Mirror Mirror

Chapter III.

After the shattered pieces of mirror had been cleared away and Norvin's cut was cleaned and bandaged, the two sat down on the patchwork-green lounge, both with very strong coffees in hand. Gaelle glanced at Norvin out the corner of his eye. He still looked pretty shaken up, but seemed to be returning to his usual cantankerous, brisk self. "So, about that note-" Gaelle began, but Norvin cut him off before he could finish. "It was nothing. Just some stupid kids. The brick smashing the mirror started me. That's all." It was clear that he was lying, and Gaelle was still rather concerned. But, seeing no tactful way to breach the subject, he stayed silent, instead taking a sip of his drink, wincing slightly at the strength of it. What worried Gaelle the most was that to an innocent man with nothing to hide, the words 'I KNOW ALL YOUR SECRETS' meant nothing, just someone being stupid and trying to scare him. But, to a guilty man with much to hide on the other hand... Well, those words were frankly terrifying - Novin had said as much himself several years back when a murder suspect started receiving 'poison pen' letters and threats. Gaelle glanced at his husband once more, taking in the calm, well practised expression, and the fear in his eyes. What secret could Norvin possibly have that was so bad the mere notion that someone might know something about it could scare him this much? "You can stop looking at me like that," Norvin told him, a wry smile playing on his lips, "I know what you're thinking. It was nothing, I swear." He reached over and placed his hand on top of Gaelle's, squeezing gently. "You know I don't keep any secrets from you." Gaelle looked into his husband's warm eyes, his reassuring smile, and did his best to push all doubts from his mind. He couldn't shake the feeling that there was something Norvin wasn't telling him...

Norvin arrived at the office to find the place abuzz with activity. Tait hurried over to him, her green eyes widening at the sight of his bandaged hand, and opened her mouth to ask, but changed her mind when she saw his expression. "Morning sir," she said instead, giving him a small smile. "What's happening?" He asked her, "why's everyone so excited?" Tait motioned for him to follow her as she led him down the dizzying maze of corridors. "It's the Mabuz Murder, sir." She told him excitedly, "do you remember the corpse found in that old abandoned house last year?" Norvin frowned "Yes, of course I remember it. I'm hardly going to forget a murder as brutal as that, now am I? But that's a cold case, Sherae. It's been exactly a year now, and we still haven't even identified the body an-"
"But that's just it sir!" Tait interrupted, "an anonymous source left a note on your desk, claiming the identity of the victim to be a man named Gavin Greene. Forensics checked the dental records of Greene and the Maybuz corpse, and there was a match!" Norvin raised his bushy eyebrows in surprise. "What? A note? Does anyone know how it got onto my desk, or who sent it?" Tait shook her head, and pushed the door of the morgue open. They stepped into the cold, sterile room to find Jamie Adair the lab technician typing furiously on a laptop. He looked up and smiled at the pair when they entered. Adair was a thin man with wavy brown hair, and the social graces of a rampaging elephant. "Hullo detectives, Norvin you're looking older and greyer everyday. Oh and Sherae, have you put on some weight since I last saw you?" He asked with his usual tact. Norvin scowled, and Tait rolled her eyes, sighing in exasperation. "You saw me yesterday Jamie." She reminded him. "Oh yes, that's right. Hmm maybe I just didn't notice it. Oh, and look at your hand Norvin! Reactions aren't what they were, eh? It must be hard, doing such dangerous work at your age!"
"Just show us the corpse, Adair." Norvin snapped, resisting the urge to hit him. Adair shrugged, pulled on a pair of rubber gloves and slid the chilled corpse out of the fridge with an unusually somber expression on his face. "Warning you, it's not pretty." He told them as he pulled back the sheet to reveal what was left of the late Mr. Greene. 'Not pretty' was something of an understatement in Norvin's opinion. Greene had clearly been stabbed and slashed with a sharp object repeatedly. The wounds covered almost every inch of him. It had been a long time since Norvin had seen a death as violent as this. He gave Adair a nod, and he covered up the body, sliding it back into the fridge. "Why did it take a year to identify him?" Tait asked quietly. "Whoever did this knew what they were doing. Greene's fingerprints were removed, and his face was lacerated," Adair motioned to his open laptop, which was currently displaying a series of images. A large picture of a smiling man in his late thirties with dark brown hair took up most of the page, and below it were smaller pictures of the same man and others, friends, family and loved ones. In every picture there were happy people in front of various monuments from around the world. "These are pictures of Greene," Adair told them unnecessarily, "I found them on his blog page," with the tap of a few keys they were staring at said blog page, from which Adair began to read aloud. "'Hey guys, I'm Gavin. I'm a writer of historical fiction, born and raised in Ireland. I have wife called Quin and a brother called Brody.'" He scrolled down, "there's not much else, apart from the occasional post about visiting a historical landmark and the research he's doing. Well except for one part. There is one interesting bit I think you should see." He scrolled down to the last entry, "now this was written exactly one year and one day ago - the day before he was brutally murdered. It reads : 'What's up readers? It's Gavin here, and guess where I am! Reuniting with my childhood in the postcard village of Lockwood's Halt! Gosh, it's been years since I've been here - Brody and I used to come here all the time when we were growing up, but ever since Granny and Grandad passed away all those years ago, we have really had any reason to come back. But, a week or so ago I got this letter, asking me to come and stay for a while. I don't recognise the name, but I guess it was from an old friend of Granny or Grandad's. Anyways, I've gotta go now so catch you all later!'" Adair looked up at them with his eyebrow arched expectantly. But Norvin wasn't looking at him. He was still frowning down at the screen. "What is it sir?" Tait asked him. "You have an email from... 'Mirror, Mirror'?" There was something about the way he said it, a slight hesitation that made Adair turn back to the laptop and click on his pulsing messages tab. Norvin was right, there was a new email from 'Mirror, Mirror'. "Huh that's funny," Adair muttered, almost to himself, "I don't have any contacts listed under that name." The email didn't contain any words - just an image. He double clicked, and the image filled the screen. Norvin's eyes widened in surprise at what they saw. The picture showed Greene and two others - a young boy and girl sitting underneath a willow tree. All three were smiling, but unlike the other pictures, the smiles didn't quite reach their eyes. Even though it was clearly from a few years ago, the two children were easily recognisable. Norvin was unlikely to ever forget Ebony and Shay Nightshade's cold, silver-grey eyes...