by Elin Peer
“We’re going to be fine, Leo. We didn’t do anything wrong.”
He kissed me again. “Just remember that I love you.”
“I love you too.” Pressing down the door handle, we entered the suite and found Erika, Laura, Mila, Pearl, Solo, and Khan standing or sitting around Magni’s large bed.
“Come in. There’s some coffee and tea if you’d like.”
Pearl pointed to a table with refreshments. “We’re all excited to hear what you have to say.”
Leo put down the box and with shaking hands I walked over to stand in front of them all. “Magni, how are you doing?”
Magni sat in his bed, his hair unbraided and wild and long scars showing on his right temple, jaw, and neck. He looked pale and sick. “I’ve never been better.” His tone was sarcastic and there was no smile.
“Can we close the window now?” Mila folded her arms around herself. “I’m cold.”
Khan held up a hand to Solo, who’d got up to close the window. “Don’t! It’s better to be cold than pass out from the heavy air that was in this room when I walked in. A full day of Magni’s farts requires at least ten minutes of fresh air.”
Magni snorted. “I’m sorry, brother. I would love to be more respectful and go to the bathroom every time I have to pass gas, but I didn’t fucking invite you all to invade my space, and it’s a little hard to walk on legs that you don’t have any longer.” The long answer seemed to drain him and his head leaned back on his pillow.
“It’s okay, we’ll survive – and the women’s perfumes have freshened up the air.” Khan clapped his hands together. “Now let’s hear what Raven has to say. Leo told us she’s stuck and dropped the case, so we’re here to put the clues together and hopefully help find answers to what really happened to Dina.”
They all turned their attention on me except Mila, who crawled up in her dad’s bed. “I’m so cold, can I have some of your blanket?”
It pained me to see Magni not open his arms to her. He had always been a hard man but usually Mila had brought out the softness in him. To Mila’s credit, she didn’t let his cold attitude stop her. Instead, she sat next to him with her feet under his blanket. “All right, Raven, I’m ready.”
I took a deep breath and began. “As Lord Khan mentioned, I don’t have all the answers, but I can go over what I’ve found so far.” Pulling up the original case file I gave it to Khan, who was closest to me. “This is what I found in the basement of Station Seven. Until then I had never heard of Dina. It doesn’t say much except that she was married, the daughter of Marcus and Erika Aurelius, and that she died at only fifteen years old from a fall out of an attic window. The case was closed as it was ruled to be suicide, but I thought it was strange and wanted to investigate. That’s why I spoke to Mila, who agreed to help me ask questions of you, Erika.” I gave a quick glance to Erika, who sat leaning back on her chair with her legs crossed. It was evident that she didn’t appreciate what I was doing.
“Erika explained why there’s no trace of Dina at the Gray Manor and how Marcus removed all reminders of her to protect Erika from going into a deep depression again. Maybe he also did it to avoid thinking about it himself, but either way, Erika mentioned that Dina’s things were stored away in the basement and…”
“What do you mean by ‘again’?” Pearl looked from me to Erika. “Did you suffer from depression before Dina’s death?”
Erika hesitated before she nodded and gave a dismissive answer, “Yes, it lasted a few years around my pregnancy with Khan.”
When Pearl didn’t follow up with more questions, I continued. “So, Mila, Jonah, Magni, Khan, and I went down to the basement storage room and found a closed-off chamber with Dina’s things.”
“That was when I could still walk,” Magni commented from the bed.
“You’ll walk again.” Khan gestured for me to go on.
“We found some of Dina’s diaries and it was while going through those that I stumbled on something interesting.” My eyes went to Leo, who looked tense. We were getting closer to evidence that would cause pain, confusion, and potentially anger.
“What did you find?” Laura leaned in.
I wet my dry lips. “Ehm, well, first of all, I found Dina’s diary and learned that she had a secret crush on one of the guards at the manor about six months before she got married, and I thought that he might be a potential love interest that got jealous so I noted him down as a suspect.”
“I knew it was something like that.” Magni gestured from his bed. “There’s no way Dina would fall out a window by mistake or jump herself. She wasn’t suicidal. Did you get the name of this guard and did you talk to him?”
“I only had his first name but I searched in old logs and interviewed older guards, and the Scott that was around at that time was Scott Livingstone, soo….”
Magni wrinkled his nose. “Oh, I see. Strike him then.”
“Why?” Pearl asked.
Khan backed Magni up, “Because Scott Livingstone is a strong and fierce warrior but it seems unlikely that he would have followed Dina to her new home and killed her in a rage of jealousy since he’s never been attracted to women. Scott has been open about being gay for as long as I can remember.” Khan swung his hand through the air. “All right, moving on, what else did you find?”
I picked up the diary and turned to the marked page. “On March 18th, 2412, which was Dina’s twelfth birthday, she overheard a conversation between her parents and…” I looked up at them. “Maybe it’s better if I read it to you.”
Erika moved in her chair. She knew what was coming but she didn’t try to stop me.
This day turned out to be a birthday from hell. Dad was in a worse mood than ever. He snapped at Khan and Mom at dinner and said some awful things that made Mom tear up. I could tell Khan was hurt so I tried taking his hand under the table, but he pushed it away and just sat there all stiff and looking down.
Later when I wanted to check up on Mom in her room, I heard them fighting again and even though I know I shouldn’t have, I listened through the door.
Dad said something about being tired of people asking why Magni and Khan looked so different. “I’m fucking tired of the question.”
And Mom said, “I don’t believe anyone would ask you that question, Marcus.”
“Maybe not to my face, but people aren’t blind, Erika. Khan looks nothing like me and I see the question in people’s eyes.”
“He’s your son. You know he’s your son.”
“No, I don’t know that. Not after what happened.”
I couldn’t see Mom’s face, but I could hear her voice break when she spoke. “Marcus, please! You said that we would never speak of it. You said that no matter what, Khan would be your son.”
When Dad didn’t answer Mom cried hysterically, and I wanted so badly to go in and comfort her and tell Dad that he was wrong. Khan might be darker than me and Magni, but that’s just because Mom’s side of the family has brown hair and brown eyes. She has told us so many times.
But then my Dad hissed, “I know what I said. It doesn’t change that he’s not my blood, and we both know it. Every time I see the boy’s face, I’m reminded of it.”
After that I ran back to my own room, and now I’m shaking. I don’t know what to do. Should I tell Khan what I heard or not? Nothing will ever be the same now.
The room was dead silent as I stopped speaking and raised my gaze from the diary. It was like time had stopped; they all sat with stone faces.
Chewing on my lip, I looked at Leo, who moved a little closer to me.
“Dancing devils.” The small outburst from Magni woke them all up. “That’s some fucked-up shit right there.” He coughed.
Khan stood stoically close to me, his eyes on Erika, who was looking down. “Care to explain, Mother?”
My defense of Erika came fast. “Your mother didn’t cheat on your father if that’s what you think.”
Khan held a hand up to silence me and repeated his r
equest for Erika to explain herself. “I’m listening.”
Erika didn’t meet his eyes; instead she looked at me. “Why don’t you tell them what happened?”
I swallowed hard and cleared my dry throat. “When Dina was a few months old, Lord Wolf came to see her.” My eyes darted around the room until they settled on the bedspread on Magni’s bed. “He and two of his generals drank with Marcus to celebrate a precious girl had been born and then things took a turn.” I paused. “The generals held down Marcus while Lord Wolf raped your mother.”
Pearl’s hand flew to her mouth. Mila gave an outcry and Laura got up from her chair with a row of cusswords, while Magni growled and stabbed a finger at his mother. “Why didn’t you ever tell us that? We could have avenged you.”
“How? Your father already killed Wolf and we were trying to move on with our lives. No one can know about this outside this room.”
My attention turned to Khan, who still hadn’t said a word. He seemed way too calm for someone who had just been told this kind of news.
“So that’s why Dad started the rebellion – or should I say, Marcus?”
Erika’s lower eyelashes were wet with tears. “He loved you and he was your dad.”
Khan scoffed. “Loved me. Huh. I don’t know if that man was capable of loving anyone, but this explains a lot.”
“That’s because you didn’t know Marcus before it happened. He was an artist and a loving husband.”
“Khan, it changes nothing,” Magni exclaimed looking paler than ever. “Even if people outside this room found out that I was the rightful heir to the country, it’s not like anyone is going to want your crippled brother as a ruler anyway.”
“Magni.” Laura gave him a pleading look. “Stop talking about yourself as a cripple.”
“I am a fucking cripple.” With his right hand Magni tore the blanket off, showing that from the knees down there was nothing. “Do you see any legs, Laura, huh? Do you?” He held up his left arm, which only went to a little under his elbow. “The sooner you realize that the man you married is gone, the better.”
Mila sat next to her dad with her legs pulled up in front of her and her face hiding against her knees. She had wrapped her arms around her legs and from the way her shoulders were bobbing I could tell she was crying.
“Should we take a break?” Leo asked Pearl.
“No. You people don’t get to take a fucking break. Welcome to my world where nothing makes sense and everything that comes at you is shit.” Magni’s anger gave color to his face and with the extensive scarring on his left side, he looked scary. “I can’t take a break from this joke of a body and you don’t get to take a break from the news you don’t like either. I demand that we keep going. If someone killed my sister, I want to know who did it.”
With the tense atmosphere in the room, it was hard to pull out a picture of Lord Nikolai Wolf and hand it to Khan. “I found this picture and it validates what Erika said. You look a lot like him.”
Khan stared at the picture of his biological father but he didn’t speak, so I continued.
“I assume you’ve seen a picture of Lord Wolf before?”
“Of course, but the most famous one is of his corpse after he was killed. I haven’t seen this picture before.”
“He was forty-two in that picture so four years younger than you are now.”
“He was forty-three when he died, wasn’t he?” Khan handed the picture to Pearl.
“Yes.” I nodded. “Anyway, I felt it was important to talk to witnesses that knew Henry, Dina’s husband, so I tracked down his friend and roommate, Michael, and Laura and I went to interview him.”
Magni’s voice was low, as he looked at Laura. “When was this? Why didn’t I know? Did you at least bring guards?”
Laura crossed her arms. “I’m two seconds from being done with your grumpy ass for today. I’m a lethal fighter and so is Raven. Now be quiet and listen to what Raven has to say.”
Magni growled low but kept quiet, so I continued.
“Michael still lives in the building where Henry and Dina lived. He showed us the attic and the place behind the apartment building where he found Dina. From the beginning I had Dina’s husband, Henry, as the prime suspect, so I asked a lot of questions about him, but from what Michael remembers he was very happy with Dina and they seemed to get along. The thing that stressed them out was the fact that Henry didn’t get his prize money.”
Khan frowned. “What do you mean?”
“He was supposed to receive a million dollars, but he only got one hundred thousand. Apparently, Marcus claimed that marrying his daughter was the highest prize any man could get.”
“I thought Michael was a jealous lover of Henry.” Laura pitched in.
Nodding my head, I shifted my balance. “Yes, and that made him a suspect as well.”
“Why didn’t Henry get his money?” Pearl asked.
“Because my father was broke,” Khan said matter-of-factly and then he leaned his head back. “Ahh… so the blackmailer I heard Mr. Zobel talk about was Henry.”
“What blackmailer?” Pearl waved a hand. “Go back, you lost me.”
“As I said, Laura and I were suspicious of anything Michael told us because he was Henry’s roommate, and we weren’t sure if maybe something more was going on between them.”
Laura piped up again. “They shared a small bed.”
“Yes, but Michael’s story turned out to be true because I found Marcus’ wristband with sound clips of Dina begging him to pay Henry the rest of the million dollars.”
“Poor girl.” Laura rubbed her face.
“Would you like me to play some of the clips for you?”
“Yes.” Magni narrowed his eyes. “Anyone who doesn’t have the stomach for it can leave but we’re hearing it.”
I played the nine sound clips, from the first ones begging for Marcus to pay the money to Dina growing harder and colder, to the last ones where she began threatening him.
“Dad, I know what you did and why you took that money. You are bankrupt! Mom told me and I would help you, except you already stole my husband’s fortune so I can’t feel bad for you. You’re a thief and a liar. But here’s the thing. I also know that Khan isn’t your son. That’s right, I heard you and Mom talk about it years ago. Since you won’t answer my calls or do the right thing, then I guess you leave me no choice than to play dirty too. If you don’t make sure to pay Henry his money, I’ll share that piece of information with anyone who will listen. Just pay what you owe us and I’ll never mention it again.”
I played another sound clip and watched them all sit with stern faces and listen.
“I’m learning about the things you’ve done, Dad. I always knew you were a tyrant to your family but the fear on people’s faces when someone mentions your name, it’s disturbing, and now that I know how cold-hearted you are and that you’d steal money from your own daughter, I believe the rumors. I’ll never let you see your grandchildren or come close to me again unless you pay the money you owe and make it up to me.”
Magni sighed. “I knew Dina had a temper, but for the most part, I remember her as a soft-spoken and good-natured girl. For her to speak like that, it’s crazy to think how desperate she must have been.”
Dina’s voice filled the room again. “Khan has been trying to get in touch with me. Did you know that? I guess that means you told him that you’re not his father. So far, I haven’t picked up, but next time he calls I’m telling him everything unless we have the money.”
I turned to Khan. “Remember I asked you if you’d called Dina after the wedding?”
“Yeah, but I wasn’t trying to lie about it, I had just forgotten.”
“Nevertheless, it makes you a suspect too. After all, you had the most to lose if Dina spread the news that you weren’t the legitimate heir to the Northlands.”
“You think I killed Dina?” Khan scoffed. “That’s ridiculous.”
“I’m not saying that you did, bu
t a detective can’t rule out anything. With your attempts to call Dina, I figured that you were either trying to warn her about your dad’s plans or you wanted to threaten her into silence. That’s why I asked you to spar with me.”
“I don’t recall you asking me. I offered.” Khan’s brow was low and he looked down at me with an intense stare. “Are you saying you planned it to interview me?”
“Kind of. And the point is that you told me about overhearing Mr. Zobel and your dad arguing.”
“We just established that he wasn’t my dad.”
“Right, but you said that Marcus and Zobel were discussing an issue with someone blackmailing him.”
Khan pointed to Marcus’ wristband. “And now we know who that someone was. They were obviously discussing Dina.”
“Most likely.” I nodded. “And that would explain why your father was hesitant over Mr. Zobel’s suggestion of killing the blackmailer.”
“Fuck, I hate that creep.” Magni growled low and looked at Khan. “Did you hear him encourage Dad to kill Dina?”
Khan shook his head. “Not in those words. No names were mentioned. I’m not sure Zobel understood that the blackmailer was Dina or that he knew how Marcus had stolen her bride money.” He looked down. “The worst part is that I always thought it was the blackmailer who killed Dina. In fact, I blamed our dad for letting it happen.”
“But, honey, I thought you said that you didn’t know who killed your sister.”
Khan nodded to Pearl. “Because I never knew the identity of the blackmailer until now.”
Pearl threw her hands up. “All the evidence I’ve heard so far leads to Marcus. We know he was ruthless, an awful father, and pressed for money. It must be him.”
“Except, Marcus was here when it happened,” I pointed out.
Magni growled. “My dad could have sent some of his soldiers to do his dirty job. He did that all the time.”
“He could have, but Michael called me today and when I told him I’d stopped investigating, he shared something with me that raised another question.” I projected the image of the blue feather for all of us to see.