Aper was sitting on the couch with his head laid back and eyes closed. Mushu was long asleep, and the silence filled the room even after Skyleene and Old Dulles left. His phone started ringing, causing Mushu to open his eyes questioningly. The man answered without looking at the ID and waited for the person to say something.
"Detective Aper Koden, we ask for your presence at Night Light Hotel, nr 35 Lizar Street. A murder has occurred, and we believe it has some relation to your current case. A team is already there waiting for you."
And with that, agent Kyle, the one who called, ended the phone call. Aper sat straight from the couch and rubbed his temple. If it had something to do with the Purple Case, the whole city might be in grave danger as it could have some portal opened which was not good. His gaze shifted to Mushu, who was looking at him with big eyes.
"Looks like duty calls. Want to come?"
At the end of the sentence, Mushu jumped from the armchair and walked straight to the door, looking behind him as Aper followed. He did not come in his car, so they had to grab a cab. Sky leene's house was near the forest, so they had to walk a bit to reach the city.
Once they reached the crowded streets, Aper's eyes wandered for a free cab.
❧
Skyleene was gazing in the distance, her mind busy with thoughts that never left. Why was she still in Condemned City, or what was her purpose? Her eyes got glued on the hotel across the road: Night Light. The university was massive next to the hotel, each detail visible from the balcony. Police cars began circling the hotel area, making her frown. A police officer lined with yellow tape the door, so no one left or entered. She straightened up and watched closely as a crowd started forming, the night's silence getting covered by the police sirens and the crowd's murmur.
She got closer to the edge and leaned on her elbows, trying to take a closer look. As she leaned more, her legs slipped and almost fell if a pair of arms had not caught her waist. She turned her head, finding a man looking at her with a concerned look. He was tall, wearing a black suit with a white mask. His hair looked soft as it was slightly bouncing when he moved. A thing that caught her eye was a scar at the corner of his mouth, looking like a delicate but terrifying line.
She straightened up and removed his hands.
"Thank you!"
"No problem. What are you doing here?"
"I was thinking about... things. What about you?"
"I heard the police sirens and came here to take a look over the area. This balcony has the best view."
She hummed in response, turning away to look at the hotel again.
"I wonder what happened", he said with a low tone.
She was about to say something, but her eyes caught a glimpse of a cab who just reached the hotel. She saw a familiar figure coming out of it, accompanied by a black moving body, who she identified as Mushu.
"Aper..." she said under her breath, leaving the balcony and the man behind.
He watched as she hurriedly left his sight. He noticed the determination and courage she had and got impressed. He also felt how attached she was. Without a second thought, he made his mind. Skyleene Cathle was the best choice to accomplish greatness together.
She knew there was a grave danger awaiting. She ran down the stairs and reached the big closed doors. She tried to open them, but they were locked. A girl approached her, tapping on her shoulder.
"You must be Skyleene Cathle, right? I heard a lot about you", she said with a monotone.
Skyleene turned around and looked at the girl's face. She was blonde, wearing a red dress with cleavage. Her face had a red mask that had a purple jewel in the middle. Skyleene raised her eyebrow, but the girl could not see that.
"And you are?|"
"I am just a fan of yours; you do not need my name. What are you doing, already leaving? You know, I didn't see you around that much, and now that I finally do, I'm a bit disappointed. You want to leave so badly as if you are hiding something", she said with an annoying tone, like the one spoiled brats use when they bully someone. "You're boring, with this whole mystery around you. Give us something else to talk about, come on! You are the witch of Condemned City! You have to be all-mighty; otherwise, you would not have been at the top of the class all these years. Not to mention, you have also been here for the longest time. Care to share your secrets, miss witch?"
"I appreciate the fact that you call me a witch. It gives me the power to ignore you, as my rank is higher than yours."
She faked a smile and left her sight. The girl huffed and turned after Skyleene, wanting to say something else, but she was already blending in the crowd.
Once far enough from that girl, Skyleene sighed and looked around for an entrance. The only way in were the front doors, and they were locked. She sighed and came back to them; hopefully, someone would open them. She reached the doors again and looked around hopelessly when she heard a familiar voice calling for her.
"Skyleene, what are you doing here?" Old Dulles approached her.
"Something happened at the Night Light Hotel. I saw Aper and Mushu. We have to go and help them. Do you know how to get out of here? These doors are locked."
Without missing a beat, the man forced the doors, but they did not budge.
"There's the academics entrance. I don't know why these doors are locked. It's the first time this happened." Old Dulles lead the way towards the entrance, visibly worried.
"So you are saying this is the first conference the doors got locked?"
"Yes."
Skyleene thought of it for a minute and found it weird, but she did not have time to figure it out. Her friends needed help.
The door was on the other side of the room; it was small and painted gold to look expensive. Once outside, Skyleene was able to breathe the cold air and feel comfortable again. They were on an ally, next to the Academy's walls. Right ahead was the hotel, and they rushed there when they saw a CCPD transporter.
❧
Aper got out of the car and got greeted by the lead officer, who told him about the incident. It seemed that a woman who rented a room there was found dead in her apartment. The receptionist said the name of the lady was Sasha Shaw. She lived alone, with no signs of other people in the apartment. The call was from a maid who was walking through the corridor. She said she heard weird sounds and a glass breaking; that urged her to rush to the room and enter it, revealing the dead lady.
He made his way upstairs to the woman's room and found the door open. Inside, in the middle of the living room, her body was on the floor. A connection to the Charlie Nim case was the purple dust that was everywhere. He quickly took some samples of the dust to show Skyleene and Old Dulles. Mushu came by his leg and sniffed the lady's hand, starting to shake it with his paw.
"Hey boy, what's wrong?" Aper asked with a concerned voice.
He looked where the cat was sniffing two seconds ago and found a tight fist. He slowly opened it, revealing a folded paper. He carefully took it and read it, a frown forming on his face as he stared at the words.
❧
Skyleene and Old Dulles rushed across the Academy's lawn and reached the hotel where the police gathered. The girl asked a policeman Aper's location; she dashed with Old Dulles through the hotel doors without listening to the man's question of who she was.
Once they reached the apartment, they entered through the open door and found Aper frozen next to a body. At the sound of their fast movements, he turned around at them. Skyleene noticed the paper in his hand and reached out to him, placing a hand on his shoulder. He moved aside, giving an open view of the woman on the floor.
At the sight of the body, Skyleene studied her features, trying to give her an identity, but failed for a moment. The hair and her face gave Aper a questioning look, Old Dulles doing the same.
"I never met this woman before", she said. "Who is she?"
At the sound of her sure voice and the sight of her serious face, Aper realized she was telling the truth.
"Well, she knows you, and it looks like she wanted to visit you", he said, handing her the paper. "The receptionist said her name is Sasha Shaw and that she was alone when she made the reservation."
Her eyes wandered from him to the paper before finally taking it in her hands. On the thin paper, calligraphic letters formed her name and address. Old Dulles checked from behind her back, frowning more than before.
"Whoever this woman was, she wanted your help Skyleene", Old Dulles said.
"I guess so, but how could I be of any use to her? I do not even know what the purple dust is", she said, giving Aper back the paper.
"Maybe she thought you knew", Aper said short.
"Speaking of dust", Old Dulles said, approaching the body. He crouched next to her and brushed his fingers across her blouse, collecting some stands of purple dust. "Is this the dust you two wanted me to check out?"
The girl sighed: "Yes, but please be careful. I got attacked by a rabid person who had the same dust on it. Who knows what can happen if you are not careful. My skin started to itch, and I got some red spots."
"I cannot say much right now, but you are right Skyleene, it is out of Awo Aro, but it has some other plants included. By the smell, I can tell it is a mixture of thistles."
"But they do not smell."
"Yes, in the original form, they do not, but their milk does. Whoever made this mixture knew that in combination with thistle milk, it becomes like cigarettes. Thistles act like drugs when digested; they calm your senses down. Their scent after digestion makes you behave like a rabid. Sure, thistles get used for medical resources - to soothe the patient, for example."
Skyleene looked at the woman's body and face. A part of her felt like she knew her. The woman was wearing a simple blue pajama out of two parts, the pants elastic looking a bit too tight for her. One thing caught her eye; the woman's nails. They were long, painted red, just like the rabid's nails. It might be a coincidence - many women have red nails, so she did not think of it too much, but the woman who attacked her had a similar shape to Sasha. She started wondering if they could be the same person.
"Aper, do you remember when you saved me from that rabid woman?"
He hummed in response.
"Did you do a background check on her? I have the odd feeling that this woman is her."
"I didn't. I took care of you and didn't do any research, to be honest. It could be probable, though. Does she look familiar to you?"
"Yes. We should check that alley. Maybe we can find some clues. Have you inspected the apartment?"
"I got here like five minutes ago; I got the report and investigated the body: signs of violence, that purple dust and some cuts from the broken glass. I will make sure the body gets to autopsy. Feel free to check the apartment while I get some papers from the guys."
She got up and started examining the apartment: a basic hotel apartment, with a double bed, a wardrobe, a table and the same furniture of a room. She wandered around, checking the woman's bathroom, bed and clothes. She found a piece of red material in the wardrobe - that resembled the rabid's dress. That made her frown, but she went back to her work.
Aper continued his investigation, speaking with his colleagues who took pictures of the body or wrote stuff on a notepad. Taking a last glance at the girl and elder in the room, he left the apartment to talk with the staff.
Old Dulles sniffed the dust so profoundly that he forgot what Awo Aro did. There was not much research on that flower, which was why Skyleene's mission was to find more about it. Since she did not have any luck for three years, he started looking for the flower himself and found a possible place where he might be able to find it; he did not check it out yet. The dust, in its consistency, had a sticky texture and smelled very addicting. It was like glitter mixed with cocaine, sticking to everything and hard to get rid of while creating an addiction. He stood up and went to the sink in the bathroom to clean his hand. The dust fell right away, which made him sure that thistles were in the mixture.
Skyleene looked at the drawers next to the bed and found old photos of the woman and her family, perhaps. She had a son and a daughter that looked very close and a tall husband with a grim face in every picture. The last one, where he was not present, caught Skyleene's attention. In one of the photos, she acknowledged a small scar in the corner of the man's mouth – "just like that man", she thought. She frowned and looked over the drawer again and again - nothing.
She stood with the pictures in her hand, looking for Old Dulles, finding him in the bathroom.
"I found some pictures of the woman and her family. Mind taking a look at this?"
"What is it?"
"This man. He is in every picture except for the last one. Is it possible he died? Their faces look very sad."
"People do not die in Condemned City. They either stay here for a long time or get a chance to enter Lights City. Maybe he could not reach in time for the picture. Something may have come up."
"Maybe, but it does not make sense. Why take a picture and look this sad when you could have waited for the man to be there. She would have a memory of everyone."
"Point taken", he said, massaging his chin and playing with a strand of his beard. "I know this man but not so well – he is a coworker. If he is still in town, then he is our suspect." Skyleene nodded.
They both got out of the bathroom and checked the woman once again. The dust was still there, her PJs were not even stained, and her face looked serene like she just got rid of a burden off her chest. Skyleene analyzed her hands again. The same red nails reflecting her face made her shiver. She looked at the red material she took from her wardrobe and thought for a second. To test her theory, she ripped the woman's top, receiving a confused and shocked face from Old Dulles.
The woman had the exact undergarments.
"It might only be a coincidence", she thought. She quickly ran to the wardrobe and rummaged through it. Her movements were fast, the clothes kept flying behind her, but all stopped once she found the red dress she remembered vividly.