The morning was less tense than the previous night. Monica, who had been confined for months, was now moving about with a renewed sense of freedom. Her golden curls danced behind her as she hurried from room to room, overjoyed to be on her feet again.

"Look at the floor! Look at the walls! How wonderful it feels to be walking again!" I found myself tucked into a corner near one of Adam’s shelves filled with trinkets, feeling slightly apprehensive about being caught in the path of Monica's exuberance. Suddenly, she grabbed my hands with unconceivable strength and spun me around for several dizzying seconds before abruptly halting, nearly knocking me to the floor.

"Quiet! I just remembered Adam is still asleep," Monica gasped. Her excitement had momentarily made me forget about the events of the previous night. However, as I glanced over at Adam’s empty desk, it was clear that he must have retired for the night at some point.

“Oh!” Monica clasped her porcelain hands together. “I should make breakfast!”

I dropped my spoon, unable to possibly fit another crumb of food into my stomach. To my dismay, Monica dumped a fourthf helping of eggs onto my plate.

“Surely this is enough!” I groaned.

“Humor me, sweetheart, it’s been months since I’ve been able to cook, even more for guests! That boy, he never eats anything I make! Says he doesn’t have time. But that man slacks more than he works I say!” Monica looked out the window. “It’s getting awfully late, isn’t it? The sun is almost completely overhead! Boy was he tired. I’ll wake him up! She said with newfound glee, rushing to Adam’s room with a plate of food in hand.

I ran the rag over the glass china a final time and placed it in the rack.

“Hey!” Monica snapped. “Make sure you get the back as well.” I sighed and picked the plate up.

“At this rate, we’ll be here forever,” I mumbled.

“I heard that!” She growled. “Just go you’re doing it wrong anyway.” She huffed and took the plate out of my hand.

“Happily.”

I strolled back to my room and plopped down on my creaky bed, the faded quilt beneath me offering little comfort. I gazed around the dimly lit room, the feeble light barely penetrating through the tattered curtains. My mind raced, searching for something to occupy it. Normally, I would be out in the streets, scavenging for precious herbs, but now it seemed I didn't need to do that anymore. Lost in thought, I briefly considered visiting a boutique with Monica in order to get back on her good side, but then I remembered the crumpled piece of paper I had hastily stuffed in my boot the previous night. I swiftly retrieved the dirt-covered boot I had carelessly left by the door, and as I reached inside, my fingers brushed against the worn leather. I retrieved my prize—the crumpled piece of paper. With trembling hands, I carefully smoothed it out and began to read the faded words written on its surface.

The knight of white ride with pride

The king of the jungles is strong and true

Swords clashing at their side

Cannons roaring through the blue

A lot of build-up for nothing. I groaned to myself and began to crumble it up for the rubbish bin.

“Love letter?” I heard Adam's voice behind me. He stood over my crouched figure, wearing a black sweater from the previous night and chewing on an English muffin, his tousled brown hair falling over his forehead as he peered down at me.

“No, it’s-” Adam took it out of my hands before I could object, reading it with childish curiosity. His face fell abruptly, replaced with a grave expression. He pivoted towards me.

“Where’d you find this?” He demanded.

“On my walk yesterday,” I answered simply.

“The park. I found it in the grass.”

Adam stared at me with an unreadable expression.

“Don’t go walking around at night.” He stated in a sharp tone.

“Yeah. ‘told me that last night. Speaking of which, where’s the love letter you had last night? I wanna read it.” Adam left the room before he could answer.

I shuffled the dog-eared playing card between my hands. My mind raced.

“How much longer will he lie to me?” I whispered to myself. I lay back down on the bed sighing, listening to the slow ticking of the clock until my daydreaming was interrupted by a “hey-ay!” I looked up.

“Adam came this way didn’t he?” Monica asked, absentmindly picking at the lace at the bottom of her sakura-colored dress.

“Yes. He did.” She must have sensed my discontent because she sat down next to me on the bed.

“Odd guy isn’t he?”

“Very much so!” I groaned.

Monica’s gaze drifted down at the faded Magenta carpet, her mind was elsewhere. After a few moments, she looked up at me an inquisitive expression and began twirling her golden locks around her slender finger.

“So. Did you meet Cecil?”

It turns out my theory was correct. Adam and the licorice-haired man did have a history. One that Monica knew about.

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“Yeah,” I said, amber eyes looking up into hers. “At the party.”

“I see.” Monica hummed to himself. “Did he… Say anything to you? Or did anyone else at the party?”

“Nope, just to Adam.” I knitted my brows. Someone else did, however. Shall I tell her about that? I weighed out my options. How smart would it be to confine a secret to the wife of the man you are desperately trying to keep in the dark? However, something told me this would stay between just us.

“Ironheel gave me something that night.” Monica’s eyes lit up with something between excitement and seriousness.

“And what might that be, my dear?”

“A bag of coins to be exact. He said something like ‘Be my eyes.’ Or something of the sort.”

Monica’s intense gaze met mine. After a few intense seconds, Monica broke out in an insincere smile.

“Well then! There’s no point in playing stupid then is there? I'm sure there is something you want to ask me, or more accurately Adam but I’d assume he won’t answer truthfully would he? Lies are the pathway to destruction so I will be the first to tell you; that you are treading a dark path, sweetest, none of your fault however. Sooner or later you will have to make a choice, but remember; Some friends turn out to be fiends and some fiends turn out to be friends. Walk carefully, my dear.”

I met her with such a dumbfounded expression that she audibly laughed and clasped me on the shoulder.

“But I suppose that still leaves some questions unanswered.” She put her index finger to her lips, her azure gaze fixated on me. “Some I am not at liberty to answer, some, truthfully I don’t know the answer to.” Her expression darkened. “And I’m sure Ironheel feels the same way based on his recent actions.” I tried to speak until she placed her other index finger on my lips and hushed me. “First, let’s discuss your first job.” She sighed out. “Adam was supposed to tell you before his little breakdown. A noblewoman was murdered in her own home.”

My gut wrenched. My first case was a murder?

“The prime suspect was a foreign student. The woman was murdered with a blunt object. The student had an object with the woman’s DNA. As you can see, it’s a pretty open-and-shut case, but nothing is that simple.” Monica stood up and walked towards the door. She shut it, hand still on the knob. “You still have that ring?” She inquired. I lifted up my right hand, the ring was still snuggly placed on my thumb. “Good. It’s very important.” She began to open the door for her departure until she said, barely above a whisper; “I said it once and I’ll say it again; Don’t let Adam make you do anything you don’t want to. Trust your gut and check your back.”

She opened the door and left without a goodbye.

I sat on my bed, hands clutching my knees trying to take everything in.

“What am I here for? What is Adam planning? And why does Monica know about it?” Luckily, I’ve always been a woman of action. Sitting around thinking won’t get me an answer. With a deep sigh, I stood up and swung open my door.

I strolled into the main room casually, trying to temporarily erase Monica and I’s past interaction from my mind. Adam sat at his oak desk with his nose buried in the daily paper. I cleared my throat.

“Yes?” He questioned.

I huffed. “You know what! We have work to do but you got upset before you got around to telling me!” Adam was silent for a moment.

“Ah, yes.” He finally answered, lifting his head. “That positively slipped my mind.”

“The trait of an exquisite detective…” I mumbled.

Adam stood up from his desk and brought his long and tapered fingers to his chin.

“I’d assume Monica’s already briefed you on the situation?”

“Yes,” I answered. “A Noblewoman was allegedly murdered by a student.” Adam gave a dry laugh.

“Allegedly isn’t the word I’d use. The blunt object used to kill the lady was one of the student’s person. Unless it walked there itself this is an open-and-shut case.”

I thought about Monica’s ominous words and chose my next words carefully.

“Then what are we needed for? If the crime was so obvious wouldn’t the yard have arrested the student already?”

Adam breathed out..

“Unfortunately it is not that easy.” Adam turned his gaze to meet mine. “Although the lady was murdered due to a blunt object, according to the coroner, there was also poison deadly found in the noblewoman’s body.”

“Huh?” I said subconsciously. “Why poison a person just to beat them to death and carry around the weapon?

“Yeah… That’s the odd thing.” Adam answered in an awkward tone. “The poison used was cyanide.” I shrugged my shoulders, not understanding the significance. Adam took it as his cue to explain his reasoning. “Did Monica mention she was a foreign exchange student?”

I thought back to our conversation.

“Actually, yes I believe she did. But what relevance does it have?” Adam furrowed his brows.

“The student is from the Empire of Japan. I believe she’s here to study engineering as England is leading the world in its new inventions and architecture you know.” Adam said with a hint of pride. “She has only been here around two weeks, but the most important fact is that Cyanide is not available in Japan. At least to the public.”

I finally understood. Adam continued.

“She would not have been able to obtain such a poison on her home country. Let alone sneak it all the way across the ocean. Furthermore, she has not been in England long enough to obtain such a thing. Not that she would be allowed to anyway. The government would think twice before handing over poison to a foreign student. Even then, she’s an engineering student! What would she know about poison anyhow? The point is it doesn’t add up.

“So the noblewoman could’ve been murdered by someone else,” I asked.

“The woman was Lady Agatha Lotusburg. Beloved by her subjects. It would be unlikely for someone else to have the vendetta to murder such a high-standing woman.”

“Then why would a student who has no clue who she is murder her.” Adam seemed a bit impatient.

“We can speculate as long as we like but at the end of the day, she is the one with the murder weapon. The poison is irrelevant to the case, as she was killed before it had any effect.”

“It can hardly be considered irrelevant.”

“We arrest based on the facts, not by hypotheses.” He answered sharply. “You will meet the suspect tomorrow. Save your questioning for then.”

“Of course,” I said through gritted teeth. “Is there anything else?”

“Actually, there is.” He answered. “Before we head to the holding station tomorrow we must stop by my office and the Yard. You need your uniform, badge, and official papers. Ironheel will be there so behave yourself and get up nice and early. That’s all.”

Adam sat back down at his desk and waved me away. I pinched the bridge of my nose. This man has the patience of a young child!

I abruptly awoke at the crack of dawn by a fist on my side shaking me roughly. The scent of cologne reached my nose. I looked up. Adam was staring down at me with a stern expression on his face. He was dressed up in one of his pewter suits and meticulously combed hair. The expensive-looking gold chain was in his back pocket.

“What part of ‘get up early’ did you not understand?” He growled.

I looked up at the clock. A half past four and I was still exhausted.

“Never mind that.” He groaned. “Just get ready. Fast. It doesn’t much matter what you wear as you’ll be changing anyway.” With that, Adam rushed out of my bedroom and waited for me by the front entrance. I quickly slipped on my lace-up boots and brushed my hair back. And went to join Adam.