Chapter 5
“Answers at Last”
We stood in the little apartment Case and Red looked at us three with nervous trepidation. Now there were no more secrets, we knew their real identities and it was time for them to come clean.
“Case File and Red Light, back from the dead.” I said to the pair of them as the orderly from before looked up at all of us.
“All this time you were just living in this little apartment. Unbelievable.” Sparkler said, looking at the pair of not so dead victims.
“So what happened?” Even asked them. “Historic find out the truth and that you murdered two ponies in order to disappear with the medallion? Then you confronted him at his office and shot him?”
Case spoke up for the first time since the little greeting we gave, “Look it’s not what you think. Historic corned me at Muimbaji’s funeral, wanting to know how I knew her. In order to keep me and Red safe I pretended to be the bartender.”
Red took her husband’s hoof and looked at us, “But Historic was too clever, he figured us out and came here demanding to know where the Medallion was. He threatened to expose us…” She said quietly as she nuzzled into Case, who nuzzled back.
“But we know it has to be you two.” I explained. “The same gun used in that case was used to kill Historic.”
Case looked at me, puzzled. “But that can’t be right, I keep it in the-”
“Cabinet? Oh you have no idea what a find that was.”
All five of us turned and saw the orderly pointing a gun at us. She held the gun in her magic and aimed it at me. “Do drop your weapons detective, I’d hate for this to get messy.”
I frowned and used my magic to pull out Golden Eagle, Blackhawk and White Tiger and set them on a coffee table.
Case and Red looked at the orderly in shock. “Tea? What’s all this?” Red asked, confused.
“It’s me getting my revenge you harlot. After all this time I figure it’s time I dropped the subtlety.” Tea said with a malicious grin. “Now you are going to tell me where the real medallion is!”
“Tea, what is the meaning of this? Why are you threatening us?” Red asked.
“Because I’m tired of hiding!” Tea shouted at us. “After almost half a century it was high time I got what was meant to be mine!”
“Meant to be…” I said with a frown.
Case then got a better look at Tea and said, “No...it can’t be…”
“Surprised to see me again Case? I’m amazed it took three months for you to figure me out.” Tea said, “Yes, it’s me...Chandelier.”
“WHAT?!” Sparkler and Even said in unison.
“But how? You were one of the bodies…” I pointed out.
“Oh that was easy, I dolled up some gal to look like me, offered her a batch of money in exchange for threatening Case and Red into giving up the Medallion. I sent my idiot of an ex husband, the real Whiskey Rocks, along to make sure it got done. Only I didn’t count on you two murdering them both.” Chandelier said with a glare.
“It was an accident!” Red pleaded. “I tried to get the gun away from her and she shot Whiskey in the back. I then wrestled with her and she shot herself...I’m...sorry…”
“After all these years you apologize to me!” Chandelier shouted. “If it wasn’t for you I would’ve had the medallion! Do you realize how long it took me to get in good with Presto? I was ready to go and take the medallion after a little ‘accident’ would befall Presto. I was going to be the richest mare in town until you came around and stole my chance! I figured I could get rid of you too...by hiring some handsome young stallion to get you away from Presto long enough for me to take the medallion.”
“So you hired Case.” Even concluded. “Only you didn’t count on them falling in love.”
“Smart boy,” Chandelier said with a frown. “So after years of tracking you down I got in contact with Historic. I figured it would be simple, use his obsession and steal the medallion when he wasn’t looking. He then tried to hand me off some cheap knock off and told me it was the real medallion.”
“But it-” Case said.
“When I demanded he hand me the real one he tried to claim it was the real one. Things escalated and I shot the fool for his trouble. I figured I could come back here, pretend to be meek little Tea Time until I find the real medallion. I didn’t count on Private Eye taking the case though…” She said, pointing the gun at me.
“The one you have was the real medallion…” Red explained.
“What?! But I-”
“After we defended ourselves from your goons we decided to disappear. We grabbed as much oil and whiskey as we could and set fire to the bodies.” Case explained.
“But...the medallion…” Chandelier said, her eye twitching.
“We hid it in a loose brick behind the bar.” Red explained. “We sent Historic there and he called to confirm it was the actual medallion. It was the same medallion we hid.”
“But...you had it right in your hooves…” Chandelier said, shocked. “Why would you toss it aside like some bit of trash!”
“We figured we could come back for it later if we needed it.” Case explained. “But after a few years of running around we found out that well...to use a tired old cliche all we needed was each other…”
“That’s horse apples!” Chandelier yelled, pointing the gun at us. “GIVE ME THE REAL MEDALLION! Nopony would do something so stupid! You obviously took the real medallion and gave Historic a fake one!’
“They aren’t lying,” I said looking at the couple and then at Chandelier. “There’s another possibility for the confusion...the medallion itself was a fake in the first place.”
“No…” Chandelier said in disbelief.
“Cheap costume jewelry that was only designed to look pretty and valuable to show off Presto’s wealth and power.” I said, “And you shot Historic because you didn’t get a good look at the medallion before it was stolen. You couldn’t examine it up close because of how paranoid Presto was about it. Historic didn’t know it was fake either, probably because he didn’t get a really good look at it before showing you. He was probably too blinded by greed and glory to see the truth…”
“SHUT UP! If I don’t get the real medallion right now I’ll-”
Suddenly a vase fell on her head and she fell to the floor unconscious. I looked over and saw Sparkler had levitated the vase. She smiled at all of us and said, “Do they always have to monologue so much?”
______________________________________________________
After a phone call to the police, Chandelier was carted off by them shouting that she wanted what was hers all the way to the carriage. I then went to search her apartment and came back with the actual medallion itself. At the police station I gave the medallion to a rather lanky looking unicorn with dark brown hair and a white coat.
This was Artifact Finder, a member of the Equestria Historical society. He examined the medallion as I stood next to him, the police station in a flurry to wrap up the loose ends of the case.
Dig looked at me and said, “Indeed my boy, this is little more than costume jewelry, really well painted costume jewelry but not a true medallion of Celestia.”
“A shame really,” I said, shaking my head. “All of this over a fake medallion. I wonder if it’s possible that somepony else swapped the medallion out years ago and hid this fake one in the hiding spot.”
“We may never know lad, but this is still an important part of Equestria’s history.” Dig explained and packed the medallion carefully into a briefcase. “I shall take this to Canterlot University for further study. Give my regard to Whiskey and Gin Rocks, for such a historic find.”
He left after that and I began walking out the building. As I walked out I heard Clippers arguing with Insight inside his office. Something about ‘it wasn’t fair that Private took my case’ or something like that. I stepped outside and saw Even and Sparkler talking to Case and Red.
“So you really just disappeared like that?” Sparkler asked. “You really just left the medallion behind?”
“Didn’t you think about going back to get it?” Even asked them.
“Sometimes,” Red said with a little chuckle. “But we got too caught up in the thrill and adventure of running off together to think much about it.”
“It just left our minds, honestly if we did try to sell it in some other city I think the press would’ve found out.” Case explained. “So we just settled down and hid for a few years. Then we had four kids, seven grandkids and next thing you know we were doing what we always wanted.” He then leaned into his wife lovingly. “Just being together.”
I smiled at the scene and came over, “I also have some good news for you two. I called my wife Twilight and she explained everything to Celestia. Her royal Highness will ensure that as far as the world is concerned, Whiskey and Gin helped us solve the mystery.”
The old couple looked at me and Case said, “But aren’t you-”
“I didn’t find Case File and Red Light, and the murders sound like self defense. Nothing short of a time machine can allow me to prove that wrong. And besides, I solved the murder of Historic thanks to a little dna scanning. You two can keep living your lives together without having to worry about me knocking on your door,” I said with a smile.
Case and Red smiled wide and came over. Case shook my hoof and said, “If you ever need an old PI to show you a few things just let me know.”
Red hugged me and said, “Thank you so much, we won’t forget this.”
I just hugged her back and eventually the two old ponies walked away together. I then looked at Even and Sparkler. Sparkler smiled and said, “It’s kinda romantic in a way. I’m happy for them.”
I then chuckled a little, “Uh, don’t tell your mother about the fact that somepony was holding us all at gunpoint okay? Ditzy won’t let me hear the end of it.”
“I’m just lucky she was so focused on monologuing to pay attention to my horn glowing.” Sparkler said with a chuckle.
“I’ll get us a train back home,” I said, walking off. I then heard them talking behind me.
“You uh, really helped out on this one.” Even said nervously to Sparkler.
Sparkler laughed a little and said, “You guys did all the heavy lifting. I just tricked a guard and dropped a vase on somepony’s head.”
“I’m just saying it was, nice to have you around…” Even said, and I could picture him blushing behind me.
“Heh, maybe we can do this again sometime.” Sparkler said, and I heard her fur brush against his for a brief moment.
Even kinda, stuttered and petered out as we ventured all the way home. I tried not to laugh at the parallel between those two and Twilight and I…
Got me feeling just a hint nostalgic…
Frankly though, I was going to look forward to being with Twilight and taking in a good long rest after this insane case. It felt like it took years to get all of the answers but…
In the end as I rode the train home with Even and Sparkler...I realized it was worth it.
Worth it just to push a little more to getting this story to a close.