《Murder in Heliopolis: A Solarpunk Mystery》15. One of Two, But Who Is Who?
Advertisement
The morning of the sixth day was particularly grueling. Laith had been giving Captain Olivia Fox his report for a good hour, and the woman had been in her full nightmare form. It didn’t help that the business with Aster Lockwood’s identity and the Farm Hands Machines investigation only complicated matters. But she was adamant that he close his investigation as soon as possible, because the media were beginning to wonder what was taking so long, and why the killer was still roaming freely within the confines of their fair city.
“People are breathing down my neck about this,” she’d grumbled, gesturing to yet another article about Cassia Grove’s murder on her tablet. “It reflects badly on the force, and my supervisors are putting pressure on me to get it solved, which means I’m officially putting pressure on you to get it solved, Laith. I suspect that there are people that are putting pressure on my own supervisors in all of this; it's not like them to rush it otherwise, and I don't like to think what's happening in the background. Get it done, please, and quickly. We have suspects – hunt them down and arrest them. I’m willing to bet that her husband is behind all of this, anyhow.”
“I don’t bet,” Laith had replied absentmindedly, and she’d let out what could only be described as an exasperated snarl in response, as though his mere existence was frustrating her at that moment, which it very well could have been.
“Listen, the media is already questioning us, and pretty soon, that’s going to transform itself into full-blown panic. People are going to be scared. I won’t have a killer on the loose at our expense. Do your job, Detective.”
Though he agreed that having a killer on the loose was a frightening thing, catching him – no, just identifying him – was easier said than done. After all, she wasn’t the one trying to wade through the knee-deep muck of a mess he’d been dropped into. Cassia Grove’s death was perplexing in and of itself, and when viewed in relation to her husband’s ominous disappearance, there were more questions than answers to be found. He’d honestly told Captain Fox that he would continue to do his best, but even Laith was beginning to wonder if he had been the right choice for this case. Maybe Lin would have made a better choice. Or even Roman. Maybe the number of cold cases he’d solved didn’t mean anything in the face of real, live detecting.
He sat at his desk with a deep sigh and pushed his face into his hands, rubbing his forehead and temples in an attempt to stimulate his brain. This was not something he was used to. There was frustration in trying and failing to solve a cold case, but that wasn’t the same thing as trying to solve a fresh murder case – something that had just happened.
It had just happened. How could the perpetrator get away so easily, and evade all of their detection methods? How had this even happened in the first place? It went against everything he’d known about PATET for it to allow for such a huge crime to be committed without even the slightest of a lead. It had been more common, before the establishment of Heliopolis, for such things to happen. People got away with crimes all the time, including crimes as terrible as murder. But it just wasn’t something that happened in Heliopolis. Not under the watchful eye of PATET.
Advertisement
Or so they’d been told, anyway.
He sat there for a while, willing an answer to appear before him, praying for it, until finally his Slate rang and pulled him out of his stupor. His wife was calling him. He took a deep, calming breath and answered her call.
“Laith – you have to come down to the hospital as soon as you can,” Warda said, her voice strained with some kind of anxiety. “We’ve found your victim’s husband. We’ve found Aster Lockwood.”
☀️ ☀️ ☀️
The hospital that Warda worked in, simply called the Central Hospital of Heliopolis, was one of the largest in the city. It was located on the outskirts of the Forest, making it an ideal location for people who lived there as well as those in its surrounding neighbourhoods. It was also just adjacent to the Official Quarter, where Laith worked, though the Quarter was located on a high plateau, while the Central Hospital stood at the base of the plateau. Like many buildings in Heliopolis, it was largely self-sufficient, with a veritable field of wind turbines lined up in rows on its roof, reaching out into the sky and spinning with the wind. They rose out of the verdant lawns like giant flowers, and it wasn’t uncommon for patients to head to the roof for small picnics and walks in fresh air.
Laith found his wife waiting for him near the entrance, and he kissed her cheek in greeting. “What’s going on?” he asked her as they walked together towards the ward Aster Lockwood was being kept in. “Why is he here?”
“He was found near the hospital, badly beaten,” she said. “Someone brought him in – just a passer-by who was on their way to work, I think. He was completely disoriented, bruised all over. He has a concussion. Couldn’t stand up straight, very sluggish, and didn’t seem to know where he was or what he was doing here,” she explained as they turned a corner. “We’ve put him in a private room for now.”
“How do you know it’s him?” Laith asked curiously.
“Fingerprint identification,” Warda replied, pushing through a set of double doors. “He couldn’t remember his name, so we had someone get a fingerprint scanner and identify him. When I saw his name, I decided to call you right away.”
“Is he doing any better?” With any luck, Laith could start questioning him right away. Aster Lockwood was quite possibly the closest thing to a witness and a suspect that he had for this case, and he was itching to get some answers from him. “Can I speak to him?”
Warda shook her head. “We’ve had to sedate him,” she said. “He became quite irritable earlier, and it was made worse by his confusion. He lashed out at a nurse, so we had to calm him down. It was all the concussion’s effects and symptoms, of course, but it’ll be hard to get anything coherent out of him now.”
At last they reached the private room Aster Lockwood had been placed in, and the two of them entered to find him in bed, dozing calmly under the effects of the sedative. He had green-tinged bruises on his face, and going by what Warda had told him, Laith expected that his whole body was riddled with more bruising. His arms, which rested at his sides, not covered by the blue blanket, presented more of the yellowish-green bruising, but what really caught Laith’s eye were the bruises around his wrists, as though they had been tied up.
Advertisement
“Can I get you to give me a report of all of his wounds and injuries?” Laith asked his wife. “I need the details for my case files.”
“Sure,” Warda said quietly. “There’s something else. Those bruises – the color of them – it means that they’re anywhere from five to ten days old. I’m guessing that’ll mean more to you than it will to me, but I thought it might help.”
It did help. It meant that Aster Lockwood might have well been abducted the same day as his wife’s murder, possibly for reasons in connection with Grove’s killing. With all of the bruising, he certainly didn’t look like a suspect. He looked like a victim, though why the killer would have thought to abduct him and beat him – possibly hold him somewhere, by the state of the man’s wrists – instead of doing away with him along with his wife, Laith couldn’t quite understand. It must have had something to do with the blackmail. Or his investigation into Farm Hands Machines. Or something to do with his identity. Nevertheless, he would have to wait patiently for the business magnate to awaken in order to question him.
“Can you place him in a more secure room?” Laith asked his wife. “He could be a witness or a suspect, and either way, I want him in a secure location. I’ll get a couple of officers sent up to guard his door.”
“That can be arranged,” Warda said, and have his shoulder a gentle squeeze. “We’ll take good care of him until he can speak to you. Whether he can give you more information about the murderer or he is the murderer, you’ll get it out of him soon.”
“I hope so,” Laith murmured wearily.
“Why don’t you get some rest in my office?” she asked as she pulled up Aster Lockwood’s file on her tablet. “You haven’t been sleeping very well lately. You toss and turn so much, I can barely sleep myself.”
“Yeah,” he said with a sigh. “I’ll try. But first, I’d like to see him placed in a secure room. I’ll stay with him until the officers arrive.”
Warda didn’t argue with him. She understood that he needed to see to it that his most important lead yet – a live witness, victim, or suspect – wasn’t going anywhere. He waited as she made arrangements, and soon a couple of nurses came in to help her roll Aster Lockwood’s bed to another ward, while Laith followed a few steps behind, trying to keep out of their way.
The whole thing didn’t take very long, and despite being jostled a bit, Aster Lockwood didn’t once rouse from his sleep. He dozed away almost serenely, and if the dark circles under his eyes and the sickly pallor of the man’s skin were anything to go by, he probably hadn’t had a good night’s rest in a long time, either. Soon, he’d been settled into his room, and Laith waited for the officers he’d requested to arrive as he stood outside, trying to piece together everything he knew so far.
I know so much now, but none of it fits together, he thought to himself, watching the sleeping man from the window in the door. It was like playing a jigsaw puzzle with a thousand pieces and realizing he only had half of them in his hands. Too much was missing in this dreadfully obscure picture. He worried that it pointed to something much bigger than he had originally thought he was investigating.
Perhaps this wasn’t just a simple murder. Perhaps it was connected to something larger, something he couldn’t see yet, but that had always been there, right beneath their noses and hidden away from PATET in plain sight. Every piece of evidence he found – every clue or new revelation – seemed to lead him farther away from Cassia Grove. And yet, somehow, it was all linked. Somehow, the answer was staring him in the face and he just couldn’t see it.
His head thrummed with an aching pain that had been slowly growing ever since earlier that morning. When the officers came and relieved him of watch duty, he admitted defeat and trudged to Warda’s office, where he curled up on her armchair and tried to rest his eyes, if only just for a moment.
He’d told the officers and nurses to tell him as soon as the man was awake and coherent enough to question, and now he wondered if it was better to wait here or to go back to the office to try and do a little more digging into Aster Lockwood and his wife – and the Novus Atlantian Aster Lockwood, whose presence in the photograph with a younger Cassia Grove had caused Laith a frustrating amount of confusion.
The man before him was the Aster Lockwood he knew – the one that came up on PATET’s database and records. But the man in the photograph was the Aster Lockwood that the Novus Atlantis authorities knew – the one that came up on their database and records.
Both of them couldn’t be Aster Lockwood.
One of them wasn’t who he said he was, but which one was it?
Advertisement
- In Serial10 Chapters
Legendary Farmer (available on Kindle July 2022!)
NOTE: Legendary Farmer is now COMPLETE. The first book, Clearing, was released on Kindle Unlimited July 5, 2022 with significant edits. I will post the first chapter of Clearing, as well as three chapters of Cuckoo's Dream, another novel in the LF universe, as a stub, with a link to the first book, so if you love LF and want me to be able to keep writing consistently, please go give Clearing five stars! In the VRMMORPG, Veritas Online, things are getting a little stale. Since the game launched, only one world- wide event has occurred, and that was a year ago.. The players are still having fun, but everyone agrees it’s about time for something big to happen. Everybody tends to forget that big things grow from small things, and little things are always changing in Veritas.The human country of Quarternell is at peace for the first time in... ever. Aspen, a former war hero, feels like he’s earned a quiet life together with his animal companions. They’re tired of fighting, and other people in general. They plan to live peacefully, far away from the city. As soon as Aspen figures out this farming thing out, he’s never going to go anywhere again. Unfortunately for Aspen, his country and his goddess aren’t quite done with him yet.Rouge the Rogue is a casual gamer in Veritas Online. She’s just a kid, and her focus is supposed to be on school and hanging out with friends. Emphasis on ‘supposed to’. She’s already pretty good at the school thing, and she doesn’t actually have that many friends. What she really loves is exploring all the cool ways the developers of Veritas found to make their game unique and realistic. Then she’s offered a very special quest, and an opportunity to go beyond the average player. She’s never been that much of a rule follower anyway....Clearing is appropriate for most ages. It has minimal foul language, no sex, and some violence. It is LGBTQ+ friendly. (P.S. IMPORTANT! This book contains very mild profanity, no sex, and is meant to be FUN. Yes, the characters sometimes think Deep Thoughts, and idealism pretty much runs rampant, but, in the end, I hope you just enjoy reading it. Laugh, cry, share it with your kids, read it to your dog, whatever makes you happy. My goal is for it to be accessible to everyone from ages 12ish on up, so you could definitely consider it YA, but with lots of big words because I don't believe in talking down to my readers.) Book Two: Harrowing (Starts after the original Chapter Fifty, now Sixteen, since I condensed chapters from the same perspective together.) Zoey has started her summer internship at Veritas Corporation, and she can honestly say that being an adult is boring. Until she starts learning secrets she was never supposed to know. In game, Rouge is finally making progress on her big quest. Apparently Duke Penbrooke took too long to return to the world, so the world is coming to get him... in the form of a few assassins. Aspen is going to have to face the life he left behind, and deal with the fact that it's not as easy being 'dead' as he thought. When what he'd hoped would be a short trip back to civilization to resupply turns into a whole lot more, he'll have to fight for his life, his friends, and his kingdom. Book Three: Sowing Rouge and Aspen have reached Bright, only to find that their enemies were already expecting them. They will have to quickly unravel the mysteries of who their opponents actually are, because they're already ten steps behind. Rouge and Aspen are finally home, but that doesn't mean they can return to their peaceful days of farming. Their enemies are hot on their heels and determined to destroy everything they've managed to achieve. Join them and all their friends for the final volume of Legendary Farmer.
8 218 - In Serial74 Chapters
Very Yummy Poison
The human brain is the most valuable resource on Earth. But only if you use it. You can’t just pile them in your basement. Doesn’t work. Candy is the Guardian of Humanity. It's not going well, but she's cautiously optimistic. A chatbot has destroyed the economy by being better at white collar jobs than hung over dudes. Candy has a plan to fix that. The government wants to send half the population to debt prison. Candy has a plan to fix that. Several super weapons have been stolen, and are turning up in the hands of desperate people. Candy has no plan for that. She's working on it. Very Yummy Poison is a near future, science fiction, romantic comedy, political psychodrama. It's fun. Try it.
8 176 - In Serial202 Chapters
Contractbound
A man with two souls inhabiting one body found himself tangled in the supernatural world involving dark rituals, human sacrifices, and unbelievable creatures. Graham and Valentine Hymes, in their journey of finding the true nature of their origin, were sucked into an even bigger plot that they had never imagined before.
8 199 - In Serial60 Chapters
Black Wind, White Lotus
In this world, there are haves and have nots. The former are pureblooded humans, some of whom are capable of manipulating qi, the mysterious energy that flows through every living creature, to miraculous results that defy the laws of nature and physics. Wen Feili was one such cultivator. However, she allied with the have nots- the anthropomorphic hybrids incapable of channeling qi-and dabbled in forbidden demonic arts, seeking to change the very composition of reality. This did not end well for her, and she was consumed by her own flames. A decade later, far in the northwestern mountains, her daughter Wen Fengli is working as a lowly servant of the minor Shuangshan sect. In between sweeping the floor and avoiding bullies, she secretly trains with a wooden sword, hoping to become a warrior cultivator at some point in the future. However, since she's part-human, part-wolf, it's just a pipe dream. ....or so she bitterly thought. However, one day a mysterious amulet that belonged to her mother falls into her hands. A deranged old master, a terrible conspiracy, a mysterious past? None of that matters to tomboyish wolfgirl, who only seeks to become stronger. She embarks on a journey of adventure and self-discovery, towards the mysterious southern lands where pure demi-humans are said to live...as spectre of war once again envelops the world of man. This is a Chinese-themed fantasy story set in a fictional world. You can classify it as xianxia, if you wish, but it's a rather low fantasy variant; the heavenly realm is silent, no one reached immortality in generations, and magical artifacts of old are locked away and feared. Magical beasts and spirits have been driven to the corners of civilisation, and "ordinary" abilities such as flying or controlling swords through telekinesis are considered spectacular feats. The main plot of this book revolves around a kemonomimi girl who seeks power, no matter the cost. This story also features multiple character pov, and will not always follow the perspective of the mc- there are two major plotlines, one connected to conspiracy and war ongoing in the political background of the presented world, and the other focusing on the main character's physical and metaphorical journey. The cover image was drawn by minyaxj, per my request, on a commercial license.
8 97 - In Serial7 Chapters
The Storyteller: Fires in the Sky
[First story complete. Put on hiatus until the next story in this series starts going up.] Come children, gather round the fire and listen to stories of when the earth was young. Of when mankind stood high above all of creation, and proudly ruled the land, sea, and sky. Of times before the storms and the hunters. Who knows, maybe you'll learn something from the past that will help guide your future. Now grab a warm drink and listen on a cold night to how the heavens themselves came to be. The first in a series of short stories about ancient mythology set in a post-apocalyptic world that's just trying to make sense of natural phenomenon and how mankind fell from grace. Our first tale is about two siblings, the Sun and the Moon, and how rivalry, jealousy, neglect, and fear led them straight to the jaws of death.
8 221 - In Serial10 Chapters
My Medieval Romance
Victoria of Lyham is a girl of about 18. Her father is on the kings council but her parents didn't want to raise her in the castle. She was being raised by her mother until she died. Now her grandmother is caring for her, or more like Victoria is caring for her grandmother. After her grandmother's death, will she find a new life at the castle, or even better yet- will she find love?
8 118