A11 Selta Interview (Patreon)

I finally feel like I'm making some good progress on Executioner's Gambit once more. The investigation story feels a lot more right this time.

I don't know why I didn't post this yesterday. I suppose I was distracted with writing.

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Despite how Tori had promised Druka to try and keep her identity a secret, clearly this was no longer possible. The rumor of her presence had spread like a fuel fire and most everyone she spoke with referred to her as “Inspector” whether she’d introduced herself or not.

But on the upside, this made it very easy for Tori to learn a little background information. After stopping only a half-dozen random pedestrians and asking about the first murder, she’d pieced enough together details for her investigation to continue: Raksa had been a supervisor over agricultural bay 20C and had died at work.

In Bay 20C, Tori took an instant dislike to Raksa’s replacement, a shifty eyed male named Nuah. He seemed the sort who would shout at his subordinates and suck up to his boss with the same breath—not that she saw him do either, but he reminded her of several unpleasant supervisors she’d met back home.

“Well, I never met the poor guy personally,” said Nuah in a nasal tone. “He died before I transferred to 20C, obviously, Inspector. But I heard he’d been speaking with Selta in his office when he passed.”

“I see,” said Tori, her eyes following where Nuah was pointing—a windowed office that hung from the bay’s rafters. “And Selta reported to Raksa?”

“Yes, she’s…” He looked about for a moment before pointing to an adjacent row. “There she is, the young gal with a white pelt.”

Tori nodded and headed off toward the metal staircase leading to the supervisor’s office. “I’d like to see the crime scene and have a word with the suspect,” she told him. “Could you please send her up?”

She’d barely finished ascending the long staircase when the fluffy white female caught up with her. Selta entered the office reluctantly and only when Tori asked her to. “Your boss tells me that you were here with Raksa when he died.”

Selta nodded but refused to meet Tori’s eyes.

“That must have been so horrible. I’m terribly sorry to put you through this again,” said Tori. “But could you tell me what happened that day?”

Selta stood in silence a long while, her ears low in a sulk before she finally managed, “He was drinking brandy. Then, he died.”

Oof. The younger gal clearly didn’t want to discuss it, but without the investigation report, Tori really needed to hear this witness’s testimony. Tori asked, “He was drinking the brandy when you entered the office?”

To this, Selta shook her head. She pointed at the desk. “He pulled the bottle from a drawer.”

Tori bit her lip in thought. “Would you mind terribly if I asked you to show me? Just so I can visualize what happened, okay?” Tori gave the gal a smile. “You be Raksa, and I’ll be you.”

Selta hesitated once more, but with a little coaxing, she crossed the office and took a seat behind the desk. “Are you sure this is okay?”

“It’s fine. It’s fine,” said Tori, returning to stand beside the door. “Why did you come up to the office?”

Selta finally looked up. “Raksa had sent a message to my strand that he was transferring me to second shift. It sounded like a mistake, so I came up here and told him to change it back.”

Tori nodded. “What did he say?”

The white-pelted gal looked down once more, refusing to meet Tori’s eyes.

“Please, Selta, I need to know what happened here.”

Selta set her jaw, then finally managed, “He said that he’d transfer someone else if he could have three-ways with me and my boyfriend.”

Tori’s ruined ears sprang up. “Three ways?”

“Yeah,” growled Selta. “That if I slept with him every night for a week, he’d forget about moving me to second shift.”

Tori’s brown eyes opened wide, but the only sound she could manage was, “Ew!”

“That wasn’t half of it!” spat Selta. “He was old and gross—older than my dad!”

Tori nodded sadly and apologized again for dragging the younger gal through this once more. “Then, he pulled out the poisoned brandy, drank it, and died?”

Selta’s ears sprang up. “I didn’t do it!”

“Of course you didn’t!” said Tori with complete sincerity. “I mean, how could you? You’d have to leave the office, go to the pharmacy to steal the poison, come back, stick it in the brandy, and convince him to drink it. That doesn’t make much sense.”

Selta stood from her boss’s chair, her eyes downcast once more. She still looked upset, but now more relieved than a moment before. “The other gals on the workfloor told me not to go to Raksa’s office alone, that he was liable to try something, but I was so upset about being transferred, I guess I didn’t stop to think about it.”

Tori stepped closer and touched Selta’s arm. “Don’t be sad. None of this is your fault.”

Selta froze as if she’d been slapped, then she looked slowly up. “I’m not sad,” she said. “I’m glad The Executioner killed him. He’s our Ykahi!” Selta said, referring to the ringel heroine in the Boots video.

“Selta…” Tori gasped, not certain what else to say.

But the younger gal wasn’t finished. She said, “I hope he kills my new boss next, and then the guy who replaces him, and so on until they finally realize that they can’t treat us this way!”

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Reviewer's link: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1QffKyFg7B3LxjYxGgz3w-O21b3sGhFE5ywlCWqibM-8/edit?usp=sharing

Thoughts?