as written by glmstr and Ronin
Savien's interview with Arien had been fruitful. Though all of the proselytes had mentioned Aurelie's presence in their reports, none of them had known that she worked with the church in the past. A quick scan through the database gave Savien what he wanted - her file. The paladin had her alleged age and place of residence, along with a documented list of all the assignments she'd taken with the Order in the past. She seemed to favor work outside city limits, where worked as a guide. Curiously, she wore a mask for many of their engagements...
The paladin pulled his destrier up to an apartment complex in Lupaix. 'PEACH TREES', the neon billboard mounted on the roof read. The 'P' flickered on and off in sporadic intervals.
He parked and walked into the lobby.
The lobby was suprisingly clean and well-groomed for such a dank and destitute part of Lutetia City. The walls sported a tacky but endearing tan and cream pinstripe wallpaper, with floral designs in a bronze hue. A healthy ficus in a clay pot stood in the corner to greet visitors, as well as various paintings hung sporadically throughout the room.
At the counter, opposite the door, sat an elderly woman hunched over a newspaper. She was scrawling something with a pencil, likely working on the daily crossword, when she looked up and saw the paladin.
"Can I help you, dearie?"
Savien's eyes went to each door, corner, exit and window before finally resting on the woman.
"Good day," he touched two fingers to his lips, "I'm here on state business. I need to speak with a resident in this facility. Aurelie Lacroix." He stepped forward, glancing at one of the paintings hung on the wall - a duplicated pastel of a ship docking at a harbor. "If she doesn't answer, I'll need the keys to her room. I have a warrant."
"Aurelie?" the woman raised an eyebrow, before reaching into a drawer to begin looking for the key. "A very unusual one, yes. A nice girl, but an odd customer if I've ever seen one. I think she's a hermit, just about never leaves that apartment. When she does, she comes home at such crazy hours in the night. Sometimes I worry, but she's always come back safe and sound. But, she hasn't come home recently... aha!" Her bony fingers plucked the key, which had Apt. 124 carefully written in permanent marker on it, from its holder.
"Here you go, please don't tear up the place too much."
Savien took the key. "Thank you. I'm sure I won't have to." He decided to save his questions till after he'd searched Aurelie's room.
The paladin took the stairs to the next floor and traversed the long hallways till he came to room 124. He rapped sharply on the wood.
"Aurelie Lacroix. Open up. This is the law." He listened intently for the sound of life.
The apartment was completely silent. Not a sound of breath, a sound of footstep, not even the shifting of clothing.
Savien fitted the key and turned, peering into the darkness. He snatched up a circular disc from his belt and drew a circle around it with his thumb. A focused beam of light shot out of the disc. Drawing his lawkeeper, he magnetized the disc to the weapon and advanced inside, shining his light all about the room for a quick survey. Finding the light switch near the door, he illuminated the apartment.
The cheap incandescent bulbs flickered to life after a few moments of effort, to reveal the apartment.
It had the same wallpaper as the lobby, but otherwise had little to nothing in comparison. The room was messy, turned upside down with furniture, clothes and belongings strewn about. It seemed as if somebody was looking for something in the room, or someone was in a hurry. There were some pictures that fell from the walls and landed facedown, a trashcan with some papers in it (they were very uncrumpled, they must have fallen in by mistake), and there was a nightstand drawer which actually seemed rather untouched compared to the rest of the room.
Savien took in the room. He dialed down his roundlight but didn't holster his weapon. Whoever was in here last had been in a hurry.
He started with what was amiss - the nightstand. Careful not to upset the scene, Savien walked over to it and looked for anything on or in the stand that might help him discern who Aurelie was and what connection she had with Malcolm.
Within the first drawer, Savien found two boxes of ammunition. One was much more ornate than the other and made with a thicker box. The manufacturer and the style of bullet was printed in bright font on both of them, suggesting rounds for a medium-sized pistol. In permanent marker, the two boxes had big letters drawn on them: the more mundane box had CuZn, while the fancier box had Ag written on it.
Savien opened the boxes, finding them (unsurprisingly) filled with brass and silver bullets. The latter was more interesting. What did anyone other than monster hunters need silver bullets for? He supposed she did lots of work with the church. Might explain why she'd need to be prepared for monsters.
He tried the last drawer, but found it locked. Hm.
Standing up, Savien made a brief pass over the floor, scanning for any articles of clothing or discarded belongings that might seem of interest. He walked over to the fallen pictures next, picking them up to have a look at them.
The first picture Savien found was a rather simple one, the Lutetia City skyline in black-and-white. A good chance the photograph was either actually taken a long time ago, but more likely that some photography student took it on a digital camera and took away the colors with post-processing.
The second picture, surprisingly small, seemed slightly less mundane. The picture consisted of two figures shaking hands on the Veres Manies, the great cathedral. Savien strained his eyes to recognize the two figures. One was covered head-to-toe in clothing and a black cloak, their face completely sheltered from the light by a hood.
The other figure was much more readily identified. It was none other than Eclaron Taris Madonil.
Curious. Savien didn't recognize the framed picture from any history books. What was a photograph of a murdererd Eclaron doing in this woman's home? Savien removed a small digital camera from his belt and snapped a picture of the photograph before moving on.
He moved to the trashcan next, sifting through the stack of papers for anything that might stand out to him.
The papers consisted of bills, checks from the church, magazines, largely riff-raff. Among the papers in the trash can was a small envelope, tied shut with a string, with the word 'Apartment' hastily scribbled on the back with a pen.
Savien actually picked up a few of the bills, scanning to see if anything interesting were on them other than electricity and groceries. When he found the envelope, he weight in in his hands, thumbed through the paper to see if anything hard or sharp was inside, before opening it and checking its contents.
The bills were all run-of-the-mill, something you'd expect a regular person to buy. Within the envelope was a few pieces of paper, namely the original registration form to rent the apartment, and a very small key.
Savien checked the registration, ensuring the information matched what he had on file. He took the key in hand. Walking back to the nightstand, he tried to open it with the key.
The registration matched up, but there was one major discrepancy: According to the document in the envelope, the apartment has been rented by the same tenant for almost a century. It was quite likely that this was just a typo, however.
The nightstand's lower drawer opened with a dull click, and slid open. Within, a newspaper. The paper was face-down though, so the headline and picture weren't visible.
A century? He would have to talk to the landlady. No matter, the key seemed to work. Whatever Aurelie was trying to hide was about to be exposed.
No human skulls, no blood samples on glass slates. Just a black-and-white. Savien reached out and turned the paper over.
The picture took up almost all of the front page: A somewhat pale-skinned brunette girl, clearly in her early twenties. Above read a headline, in big block letters:
MISSING: HAVE YOU SEEN THIS GIRL?
In a caption below the almost mugshot-like image, likely from her drivers license, "If you have seen this woman or have any information that can contribute to her discovery, please call . . ."a phone number is listed,"or contact the Lutetia Police Department."
Curiously, the date for the paper was only a few years before the date listed on the apartment papers: a century in the past.
Well. That was not what Savien had been expecting. He took another picture of the paper before perusing through it. If nothing else jumped out at him and if nothing else was in the drawer, he would close it and lock it again.
Pieces were coming together in his head. A woman went home with an alleged. Her apartment had been rented out for the better part of a century. Savien would need to get an ID from the proselytes, but his gut told him that the missing girl in the paper was Aurelie.
Whoever this girl was, she wasn't human.
After a brief search of the rest of the apartment, Savien put everything back in the general state he found it and left.
"Thank you," he offered the key back to the landlady. "If you don't mind me asking, do you know how long Ms. Lacroix has had an apartment in this complex?"
"Well, she's lived in that apartment as long as I can remember. She must be older than a rock at this point, maybe that's why she's always covered in that strange outfit. Poor thing, I hope she isn't fretting about aging. It's a part of life, you know," the elderly woman gave a slightly wheezing laugh, her tone a mixture of playfulness and unease.
She reached out and gently grabbed the key, placing it back into the drawer where it belonged.
"If you find out something happened to her, please let me know. I worry about my tenants."
"Of course," Savien nodded, "has she ever come home with anyone? A friend or a lover?"
"Eh? Never. I don't think she's ever brought guests, she always comes home alone."
"I see." Savien reached into his belt and lay a card on her desk. "Thank you for your cooperation. Let me know if you see her again, call that number." He turned to leave, but stopped. "Oh and... if she does return and asks who was in her room..." He turned to look at her, his voice lowering. "Don't tell her it was the church." The paladin was thinking more for the landlady's benefit than his own. Better Aurelie believe that some two-bit detective or monster hunter was on her trail than a paladin. She might be less-inclined to cover her tracks ... and potentially clean up anybody that knew of her whereabouts.
With that, Savien turned and left.
