Chapter 5: "Following The Trail."
Even with my hooves covering my muzzle, I was accosted by the most foul smelling stench I'd ever smelled in my life. Tears welled up in my eyes as I struggled to see the rungs of the ladder as I made my way down into the dank sewer. I somehow made it to the bottom and tried my best to keep from breathing more of it in.
There's no nice way to describe a sewer. Its exactly how you think it is: Dank, open spaced and wreaking of Celestia knows what. I was so scared of stepping in sewage and ruining my blouse, I almost didn't notice the vibrant colored tacky Mareiposa Maulers cap, simply tossed aside in the muck. As I picked it up from the ground I immediately knew who its wearer had been: The bomber had worn this cap as part of his "innocent tourist" getup.
The cap had only been bought today. The price tag was still on it: Hat's Off Hat Shop, Mareiposa. I'd have heard of the place. The big hat shop downtown. It was famous for being in the shape of a top hat. The bomber had bought this cap from there, and used it as part of his disguise.
I now had two leads on our bomber. Yet I still had none on the mime who had attacked me, or Mr. Regal's killer. Not to mention the mysterious photograph. I was skipping to conclusions. I knew I had to be patient. Answers don't come that easily. I had to keep looking. Pick one lead at a time and go from there.
I ascended up the ladder on the opposite side of the sewer, thankful to be leaving the awful place.
I emerged in front of a grand looking hotel. I appeared to only be one street over from the cafe. Climbing out of the hatch, I quickly checked to see if my blouse was okay. Thankfully I had made it through the sewer without getting anything on myself. Probably because I had basically acted like I was trotting on hot coals. I don't think Ive ever stood on my hooves that much before.
Glad to be out of the sewer, I trotted over to the hotel and saw a young bell hop colt opening doors for other ponies. As far as I could tell, no one payed any mind to the strange mare who had just climbed out from the sewer.
I was set on one goal: Finding Mr. Regal's killer. That bombing had been done to get something from Argyle. Something that shed light on the killer, and that tourist had been sent to eliminate him, and take that info away. Why didn't they just destroy it? It meant whatever was in that case had been important to both Argyle and the bomber. I needed to investigate more into this. I needed more pieces for this puzzle.
But in order to do that I had to use a piece I already had: Salah-A'dinn 1345. I had to find out what this was. I decided to see if anyone at the hotel knew anything. It was worth a shot, and I couldn't say that they didn't know anything unless I asked. I approached the colt in the bell hop's uniform.
"Excuse me, Sir?"
He smiled warmly at me. "Yes miss? What can I do for you?" He was very friendly and polite. Good. Maybe he'd be willing to help me.
"Forgive me, for bothering you, but...does the name Salah-A'dinn, mean anything to you?" I know it seemed a little brash to just come out and say it, but there was no point in not getting to the main question. I was quite surprised indeed by his answer.
"I should think so, ma'am. He's staying at the hotel, right now. Not a very friendly guy, but-
"Wait! You mean he's a guest staying at the hotel?"
"Yes ma'am. Why?"
That was him. The Bomber's name had been Salah A'dinn. And he was staying at this very hotel. I had to know more.
"I need to speak with him. Its very important that I do." I wasn't lying. And he didn't need to know the real reason. Odds are it would've put him in danger.
"Well...it certainly sounds like its important. If you head inside, the guest book is on the concierge desk. His name should still be under there, if you want to find him. Just please don't cause any trouble, okay?"
I was ecstatic and I could feel my eyes lighting up with anticipation. But I remained composed as I thanked him for his help, then entered the hotel.
Trottingham De La Grand Hotel Lobby, 10:52 am
I had sworn I had walked into a palace, rather than a hotel. The whole place was the very picture of grandeur and luxury. Finely decorated silk curtains hung over the windows, the floors were of the shiniest marble I'd ever seen, and a statue of a proud looking stallion in armor stood in the center of the lobby beneath a gigantic silver crystal chandelier. Ambient piano melodies wafted throughout the place, making it even more cozy and luxurious. There's no way I could've afforded to stay here. I was lucky that my suite and trip had been covered by the Mareiposa Intelligence Board. I wouldn't have actually wanted to stay here, anyway. (The gleam from the chandelier was practically blinding me!)
I looked over to see a bow tie clad mare playing the piano. She was quite good, but didn't seem to be much in the line of conversation. I looked over in the armchair by the fireplace, and gasped aloud as I saw a familiar face sitting in it.
It was Dr. Seastone! The genius inventor who I'd seen at the Intelligence summit. It didn't really surprise me, that she could afford to stay in this place. Her inventions got so much funding, she probably could've bought the place if she wanted to. I trotted over to her, and saw that she was fast asleep in the armchair. She snored quietly and had forgotten to take her glasses off. She also still only wore the lab coat she had worn at the summit. Unbuttoned, and laying around her shoulders, rather untidily, with her arms slumped in the sleeves.
I didn't want to disturb her, but to have a chance to talk to the most scientifically brilliant pony in Equestria? I couldn't pass up the chance. Plus, maybe she could've helped me. To have her help in this investigation, would be more than invaluable.
I lowered my voice and gently nudged her shoulder. "Dr. Seastone?"
She didn't wake up. I nudged her shoulder again. "Dr. Seastone, I'm sorry to disturb you but-
Suddenly her eyes shot wide open, and nearly scared me to death. I yiped in a manner that I'm sure a mouse would've coughed. Despite scaring me half to death, Dr. Seastone acted like nothing was out of the ordinary. She yawned loudly then rubbed her eyes. I had only just noticed her mane hadn't been messed up at all. She must've only just fallen asleep. But why did she react the way she did?
She looked at me with sleepy but insightful eyes, behind her glasses. "Hmmm?" She said, sleepily.
"Oh, um...sorry to bother you but-
"Hey! I know you! You're Morning Meir, from the summit, right? The one who found Mr. Regal?" Amazingly, Dr. Seastone had gone from barely awake, to fully alert in less than 5 seconds flat. She looked at with a warm and friendly smile.
I smiled back and nodded."Yes, Dr. Seastone, my-
"Oh don't bother with the whole doctor thing! Just call me Seastone! I don't care much for titles. Or do. Doesn't really matter to me."
"Really? Well, um, okay. I just wanted to ask you a few things is all. You see-
"You need help solving Mr. Regal's murder?"
I was literally speechless. How had she known?
"I-I How did?-
"I overheard you and Pompous Regal talking."
"Plus, I am a genius, y'know." She said with a confident grin.
(Not a very humble one, though is she?) Nonetheless she was right. Dr. Seastone was a brilliant and amazing mind, and an incredible inventor. If anyone could help me on this case, she could.
She stood up from the chair and stretched her legs. Then looked at me with a sparkle in her eye."Alright Doc. What do you need?"
"You mean you'll help me?" I hadn't actually expected her to say she would. I mean she was the most famous scientist in Equestria. maybe the world! Why would she help a mere doctor, like me?
"Of course I will!" She said, putting her arm around me like I was her best friend. "We geniuses have to stick together, after all!" She exclaimed brightly.
My face went red. "Oh, well... I appreciate the compliment but, I'm not a genius."
"The heck you aren't! I've heard all about you! You're the smartest pony in the world! The things you can do with that brain of yours, you make me look like a dunce, in comparison!"
"What? Dr. Seastone, surely you can't be serious."
She laughed gleefully. "Oh, I'm never serious, Meir. Except when occasions call for it. And this situation definitely calls for it. You need my help? You got it!"
I was confused. I wasn't a brilliant inventor like her or a genius scientist! I was just a doctor from Equestria. I never thought of myself as being better than any other pony at anything. I've always known there were plenty of others smarter than me.
But that didn't matter right now. I now had the most brilliant scientist in the world helping me with this case. That was all I needed to know.
Dr. Seastone has joined the Investigation!
I decided to show a few of my leads to her. Maybe she could deduce more from them than I could.
"Do you know anyone named Salah-A'dinn?" I asked.
Dr. Seastone rolled her eyes. "Pfft, that jerk? Yeah, he's staying here at the hotel same as me. In room 1345, I think. He keeps to himself, and isn't too fond of anyone. Except his sister."
My eyes went wide "Sister!?" I blurted out, far too shocked to be subtle. "He has a sister?"
"Yeah. Don't know her name, but she visits sometimes. She's a lot nicer than her brother. But a lot crazier too."
"Crazy? Crazy how?"
"Asking weird questions to guests, reading books upside down, going to sleep on the couch standing on her head-
"Wow."
"Yeah, see? Crazy."
So the bomber has family. And she's nicer and more approachable than her brother. But she didn't sound too mentally stable. Or she at least sounded a little out there. Still, I now knew what 1345 meant. It was his room number. What did this mean? Why did argyle have his name and room number?
Then I got it: Argyle was after Salah. He was going to go to his room at this hotel and confront him. For what reason, I couldn't be sure, But I knew it tied together with everything that's been happening. If I had the chance, perhaps I could ask Mr. A'dinn himself.
(Or maybe his sister would be safer.)
"When did you last see him?" I asked.
"No more than an hour ago. He came downstairs, talked to that stuffy upper crust desk clerk. They handed something off- I couldn't see what."
My mind went to my first suggestion. "A briefcase?"
"No, smaller than that- I think it was his room key. The clerk put it on the rack behind him, and then A'dinn just left."
No briefcase? He must've put it in his room, after he stole it. Why would he give the clerk his room key?
"Any ideas on why he would give the clerk the key to his room?" I asked curiously.
"Not really. But he didn't want anypony getting their hooves on it. He acted pretty serious when he gave it to him. He's hiding something in that room. I bet my 357 IQ on it."
I thought for a moment. He must've given the key to the clerk to keep it safe. He didn't want to walk around with it, so he obviously felt that whatever he had in that room, was too important for him to lose the key to it. I would need to talk to the clerk and see if I could persuade him to let me borrow it.
I glanced over at the clerk. A tall, stuffy looking old stallion. He wore a disdainful expression, like he'd been born with it. He did not look like a friendly guy, and most certainly wouldn't let me just have a room key belonging to a guest. How was I going to get it?
As if she had read my mind, Dr. Seastone trotted over to the clerk and engaged him in a conversation.
"Yo, Puffy shirt."
"Yes, madame?"
"I want to deposit some bits in my safe back there."
"Of course madame. How much would you like to deposit?"
Dr. Seastone smiled as she took out a huge bag of bits and dropped it onto the counter.
"Count em, and see."
"Oh, eh...yes, very well madame."
With that, the clerk took the bag of bits with him into the backroom and began counting each one as he put them in a labeled safe amongst several others.
Dr. Seastone motioned for me to come get the key. And I did, plucking it from the wall and hiding it in my blouse pocket. We then made our way up the stairs and into the elevator, trying our best not to laugh the whole way.
As the elevator closed I could still hear the clerk counting the money.
13th floor, 11:09 am
Getting off the elevator, we made our way down the hall, glancing at each door as we approached the room belonging to the bomber. I'd be lying if I said I wasn't scared. I had never gone into anyone's room without them knowing, let alone one belonging to a killer. I was happy to not be alone in this situation, as Dr. Seastone pointed out that were there.
In front of us was a polished mahogany hotel room door with "1345" laid in gold on the front of it. I took a deep breath, calmed my nerves, then used the key to enter the room.
Room 1345, The Bomber's Room, 11:10 am
There wasn't really anything too terribly remarkable in the room. It was a normal suite. Nothing fancy. The small nightstand had no drawers, but a single door. Looking it over, I wasn't surprised to not find anything incriminating on top of it, nor inside it. The bomber had been too smart to leave incriminating evidence beside his bed. The bed was several times larger than the one in my suite, where I was staying. (But I didn't need a king size. I was happy with what I had gotten.)
I began to examine other parts of the room, while Dr. Seastone searched the bathroom (She insisted he may have hidden something in there. Not that I wanted to know.) I examined the bed. It was freshly made, and the crisp white sheets told me nothing of the bomber's habits.
Then I saw it. It had been tucked underneath the bed, and only barely stuck out of place: It was the briefcase that had belonged to Argyle, before it was stolen by the bomber. My heart was going a mile a minute as I opened it to reveal....
Nothing. The briefcase had been cleaned out. Not a single scrap of evidence in it. I searched the interior for a secret panel or something, but as I half expected, I found nothing of the sort.
"It's empty?'
Dr. Seastone returned from the bathroom, having fully studied the sink to ensure it held no secrets. "What's empty?" she asked.
"The briefcase. This was supposed to have some evidence of Mr. Regal's killer. But its been cleaned out."
"Maybe he took it with him. To exchange with a contact or something."
"Maybe. I think we should-
I stopped mid sentence as we heard a sound at the door. A conversation between two ponies. One had a deep and arguably handsome voice. The other was clearly female, and was light, sweet and erratic. Like she was extremely excited. They were coming into the room.
My stomach suddenly shifted, as I began to panic. We spotted the wardrobe next to the dresser, and quietly slipped inside, keeping it just open enough to see into the room.
The door swung open and in stepped two identical twin ponies. One was the bomber. He was tall, aggressive looking and had a hoof shaped scar under his left eye. His mane was slicked back and he wore a frightening scowl on his face. The mare that entered alongside him, was almost an exact duplicate of him. Except the opposite. She was shorter than him, very pretty, and seemed to have a bright and cheerful disposition about her, while also remaining quite dangerous. She bore the exact same hoof shaped scar under her right eye. They looked so similar, they had to be brother and sister. They were both dark colored silver, and had sleek looking black manes. The sister wore hers in a pretty side wave that came down over the left side of her head, and swayed gracefully along with her. The brother had his short and slicked back, as if he was the proper one of the two, so to speak. They both wore full body pressed black suits and pants with decorated red silk ties.
The sister sat in the nearby chair, before jumping up and sitting back down on her head, so her feet hung over the back end of the chair.
"But you got the job done, bro! Isn't that what matters?" she asked, in a sweet and concerning voice. (Concerning, because she sounded way too happy talking about a bombing.)
Salah merely scowled again. "As I've told you Ralah, the client is what matters. And according to them, the job's not done yet. There's still the mare who saw me. She has to be taken care of." He said, making me quiver at the words.
They were after me! I had been a witness, and now they wanted to silence me as well. I was freaking out, but Dr. Seastone patted my shoulder and told me to try and keep quiet. She was right. I couldn't lose my cool now. Especially when the bomber was right there in the room.
Ralah sighed childishly, as if her brother's remark, just bored her. "Fine. But I get to do it right? You said I could!"
"Yes. I know. Do not worry. You'll get your chance."Salah answered, pulling out a torn in half photograph from his pocket.
My mind flashed back to the torn photo id found in the state room: That was the other half of it!
"But first-" He tore the photo into pieces and threw the pieces onto the floor.
"That takes care of the evidence."
He walked out the door, and motioned for his sister to follow, which she did, skipping and smiling the whole way.
As soon as they were gone, we listened to make sure they had left the floor, before we stumbled out. I went over to the photo scraps and gathered them up, and began trying to put them back together. He may have destroyed the photo, but it could be put back together. I could still find out who had been in the picture with Mr. Regal.
It took only seconds, before I had done it. I took out my half of the picture and put it beside its twin. I looked at the other face in the picture.
And gasped as I saw who it was.