Fiction

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When Marius finally woke up he tried to yell at Clemens for not waking him up earlier but when Suzuna reprimanded him he shut up about it. After that Clemens left their room, letting them be alone.

Outside of the room Sarita was leaning up against a wall.

“If you were worried you could have just stayed in the room.”

“No, it is fine. I wouldn’t want to interrupt them anyways. As long as Suzuna is feeling better then I am happy. This whole thing probably put a kink in Marius’ challenge with me.”

Once that was done the old man closed up his case, “That should be sufficient. I’ll stay in the room for a few hours while we wait to see her fever return.” He took a long sigh, “And since I’m not as young as I used to be I think I’ll spend the night down here. That will let me make sure she is recovering before I leave.”

Marius had already rushed to Suzuna’s side and was knelling next to the bed holding her unconscious hand.

“Are you sure she is going to be alright?” Asked Clemens.

“No, you’re right, somebody would have needed to do that. I’m just glad that you care some much about other people that you even think about things like medicine.”

Sarita turned away while she said, “Clemens… I… I… I’m going to get a wet cloth for Suzuna. You stay here while I do that.” Then she stood and and ran toward the bathroom.

Clemens stayed by Suzuna who was tossing and turning while asleep. She was clearly feverish and Clemens wanted to wake her but knew that wouldn’t do anything to make her better.

They watched at Marius managed to hook one of the lobsters in the hole. When he pulled it out the hole lobster was still grabbing onto the fish that was actually hooked onto the rod.

When with a show of agility that Clemens hadn’t expected Marius rotated the rod and the line ensnared the lobster wrapping it up tight. Then he began to reel into the lobster. Once it had gotten close he pulled out his coil of rope once more and the lobster became inescapably captures.

“Doesn’t that cause problems?”

“Maybe a little, but it is because he is a good person that he has these problems. He tries not to press his anxieties onto other people. A surprisingly complicated man if I don’t say so myself.”

It was about this time that Marius came back. In one hand he had a few bottles of beer and one of wine and in the other he had some cups. He looked around the table and said, “Come on, its not a party if we are missing people. Where did Sarita go? She said she would show up didn’t she?”

“That might be true but it will probably just make him annoyed or angry. He will think that you aren’t taking him seriously. Which, even if true, isn’t something you should do.”

“Fine, I’ll go then. I can finish telling you about the pillars once I get back.” Then in almost no time she was gone. As the speed Sarita was swimming it was completely clear that she had slowed down to stay with Clemens and Marius one the way over.

“I am the mighty fisherman Marius!” Exclaimed the man.

“Suzuna, it is a pleasure.” Said the woman.

“And I am Clemens. I’ll try to bring her back here.”

Then Clemens was off to search for Sarita. His first port of call was the deep observatory however this time it was empty so he had to search elsewhere. He eventually found her at one of the sushi bars. Sarita preferred her fish raw and this was the one place in the resort that offered the food that she desired.

She looked up as he came in and said, “Is this another thing about the new guests?”

Quincy nodded, “Alright, I’ll spill the beans. Part of it is bad new, I am unfortunately going to have to retire as the leader of this little organization. I’ve been recruited as a deep space scientist and that will require me to be gone for probably years at a time. If scheduling is lucky then I can probably make one out of three of these events. A tragidy to be sure.”

He continued, “Nitzan is one of the members who have been here the longest so I wanted to make him the next leader of the group. So I bequeathed to him the Record of Murders.”

——

“Thank you for coming here today. For today we are going to reveal the identity of the culprit.” Said Zosi.

He and Marylou were standing in the center of the ring of chairs. There were both wearing hats exactly like the one that Quincy had worn. Floppy in the front and back but buttoned up on the sides. If there had just been one then Clemens would have though they took it from Quincy but if both of them had it then either Quincy had a spare or they also owned the hat.

“There isn’t any really have proof but I am certain about the deduction. When we arrived in Nitzan’s room your immediate leap to theft and that he must have search the room for it suggests that you know what it would be that was stolen. Indeed since that room you have been acting more distracted.”

Quincy stayed quiet as Marylou spoke and his placid face more than confirmed her suspicions.

“So, Quincy, care to open up and tell me what this is all about?”

“This… really isn’t relevant to the investigation I would think.”