The trial was put on hold so we could investigate the stadium.

That’s right, I had been dragged out of the stadium to the castle only to be dragged out of the castle to go back to the stadium. Fun.

We left the demon car and walked through the entrance into a corridor. There was a ticket collection area I had seen at the game this morning and a second room I hadn’t noticed. According to Yaika, the security guard stationed there could tell me who was here last night.

But that was something I would worry about later. For now, I had much more pressing matters.

“Hey. I don’t suppose you can ask your dad to move the trial to tomorrow?”

“Tomorrow?” Yaika glanced back at me. “I don’t think he’ll wanna wait that long.”

Why the fuck not? “Are we in a rush?”

Yaika let out one of her cough giggles. “Well, yeah, kinda. He can’t just sit in his throne waiting all night for the trial to start. He has to eat and sleep.”

Oh my god. Was he literally just sitting around waiting for us to get back? “He’s a king, right? Doesn’t he have more important things to do?”

Yaika shrugged. “Of course he has more important things to do. That’s why we have to get this trial finished up.” Why did I even bother talking? I was going to be the most patient person in the entire world when I got out of this place.

Breathe, Ryley, breathe. “Can’t he just have some other demon take his place?” I asked. Hell, he could make an entire ‘judge squad’ or something.

“No.” At least the answer was short and sweet.

“So… we’re having the trial tonight then.”

“Yeah.”

“…Cool.” I was definitely going to learn to be patient. I would also probably end up with a brain tumor. This was fine. Everything was fine.

Instead of going up the stairs that led to the stands, we continued down a side hall. We passed by a locker room and another marked ‘storage’. Finally, we emerged outside onto the field.

“I never thought I’d be down here like this,” Violetta’s said. “It’s sad that it I only get to because of… well… you know.”

Wow. During the previous trial, Violetta hadn’t seemed all that torn up about her manager being dead, but I guess this was affecting her more than I thought.

It wasn’t an easy talk to have, but if she was going to be my assistant, she was going to have to get used to seeing things like this. Death. She would have to learn to bury her emotion deep inside of her. That was healthy.

“Hey, Violetta…”

Before I could even start, Violetta moved closer to me, speaking in a hushed voice. “The Janitor’s feet have been on this grass.” Her eyes were wide and crazed. “Do you think they’ll notice if I take a handful?” Fuck it. Never mind.

“You… do realize that stealing is a crime now, right?” I doubted stealing grass was a big deal, but I really didn’t need another fangirl in my life. A fangirl’s fangirl, if you would.

Violetta held her fists up near her face, clenching them tight. “It’s so tempting though!” Was it? I wondered if anyone had ever called grass ‘tempting’ before in the history of time and space.

This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

“Just keep your mind on the investigation,” I said like a total bad ass. All I needed were some aviator sunglasses.

“Okay…” Violetta pouted. My god, she was whiny. All she needed were some aviator sunglasses. I don’t know. I just really wanted some sunglasses. Did demons have sunglasses?

We made it to the center of the field where Brad was standing next to a pond. Thankfully, he had calmed himself down. No more flailing tentacles please.

“You’re finally here,” Brad said. “Ms. Lyili’s already been poking around.” Of course she had.

“So this is where they found the body?” I asked.

“That’s right, bro.” All of Brad’s eyes looked to the ground. “Along with the safe.”

The pond was about ten feet across, and the water was murky enough that I couldn't see the bottom. I guess even a three foot tall safe would be concealed. Not sure why they felt the need to have this ugly pond though. At least it wasn't a pool of lava or acid or something.

I turned back to Brad. “And you took pictures of the body this time I hope?” Seriously, if they didn’t fucking take pictures I was going to scream.

“Yeah, we got them.” Brad pulled a stack of polaroids from his body and tossed them at me. Jeez, what was his deal? It’s not like I wanted to see these either.

“And what about the safe?” I asked. “You can’t return it to Coach, alright? He may be a ‘victim’, but it’s evidence now.” Not to mention he was sketchy as fuck.

“Don’t worry about that. Ms. Lyili already has someone trying to get it open.”

“Good.”

I started thumbing through the pictures. Prowteg had bushy orange hair, a boyish face, and horns, although at this point, horns weren’t much of a description for identifying demons. Since he was found in water, I expected him to be bloated or something, but he didn’t look all that strange. Just… pale. Except for the dark purple bruise on his right temple.

“Do you know what killed him?”

“I thought you were supposed to figure out who did it, bro.”

“I asked what killed him, not who.” Why was Brad getting sassy with me?

“Oh.”

Yaika peeked over at the pictures in my hand. “He didn’t drown?”

“The leader of the body disposal squad said Prowteg was probably hit in the head,” Brad said. Yeah, no shit. I needed to know what the murder weapon was.

“Was there anything else in the pond?”

“Just a couple of bocce balls,” Brad said. “Those end up in the pond all the time.”

“I got it!” Violetta smiled. “Someone must have hit him in the head with one of the balls.”

Actually… that wasn’t a bad theory. It would be easy to just throw it away afterward. “I think that’s pretty likely.”

I noticed Yaika glare over in Violetta’s direction. What was that for?

“Ryley!” Violetta tugged on my arm. “Look at all these prints in the mud. If the murderer was here, maybe we’ll find their footprints!”

Suddenly, Yaika pushed Violetta away. “Stop stealing all the observations.” She looked up to me with the dark vortexes she called eyes. “Look at all the prints in the mud, Ryley. Maybe we can find the murderer’s footprints.”

“Ouch…” Violetta rubbed her back.

“Uhh…” What the hell was that? “I don’t know if we’d really learn that much…”

Yaika crossed her arms. “Ryley says your observation’s no good.”

“I’m sorry, Princess…” Violetta said, standing back up. Did Yaika want to be the one that found a vital clue that badly?

“There were players all over this field today,” I said. “It wouldn’t be strange for any of their footprints to be here. Not to mention that the king’s guards probably stepped all over the place too.”

Violetta dusted her dominatrix outfit off. “I guess that makes sense.”

“It probably wouldn’t be a bad idea to check it out anyway.” I sighed. “Brad, can you put someone on that? Have them compare these prints to the shoes of everyone you can think of.”

“I mean, I can ask, but it’s just gonna end up being me…” Brad slinked away. “Weak…” I really needed to pay him back for that ice cream.

Once he was gone, I looked back down at the pictures. “So this Prowteg guy was a pretty big deal, huh?”

“He’s a really big deal, silly!” Violetta sounded like she was personally offended by my question. “He’s the reason why the Janitors won the World Series last year.”

“What kind of demon was he?”

“Horny Folk.”

Seriously? His eyebrows were so fair, I hadn’t even noticed that they were zigzag.

“No magic and he managed to do that well?” I asked. I wasn’t even sure if using magic was considered cheating or not. After all, the blonde blob from earlier didn’t use his tentacles at full length. Were tentacles even related to magic?

“That’s just the thing. He was the team’s anchor,” Violetta said. “He was the last one on the team to throw a ball. When it comes to accuracy, no one’s better.” She held out her hand like she was rolling a ball. “It didn’t matter what the field was like. If he got the last shot, then he’d be sure to get his ball closest to the jack.”

“Oh… I see.”

Holy shit, I had no idea how bocce ball worked.

“Come on Ryley.” Yaika took my hand in her cold clammy grasp. “We’ve got investigating to do.”