Chapter 3
“The Old Dark”
Evenstar’s statement racked in my brain all the way towards his ‘home’ well, calling it that would’ve given the place too much credit. Even led me further down the alleyway and moved aside a loose set of boards into an old building. The building looked like it should’ve been torn down months ago, if not years. Large, drafty, holes in the ceiling and walls showcased the abandoned feel of this dank building. The walls were stained with years of water leakage, and the place smelled musty, and slightly mouldy.
Even’s ‘room’ I guess we could call it, only held a small bed with an old mattress on it, some blankets and an old lamp next to it, sitting on a stool. I could see some personal effects, some clothes, old books that looked like they’ve seen the inside of a dumpster at least twice, and action figures that had been broken and lovingly restored.
“It’s... not really much,” Even said, scooting over an old chair over for me to sit on.
“You’re right, it isn’t,” I said, going to sit down on the old chair and feeling like I sat on one of Pinkie’s cakes. Even took a seat on the bed and his yellow eyes seemed rather uncertain of how to approach me.
I decided to take the first step, “So, you think that Field Goal was the one?”
Even nodded slowly, “Yeah, at least, that’s what it looked like.”
“Why didn’t you come forward to somepony?” I asked.
He smirked. “Yeah? You saw those jerks out there, one look at me and everypony would automatically assume I’m the killer. Thought you were supposed to be the detective.”
“Bit of a wordy guy aren’t ya?” I asked, trying not to smile at the snark.
“Had to be.” Was all Even said to answer that, before looking down at the old mattress.
I, was never comfortable around teenagers, even when I was one. Too many variables, hormones, and angst for my taste. But, something about this kid rang with me. There was familiar pain behind that sharp front he tried to give.
“So, what makes you think Field Goal killed her?” I asked.
“Cuz, I saw them…” Even said with a small gulp.
“You’re a witness?” I asked, a little surprised.
“Yeah, I am.” He said, and looked at me. “Guess I should start at the beginning, how I knew them both…”
“Actually, I think you have a much bigger story than just the murder.” I said, smiling a little.
“What do you care abou-”
“Do I need a reason to care?” I interrupted.
“Well, most ponies should have a reason to care about somepony…” Evenstar said, a mild glare coming on. “most don’t really have the best intentions for everypony.”
“You haven’t met the ponies I’ve hanged out with then.” I chuckled a little to myself. “So, tell me about yourself Even, all of it.”
Even sighed, “Well, as you can see, I’m a batpony.”
“That much is obvious,” I answered “you’re not from the Stygian Cove?”
“No, my mom was though,” Even answered, “She, was the batpony…”
I blinked, and it clicked into my head. “You’re a hybrid?”
“Yeah, Dad was a pegasus, Mom was a batpony,” He said, as if he had said this a thousand times.
“Both died then,” I said, recalling his record.
“Yeah, don’t know much about how Mom died, she was going back to the Stygian Cove right after I was born, didn’t come back,” Even stated, rather simply.
“And your dad?” I asked.
“Died too, cancer,” Even said, again, simply.
“And you’ve been living on your own ever since?” I asked.
“Yeah,” He answered, as if he’s been asked these questions a lot of times before. It was obvious he was losing patience with my line of inquiry.
Teenagers…
“Is there a point to all this?” He finally asked. “Or are you just going to do what every damn guidance counselor or handler has done before you? Just ask the same stupid questions to try and poke and prod out of me the perfect little orphan story you want?”
“Maybe,” I said, keeping my cool.
“How the hell is this supposed to help with Star Flare?” He asked, an edge in his voice as he looked up at me.
“You tell me,” I said firmly.
“Well I don’t get it, so far you’ve been just like every other pony I’ve ever met…” He grumbled.
“And that would be…?”
“Condescending, either you want me as the sad little orphan who spins a stupidly tragic tale about how my parents got axed and I have to act all sweet and meek. Or, you want me as the delinquent, to prove that all batponies are the same rotten little shits if they don’t fall in line!” He got up and walked over to me, glaring at me. “So which is it? Why don’t you just come out and say it?”
I simply straightened my hat, smoothed my trenchcoat and said, “Neither.”
“What?” Even blinked, a little shocked.
“Thanks for telling me so much about you.”
“But I ju-”
“Just told me that you’ve been getting the short end of the stick ever since you’ve been on your own. Judging by the shabby state of this place you probably live from dumpster to dumpster. You’ve heard all my questions before a billion times which tells me you were shunted from one foster home after another with little success, probably weren’t a troublemaker but were probably blamed for every little thing due to your heritage. On top of that, you’re fiercely stubborn and loyal to the truth, either that or you were the stupidest stallion in the world for standing up to three jocks and still using that smart mouth of yours.” I smiled at his rather dumbfounded expression. “Am I wrong?”
“No, you...got everything right…” He said, blinking at that.
“It’s not what you said, it’s how you said it. Apparently I’m the only one who’s actually listened to you, and paid attention,” I uttered with a shrug.
Even slumped down onto his haunches and looked down, “I…”
“Don’t need to apologize,” I said curtly. “You’ve got nothing to be sorry for.”
“So, what was the point of all that?” He asked. “I didn’t even tell you about Star Flare.”
“No you didn’t, but I needed to know if you were telling the truth. And, I needed to show you that I would listen and not just put everything in a little box. Ignoring all aspects of testimony puts you is what puts you on Clippers level.”
“Who’s Clippers?”
“Dumbass who probably would’ve treated you like every other teenaged Bat pony.” I replied curtly. “So now, why don’t you tell me how you know Star Flare first?”
Even nodded slowly, his eyes probably still taking in the fact somepony is actually listening to him. He finally spoke up, “Well, to be honest we didn’t know each other that well. We were in two different worlds as you can imagine. She was the super popular cheerleader, the one who would be singing Popular in ‘Despicable’”
My eyes widened at that.
“What?” He asked.
“A, teeanger made a ‘Despicable’ reference…” I said, dumbfounded.
“What? I sneak into plays occasionally,” He said, shrugging. “Everypony looks at the stage and not up.”
I smiled at that. “Anyways, back to Miss Popular.”
“Yeah, she didn’t give me the time of day, I wouldn’t either, not into blondes. One day though, she just up and leaves school for no reason. At first I just figured she changed schools or something. Then she came back and she was, different…”
“Different how?” I asked.
“Well, she was less flighty, lot more quiet. In the few times I was at school she would call me ‘dork’ or ‘freak’ or something. But, she didn’t even look up as we passed by a few weeks ago,” Even said. “So then, I started trying to talk to her. Not easy all things considered, but every time I tried to get an answer out of her she would just shuffle away and head to Guideline’s office.”
“Guideline? The rather snotty student counselor?” I asked.
“Yeah, that’s her,” Even replied. “I tried investigating her too, and started listening in on some of the students who visited her.” He gestured to his furry ears. “These things can pick up just about anything.”
“Even in a city as big and busy as Manehatten?” I asked.
“Yeah, you get used to the noise after a while. Anyways, I found out the students all had very similar things to say about the visits. They kept on saying stuff like ‘she totally gets me’ or ‘I just needed somepony to listen too’.”
“And what’s so strange about that?” I asked “Sounds pretty typical of ponies visiting a counselor.”
“The thing was it was too typical, like, I started to notice them repeating phrases when asked, like somepony programed them or something…”
“And you think this had something to do with Star Flare?”
“Well, I tried to confront Guideline about it, next thing I know she tried to do something, weird to me, I bailed out as soon as she tried though. She did seem real anxious for me to stop asking questions. So, one night I decided to follow Star Flare home, just to make sure she was okay. Then she comes out of her house with a big basket, I followed her to an alleyway, it was really pouring that night so it was hard to see. I then saw her put the basket in the dumpster, she then called and then, I saw somepony shoot her. I tried to rush in to stop them but I was too late…” He said, looking down.
“Did you get a good look at who did it?” I asked.
“No, not really, but, I did see a glimpse, rain kind of stopped me from really seeing him, but my night vision is still pretty good. I saw it was Field Goal. He ran away quickly after that and well..” He shook his head. “It’s, weird, I don’t remember what I did after that…”
“You don’t remember what happened?”
“Yeah, it like, was a total blank after that. When I woke up I was in an alleyway ‘bout a block down, just left there.”
This is weird...Even isn’t lying I can tell. He doesn’t really remember. This won’t hold up in court if-
Why am I hearing sirens out-
Oh no…
I peeked outside the boards outside and saw police carriages had pulled up in front of Even’s home. The carriages were all lined up to block off any means of running off. Several officers carried guns too and right in front of them all, was Insight. Chief, Insight.
He held a megaphone to his lips with his magic, steely blue eyes showing just how uncompromising he always was. “Give it up kid!” He yelled into it. “We have your building surrounded and there’s no way to fly out either! We got pegasi on the roof if you try anything!”
“What’s going on?” Even asked.
I turned to him, my face dead serious. “Even, there are police outside. They are going to take you in.”
“But I di-”
“Insight doesn’t care.” I said firmly. “Do not say anything to them, just come quietly and I’ll handle Insight. If the cops ask you anything, just say you want a lawyer and stick to that. Do not tell them anything. They can’t touch you if you don’t say anything.”
For the first time since I saw him, Evenstar actually looked afraid. I could tell this was every kid on the street’s worst nightmare. I put a hoof on his shoulder and said, “I know you didn’t do it, I’m going to find out who did kill Star Flare and prove your innocence.”
“Why are you doing this?” Even asked. “Like, really why are you doing this for somepony as worthless as me?”
I smiled, “Everypony is worth something.”
I gently moved the boards out of the way, the cops faltered a bit at the sight of me coming out with Even. I glared at Insight, “It’s alright, he won’t hurt anypony. In fact he probably never hurt anypony.”
“Typical Private Eye, I should’ve known you’d be involved in this.” Insight growled, coming up with a pair of cops. “Well either way, it seems we can finally bag this murder for sure this time.”
“I thought you wanted to peg this on a suicide.” I replied back.
“I was going to, but then some little batpony had to shove himself into the case. Perfect motive, perfect victim, honestly I don’t care at this point about the potential international repercussions coming from arresting a bat pony. As it turns out this little waste of space is a citizen of Equestria by birth, so he’s subject to our laws.”
Even looked like he was about to give a biting remark, but one look from me stopped him.
“Once again you’re biting the low hanging fruit.” I snidely said. “Even wasn’t the one who killed Star Flare, in fact he may be a witness.”
“I’m sure that’s what you want us to think, so you can stall and stop the real detectives from doing our jobs,” Insight growled. Then he turned to his escort of cops. “Take the brat in, we’ll have our guilty verdict by dinner…”
Even struggled when the guards tried to grab him. I gave him a reassuring look and Even let out a breath, and came quietly. My heart broke a little when I saw him quietly moving into the police carriage…
“As for you, you are coming to the station…” He said, glaring at me.
“You can’t do that...Princess Celesti-”
“Isn’t here right now,” He said firmly. “Neither is Princess Twilight, so you’re out of luck. Plus, you’re a potential witness and/or conspirer in all this.”
“Once again you think I’m a criminal?”
“I never stopped thinking you were a criminal. You prance around like you own the place. You act like the real police are just there to serve you. Shinebadge may have put up with you, but I won’t. Cuff him you fools,” He ordered.
The two cops looked a little reluctant. “Sir,” One said, “This guy helped save my cousin when that Bolt freak was attacking the Wonderbolt Academy…”
“Are you questioning m-”
“It’s okay Insight, I’ll walk…” I said, crassly. “And if you do anything to hurt Even, I’ll make sure everypony knows about it…”
The sheer look on Insight’s face was enough to justify the long walk to the station.
I just hoped I could work my way out of this…
______________________________________________________
The interrogation room was typically sparse. Just a table, four chairs, a two-way mirror off to the side, and nothing else. Recording equipment was probably built into the place, but it was unseen. And I was sure that somepony had installed an override button somewhere on the police’s side, so they could… more thoroughly interrogate a suspect. No witnesses, no crime, and the police could say the perp fell. In a city like Manehatten a lot of the local judges didn’t care if a suspect was a little bruised. The walls were painted a soothing blue, to try and get a perp to relax, not that would work.
I sat perfectly straight in the chair. Insight and another officer I didn’t recognize were sitting opposite me. It had been about ten minutes since my ‘interrogation’ started and so far Insight had gotten nothing that he wanted out of me.
“You were with the suspect!” Insight yelled at me.
“I didn’t know he was the suspect at the time.” I replied.
“You had no right to investigate this case and you know it!”
“All I know is that I do have a right. As a servant of Celestia, and a private detective I’m well within my rights. My client is Principal Standard, and as I’ve said a dozen times before, you can call her and all of this would be cleared up.”
Insight growled.
“How is Even by the way?” I asked.
“Apparently he did get a lawyer…” Insight growled again. “Sanda Bolt, one of the lawyers who you probably used your one phone call to contact.”
“Sanda is a good friend, and a damn good lawyer, the best. Even is in safe hooves.”
“You think you can just walk away from all this?” Insight yelled. “You think you can jus-”
“Yes I can, as I’ve stated at least seven times, yes I can come to your crime scene. Yes I can ask what’s going on because I’m a private detective that was hired by Principal Standard. Yes I can talk to a potential witness which you stupidly treat like a suspect. And no, I am not going to be intimidated by a chief who couldn’t find a killer if they stood in the middle of Manehatten and shouted ‘I’M THE KILLER’ with a megaphone.”
Insight didn’t speak after that, just left the interrogation room with his cop and shouted obscenities on the other side. I casually walked out after him, leaving him to yell at the other cops and promptly blame everypony except himself for all this. As I was going however, I noticed Yang walking by with a small purse in a plastic bag.
“What’s that?” I asked.
“Oh?” She looked over at me. “Hey Private, we found this thing near the crime scene, it was wet so we figured it probably belongs to a potential witness.”
“Because it’s wet?”
“It rained big last night. Like, right as the murder was happening. So, I’m guessing this belongs to somepony who was there and dropped it.”
“Can I have a look?”
“And potentially piss off my boss?”
“Yes?”
She smirked, and slid it over to me. “Go ahead.”
I looked over at the purse, it looked hoof made, very fine work...but it was the name that got me...it seemed so familiar…
Coco Pommel…?