CSI: Dalen

-Dalen Capital, Valade Estate. Evening, 2 DSTR-

"He didn't fall over the chest," Lafayette said. "The man was placed here. His legs and hands are too well placed to be anything other then that."

“I beg your pardon?” Barely controlling her anger at the whole situation, Kalena regarded him as if he was crazy.

Lafayette gestured down at Van's body. "He was killed, then draped over the chest to make us think something else.”

"Make us think what? That he stabbed himself?"

"Make incorrect connections. I am not assuming your culprit is in correct, but whoever committed the crime is someone among us, be it another guest or the assassin replaced one of your guards. They are still on the grounds."

“And what pray tell, makes you think that? How on earth does the way the body is lain suggest the killer is still here?” Kalena spoke impatiently, skeptically. “Granted, that the killer, or killers, were admitted through the front gates is far more believable than them having somehow breached the perimeter.” She looked over suspiciously at Chiren's guards. She had never seen any of those men before. Where were they during dinner?

“Likely planning to slip away when the guests left for the night or left for safety once the body was found. The walls on the opposite side have too steep a drop to not be noticed if they fled, and any guest leaving early would surly be noticed," Lafayette mused.

Kalena looked around warily. “Well no one is going anywhere. Not until everyone has been questioned by the City Watch.”
Lafayette snapped his fingers "C'est ça," he said. "It must be a symbol. Mustn't it..." He paused. "Coin chest...dead man...fights over land." He started to mumble as he seemed to be loosing the thought he started pacing again. "Aller vite Lafayette, aller vite."

“Yes, aller vite,” Kalena murmured, exasperated.

Chiren looked at Lafayette and smirked. Then he looked at Kalena with a small grin. “I believe your swashbuckling red headed friend just took the words right out of my mouth. To be honest I am a shocked many of you missed that piece of evidence since you live by the sword.”

“Oh no, not you too,” Kalena said at another person about to play at detective.

Chiren walked up to the body and pointed out the clues he noticed. “When a body is stabbed or run through, a large amount of blood will leak and leave a rather large pool by the body. In this case there isn't as much blood as one would expect to find not to mention the blatant stink of poison. As your red headed swordsman pointed out the body was placed here after being killed earlier. Since a poison was used this person could have been killed much earlier, perhaps during your fencing event. Since I was delayed with work I am at a loss for the amount time your all were distracted. It is possible this person was killed far earlier with poison since they were either the target or just in the wrong place in the wrong time. Sadly that happens during such conspiracies. As for the money....................I don't believe that was the target.”

“The money was not the target?” Kalena let out a heavy sigh as she digested their wild speculations. She remembered seeing Van leaving with the missing slave girl just before she fenced with Lafayette. That had not been that long ago. Also, as a professional assassin she knew that many poisons clotted a person's blood and stopped the heart, effectively retarding a body's bleeding. So Lafayette and Chiren might be completely mistaken about Van being killed elsewhere due to a perceived lack of a blood pool.

Chiren continued, “The big question you should be asking is "Why"? If the objective was the large heavy chest......why send only one assassin to carry such a heavy load? Without the use of specialized magic it would be far too difficult to carry such a heavy load with stealth and precision and not get noticed around such seasoned fighters.”

“Well it seems as though whoever was able to get it down the stairs at least,” Kalena said, massaging her temples. “Why are you assuming it is only one individual? Might a small team have infiltrated the estate and wrongly assumed everyone would be at dinner, and then were surprised by Van's presence in the guest house? To my mind this seems clearly aimed at financially ruining Baron Lowson, who only earned this money at market this morning and is dependant on it to pay off his debts, something he would not be able to do if the money happened to be stolen. It is the very same motive for the previous day's bandit attack I told you about at dinner. Could not the young lad have simply interrupted the robbery, forcing the thieves to flee, but not before killing him so that he would not raise the alarm? To what other purpose could any of this possibly be attributed?”

“I dare say this could very well be a message Kalena.................or perhaps even a taunt or challenge by one of your enemies. As you know your position is a sore spot among the nobles who look down on you due to your good standing with the Queen. As for finding the assassin..........it might be a pointless trap designed to keep you off guard. Before we can narrow down which of you many many enemies are after you I suggest we search your estate for clues. Perhaps we can find any blood stains to show where this person was actually killed.”

“You're talking rubbish, Chiren!” Kalena said impatiently. “I'm not without enemies and jealous rivals, but none would have the temerity to do something like this. And if they did what could it possibly gain them except their own deaths and destruction?” She shook her head in frustration. “Go ahead, conduct your search. But no one is to leave my property. Any who attempt to do so will be slain on sight.”

She looked down at Van and the money, thinking on what Lafayette and Chiren had said. There was no way the killer or killers could have got the money chest out of her estate without being seen.... not unless it was loaded into one of the carriages! Could the thieves have surreptitiously arrived in either Chiren or Eliza's carriage? Perhaps clinging beneath it? Were the killers hiding there even now? She took a sword from one of her men and went to investigate.

(OOC – Not knowing if Lafayette and Chiren are correct or barking up the wrong tree I just thought I'd write Kalena being ornery about it. Also I want to thank our mods very much for the award! It's always great to be appreciated! :D)

<Tag – Kline, Lafayette, Gularzob, Eliza, Chiren/Jack, and optionally, Queen Thalia herself.>