The door to Zetsurin's private chambers clicked open, and light spilled into the dark room. Rathus tucked the master key back into his pocket.

"Do you think she's trapped her room?" Musashi asked casually. "It's fairly common for Adventurers."

Rathus hesitated, hand hovering over the doorknob of the already-opened room. He waited, as if expecting a delayed reaction, before shaking his head. "No... she woulda told us if the room itself was trapped. And if the door were trapped, it'd have triggered already. Probably just avoid touching anything that looks valuable."

Ruth nodded, holding her hands up at shoulder height. They entered the room, Rathus taking point, while Ruth followed up behind, and Musashi took up the rearguard. They took a few steps into the room, and immediately ran into an issue.

"Where... is the light?"

Rathus peered around in the dark room. His eyes quickly adjusted to the darkness, but he couldn't make out any obvious lamps. It looked like there were magelights embedded in the ceiling, but he couldn't see any sigils, or anything that might activate it.

"Probably a command phrase?" Musashi asked.

Rathus sighed and reached into his pouch. He lifted a clear plastic tube out, thick and durable, with a copper Script embedded inside of it. He focused his Intent, triggering the Script as he shook the device. Immediately, it began to shine, releasing the light it had stored earlier that day. The lightstick illuminated the room dimly. He examined his surroundings. The penthouse took up a full half of the tower's top story, and was split into multiple rooms.

The room they were in now appeared to be a sitting room. A wide couch and a few comfortable-looking armchairs were arranged in the center of the room, around a crystal table which was built into the distended jaws of a giant serpent's skull, at least 5 feet long. Rathus guessed that it was likely a leviathan skull. The Deadly Siren was famed to have killed at least 3 of the terrifying sea monsters. There was a velvet curtain closed, along the full length of one wall. Based on the location, that was likely a window. There was another curtain however, which didn't reach the ground, and covered a large, rectangular section of another wall. Musashi immediately beelined for it.

"Musashi..." he cautioned.

"Relax," the Gun Knight said, turning to face Rathus as he continued to walk backwards towards the wall. He shrugged in a casual way, before turning back to his target. "We're looking for knives, yes? If I'm not mistaken, this looks like..."

"Something that'll be trapped." Rathus warned.

Musashi merely chuckled, reaching out to the pull-cord which opened the curtain. "You don't need to worry, Rathus," Musashi assured him, yanking on the cord. There was a loud twang, and the Gun Knight's arm shot up, catching a crossbow bolt out of the air. He looked the tip over, letting out an unimpressed grunt before snapping it in half and tossing it to the side. "I can handle traps."

The curtain opened, revealing a glowing rack of various weapons. Most were spears or polearms, although there were a few Star Magic staffs, some daggers, and even an axe that burned eternally, Overlaid with the True Name of Fire.

Musashi smiled breathlessly. "Now this is what I'm talking about."

"Don't touch anything, Musashi," Rathus warned. He looked around the room, but wasn't able to find anything that looked like a knife set. The only thing resembling food in here was the minibar. Rathus looked to the door leading further into the penthouse. He turned to find Musashi and Ruth both staring up at the weapons.

"You know, I considered that perhaps my true love wasn't a gun," Musashi confided in Ruth. She turned to stare at him, enraptured.

"Really? What, um..." she searched her pockets and managed to produce a small notepad and pencil from somewhere. "What types of weapon did you try?"

The Gun Knight laughed, amused. "Well... let's see... A spear, obviously. I was using a trident for a while. Then a few waraxes. One time I tried using four knives at once. Then this odd hammer on a chain."

Ruth wrote furiously, "Do you perhaps mean a flail?"

Musashi rubbed his chin. "Flail? Perhaps that was what I should have been doing. I'm not sure, to tell the truth. But it was quite literally a hammer on a chain, connected to a long wooden handle. Alas, it didn't fit. None of them did."

"We should move on to the next room," Rathus suggested. "I don't think the knives are in here."

"Ah, yes," Musashi noted. He gave one last look at the weapons, and after a moment's thought, blew them a kiss. He moved into the next room, followed close behind by the princess.

This one appeared to be a combination dining room and kitchen.

Ruth was confused by the room. She was used to the wide spaces of her palace, where the food was cooked in one room, and eaten in another. This strange combination of utility and efficient floor space usage was... unnatural somehow. Rathus walked into the kitchen portion, stepping onto the abrupt change from carpet to hardwood and shining his light at the counters.

"Ah, found it," he said.

Ruth moved over to investigate it. The set was visually impressive, clad entirely in gold, with three rows of knives. The handles of each knife were all identical, jutting out in exact, precise rows and columns, marred only by one knife missing from the very center. Ruth reached out and grabbed one of the knives at random, selecting the bottom right corner handle. She drew out a knife with a wide, flat, rectangular blade. She may not have been a cook, but she could at least recognize a cleaver when she saw one. She put it back and lifted the one above it, along with the one on the top left corner.

She held them up to Rathus. One was a tiny blade, barely the size of her thumb, a flat triangular wedge of a blade. The other was a long, wide blade with a gentle curve. Both were identical in all ways save for the blade, such that the smaller knife looked particularly ridiculous, with the blade dwarfed by the handle.

"Paring knife, and a chef knife," Rathus identified. Ruth glanced at the paring knife. She supposed she had no room to complain, but it struck her as odd to have an entire knife dedicated to pears. She opened her mouth to comment, when suddenly the lights flicked on. Rathus dropped his hand down to his gun in surprise, and Musashi fell into a fighting stance.

"Hello?" a voice called from the front room. Regis.

Rathus and Musashi relaxed. Ruth glanced at the knife block, then put the knives back, tucking the paring knife in the center and the chef knife back into the slot she had pulled it from.

"We're in here!" Rathus called out. After a moment, the Harem Master entered into the dining room. He was holding the broken crossbow bolt.

"It looks like our murderer is quite skilled," he observed, holding it up.

"Ah, thank you," Musashi replied, bashful. "But I haven't murdered anybody recently."

When Regis furrowed his brow in confusion, Rathus relieved him with a wave of the hand.

"That wasn't there before. Musashi wanted a look at Zetsurin's weapon rack."

The younger Gun Knight nodded sagely. "I do happen to be a sucker for a good rack. I find it hard to resist sneaking a glance behind the velvet."

"Quite," Regis replied, folding his arms behind his back. He looked about the room. "The Madame is in no danger of being sent to jail, at least for the next hour or so," he reported. He looked around the room.

"Have you been able to find any clues?"

Rathus shook his head. "Nothing besides finding the rest of the knives." He gestured to the knife block. "It'd help if we knew what we were looking for."

"Something out of place," Regis suggested. "Perhaps something that the killer left in their haste. Perhaps something missing."

Musashi looked about the room, then gasped quietly. "Of course!" he declared in a low, thoughtful voice. "I've discovered what's missing."

The others turned to him, waiting for him to elaborate. The Gun Knight gestured around the room.

"I haven't seen a single poster of me anywhere."

Rathus went back to what he was doing.

"Well..." Regis replied, "Unfortunately, that's not quite what I meant. The Madame never had such a poster, you see."

The Gun Knight gave a quiet, resigned sigh. "A shame, truly. No home is complete without one, and you did ask me what was missing." He gestured to a section of wall, between two windows. "In fact, a full-size print of one from my Golden Gun series would go quite perfectly there."

Regis nodded, closing his eyes. "It would certainly add that certain sense of jeunesse dorée that the room is missing," he admitted. "Unfortunately, what I meant was more in line with things that had been moved or removed since the last time you were in the room."

The Dwarf paused, considering this. "Ah, of course. My apologies, of course you wouldn't be able to tell, since you've never been in her rooms before. That was an artful way to illuminate the issue, Ser Musashi. I take your point."

"Maybe later," Musashi replied absentmindedly. His eyes wandered from the empty, Musashi-devoid wall and to the door leading further into Zetsurin's rooms. "Perhaps there are more clues in the next rooms." He moved forward and opened the door carefully, cracking it and reaching along the frame for any traps before proceeding into the next room.

Rathus set down the cardboard box he had been holding. It was labeled "Confessions", which to his mild disappointment wound up being a box of chocolate-covered cookies. He debated whether he should tell Regis that Musashi had probably been serious about the poster. Probably not worth it. But, he did raise a good point.

Rathus cleared his throat. "We might not be able ta tell what's missing, but how about you? You've got a master key too, right? Was the knife missing the last time you were in here?"

Regis looked over at the knife block, and frowned. "Unfortunately, the last time I had reason to visit Madame's rooms was over a week ago. And all of her knives were present at that time." The Dwarf tipped his head, as if ashamed for not being of more use.

"Hey," Musashi called, poking his head out from the doorframe, "I've found... a clue."

Ruth's eyes blazed, and she hurried through the doorway, followed a few steps behind by Rathus and Regis.

The next room turned out to be Madame Seiryoku's private bedroom. Ruth was standing a few steps inside the doorway, staring towards the bed. Her entire face had turned a bright scarlet, and she had frozen stiff. Rathus followed her gaze to find Musashi laying on the bed, as if waiting for somebody to draw him like one of their french girls. The picturesque Gun Knight cocked one hand up into a finger gun, pointing it to the wall just to the right of the door. Rathus turned to look.

The wallpaper was comprised of many columns of a pastel blue, separated by white lines. In each column, a playful diaspora of sickeningly cute sea animals cavorted about. Rathus followed his comrade's pointing finger to find that a star fish with massive, sparkling eyes had been run through by a crossbow bolt, which stuck out of the wall at an angle.

"It would appear Mr. Crumpet is not the first murder victim this night," Musashi observed, speaking with mock seriousness.

Rathus looked about the rest of the room. A massive rug filled most of the floor space, printed with a pastel green and yellow patterned to give the appearance of sea grass over a sandy floor. He quickly dropped into his battle trance, scanning the room around him. He couldn't pick out any blood, no scuff marks, no scorches or cuts, nothing that would indicate a fight had occurred. Likewise, the rest of the borderline-garish adorable sea creatures scattered about the walls were unharmed. None of the furniture was upended, which was a strong sign that there had been no Adventurers fighting in the room.

In short, the crossbow was definitely not the result of a struggle. Which meant it was probably the result of another trap. Rathus looked at the crossbow bolt again, and mentally traced the route it had fired, to find an oil lamp in the shape of an octopus. Ruth had recovered from her initial shock, and was gesturing at the comically open 'O' of the octopus's mouth.

"I believe it must have fired from here?" she guessed.

Rathus traced the route again, and nodded. "Another trap."

"If I had to wager a guess," Regis piped up, stepping out of the path of the trap and approaching the end table, "It would likely be attached to her jewelry box." He gestured to a small wooden box, painted white and laden with pearls. Sure enough, the box was slightly ajar. Musashi rolled across the bed until he drew level with the box. He whistled softly.

"The good lady truly goes all-in when it comes to decor theme, doesn't she?"

"Well, everybody has their tastes," Rathus replied, scratching his cheek. "Course, some of us got no taste at all." He shot a sly glance at Musashi, who merely nodded in agreement.

"And yet you persist nobly despite your deficit," the younger Gun Knight countered. "We are all proud of you."

Rathus chuckled, shaking his head.

Ruth placed her hand gingerly on top of the jewelry box, then turned to Regis.

"Would you happen to know how to open the box without triggering the trap?"

The Harem Master ducked his head again, giving a sad shake, ashamed of his lack of very specific knowledge he had no real reason to know.

"Unfortunately, Madame Seiryoku is the only one who can do so. I've never had a need to ask her the method. Perhaps I could run back and ask—"

"Vibe check," Musashi said suddenly, reaching out and opening the lid of the box. There was a quiet sound of something snapping taut, and Rathus' hand shot up, snatching the crossbow bolt out of the air a few inches from his face.

"Straight from the official Gun Knight handbook," he lied, gesturing to the box with an open hand. "One trap disarmed."

Rathus sighed, flicking the bolt at Musashi in annoyance. "Don't do that when there are civilians around," he snapped.

Musashi shrugged. "Relax, Rathus. They were well out of the way. Nobody important was in any real danger."

"Goodness," Ruth breathed, staring into the jewelry box. "It's quite an impressive collection."

Rathus looked into the box. There were a number of compartments on the lid that folded out as it opened, flanking a small mirror on both sides. The bottom of the box held a number of necklaces and bracelets, nestled in a tight, orderly fashion. The Gun Knight reached in and lifted a necklace out of the box. It was a silver chain, with several sapphires in silver settings, framing the center of the neck, with an absolutely massive clear gem in the center. Rathus raised an eyebrow, spinning it carefully about to get a closer look.

"This is the kind of thing an Adventurer can afford, huh? That gem is damn near the size of my fist."

Regis chuckled to himself. "Many of those are collected from Madame Seiryoku's adventuring days. Most of the pieces are enchanted. Each is worth a small fortune... for the most part."

He covered his mouth with his hand, lowering his voice and looking about as if he might be overheard.

"Ironically, that one in particular is near to worthless. It's a fake, you see. The only reason the Madame keeps it is that some fool still enchanted it with a helpful bit of Star Magic. Even then, it's not worth much. However, please don't tell anybody else. It's a particularly sore point for her. She spent far too much on it."

Ruth looked at the mostly-full jewelry box, then to the crossbow bolt. "Why would somebody go through all the trouble of setting off a trap to get into her jewelry box, and then simply leave everything behind?" she murmured.

"Perhaps they were looking for something in particular," Musashi suggested.

Rathus turned to Regis and jerked his thumb towards the box. "Ya think you'd be able to tell us if something is missing?"

The Dwarf sighed. "You seem to believe that I have a much closer hold of the Madame's affairs than I truly do, but I suppose I can try. I won't be able to tell you everything that she might keep in her box, but I suppose I can see if there's anything missing that I am aware of."

Rathus stepped aside to let the Dwarf peer into the box. His eyes darted back and forth, then widened as he let out a small gasp.

"Oh dear." He shifted some of the necklaces out of the way, then nodded. "Yes, as a matter of fact, there is a missing piece. Her most valuable talisman, no less."

Ruth frowned. "They only took a single necklace? Was it perhaps special in some way?"

Regis considered it, running his fingers through his beard. The bells woven into his beard braids jingled slightly as he considered it. "I... wouldn't say so. It was certainly worth a small fortune... to the tune of two thousand Dosh. An Adventurer would definitely find its enchantments useful. If I recall, it had both Protection from Bullets and Shocking Grasp built into it. But if you are asking if it was unique... not particularly so, no."

"So our murderer might be bulletproof," Rathus noted. Musashi casually lifted his rocket lance, tilting the highly-explosive ordinance casually to the side, as if to say 'not a problem'. Rathus stared at it for a moment while the princess and the Harem Master backed away quickly. The Imperial Knight turned away, doing his best not to humor Musashi.

"It's rather strange..." Ruth said, after Musashi put his munition away. "Were they breaking in here to steal the knife, and simply took the opportunity to steal a necklace as well? If so, why only take one? Perhaps the entire murder was simply a ploy to draw attention away from the theft?"

"Might be they thought it'd go unnoticed if they only took the one," Rathus suggested. He glanced over at the crossbow bolt jutting out of the wall, gesturing to it with an open hand. "Then again... kind of a dead giveaway."

"It is strange..." Regis mused. "Especially assuming that the murderer and the thief are one in the same. It makes me more certain that they were trying to frame the Madame. Why else would they steal a carving knife to kill Mr. Crumpet, rather than one of the many powerful weapons she has on display in her sitting room? A spear would be difficult to hide, of course, but if it were me, I would much prefer an enchanted weapon to a mundane blade."

Rathus paused, considering it. "Well, the trap, I reckon. Course, they clearly had no problems with the trap in here."

He turned to the Harem Master.

"So, who else can enter this room? Zetsurin, you... cleaning staff?"

"No," Regis replied, shaking his head. "As you can see, it's not exactly safe for the untrained personnel." He gestured to the crossbow bolt jutting out of the wall. "Madame Seiryoku insists on cleaning her chambers herself. I suppose the orderliness reminds her of home."

"Ah, wait a moment," Musashi replied suddenly. "Didn't Zetsurin give Kate her key during the first show?"

"Yeah," Rathus replied. "She did. Might be worth looking into. Regis, I assume you could show us the way to her room?"

The Dwarf bowed to him. "Of course. It's fortunately not too far. Only a few floors down from here."

*****

"Here we are," Regis announced at last. They had come to a stop in front of a nondescript room, numbered "512", a few floors down from Zetsurin's penthouse.

A tipsy man stumbled by, chuckling heartily, supported by a courtesan under either shoulder. This was particularly impressive, as one of the courtesans was a Goblin woman, holding both hands over her head to support him under the arm. They reached a door, and the other courtesan shifted, taking on most of his weight, as the Goblin woman moved over to produce one of the key seals and unlock the door. The trio stumbled in and shut the door quietly.

Regis cleared his throat, pulling out his own master key and unlocking the door to Kate's room. "I have my doubts that she is involved in this mess, but I suppose it's better to be thorough." He pushed the door open, and gestured for the investigators to enter.

The inside of the room was jarring, to say the least. It appeared that the rooms were heavily customizable, as the decor was completely different from the full-power 'red light district' effect the hallway outside gave off. The room was simple and clean, with a certain familiarity to the furniture that matched Kate's 'girl next door' aesthetic to a tee. It was the sort of room that left you with a comfortable glow, the sort that made it hard to let it go.

There was a small writing desk, with a stack of papers folded neatly off to one side, and a number of adventure novels neatly bookended by small stone dogs, some variety of Shepard. The bed was a simple wood frame, with thick comforters. Above the bed, a framed landscape painting of a sunny bread field being harvested, and a poster of Professor Wardenclyffe, apparently fighting, or perhaps singing a duet, with a metallic golem in the shape of a Dragon.

There was even a brick fireplace, With a number of porcelain horses cantering atop the mantle.

"Homey," Rathus commented, grunting in approval.

Musashi sighed. "Yet again, a room bereft of my presence. But... it's not without a certain charm, I suppose."

"So, what exactly should we look for?" Musashi asked, walking over to a dark wooden set of drawers.

"Well..." Ruth began, "In order to establish a killer's guilt, we need a motive, a method, and an opportunity. I suppose those are the things we should be looking for, if we truly believe she is to blame. A reason for the murder. The way the murder was completed... and an opportunity to commit the murder."

"You know your stuff, huh?" Musashi noted. opening one of the drawers and rooting through a variety of socks.

"Of course!" Ruth replied haughtily. "I am a writer, after all. One must know these sorts of things. I studied it extensively when I was writing my mystery novel."

"Oh?" Musashi asked. "What was it about?"

Ruth had moved over to the desk, immediately grabbing the stack of papers. "Oh, it was about..." She paused suddenly, glancing over at the subject and protagonist of her erotic murder mystery novel, who had moved on to a shirt drawer. "Um... n-nothing important," she finished lamely.

Regis moved over to the fireplace, sifting through the ashes with an iron poker. Rathus turned slowly, taking the room in, as Ruth sifted through the papers.

"Hmm..." she mused. "There might be something here... perhaps." She held the sheet of paper up. "A number of letters to Kate, from somebody named 'Luke'. Isn't that the man you were talking about earlier?"

Regis frowned. "Mm. Yes, he's something of a nuisance, unfortunately. We occasionally get obsessed fans like him."

" 'Your eyes are the boom of my heart, and my soul is swept overboard into a sea of romance every time your gaze sweeps across the deck of my face.' " She quoted, grimacing. "It's... well, I suppose you could call it a love letter." She continued to read, her eyes glazing over a bit. "He... certainly has a fondness for nautical imagery."

"He was a sailor, no?" Musashi asked, He let out a quiet chuckle as he moved onto the next drawer, which was the most scandalous drawer of all, that shall remain unnamed. "You know what they say: 'Write about what you know'."

"Well... yes," Ruth admitted. "But I doubt many women wish to be described as 'a billethead to be the pride of any Captain'."

Rathus fished a piece of stationary out of the wastebin next to the desk, unfolding it. He chuckled to himself as his eyes scanned the page.

"Well... looks like at least one does. Seems Kate was writing him back after all."

He handed the letter to Ruth, who read it over. A faint tint of color spread across her cheeks. "Ah... Kate certainly... has an intensity to her writing style. That's rather, um... unexpectedly graphic."

"Gap moe." Musashi said simply, opening the next drawer.

Regis sighed, resting his hand on the brick face of the hearth. "I feel as if this is a personal failing, that we couldn't cultivate a sense of taste in the girl. I suppose it can't be helped, but... I don't think it's enough to prove anything for certain."

"I suppose not." Rathus replied, turning to face the Dwarf. He stared at the Harem Master's hand, frowning suddenly as he scanned the fireplace. "Hm. Move over for a moment."

Regis stepped aside, giving the Gun Knight a sweeping bow, bringing his hand across his chest to gesture to the fireplace. "You are welcome to check, Ser Rathus, but I was unable to find anything useful in the grate. Perhaps your special senses may be more useful."

The Gun Knight shook his head. "No, not that." He moved to the fireplace itself, feeling about the bricks that had been close to where Regis had been resting. There was a faint give on one brick as he pushed, and he drew his knife from his belt, working it between a small crack in the side of the brick. He rocked it back and forth, using tension to pull a loose brick from the hearth.

"Ohhhh~" Ruth said, eyes glimmering as she carelessly tossed the papers back onto the desk. "Excellent work, Rathus! A secret hiding spot!"

The Gun Knight set the brick atop the mantle, dipping his hat to the princess. "Well, I can't take all the credit. Regis was practically standing on top of it."

The Dwarf blinked at him. "Me? Well, I was simply resting a moment, but I suppose I would be happy to take the credit," he replied, continuing the vicious cycle of assigned group projects everywhere.

Rathus reached into the hidden alcove. His hand found some objects secreted within, and he pulled them out: a simple lapis lazuli talisman on a leather cord, glowing slightly, and a piece of paper, folded many times over to fit in the small alcove.

"Ah!" Regis exclaimed, "That's Madame Seiryoku's talisman!"

Ruth held out her hand, accepting the jewelry from the Gun Knight. "This thing?" she asked, raising an eyebrow. "It doesn't look like much."

"Don't be so quick to judge," Regis replied. "It may not be the most glamorous, but it's prized by Adventurers, or anybody else who might need magical enhancement. I don't recall all of its enhancements, but it's apparently an Artifact beyond compare, and worth a small fortune."

"Two thousand Dosh you said, right?" Rathus repeated. "That's more than some people might see in their entire life."

"That would make a noticeable impact, even in my father's treasury," the princess admitted. "I suppose that is the sort of thing one expects of Adventurers. Perhaps it would be wiser to have you carry it." Ruth held the talisman a bit more delicately, handing it off to Regis, who carefully accepted and pocketed it.

"I'll be sure to get this back to the Madame as soon as we clear her name, Your Highness," Regis replied, bowing low.

"So, Kate was the thief?" Musashi asked. "That would present the 'method', no? If she was in Zetsurin's rooms, she could have stolen the murder weapon."

"Hm." Rathus replied, scanning the paper he'd unfolded. "Might be more than just method." He handed it to Ruth, who looked it over, and read it aloud.

"My dearest Kate,

Tonight is the night, the first night of the rest of our lives. I already found someone willing to fence the jewelry you were talking about, and I bought us two tickets on a frigate that will be leaving town tomorrow morning. All that's left is to take care of that man, and we will be ready to drop anchor on our life together. I think we've covered all our bases, but be sure to burn this letter after reading it.

Yours forever,

Luke

"

Rathus rubbed his chin. "Well..." He exchanged a glance with Musashi. "I think we'd best see if we can find that Lucas fella."

The younger Gun Knight slammed the drawer closed, grinning a smile. "Leave it to me," he crooned, cracking his knuckles as he swaggered past the others and towards the door. He turned his head to look back over his shoulder, flashing a smirk that made Ruth weak in the knees.

"Shall I bring him back here?"

Rathus smirked, letting himself get caught up in the drama of the moment. "No... bring him back to the VIP room. I have a feeling we're about to close this case."

Musashi laughed, and left the room, blurring down the hall as he moved with the liquid grace and raw speed of a panther on amphetamines.

"I... don't want to believe it," Regis said hollowly, moving to the door. "I suppose we'll need to hear it from Lucas himself. Shall we return to the Sheriff?"

Rathus nodded. "Sounds good."

The Dwarf left the room, and Rathus started to move after him. Ruth's voice made him pause, as she hummed to herself.

"I suppose, Rathus," she began, "that this letter rather illuminates things. Do you not think so?"

The Gun Knight paused, glancing at the door, then nodded. "Yeah, I'd say so. It's a bit obvious, isn't it?"

"Convenient, as well." the princess replied, rolling the paper back up and handing it to the Gun Knight. "But well done for finding it. I imagine the case would have been much harder to solve without it. We should get you a hat as well."

Rathus rested his hand protectively on his head. "I already got a hat. A damn fine one."

The princess laughed, following the Gun Knight out of the room, and heading back towards the VIP room, and destiny.

*****

Lucas was thrown to the ground, like a particularly guilty bag of luggage after a long trip.

"Found him hiding outside," Musashi said casually, buffing his nails on his shirt.

The rest of the parties of interest were gathered in Zetsurin's private VIP room. Ruth and Rathus were standing near the table, while Kate was seated on the couch. She gasped as Lucas was hurled into the room, drawing the attention of Zetsurin, who was still bound and leaning against the wall, as well as the Sheriff, who was studying the painting.

The tall man chewed thoughtfully, and walked over to the caught sailor, staring down at him.

"I suppose you know why you're here."

Lucas rolled to his front and looked defiantly upwards, his expression faltering as he set eyes on the lawman.

"I-I... I didn't do nothing. He was already dead when I found him!"

"Right to the point," Musashi said thoughtfully. "I can respect that."

"Sounds a little doubtful," Rathus replied. "Especially in light of a few things we've found already. Why don't you give us the full story?"

Lucas looked from one Gun Knight to the other, then to the Sheriff himself. He may not have been the brightest tool in the shed, but he was smart enough to know he wasn't going to wiggle out of this one. He sighed, rolling himself to a sitting position, his hands cuffed behind his back. He didn't even warrant a Finger Trap, instead being bound in a simple pair of steel cuffs, without even the grace of a pink fuzz liner.

"Alright," he replied. "I'll tell you what happened, but I mean it. I didn't kill the guy."

He looked over at Regis, who was staring disapprovingly down at him, arms crossed.

"It started after I ran into that jerkoff. He told me that Kate was going to be... t-to have a client tonight. Just dropped the news like that, the bastard."

"Well, what do you expect?" Regis said, condescension dripping from his voice like water from the outside of a cool glass. "It was bound to happen eventually."

"N-not if we left before then," Lucas bit back. "I had... we had plans about leaving town."

"Heard something like that," Rathus replied. "Go on."

"A-anyhow. After that run-in, I ran off, on account of, uh..."

"You were scared of Rathus," Musashi supplied helpfully.

Rathus shot him a sharp look. "Let him talk."

Lucas flushed, scowling at the ground, but shook his head and continued.

"I went looking for Kate, but couldn't find her anywhere. She wasn't in her room, and I wasn't sure where else to check. I... I guess that son of a bitch's words had gotten to me, because I was about to head out. But then, I went into the coat room, and found..."

He squirmed a bit, and Musashi stepped around him to assist. "Left pocket," the sailor directed, and Musashi reached into his jacket, pulling out a letter and a key seal.

"Kate must have left a letter in my jacket, and she was begging me to come rescue her."

Kate startled, sitting up straight and looking around. "What? No, I... I didn't write anything like that."

Musashi held the seal up, bringing it over to Regis. "There are some numbers on the top," he noted.

The Harem Master inspected the device carefully, his expression darkening. "Hm. Yes, I suppose we've found Kate's missing key seal. This is definitely it."

Kate paled, shaking her head slightly. "I... I didn't... I lost it. It was in my pocket the last time I checked, and then... I really wouldn't give my key away. Believe me!"

Musashi looked the letter over, before handing it to the Sheriff.

"Hm," He hmed. " 'Please rescue me from this foul man. I can't bear the thought of him between my legs, where you rightfully belong. My heart belongs only to you. Please save me from him. This key seal will let you in."

Lucas looked away, sheepish and blushing. He chuckled, moving as if he was trying to rub the back of his head, which looked like some bizarre ritual dance, handcuffed as he was. "I mean... what kind of man would I be if I could say no to a letter like that, right?"

He frowned, shaking his head. "She forgot to put down what room she was in, but I asked around and after a while found out it was the VIP room. But when I came up to save her, some asshole got in my way, again."

Regis narrowed his eyes at the sailor. "And a good thing, too, given your ill intent. It's a shame I couldn't prevent your dark deeds, in the end..."

"I tell you, I didn't do it, damn it!" Lucas shouted back. He glared at the Harem Master, eyes blazing. A nod from Rathus urged him to continue, and the young man took a deep breath, regaining his composure.

"I didn't think I'd be able to get past him, especially since it looked like he had Gun Knights keeping watch. I... I wound up going down to, uh... regroup. I grabbed a bottle and went into Makka's to try to come up with a plan. I almost had something but, uh, then, well..."

He gestured with his head out the balcony, towards the stage.

"Then Professor Wardenclyffe came on, and I kinda got lost in it."

Kate bounced in her chair. "You like Professor Wardenclyffe too?!"

Lucas blinked at her, then smiled, giving her an incredulous look. "Of course! Who wouldn't? I try to hit all the stops on their tour, when the winds take me close enough."

Kate froze, her pupils dilating. "H-he tours? You mean he has more shows? More than just here? Could... could we go see them all?"

Lucas puffed up, and did another interpretive dance that would likely have resulted in him rubbing his nose. "Heh," he said casually as his limbs flailed about, "Of course, babe."

"Focus, please," the Sheriff ordered. "It's not looking like you'll be at liberty to see any shows, unless you come up with a good explanation for the letter."

Lucas frowned. "Letter?"

"Don't worry about it," Rathus cut in, shooting a sharp look at the Sheriff. "Just continue your story."

The sailor looked confused, glancing back and forth between the Sheriff and the Gun Knight, but nodded slowly.

"Well.. right, okay. So, I kinda got... caught up in the show, until I got beaned with a Curveball Double-Cheese Special."

"A what," Ruth asked, largely ignorant of the cutthroat world of fast food.

"C-cheeseburg' " Lucas replied, looking askance. "Y-yer majesty."

Musashi cleared his throat, and Lucas hurried to continue, taking another deep breath. "A-anyways. I realized I'd gotten caught up, and I hurried over to the VIP room. The show was almost over at that point. I used the key Kate gave me to barge in, trying to look all, y'know, manly. But Kate wasn't there. It was just the fat guy. He was sitting in the chair on the balcony, and I... well."

He hesitated, looking over at the various forms of law officer in the room. "Well, I was going to go over there and kick his ass. I said it. But I didn't get the chance! I ran up and shoved him, but he just... flopped out of his chair, with a knife in his back. Dead as a doornail. He was already dead when I got there, I swear it. "

"Then I... well, I ran for it, because you gotta imagine how that'd look, me being caught there. I was hiding outside, and trying to figure out if I needed to go back in. I wasn't sure if Kate was in trouble, y'know, but if they found me nearby, well..."

He shook his arms, demonstrating his handcuffed state. "This sorta thing would happen."

Rathus and Musashi exchanged a glance, then turned to the Sheriff.

"Interesting story," the Sheriff replied, crossing his arms. "But a little hard to believe."

Rathus nodded towards the door. "If you got a minute Sheriff. I got a few things I want to run by you, outside."

The Sheriff looked hesitantly at Zetsurin, who rolled her eyes. "Don't worry," she told him, "I'll be good."

"And I can make sure this little murderer doesn't go anywhere," Regis replied, giving a curt bow as he shot a venomous look at Lucas.

"Yeah," Rathus replied. "Stay here and make sure nobody leaves, if ya don't mind."

He walked to the door and opened it, followed by Ruth and Musashi. When the door closed, Rathus moved down the hall.

"Gonna take another look at the crime scene."

The Sheriff started, and began to rush after him. "H-hey! No you aren't!"

Rathus's military-trained power-canter took him swiftly to the VIP room. He moved to unpin the non-existent "DO NOT CROSS" tape the Sheriff had put up earlier.

"Hey! Leave those up!" The Sheriff ordered him.

"No jurisdiction?" Musashi asked tauntingly, leaning in towards the Sheriff. "It's a bit of a pain, isn't it?"

"I won't touch anything," Rathus reassured him. "Just want to take a look."

He gestured to Musashi, who used Kate's seal to open the door. The Sheriff, powerless to truly stop them, crossed his arms, clearly unhappy at the turn of events. "I swear to Setenaya, if you touch anything, I WILL raise hell with Western Command."

"That's fine," Rathus replied, stepping carefully into the room. "I'll be good."

The Gun Knight re-entered the murder scene, his nose wrinkling as the smell of death hit him. It wasn't an unfamiliar scent, but it was never a pleasant one. He walked to the balcony, stepping carefully as he fell into his battle trance, picking out every detail. No sign of a fight. Of course, a glance at the corpse told him that he had been stabbed directly in the heart from behind, the knife positioned and angled to expertly slip between the ribs. He likely died within seconds.

The knife's hilt was jutting out of the body, buried deep enough that not a shred of blade was visible. He stepped cautiously over the body, taking care not to move or bump it. The seats were deep in the balcony, far enough into the shadow that it was unlikely anybody could have been seen from outside of it. The chair that Oliver had been seated at was pretty apparent. His suit jacket was hung over the back, for one. But more importantly, there was a small pool of dried blood on the seat of the chair. Surprisingly little, but given that the knife hadn't been removed from the wound, he supposed it wasn't all that surprising.

He glanced down at the body once more. He imagined that if he could lift the shirt, he would find a fair bit of bruising from internal bleeding. But... better not. He didn't need the Sheriff breathing down his neck. In any case, he didn't need to. He'd already seen enough.

He nodded to the Sheriff as he exited the room.

"We should head back to the others," he said, sharing a look with Ruth. He nodded to her, silently.

"I think we've figured it out."