Alexus sat at the dining table waiting for Doran to finish with the meal, he crossed his hands and rested his chin deep in thought. The investigator finished soon and laid a sizable conventional breakfast of bread, cheese, jam, ham, and some dessert with apricot tea. He muttered his gratitude and ate with the countenance of a starved man, it made up for the breakfast he missed just fine. Doran took a sip of his tea and was ready to continue. 'So, found anything yet?'
He swallowed his half of a bread slice in a go and was in a good enough mood to talk. 'We won't be able to find the killer with just this victim.' He took a sip from the cup. 'Whoever did this is skilled, incredibly so that they weren't anywhere in the area when they attacked. The pneuma also had prints of another life in it even though it surely came from one source, the offender is utilising a creature, symbiotic or absorbed? I don't know.
It could have also been looking for something but no drawers or cupboards were touched. Once it attacked Gary, it was over so it could be assumed whatever they wanted was on him. I've gotten all I need here, the rest of my work will be external.' Once he finished, he resumed eating. Doran was quiet and in thought, a few minutes passed before he spoke up again.
'Gary was an assassin and still active till of recent. A Muliebrity soldier of the Queen's battalion, it means he had a definite skill professionally. During the employment test of your mansion twenty-two years ago, he excelled in sensitivity, acute reaction, and protective consideration but all spells he had used were back handed, with enough power or slight change in the spells they were offensive spells. And following the historical chronicle of In the eye of her, men of the Queen were still generally trained after being selected and the first five spells of stealth of passing were exactly what Gary had used to pass the exam although washed out to be discrete.
The stealth of passing was spells of painless death sentences. The mercy bestowed to people of lesser crimes who thread off the path of the Queen generally used by soldiers to deserters. That's nowhere near the conclusion though.' He paused and drank the rest of the tea after noticing that it had begun to cool. Alexus passively stared at the investigator, the case had been eight hours at most and here he was ready with the background map of Gary's life tracing to twenty-two years ago, he acknowledged that Doran's ability to get information within short periods was truly what set him out.
'I was first on the scene with nothing touched yet. Gary had put on clothes to get ready for work but didn't finish dressing before he was attacked. He had already taken his bath, and at the door to the bathroom was his laundry basket with clothes folded and arranged in order of wear. He hadn't washed yet in three days, today would have been the fourth. A pyjamas per night but in the basket there was no pyjamas for last night, he wasn't in bed when he was supposed to.
This still doesn't mean anything of course but as of when I arrived, there were slightly wet shoe prints and it belonged to a pair of boots. Now, the shoes on his shoe rack are arranged and from their appearance and uses, field shoes were placed at the bottom, fancy occasion shoes in the middle, work shoes and home slippers on top. The boots were in the first category and on the boots were sprinkles of water, there was nowhere in the house that'd require a man to put on boots and fix something water related. It means it was worn out, but there wasn't any drizzling even with the threat of rain, and there are no patches of green anywhere around the neighbourhood that could be assumed he stepped on wet grass.
Where could the water have come from? Well, it so happens I was informed this morning of another incident, a body has been found at the port; a young woman of class. The port is the only place in Hargford that has a dense nightly fog that can cover over twenty kilometres.' The inspector and detective locked eyes. 'Stand in fog long enough, and you'll get wet.'
Doran leaned forward, eyes still holding the other. 'It's a long walk from the port though, long enough to get dry but when I checked Gary's spell book, it was also organised. The first set of spells were base defensive, a good combatant waits and analyses their opponents attacks to formulate a good return. The second set of spells was attacks, it was greatly varied and detailed in use and effectiveness in various given situations. The last spell was a quick, powerful, effective escape, teleportation. Teleportation only works when the user creates concentrated spells in areas they're familiar with.
Teleportation is instant, and will leave you in the same condition you were no matter where ever you go to.'
'Ah, I could be wrong tho.' Doran grinned. Alexus felt uneasy, a detailed logical analysis ended with callous words. He knew Doran was good at what he did and he had a feeling that if he had had any doubts about his deduction he wouldn't have said anything.