The Copy Cat Cultist: Hour Five
Sniffer goes to talk to the coffee lady who Munvit was friends with and learns more about the victim’s social network. Firewall, Download, and Virus continue interviewing the quads of the victims, none of whom seem to have solid alibis as the crime occurred very early in the morning. Neither Lugnio the swampdwelling oliveblood, Ascemi the yellowblooded barista, Diorxu the indigoblood party planner, or Seafti, Diorxu’s brownblooded assistant have good alibis.
At the end of the hour, Seafti gives the officers a disturbing call.
Sniffer
The park is bustling with the lunch hour. There are people everywhere enjoying their lunches in the fresh air, sitting on the benches under the statues, buying food and coffee from the carts that line the park. It's a fairly big park, and not the best kept, but it doesnt seem to have affected their popularity. It's more blue collar around here, the people populating the park are wearing factory uniforms and work clothes rather than the suits of the upper cities. There's lawns are starting to out grow their paths, the paint on the benches are wearing away. There's a cart selling hot chocolate and coffee on the corner.
Sniffer glances around the area, cringing hard and putting a hand to her head. It's way too loud her and it's driving her nuts. Too loud, too many people to potentially interact with. Too many people talking directly to her whether she wants to hear them or not. Wonderful. She grabs her notepad, checking her notes several times before she's able to focus on her own words. This job is a pain sometimes. Right. Find the lady who sells coffee and hot chocolate. Since there's a cart for it over that way, that would probably be the best place to start.
The cart lady smiles up at Sniffer as she approaches. She's got an open, friendly face, freckled. Her eyes are still grey, but you can see that her irises have a hint of brown to them. "Hi," she exclaims. "How can I help you?"
"Hello ma'am!" She exclaims, keeping her voice cheerful despite her badly worsening headache. "I actually had a question for you, if you don't mind." She clears her throat, wincing again. Ow, head. Ow, head. Ow. "Would you happen to know a troll named Munvit? He's red. I was told he might come here sometimes?"(edited)
The coffee lady's face stays the same as she blinks questioningly at Sniffer. "Um, no, I don't know anyone like that," she says. Munvit hadn't stopped by earlier that day like he usually did. And now some greyface was coming to look for him at her coffee stand? She doesn't like the sound of that. "I'm sorry you came out all this way."
If her first thought was that she doesn't know why he's missing, the odds are high that she's not involved in his murder. But still, anything she could find out would be helpful.
"Are you sure? Maybe I'm at the wrong coffee stand." Sniffer knows she isn't. She proceeds to give the coffee lady a physical description of Munvit, minus the being dead of course, right down to what he was wearing. "Are you sure you haven't seen him?"
The anon gives her a good description of Munvit, including what he was wearing yesterday. The coffee lady stays smiling but there's an uncomfortable tinge to it now. "I'm really sorry," she says. "I don't think I can help you."
Sniffer sighs, quietly pulling out her badge. She didn't want to have to do this the hard way. "Ma'am, he's missing and very important to a case. We need to find out where he's been and who he's been talking to if we're going to have any hope of finding out what happened to him."
The coffee lady stiffens as the badge gets brought out. She was so insistent that she knew something- a very good tip? Perhaps some mind reading powers? She would be in very much trouble if she lied from here on out, of that she was very certain.
"I-" she stammers. "I mean, I've seen him around." She hesitates. If this lady was really a cop, then something must have happened. "Is he alright?"
"We don't know yet." She lies, feeling quite bad about it. But it may be in the best interest for this case right now to pretend like Munvit could still be alive. "We have reason to believe he could be alive still, but we're investigating. And anything you can share about him, who he was with, and what he was doing when you saw him last could help us significantly." A pause before she adds. "I'm only here for information."
She's lying. Munvit was a street rat. No one would take notice of his disappearance unless something had happened. And where would she have gotten Munvit's name? "I- I-" she hesitates. "He would come by every so often. He was a sweet kid. I gave him hot chocolate sometimes, especially when it was cold."
"When was the last time you saw him?" She asks, pulling out her notepad. Now they were getting somewhere. Poor kid, though. "Did he seem like something was bothering him?"
The coffee lady shakes her head. "Yesterday morning. He was upset about something, but he wasn't talking to me about it, not in any detail." She had thought it was maybe quadrant trouble- Sanzas often stopped by with him but she hadn't seen the two boys together in a few days. She's not sure she wants to bring Sanzas under the eye of the PDPO though.
"Was he alone?" She asks, raising an eyebrow. Something was bothering him? It could have just been the fight with Sanzas. But that's still a good note to jot down.
The coffee lady nods.
She nods back, making another note. "If I could have your name and where to contact you if I need further information, that would be lovely."
The Coffee lady grabs a napkin and scribbles her name and a handle on it. Eithie Oskizi. coffeeLady. "Here," she says. "Would you like some coffee as well?" If the cop was going to take up her time, then she might as well have a cup, really.
"Ah. If you're offering, sure." She's keeping a close eye on both Eithie's hands and what she can pick out of her thought stream as a safety measure. But honestly, she really could use the pick me up right about now. "That would be very nice, thank you."
Eithie pours Sniffer a cup of coffee and gives her a handful of sugar packets and cream. "That'll be five caegars," she says.
"Haha, that's fair." She pops the money down on the table, along with a bit extra for the tip. "Thank you very much for your time, ma'am." Hopefully you won't need to come knocking on her metaphorical front door again. Or literal, for that matter, Sniffer thinks as she takes the coffee. She stops. "Ah, one more question, please. Which was was Munvit heading when you last saw him leave?"
Eithie points Sniffer in the direction of the city proper, towards the part of the city where Munvit's body was found.
"Thank you. Have a good day!" She calls out as she heads that way, taking out her communicator to relay her findings to the team.
While she's walking away from the park, Sniffer decides to take another peek through the files to see if the previous suspects had any relations to the area Munvit came from.
As she looks through, there's a few connections! The park is perhaps a ten minute walk from the bus stop where Munvit was found. Diorxu and Seafti's event planning agency is a couple blocks away and Ascemi's place of work is a short train trip over.
Sniffer clicks her tongue, flipping to a fresh page in her notebook to start making a diagram. The park is here, the bust stop is there.....She quickly draws a triangle between the most relevant places on her diagram. Now the next step, she thinks, is to figure out when everyone was working in comparison to the murder time.
She pulls up a map on her phone to compare her notes to. It's an indigo they need to watch out for, but unless the indigo was very sick and very weak (or very young), that doesn't line up with the profile they have of someone fairly weak pulling off the murder. Could the killer have possibly been another child? Or someone pulling the strings in the background? Something about these connections are making Sniffer nervous and she decides to message her team to share her thoughts.
Virus
Lugnio Akioz is a marshtroll, living by the swamp and runs a ferry to take people through the forest. She can be found at the edge of town. She's an oliveblood, and the murdered yellowblood's former auspistice.
In rubber boots up to their knees, Virus wades through barely ankle high water and soft ground to get to Lugnio. The first spot they look is the pier where her ferry is supposed to be.
The pier sits out in front in the muck, empty. A small hut is built on a patch of dry land just as the marsh begins. Virus can see a face poke in from the window, and a large troll steps out. She's tall and heavyset, wearing marsh waders that come up halfway to her thigh. She's olive, clearly, wearing a vest that declares her hue. Her hair is in curls around her face with large square glasses. She raises an eyebrow when she sees virus coming, and points to a narrow strip of land near covered in marsh grass. "Ye missed the path there, stranger," she says.
Virus looks to where she's pointing, at their boots, and then at her. "Probably", they agree. Stepping up onto the path, they rummage for their badge to show it to Lugnio. "PDPO. No trouble, I just want to ask some questions about Drezum. Can I?"
Her eyes narrow from behind her her glasses, then sighs and gestures for them to step up. "Of course," she says. "I'm still waiting on the return ferry. Would you like some water?"
Virus taking off their mask would mean that she sees their cracked mouth corners - and that they would have to touch a strange glass. They'd rather not.
"No", they tell her, "enough of that out here. But thanks." They step up, waiting for her cue to come inside or not. "I have a case file, but I don't understand it. Maybe you know more." A beat, and they crane their neck up at Lugnio to watch her more closely. "Why no struggle?"
She pushes the door open and gestures for them to come inside. "Wipe off your boots please," she says. It's a small office with a desk of paperwork and what are probably financial logs. There's a small, open air kitchen to the side where Lugnio pours herself a glass of water. She gestures towards the chair in front of her desk for V to sit in. She takes her glass back to the desk and takes a deep drink from it before she looks back up at V.
"I'm sorry?" she says, like she has no idea what V is talking about.
Virus makes very sure to wipe their boots off properly, probably too sure to not be awkward. They sit when Lugnio invites them to, then sighs when she has no idea what they're talking about.
"Night of their death, the body was found in an undisturbed hive. They wouldn't just let someone kill them, yes?" 'Pretty stupid', they don't add, but only with a lot of tongue biting.
Lugnio considers them for a moment before shaking her head. "No," she says. "They would have never laid down and died. They were an exceptionally proud person."
"Yeah. Weird, no?" They pull a thoughtful face under the mask. "Any idea about that? Did they have allergies, weaknesses, blind spots?"
Lugnio shakes her head. "Nothing of the sort," she says. "Only that they were a lowblood, and more susceptible than most to mind control. That is my theory."
"Hmmmmm." It's possible. "Did they have a feeling of being watched or followed?" Virus drums their fingers on their lap. They would've liked that glass of water, actually. "Or a regular schedule? Were they easy to predict? Alone a lot?"
Lugnio sighs. "I don't know about being followed or watched. Drezum had a delivery business that took them all over town. They were visible, but not regular, and most of their deliveries they made alone."
"Then why at hive and not out in the open?" It's more to themself than to her. "...Anything else you think I have to know?"
"Why have you come, asking about a case that has been closed for three sweeps?" Lugnio asks. "I can't imagine I have anything to add that you don't already know.
"It's open again", they grumble. "Shit around here never stays quiet. So I'm just rolling everything back up. Who knows." Sniffing, they add: "Also with the other people. Clade of old victims and all that. There's that support group thing - do you go to that?"
Lugnio frowns, her eyebrows drawing in close as she eyes Virus up and down. "Did they catch the wrong troll?" she asks. "Someone else is dead? I did attend a few of them but it was not my sort of meeting. I prefer to deal with grief myself and my own quadrants. Drezum was not my only one."
"Is there ever a right troll?", they deadpan. "So no contact with anyone there? Don't think I would go either." Virus looks out the window and into the marsh land. "Did your other quadrants know them?"
Lugnio scratches her head. "I talked with Ascemi and Seafti for the most part," she says. "I thought Diorxu doted on them as a replacement for their moirail, and I did not want to be a part of that. They have gone on their own paths as I have mine. My other quadrants met Drezum, but they have not met the others who were involved in the investigation. Have you spoken with Niosno?"
"Ew." Virus makes a mental note here: Check Ascemi and Seafti to confirm. "Not yet. Why?"
Lugnio sighs and takes another long drink of water before she answers. "Niosno dislikes talking about this period of our lives. He adored Drezum. He Ascended about a sweep ago and refuses to stay in contact with me. I believe he prefers to pretend Drezum never existed, his heart was so broken."
"Damn." V considers this for a moment, decides they would do the same thing, and pushes it away. "Cold." "Can you give me contact info on your other quads? And another thing. What were you doing 3am this morning?"
Lugnio writes a couple names on the back of the business card. "Camrai is my matesprit. Skiori, my moirail." She wrinkles her nose as she looks Virus over. "Well. I was hive, asleep, like most people at that hour, I would assume. There was a murder then."
"You could say that", Virus deadpans, taking the card. "But that's all I can say. Are there any cameras around here? People who can confirm that?" Everyone is guilty until proven innocent. They can't let their sympathies get in the way of that.
"My moirail was hive with me," Lugnio says. "There are no cameras around my hive. I'm afraid to say."
Their moirail of all people. Virus sighs. "Anything else? Any emails with timestamps you sent, tv shows you watched, people you called?" Probably not at three in the morning.
Lugnio still looks calm as ever as she shakes her head. "No," she says. "I was asleep as would most of your suspects would be, I assume."
"Yes." Virus agrees. And, after a beat, "That's going to be a problem." As they get up, they take one last look around the hive to see if anything is suspicious, or if they maybe have an epiphany. "Call me if you remember anything else", they tell Lugnio, just as a distraction, before they slide her one of their business cards.
There's nothing unusual about the office. Lugnio accepts their business card and nods. "Of course, officer," she says. "Good luck."
"Thanks", they say, with the feeling that there's something vital that they're missing.
On the way out, Virus' phone rings. Caller ID shows that its Download.
"Yeah?", they grunt, after they've made sure that the door behind them is closed. That's all Download gets.
"Hey V," Download's voice comes in. "So we may have a slight problem. One of the interviewed witnesses is missing."
Download and Firewall
Ascemi Everra, you find is a barista in a little coffee shop in the city. They're a yellowblood, and the interview notes them as highly nervous. They were the deceased Izlato Crefex's moirail.
Firewall looks at the file dubiously, then back at the coffee shop's facade. "They're nervous, D," she says. "I'm going to scare the piss out of them if I'm not careful."
Download grins at her. "Then be careful you dolt. Smile a little, and don't make sudden movements. I'll soften you up a touch."
Firewall makes a dramatically pained face, then slides on a pair of moonglasses to hide her staticky psi-eyes. Shaking herself out slightly, she pushes the door open and stalks into the coffeeshop, scanning the staff for someone matching Ascemi's description.
There's actually quite a few people bobbing in and out of the coffee shop, business trolls and workers on their lunch breaks, grabbing a bite to eat. You don't get a second glance in the fuss. There's a small group of baristas working the orders, and you spot one that matches their description. They're a weedy little thing, with horns that curve around their head to the back. They've got a round face, and giant, round glasses that sit on a big nose, and they're busy mixing coffee in the back.
Firewall scowls and elbows her way to the front of the line. She drums her fingers sharply on the table to get attention, then signs, "Hello, we're here to speak to Ascemi Everra."
After a pause, she adds, "They're in no trouble."
Download pulls out his badge and flashes it towards the barista, and says. "Hi, we're Download and Firewall from the PDPO. We need to speak to Ascemi Everra." The barista glances back uneasily.
"Don't worry, they're not in trouble." The barista glances towards their coworker, whose calling out the name of a customer to step forward to accept their coffee.
"Ascemi!" they say, and the two exchange a few quick words. Ascemi glances at the two cops nervously. "Hi," they say nervously. "Um, I need to get my manager real fast."
Firewall gestures acquiescence and tries to arrange her face into a softer, gentler expression. How well she fares is.... dubious. "We only want to talk," she says.
"Um," they say, and then dodges really quickly to the back. The barista in front holds a hand up, as if to prevent pursuit. "It's the lunch hour and we're busy," they say hastily. "We just need some... back up out here?"
"It's fine," Firewall says., craning her neck to watch Ascemi go. "We wouldn't want to... disrupt your..." She looks to Download for help, clearly floundering under her unaccustomed diplomacy. "Operation of business?"
"We wouldn't want to make this harder on anyone here," Download says. "We can wait."
Ascemi comes hurrying out the back again, followed by a tealblood manager, short and nearly square shaped, with little round spectacles sitting on his nose. "If you would please step aside so business may continue?"
"Of course." Firewall attempts a pacifying smile. "We only want to question Ascemi about an old case they were involved in, if they wouldn't mind speaking to us." As Download translate this, she steps back from the counter, gesturing to a nearby table.
The manager gives them a sharp look. "So they are not in trouble?" he asks. Download smiles down at him and shakes his head no. "We're simply here for a new perspective."
Ascemi takes off their apron as they come out from the back, nervously stepping around the two officers to sit down at the empty table. "Hello," they say, a slight waver in their voice. "What can I do to help you?"
Firewall sits down across from them, slumping a little in her seat to appear less imposing . "Would it make you more comfortable to have your manager stay with us? We want to talk to you about Izlato."
Ascemi glances behind the counter where their manager has taken their place in the working line and shakes their head. "It's fine," they say hesitantly. "Why do you want to know about Izlato? Did something happen?"
"We're taking another look into the case, in light of some new evidence." Firewall adjusts her glasses uncomfortably. "Did Izlato have any interest in or encounters with the occult in the nights before their death?"
Ascemi fiddles nervously with their lenses too. "No, they were very on the straight and narrow," they say. "They were studying for their Ascension exams when they were-" They look down. "You know. They were studying to be a legislacerator. They had hoped to work with the ISE."
"That must have been terrible for you." Firewall thinks about patting their hand, but decides nah, too much. "Did they notice anyone following them? Did you?"
Ascemi shakes their head no. "I don't think so," they say. "I know we were rails but they mostly took care of me instead of the other way around. I didn't notice anything strange, and I don't know if they would have told me if they did notice."
Firewall leans in a bit. "And their other quadrants? Can you tell me anything about them? Were you close as a clade?"
Ascemi shrinks back a little, as Firewall leans forward.
"Um," they say. "Well. Izlato's ash, Delmei, they're dead now. It was a bus accident a sweep ago. Izlato's red, um-" They turn a little yellow as they rub the back of their neck. "She's scary. Somria never liked me. She Ascended, almost right after Izlato died."They smile hesitantly up at the two officers. "Well, neither of them liked me so much," they say. "Izlato sort of kept me away from them."
Firewall leans back again and takes notes on her phone. "I see. And you haven't been in contact with her since?"
Ascemi shakes their head. "No. She's in space now primed to lead some Mirthful ship."
"Mirthful? Is she indigo, then?"
Ascemi nods. "She and Izlato were aiming to be partners within the ISE."
Firewall's eyebrows go up mildly and she glances sidelong at Download. "Interesting. Just a few more questions -- did you ever meet with the clade of the other victims? I understand there was some support group organized." She looks back at Download. "Say I want to hear what they think of the other trolls in that group, but like. Nicely."
"We understand that there was a sort of support group for the clades of the victims," Download says with a gentle smile. "Can you tell us how those meetings went?" Ascemi blinks owlishly up at you.
"Oh," they say. "Yes. It was really just Diorxu and Seafti most of the time, and I came quite often. Lugnio too, sometimes? She didn't come very often too."
"It was nice, to talk to someone about it," Ascemi says. "Since Somria and Delmei didn't really like to talk about it. Seafti was devastated and Diorxu seemed just sort of lost."
"How long did you continue having these meetings? And what did you talk about?"
"Well, we had them all the way up until they caught the leader of the cult," Ascemi says. "And then we met up a couple times after that, before we stopped having them regularly. I still talk to Seafti sometimes though."
Firewall nods and tries to look understanding. "And this morning, where were you?"
"This morning?" Ascemi frowns, confused. "I was hive, getting ready for work."
"When did you arrive here?"
"Seven?" Ascemi asks, glancing between Download and Firewall, like an answer will suddenly appear on their faces.
Firewall raises her eyebrows again. "Is there anyone who can confirm your whereabouts at around three? It's very important."
"Um," Ascemi says, alarmed. "I was at hive, asleep. I live alone.""Am I- Am I a suspect? Handmaid, do you think I killed Izlato and the rest?"
"Of course not," says Firewall, but Download can probably tell from the way she's signing it that she's being completely insincere. "We have to ask everyone these routine questions for... administrative reasons."
Download repeats what she says but in a much more believable and charming way. "It's really just routine procedure," he says. "Don't worry, about it. But we may need to contact you later. Do you have a good number to do so?"Ascemi nods shakily, only half convinced, and gives you their number.
"Much obliged," says Firewall, with the slow, lazy gestures that are her version of a sarcastic drawl. "We'll leave you to deal with your work again now."
"Thank you," Ascemi says, and runs back for the safety of the counter, where their coworkers and managers all ask about what the heck is going on. "What do you think?" Download signs at Firewall.
"Seems shifty," she signs back. "Could just be normal shifty, though, not suspicious-shifty. No confirmation for the alibi, either."
Download simply shrugs. "Well it was very early in the morning. Most people just aren't up then. Let's go."
Firewall nods and opens the door for him with a flourish.
Firewall's phone rings as she leaves the coffee shop. Neither Download nor Firewall recognize the number.
She fishes it out, squints at the number. After confirming Download doesn't know who's calling, either, she answers the call, putting it on speakerphone but not immediately answering.
A thin shaky voice comes out the speakerphone. "Hello, Officer Firewall? It's Seafti, remember? The- the assistant?" Download pauses, glances up at Firewall, then leans over to speak into the receiver.
"Hi Seafti, this is Officer Download. Firewall is right next to me." The next bit of words come out in a bit of a rush. "It's... It's Diorxu. They've been acting kind of weird since I got back? I gave them the projector, but it was like it wasn't important anymore. They asked me to get some weird things and snapped at me when I asked questions and... I'm sorry to bother you but I thought I should... I should maybe call."
Firewall's eyebrows shoot up. "Tell her thanks," she signs rapidly. "Tell her she was right to let us know. Ask what Diorxu wanted her to get, and where they are now."
After Download translates, Seafti says, "A wig, a file, an envelope they had stashed in the bottom of a drawer... um, it was kind of thick but I'm not sure what was in it. Um, um. I'm at the wedding from earlier and I-" There's a crash through the sound on the phone. "Oh shit." is the last thing you hear before there's a short scream and a crunch, and the line goes dead.
Still holding the phone, Firewall looks at Download -- her eyes are wide as she signs (and mouths) the same words they just heard: "Oh shit." Then she swings into action, pulling up the address of the wedding. "We need to get over there," she signs. "We need to be over there ten minutes ago, but I'll take ASAP. Come on."
END HOUR FIVE
