Chapter 11: "A Turn For The Worst."
"The thing about the worst, is that it can only get better, afterwards."
- The Goddess
The Next Day
After waking up we were treated to breakfast via room service. As i helped myself to the homemade waffles and hashbrowns, I decided to check today's paper. The main headline read: "Mayor Fairmont To Make Speech To The City! All Ponies welcome."
It seemed as if our "chat" with Fairmont had gotten to him. Hopefully, he would be announcing that he's stepping down as Mayor. If he came out and blabbed that he was working with the cartel, it would set the whole populace into a panic. Ponies were worried enough as it is. They didn't need to find out there own mayor was working with the killers behind the voodoo murders.
With great hesitation, I checked my horoscope: "Aquarius. The shadow upon you is no longer reversible. Walk in the light, or you will be lost to the dark." I grimaced at the paper, like it had insulted me. "Yep. Thought so." I said, then tossed the paper onto the counter.
After breakfast I decided to head back to the station to see if Karosta was there, when as I was about to open the door, I saw an envelope slip under it from the entryway.
Given our current situation, I was hesitant to open it, but as I held it in my hooves I saw it had my name written in Karosta's neat scrawl. I opened the letter and read what it had to say:
Meir,
I have to go underground with this thing. It runs wide and deep throughout the department and the city board. I'm already being watched. It was "suggested" that I take a vacation so I am-at least, as far as they know. Get hold of Pensipony. Stubborn as the mare is, she's the only weapon we have against the cartel right now. I'm also sending you my office key . You might find something in there to help.
Good Luck and stay strong!
- Karosta
P.S. Be careful around the station. There's a bad aura around the place anymore. Trust nopony in there!
I was relieved to hear that Karosta was alright. But she had gone in to hiding so suddenly. Was the cartel coming after her directly? That would be pretty bold, considering she was the chief of police, but I suppose nothing was off limits to the cartel.
After she had finished her breakfast I told Goldbloom about the letter she had sent to me."She must have really gotten spooked." Goldbloom commented, reading the letter after me.
"I can't really see Karosta getting spooked by anything. I think it was so she could do some digging without the city board spying on her." I elaborated, trying to put the pieces together. "I need to head down to the station. Maybe she'll have something in her office she wanted to keep hidden for us."
"If Karosta comes over here, we'll call you and let you know. Be careful Meir. I have a feeling things are going to get a lot worse soon."
I nodded as I slipped the letter into my pocket, taking care to fold it so it fit neatly in my blouse. "I'll head over and see what's going on."
I put a hoof on the door, and was about to leave. But I turned back to Goldbloom. "She mentioned the station had a bad feeling around it. That we can't trust anyone." I said in a serious tone.
"Do you think she's right?" Goldbloom asked.
"I'm not sure. I'll just have to see for myself."
As I walked down the street from The Nawlans Galleria, I saw that despite the fear of the voodoo murders case, the city was still alive with the Nightmare Night Spirit. It wouldn't be long now till the big night was finally here. I only hoped that this case was solved by then, so I could actually enjoy it. But most of all, I just wanted this city to stay as it was: Joyful, happy and full of music and life. I wasn't going to let the cartel do any more harm to the ponies of Nawlans. Not if I could stop them.
Nawlans Police Station (8:00 am)
The station looked as it always had. I'm not sure what I was expecting to see, but Karosta's letter had warned me about a bad aura to the place. I looked around, and saw that everything looked the same for the most part. Except I spotted a familiar bright yellow earth pony waiting for me on the steps of the station.
"Good Morning, Dr. Pensipony!" I greeted her with a smile.
Pensipony gave another almost-smile and nodded. "It's good to see you again, Ms. Meir. I was hoping to run into you here." She greeted me back. She reached into her satchel and withdrew a small red book. The words "The Drumming Codex" was visible on the front. "I found this while researching the cartel. Those drummers are a big player in their operations; it's how they know everything that's going on. If we can decode what their drum patterns mean..."
"Then we'll know everything they do! That's brilliant Dr. Pensipony!" I exclaimed.
"I'm glad you think so." Pensipony said handing me the book, which I tucked away in my own satchel. "And Meir?"
"Yes?"
"I just wanted to say....I'm sorry." Pensipony said, looking away, as if she was ashamed.
"Sorry? For what?"
She looked back at me, looking guilty. "For being so....unfriendly to you the first time we met. I've never had many friends, at least none that could tolerate my attitude for very long. I trust so few ponies anymore, in this city especially. But I know I can trust you, now. I'm very happy to be working with you on this."
And then she smiled at me. An actual smile, this time. "And... I'm glad we're friends." she said softly.
I smiled back. "I am too. And don't worry about before. Water under the bridge, and all that."
"Thank you." Pensipony said sincerely.
"Do you need a hug?"
"No." she said sternly.
After that awkwardness, we headed inside the station. Hopefully we would be able to find Karosta and share with her what we've found out.
Station Lobby (8:06 am)
I approached the desk were a portly officer was writing something down on a piece of paper. He never looked up to acknowledge me. "Excuse me, but were here to see Chief Karosta." I said politely.
He looked up at me with tired eyes. "Um....we...We don't have a Chief Karosta here." he said in a dull tone.
I must have misheard him. "What are talking about? I've been talking to her this entire case!" I exclaimed.
He never batted an eye. "Listen to what I'm saying. We don't have a Chief Karosta in this station." He then went back to writing on the paper. Except now that I was looking, he wasn't actually writing anything on the paper. The quill just scratched and scratched as he wrote, but no words ever appeared. Apparently he hadn't noticed he had no ink on the quill.
I was getting suspicious now. I was about to raise my complaint, when Pensipony interrupted. "So sorry to bother you officer! We'll just be on our way." Then she quickly pulled me by my hoof out of the station, before I could protest.
Back outside, I had all sorts of questions. "What's going on here? They're acting like they have no idea who Karosta is!" I exclaimed.
Pensipony gestured for me to calm down. "I'm not sure, but whatever's going on it's probably the cartel's doing. We can come back here later." And she turned to leave.
"No. I'm not going anywhere." I said defiantly.
Pensipony turned back to me and sighed. "Meir, I admire you're tenacity, but we can't get to Karosta's office by using the front door."
I looked around, and down an alley, I spotted a window that had no bars on it from the outside. And by my calculations, it lead directly to Karosta's office. "Then we'll use another door."
I lead her down the alleyway to the window, which to our surprise, was already opened. Maybe, this is how Karosta got in and out of her office to send that letter?
As I climbed in through the window, I knew I was technically breaking into a police station. But I had no choice in the matter. Plus, I was sure Karosta wouldn't mind given the circumstances.
I heard Pensipony scold me from outside, as I set hoof in the office. "You do realize you just broke into a police station right?"
"Yep. And yesterday we threatened the mayor to his face. There are all kinds of uneasy, terrible feelings in my stomach right now, but I'm ignoring them so we can find out what's going on in this place."
I peeked out the window. "So, you coming or not?"
Pensipony gave another sigh as she lifted herself up the window sill and into Karosta's office. She closed the window afterwards to be sure nopony saw us.
Karosta's Office (8:12 am)
Karosta was nowhere to be seen, but it looked just as we had seen it before. (Her desk still had yet to be removed from the wall.)
We searched around through bookcases, filing cabinets and boxes of old files. But we finally found something when I spotted a small floor safe underneath where Karosta's desk once was.
And I had the key.
Opening the safe, I found what appeared to be a note Karosta had written for herself, along with two transparent crystals. One was clearly bigger then the other, and had a faint reddish glow to it. As I removed them from the drawer, Pensipony eyed them curiously. "What do you suppose those are?" she asked.
"I don't know. But she left a note too."
I read through it quickly.
Meir,
These crystals are Magical Tracking Devices. The biggest one will glow red as it gets closer to the other. I was going to use them to track Fairmont. He might be able to lead us to the cartel,if he's been working with them for so long. Don't worry about me.
I'll see you soon.
-Karosta
"Magical tracking devices? These might come in handy." I thought to myself as I pocketed them. I turned to Pensipony, but I saw she was staring directly behind me.
"Dr. Pensipony? Whats wro-
She raised but a single hoof to point behind me, as her eyes were suddenly alert and worried.
Suddenly, I felt eyes at my back. Too many to count.
I turned slowly and as I was now looking behind me, I let out a whimper of fear. It was all I could muster.
What seemed like a thousand dead, lifeless eyes were now staring at us from the window. Every officer in the station now had their face plastered against the glass, eyes like dead fish, just staring at us with a cold dead stare, that had no end. A mob of zombies all clustered around the window.
I tried to scream, but no sound came out. All I could do is stand there.
"Meir! We need to leave, NOW!" Pensipony yelled out to me as she opened the window. I snapped out of it, and ran over to the window, where Pensipony pulled me out through, as we both tumbled into the alley.
We said nothing as we tore down the alley and ran as far away from the police station as we could. We didn't stop running for several blocks, and by the time I thought we were safe, we were both too tired to run anymore.
"What...what was that?!" I asked, panting heavily.
"I guess they...didn't like us being there." Pensipony said, taking a breath.
"They're eyes....they were-
"I know. At least we got what Karosta-
Pensipony stopped mid sentence as a new voice was being heard all around us. I recognized that showboating game show like voice instantly. Fairmont was making his speech to the city today. Looking around I saw we had ran so far, that we were now close to city hall, which explained why we could hear it.
Pensipony narrowed her eyes at the voice. "Fairmont."
Outside City Hall (8:25 am)
We arrived to see a massive crowd of ponies, zebras and city officials in attendance to Fairmont's speech. The stallion himself stood behind the podium as he addressed the crowd. Me and Pensipony decided to take two seats in the back, and see how this turned out.
"Ladies and Gentlecolts. I am...here to announce to you all, that I have....lied to you. To all of you, for decades." Fairmont said in a saddened and defeated tone. His eyes wide with worry.
At once the crowd started to talk and chatter amongst itself, as news reporters flashed cameras and asked questions from all sides. But Fairmont ignored them and continued. "I....am not fit to be your mayor. I am not even fit to call myself a stallion. For years I have led this city down a path that benefited me and...my employers. But, due to well, new circumstances (I heard Pensipony chuckle beside me) I am hereby resigning as mayor of Nawl-ACK!"
My eyes were now set on Fairmont as he lurched suddenly, grabbing his chest. A spike of dread went down my spine. No...not here.
Me and Pensipony leapt from our seat and tried to make our way through the crowd. But it was useless, as the crowd was now in nearly a riot, as angry citizens started shouting questions, yelling out at Fairmont and started pushing there way to the stage. We couldn't get through.
On stage, several of The mayor's aides tried to help him, but it was hopeless, as Fairmont's eyes suddenly rolled up into his head, as he began violently coughing up blood. He knocked the podium over as he fell back onto the stage, and started convulsing and spasming.
Fairmont's secretary started screaming in hysterics, as I started pushing and shoving (and apologizing for shoving) ponies out of my way. I had to reach the stage!
I had to reach it before-
I reached the stage. But I wished I hadn't. I felt the blood drain from my face as my heart sank in my chest. I fell to my knees as my eyes refused to believe what they were seeing.
Lying there, sprawled out on the stage was Fairmont, his eyes dead and lifeless, and his rib-cage exposed. Blown apart like a small bomb had gone off in his chest. His heart had actually exploded in his own body. The Cartel had killed the mayor, right in front of the whole city, and in the most brutal way possible. They had done this, knowing I would be watching. Because they knew I couldn't save anypony if they just made their hearts explode.
This was to show me, that I couldn't save this city. I coudn't save these ponies. I couldn't do anything.
I felt my stomach lurch, as Pensipony came on stage and pulled me away. I saw her face as we ran back through the crowd, the whole world was in slow motion. She was scared. She was angry. She had no words.
No one did.