Varyna sighed and leaned back in her seat. She and her two squadmates had just finished a late lunch at Krln’s Nest, a restaurant owned by the friendly Kremel, Khrwm, they had met the other day. He had fed them some of the best food she’d had in months and had shared a lot of useful information about the community, the business owners, the locals, and the favorite tourist spots.
She should be thrilled that they’d gotten good food and a number of good leads, but her [Quest] was hanging over her head. Trying to track down a killer was hard enough, but now she had to find some source of Demonic energy as well and the clock was ticking. The two of them had to be related somehow. If she could find the killer, maybe she’d have a better idea of where to find the Demonic source.
“Officer Rhine!” Hxlt said loudly, breaking into Varyna’s thoughts. She looked up in surprise to find the Kremel studying her. “Are you nervous?” he asked.
She frowned. “Of course not.”
“You’re just shaking the table,” Hxlt pointed out.
Varyna’s bouncing legs came to a sudden stop and she felt her cheeks flushing. She hadn’t even realized that she was moving. It was a habit she had worked hard to get rid of and thought she had put well behind her.
“Sorry. I’m just thinking about the case.”
“Any thoughts you want to share?” Hxlt asked. “Because there are a lot of directions we can take this investigation.”
“Right,” Opun jumped in. “We can retrace the steps of the victims, we can interview everyone who had contact with them, we still haven’t really examined the holograms of the crime scene.”
“Well, we don’t necessarily all need to stick together,” Varyna pointed out. “I’d like to do some street interviews and retrace the victims’ steps.”
“I’ll go with you,” Hxlt decided.
“Then I’ll tackle the holograms,” Opun volunteered. “And maybe pick the doctor’s brain, see if she has any insights.”
“Sounds good. Then let’s-” Hxlt said, starting to stand.
“But one of you has got to take some notes,” Opun demanded.
Varyna and Hxlt rolled their eyes and laughed, but promised that they’d keep a record of their interviews.
Opun nodded gravely and left, heading back up the street towards the clinic where they had set up their base. Varyna and Hxlt looked around at the crowds of tourists.
“Khrwm did suggest we go check out the Haunted Cave and get familiar with some of the tourist attractions,” Hxlt said. “So let's start there.”
Varyna nodded, but her eyes were busy scanning the street. What would a source of Demonic power even look like? As her eyes skimmed over the gardens, she paused, remembering the team of decrepit golems that had made their way down the street just that morning.
Golems are obviously a source of Demonic energy. Could that be it? She wondered. When her System didn’t respond, she sighed. Obviously not. That’s way too easy.
Turning, she followed Hxlt towards the Haunted Cave. There were plenty of signs pointing them in the right direction. Soon the regular shops and restaurants turned into tourist businesses. They advertised things like: “The most scenic hikes on Imadrin”, “Exclusive Haunted Cave Tours”, “Mountain Climbing for All Levels”, and more.
“Are we going to talk to all of these?” Varyna asked.
“Unless you have a better idea,” Hxlt answered.
“Divide and conquer?” she suggested.
He frowned doubtfully.
“If I promise not to make a scene?” she added.
“And to take notes?” he reminded her.
“Right. And I’ll take notes,” she agreed. She glanced between the sides of the street and gestured to the side opposite where they stood. “I’ll take that side, you take this one?” she suggested.
Hxlt nodded and they split up. The first business on her side was the mountain climbing one. She entered the rustic-looking building and found a small waiting room full of people. A female Nemarian at the reception desk called her over.
“Do you have an appointment or are you here to set one up?” the receptionist asked.
“I’m Officer Varyna Rhine with the COPS Crime Division, and I’m here to interview your staff regarding the recent deaths in town,” Varyna answered, flashing her identification.
“Oh my,” the Nemarian answered. “Just give me a second.” She reached down and pressed a few buttons on the communicator in front of her, then spoke softly into a headset she had connected to it.
“Mr. Zat, we’ve got a COPS Officer here to talk to us about those poor souls who were killed.”
Varyna couldn’t hear the response, but the receptionist nodded and said, “Of course, Sir.” She pressed another button on the communicator and looked back up at Varyna.
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“Mr. Zat will be with you shortly. He just needs to finish up with his current customer, if you can take a seat?” She gestured at the waiting room.
Varyna frowned. “There isn’t anyone else I can talk to? Someone available now?” If she had to wait on every single business owner like this, she’d never finish.
The receptionist gulped nervously. “Well, he is nearly done. It will only be another minute or two. Can I get you something to drink while you wait? Or maybe an energy bar?”
“I’m good.” Varyna sighed, stepping to the side of the counter to wait. After what seemed like an eternity, the communicator beeped.
The receptionist pressed a button and listened for a moment, then gave a sigh of relief and looked up at Varyna. “He’s ready for you now. Just head through the door on your right. It’s the office at the end of the hall.”
Varyna strode through the door and down the short hallway, brushing past a Human male who was headed out of the office.
She found a male Nemarian inside the spacious room, sitting behind a large desk. He stood at her entrance. “Welcome. I’m Wrestu-Zat, owner of Haunted Climbs. You must be the Officer here to talk about the recent murders,” he said.
“That’s right.” Varyna was doing a poor job at hiding her annoyance of having to have waited so long already.
The Nemarian cleared his throat. “Will you sit?”
She gave a brusque nod and took the offered sea then slid out her holopen and used it to show him the images and names of the victims.
“Do you recognize any of these people?”
“Aside from the memorials that were done and Yana’s execrable souvenirs?” he asked with a bitter smile that quickly fell away. “Yes. They all booked climbing expeditions with me, though three of them died before their scheduled climb.”
“Can I see your records?” Varyna asked.
“Certainly.” He quickly typed on his holoscreen for a moment, then a series of documents popped up. He slid it over to Varyna and she began carefully reading through liability releases. Each of the victims had signed their name, releasing Mr. Zat from any responsibility in case they were injured on their climb. They had also all listed an-
“Emergency contacts..” Varyna murmured, reading through the line in each document that detailed the person to be notified in case of an emergency. There was a field to designate ‘relationship’, and all of the victims had put aunts, uncles, cousins, or friends. Not a single one had listed immediate family members or significant others.
“Yes?” Mr. Zat said uncertainly. “It’s a fairly standard procedure for activities that contain an element of risk, such as climbing. I assume most of the businesses around here use something similar.”
Varyna nodded thoughtfully. Taking out her holopen, she captured the documents, then scribbled a few notes down. “This was very helpful. Thank you very much.”
“I’m glad I could help. If you need anything else from me, don’t hesitate to ask.” He stood again and shook her hand before she rushed out of the building. She only had to wait a couple minutes for Hxlt to appear from the first business on the other side. As soon as he stepped out, she jogged over to him.
“Already got something?” he asked, his forehead scrunching in surprise.
“Emergency contacts!” she answered excitedly.
He frowned, not seeing the significance, so she pulled out her holopen and showed him the documents.
“They all list a distant relative or friend as an emergency contact,” she answered.
His eyes widened in understanding. “And you think that’s how the killer knew who to target to avoid those with close relatives.”
“It makes sense. The question is, how many of these businesses ask for that information, and how many of these businesses did each of the victims visit?”
“Well, that’s something solid to ask about,” Hxlt answered.
With a new plan, they again split up to visit the rest of the businesses on the street. Varyna had expected to find at least one other enterprise that each of the victims had visited and left emergency contact information with, but in the end, only Wrestu-Zat’s climbing company fit the bill.
She and Hxlt briefly compared notes when they finished their canvassing before returning to the clinic to join Opun.
They found their third team member bent close to a holoscreen, examining one of the crime scene holograms closely. He looked up at their entrance and blinked a few times.
“Any luck?” he asked.
“We’ve got a good lead,” Varyna smiled. “You?”
He sighed. “Nothing much. Whoever did this managed to get close to the victims without being suspected, because the wounds are from the front and show no sign that the victims were running. Potentially that means it was something they at least were familiar with, but it could also just be someone who is good at hiding their knife.”
“Something they’re familiar with tracks with what we found,” Hxlt said, sinking into the largest of the chairs at the small table.
“Tell me,” Opun said, pulling out his holopen.
Varyna pulled hers out as well and showed him the documents. She explained their theory that the emergency contacts were what tipped off the killer as to which tourists lacked close relatives.
“A solid supposition,” Opun agreed. “That gives us one potential suspect then, correct? This-” He paused to look at Varyna’s notes. “Wrestu-Zat.”
“He’s not the only one though,” Varyna pointed out. “He may have information that puts him in a good position to be the killer, but what’s the motive? Ruining the tourism industry here hurts him.”
“As far as motive goes, Yana has a solid one,” Hxlt pointed out with a frown. “Anyone willing to profit off of murder can’t be far above committing it.”
Opun and Varyna nodded their agreement as Opun added the name to the list he was making.
“There’s another solid motive,” Varyna ventured. “And we know of at least one person in town who has it.”
When her fellow Officers stared at her blankly, she sighed. “Peacekeeper Ershel clearly wants to see the tourism industry here die so the planet can return to their rustic roots.”
Opun and Hxlt shared a look, then slowly nodded. “But he said he’s not the only one.”
“Which means we have even more suspects,” Varyna pointed out. She glanced over at Opun. “Are you not going to add him to the list just because he’s a ‘Peacekeeper’?” she asked in frustration.
“No. I’m not adding him to the list because we need to avoid offending him if we want him to continue to cooperate with us, and we’ll need that if we want to look into who else shares his anti-tourism sentiments.”
“We can’t just throw around accusations without a shred of evidence,” Hxlt added. “That’s a quick way to make enemies.”
“I know,” Varyna answered in exasperation. “I’m not saying we have to go accuse him right now. I just want to know that you’re not going to give him a free pass just because of his position.”
“We would never do that,” Hxlt said firmly. “I can certainly understand your suspicion and I agree that he deserves watching alongside Yana and Wrestu-Zat.”
Varyna nodded. “As long as we’re all on the same page.” She glanced out the small window at the fading sunlight. “We’ve got a killer to catch.