Princess Rayfa and I went to the new murder scene at the Plaza of Devotion. The outline of Acolyte Puhray Zeh'lot was here along with flowers. There was something different about the flags. The police had already been here. Ema was still here though!
Ema greeted me and got a fright when she saw the princess. She asked Ema if she was displeased to see her and she said of course not! Ema said she was sorry about what was happening to Maya and offered to help. Rayfa watched us closely.
I asked Ema for an overview of what happened. The victim here died during prayer as seen in the crime photo she gave me and he had the dagger sticking out the top of his back below the neck, which looked really gruesome and painful. He was still in the prayer position. I noticed the peach tattoo on his neck.
Ema said the estimated time of death was sometime between the start of the rite and the discovery of the high priest's body. They believed it took place during the rite and the murder weapon was the same dagger that killed the high priest. The prosecution believed Maya killed him after she came back from the rite. The death was instant.
Rayfa asked how the time of death could be determined and Ema was pleased with her apparent interest, which she denied haughtily, saying it would be wise to know what silly things the common folk were interested in. Ema tutted there was nothing silly about it, saying Nahyuta held it in high regard. Rayfa seemed impressed but insisted the Séances were better.
Ema said Rayfa didn't have an adorable bone in her body and I said I believed she really was interested and asked Ema to explain it to her. Ema told her about the drop in body temperature. Rayfa seemed really interested and playfully took my temperature, saying I wasn't dead yet!
I asked about witnesses but since everyone was bent over in prayer, there weren't any. I asked about the murder weapon and yes, Maya's fingerprints were indeed on it, Ema was sad to say. I asked about a motive, insisting that Maya didn't have any. Ema said that since Zeh'lot was a disciple of the high priest, found to be a rebel, it was likely that he was a rebel as well. Ema agreed with me on a personal level, but that was the opinion the police had.
I examined the scene a bit. The flowers that were here were called nahmanda, given to express sorrow when a life is lost.
The last thing we saw was this new flag, seemingly uninteresting but was added to the court record anyway. It had some short message about bringing grub and a key. May have some dramatic context later!
Ema asked me if I had any hope of winning. I said I couldn't say at this point and I had to keep investigating. Rayfa was ready to report her for dereliction of duty, treating her with the same punitive manner that they treat everyone with in this kingdom. Ema wished me luck before leaving.
I didn't have any particular place in mind to go next, but I had to cover everything, so off we went.
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