L
Lord Exmortis
Guest
I awoke the day after speaking with Tara and headed out to find Daniel Ravens. He was reading from a stack of notes but looked up the second I approached him. We discussed Tara and he shook his head.
“It was no accident.” He told me firmly. “But I am curious why Tara might think it could be. I am certain the other sleuths will want to know as well.”
He rubbed his chin, nodded, then stood and headed toward the meeting place.
As we entered the room we found Lord Darth Waynebo, P s Y c H o, JINX, Rasesar Wej studying the evidence. J-B, Ixtab, Cuttles, Angelina and Mirria sat in a group discussing all the motives and evidence we had gathered so far.
Daniel began, “have you thought about who did this crime? We need to apprehend a suspect. The citizens are getting upset and worried about a murderer being free!”
Jocelyn fidgeted and in a weak voice apologized. “I have been very busy Daniel.”
Daniel quickly recapped all the evidence.
“So far we know that many people had motive. Xarra was a woman scorned.
Afraid her beau was going to run off to Tokuno with Tara and leave her alone with her shops.
”L’il MIn had worked hard to train as a Jockey. She kept losing to Farley when she felt she should have been the victor. She found out that Farley was cheating.”
He pointed to the sugar that sat on the platform with the other items we retrieved from the crime scene.
“But Min is little. Would she have been strong enough to knock him down? Farley was also small, as most fast jockeys are.”
”Cayne had made bets on Farley that he would not win 100 in a row. Would he have ensured his bets? Why is Cayne playing Farley now? Could he have been so jealous that he wanted to be him?
What do we know about Farriot? He is very friendly and he likes to hunt foxes.
Colt seems like a good farm hand. He was / is in love with Tara.
If Farley really was going to run off with Tara would he have tried to stop it?
Could Tara have hurt Farley and Colt tried to cover for it?
Harold is always at the track. How is it that he did not see anything?
I doubt it was Marrianne. She would likely have got a farm hand to do the dirty work for her. Although if she had pushed him …she might have had Colt or Harold take care of the corpse. I think we should make some kind of arrest. We need to figure this out.”
Jocelyn felt that Xarra was innocent. “I think she prefers shops to people. If you get in her way of something she wants to buy – perhaps. I do not think that was the case here.”
Queen Mum nodded in agreement.
“The dent is very large and the helm was very well made.” Daniel remarked while directing our attention to the evidence again. “I am not sure any of Xarra’s little baubles would make that big a depression.”
Devlin Darthmoore presented a theory. “What if she drugged him and he fell over? And then she picked up the pitch fork?”
Mirria thought about that. “Ahh, but wouldn’t one find a way to lose the murder weapon after the deed is done? We found it right under him.”
Prime nodded “could he have fallen on the fork?”
P s Y c H o piped up, “He could have fallen off the horse onto the pitch fork then the horse kicked him in the head! He might have been thrown from the horse as a result of the sugar.”
Prime and Queen Mum agreed but Jocelyn shook her head. “Too many coincidences I think.”
P s Y c H o retorted “Horse was wild. The sugar made the horse go wild. No murder!”
Jocelyn conceded “hmm true - I suppose that could have happened.”
“We must be sure. We need to keep asking until we are.”
We head out to talk to Xarra first. It was always easy to find her, as Trinsic was her favorite shopping place. We found her talking to the shop keeper at the Tannery.
“Hello again she said.” *stares at Daniel* “I am not shopping. She stated smugly.”
“We have some questions for you“ stated Prime.
”Xarra who do you think might have wanted to hurt Farley?” inquired Angelina.
“I think Harold might be guilty He is always there. Why did he not see? He would have seen something. He had a thing for me. That is motive. He was saying slanderous things about Farley too. Now I am tired of this. Go ask Harold.”
Angelina observed “thinking she's protesting a lot and pointing a lot of blame.”
“Maybe” said Daniel “or maybe we should talk to Harold again. It is odd that she is pointing a finger.”
Prime wanted to take Xarra with us. He thought we should keep an eye on her but we all agreed that she would not wander far from her shops in Trinsic.
Harold was not at the track. He had wandered over to the house just to the south. There he sat eating a hearty bowl of stew. We told him what Xarra had said and gave him a chance to reply.
”I know Xarra thinks I was slanderous to Farley. Thing is I’ve seen a lot of great jockeys. It was clear to me, Farley was suspicious. Saying truths is not slander. He was not the best jockey. As we have discovered, I was right. I never knew of the sugar, I would have disclosed it. I would not have let Min lose because of cheating. I really have nothing else to say.”
His statements were true. Farley was only successful because he had cheated. We wondered if this news really might have made Min seek vengeance. Harold doubted it but told us Min had gone to the stable where her horses had once called home.
Min had earned her nickname L’il Min just by being herself - Tiny. She stood 4’ 10 inches tall. The top of her head could just be seen over the top of the stall rail. When she heard the gate open she turned and watched us approach.
“Hello. It is a nice day.” She said with a wan smile.
Morgan Ironwolf bit down on some hard candy and asked “You feeling less sad then?”
“Yes I am feeling less sad and angrier now.”
“About the sugar?” asked Darth.
“No not about the sugar, about Farriot. I thought about it. Why would he want a retired horse ranch? He is into bigger, faster, stronger stallions and prizes. He is about winning.
He is like his partner Farley. Now that was another thought, how could they be partners if Farley was moving? And what kind of Business were they in? I wonder if Marrianne knows.”
Miri thought it would be good to get all the people in one room. It seemed to her that they just kept blaming each other. Nonetheless we trod back to the race track to find Marrianne.
“Oh! Hello again. More Questions I presume.”
“Yes, about Farriot.”
“Oh I am not a fan of the old geezer. Farley got along with him. They were partners in a business. I did not know at first, but rumor is he had a burger joint.”
“GAH!” exclaimed Miri.
Jocelyn wanted to know about the burgers. “Burgers?”
Marrianne fidgeted as she explained “A place where they cook meat and put it in nice rolls. Serve them with BBQ sauce.”
Prime reasoned “so we know why he wants retired horses.”
Devlin licked his lips, “Yum, horse burgers!”
“Well I guess it could have been old horse meat. Oh. *sigh* I think Tara did it! Oh NO! She would do anything to protect her horses. In this case I think Tara would be capable of murder.”
Miri Frowned. “Where is Tara?”
“I think she is taming Dragons in Destard.”
I could not help but wonder if Tara did kill Farley. Not that she seemed capable to do it in cold blood. She had asked if it could have been an accident and Marrianne had just confirmed that the horses would be motive for Tara.
When we arrived in the Destard cave Tara was quietly talking in the ear of a very large dragon. She was patting its forehead and telling it how noble he was. Sadly the other dragons were not so gentle toward us. Rasesar and Chocolate Moose quickly murmured spells to protect themselves. Jocelyn ordered he own dragon to protect and kill any that attacked her. Hatsheput and Devlin screamed there own special kinds of magic while Miri knocked an arrow.
Tara looked around at the mayhem “You are killing them. Nooo! Please stop. They are such gentle beasts.” We continued to do whatever we needed to protect ourselves. Tara seemed immune to them. Perhaps she really did have a special gift with animals.
She screamed at us to be heard over the melee. “Come outside. I will talk. Just stop killing them!”
Outside Tara was very meek. “You want to ask me something don’t you about Farley? What do you want to know?”
Prime got right to the point. “Did you kill him?”
Charly added, “You know we have been looking into Farley’s death.”
Devlin asked “We want to know if there is horse in the burgers! I love horse burgers.”
Tara started to shake and get woozy. I was not sure how long she would be able to stand. Then she seemed to get strength from with out. She stood a bit taller and spoke.
“I think I did it. I am guilty” she sighed loudly.
The entire group started to chatter.
Charly said “You think?”
Devlin observed, “You don’t sound sure.”
Queen Elf Sandy wondered, “You kill someone for eating horses.”
Snowflake thought it was all lies.
Tears welled up in Tara’s eyes but she would not let one fall.
“I was so very angry. I did not mean to kill him. I was shocked about the burgers.”
Miri thought about that. “I suppose I might if it was Llama!”
“I would not eat llama either. I am a Vegan!” She bowed her head and continued. “The worst of it is I was not even sad when I heard he died even though we were friends before. I felt betrayed.”
Charly was taken by that. If Tara had killed Farley, how was it she heard he died? So she asked, “How exactly was it that you killed Farley?”
Devlin on the other hand was not sure he could trust a Vegan. “So you are telling us you do not eat horse, or any burgers?”
Talia had another thought, “how do you know about the burgers?”
“I can only answer one at a time. I pushed him. I have never been so angry.”
Miri nodded. “Then it was an accident.”
“I pushed him at the paddock and he fell and hit his head on a fence post.”
Devlin was so surprised. “You do not even drink milk because of animals and here a friend dies and YOU ARE NOT EVEN SAD! You Bully! Horrible!”
Tara had to agree. “It is terrible that someone dies. That makes me even sadder. That I had no sadness about this! But he was killing the old horses. He was not a nice man.”
Angelina asked “Why didn’t you tell someone?”
And Jocelyn stated “We don’t kill folks cause they aren’t nice.”
Cuttles scolded,” He was still a human. Geesh!”
Tara answered Angelina, “Well I did not know I killed him yet. He was staggering and cussing at me. It is not like I did it intentionally but he must have got a concussion from the bump on the head. I would not have left him if I knew that.”
We asked if he was alive when she left him. She nodded. “He was alive but that does not make me less guilty. Take me to jail. I am ready for what ever my punishment might be.”
“We will,” remarked Devlin, “you don’t talk to him. You just resort to violence. You stabbed him with a pitch fork!”
Tara looked confused? “What pitchfork? There was no pitchfork.”
“We found one. Perhaps it was Colt’s.”
“A lot of people have pitchforks to garden or clean stalls. Colt takes very good care of his.”
Miri pointed out that someone could have come along after Tara left. None- the- less we decided to take Tara to Yew to hold for questioning.
We headed back to the Guard hall in Serpents Hold to try to piece everything together.
“It does not make sense” said Prime. “She says she did it but she really is not sure. He was alive when she left him. She said she pushed him. Lots of folks have pushed someone when they were angry. She honestly was confused about the pitchfork.”
Miri agreed “she doesn’t really know what happened. I believe he was alive when she left.”
“I think she knocked him out but someone else finished the job,” Interjected Cuttles.
Then it dawned on Prime. “She said she did it at the paddock. Didn’t we find Farley at the race track? That is quite a distance apart.”
After much discussion we had all agreed that someone else had taken advantage of the accident Tara caused.
Cyanide suggested that if Farley was already weakened then the stable chick might have been strong enough.
While this is a possibility none of us were willing to give up suspicion on the others. Perhaps it was Colt after all. He admitted to loving her. He has pitchforks. Perhaps with Tara in jail he will step forward.
~Shadow Riter
“It was no accident.” He told me firmly. “But I am curious why Tara might think it could be. I am certain the other sleuths will want to know as well.”
He rubbed his chin, nodded, then stood and headed toward the meeting place.
As we entered the room we found Lord Darth Waynebo, P s Y c H o, JINX, Rasesar Wej studying the evidence. J-B, Ixtab, Cuttles, Angelina and Mirria sat in a group discussing all the motives and evidence we had gathered so far.
Daniel began, “have you thought about who did this crime? We need to apprehend a suspect. The citizens are getting upset and worried about a murderer being free!”
Jocelyn fidgeted and in a weak voice apologized. “I have been very busy Daniel.”
Daniel quickly recapped all the evidence.
“So far we know that many people had motive. Xarra was a woman scorned.
Afraid her beau was going to run off to Tokuno with Tara and leave her alone with her shops.
”L’il MIn had worked hard to train as a Jockey. She kept losing to Farley when she felt she should have been the victor. She found out that Farley was cheating.”
He pointed to the sugar that sat on the platform with the other items we retrieved from the crime scene.
“But Min is little. Would she have been strong enough to knock him down? Farley was also small, as most fast jockeys are.”
”Cayne had made bets on Farley that he would not win 100 in a row. Would he have ensured his bets? Why is Cayne playing Farley now? Could he have been so jealous that he wanted to be him?
What do we know about Farriot? He is very friendly and he likes to hunt foxes.
Colt seems like a good farm hand. He was / is in love with Tara.
If Farley really was going to run off with Tara would he have tried to stop it?
Could Tara have hurt Farley and Colt tried to cover for it?
Harold is always at the track. How is it that he did not see anything?
I doubt it was Marrianne. She would likely have got a farm hand to do the dirty work for her. Although if she had pushed him …she might have had Colt or Harold take care of the corpse. I think we should make some kind of arrest. We need to figure this out.”
Jocelyn felt that Xarra was innocent. “I think she prefers shops to people. If you get in her way of something she wants to buy – perhaps. I do not think that was the case here.”
Queen Mum nodded in agreement.
“The dent is very large and the helm was very well made.” Daniel remarked while directing our attention to the evidence again. “I am not sure any of Xarra’s little baubles would make that big a depression.”
Devlin Darthmoore presented a theory. “What if she drugged him and he fell over? And then she picked up the pitch fork?”
Mirria thought about that. “Ahh, but wouldn’t one find a way to lose the murder weapon after the deed is done? We found it right under him.”
Prime nodded “could he have fallen on the fork?”
P s Y c H o piped up, “He could have fallen off the horse onto the pitch fork then the horse kicked him in the head! He might have been thrown from the horse as a result of the sugar.”
Prime and Queen Mum agreed but Jocelyn shook her head. “Too many coincidences I think.”
P s Y c H o retorted “Horse was wild. The sugar made the horse go wild. No murder!”
Jocelyn conceded “hmm true - I suppose that could have happened.”
“We must be sure. We need to keep asking until we are.”
We head out to talk to Xarra first. It was always easy to find her, as Trinsic was her favorite shopping place. We found her talking to the shop keeper at the Tannery.
“Hello again she said.” *stares at Daniel* “I am not shopping. She stated smugly.”
“We have some questions for you“ stated Prime.
”Xarra who do you think might have wanted to hurt Farley?” inquired Angelina.
“I think Harold might be guilty He is always there. Why did he not see? He would have seen something. He had a thing for me. That is motive. He was saying slanderous things about Farley too. Now I am tired of this. Go ask Harold.”
Angelina observed “thinking she's protesting a lot and pointing a lot of blame.”
“Maybe” said Daniel “or maybe we should talk to Harold again. It is odd that she is pointing a finger.”
Prime wanted to take Xarra with us. He thought we should keep an eye on her but we all agreed that she would not wander far from her shops in Trinsic.
Harold was not at the track. He had wandered over to the house just to the south. There he sat eating a hearty bowl of stew. We told him what Xarra had said and gave him a chance to reply.
”I know Xarra thinks I was slanderous to Farley. Thing is I’ve seen a lot of great jockeys. It was clear to me, Farley was suspicious. Saying truths is not slander. He was not the best jockey. As we have discovered, I was right. I never knew of the sugar, I would have disclosed it. I would not have let Min lose because of cheating. I really have nothing else to say.”
His statements were true. Farley was only successful because he had cheated. We wondered if this news really might have made Min seek vengeance. Harold doubted it but told us Min had gone to the stable where her horses had once called home.
Min had earned her nickname L’il Min just by being herself - Tiny. She stood 4’ 10 inches tall. The top of her head could just be seen over the top of the stall rail. When she heard the gate open she turned and watched us approach.
“Hello. It is a nice day.” She said with a wan smile.
Morgan Ironwolf bit down on some hard candy and asked “You feeling less sad then?”
“Yes I am feeling less sad and angrier now.”
“About the sugar?” asked Darth.
“No not about the sugar, about Farriot. I thought about it. Why would he want a retired horse ranch? He is into bigger, faster, stronger stallions and prizes. He is about winning.
He is like his partner Farley. Now that was another thought, how could they be partners if Farley was moving? And what kind of Business were they in? I wonder if Marrianne knows.”
Miri thought it would be good to get all the people in one room. It seemed to her that they just kept blaming each other. Nonetheless we trod back to the race track to find Marrianne.
“Oh! Hello again. More Questions I presume.”
“Yes, about Farriot.”
“Oh I am not a fan of the old geezer. Farley got along with him. They were partners in a business. I did not know at first, but rumor is he had a burger joint.”
“GAH!” exclaimed Miri.
Jocelyn wanted to know about the burgers. “Burgers?”
Marrianne fidgeted as she explained “A place where they cook meat and put it in nice rolls. Serve them with BBQ sauce.”
Prime reasoned “so we know why he wants retired horses.”
Devlin licked his lips, “Yum, horse burgers!”
“Well I guess it could have been old horse meat. Oh. *sigh* I think Tara did it! Oh NO! She would do anything to protect her horses. In this case I think Tara would be capable of murder.”
Miri Frowned. “Where is Tara?”
“I think she is taming Dragons in Destard.”
I could not help but wonder if Tara did kill Farley. Not that she seemed capable to do it in cold blood. She had asked if it could have been an accident and Marrianne had just confirmed that the horses would be motive for Tara.
When we arrived in the Destard cave Tara was quietly talking in the ear of a very large dragon. She was patting its forehead and telling it how noble he was. Sadly the other dragons were not so gentle toward us. Rasesar and Chocolate Moose quickly murmured spells to protect themselves. Jocelyn ordered he own dragon to protect and kill any that attacked her. Hatsheput and Devlin screamed there own special kinds of magic while Miri knocked an arrow.
Tara looked around at the mayhem “You are killing them. Nooo! Please stop. They are such gentle beasts.” We continued to do whatever we needed to protect ourselves. Tara seemed immune to them. Perhaps she really did have a special gift with animals.
She screamed at us to be heard over the melee. “Come outside. I will talk. Just stop killing them!”
Outside Tara was very meek. “You want to ask me something don’t you about Farley? What do you want to know?”
Prime got right to the point. “Did you kill him?”
Charly added, “You know we have been looking into Farley’s death.”
Devlin asked “We want to know if there is horse in the burgers! I love horse burgers.”
Tara started to shake and get woozy. I was not sure how long she would be able to stand. Then she seemed to get strength from with out. She stood a bit taller and spoke.
“I think I did it. I am guilty” she sighed loudly.
The entire group started to chatter.
Charly said “You think?”
Devlin observed, “You don’t sound sure.”
Queen Elf Sandy wondered, “You kill someone for eating horses.”
Snowflake thought it was all lies.
Tears welled up in Tara’s eyes but she would not let one fall.
“I was so very angry. I did not mean to kill him. I was shocked about the burgers.”
Miri thought about that. “I suppose I might if it was Llama!”
“I would not eat llama either. I am a Vegan!” She bowed her head and continued. “The worst of it is I was not even sad when I heard he died even though we were friends before. I felt betrayed.”
Charly was taken by that. If Tara had killed Farley, how was it she heard he died? So she asked, “How exactly was it that you killed Farley?”
Devlin on the other hand was not sure he could trust a Vegan. “So you are telling us you do not eat horse, or any burgers?”
Talia had another thought, “how do you know about the burgers?”
“I can only answer one at a time. I pushed him. I have never been so angry.”
Miri nodded. “Then it was an accident.”
“I pushed him at the paddock and he fell and hit his head on a fence post.”
Devlin was so surprised. “You do not even drink milk because of animals and here a friend dies and YOU ARE NOT EVEN SAD! You Bully! Horrible!”
Tara had to agree. “It is terrible that someone dies. That makes me even sadder. That I had no sadness about this! But he was killing the old horses. He was not a nice man.”
Angelina asked “Why didn’t you tell someone?”
And Jocelyn stated “We don’t kill folks cause they aren’t nice.”
Cuttles scolded,” He was still a human. Geesh!”
Tara answered Angelina, “Well I did not know I killed him yet. He was staggering and cussing at me. It is not like I did it intentionally but he must have got a concussion from the bump on the head. I would not have left him if I knew that.”
We asked if he was alive when she left him. She nodded. “He was alive but that does not make me less guilty. Take me to jail. I am ready for what ever my punishment might be.”
“We will,” remarked Devlin, “you don’t talk to him. You just resort to violence. You stabbed him with a pitch fork!”
Tara looked confused? “What pitchfork? There was no pitchfork.”
“We found one. Perhaps it was Colt’s.”
“A lot of people have pitchforks to garden or clean stalls. Colt takes very good care of his.”
Miri pointed out that someone could have come along after Tara left. None- the- less we decided to take Tara to Yew to hold for questioning.
We headed back to the Guard hall in Serpents Hold to try to piece everything together.
“It does not make sense” said Prime. “She says she did it but she really is not sure. He was alive when she left him. She said she pushed him. Lots of folks have pushed someone when they were angry. She honestly was confused about the pitchfork.”
Miri agreed “she doesn’t really know what happened. I believe he was alive when she left.”
“I think she knocked him out but someone else finished the job,” Interjected Cuttles.
Then it dawned on Prime. “She said she did it at the paddock. Didn’t we find Farley at the race track? That is quite a distance apart.”
After much discussion we had all agreed that someone else had taken advantage of the accident Tara caused.
Cyanide suggested that if Farley was already weakened then the stable chick might have been strong enough.
While this is a possibility none of us were willing to give up suspicion on the others. Perhaps it was Colt after all. He admitted to loving her. He has pitchforks. Perhaps with Tara in jail he will step forward.
~Shadow Riter