Chapter 3
Caricature seemed to sense Redheart’s questioning attitude, and avoided her. A note was waiting for her when she got home with instructions to write out her observations from the scene and leave them in an envelope.
It took a while to pen down every single detail. Redheart had to admit that putting it on paper helped her remember, though. She decided not to include her speculations, only the facts. She wondered if the warning letter would draw Caricature’s interest. If Dominator was something secret for the government, perhaps they had a leak? Or was Dominator an enemy?
By the time Redheart went to work the next day she had mostly calmed down, although a lingering curiosity remained. She noticed the guitar player from the day before was back. She gave him a smile that he almost returned. He looked depressed.
The shift passed uneventfully, which was fine with Redheart. On her lunch break, she went to sit near the musician. He had continued to play all morning, slow soft tunes.
“You’re very good,” she said.
He nodded in thanks.
“Are you waiting for somepony?” Redheart asked, getting another nod in return. She paused for a moment. “I hope they’re all right.”
The stallion spoke in a whisper, his hooves never leaving the strings. “She’ll probably die.”
“I’m sorry to hear that.”
The guitar player did not look up, only nodding in response. Even if Redheart was a foal she would have felt the awkwardness she’d just touched off. She finished her lunch and got up.
The music went on, however. Redheart occasionally caught snatches of it as she made her rounds. Now that she knew he was playing for a death, it somehow sounded different.
+
After work, Rapier was waiting in the lounge on the ground floor of her apartment building. It was much better than if he’d entered her apartment without her knowledge. She invited him upstairs. He may not know as much as Caricature, but Redheart intended to ask anyway.
Once they were seated in the living room, Rapier said, “I understand you were in Neighton the other day.”
“That’s right.”
“Do you mind talking about that?” he asked.
“I take it Caricature didn’t tell you.”
Rapier rolled his eyes. “He told us what he wanted us to know.”
Redheart mulled that over for a moment. She’d heard that government agencies sometimes competed with each other. The national budget had only so much money, and the most successful would get a larger cut. Not only that, but pride and glory were at stake.
Caricature had never told her not to work with the Royal Guard, and maybe Rapier could do things he couldn’t. Redheart told him what secrets the house contained, everything from the contents of the suitcases to the position of the corpses. Rapier frowned as she listed off the bodies. “I never heard about the strangled one.”
“Where do you get your information?” asked Redheart.
“We let the local police do most of the investigation, and send somepony to supervise and make sure we get what we want.”
“So if that body was there, you should know?”
Rapier nodded. “It sounds like it was taken away before the police got there. I can’t imagine why.”
“Do you know any kind of motivation for any of the murders?” asked Redheart.
“From what I hear, they were not good ponies. Maybe they had some enemies.” Rapier thought for a moment. “But you say they were warned about Dominator?”
“That’s right. We talked about that when you came to my apartment a few days ago. Did anything come to you since then?
“I have no idea what it might be.” He shrugged. “Sounds like some kind of codename.”
“Do you think Dominator killed those ponies?”
“Something secret like that could be a group of assassins. I guess I’ll look into it. I’m kind of interested, myself.”
“There’s also the question of who warned them about it.”
Rapier’s face darkened. “We take the possibility of intelligence leaks very seriously. The chance that something like that might have happened needs to be brought to the attention of higher-ups.”
“Your Captain?” guessed Redheart. Shining Armor, the stallion in charge of the Royal Guard, had become a bit of a celebrity after marrying Princess Cadance.
Rapier nodded in confirmation. There was a knock on the door just then. Redheart excused herself, going down the hallway to answer it. She opened the door, surprised to see the guitar player from the hospital standing there.
“Sorry to bother you,” he said in that quiet voice of his. “I wanted to talk to you for just a moment. May I come in?”
Redheart stepped back from the door. The stallion came in and set his instrument case down.
“What would you like to talk about?” she asked.
The musician opened the case and took out the guitar. “I want to apologize for not being very good conversation earlier. Nerves, I suppose.”
“We all feel that way sometimes,” she reassured him.
“I suppose. It happens a lot to me.” The pony began twisting one of the tuning pegs on the head of the guitar.
“Is there anything I can do?”
“You being here is enough.” He smiled sadly. The string came off the guitar. He’d been loosening it, not tightening. The musician picked up the string and started towards her. Redheart had a sudden flash of realization. The pony in Neighton had been strangled with something thin…
She jumped backwards with a scream. The stallion wrestled her to the floor, trying to wrap the guitar string around her neck. She kicked and struggled, fighting for her life.
It was perhaps the best possible time to have a soldier in her apartment. Rapier was there in seconds, pulling the musician off and incapacitating him. He thumped the other stallion’s head on the floor repeatedly until he stopped resisting.
Redheart sat up, breathing hard. Rapier raised his eyebrows, giving her a questioning look. “I’m fine,” she said. “Just a little shaken up.”
“This certainly puts a new spin on things,” said Rapier, looking down at the unconscious pony. He gave her some bits. “Why don’t you stay at a hotel tonight? I’ll get things taken care of here.”
He must have had some way of communicating, because by the time Redheart had finished packing a bag, another tough-looking stallion had shown up and was talking quietly with Rapier. They let her out of the apartment and she went down the street to the Ponyville Inn.
A sudden thought occurred to Redheart. If the guitar-playing killer had found out where she lived, who was to say she would be safe in a hotel?
She did not sleep well.
+
Redheart didn’t know how long she was supposed to stay away from her apartment, but when she returned the next afternoon there was no sign that anything was amiss. She found two letters. Rapier’s was in her mailbox. Caricature had slipped his under her door.
She opened the one from Rapier first.
We found out that our musician friend was the same pony who strangled the victim in Neighton. He had nothing to do with the other killings, but was told to take out the first pony who came to investigate. Then he was told to kill the second, you.
The first strangulation was likely a pony doing the exact same job you were – investigating the scene. I don’t want to alarm you, but since an attempt was made on your life, I feel that you should know all my speculation.
It’s hard to say what the motivation was. The killer claims that whoever hired him refused to provide a name or show their face. The fact that whoever it was knows the movements of ponies like yourself points strongly to a leak.
The first body was removed before the police arrived, I’m guessing by Caricature’s associates after they found out he had been murdered while trying to investigate. The next time I see him, he’s going to be answering some tough questions.
Speaking of Caricature’s associates, I asked the Captain about Dominator. He basically told me to shut up and mind my own business. The fact that he knows but was so curt in telling me off says that this is probably a big deal, and very secret. Since I was ordered to shut up and mind my own business, I’m afraid I can’t help you any further with finding out what Dominator is.
Good luck.
The letter from Caricature was much shorter and less pleasant.
There is a house on the road to Trottingham. The mailbox says “Glass.” Report the condition of the body in the woods beyond.
Redheart thought she remembered where the house was, having walked by it a few times in the past. She put on her hooded sweatshirt, dropping a hoof into the pocket to check for the scalpel she’d appropriated from the hospital.
Taking it was on the same level as stealing office supplies. She felt a little bad, but honestly did have a need to protect herself. The sharp blade was shielded by a disposable paper sheath that stopped the scalpel from doing any damage to her pocket as long as she didn’t put any pressure on it.
There were a few travelers on the road. Any of them could be dangerous, and Redheart was careful to restrict her paranoia. She was alert and searching for possible danger, which made her at least a little less vulnerable.
Upon reaching the designated house, Redheart circled around behind it. The dead pony was surprisingly easy to locate, lying just inside the treeline.
Redheart stopped, staring in shock. There was a hoof-sized hole punched straight through the stallion’s body. He hadn’t been impaled on a tree limb or anything, so the weapon must have been taken with the killer.
Examining the wound, Redheart decided that whatever the weapon had been wasn’t very sharp. Stabbing a fairly blunt instrument through a pony would have taken a lot of force. Magic, maybe?
She straightened up, giving the scene one last look. There wasn’t anything to suggest that this was the work of Dominator, but it didn’t matter. Anything capable of this kind of violence was to be handled carefully.
She headed back to the road and other ponies. Redheart didn’t want to be alone with something so dangerous lurking around.
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Oh, Redheart's getting in to deep. Shit just got real.
Why would somepony want to kill Redheart? She's too cute to kill! Stupid guitar pony makes Redheart sad... dl.dropbox.com/u/31471793/FiMFiction/emoticons/misc_Redheart_gasp.png
this is how the intelligence industry works.
Get your orders.
Find some local idiot.
Get them to do your job for you.
Pay them pennies on the dollar.
1535624 I got it right?
1535216
She's also Angry and mad at Caricature dl.dropbox.com/u/31471793/FiMFiction/emoticons/misc_Redheart_hmph.png
1535754
eeyup
1535754
Shhhh
Suspicious ponies everywhere! //dl.dropbox.com/u/31471793/FiMFiction/emoticons/misc_Redheart_hmph.png //dl.dropbox.com/u/31471793/FiMFiction/emoticons/misc_Vinyl2.png //dl.dropbox.com/u/31471793/FiMFiction/emoticons/misc_unsuresweetie_flip.png
Wow, you're really nailing the whole "normal individual gradually becoming attuned to the absurdity of their situation as they delve deeper into a world they never knew existed and never wanted to be a part of" aspect for Redheart. It's awesome to see her start becoming more alert and paranoid as these things progress. I mean, keeping a scalpel in her pocket? A few days ago she would've never considered such a thing. Now it's just common sense. It really makes the story more believable in terms of characterization, and I'm loving the pacing.
Please keep writing, I'll keep reading!
Redheart. You must go deeper. Next time, you might want to carry some hypodermic needles. Filled with oxygen.
I have no idea why.. but this line
cracked me up so much... guitar pony, you made a bad decision bro
Aaaaaand why is Redheart still doing what he says? I mean, there's easy money and then there's "I'll be murdered for doing this" money.
That's the only real logic failure I see here. I'd have her only work with Rapier now, or make Caricature have to give her a reason to complete the jobs: information, threats, something besides just bits. How's she to know it's even him anymore, if all he does is leave a letter! Maybe the people killing his pones got to him, and now they're pulling her strings!