[DINE] The Den of Deception

[kwando1313]

...

"Oh. I... See."

"I... Apologize for my eagerness, then."

...

"Was wondering... When were you contacted about the... Body?"

[Bad Player]

"I'm a consultant in Boston," Asher answers. "Like hell I'd want to do anything related to him."

-----

"Last night. It was kind of a rush job, y'know?" The first man answers.

"They had already picked out the casket and services they wanted though," the other man interjects. "We just didn't know when we would need to do it."

"Yeah, we normally don't do things on such short notice, but... everything has a price," the first man says.

As Rachel reaches the front of the house, a man who appears to be the head of the police here steps out, and they begin to talk.

[DWaM]

"Gotcha." I nodded. It was situations like those that I figured having a memo pad and pretending to write things down would give me the time to come up with some actually good questions. Unfortunately, merely wishing was not going to magically give me one. Nor was it going to change the fact that I was striking out on all of the conversations so far. Perhaps the best course of action was to ultimately just focus on the riddle (the job I'd been hired to do in the first place)?

I noticed Rachel and the other man walking outside.

"Excuse me for a moment, Asher."

I said, heading in the direction of the two, hoping to overhear their conversation.

[kwando1313]

"Ah, I see. Thank you very much for your information."

Seeing that Rachel seemed to be talking to someone... Important, and seeing that Edwam also headed in that direction, Mizuki joined Edwam.

[Reverie]

"Alright, f-fair point..."

Haru suppressed a nervous laugh -- she wasn't good around these kinds of people. It was obvious the maid was not willing to get along. Not only that, but her first question had been dodged entirely. Not wanting to give the maid any room to evade the matter at hand, she said:

"Alright. Your name, then, please."

[Bad Player]

Rachel, Edwam, and Mizuki approach the man who seems to be leading the police.

"I'm Charles Groud," he introduces himself. "We've finished our initial investigation."

"What happened?" Rachel breathlessly asks.

"There was an explosion," Groud answers. "In the northwest-most room, there was--"

"The living room?!" Rachel exclaims, cutting Groud off.

"Um, I suppose so," Groud replies.

"The body! What happened to the body?!" Rachel shouts.

"...Body?" Groud asks, clearly confused.

"We... We were holding Daniel's wake today. In the living room," Rachel says quietly.

"Ah..." Groud falls silent for a moment, a difficult expression falling over his face. "The room was completely destroyed. There... was no body when we checked."

"Wha..." Rachel quietly murmurs. She stands there in shock for a moment, but then brings up her hands to cover her face. Rachel doesn't sob, but takes deep, ragged breaths in and out. She seems to be holding herself together, even if it's only barely.

-----

"Nao Koyama," the maid introduces herself, doing a small curtsy. "It is my pleasure to serve you."

[DWaM]

"Like what I've done with the names? Groud? McNeil? Get it? ...No? Hrm. Maybe you just need to be left alone for a while to really... process all of this. If I were you, though, I'd get on with it. You don't know how long this is all gonna last.

Remember. This is the last time.

You should make the most of it."

I shook my head, unsure of what... that was supposed to be.

I put my hand on Rachel's shoulder and gave her the best look of consolation I could muster. I then looked at Groud. "Edwam McNeil. Pleasure. Do you happen to know what caused the explosion?"

[Reverie]

"I see. Thank you." It seemed a little odd that a change in her questioning style yielded a totally different kind of response, but Haru shrugged it off. After learning nothing much of note, Haru eyed the scene and spotted the woman from earlier. Rachel... that had been her name, hadn't it? She seemed upset -- nearly in tears. Edwam looked to be standing by her side, comforting her.

Well, it was understandable. Not everyone can deal with the loss of their loved ones so quietly.

Though it didn't seem the best time to intrude, Haru concluded there wasn't much else to do around the place, and approached her fellow detectives. Not wanting to disturb them too much, she gave the policeman a stiff, solemn smile of acknowledgement, then awaited his reponse to Edwam's question.

[Bad Player]

Groud looks at Rachel, unsure if he should continue, but then says, "From our inspection of the area, it seems it was a bomb of some sort that let out a powerful explosion within a small area. That room was completely decimated, but the rest of the house is okay. We checked the structural integrity of the house and it's fine, and we also confirmed there are no other explosives anywhere else in the house, so everyone can return inside. ...I'd recommend against going into the room where the explosion happened, though. That one might be unsafe."

-----

As Haru tries to walk away from Nao, the maid reaches out and grabs onto her sleeve.

"Excuse me, Miss, but I believe your 'friend' has some keys, does he not?" she asks, looking at Edwam. "I would greatly appreciate it if you could kindly ask him to return them."

[kwando1313]

"A... Bomb?"

"I guess... You have no idea where the bomb came from? As in, like, the location of where the bomb was within the room?"

[DWaM]

Keys?

My train of thought and ability to concentrate on the detective's findings were both broken upon the mention of "keys." Turned around as saw Haru in the maid's grip, talking to her about returning keys. I sighed, excused myself temporarily and went over to deal with the situation in a calm and reasonable matter.

"Hello." I said, grabbing onto Haru's other sleeve. "I would be the gentleman in the possession of the keys. Handing them over to you now would be a bit of a pain, mainly because there are so many in my pocket and, as you can see, we're a bit busy with other things. The chances of me accidentally not handing over one are pretty high and I don't think either of us wants confusion later down the line regarding this. Rest assured, though, I will return all that I have picked up on top of the drawer in which I found them in. The only reason I took them in the first place was out of panic. No malice or mischief was intended.

If they are not back within a certain amount of time, feel free to find me. Until then, I would appreciate it if you did not go around grabbing my partners' sleeves. Haru here, in particular, is quite sensitive to that sort of behavior."

I sighed. "Honestly, I expected a bit better from a maid of your obvious experience and stature..."

[Bad Player]

"It appears it was close to the ground, in the northern part of the room, a couple of feet from the window," Groud answers.

Upon hearing this, Rachel lets out a small squeal.

-----

Nao keeps a perfectly straight face through all of Edwam's speech, down to a little smile, even through the thinly veiled insult at the end.

She gives a small bow, and responds:

"I apologize for any inconveniences or misunderstandings. However...

"First, the keys are organized in a certain way within the drawer, and I would greatly appreciate it if you could give the keys back to me, so that you need not concern yourself with learning the organization of the keys and so that all those heavy keys need not burden your pockets any further.

"Second, I did not think or mean that you intended any malice or mischief, and I apologize if it appeared that I did. I understand that it was simply a result of unfortunate timing when the house shook.

"Third, I apologize for imprudently grabbing Miss Usami's sleeve. When Miss Usami turned to leave without even saying farewell and there was still the important matter of the keys to discuss, however, I simply could not allow the conversation to end.

"And fourth, I was not aware that you two had a prior relationship, or that you would know such intimate details about Miss Usami. But if what you say about her is true and she is particularly sensitive about her sleeves, I am surprised that you would grab them as well..."

[Reverie]

After listening to the two quarrel, she shook her arms free from both of their clutches.

"There's really no need to worry about this 'sleeves' business." She said. The way she hid her arms behind her back suggested otherwise.

"More importantly..." She stood beside Edwam, and turned to face the maid head-on.

"There's really no need to worry about us! Carrying the keys isn't much of a task for us. Quite the opposite." She gestured towards the grieving woman from earlier. Maybe roping the maid's employer into this would make her a little more 'agreeable.'

"As you've probably guessed, we were hired by Ms. Johnson to deal with the situation here -- solve that riddle to bring her some closure. Having the keys on hand would be incredibly helpful, Ms. Johnson would probably agree!"

...

She directed her gaze to Rachel once more.

"So. If you take issue with that, please consider who you're really hurting here."

[Bad Player]

The maid's smile spread slightly wider.

"I was about to suggest the same thing to you, in fact," she says.

"I understand that you were hired to solve the riddle," she emphasizes the last word, "But I fail to see how these keys will aid you in your mission. The house is open to you to the extent necessary for you to complete your job, and if you find any other area to which you need access please do not hesitate to ask me or Mr. Engel. But since the house is mostly open to you anyway, as our valued guests, and I find it unlikely you even know what the keys you hold go to, I fear that they will be little more than a burden without any benefit to you.

"This is an incredibly trying time for Ms. Rachel, and she is relying on Mr. Engel and I to smoothly manage the affairs of the house, for which the keys are essential. I do not believe Ms. Rachel will appreciate needless interference in the running of the estate. The essence of a maid is understand her master's wishes, so I am confident in my assessment of her opinion, but if you disagree or absolutely refused to be persuaded, we may be forced to consult with her..."

[DWaM]

I return the maid's smile.

"You know what? You have a point. Really, I don't know why I got so caught up and argumentative over something as simple as keys. Ha ha."

I took the keys out of my pocket and gave them back to the maid.

Spoiler : GM Keep Out :

I then leaned over to Haru and whispered: "It's no big deal. She has a point. Not like we know what the keys are for, anyway.

My bigger question right now is how she knew that I had the keys in the first place. Was she in the main hall at the time and we just hadn't noticed her...? I don't recall her being there when we first walked in, after all..."

"...Say. If you don't mind me asking, what were you doing when the explosion happened?"