A chill wind blew through the streets of Reme. Shadows grew long as the sun set, and the vibrant city descended into a restless sleep.
Detective Tebana Hamilla didn't have time for sleep. There was a killer on the loose, and until they were locked away, she had to remain vigilant.
The door to the nightwatch station creaked like the bones of an old sailor. The watchman behind the desk gave her a nod, but she stalked past without a word.
“Aedile Ummidius is in his office”, he said, but she already knew. A detective like her could pick up the necessary clues as easy as breathing.
For example, the Aedile had told her earlier he would be in his office. That was a pretty good clue.
“I'm here, chief”, she announced. Ummidius was standing by the window, looking out across the city. Was he seeing beautiful buildings silhouetted by the sunset, or did he see the corruption slowly consuming them?
“Thank you for coming, honoured Vestal”, he said without turning around. The chief liked to test her this way.
“That’s Detective Tebana, chief. I have to stay focused on the case.”
“...right. That’s actually why I called you here”, he said. The uncertain tone suggested trouble ahead. But trouble for whom?
The chief turned and walked over to his desk, slumping down into the chair with a sigh. His posture was that of an overworked public servant, weighed down by his duty to the city.
“Listen, Tebana. I'll make this quick. We're ending the investigation.”
“What!? You can't do this, chief! We're so close to catching the guy!”
“We really aren't. And the way you've been harassing citizens looking for ‘clues’ is starting to cause complaints.”
“Damnit, chief, I get results!”
“...what are you talking about, you haven’t found anything.”
She didn’t have a response to that. It was true. The killer had covered their tracks well, clearly a seasoned hunter of men. No traces of hostile spirits, nothing from the demon-detection chant. They’d left a trail of blood, but it stopped in the middle of an alleyway, as the killer evidently had a means of cleaning up prepared. There was something strange going on, that was for sure. She’d grilled the witnesses several times each, but no luck.
Similarly, her contacts in the underworld knew nothing. But then she’d never been a very good medium. 1No, Vestals can’t actually talk to the dead. But just because you have some magical powers, doesn’t mean you can’t dream of having more
“Look, there hasn’t been a repeat incident, and it’s been two weeks. I've paid off the victims’ families, and I don’t want to waste more funds on this charade.”
Money. Of course everything boiled down to money. Half the people in this city could be bought- and the other half already had been.
“Just give me one more week, chief. I swear I'll find something.”
“No, Tebana. It's over. Thank you for what you've done, but please give me back the Aedile's token and return to your temple.”
“...are you telling me to hand in my badge?”
“It's really more of a medallion, but sure.”
Tebana clenched her fists. That was the real problem in Reme. The people in charge were more concerned with keeping power than fighting crime. Whatever. She’d track down the killer on her own time.
She unhooked the token from her belt and threw it on the desk. “It was a real pleasure working with you, chief”, she said bitterly.
“Likewise, honoured Vestal. Although I do wish you wouldn't call me chief, this isn't a barbarian tribe.”
The streets seemed darker than before. Probably because the sun had set. But also partly due to her foul mood.
She wandered aimlessly, trying to clear her mind. Somehow her feet made their way to the crime scene, like they had so many times before. Of course, there were no traces remaining. The blood had long since been scrubbed away, the horrors of what had been relentlessly trampled away by the mundanity of everyday life.
As she stalked between the pools of light created by the newly installed lanterns, she heard voices ahead. The gladiator stadium was receiving a delivery. Her detective instincts told her this was important, so she got closer.
Looked like elves were going to be the main attraction, as she saw a large number being unloaded from a cart. For some reason, there were a lot of guards around. Many more than usual. Suspicious.
“Evening, gentlemen”, she said as she approached. They startled, and started to draw their clubs, but stopped when they saw her robes.
“A lot of security for a simple delivery. Mind telling me what that's about?”
She recognised one of the guards- he'd been on duty that fateful night, and she'd grilled him for clues before. He stepped forward to answer her.
“Bellius Effectorus’s family has sponsored memorial games in his honour. A repeat of the games he was sponsoring when he died. They wanted extra security, lest the killer return.”
“A repeat? Were the games he was sponsoring special?”
The guard shrugged. “A reenactment of the Battle of the Isère. Hence the elves.”
She narrowed her eyes. “You never mentioned this before.”
He shrugged again. “You never asked. It doesn’t matter, does it?”
“Maybe not. But I can’t do my job unless I know all the details. Anything else you ‘forgot’ to mention?”
“Nothing relevant. We were unloading the elves just beforehand, Bellius had just brought in some Greek wine for everyone, he was going to join us for a game of dice afterwards- I don’t know, I could probably mention a dozen other things.”
“Wait. Greek wine? Greek wine. The governor of Macedonia left the city the next day. I know, because one of the victims was his porter, and he left a complaint. But why would he only leave a complaint? Unless…”
“Uh, can we finish unloading?”
She waved him away as she turned her back, stalking off into the night. Maybe she’d have to visit Macedonia soon.
She feels like someone that is an incomplete isekai of a fan of detective fictions.
moar pls