maids, sometimes she glances around the restaurant.
Jeanne sighs a few times, she removes her brown cap and puts it on her thighs. After scratching her hair, she returns to read some files. It's the investigator's real nature, she doesn't want to bother people when they are busy. Jeanne may be old, she may not be as extreme as her young age, but that nature still remains in her veins, she has no intention of changing it.
"Take your time when my friends haven't come. Just speak up, I don't like to get constant questions after I finish this meal, do it quick". - Reila speaks up when she saw Jeanne's hesitation, she glances at the investigator with her uncaring eyes and then returns to eating
Jeanne opens a file right away as she heard Reila's complaint. The investigator puts it on the table.
"I won't take your time long, Your Highness. I'll make this quick". - Jeanne bows then speaks up
The investigator just addressed Reila as Her Highness. She did that by following Selena's behavior. Since Jeanne is an outsider, she knows nothing about royalty or aristocratic things. Maybe in the time when everything was happening, Reila was appointed to be the prince's main wife since his previous wife was missing.
No one knows for sure... the investigator just wants to show full respect.
Jeanne slides a letter towards Reila's position.
"After Lady Rommosa went missing, a letter was found in her room and it said she ran away because she was in trouble that she didn't want to tell". - The investigator gazes at Reila's eyes. "I just wonder... if the handwriting was hers. Would you verify it for me, Your Highness...? Please".
Reila picks up the letter as she put down her spoon. The woman gazes at the letter for a while with a serious face, then she puts it down.
"It's really her handwriting". - Reila slides the letter back to Jeanne
Jeanne nods. She puts the letter back in the file and stores it inside her handbag, she then sighs a little.
"I hope Lady Rommosa is still alright... so she didn't vanish as the way I thought. But I hope I won't have to open another case during this one, it's terrifying for a person to disappear and never be heard again, especially at this time when others were also missing coincidentally".
"What's about her parents, Your Highness? Do they know about it?". - Jeanne continues asking
Reila puts down her spoon as she finished another bite. The woman nods, then she returns eating.
"Her parents lettered my husband... he said she was ill so she couldn't write to them. Now he said she was pregnant, he's doing everything to make sure no one knows, it's very hard to reveal all". - Reila tastes her meal when she was telling the story, as if she was reviewing a book. "I guess all of them don't know, many people have gone missing and if something got leaked right, his reputation and everything would be ruined...".
"I understand his concerns... everyone had done their best to find them but everything they searched for went nothing. You better put more guards on you for your safety, Your Highness". - Jeanne replies, her hand pulls out another file
Reila glances at Jeanne for a second and returns eating, she shrugs, as if ignoring her request.
The investigator places another file on the table. She wonders what to ask next, she sips a glass of water.
Reila just lied. The investigator just didn't want to express her feelings. The questions about the letter and the parents were just for a further phase of interrogation. The letter itself was a fake, with the handwriting made by Jeanne since she mimicked the content in the original letter which was believed to be from the first victim.
Her handwriting was completely different from the original letter, but Reila still confirmed it was a real letter from the victim.
The real letter is actually stored in Jeanne's room. The investigator wonders if Reila would confirm it was the real letter if she showed her the real version of the letter. However, since the woman just confirmed the fake letter as a real one after she read a few words, makes that alternate scenario very likely to happen that same way.
About the first victim's parents, Jeanne had done a research before doing this.
Last night, Jeanne came to see the prince when he was celebrating Selena's birthday in his room. The investigator snooped as the prince wasn't aware, she stole some letters which she saw suitable for her investigation and then left.
Jeanne didn't blame the prince for not revealing the letters for her, she didn't ask for it and she wanted it to be a backup thing.
Parents of the first victim Luvita Rommosa did letter her and got the news sent by the prince. However, the letters sent by them crazily increased on the second week of Rommosa's missing, they knew it. Her parents knew what happened to their daughter. Rommosa had a maid who was literate, they lettered the maid as they couldn't contact her daughter, there were no replies.
The prince focused too much on Luvita and neglected the maid, so it was found out.
No way Reila, a wife who is always close to Prince Koenig wouldn't know about it. She just lied.
Jeanne knows Reila is hiding something... she just doesn't have any clues that shows Rommosa's missing had her involvement.
"The first and second missing happened on the same day. The third one also happened too". - Jeanne speaks up. "It's crazy when three people suddenly vanished at the same time, you know...".
Jeanne sips some more water while she looks at Reila. The investigator waits until the woman finished her another bite, then slides the new file to her table.
Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.
"Third victim... Vasqua, she's a maid as I know. She disappeared at the same time like the two others". - Jeanne reveals some information
"Things about the maids only the maids know. Why ask me...?". - Done saying, Reila returns eating
Jeanne smiles as she hands the file to the two maids.
"Excuse me, I'll trouble you two for a while. It won't be long".
"Well... you know...". - Selena hands the file to the next maid
"Oh, I'm sorry. You are illiterate". - Despite all the doubts towards Selena's illiteracy, Jeanne behaves as if she believed it
The next maid also returns the file with a shaking head. Turns out both of them are completely illiterate.
"It's simple. I just want to know if you two know about her... before she disappeared, did she behave weird or anything like that, that's it".
"I remember she worked in the kitchen back then. I don't know much about her... some people said she always stole money". - The maid replies as Jeanne instructed
"She stole money?". - Jeanne repeats, demanding an answer
"Our incomes, she'd wait in our room until we go out. She did that many times, she messed our beds".
The investigator stays quiet and lowers her face. She is a bit confused, especially when she heard that previous information. The killer's motives for killing the prince's wives and disposing of them to make it look like mass missings could be explained. But the missing of the maids makes the killer's motives more complicated.
The investigator doesn't want to draw another theory. She just assumed the maid Vasqua could be a witness of the first murder, or a killer's helper during that murder. That maid girl could have been murdered because she was bad at teamwork, almost made the murder fail. Maybe the maid ran away since she couldn't take it, or she was just an unlucky witness.
"I have no records of how she disappeared that night. The latest report said she returned to the maid room after cooking dinner". - Jeanne explains. "I know every maid has a gap after a shift, that girl was supposed to be waiting for the time until she could have dinner. But... she just disappeared".
"I hope you remember what you were doing that time. It's much better if you saw the maid too". - Jeanne sips some water
The investigator waits for the maid's response.
"I was... I was waterin-, I mean I was having dinner at that time. That happened long ago so... I don't remember well, but I think I was doing that". - The maid speaks up, her voice is a bit reluctant. "Everybody was outside, I guess so. It's late anyway and we don't usually have shifts at night, I had to eat in our shared room because servants don't have their own dining room".
"Make it short, you don't need to tell unnecessary parts". - All of a sudden, Selena opens her voice to remind the maid girl
"It's alright, taking a long but full information is better than taking something fast but lacking". - Jeanne replies, she puts her hands on the table, willingly wanting the maid girl to continue her statement
"Vasqua was in the room when I came in. I don't know what she was really doing, maybe stealing again. But it happens all the time so everyone didn't bother". - The maid continues, for some reason, she appears to be following Selena's reminder by the way she speaks. "She disappeared the next day, but we didn't notice until we saw many other missings".
Jeanne stays quiet... the investigator wonders if she is taking unnecessary information from the maid. After a moment, she rethinks that the statement she just collected isn't something bad. This could explain the disappearance of the maid girl when new clues are found.
"That maid... is she really in that bad state? People don't steal for nothing, this girl might have some hard times with her life". - Jeanne comments
"I heard she had a gambling hubby". - Selena voices out
Jeanne nods.
"Many country girls come to cities for a good job. It's a once-in-life competition to become a palace's maid, do you think she did that for her parents and her kids, friend?". - Selena starts asking the investigator
"But it doesn't answer why she disappeared". - Jeanne replies
"We'd beat her up and say we'd kick her out every time she got caught stealing". - The maid girl responds
"It still does not answer... it happened so much that y'all didn't bother to stop her. Then why?". - Jeanne replies
"We don't do anything but her inner fear could be the reason why she ran away. You know, we repeated it all the time, her fear just grew and at one point of life, she thought it would happen... so she ran away". - Selena puts up an explanation
Jeanne nods. She wonders when every time Selena speaks up, as if she is trying to solve problems. However... the problems she solves don't seem to help the investigator... but something else beyond the investigator's thoughts.
"Talk around, ask questions, sit and talk, sit and talk. You don't make me see any professional in you, is that how an investigator works?". - All of a sudden, someone speaks up
Jeanne turns her look in the direction of the voice. It turns out to be Reila, she's finished her meal. The woman yawns a little, she sips some tea while her face expresses some annoyance.
"Two things make me pissed off today, one is my friends who come late, second is you and your work". - Reila shakes her head in tiredness, her tone gets a bit harsh. "Just go back to the palace and investigate, don't just come here and question".
"Your Highness, I understand your feelings for being annoyed with me, but please listen". - Jeanne replies. "This case is very difficult and there's only me and my daughter to solve it. Once we gather enough information, we'll do our best to make sure everyone will be saved".
"So what...? What would you do to catch the killer you don't even know anything about?".
"I'm working on it, Your Highness".
Reila doesn't seem to care about the investigator anymore, she instead focuses on sipping some tea to push her frustration down.
"Shall we continue?". - Suddenly, Selena speaks up in a soft tone. "Maybe I can't help much... but I can provide you some information. Only when you need it".
Jeanne nods lightly.
"Let me have some air first". - Jeanne replies. "I'll be back".
The investigator gets up and leaves the table. She looks around the restaurant, then enters a room. She's looking for a restroom, she needs some silence before she returns with full concentration to her job.
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The investigator silently takes a seat after she finished solving her restroom issues. Jeanne glances at Reila, watching her having meal. This could be explained that Reila was too bored of waiting for her friends, she took another meal just to kill time. The investigator then turns her look at the document.
"It took me a bit long, sorry". - Jeanne apologizes to Selena
"Are we allowed to sit and have some meal, Your Highness?". - The maid beside Selena suddenly voices out to ask Reila's permission
"Hungry already...? Hmmm, you can sit anywhere but not this table. Also, pay the meals yourself, do not think you can eat free because I know this place". - Reila replies
The maid bows deeply. She slowly approaches a waiter near there. Not on Jeanne's watch, the investigator turns her glance towards Selena who is still standing behind Reila.
"Finally...". - Selena whispers, she stretches a little. "Why don't we sit over there and discuss? I have friends who are the maids, it could be helpful for your investigation". - The girl moves to another table
"Thanks".
Jeanne puts the document in her hand, she takes her glass of water and moves to another table. However, the investigator stops and stands behind Reila.
"Your Highness".
"?". - Reila notices Jeanne's call for her, but she continues eating
"I just want to tell you that what happened to your friends and other women could also happen to you one day. You better have guards following you, the best thing I can do here is to catch the killer and stop another incoming murder".
Reila continues eating in silence. For some reason, the woman chuckles a little.
"There's only one person the killer can't touch... that's me". - Reila speaks up, she sips some water
The investigator wonders if there is a meaning behind what Reila just said. But... she has no proof.
Jeanne returns to approach the table where Selena is sitting at to discuss with her. The investigator puts the glass of water and the document down on the table. However, she doesn't sit yet, she just doesn't want to. Her attention just caught something in front.
Jeanne notices that her glass of water has ices inside. When she ordered the glass, she didn't ask the waitress to add anything else. This glass wasn't like it before she came to the restroom. The investigator knows something isn't right is happening in front of her.
Her glass only had water when she came to the restroom. Now, she sees some ices inside, melting slowly, being drowned in the water. This could be the work of someone, someone put ices in the water when she went to the restroom, she only knows if she takes a sip, something happens.
"Is the killer here?". Jeanne's mind only rolls around with that question, she even wonders what would happen to her if she drank the glass and sat down, pretending as if nothing wrong just happened.
"Am I trapped? Who in the three of them is the killer... or all of them?". Jeanne asks herself in her mind once again. She doesn't know, and she will never know unless she was the one who put those ices in the glass, she can't risk her life now.
What awaits her after drinking the iced cold water... she never knows.
"I hope His Highness has returned to the palace now. Or at least the meeting is over and he's about to return... do you think so, Breima? Sometimes things don't go the way we expect them to be". - Jeanne carefully grabs her document
"I hope so too. Wait, you're leaving already? What's the matter?". - Selena notice Jeanne turning to the restaurant's entrance
"I'm busy... I just have something important to discuss with His Highness, I'll see you tomorrow".
"You are willing to return to the palace on foot? Stay, Her Highness' friends are on their way anyway. Even if they don't come and we decide to return, it's much more comfortable than walking". - Selena explains, she wants Jeanne to stay
"I've gotten used to it, thank for caring for me, bye then...". - Jeanne then starts leaving the restaurant with the document