Not Quite a Murder but Definitely still a Mystery

[Mereel Vaun]

Mereel leaned in to get a better look at the images on her datapad. Out of the dirt, he was almost 100% certain the ring looked like a wedding band, "Whatever he wanted, it looks like he was less than happy with whoever she decided to marry - if it was him who took her ring off anyway."

Mereel stopped and pondered her question for a second. He felt like going separate would have been more efficient. He had good eyes and when he needed to be he could be pretty methodical, and she said she had done this type of thing before so she probably wasn't a slouch when it came to combing rooms either.

He wasn't the lead investigator in this situation though, so since she recommended going together he would go along with it. "I'll trust you on the better together bit, you're the more experienced of the two of us -"

Under his helmet, he began grinning just as hard as he had when he first introduced Seo to Lady Pryde, "and besides, what kind of husband would I be if I didn't come with?"

[member="Seo Linn"]

 

[Seo Linn]

"Married? Well we can hope her spouse is one of the men her mother gave us or they can point us in the direction we need to go."

Maybe Seo had asked the​ wrong question downstairs. She should have asked if there had been any young men Luna had expressed interest in instead. Giving herself a mental slap, it was something to make note of on the datapad and ask when they were done exploring these rooms.

"Look at it this way. Something I might not consider to be an important detail is something you do. We combine our own theories and come up with a solution. And very true, though I don't think this wife would need the protection."

She could have sworn sh​e heard the smile in his voice and almost shook her head. Her come back though was apt. He may have more weapons on him, but that did not mean Seo was helpless.

[member="Mereel Vaun"]

 

[Mereel Vaun]

Mereel had only been half paying attention to the conversation between Lady Pryde and Seo, so he simply nodded his head along and avoided jumping to any conclusions in regards to spousal candidates.

He had been fully involved in the conversation for his early shenanigans in their meeting however, and her insinuation of him thinking her defenseless made him guffaw in disbelief.

"Oh come on, I don't think you're a dandelion!"

He stifled down his laughter before continuing, "In fact I bet you'd fair better than me unarmed. It's just out of the two of us, I think I'm a little more locked and loaded for gunplay than you are right now."

Those were his actual feelings on the matter, but he wasn't sure she would be able to tell since his voice was still recovering to its normal state.

He straightened himself out and walked them to Luna's door, pulling it open and propping it with a boot. He exaggeratedly signalled Seo to proceed into the room with both arms, "Look, as a sign of good faith, I'll even let you enter this potentially dangerous room first."

[member="Seo Linn"]

 

[Seo Linn]

Thoroughly not used to somebody being so open on their emotions, his laughter took her slightly aback. Not openly displaying the surprise though, the corners of her mouth turned up just slightly when he said he didn't think she was a flower. At his mention of being better armed than she was, it was true. While Seo knew how to use blasters and rifles, they certainly weren't items she would normally pick up.

"So uncivilized. Yes, you have more arsenal than I do."

She took what Mereel said with logic, even if the tone of his voice was still coming out of laughing. After he recovered, he opened the door to Luna's room and invited her enter first. Knowing there wasn't going to be any danger in there, she gave him a flat look, but entered before he did.

Inside the room, it appeared to be that of a typical high class teenage girl. A dresser, bed, table, nightstand and a small study area. If she was at a boarding school...why was there a study area. It almost seemed out of place. Then there was a closet and private refresher which was quite nice. Shower, stool and an area that contained various make up for the girl.

Seo walked over to the window to look outside and see where the room rested on the grounds. Attempting to open the window, it did with ease and was silent. That wasn't surprising considering how well kept the rest of the house was. What was though, there was no screen. Making a note of that on the datapad, she pointed this out to him and moved on to the study area. Unless Mereel had found something to point out to her.

Going through the room methodically, notes were taken from each section and Seo touched very little. What she did do was open the drawers of each item that contained them and did search through, but made sure every items was back in place when she closed them. In the closest was a stash of trunks.

"Take a look at these and tell me if you find anything interesting."

Unle​ss he was occupied with something, she hoped Mereel would take a look and figure out what was wrong with the trunks. Each one, except the earliest had a section created to carry letters or other slim items secretly.

[member="Mereel Vaun"]

 

[Mereel Vaun]

" 'Uncivilized'. Oh please, when was the last time you heard about a Jedi taking down a baddie at a hundred meters with a lightsaber?" He said with mock indignation as he followed her into Luna's room.

He let out a low, impressed whistle as he took in the details of the room.

While his father was a lucratively wealthy man, it could never be said that Detrik Vaun had spoiled his son. The room he grew up in at the clan's stronghold was small and mostly spartan, the only nice thing about it being a tiny refresher with a faded mirror on the wall.

He nodded his head in response to Seo's direction to check out the closet. "Let's see if I can't find any skeletons.." He muttered to himself as he walked to the closet.

Once he passed the closet doors, he squatted down on both feet and began inspecting the trunks inside.

Three individual trunks, all padlocked. One Metal. Two made of wood. Decorative looking, but -

Mereel gave one of the wooden boxes a hard knock with his cortosis and durasteel left hand. The wood held up.

sturdy. I could cut the locks off with my lightsaber, but that would be awfully noisy. Wait.. I don't need to cut them.

He tried to phrase his question as innocently as he could, "Seo, you have a spare hairpin?"

[member="Seo Linn"]

 

[Seo Linn]

"With a lightsaber? Never."

The wealth here wasn't something that Seo allowed to impress her. Her objective was to search for clues or leads. In her search, she had found the window and those trunks as possibilities. Everything else appeared to be normal for Luna and not out of the ordinary.

When Mereel explored the closet and knocked on one of the trunks, she turned when he asked about a hair pin. If she had been one to show what she felt or thought, she would have rubbed her forehead and shaken her head slightly. As it was, she let out a muttered question barely loud enough for Mereel to hear.

"Don't masters teach padawans the basics anymore?"

Moving over to his side​ and joining him in kneeling, she reached out with the Force. With a very gentle touch of telekinesis, she manipulated the locks holding each case closed and opened them. Not wearing a hint of a smug look, she certainly felt it a little. Her voice did not display any of what she felt either. If he was empathic though, he might feel the smugness she felt.

"No need for a hair pin when one has the Force."

[member="Mereel Vaun"]

 

[Mereel Vaun]

He thought he sensed a subtle change in her mood through the force as she unsecured the boxes, but he didn't have a clear understanding of what it meant - she certainly didn't display any physical change in emotion.

Mereel had barely heard what she had said before coming over to help him, so he re-ran what she had said through his head in search of a possible answer to her mood change.

"Hey, wait a second - don't bring my Master into this. That woman is a kriffing saint. His tone once again signalled mock indignation as he said it.

After doing a quick round of eeny meeny miny moe in his head, Mereel reached out for one of the two wooden trunks and popped it open.

"Well, looks like I can't deny your results. Still, I think your method lacks soul."

While she may have convinced him in terms of practicality, there was no way using the force to do that was nearly as fun as using common objects for one of the purest forms of good old fashioned skulduggery.

He began rifling through the contents of the trunk. Most of the stuff just looked like useless trinkets and baubles.

"Not to mention the fact that you'd definitely get kicked out of any lock picking contest if you did that."

One of the trinkets in the container caught his eye: a rectangular frame covered in dust jutting out between piles of haphazardly collected junk. He grabbed the frame and pulled it out if the trunk for inspection.

If he hadn't been wearing his helmet he would have done what all the D-list holodrama actors did in their crimes shows and blown off the dust, but he had to settle for wiping it away with his gloved fingers. Scattering the dust revealed the rectangular frame to be holding a painted portrait of a adolescent Luna Pryde. The artist had put painstaking attention to detail into the piece with the freckles.

He held the portrait out for Seo to see. Although this was a pretty serious situation, he didn't want to stop himself from saying the joke that popped into his head,"Think there's a connection between her and our missing person?"

[member="Seo Linn"]

 

[Seo Linn]

The insulting question wasn't meant as an actual insult to Mereel or his master and thankfully he hadn't take it seriously. When he made some observations about using the Force and not winning any contests, she gave a tiny smile at the humor.

"That would be true unless you used a hairpin at the same time as using the skill."

Opening up one of the other trunks, she started looking things over. She almost shook her head at the things inside the great memory box. ​Lots of junk and trinkets in her opinion was also in this trunk. Only thing of interest was that hidden compartment. She had noticed it in the one Mereel looked through and pointed them out to him at the time he brought out the portrait.

"Who is the artist?"

It looked to be a few years younger than she was now, but it was clear the girls were the same. Turning her attention back to the trunk in front of her, she popped open that secret compartment and a single paper fell out. Opening it up, she quickly scanned it and set it aside.

"I wouldn't be surprised if that name, if there is one and this one matches. Wyle Tade."

[member="Mereel Vaun"]

 

[Mereel Vaun]

Mereel returned her smile under his helmet, "And here I was, all worried that my unethical lockpicking practices were going to put you off."

When she read off the name, he began dusting off the bottom corners of the painting,

"Wyle Tade, huh? Let's see.."

He squinted his eyes to see through the few stubborn remnant's of dust. The bottom right corner of the painting was clearly signature-less, but the bottom left had a faint trail of Aurebesh characters.

"Looks like we are a go for Wyle Tade, detective Linn."


Mereel now suddenly wished he had been paying more attention to Seo's conversation with Lady Pryde than his dealings with the PASF crime lab worker, "Err.. I might've been on the line as you were talking with our fair Lady earlier. Name ring any bells or are we on a new scent entirely here?"

[member="Seo Linn"]

 

[Seo Linn]

Put her off? What he said was interesting and unexpected. They had just met, no past history and nothing planned in the future. However, the curious thoughts were pushed aside as they went back to the task at hand. She might ask about it later.

After she said the name on the note, he finished dusting off the picture frame and found the same name on the portrait. Admitting he hadn't been paying attention to the conversation she had with Mrs. Pryde because he had been talking to the police, Seo shook her head.

"This is a new name totally. Here are the others listed off. Now going off the contents of this little note here, that portrait in your hand, I think we should return to the police. If we say anything to Luna's mother, it might tip off this Wyle Tade. Better to keep this from the family until the actual authorities give an all clear to say something. Would you care to look at the note?"

It was a typical love note between teenagers, but with a hint at something more.

"Let's finish going through things here and check out her brother's room. Without me looking up the info on the datapad, do we have the name of the brother?"

[member="Mereel Vaun"]

 

[Mereel Vaun]

A small grin formed on the face under the helmet as he saw her shaking her head at him. He chewed over their next course of action for a second, but his armored glove took the offered note, "I would care.. let's see.

It wasn't a love letter too out of the ordinary, but he actually found the note kind of charming. Of course, he wouldn't admit that if ever asked, "I think I threw up in my mouth a little bit, but hey, at least you can't say romance is dead."

Mereel just held onto the note in his hand for the time being. He wasn't sure what Seo planned on doing with it or the portrait, but hiding a note in one of his belt pouches would be much easier than smuggling the portrait out under his armor. "Big brother's name is Jonathan."

He got up from his squatted position and shrugged the tension out of his shoulders, ."Not nearly as flashy of a name as Luna, but I guess a family can only be so creative.. Anyways, I think you're right, we should check back in with the police once we're done here. Might be new evidence back at the station."

There was a good chance she could hear the smile in his voice. He was thoroughly enjoying playing detective. It sure as hell beat meditating in the Iviin'yc while it was refueling.

[member="Seo Linn"]

 

[Seo Linn]

"I think it made my brain melt a little. Certainly not the worst kind of letter to find though. What we do know is these two have been in contact for at least two school years. I imagine each case are Luna's memories from her years at school."

It was something Seo would have done in her place. As it was she did have a memory box, but just a single one from her teenage years. That box was kept at her parent's home.

Not making any mention of her own box, she kept on the task at hand. Going through the last case, it had the same sort of secret compartment which also held a note. Taking this one out, she read it quickly and handed it to Mereel.

"Good bet this Mr. Tade will have a great idea of what happened to Miss Pryde. Take a read at this note."

Standing up, Seo stretched and finished with a glance around Luna's room. When Mereel was finished with that note, she looked at him and made a motion to the door.

"Where is Jonathan's room? Somehow I don't think we will find much in there, but you never know."

[member="Mereel Vaun"]

 

[Mereel Vaun]

Having gone through all of the trunks in the closet, Seo's summary of the cases seemed perfectly logical to Mereel. He didn't think the trunks could be anything else really, so her rationalization certainly didn't make him suspect that she was drawing a conclusion from personal experience.

He took the second note without much thought, but his attention became rapt by the small sheet of flimsi rather quickly. His eyes squinted and he let out a puff of air, " 'There is only one happiness in this life: to love and be loved' .."

There was a slight tug on the corners of his mouth, but as before he absolutely refused to let the musings of teenagers visibly affect his demeanor, ".. Di'kutla fething kids, man."

He folded the new note and the note she had previously given him before placing both in a pouch on his belt with a sigh, "I guess I'll hang onto these. PASF might be able to get something out of having them, or maybe we could just use them for blackmail later. Loose flimsi sinks flotillas and whatnot."

Seeing her motioning towards the door, he briskly walked past her and out into the hallway, "Just follow me, I'm a natural pathfinder."

While his memory was far from eidetic, he had heard the directions that the servant had given Seo earlier clearly enough to guide them to Jonathan's room - which just so happened to be three doors down the hallway and on the left if his memory served correct.

As he stopped them both outside of the closed door, he tilted his helmet so that the T-Visor clearly indicated he was looking at her. "So.. you want another sign of good faith? Or shall I do the honors?"

[member="Seo Linn"]

 

[Seo Linn]

Romantic or not, these little notes were potential clues and thus Seo considered them evidence in the case. She made no comment when Mereel read off the little bit of the letter and placed them both in one of his pockets. She kept a hold of the portrait though and carried it at her side.

"I assume we are going to be good little co-investigators and turn all of this over as evidence."

Falling into step with him, she followed him out into the hallway, allowing the door to Luna's room to close behind them. He said he was a natural pathfinder, but she doubted it slightly. Not sure why, but her intuition told her she would do better at being a navigator than him.

When he stopped outside the door to the brother's room and turned to look at her. It was totally clear because of what he did with his helmet.

"Just open the door and get in there, big pansy."

[member="Mereel Vaun"]

 

[Mereel Vaun]

What he had said about blackmail had originally been a joke, his mind had developed it into a seriously considered tactic for helping to solve their case.

"Yep, totally going to turn all of this over. I don't have much use for love notes as memorabilia, and I don't particularly want that portrait hanging from my wall.

He was taken aback by her reaction as they stopped outside the door. "Okay, okay. Pushy."

He turned the door knob but the door didn't budge. Mereel let out a sigh before looking down the hallway both ways. "Even after I clearly say that I don't think you're a dandelion, you still call me a big pansy.. You don't play fair Mrs. Anderson."

After being satisfied that there weren't any guards around, Mereel ejected one of the vibroknives in his right gauntlet and jammed it into the keyhole,"Sorry I wasted your time by asking for a hair pin. Honestly forget that I have these now that I've only got them on one hand.

He applied pressure to the top of the knife with his left hand and twisted it about with his right until he heard the sound of a spring loaded latch turning. When he tried the doorknob again, the door creaked open.

Out of fear of being called a big pansy again, Mereel rushed headlong into the room.

It looked.. normal. Too normal. Common folk hotel room levels of normal even. Like Luna's room, there was a small private refresher, a bed, a nightstand, a small dresser and a closet, but the similarities ended there. The furnishings of this room looked far less decorated, there wasn't a study area or a makeup station, the latter of which was understandable, but the closet and dresser were both far smaller in comparison to Luna's, and there weren't any personal effects around the room or in the closet.

The night stand may have had something of Jonathan's in it, but otherwise there would be no indicators of this actually being Jonathan's room, "Uhh.. You think we're in the right room?"

[member="Seo Linn"]

 

[Seo Linn]

Taking a look at the artwork of the portrait it was actually quite good, but she agreed she wouldn't want it hanging from her wall either. There was a good reason the girl had kept it though. She and the artist were lovers and very likely was one of the people the mother was so very much against courting Luna.

Giving no reaction to what he said about her calling him a pansy, she followed him into the bare room. It took her a few second to glance around and make the same observation he did. It was as bare as a hotel room would be. Maybe Jonathan didn't live here as often as she did?

The way Mereel had rushed into the room was noticed by her, but she didn't think it was because she had called him a flower.

"It seems that he doesn't stay here. Maybe that is what this house is to him. Something like just a place to stay for the night. Makes me wonder where he really stays."

He asked if she thought they were in the correct room and that was met with a nod.

"I do."

[member="Mereel Vaun"]

 

[Mereel Vaun]

Mereel bobbed his head in acknowledgement when Seo said she believed this was Jonathan's room,"Makes sense. I think I overheard Lady Pryde mentioning the son having a business.. I think, like I said I was a bit distracted. Would love to see what his house looks like if that's true."

As it was, Mereel really only saw one place any evidence could be hiding in the room: in the nightstand on the other side of the bed.

He could have walked around the bed like a normal, decently behaved person, but he was a pragmatic man.

Mereel sat down on the bed before rolling over on his side. Since he was in his armor, the movement lacked any grace, but it served the purpose of getting his arms within reach of the nightstand drawer quicker than walking around the length of the bed.

Mereel pulled open the nightstand drawer,"Care to join me -"

He then pulled out three small sketchpads, ".. in reading some diaries?"

[member="Seo Linn"]

 

[Seo Linn]

There were a few other places things could be hidden, but Seo didn't think that was the case. If Jonathan was up to anything fishy, nothing would be found hidden here. Holding the portrait, she watched as Mereel attempted to flirt (?) with her and failed miserably. All she did was lift one of her eyebrows and withheld from actually doing the sigh she was considering.

Out of the drawer he pulled some notebooks and asked if she wanted to join him. If this was done under any other circumstance, she would have reacted slightly differently. As it was, she kept her face neutral and walked over to the bed and went the long way around.

"Probably going to be about his business. I highly doubt he would leave anything behing that would reveal something about this case. Doesn't hurt to look though."

Holding out a hand, she ​took one of the pads from him and started glancing through it. She was wrong about this one, but it wasn't about the case. Instead of a memory box like Luna had, this one was from one his years of schooling. His memories from that year.

"Is yours the same type thing?"

[member="Mereel Vaun"]

 

[Mereel Vaun]

Mereel glanced up at her for a second after she had taken one of the journals. Before he looked back down, he noticed her raise an eyebrow. The response forced him to keep his head up for a second in order to study her expression, his own face a study in confusion.

There was a slight tug on the corners of his mouth as the revelation hit him. Imagining how that must've looked in her shoes, and imagining how he must've looked when saying it made him throw his head back into a hearty bout of laughter.

Thinking that he now probably looked like both an awful flirt and a hysterical madman, he slowly reeled it in.

He reduced the speed of his breathing and worked on catching his breath as he cracked open one of the journals.

"Well, thought I was joking when I said these were diaries.

Mereel pulled off his helmet and set it down on the bed. He was smiling like a clown when his gloved hand wiped the water away from the corner of his eyes. As soon as the tears were handled he swiftly re-donned his helmet. He popped open the second journal and haphazardly flipped through the pages to make sure it was the same thing.

"Both of mine just had dated writings that detailed some of his thoughts that he had in his school years. Don't see how either of them would be much help."

[member="Seo Linn"]