Conversation · Ruby, the Instigator

"Okay, let's take a... step back." (Conclude.)

"Yeah? Where?"

"Yeah? Where?"

More. More questions before doing anything.

Damn it! Destroy that thing already!

"Do you have an... alibi? For when Lely was shot?"

"Man, I was with the boys the whole night. I hope they at least bothered to impress that upon you."

"They did say you left to take a... really long leak. Fifteen minutes."

"Yeah, and I'm sure they also made some FUNNY remarks about it -- they always do. I've driven a lot of long haul and chugged a lot of beer, man."

She scoffs. "Can't do either without some power of mind over bladder. And, anyway, that wouldn't have been enough time."

"Our investigation..." (wince from the pain) "has shown that fifteen minutes was just enough time to commit the murder."

"Wow, now I'm curious. Please, explain."

"Okay then... I have other questions for you."

"I'm listening."

"Play... pinball much?"

"No, not since I was 14 and hanging out at the only diner in Dardanne. Haven't been into low-risk, no-reward games since moving to the city."

Somewhere on the outskirts of Faubourg, a scrawny teenage girl stands by the side of the road, greeting passing vehicles with a calloused thumb turned upward. She's tired. She wants to leave. But she knows she will come back.

"Why?"

"There are some... mysterious pinball machines in some pretty... mysterious rooms in the Whirling..."

"Yeah, and probably some ghosts from the time of the Suzerain. I'm not really interested in supranatural mysteries."

"What about... elevators? Do you like elevators?"

"The fuck do elevators have to do with anything?"

"Do you or don't you?!"

"Not particularly."

"Why not?"

"Why are you so hung up on elevators?"

That's a pretty good question, actually. She clearly doesn't know anything about the secret passage.

"I think we may have gone a little off-topic."

"And that topic was what? Staircases? Ladders?"

"Not even..." (grab your head) "quaint old rickety ones?"

"I'm not really into old shit for old shit's sake."

"Goddamnit..." The lieutenant grabs his head.

So you know she's not an antiques enthusiast. Not my jurisdiction, man, but it also doesn't sound like she used that secret route. At all.

"That's a shame... because I happen to be a para-natural detective."

"Cool. They sent a ghost-cop after me. Congratulations."

"Wait..." (wince from the pain) "what kinds of mysteries interest you, then?"

"Not murder mysteries, either, if that's what you're thinking."

She looks you in the eye impassively, making it clear that she's not planning to comment on the matter any further.

"Look, there's a... secret way from the first floor of the Whirling to the roof."

"Don't know it. But also..." She frowns, studying your face.

Evaluating your competence as a police officer.

"...the shot couldn't have come from the roof. Or we would have all heard it downstairs."

"She has a... point there. No one mentioned..." The pain stops him from finishing the sentence.

That didn't go super well. You've gotta lay something better on her.

"Hold on, no one takes a fifteen-minute leak."

"Look, fuck you, man. I might have also stopped by the bar."

She speaketh truth.

"No one takes a..." -- the lieutenant winces from the pain -- "fifteen-minute leak."

"Look, fuck you, man. I might have also stopped by the bar."

She speaketh truth.

"There were... ten minutes they couldn't account for."

"You mean, the length of a toilet break? That wouldn't even have been enough time."

"There was... half an hour missing. You went out..."

"Like fuck I did. I was in all the time -- I went for a leak, ten, fifteen minutes max."

"You're running... drugs for the Union. I've been through your lorry."

"So, heart-of-gold Tommy fucked me over too..." She shakes her head, slowly. "Never trust a musician."

That really comes as a blow to her.

Maybe twist the knife? Just in case. Make her more desperate.

"Who's Tommy?"

"You know who he is -- he fucked me over. Country boy my ass..."