Nerium oleander

Serpent

Ivan frowned as he observed the fountain, the marbled angels welding their spears, the dying serpent by their feet.

The scene was forever engraved in his mind, he had admired the feathered muscled angels as a child, now his gaze fell upon the serpent, the animal was hard to find, underwater, behind the face of the observer as the water mirrored his figure.

"Ah, Vanya. Long time no see. How have you been?"

Ivan raised his gaze, the man approaching was smiling warmly, the fatherly vibe he had was still there, emphasized by the growing silvers on the otherwise brown curly hair.

"Mr. Vargas." He offered his hand. A weight settled on his shoulders as the other observed him with an amused smile. The last time Mr. Vargas had seen him hadn't been pleasing, for the very least, Ivan was sober this time.

The handshake was ignored as the man enveloped him in a gentle embrace. "I've missed you and your sister. How have you been?"

"Better. We've been caught up with our work." Ivan tensed, patting him on the back. "Speaking of which... I have to ask some questions..."

Mr. Vargas' smile faltered, he motioned to the house. "Of course, come in, it looks like it is going to rain soon."

The interior of the house was filled with paintings, depicting lakes, forests, ports and muses. The high ceiling was covered with several feathered figures except for the blank spaces yet to be painted.

"Detective Braginsky, to what do we own the pleasure?" Lovino chuckled, offering his hand and shaking it. Ushering him to take a seat in the living room. "I hope this time you bring good news."

The leather sofa was soft, Ivan frowned as he got uncomfortably swallowed by it. "Unfortunately, no."

Mr. Vargas took a seat in front of him, crossing his leg above his knee. "Ask away, son. I suppose you must have a lot of work to do, seeing the last... happenings."

"Could you tell me about your ties with professor Kirkland?"

"Well, I barely spoke with him, you see, we decided to fund his research as a way of giving back to our community. You know very well that Arthur took over Yekaterina's project after her disappearance. Lovino is the one supervising the results, though we mostly rely on Michelle to review it."

Ivan nodded, scribbling down, though not really taking notes of what he said. His eyes travelled to Lovino, he was approaching slowly, three glasses and a bottle of whiskey at hand.

He set down the drinks on the table, offering one to him and taking the other for himself. "Arthur is an arrogant prick. Always too busy to explain his developments. If you ask me, I think the coward ran away with the remaining money and left behind a scam. I could take better care of a garden, I warned him that if he didn't show me any concrete results I'd cut his funding."

"How often would you revise his work?" Ivan asked, his hand hovering to take the drink but retreating. "What exactly was his project?"

"Once a month. I last checked on him about two weeks ago." Lovino said, swirling the drink on his hand and taking a sip. "The project is the same your sister started. You know, researching the 'Nerium Oleander' looking for a compound to develop a medicine. For what? He never told me. We just have a bunch of those plants in the garden, that smooth fucker drained our funding and left."

"Do not say that, we don't know what could have happened to him." Mr. Vargas said, shaking his head. "I must say, I was shocked when Lovino told me about your... finding by the greenhouse. Is there any possibility for that... thing to be Arthur?"