Chapter 1: Back to the Grind

Meet Elrin Teay, an elven detective with an eye for women and details. Learn about the world, and the fact that something never change.

          Elrin Taey sat at his old wooden desk, feet propped up as he leaned back in his cheap black office chair and sighed, faintly amused as he shrugged his shoulders. You may be gorgeous, the man thought to himself with a cheeky, amused smile, but you shouldn't always be fashionably late. He glanced about his little headquarters, if a ten by ten foot concrete box could be referred to as such, though everything was in order. The walls had cheap posters and magazine tear-outs of women here and there; models, singers, dancers, actresses, mostly famous people who had no idea Elrin existed. The man took a glance at the small mirror near the corner of his faded desk, smiling at his reflection before going back to staring at the door and pretending to grumble in his thoughts. Elrin's pointed elven ears were usually his first most noticeable feature, followed by his deep blue eyes and a scar across his right cheek that ran from on front of his ear to just about an inch or so from his jaw line; Elrin was very pleased with this scar, always saying how it made him seem very masculine or how it would look awful on anyone else, though he'd never say where he got it from. His hair was blonde and just above his shoulders, and always fell straight around his fair skinned face, even on the very rare occasions when he took off his hat; a brown old fashion fedora with a red band on it, which he always wore with a brown trenchant. His boots were black and well taken care of, as were his khaki pants and white shirt he was wearing that day. In fact his whole office space was very clean; not immaculate, but one could easily tell he put work into it looking that way, despite the many decorations, if they could be called such, of his choosing. 

        Elrin's eyes came back to the ceiling; he noted the single light in the room, a little light bulb hanging from a black cord from the top of the room, was swinging lightly. It was also dim, and flickering a bit, as it had been for a while; It's going to need to be changed soon. Elrin thought with another shrug. "Ah, I'll change it later." Elrin replied to himself in his even tenor voice, shaking his head. "It'll last another couple of days."

        "Didn't you say that a couple of days ago?" a firm woman's voice asked Elrin, followed by the sound of the wooden door closing behind her, the frosted glass pane baring the words 'Elrin Taey: Detective' rattling lightly in its frame. Her tone wasn't so much cold as it was professional.

        Elrin laughed in reply, putting his feet back on the floor where they belonged. "Ah, Ellen, Ellen, Ellen; my partner in anti-crime." He smiled and paused a moment to look his human friend over as she rolled her dark lavender eyes and shook her head at Elrin's (purposely) poor joke. Her hair was jet black and long, to the middle of her back. Her skin was dark, still sometimes referred to as 'red' or 'Indian' by some of the older humans in the city of Era, which confused Elrin to no end. She wore a seamless, bowless velvet ribbon around her neck that matched the hue of her eyes, though mostly hidden by her black police standard uniform, which was nothing less than perfect. Her silver name pin one her left shoulder read 'O'Connor' and a perfect line to her right shoulder led to her silver police badge. Her firm ridged stance showed that she was very serious, but that didn't mean anything to Elrin; he even considered mentioning her 'other uniform', but he let it go. This time. "You're beautiful and intelligent, but your sense of timing is terrible." He continued to tease, wagging his finger at the woman.

        "That's because the world doesn't follow your time table." Ellen countered with out batting an eye, slightly annoyed. "Now can you please be serious? We have a job to do."

       "Really?" Elrin said, his eyes widened slightly in surprise; the hiring of personal detectives had gone down some as of late, and even some one of Elrin's record and status was feeling the effects. Still, this quickly returned to amusement as Elrin stretched his arms. "So, what's on the menu for today, huh? Lost coffee mug, cat stuck in a tree, millions of girls dying to catch a glimpse of me?"

        Ellen groaned, wondering if she should continue, but Elrin shut up long enough to do so. "No." She answered flatly. "Actually, we've got a homicide; way out on the east side; near Elm Art. Feel like doing something important?"

        Elrin smiled wide; "Well then. We'd better not keep them waiting, huh?"

                     - - - -

        Elrin Taey leaned out the window of his partner's car. "Taey!" Ellen nagged angrily, "Get your head back in here; you're not a dog."

        Elrin flashed her an unamused smile, but then continued to ignore her. The detective had to admit, however, that the human was good with her money; the blue Corvette Stingray they rode in was by no means a cheap ride, besides the fact it had standard stock parts. Elrin had never figured out where or how Ellen had gotten it, and his partner was very uncooperative on the subject. Ellen feared the consequences for human kind.

        Elrin, however, simply stared out at the upcoming crime scene; Ellen hadn't been kidding, this was some place. The lieutenant usually stretched the details of a case (in an attempt to get Elrin to behave, which had never worked in all the years Ellen used the trick), but when she had said that the homicide was on the far east side, she'd meant it.

        Elrin chuckled at the thought; as an elf, many parts of human slang went over his head, especially in this fairly accepting day and age. However, East and West made perfect sense. The east side, referred to as the Bank by the denizens of Era, was where many of the wealthy and famous lived, whereas the west was referred to was the Smokestacks or the Sludge, and was filled with increasingly unsavory characters the farther in you went.

        Elrin shook the thought from his mind as the mansion came into view. It was a beautiful place; a large expanse with even more acreage around it. Elrin could imagine the servants with scissors and rulers, making sure that every blade of grass was equal in length around the sandstone brick mansion, which had many balconies all around, even over the front doors. The pathway to those door was lead to by bed upon bed of tulips, sorted by color and likely scientifically enhanced to stand through the mid-fall weather and oncoming winter, as well as sturdy green wooden benches, and carefully laid colored concrete blocks and smooth glass mosaics. There were so many windows that Elrin had to tip his hat to block out some of the reflected noon sun. Had Elrin taken this case earlier in his career, he wouldn't have believed any sort of horrendous activities could take place in a place of this much splendor. Unfortunately, the detective knew better as Ellen parked the car. Still, he chuckled to himself as the other detective-and-cop combos whistled and gaped at the stingray; Elrin gave an amused smile, as he figured that Ellen's good record had as much to do with the Chief allowing her to drive it around on duty as much as the car itself did.

        Elrin looked about at the inside of the house, if it even still fit the classification; it was even more beautiful than the outside, if it was even possible. Everything was white, marble, and expensive; the tall, floor to ceiling pillars, the shelves that held all of the expensive, colorful knick-knacks from around the world, even the floor and ceiling themselves. The duo stared at the winding double staircase, which was white wood edges and marble, with beautiful leaved edges with gold leaf filling the indentations so that it shimmered almost magically, with the marble awning over head reading 'La pace e la felicità per tutti' in gold leaf lettering, translated underneath in similar font and gold as 'Peace and happiness for all'. Elrin thought it amusing for a murder to be under those words, but that amusement faded into a long, deepening whistle as Elrin noted the beautiful woman on the stairs.
       
        Her dark, shoulder length hair was perfectly teased to frame her thin face and float almost effortlessly around her neck and shoulders, eyes done only with a light grey around her grey-blue eyes to make them seem a little bigger. She was tall, not including her six inch heels, white to match her dress, which looked like large ribbons draped over her body and sewn in place, with free white cloth draping over her arms and a light, sheer sleeve. Her skin had a light tan, and her lips were a light shade of pink, with a dusting of blush on her cheeks. It was evident on her face that she was trying her best her composure, but Elrin quickly disregarded her face with an impressed glance to her supple- "Nng." The elf bit back his complaint quietly as Ellen elbowed him in the side. Neither of them spoke, but Elrin understood the message. Even so, he smirked ever so lightly at the vision of beauty floating down the stairs toward him.

        "Ah! Tu sei qui! I've been waiting." The woman spoke with a soft, melodic voice and a light italian accent, though her use of the language was flawless, with obvious fluency from use. "I had begun to believe that for a moment you would not come." 

        "As if I could keep a lady like you waiting for long." Elrin countered smoothly, taking her offered hand in his own and kissed it lightly, if for a little too long. "So, would you do me the honors of informing me on what I've missed?"

        "Oh, naturalmente; of course." She replied, leading the duo back up the stairs. "My name is, as you know, Nerina Bianchi, and my father, Basilio Bianchi, is unfortunately  upstairs in the study." the group made a turn to the right, walked three doors down the east wing, and let Nerina open the door.

It wasn't the worst crime scene Elrin had ever seen; no blood, the room wasn't trashed, no signs of a struggle. Just an old, balding, white haired man face down in a book at his desk, with a cup of cold tea next to him. Elrin looked about the room; it seemed more of a library than a study, with shelves of books all the way to the nine foot ceilings on every subject, all of the shelves and furniture made of mahogany and well cared for, the floors with a short, soft green carpet. Elrin heard Nerina sniffle lightly as he began to examine the deceased, moving his head to get a better look at the book Basilio was nearly finished with. "Theory of Theory; Speculation for One's Self." Elrin read the title aloud. "Man, that's some deep stuff; isn't this that popular 'help yourself with science' book?"

        "Si, it is." Nerina replied with a sad nod. "Father is- was- always open-minded, very interested in what people had to say or think about."

        "I see." Elrin nodded, barely understanding that idea. The elf moved from the book to the tea cup; it was white, and definitely very fine china ware, with a golden rim. Elrin sniffed the contents first, then tasted it, to which Ellen gave a quiet growl; "That isn't how you treat a crime scene!" she'd told him again and again, though she wasn't about to embarrass herself for Elrin's sake. He wouldn't have listened anyway. "It's just plain jasmine tea." Elrin looked to Nerina with confusion.

        "That is why I am sure it is murder." the Italian replied confidently, if a little sadly. "Everyone knows my father is deathly allergic to jasmine."

        "Then why keep it in the house?" Ellen asked, suspicious.

        "My father didn't believe a good host should deny his guests anything." Nerina answered. "He always had many guests, and jasmine tea is very popular right now; he kept it just for them."

        Elrin nodded. "Well then, My Lady, I've only a few questions to ask you." Elrin looked at Nerina as he turned away from the corpse, his eyebrows raised and his smile sly.

        "Yes, I understand." Nerina answered with a nod.

        "First off, I need to know where you've been recently." Elrin asked, noting that she seemed used to the procedure; she must have been answering the same questions all day, because it seemed that she was hiding something.

        "Well, I was out with a few friends last night, at a restaurant called The Blantel." Nerina began, "I came home late, and father had already gone to bed. Today, I woke up at about eight thirty, per always, to visit Father here in the study before I left for a meeting, because he likes to get up earlier than I to have his tea with a book after the sunrise. But I came in and found . . . this . . ." Nerina sniffled a bit, determined not to cry.

        "There, there." Elrin comforted, offering a hug, and to Ellen's and his (hidden) surprise, Nerina excepted, stepping into his arms and nuzzling her face into his neck.

        "Mi scusi, per favore," she explained, light tears wetting Elrin's neck, "I was trying too hard to be stronger than myself, it seems."

        "Now, now." Elrin cooed, obviously enjoying the moment FAR too much, "You got a lot to deal with, don't you? It's expected for you either to cry, or explode if you don't do something about it. Don't you fret, Lady Nerina; I'll make sure this culprit is caught, and you won't have worry about a thing."

        "Grazie, Detective, grazie." Nerina sniffled, letting go of the elf to dry her eyes. "Feel free to ask any questions of the servants; they've been asked to continue their daily chores and routines, so as not to alert the public until this mess is resolved."

        "Thank you, Ma'am." Elrin nodded, heading towards the door. "That's very helpful."

        "Unfortunately, I must be off; I've a meeting to get to, and even in these circumstances, I can't afford to cancel." Nerina added, pulling out a handkerchief and patting at her wet eyes. "One last thing, however; speak with Coral, the young maid. I swear that Dahli is hiding something."

        Elrin noted the disdain that dripped from Nerina's voice at the mention of the girl; it wasn't uncommon to hear from anyone. Dahlis were clones, usually of humans, and were legally the lowest of the low. They had no rights, no protection, and barely considered alive. Usually, they were 'employed' as servants or laborers, especially in dangerous jobs or experimentation. The Dahli were normally no different from whomever they were cloned from, save for the color of their eyes, which usually ranged from yellow to a dark orange. Still, the woman's tone seemed a little excessive, as if something else was causing her displeasure with the mentioned girl. 

        As Nerina walked (thought she seemed to float) out of the room and down the stairs, Elrin rubbed his lips with his finger, his eyes closed in thought with his thumb tucked under his chin. 

        "What's wrong, Teay?" Ellen asked; she knew her partner long enough to know that he almost never thought quietly like this. "Find something?"

        The elf didn't respond verbally, but he flashed Ellen a smirk that mirrored his playful blue eyes that spoke volumes. He'd already found puzzle pieces that didn't fit. "Hey, Ellen." he said after a moment. "What do you say we dig around here a little more, then go grab a drink?"

        Ellen groaned; she knew what that meant, and she did NOT enjoy it. Still, her partner was right; it was likely going to be the only way. Illegal or not (and it was VERY illegal), she always got them all the pieces on the table, and a good number of their cases would not have been solved with out her help; the fact boiled Ellen's blood, but she kept her business facade unmoved.

        "Oh, and Elle?" Elrin added, snapping her from her thoughts. "You were working last night, weren't you? Can you verify Miss Nerina's being at the Blantel?"

        Ellen was glad he'd not mentioned that in front of anyone; Ellen worked a side job as a waitress in the up scale restaurant; though she insisted that the reason was 'for finding information and keeping an eye on things', Elrin often teased that the extra money wasn't bad either, and that 'the other uniform looks excellent'. The second comment used to get him slapped, but now only solicited a groan. "I wasn't working the upstairs last night; but yes, it was in use, so she was likely there." she admitted quietly.

        "Alright." the detective shrugged, and walked out of the room. 

        Ellen sighed, squeezing the bridge of her nose a bit before following; one could have an eternity, and still not understand the man. Still, unprofessional and ludicrous as he was, he did get the job done. Always had, and (not that Ellen would ever give him any reason to swell his ego) Elrin didn't need as much prodding as before to keep him on task. The two weren't very surprised to see that everyone had gone; they had been the last ones called, after all, and the other teams had likely already been there for hours. Elrin tapped a worker, a young blonde man in a suit, casually on the shoulder. "Hey pal." the detective asked, and the tan skinned young man turned to reveal his golden eyes, "You know where we can find Coral?"

         The servant's eyes narrowed. "You people have been accusing her all day; cut her a break will ya?" His tone was frustrated and angry; Either he liked his master, or the girl is as hot as the Lady. Elrin pondered, repressing his smirk at his own visual. "Just because that b- The Lady hates her so much, doesn't mean she actually DID anything." The man was forward and viciously honest about how he felt, likely only because the Lady in question wasn't around; Elrin noted the near curse. They must be treated pretty well here, for him to feel alright about being so frank with me. Or Coral must be better looking than I thought. Or at least, were well treated; Nerina must not has been so loving toward the Dahlis in the place. Usually, Dahli, given their status, were timid, quiet, and kept to themselves. This one was the opposite; it both surprised and amused Elrin. So he played along.

         "Nah, sorry." the elf shrugged, and the Dahli scowled even further. "Gotta drop my terrible accusations on the pretty lady, or I don't get paid." Elrin could almost hear his partner bury her face in her hand, and the want of the man before him to punch the detective in the face.

         "Have you even seen her?" came the exasperated reply.

         "Uuh, nope; thus I'm asking for directions." Elrin smiled a Cheshire grin, and the man relented with a shake of his head.

         "Fine; let's get this over with." he griped, muttering something Elrin didn't catch about 'a lack of compassion'.

         Elrin quickly understood the man's duress about seeing Coral, after entering the large dinning room she was cleaning; she wasn't a beautiful woman, but an innocent young girl, roughly eleven or twelve years old. Her eyes were like polished copper, and her hair a few shades shy of the same. Coral's outfit was like the rest of the maid's classic wear, however hers was a bit more fitting of a girl her age, and glowing smile; it was coral colored, like her name, and the skirt was lengthened to her ankles, with matching shoes that had little silver buckles. There were white lace on the short sleeves, neck line, and hem of the skirt, and her apron was white, and had a large pocket on the front. She looked much like a little doll; sweet and adorable. Elrin figured that in a good few years, Miss Coral would be a stunner.

          Coral was currently polishing a table with happy abandon, scrubbing some invisible spot with a white cloth, hair and hat bouncing up and down to a tune Coral alone could hear. She hadn't seemed to notice the partners yet, so Elrin approached softly. "The table looks nice." he greeted, somehow effortlessly finding a soothing charm; a wise choice, seeing that as soon as Coral noticed him, she jumped away, clutching her cleaning cloth close with anxiety in her eyes and her smile gone. Well, that's a bit more of the norm for Dahlis. Elrin noted. "Hey, it's alright. Whatever you were cleaning didn't have a chance." 

          Coral relaxed at that, just a little bit; she was surprised at the elf, he talked nice, and hadn't said she did anything wrong. "My name's Elrin. What's yours?" The man continued; sure, he knew who she was, but sometimes the simple things worked best.  Coral opened her mouth for a moment, but then snapped shut again after noticing Ellen. "Oh, you don't need to worry about Miss Scary Lady over there." Elrin teased, bringing out the secret weapon; he wiggled his ears, and Coral giggled quietly. "It's just you and me talking."

          Ellen had to bite back her glare; it was a bit of a running gag at this point, but the woman inexplicably terrified most children. She'd tried everything short of Elrin's wiggling ears (which she couldn't do), but nothing seemed to convince anyone that she was anything less than, as Elrin had so coined her, "Miss Scary Lady". The urge to roll her eyes was nigh irrepressible, so Ellen turned away to do so, covering it with moving to a more distance seat to let Elrin work.

          Coral seemed to be okay with that, because she calmed down a little bit more. "I'm Coral." she replied quietly, still keeping a tight grip on her rag; as if it would magic Elrin away if he did anything too scary.

          The elf smiled kindly, honestly pleased that the young girl felt better. "It's nice to meet such a hard worker, Coral. What all do you do here?"

          Coral grinned widely at that. "I do everything I'm told." the Dahli proclaimed proudly. "I help cook, and clean, and mend things, and care for the pretty flowers, and sometimes even take messages for the phone!" Coral sounded like a real child, exuberant and happy. How much of this was a front, Elrin couldn't say, but he chose not to dwell too much on it for now. "I'm a very good girl!"

          "I believe it." The detective nodded with a chuckle, and he really did; Elrin, despite all he may do or say, had a soft spot for innocent kids. "You work pretty hard for a little girl; do you like to work?"

          Coral nodded. "I do. It makes me happy to work, because when I do a good job, Master and the Lady are happy." The thought of her now lost Master brought an end to the young maid's smile. "But now Master is gone, and I can't make him happy any more. Master was always happy with me, even if I couldn't do a very good job. But the Lady never seems happy with me. I don't know why, but when the Lady isn't happy, then nobody is."

           This was food for thought; So Basillo and Nerina had differing views on the Dahli workers, huh? the elf pondered silently, still frowning along with Coral. "That's too bad. Has it always been like that?"

           Coral shrugged, biting her lip and increasing her grip on her cleaning rag once again. "I dunno; you'd have to ask someone older than me." she admitted. "The Lady doesn't seem to like any of us, as much as I can remember, but I think she likes me least. I dunno why; I do my very best, and only break things on accident."

           "Well, I think you are a nice young girl." Elrin replied, smiling again as he wiggled his ears; this pulled the smallest of giggles out of Coral, and she smiled faintly. "Thank you very much for talking with me, it was very helpful. I'm going to take my scary lady back to work, okay?"

           Coral gave a real laugh this time, as Ellen rolled her eyes. Teay, you are incorrigible. The officer growled mentally, following her partner out of the room, leaving Coral alone to clean her invisible spot once again. "Doesn't seem to add up, does it?" Ellen asked out of earshot, knowing she was stating the obvious; one never truly knew with Elrin Teay, so it never hurt to mention it.

           "Nerina is trying to place the blame on Coral." Elrin agreed with a nod. "Coral, while physically capable of doing the act, doesn't seem mentally capable of it. It also isn't in her favor to have done so; Basillo was apparently very kind to the Dahli workers around here, but Nerina doesn't seem to have taken to them so well. There don't seem to be any workers around here at all who aren't Dahli, either." Elrin was in one of his rare serious moods, actually thinking about all of the gathered information in a way that he was obviously doing so; right hand on his chin, hat pulled slightly down his head, eyes low as he walked. It was these rare moments that Ellen knew she had the smartest partner on the force. "Obviously, we need more information, but we need to figure out who to look into first; Basillo or his daughter." Elrin was saying, still having Ellen's full attention. "The old man would probably be the best bet, but . . ." The glint in Elrin's eye brought a groan from his partner as he finished the sentence, contemplation over as he made his way out of the mansion and into the passenger side of the car, grinning. "Nerina would be a lot more fun."

          The powerful engine roared to life, but Ellen held still for a moment; Elrin traced his partner's gaze back up to the entryway, where Coral was now standing, looking about nervously before approaching Elrin's side of the Corvette.

Author's Note

Okay, three things; One, I add to this when my brain cooperates. Two, I have no clue how to work the italics on this site, especially from my tablet. Three, any and all comments will be helpful to me, so don't hold back.