Taking the Case in Hand

by IGIBAB

Chapter 9 - Another Duet

Weirdly enough, there's no background music. It's the first thing I notice when arriving in front of Vinyl's house. Usually, one can hear music a few metres away from the house, despite all the soundproofing in the walls and windows. But this time, everything is quiet. Is she even there? It's true that she could have gone outside, or even on a trip. I don't recall seeing her in the crowd before.

To be sure, I knock on the door. After a few seconds, I finally hear hooves noises coming from inside. That's even weirder.

The door opens and I'm welcomed by a grey face looking modestly surprised, topped by a long and black mane finely brushed.

"Bonbon," notices Octavia with her noble but delicate usual tone. "It has been a while since we last met."

"I'm happy to see you again as well, Octavia. And a bit surprised, I didn't expect to see you."

Now that's a surprise! It's as if this case is making old names suddenly reappear. First Berry, and now Octavia Melody.

"Well, I'm paying a visit to an old friend," she simply answers. "I do that about once a year."

It's true that it makes sense, her and Vinyl were very close at the time, before she moved out. She hasn't changed much since the last time I saw her. Not even a wrinkle, or at least, not one she's willing to show, and her style is as impeccable as ever. A coat so glossy once could eat on it, and then probably get a slap on the face before the dessert.

"That explains why everything seems quiet here," I jokingly say.

"Oh yes. It's impossible to discuss calmly in her usual cacophony," she answers me with a smile. "What are you doing here?"

"I want to ask Vinyl a few questions for an investigation. Can I come in?"

"An investigation?" she replies with a moderate surprise, completely ignoring my question. "What has she gotten into again?"

"Nothing too bad for her, I hope. A murder happened in Ponyville, and probably two. I'm interrogating the victims' relatives."

Octavia's expression goes from a mild astonishment to utter bewilderment.

"A murder? In Ponyville? But... that hasn't happened since..."

"Years ago, yes," I end for her. "All the more reason to interrogate people. If I may repeat myself, can I come in?"

"Oh!" she says, suddenly realising her lack of courtesy. "Of course, of course, suit yourself."

She moves aside to let me pass. Vinyl's house is still the same. Speakers, posters, a few plants surprisingly, maybe not all of them legal, spotlights, and that about everywhere in the house, even in the hall.

A little further away, in the living room, I find the unicorn slumped on the sofa, glasses a little lowered on her muzzle revealing her red eyes. Seeing me coming, followed by Octavia, she lifts a hoof in my direction as a greeting.

"Yo, Vinyl," I say to her with a half-smile. Her nonchalance always makes me smile. Or maybe it's the air filled with smoke from her party which contains something other than plain smoke.

I walk into her living room, noting that the turntables she uses for her music are temporarily put on the side, and another sofa is available, with a little table in front where lies a half-empty cup.

"Take a seat," invites Octavia, as she goes to sit on the sofa with Vinyl. "This story intrigues me."

"Thanks," I say while I take my spot on the couch. "You're not the only one that this case worries."

The unicorn puts her glasses back in place on her muzzle while straightening a bit, with an enquiring look.

"You didn't hear, Vinyl?" I say, surprised, but not that much in fact. "There have been two murders since yesterday."

Despite her smoked glass, I see her eyes widening in shock, slightly opening her mouth.

"Who died?" asks me Octavia.

"Mr. Cake was killed by strangulation, and Open Skies seems to have committed suicide."

Both are astonished, and muted for a few seconds. Then, Octavia speaks again, highly troubled:

"Well... That's quite the news... It makes me reconsider the perspective I had on the quiet appearance of Ponyville... I didn't really know Open Skies, but I remember Mr. Cake pretty well. At the time when I was still living here, he was a very charming pony. No one could have ever resent him that much..."

"It didn't really change with time, you know," I say in a half-sigh. "If I had been told the day before yesterday that he would be killed, I wouldn't have believed any of it."

"You knew Open Skies if I'm not mistaken, Vinyl," continues Octavia, looking at her musical playmate. "He was a nice guy, wasn't he? He didn't looked like someone who would go for a suicide, right?"

Vinyl simply nods on the first question, before shrugging as a sign of ignorance. Octavia then turns to me.

"But you talked about two murders, right?"

"Yes," I say, having some regrets about letting that information escape me that easily. "The lead we're studying now for Open Skies tells us it's a murder. But don't say anything to anypony."

"You can count on us," certifies Octavia with utmost sincerity, while Vinyl zips her mouth with a hoof. "You want a coffee? I've seen you coveting my cup for a moment now."

I watch her as she smiles at me, having a little laugh myself.

"Yes, a coffee wouldn't hurt. Especially since I have some questions to ask you both concerning those two."

Vinyl stands up off the couch and goes into the kitchen to prepare me a coffee. I notice she has a slight red mark around her cutie mark.

"Two sugar, please," I say to her, while she answers with a hoof gesture.

Octavia slowly takes her own cup, thoughtful.

"It has been a while since such a tragedy happened in Ponyville, if my memory is correct..."

"It is. I wasn't even a detective when the last murder occurred. Well, if we only talk about those which were indeed qualified as murders."

"What do you mean?" interrogates Octavia, suddenly curious.

"Well, the last official murder of Ponyville dates back to the Bottle husband. That one goes back almost before my birth, and the culprit was never found. A crime done with a knife. And after that, there was the accident of the Apple, and the fire in the Heartbreak house. In my mind, those two were murders, but they were classified as accidents."

"Oh yes, I remember, you made a name for yourself with the fire case, it's true. It's you who had brought the evidence for the accident trail, no?"

"I simply noticed that the fire started in the living room next to the fireplace," I say with a bit of modesty and nostalgia. "But it's true that it opened me the way onto a job of detective. Me, who was just good at eating candies all day. I finally had something to do, at barely sixteen."

"You even got into an argument with the inspectors, if I recall."

"They only send in incompetent ones!" I answer, offended. "People that didn't even know Ponyville, nor the rural lifestyle! Obviously, there were only two police officers in Ponyville at that time, if you can call them officers! By the way, it's why they recruited a bit more personnel here and-"

A sound of broken porcelain is suddenly heard coming from the kitchen. I stop talking, Octavia asking:

"Is everything alright Vinyl?"

The only answer that comes to us is the one from an angry broom cleaning off the debris. Octavia gives me a little smile:

"Your coffee will take a bit of time I think. What makes you think the two were murders, not accidents?"

"For the Apple, it's... about a feeling, I'd say," I tell, a bit embarrassed. "An intuition. For a stallion built like him, even with a wheel breaking, it's not normal to get pulled like this in a ravine. They were in a hurry for their delivery, that I'm willing to believe, but for me it's too... banal for the people they were."

I take a little pause to think about it again. His mare was in the back of the carriage, and both had sunk into the ravine when the wheel had broken in a turn. Everything led to believe in an accident. Maybe because it was my first accident case as an investigator, I refused, and I still refuse to this day, to believe in a simple accident.

"And for the Heartbreak, I told myself it was too much misfortune for one person."

"How so?"

"Miss Heartbreak, formerly known as Miss Bottle, it was her whose husband had been assassinated before. First her husband is murdered while she's pregnant, then her house burns, with her and her new husband inside. To me it's just the murderer that wanted to finish the job, but there was no proof."

"And the foal or the filly?"

"Colgate? She was awakened by the flames and managed to get out in time. At barely twelve years old, losing family and home like this. It's not surprising that she stayed a bit special."

"Oh, I didn't know it was her parents," wonders Octavia. "You learn more every day."

"Yeah... To get back to today, do you have any idea as to who could have held a grudge against Mr Cake?"

"Hm..." answers me Octavia, thoughtful, emptying her cup.

Once the porcelain is put back down, she lowers her gaze on the table. She seems lost in her memory, and her eyes tell me she really wants to find something.

"If we go way back in time," she ends up saying, "There's the story of a stallion, who might have had views on Miss Cake before she moved to Ponyville. But that was twelve years ago now, it would be a bit late for a crime of passion."

"Nothing else?"

"Nothing that comes to my mind, I'm sorry."

I sigh. I was rather expecting the name of someone from Ponyville to be mentioned, but at least it's another lead to dig in.

"If something comes back to you, don't hesitate to tell me about it," I say to her. "I know you like gossip, with just that you could help us."

"I'll be sure to do so."

"Oh, and just in case," I add, "Where were you tonight? Did you see anything suspicious?"

"We rehearsed all night," answers Octavia with a smile. "And we didn't go out during that time. So, no, sorry, we did not see or hear anything."

"And no one that can confirm it... Oh well, I hope there weren't too many breakages."

Octavia very subtly tilts her head, like only the great mares of Canterlot know how to do so, to signify their incomprehension.

"Vinyl's flanks are a bit reddened," I say to explain myself. "I figure that something probably fell on her to leave that kind of mark."

Octavia's head straightens as she hides, with an ease close to perfection, the sudden embarrassment that invaded her. I kindly reassure her:

"It's your business, that kind of things. It was more to make sure if my intuition was correct, don't worry, I'm not the one who's going to judge you for that."

"Yes, I imagine," she says with a half-smile. "Lyra and you, it's never been a secret for anypony. By the way, I'm surprised that she's not with you, she's an investigator, isn't she?"

I grind my teeth, and contrary to her, I don't hide it.

"You broke up...?" asks Octavia, half-stunned, half-sorry. She's a quick thinker when it comes to that kind of thing, the bloody mare.

"It's been three years..." I breathe between my clenched teeth.

"What happened?"

Even if her tone tries to be one coming from a sorry and compassionate mare, I can feel behind that she's trembling with impatience at the idea of knowing. She's going to be disappointed.

"I don't really know myself..."

I slowly lower my eyes, looking at the floor and my hooves, thinking back about that day.

"It had been a year since we had seen each other, she had gone to Manehattan. When I learned that she was coming back, I waited for her at the train station, happy to see her, and a little anxious and... When the train arrived, she got off. I called and walked up to her, but I didn't get any answer. I came in front of her, but she simply passed me by... Without a look... She didn't look sad while doing this... Her eyes were harsh, cold, but not even on me... I went to see her the day after, in her old house. I knocked, I called her, I didn't get any answer... Any explanations..."

I suddenly feel Octavia's hoof resting on mine, and I jump, coming back to my senses.

"You're crying, Bonbon."

I release my hoof only to pass it on the top of my cheeks carefully. They are a bit moist, indeed, but I must have only let one tear drop. I dry them with the back of my hoof, resuming:

"Sorry. We didn't talk after that, at least until yesterday. We investigated a bit together."

"And?"

I hesitate a bit, still troubled by all those emotions that just came back to me, then I sigh, before answering:

"She seems to have remorse. But it doesn't mean that I plan on forgiving her."

"Everyone makes mistakes, especially in love. Try to understand why she reacted that way and-"

"There will never be any valid reason!" I exclaim, a broken porcelain noise coming out of the kitchen once again, without me paying any attention to it. "She dumped me like I was worthless!"

"I get you," answers Octavia, turning her head to notice that Vinyl is getting something to clean the floor while mumbling. "How do you manage to let things fall all the time, despite having a horn!?"

The only answer she gets is Vinyl sticking her tongue out, and she turns back to me sighing, pursuing when she sees my anger:

"We have reasons, sometimes, to distance ourselves from someone. And often, we are scared to tell the other, so we don't do it, until it hits a breaking point. And that's when it hurts the most. Take a step back, it's been three years by now, going by what you said. Maybe it's time to forget about your ire towards her."

I am fulminating. How does she dare to say this, even though she has no idea how much it hurts!?

"I'm not the best pony to say this," she says to me, as if she was reading my thoughts. "But I know somepony who could tell you the same thing and know what they are talking about."

With a nod, she points towards the kitchen. I try to understand for a few seconds, before remembering. At the death of Ponyville's town square, Octavia abandoned the conservatory she held with Vinyl to move to Canterlot. Did they leave each other on bad terms as well?

"She and you...?" I slowly say, having lost a bit of my anger.

"Yes," she replies with a bitter look. "And I'd rather not talk about it."

As I slowly calm down, a warm cup of coffee comes and sets in front of me on the table, Vinyl going back to her place on the sofa, looking sullen, probably because of her lost dishes, even if it's hard to be certain about it because of her smoked glasses. While I take my awaited cup, Octavia turns to Vinyl.

"This Open Skies, was he at your parties?"

The unicorn nods without even thinking about it.

"Was he getting into trouble?"

This time, she just shrugs with nonchalance.

"Didn't you tell me there was a fight at your last party?" suddenly asks Octavia.

Vinyl rubs her chin, before nodding.

"Was he in it?"

I see the unicorn frowning to think. I already saw her after her parties, she's not in a state that favours a clear and accurate memory most of the time. But in the end, she nods as I finish my coffee.

"Against who?" continues to question her guest.

This time, it's a doubtful pout that precedes Vinyl's shrug. I sigh.

"You'll give me the list of guests, or you'll tell me if it comes back to you," I say while standing up, putting down my cup. "In any case, thank you for your time."

"You're leaving already?" says Octavia.

"I have a case to solve, quickly, before there are any other victims."

After a brief smile addressed to the two mares, I turn around and go peacefully to the door.

"Try to ask the ponies from the old town square," tells me Octavia as I'm opening the door. "It's them who knew Mr. Cake best."

"I know. But thanks for the advice."

I get out of the house, closing behind me. I didn't learn much during that visit, aside from the fact that Octavia is in Ponyville. But at least, I was able to change my views on some things.

Author's Note:

"Mirror, mirror, why are we different?"