Saturn's Rings ~ f. millstone

Fooled Around And Fell In Love

"Help! Someone has been killed!"

Those words were enough to get anyone's attention. Willow cautiously approached the man who shouted and reached out to get him to calm down.

"I think I'm going to be sick," the man said, putting his hands on his knees.

"Hey," she put a hand on his shoulder, but kept her feet out of the splash zone, just in case he were to actually get sick, "what happened? Are you alright?"

He snapped right back up. "No! I just stepped in a dead man's blood. And I think one of the flies landed on my mouth. If you're going into the apartments, do not go into the lower one on the right - that's where the body is. Now if you'll excuse me, I need to go contemplate a hot shower." He quickly scurried away with a hand clutching his stomach.

Willow immediately knew that they were going to do the exact opposite of what that man advised. Looking back at Felix and Max, she could tell Felix was on the same page. Max was visibly apprehensive, and justifiably so.

"Care to solve a murder?" the captain proposed. "Maybe do some avenging?"

"Hell yeah." Felix enthused, eager as ever.

Willow walked into the apartment building with Felix close behind before Max could say anything against it. They had only been back on Monarch for about an hour, yet they were already getting involved in someone else's business. Again.

The panicked man's warning led them to an apartment in the back. As soon as the crew stepped within a few feet of the open door, they were met with the foul smell of blood and decaying flesh. The dead man was sprawled out in the middle of the room, eyes still open, and a maroon puddle pooled around his torso. The rest of the room was just as bad. There were smudges of blood on the floor, and furniture either broken or tossed around.

Willow wondered what the man could have possibly done to deserve all that.

"A murder!" Felix pointed out excitedly. "Hey, is this the part where we go hunting for clues?"

The captain forced her gaze away from the body and surveyed the ransacked room.

Tucked away in the corner of the room, there was a suitcase with clothes spilling out of it. The guy must have been in a rush while packing. On the table, there was a tossball betting slip showing that the victim was rather confident in the Mostly Colonists team. The logo on the paper was from a bar called Left Field Tossball Betting.

Willow picked the betting slip up between her index and middle fingers and showed the boys. "Either of you two been to Left Field before?"

"No, but it's right down the street," Felix responded. "I was planning on catching the game there tonight."

"Well, not if the owner gets in trouble for murdering one of their patrons. Let's go see what they know."

The crew carefully stepped around the body and exited the apartment complex. The bar was on the other side of town. When they entered, the bartender had her back to the door, looking up at a screen playing a highlight reel of the best Rangers plays in Halcyon history. She didn't hear their footsteps, so a man sitting at the bar called for her attention.

Nell spun around to greet who she thought would be another one of her regulars, but instead faced three strangers. She quickly went from confusion to excitement when she remembered the gossip around the town about a strange ship that landed in Stellar Bay a couple of times.

"Ooh! You're the new face! Wow, you must be up on all the latest tossball games. So who do you follow? Wait, don't tell me. You look like a Hammersmith Thunder fan! No, Glacial Age Mammoths," Nell gushed.