oops, I've been thinking all morning 'I've forgotten something' and I just remembered what the forgotten something was, and it's posting. Apologies; my own scatterbrain at work.
Chapter 4
“As I understand it, the finishing school covers three years, ages sixteen, seventeen, and eighteen,” said Kiliana to Amee. “Now, five of the eight girls were only sixteen; two were eighteen, and one was seventeen. But I don’t know a lot about them. If the older girls were petite, it might indicate someone who is drawn to younger girls, in which case I need to seem very young. I’m inclined to put off accessory purchase until I know more about them.”
Amee nodded.
“I think that’s wise,” she said. “Besides, we’ve been poring over these fashion pictures for hours and making orders. I had thought we’d hit the shops, hence needing Mr. Villnew, who is, I am sure, relieved not to be carrying many parcels.”
Villnew laughed.
“I really am relieved,” he said. “I had no idea it could be so easy.”
“I suspect a lot of girls like trying things on; but I know what’s going to suit me, so I don’t have to,” said Kiliana. “And it’s easier to order things bespoke.”
“Nice to have the budget,” said Villnew.
“Yes, it is,” said Kiliana. “It took me a while to realise that I didn’t have to count every Imperial twice, and I like being able to have properly fitting clothes, not various hand-me-downs. Ooh! I forgot pyjamas; I usually wear an old tunic.”
“You’ll need more than that in a dormitory,” said Amee.
Kiliana reflected that this was doubly so as she tended to steal Quester’s tunics to sleep in. She swiftly searched, and purchased a couple of sensible sleepsuits and slippers.
“Now we need to go back and research the girls,” she said. “Dead and alive.”
oOoOo
“Leo! I can’t get accessories until I know how old I’m going to be!” said Kiliana.
“I beg your pardon?” said Quester.
“Well, most of the dead girls were young; and if the older ones were petite or childish, I will have to go in as a Freshman. There’s a lot of difference between someone one step from childhood and a young lady of eighteen with some sophistication,” she explained.
“Dear me, I had not thought of that,” said Quester.
“I’ll need full profiles on the girls who were killed,” said Kiliana.
“Cayban got their records from the academy,” said Quester. “He’s being very compliant, so don’t play him up.”
“Oh, if he’s better than you thought, I won’t have to,” said Kiliana. She frowned over the profiles Quester handed over. “I can see why Cay... Lictor Cayban,” she amended as Quester frowned slightly, “could not see a correlation. They come in all skin shades, all hair colours, all body shapes. Two red-heads, which is unusual, and one hair between auburn and chestnut, with darker skin. There isn’t so much consanguinity here as there was on Araklion.”
“There was a marriage law enacted in the Jinnya Isles almost a century ago, because of the consanguinity,” said Quester. “Patrician girls were only permitted to marry patricians from cadet branches who had commoner blood in them; and Patrician boys had to choose from one of the hundred girls chosen each year by lottery whilst the law was in force, who were taken away from their parents and taught to survive high society. There were significant problems caused with social dysfunction and domestic violence, and the experiment was abandoned after five years.”
“Poor girls, wrest from all they knew; a wealthy lifestyle cannot have made up for that,” said Kiliana.
“Many of the women became alcoholics, a few killed their husbands, and a few husbands killed their wives, the children tended to be badly-behaved, it was just a complete shambles,” said Quester. “And it’s not that people cannot adapt to moving up in society, it’s that deep down, despite being removed from their parents at sixteen and being given three years training, the girls, on the whole, did not like what society turned out to be. When there is love involved, people are more willing to accept give and take.”
“Yes, I can see that,” said Kiliana. “I want to pass as a patrician as your helper because I don’t want to let you down. I can pass as a rural plebian, but I need to learn how to pass as a sump-rat too.”
“You’d almost certainly have to be some sort of criminal; you’re too healthy-looking,” said Quester, dryly.
Kiliana, who knew she was still skinny in the Justiciar’s estimation, pulled a face.
She settled down to her statistics.
“You’d better enrol me as a freshman,” she said. “The three older girls are all short. Of the flowers still alive, there are two who are seventeen, both quite tall; so those at more risk are Lillia and Phyllida, if Phyllida isn’t stretching a point where being a flower is concerned. Lillia isn’t quite a lily either, so Kerria ought to attract his attention, especially as I have red hair. I note that Lictor Cayman has also given us the dates, and the first was Rosa, almost half a year ago when she was only sixteen, and she had red hair; and Selandina was the next, a petite girl with red hair, then Zenobia, who was new to the school this fall. The others followed more or less randomly afterwards.”
“Let me see,” said Quester. “Well! When you arrange them this way, that is interesting. Hortensia after Zenobia has chestnut hair, which might be reddish in some lights, then he’s gone for the striking blonde, Yolanda...”
“Her notes say she had dyed her hair auburn as soon as she got to school and away from her mother,” said Kiliana. “Poor kid, but for vanity, she might have escaped. The final three are Jacintha, Erica, and Iolantha. Jacintha is black, very black, and with black hair, Erica and Iolantha have brown hair. I wonder if they were a blind at all... though there seems to be no difference in the method of killing them, and if they were, you might expect him to have hurried. And the only one he hurried on, by the look of it, was Selandina, the second one.”
Quester narrowed his eyes.
“That’s remarkably interesting,” he said. “Zenobia seems to have been killed only slightly slower; then there’s a long gap before Hortensia, and then the rest followed almost weekly.”
“Are you thinking what I’m thinking?” asked Kiliana, getting out the notes on Rosa. “Look, she was strangled, but the ligature marks are not as pronounced... and the notes say ‘perimortem.’ What if he raped and strangled a girl he was actually interested in, and then decided to hide a pebble on the beach... was less interested in the next, found himself enjoying the third, and then tried to hold off, but could not?”
“Which being so, if we can make you as like Rosa as possible, he will be tempted beyond ability to resist, I imagine,” said Quester. “Her hair was long...”
“I can have extensions,” said Kiliana. “I kept my own hair. In case it came in useful.”
“My dear girl, you never cease to surprise me with your resourcefulness,” said Quester.
oOoOo
Hunter came in, looking tired but triumphant, followed by Purity, who looked mostly tired.
“My lord, I’ve secured you a penthouse suite with helipad and the use of a community pilot and tilt-rotor,” he said. “You share his services with four other penthouses, but it beats calling for a public pilot.”
“One of us should learn to fly,” said Kiliana.
“I can fly any gyroscopic craft,” said Purity.
“You can? That’s wonderful,” said Quester. “Then I should consider purchasing one, it would be convenient.”
“I’ll look into it tomorrow,” said Purity. “I tracked down the string, though.”
“Oh, well done,” said Quester. “How common is it?”
“Not very,” said Purity. “It’s treated to be antifungal and antibacterial and has a pest-repelling scent to it, which unfortunately is not strong enough to deter perverts.”
Quester was a little startled at the understated humour Purity displayed, as she had never said much to suggest a sense of humour; but Burdock was beaming at her in pride.
“So, I suppose that it’s too much to ask that there are records of who purchased such a high grade string?” asked Quester.
Purity pulled a face.
“I have the records of everyone who has done so in the last year, in case we need to prove purchase, but as one of the purchasers is the academy in question, and the parks’ department, I doubt we have much to go on there,” she said.
“Well! We’ve put in a fairly full day, so I suggest we permit Hunter to show us to our new home,” said Quester. “I assume you got somewhere large enough for the team?”
“Yes, I took the floor below as well so you could keep Villnew and Miz Lewis safe and at hand if needed,” said Hunter.
“And Cayban,” said Quester, “And at need, his family. I doubt we have anyone capable of threatening him, but he does have a daughter in the right age range. Have we staff?”
“Yes, a couple who clean and cook. They have their own rooms. Uh, all bedrooms are separate. Was that right?”
“Purity and Burdock are together, but I am sure they can work something out,” said Quester. “Fine, contact the pilot. You are going to act as the secretary for a patrician from Araklion whose daughter will be starting the finishing school in its first year.”
“Yes, my lord,” said Hunter.
“And Hunter, you’ve done well in using your initiative,” said Quester. “I feel happier about working with you now.”
Hunter beamed.
“Thank you, my lord,” he said. “I know some of these families, I may be able to get an introduction.”
“That could prove useful,” said Quester. “We are looking at the possibility that the killing of the first girl was accidental homicide of a girl the killer was really interested in and the others started as disguise, but became obsession.”
“So, you need all there is to know about her family, as most abuse starts at or near home?” said Hunter.
“Exactly,” said Quester.
“Leo,” said Kiliana, “do we have photos of the bodies? I’d be interested to see if the first one was treated with more... well, respect?”
“They didn’t find all of them,” said Quester. “Rosa, the first girl, was the fourth to be found, as I recall. Let me get up the photos on the main screen.”
He activated the wall-screen from his data-tab, and put up the five photographs they had.
“The first found, that’s the second killed, we think, Selandina Riketa Warrena,” said Hunter.
“She’s been dumped by the side of the road, almost without care,” said Kiliana.
“Next, Zenobia, she’s been sat against a tree, arranged almost like she is emerging from it, and with ivy draped,” said Quester. “They did not find number five, Hortensia; it was hoped for a long time she had just run away, but I think we have to include her with the floral killer.”
“She’s the one we think he killed because he had got a taste for it, and he couldn’t hold out, resisting his demons, right?” said Kiliana.
“Yes,” said Quester. “And then Rosa was found, in a state of some, but not considerable, decomposition, in the ancient graveyard of Trinity, where she was laid on a box tomb, surrounded in white roses and dressed in a wedding dress.”
“That’s... creepy,” said Kiliana. “Did he keep her body close by him until it smelled too much, do you think?”
“I don’t want to speculate,” said Quester. “It’s possible, but I’m more interested in protecting the living.” He shuddered. “And then two more have been found; Jacintha and Erica. Iolantha has not turned up yet. But those two have been arranged, look, like odalisques, and with flowers.”
“A kind of bizarre flower arrangement,” said Kiliana, with distaste. “Has Lictor Cayban checked whether anyone is killing plebian girls with flower names as well?”
“Somehow, I doubt it,” said Quester. “Hunter!”
“On it, my lord,” said Hunter. “But tomorrow, unless you think it urgent? I am becoming stupid-tired.”
“No, we will go to the apartment and sleep on it,” said Quester.
The transport was a rotodyne, designed for passengers and quite comfortable, and the flight was, moreover, short. Kiliana stared down at the city.
“There are just too many buildings to appreciate the city,” she said, bewildered.
“But not as much as there used to be,” said Quester. “Remember the sacred song?”
Kiliana nodded.
“When the Blessed Abe looked out,
Before the water’s wellings
He swore he could not see the towns
There were so many dwellings,” she sang.
She went on,
“He saw the rockets pierce the sky
And other sights yet stranger
He knew that mankind might well die
Ignoring of this danger.”
“Well done,” said Quester. “You have learned well.”
They landed on a skyscraper made of steel and glass, with a small garden beside the helipad; their new home for a while.
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