“This wasn’t your fault,” Jack said, as if he could read my mind. I didn’t reply. “I mean it. I know you’re asking yourself if there was something you could have done, and the answer is no. You did what you thought was appropriate. You took on a client, and you were going to start investigating. No one could have known the killer would act so quickly.”
“Rudoldir paid my fee yesterday, almost immediately, in case he was killed before I solved the case,” I replied in a flat voice. “He obviously thought his life was in imminent danger, and I failed him. I should have taken the threat more seriously. I thought he would be fine for one more night, and I was wrong, and now an elf is dead.”
“That still doesn’t make it your fault.”
“Not directly, but I could have taken steps to make sure that it didn’t happen. I did what I always did – I was too casual about things, and disaster struck.”
“No, you did what any person working a job would do.”
“My job involved saving a life, and I failed.”
“Well, the other part of your job was to find the person who did this. So you do that, and at least Rudoldir’s killer doesn’t get away with it.”
I nodded. Jack was right on that point. There wasn’t a chance in the world that I was going to let the killer get away with this.
Just then, an elf appeared, dressed rather casually for an elf with slacks and a polo. “I was called to attend to Rudoldir’s body,” he said to Jack. “Are you the Enforcer I spoke to?”
“That’s me,” Jack replied, holding out a hand which the elf shook. “Jack Stone. You’re Lomnordir?”
The elf nodded. “Yes. Thank you for calling for an elf Healer. It is appropriate that Rudoldir’s body only be handled by one of his own kind.”
“Of course,” Jack murmured demurely. “I’m very sorry for your community’s loss. Please, could you have a look at the body for us?”
I watched carefully; as soon as Lomnordir saw the body, he shook his head sadly. “Rudoldir was a good elf. I never imagined anything like this would happen to him.”
“Did you know him well?” I asked, and Lomnordir looked at me for a moment before answering.
“No, I can’t say I did. I don’t know that anyone knew him well. He was a very private elf. But you’re not an Enforcer, are you?”
“I’m not,” I answered. “Rudoldir hired me yesterday to find the paranormal he knew was trying to kill him. I never even got the opportunity to begin my investigation. Now I’m going to find his murderer.”
“I wish you luck in that endeavor,” Lomnordir replied. “Rudoldir was very introverted. He had always been a little bit strange. His favorite pastimes had always been related to reading things that most people found boring. To be completely honest, I was always surprised that he stayed here in town. My father, who knew Rudoldir since he was young, said that Rudoldir had been working in the law in various forms since it was written on clay tablets in cuneiform. But Rudoldir was too shy to be a trial lawyer. He eventually traveled to Europe and worked in what’s now Germany for quite some time, and when the paranormal world expanded further to this side of the world, he saw it as an opportunity to move to somewhere even smaller and more isolated and found himself in Mt. Rheanier. He had been here right from the start.”
“Wow,” I said. “He must have been very old, then. Even by elf standards.”
“Oh yes, I believe he was eight thousand years old,” Lomnordir replied, and I let out a low whistle.
“That’s a lot of time to make enemies. Do you know of anyone he had problems with? Maybe in his past? Or in the present as well.”
Lomnordir shook his head. “I’m afraid not. My father said that Rudoldir wasn’t the most popular elf in Germany – he was a traditionalist, and when the Renaissance led to a shift in elf ideals for the most part, Rudoldir insisted that the laws of old should remain. But that was hundreds of years ago.”
“Did he always work in permits?”
“Oh, no,” Lomnordir replied. “Rudoldir was a very talented elf. He worked in all sorts of jobs related to the law. He had only been in his current position for five years. Before that he was in charge of listening to court appeals at Spellcatraz, but he didn’t like to have to take the portal every day to get to work.”
Jack and I shared a look. We had been friends for long enough that I knew exactly what he was thinking, and it was the same thought that I had: what if one of the criminals whose appeal had been denied by Rudoldir had just been released from Spellcatraz and decided to get revenge on the judge they thought had done them wrong?
That was a pretty solid motive for murder right there.
“It appears the wound in his chest was fatal. I would say it was caused by a knife, a serrated blade, perhaps a bread knife.”
“The kind one would find in any paranormal kitchen,” Jack said disappointedly, and Lomnordir nodded.
“Yes, that’s right. As for the time of death, I would say sometime between four and six hours ago. That would make it between ten o’clock and midnight last night.”
“Is there anything else you can tell us about the body that might help us find Rudoldir’s killer?” Jack asked.
“I’m afraid that’s everything I can see as a Healer,” Lomnordir replied. “It appears you haven’t moved the body since bringing it ashore?”
“That’s right. We don’t do that until a Healer has looked at the body so as to preserve any medical evidence.”
Lomnordir nodded. “Good. Well, I hope you
