†††
ERICA received a report two days later from her police insider while she was reviewing the initial data he’d sent her beforehand.
A grin tugged at her lips when she saw the name attached to the short message accompanying the report. She promptly took action as she wasn’t one to let opportunity get away from her.
First, she returned her gaze to the report on the prostitute homicide case she had obtained through alternate means. Notes were scribbled in the margins. The case was definitely full of holes.
Looks like I can use the man named Wei. I’ll have Mia get in touch with him. She probably won’t stay cooped up for much longer. But will she be able to persuade him with crocodile tears? Well, they might not be so fake where Zelaide is concerned.
“She’s worried enough I’m sure she can pull it off,” Erica muttered.
This will open up a route of communication with Zelaide inside the station. Their evidence for the homicide looks solid at first, but if we can unravel it…it might become the little leak that sinks the puppeteer’s behemoth of a ship that keeps crime afloat in my city.
Erica narrowed her eyes. She was ready.
The laboratory comes next. I don’t want to deal with him, but the situation calls for it.
Erica pulled out the mayor’s exclusive IHT. She pressed the dial button and the other side picked up right away. They were comically quick to answer.
“Hi! It’s meeee! You rang?” a high-pitched, quirky voice responded. His choice of words was just as wacky and unprofessional.
Erica decided in advance to ignore his playful banter. Putting up with his quirks was the only way to interact with this person. “It’s me. I know you are busy, but I need you here as soon as possible.”
“Whaaa? You jest. You surely know just how unbusy I am, Queenie. I have so much spare time my lackeys won’t even talk to me anymore.”
“You are the one joking around. Just how many people have you deceived with that quirky act of yours? Let’s leave it at that. Will you come? Or not?”
“Of course I’ll come. If it is Queen Erica’s request, I shall hasten to your side at once. My goddess.”
“Call me mayor. There is something I need you to bring with you. My sister is being a pest. I want you to bring everything she left in her laboratory. Charge it as a personal expense.”
“What? Everything in her lab? Not just the data? Whoa. By personal expense, you mean at your expense, right? Right?”
“Of course. I don’t know what’s in her lab, but Mia made a list. I’m sending it to you now, so make the appropriate arrangements. Make sure you are disguised when you do it.”
“Oh dear! I was informed about your younger sister’s research. Has something to do with Nightz, right? You will end up with a lot on your hands if you take her whole lab. A whole lot of…uh…rodents…that is.”
“So it seems. I dislike rodents, so it gives me the chills thinking of living with them. But she said she wants at least half of the population from her lab. I don’t really understand what she is doing, but she claims the more generations there are the greater the chance of limiting what they eat, so she has to keep breeding them. She feeds them Night Bloom seeds. That child is passionate about putting an end to Nightz with those rodents.”
“She sounds like a fine sister who burns with a sense of purpose. Her personality differing so much from her appearance and the first impression she gives is also quite nice…indeed.”
“You could say that. I likely would have had the same opinion as you if she wasn’t my own sister. But she is my one and only family. I need a good reason to keep her from leaving and to bring you here without it looking unnatural. I have a lot of work to attend to here, you see.”
“I see… You seem to have your hands full.”
“I always have my hands full. At any rate, please take care of any preparations needed for transport and come here quick. Never forget that I always have high expectations of you.”
“Spare my blushes. Then in order to meet your expectations I’ll let loose for the first time in a while and ride in on a white horse to see you right now—”
“Please come the normal way! You hear me? Please do your absolute best to come by normal means. Do you know how much attention you will draw riding in with a cage of rodents? Please act normal! NORMAL!” Erica emphasized. It was rare for her to raise her voice. She was dealing with someone normal communication didn’t work on. Of course, the person she was talking to was fully aware that transporting the gerbils was simply the official excuse for his visit.
“Do you understand?” she asked for good measure.
“Your very wish is my command, my goddess.”
“Call me mayor! Otherwise, I’ll draw the delivery fee from your salary.”
The call ended in silence.
Erica folded her fingers under her chin and contemplated the situation.
The future was glum. But it had to be done. She prioritized Gothic City’s peace and the citizen’s safety over all else. The enemy was nearby. But without solid, irrefutable proof, they would slip through her fingers, and once they did, she’d never get another chance to catch them. She had to proceed carefully and with certainty.
“I expect much from you, President Murakami.”
Erica slowly rose from her chair.
✦ ✦ ✦
†††
“BEAST BLOOD Zelaide Silvergray. Get out!” a gruff voice ordered. The shout echoed off the thick, unscratched walls, causing the man lying on the bed bolted to the wall to crack open his eyes.
Zelaide stood in silence. Being confined for more than a week didn’t impair his catlike movement.
The clothes and shoes they removed from him when he was detained were placed on a cart and pushed inside the cell. He stripped off the prisoner garments that had been forced on him in the detention center. Pulling on his leathers felt like putting his second skin back on. There was comfort in his familiar clothing. His weapons weren’t returned, however.
“Your weapons will be returned in the chief of police’s office,” the police officer explained in a dry voice, his face hidden beneath a cap. Zelaide’s silence seemed to have earned him an explanation at least.