The Defective Detective

Outside of the inn, they waded through the gathering of hundreds of adults who had been summoned by the mayor. Fall was certain that it was a gathering unlike any this small town had ever experienced before. He wondered what the point was of even making such a grand spectacle of it when only the suspect and the peacekeepers were truly necessary for this operation, but making sense of these types of political stunts would in all likeliness drive him mad.

The roars of anger from the crowd seemed to agree with his assessment too, as no one had taken too kindly to being drawn out to the town square at sunrise.

“C-calm down everyone, allow me to explain…”

“The large, elderly man with the ale gut and the ridiculously sophisticated mustache is the mayor of the town, Langley Herron. He’s supposedly a banished noble from a country far richer than The Baening who used his expertise in diplomacy to climb the social ladder of this small town, and…”

“Fall, you’re writing out loud again. Goodness, talk about a failure of a man… Is there any awareness in that empty head of yours? Oh, dear me, if it weren’t for how useful you were in other fields I would have flown away out of embarrassment ten years ago.”

Bell, who was kicking her feet up and down as she lay atop Fall’s shoulder, admonished him with a playfulness that accentuated her small figure as she examined the crowd.

“Apologies.” He tilted the brim of his hat down to hide his flushed face.

It was a bad habit of his, to be sure. He’d had a hobby of journalling that was developed while working briefly in the field of biology during his younger years. Sounding his sentences out was simply his way of ascertaining whether what he’d been thinking felt authentic enough to put to paper. Either way, the strange glances he had gotten from others as a result of both his rambling and the fact that he’d had a fairy riding on his shoulder didn’t deter him as the two of them finally made it to the front of the crowd.

Inviting monsters into towns was considered taboo in Vulturia, but Bell was generally granted favor due not only in part to her ability to speak the Vulturian language, but also because of how appealing she was to the eye. A beautiful woman the size of an apple drew adoration out of the average person in the same manner that a puppy or a kitten might have, and so while she may have caught the occasional glance of those unfamiliar with her, there was generally no open hostility towards either her or Fall due to her presence in the many settlements that they had visited on their journey.

The elevated construct of wooden footing that towered before the crowd was being occupied by the mayor and two peacekeepers. There was another line of guards, possibly about eight based on Fall’s count, that stood along the edges of the stage on the ground level facing out at everyone else. It appeared that he had at least taken the threat that that thing posed this seriously, Fall thought. The mayor had been wiping the sweat from his face with a navy-blue handkerchief, unable to even get a single word out in all the commotion.

“Fall, do something before he starts talking,” Bell said, patting the nape of his neck.

“And how exactly am I supposed to do that?” he asked.

“Might I suggest the simple act of walking up under the assumption that you will be recognized?”

“Great idea, Bell.”

With her pushing as guidance, Fall made his way toward the stairs.

“HALT!”

Two polearms came down in the shape of a cross to block the path up to the stage. “Back away from the podium!”

“Terrible idea, Bell.”

The fairy shrugged as if the suggestion hadn’t been hers to begin with.

Fall had recognized the futility of simply walking up on stage to speak to the mayor, but he’d decided that it was worth a shot. His lack of diplomatic talent was complimented by his inability to face other people in combat as far as his worthlessness in disagreeable situations went.

“O-oh, you can let him on, guards. He’s with me,” Langley said.

The armored peacekeepers eyed him with a hint of annoyance shining through their steel helmets, but they eventually pulled their polearms away and returned at ease, the sound of their armor clanking with the movement.

“What’s with these glorified bodyguards, anyhow? Where do they get off?” Bell pouted.

“Not so loud…” Fall grimaced at the volume of her voice and allowed himself to ascend the stairs.

Once he approached the mayor, the small man leaned up at his six head tall figure and hovered near his ear to whisper. “W-what should I do?”

“Tell everyone but the innkeeper’s wife to leave.”

The mayor’s expression had contorted from one of worry to confusion.

“His wife? But…”

“She’s the one you’re looking for. I’ll be able to prove it, don’t worry.”

“R-right, well... if you’re certain…”

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Dapping up the beads of sweat that never seemed to end, he turned back to face the crowd with an anxious look plastered on his face.

“W-well, I’m sure you would all like to know what information I’ve gathered concerning the recent murder of Mr. Leaf, as well as the disappearance of the courtesans of the Chipping Hole that have put a stain on our town’s good name. Unfortunately, however, it appears that the information we had been provided with was all a false alarm. Instead, I’d like to speak with the current owner of the White Lily in private about the passing of her husband. Ms. Jill?”

The crowd erupted into murmurs over the call. There was tension over the decision to suddenly end the meeting. Complaints over how businesses had to be closed for this advertised event, how plans had to be cancelled, and all sorts of other obscenities were being yelled as a result of the inconvenience. The mayor’s expression grew tense. It didn’t look like he could simply chase them all away after disturbing their day to call this large town meeting.

“A-as you can see, Detective Fall... As The Baening is still technically a republic beholden to democratic principles, I must abide by the will of the many if I wish to remain on their good side…”

Fall glanced at the crowd. Sure enough, they might have bitten his head off if he chased them away with nothing to show for it. But wasn’t there a better way?

“Mayor Langley, it’s just because they don’t know any better,” Fall said. “Their lives will be in danger if they stay.

“In danger?! Er, um, that is, but then if I just told them as much…”

“You can’t. We can’t alert the innkeeper’s wife that we’re onto her. We need to evacuate them without doing that.”

The mayor glanced down at his feet.

“I’m sorry, but… I can’t do it then.”

Convincing him was an exercise in futility. Earlier in the week, the man had lost both his wallet and a prized possession of his. What said prized possession was exactly, he wouldn’t say. But for some reason he was certain that the item had been pocketed by the murderer and was inconsolable about the idea.

This stubbornness of his would be the worst enemy of everyone within this town. Fall glanced at the angry faces within the crowd, who seemed content to direct their ire at himself for causing the sudden change in the mayor. Yells calling for the revelation of the murderer’s identity overwhelmed them. They haven’t felt safe since the murder happened, they realized.

“Blah blah blah. I swear, you demagogues are all the same,” Bell interrupted, flying from Fall’s shoulders and fluttering before Lang’s face. “A persuasion of pusillanimous, power-hungry pushovers with no principles or purity worth proclaiming past your pathetic pressing and pilfering for power. I’m not one to mince words, Mayor Langley Herron, so I’ll put this to you as quaintly as time will allow me. There is an inherent contradiction that exists in the desperation for approval that you politicians of The Baening seem to relish in ignoring. The truth is that, while the citizenry might have their own best interests in mind when deciding on how to move forward, the average citizen might not actually have enough information or political know-how at their disposal to make the decision that benefits said best interest. You must think about which result they desire, rather than getting hung up on the process that they preach. That is to say, that you have a decision to make here, you great big buffoon of a man. You could adhere to the principles of democracy and follow the will of the people against your own personal judgment, thereby condemning them to whatever fate will follow the act of you inviting the innkeeper’s wife onto the stage while they remain present. Or, you could utilize the information you are beholden to right now and unilaterally make a decision that is in their best interests. It might cost you the subsequent election, but I imagine that if you truly care about the lives of your constituents, then it’s a sacrifice that you’ll have to make. So, what will it be?”

The mayor was left conflicted by the dilemma the small woman had presented. He twirled his mustache as Fall recognized that he tended to when he was up to no good. Certainly, the man understood Bell’s point. It was only logical that he should act in the interest of the lives of his citizens, even at the risk of upsetting them. But for him, his position was everything. Since being banished to this land of poverty, his status as mayor was the only prestige he had left besides his name. Without it, he would be just another bottom dweller from The Baening. And unfortunately for both Fall and Bell and the rest of the citizens, the mayor’s decision was laced with his desire to cling to that last drop of relevance.

“I trust that you two will deal with matters so that they don’t get to that point.” After uttering the words, he turned back to the crowd and projected his voice. “Ms. Jill, please…. Please make your way to the stage. Detective Fall would like to talk to you about your husband’s murder. The rest of you are free to stay or leave if you please.”

Bell’s palm smacked the center of her face, and Fall sighed with a grin. “You tried.”

“It appears that I am no better than you are in the field of diplomacy, Fall.”

“And for entirely different reasons,” he said.

While the crowd had still been stewing in its own murmurs, for the most part, the tension had eased up as Jill slowly made her way past the guards and stepped onto the stage with Fall and the mayor.

“W-well then, the two of you may go ahead,” the mayor said, backing away carefully.

The innkeeper’s wife glanced curiously at the mayor at his sudden backing, before turning back to face Fall, the short brown hair that hung off the sides of her face swaying with the wind.

“Hey, what’s she got on her hip there?” Bell whispered into Fall’s ear.

His gaze dropped down to the tasteful sheathed dagger that she’d worn on her side, slung over by a leather strap.

“Nothing that’ll help her,” Fall responded quietly.

The woman, tensing up at the whispering, glanced between the man and the fairy before finally opening her mouth. “Um, you… wanted to speak to me again, detective?”

At her words, Fall grinned.

“Speak? No, that won’t be necessary.”

“What do you…”

Before she could get the words out, the bullet had already pierced the square of her forehead.

No one had seen him draw the gun.

It was a fluid, precise movement done with the deliberation of a cowboy that had practiced the draw thousands of times before. The woman’s blood splatted out of the back of her head, splashing onto the floor of the stage and even painting the armor of some of the guards below.

There was a moment of disbelief where the crowd seeped in the reality silently. The shock clung to the skin of their neck, preventing their breath from escaping their lungs. It had taken a good second or two before the first scream signaled the eruption of yelling and terror as the sight of the woman’s head being opened up front to back had finally registered in their minds. The view they were gifted with had, in no uncertain words, instilled within them a terror that in all likelihood was on par with that of a vicious monster raid on their town. Now that the dice had been thrown down, there was no going back.

“Fall, you’re certain that it’s her, right…?” Bell asked.

“Bell, it’s far too late to be asking that type of question,” Fall responded.

The sight of the woman’s corpse falling to the ground with a thud before the eyes of the entire town. The lingering ring of the gunshot that hadn’t even properly been processed by some who stood among the frightened crowd, Its essence permeating every ear in the vicinity. the guards who rushed towards Fall with a vengeful rage coloring the eyes that peeked through the slits in their helmets.

The climax of his detective work had finally come under way.

Fall grinned, having once again gambled his life in the only way the defective detective knew how.