//------------------------------//
// Chapter 10 
// Story: The Painless Murders 
// by bkc56 
//------------------------------//

They told me it was morning, but I couldn’t be sure. It took way too long to get the wagon to haul me to the hospital. They then spent at least half an hour washing me down. A bit overly aggressive with the curry comb though. "Gotta get down to the skin," they said. Felt more like down to the muscle. It was a couple more hours before they finally declared that I was out of danger. I knew that when we got there, all I needed was a quick shower.

Then we moved to the precinct. The rest of the night was spent recounting the evening’s events and doing paperwork. To say I was beat was to call the Neighagra River a cute stream. Coffee helped. Or at least I pretended it did. 

Detective Hunter trudged up to the desk I was stuck at, and plopped down. "Wow, Hunter, you look like I feel." I wiped across my eyes with a leg.

After an extended blink, he replied, "I could say the same about you. It’s been a really long twenty-four hours."

I leaned forward and crossed my legs on the desk. "And a long day yesterday too. Once I get home, I may just sleep straight through until tomorrow. So, all done with Astral?"

He gave a tired nod. "Yup. We needed to get everything documented and a signed confession before he had a chance to start changing his story. They can weave big lies if given some time to think. A couple things came up that I thought you might be interested in."

"Do tell." I rested my head on my crossed legs.

"First, the break-in at Quicksilver's house some months ago? Turns out they were on one of their extended research trips. As long as Astral avoided Tinker Cob's daily visits to tend to the greenhouse, he had multiple days to go through all of Quicksilver's files. He picked out a couple formulas that looked particularly profitable and copied everything he needed. He then went through the rest of the house, messing things up so it would look like a simple break-in. The stolen bits were part of that."

"Why did he come back last night? Why didn’t he just skip town?"

"He was planning to leave, but first wanted to steal a few more formulas for mixtures he'd be able to sell wherever he ended up. He was also hoping to find Quicksilver there."

"To kill him?"

He nodded. "Yes. To complete his plan for revenge."

"I hate to think what would have happened if Misty had also been there."

He looked down. "He'd thought of that too. He was planning a staged murder-slash-suicide. One final way to discredit Quicksilver."

I gasped. "Really? Wow. From his jealous rant last night, I knew he was one pony short of a full stable. But this..." I stared out a window at the little slice of Canterlot I could see. All those happy ponies living their innocent lives, oblivious to the darkness that sometimes walks among them.

"Hey, Steel?"

I was still lost in my thoughts. "Hmm?"

"Steel!"

I turned to look at him. "Yeah? What?"

"I wanted to thank you. You were at the crime scene less than an hour and basically broke the case. And all the other clues you'd figured out by yesterday morning in the captain's office..." He paused. "I believe we'd have figured out Quicksilver's innocence... eventually. But by the time we did, Kaafe would have been long gone, fled the city. And I don't know if we'd have ever made the connection to Astral. Anyway, thank you."

"You're welcome. I’d promised myself I would not let those two ponies down. I did what I had to so I could keep that promise.”

The detective smiled. “I’m not sure how you did it so fast. But you kept that promise.”

I sat up straight. “I still owe you an apology lunch at some point."

"Perhaps…” He paused. “Maybe... we could just make it a regular lunch, between friends?"

"Ya know, I'd like that." I extended a hoof, which he bumped. “Still my treat though.”

I noticed Citrine enter the room with Misty on her heels. They made a beeline over to me.

“Here she is, as the captain requested,” Citrine said as they trotted up.

“Steel, what’s going on? Citrine told me they’d arrested somepony and that it was over. Can I have my husband back?” She was frazzled and unable to stand still. I doubt she’d slept much either.

I laid a hoof on her shoulder. “Yes, Misty, it’s over. They brought Quicksilver back a couple hours ago to go over some things. Mr Eagle was notified, and he’s been with Quicksilver the whole time. Please be patient just a bit more. The captain had you fetched because they should be done any minute now.”

As if by command, a door opened and Legal stepped through, followed by a very tired-looking Quicksilver. 

“Quicksilver!” Misty yelled and blew past me. His head snapped up, and all the fatigue seemed to melt away. They slammed together in an embrace. I’ve never seen two ponies cling to each other with such ferocity. Misty’s shoulders shook as she softly sobbed. Quicksilver had his eyes closed, his face buried in her mane. And there they stood, with no signs that they would ever let go. I couldn’t blame them.

Like me, Citrine has seen things during her twenty years on the force. You had to be a bit detached, even cold, in order to survive the job. It was a defense mechanism. But a glance at my wife caught her wiping a tear from her eye. 

She looked over at me. “You know, you did this.”

I shook my head. “Not by myself. I had a whole team working with me.”

“We just took care of details, freeing you up to focus on the problem. You are the one who solved this. You are the one that brought those two back together.”

I put a leg around her and drew her close to me. I did feel pretty good about what we’d accomplished together, and in such a short time.

Quicksilver and Misty finally released their desperate hug. They stood staring into each other's eyes for a few moments, then turned and walked over to us.

“Mr Stee…” Quicksilver’s voice cracked, and he closed his eyes briefly. After he cleared his throat, he tried again, “Steel. Thank you. I don’t know how to express--”

I help up a hoof. “I understand. That hug we just witnessed fully expressed anything you might try to say. You’re welcome.” He smiled and nodded.

With a voice still soft with emotions, Misty asked, “So, what now?”

Legal responded, “You two are free to go. The police may have some follow-up questions in a few days, but basically, this case is closed.” He consulted some papers he held. “I understand that the unicorn has signed a written confession to go with the verbal confession last night at the house. As such, there’s no need for a trial, the case will go directly to sentencing. So you won’t be needed as a witness.”

“So it’s really over?” Quicksilver asked, pulling Misty closer to him.

“Yes, Quicksilver,” I said, “it’s really over.”

As we all walked out of the precinct together, I idly mentioned, “One thing I still haven’t figured out. How did Astral get from his party to the office without being missed? The time at the office plus the travel time both ways would have been too much to go unnoticed.”

Quicksilver looked at me. “Not all unicorns can teleport, and of those that can, very few can do long distances. Astral was in the long-distance teleport class in school with me. I was okay at it. He was amazing. The professor said Astral was the best at non-line-of-sight teleportation he’d ever seen.”