Trageser, Captain Waesmaer, and Legate Lander wait for Alton and Cook in the captain’s office. When the two detectives arrive, the tension breaks, and they begin discussing what should be done next.

“I have an acceptable cleric headed in from the Mine City via overnight carriage,” Lander jumps directly to the chase. “He ought to be unbiased, though he is not inexpensive. The funds allocated by the Empire for this phase of Durandal’s defense cover only half the fee.”

“As I’ve explained,” Waesmaer says, “we cannot cover so much. It is not within our legal capacity to magically prove a person innocent when there is an accusation against them.”

“Then what exactly is your legal capacity?” the angered legate demands.

“We’re required to investigate all leads,” Cook explains, “And several of them currently point toward a different perpetrator. The problem is, we have a victim’s accusation that can’t just be ignored.”

“It sounds like you’d be willing to do just that if there were evidence enough.” Lander rolls her chair closer to Cook. “What more could you need?”

“I have two possible options,” Cook explains, “I could find better evidence for a different killer, or I could find better proof to the validity of our suspect’s alibi. Either one of these things could change the direction of the case and free your paladin.”

“I take it there’s no evidence that names another individual?” Lander gives Cook a very suspicious look. She clearly distrusts him on principle.

“None so far,” Alton admits. “Instead we have gathered evidence that grants a better motive for Sir Durandal’s being involved.”

“And what could that possibly be?” Lander scoffs at the idea.

“Yeah, what?” Trageser looks dumbfounded.

“The victim was a vampire.” Cook folds his arms, letting the simplicity of the statement speak for itself.

The shock sets in slowly through the room. Trageser manages to close his mouth before the legate notices only because the legate herself is too busy staring at Cook to look in the younger detective’s direction. Even Waesmaer is taken by surprise, though his reaction is one of anger rather than simple shock.

“It follows,” Alton continues, “that Marion Durandal’s father may have extinguished her existence due to her specific form of living impaired status. If that is truly the case, then this would become a hate crime and carry a harsher punishment. So you can see why it would be a compelling motive for a natural life extremist such as Sir Durandal. Evidence shows that he was so uncomfortable working one night in a charity for the living impaired that he wore his full plate armor the entire time.”

“I concede the point.” Lander calmly places her hands in her lap. “Is there nothing we could do to aid in the investigation?”

“As the sponsor for the accused’s defense,” Waesmaer begins, his eyebrows unknitting as his expression softens, “it would be impossible for you to help suggest a different suspect at this point in the investigation. Your staff may not assist in questioning witnesses or reviewing evidence. This would be most improper, as it would leave whoever is found later the ability to claim that the investigation was biased.”

“I see,” Lander ponders, pressing her hands together. “But I may provide evidence in support of Sir Durandal’s alibi?”

“You may do that,” Waesmaer agrees.

“In which case, you can expect to meet Cleric Valtr Pospech here at your station at the eighth bell tomorrow morning. Consider his fee paid.” With that, Legate Cyneberg Lander rolls out of the office, her guards meeting her at the door.

“I hope you two are right about this paladin,” Waesmaer says with a sigh once the legate has left.

“What we know so far agrees,” Alton argues, “on the face of things it is impossible to say that Sir Durandal could have ceased his daughter.”

“So what exactly do we know so far?” Trageser asks, hoping for details.

“The timeline we have so far is this,” Cook starts, “Three months ago, Marion Durandal runs away from home and moves in with students at Sacred Dark where she begins the application process for Two Rivers City College. While at Sacred Dark she volunteers with the vampire outreach center at St. Errigal’s Shrine where she meets many unnamed vampires, and is an extremely desirable catch for them. The last time her friends at Sacred Dark saw her was last Monday, and she was seen to have fangs and the look of a vampire who’s been recently fed at that time. Sunday night she was seen in Thirsty Pilgrim acting out of character. Sometime between Sunday night and early Monday morning she was executed in a way that is actually fatal to vampires and left in the ditch behind the bar. And that’s the last we know of Marion Durandal.”

“Our timeline for Sir Durandal is a little shorter.” Alton takes over. “We know that he left Bandon shortly after Marion Durandal ran away. We know that he was refused entry into the UNENS through the North Watch road due to passport issues, and instead entered the country through the road from the Primarchy, and arrived sometime last week. He’s spent the time here so far working with the head cleric at St. Errigal’s Shrine to convince her to help find Marion. Sunday night he assisted with a vampire blood donation drive, only leaving the shrine early in the morning.

“That may have been before Marion was executed, or may have been after, as we don’t have an exact time of cessation for her. We do know that he was able to Smite Cook when we brought him in for questioning Monday morning, and would not have been able to get enough sleep to do that after removing his plate armor alone. It isn’t an absolute, as he may not have used the ability the day before, but it does make it extremely unlikely.”

“In addition,” Cook continues, “We’re fairly sure that Sir Durandal has not yet been told that his daughter was undead. We’ll be able to gauge his reaction while under the influence of whichever truth spell this Pospech casts tomorrow to see if he knew. Even if he can fudge the spell, he won’t be able to hide his reaction to this news if the legate was anything to judge by.”

“Good points,” Waesmaer agrees. “You three need to get some sleep. Trageser, this means you.” The three detectives head home for the night, intent on being prepared for a busy day in the morning.