Logan Echolls (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
obligatoryass) wrote2009-03-15 06:35 pm
obligatoryass) wrote2009-03-15 06:35 pm
The investigation begins
Their arrival in Amebergeldar is rushed, but Logan had time to grab a camera, a ball point pen and a notebook. He can write with a quill as needed, but it's so much easier to not have to bother. The camera...well. It's always handy to have a way to document evidence, as he learned from Veronica Mars. Even if he isn't nearly as good a photographer as she is, it can't hurt.
Amy leaves them in the Queen's Parlor with the ransom note and places a guard at the door. Logan snaps a shot of the ransom note, just in case it should come to an untimely end (stolen, burned, etc.) and studies it.
She's also left them a list of palace staff on a very, very long scroll, which Logan spreads out on a table and begins to read, taking notes as he goes through it. As he does so, he briefs Meg on what he knows about Ambergeldar.
The pair looks up as Amy returns, having shown the rescue party to the stables and sent them on their way.
"Everybody get off all right?" Logan asks.
Amy leaves them in the Queen's Parlor with the ransom note and places a guard at the door. Logan snaps a shot of the ransom note, just in case it should come to an untimely end (stolen, burned, etc.) and studies it.
She's also left them a list of palace staff on a very, very long scroll, which Logan spreads out on a table and begins to read, taking notes as he goes through it. As he does so, he briefs Meg on what he knows about Ambergeldar.
The pair looks up as Amy returns, having shown the rescue party to the stables and sent them on their way.
"Everybody get off all right?" Logan asks.
no subject
She gestures to the man standing near the doorway, and he closes it before stepping into the room.
"Lord Stefan, I'd like to present Baron Logan von Echolls and Lady Meghan Ford. They're here to help.
"Lord Stefan is the commander of the Palace Guard, and I trust him completely. You may do the same."
Lord Stefan bows, then steps back to stand in the doorway, eyes alert, hand on the hilt of his sword.
Amy sits down at the table in the middle of the room, which is far more often used for tea than strategy sessions.
"Now, what do you need?"
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Because as it is, he's got a lot of possible suspects and very little data to go on.
"No one who's, oh, say, a very close personal friend of dear old Max?"
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"I shouldn't think Lord Maximilian would consider anyone a friend, I'm afraid. Perfectly odious man.
"As for who is responsible . . ." Amy trails off, thinking. "No, I'm sorry. Below a certain level, it's not the staff. A kitchen maid doesn't have access to the sort of information or power that this required."
Amy knows.
"But someone's personal secretary could. The ministers. The councilors. Some of the senior stewards. And day ago, I'd have told you this sort of thing was not possible, so . . . I'll see to it that a list of the palace residents and guests is assembled for you.
"I don't know if we'll be hearing from Maximilian again. Presumably, the way news travels, there's not a person in Amber who doesn't know at His Majesty's abduction yet, and I suspect the reaches of the kingdom will know by tomorrow. But very few people outside this room knows that I was the intended target, and like Lord Stefan, they are all people I would trust with my children's lives."
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Logan's met Maximilian. Briefly, at Susan's christening. He wasn't a big fan.
"We'll start with the staff then, to see if they have any ideas or have seen anything odd. Then when you get the list, we'll go through courtiers and their staff. And if you do hear from Maximilian again, you'll have someone let me know immediately."
That isn't a request, or a demand. It's really just a statement of fact.
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A very logical statement of fact, which doesn't meet with any other comment than the eyebrow.
"Of course."
A pause.
"Logan, if someone does tell you they have a message from me, and it's not Lord Stefan or Lord Terence or Lady Rosalind, be careful. Until we know a little more about who to trust. The ransom note had the royal seal on it, which I'm sure was to make the point that sees himself as King, but he should not have access to that seal. So I don't know what else like that he has access to."
no subject
Logan nods. "It might be helpful if someone does try to fake it. The royal seal on the ransom note is our only real clue so far. A false message would be something more to go on."
Because right now, he's got precious little to work with.
A little of her formal manner - which is even more formal than her normal manner in Ambergeldar - dropped away with her last statement. A very little bit. That prompts him to lean in, his business-like demeanor falling away a little as well, and say: "I'll find him, Amy. Whoever the bastard is who did this, I'll find him."
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That's all. Just I know.
Amy stands.
"If you need anything else, just ask. The guard will show you to the room you can use whenever you're ready."
You can't interrogate people in the Queen's Parlor. The atmosphere is all wrong.
"If you'll excuse me, I have rather a lot to attend to."
no subject
For her confidence in him. For the information. For asking for his help. All of it means the world to Logan.
He stands as well, collecting the scroll, the notebook and the camera. "Shall we?" he says to Meg as Amy exits.
no subject
And then she looks at Logan.
"Our plan is . . . that whole list?"
They'll be there for a very, very long time.
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Logan looks down, unsure of himself.
"I haven't - I haven't done a real investigation, ever. But I dated a PI for - well. A long time. Worked with her sometimes. A lot of it's drudgery."
Now there's an understatement.
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She shrugs.
"I've never done anything like this, either."
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There's a pause.
"We can do this," she says.
Because, well, they can.
Right?
no subject
He lets out a long, quiet sigh. "It's just going to take for freaking ever."