Here Comes The Son (Ghost Band / Papa Emeritus fic)

Someone is Coming to Harm

With Ethan's laptop now open beside him, Rain didn't have to look far for the news of the events at the Ghost concert. The band were big enough now to warrant a feature on the national news. The bulletin not only mentioned that an unidentified body of a man roughly in his late thirties had been found but also offered details of Copia's kidnapping. The ghouls were shocked that the information had been allowed to leak out; with the Clergy normally very secretive.

"I don't get it," Rain mused, puzzled by the detail. "Why release that information?"
"What choice did they have?" Dew asked.
"What do you mean?" Rain turned away for the screen to stare at his friend.
"The police turn up and want to talk to possible witnesses to a murder. They want to talk to Papa but he's not available, do you think they'd leave it there?"
"Yeah," Ethan agreed. "If he's just missing, they'd blame him for killing the guy and going into hiding."

The ghouls stared at Ethan, surprised at him volunteering his insight.

"Wouldn't that story help them, then? If it is a member of the Clergy that's done this? If he's suspected of murder, I mean?"

Ethan shook his head.

"You don't know how this works, do you?" He asked with sympathy. "Suppose they manage to find him before your Clergy guy does? He'd be arrested and be given a chance to tell his side. The recordings would bear out his story, after all. If your Clergy guy wants him dead, do you think he or she... or it wants him talking to anyone?"
"There are no 'its' in the Ministry," Dew growled, assuming he was referring to ghouls.
"Well, that's not strictly true, Dew," Swiss corrected. "What about Cazrobal on the Council?"

Dew nodded and shrugged, conceding the point, much to Ethan's surprise.

"So you're saying... what exactly?" Swiss asked.
"Well, look," Ethan could barely believe he was about to make this statement. "Your Clergy presumably has two sides to it. One is the satanism, spreading the message thing and the other is the 'safe face' - Ghost is just a band, yeah?"
"Yeah, okay, so?" Swiss waved for him to continue.
"So, for a police investigation into finding a dead body, they have two choices - either your Papa did it and ran off or he didn't. We've already said why they wouldn't opt for the first one - it's too easily disproved. So, if he didn't do it but he's not available he either has to be the dead body, which he clearly isn't. Again, too easily disproved. Or, they have to say what actually happened. Perhaps, they will suggest to the police that he witnessed the murder and that's why he was kidnapped. Or, the other way around, they were there to kidnap him and that guy got in their way and was killed. Probably that one, actually, because what difference does it make to them if they kill a witness to a murder? No, that's my bet, your Papa's kidnappers were interrupted by an unknown man and they murdered him."

Ethan nodded to himself, then shook his head.

"No, wait, what's an unknown man doing backstage? So, he was one of the kidnappers who fell foul of them somehow," he corrected himself. "That's what they'll say, because, I'm willing to bet good money that he's got a record as long as your arm." He glanced at Swiss. "Your real arm, at that!"

Swiss nodded thoughtfully at the words before adding.

"But I'm willing to bet that the real killer is whoever that is, right there," he pointed to the heavily disguised demonic entity, barely visible on the screen.

"And, what, they're in glamour as the man they killed? So, they're with Papa?" Aurora suggested, hopeful that Copia had an ally.
"Very possibly," Rain chewed his lip. "Well, until now anyway. If they release any details of him and he is there, they're going to know something's wrong, aren't they?"
"That might get your man killed quicker," Ethan's tone sounded surprisingly empathic given his situation.
"Then, we..." Swiss began, turning back to the screen, his eyes wide with urgency as Rain made a startling announcement.
"I have a licence plate!" Rain shouted, his pitch ringing with delight. "We can track him down!"