Outside Of Life [WayHaught]

Tater-Haught

Wynonna took the chair from beside Nedley's desk, spun it around, and sat down. "Spill the beans, Mercedes. What did you see?"

"Wynonna," Nedley chimed in. "This isn't an interrogation, it's a discussion."

"Yeah, I knew that," the brunette said, shuffling the chair to the side of the room, still glaring at the Private. "But still, tell us what happened."

Mercedes rolled her eyes. "I already did? There was a bang, he fell over the side and blood got in my hair. Total disaster; I was planning on going out tonight but I can't be seen with my hair like this."

"I do find in times such as these that the value of a story lies in the details." Doc took a step forward and knelt in front of Mercedes, holding his hat in front of his chest. "Why not think more about the noises you heard or even the way he fell?"

The Private closed her eyes and let out a heavy sigh before pouting. "I mean, I could smell dirt and just gross things in general. He didn't fall off the tower at first," she said, her voice fading to silence for a moment. "He fell backwards and then went over the side. Yeah, that's right; he was looking over the city wall and then as he waved back to me, he fell back, like the shot came from the other side of the wall."

Dolls stopped writing and clicked his pen, the sound echoing in the concrete room. "Wait, he fell backwards?"

"Yep."

Silence consumed the room as no-one dared to even look up from the floor.

"Is that a bad thing?"

The Sergeant Major got up and opened the door. "You're dismissed, Private Gardner. Thank you for your time."

"Oh, ok. Wynonna I'll see you at Shorty's later, yeah?"

The elder Earp nodded slowly and gave Mercedes a half-smile. Even she was concerned.

"Well," Nedley said as he sat back down at his desk. "At least this means we don't have to interview the entirety of the guard."

Dolls' eyebrows jumped. "Sorry, Sergeant Major, but we do."

"I think numbnuts is right for once, Sir," Wynonna said, shuffling her chair around, the scraping sound causing everyone to wince. "If we don't interrogate, sorry, interview the obvious suspects then the public are going to wonder why. Won't that lead to, like, riots or something?"

"Dammit Wynonna," Nedley mumbled, his head in his hands. "I hadn't thought of that. I'm getting too old for this crap."

"Sir, if I may?" Dolls stood up and looked from Wynonna and Doc to the Sergeant Major. "You could conduct interviews as a public facade while myself and Sergeant Haught lead the team outside for an extended time frame and gather any evidence we can find."

"That sounds awfully risky, Xavier. I'm not sure I can let you all out there for any longer than the usual eight hours."

"Ok but think about it Sir, just humour me; the longer we're out there, the more we can concentrate on gathering intel and, at the very least, we can gather a bunch more rations. We could take a couple of guards with us for extra safety. With the public wondering who in the guard killed Champ as well as your interviews, there won't be too many eyes on my team."

Nedley groaned and ran his hands through his remaining hair. "Alright, fine. You have no more than three days and you have to take extra personnel. I can maybe spare you one Corporal but the others have to be Privates, ok? And you'll all take the cleanest weapons as well as bonus rations on top of your bonus rations, no arguments. You lot are my best people and I can't afford to lose you."