Sentry of the Arcane

Chapter 5: Sophie

I frown at his question. "What evidence do you see that would indicate that he is the murder?"

    "Especially since he's also dead?" Benen adds, crossing his arms.

    Fitz raises an eyebrow at the nonchalant Donovan. "What if that's what his murderer wants?" Fitz pauses, waiting for everybody to interpret that first question. After a few thoughtful seconds, he asks, "What if he was murdered, and the killer wanted to frame him?"

    At this, neither Donovan nor Audrey have a response to that question. The same thing for the Altruistics.

Something clicks and I ask, "What if he killed himself after he killed her? This could be a case of murder-suicide."

Fitz shrugs at my theory. "That may be true, or my theory may be true." He turns to the man. "Do you have a picture of David's death?"

The officer nods.

And then, horrifying picture of a dead David is
projected.

Laurel screams and Benen attempts to calm her down. Audrey and Donovan just turn away from it completely. Fitz and I force ourselves to look at the picture. I swallow the slowly rising bile in my throat.

The corpse of David laid crumpled against an alley wall, blood completely soaking his clothes. I can barely make out a stab wound in his lower abdomen. I glance up at his face to see his nose is broken, a thin line of dried blood evident. His right hand's bloody from most likely an attempt to stop the bleeding wound, and a bloody handprint is faintly visible among the blood-soaked fabric.

I don't even realize that I'm shuddering faintly until Fitz steadies me. Forcing myself to look away from the photo, I ask, "Could you zoom in on his face?" I notice the desperation laced in my voice as I stare at the officer, waiting for him to do so.

The officer does so, and I shake my head, regaining my composure as Fitz releases his hold on me. I glance up at the zoomed in photo and say, "It's safe to look now." When everyone does, I notice how pale everyone's faces are, especially Laurel's.

My voice failing me from saying anything else, Fitz quickly announces, "Does everybody notice how his nose is broken?" When we all nod, he adds, "Did you also notice the faint boot imprint on his face? The one that stretches horizontally across his face?"

"Does that mean that someone kicked him in the face?" Laurel asks, her color returning to her face along with everyone else's. "And that the kick broke his nose?" she adds. I nod, and we exchange gentle smiles at each other.

Fitz turns to the two Sovereigns. "That rules out your theory of murder," he says, gesturing to Donovan and Audrey. "It seems very unlikely that someone can kick himself in the face at that angle and break his nose." When they reluctantly nod, Fitz voices, "The stab wound wouldn't have helped, but the broken nose states that this was indeed a second murder."

At this, everyone nods. Donovan turns to the officer. "What's the time?" he asks, yawning shortly after. Audrey, Laurel, and Benen do the same while Fitz and I suppress ours.

The officer checks his watch, his eyes widening. "It's almost 11," he says. The officer then quickly adds, "Go get a good rest, everybody. We'll be continuing this over breakfast, so come to this room again." And when he stares at Fitz and me, he mouths, "You two will need it."

    I open my mouth to ask about that last statement as Fitz and I grab the two files. When we do, the man quickly ushers everyone out, locking the conference room doors behind us. I frown at everybody. "What level are your rooms at?"