The City Guard Office (Day 2)

Lee's smirk disappeared a bit, though he still looked somewhat pleased with himself. "Very well, we'll get started with you. Mr. Marblehorn, can you escort Mr. Fairfax to a cell?" Said Lee, glancing back to the dwarf at the front desk. Without skipping a beat Mr. Marblehorn was on his feet and had a pair of fancy new adjustable handcuffs out. Perry stayed where he was and complied, though had a scowl on his face the entire time.

While that process was going on, Lee sat down in the best spot he could find, deciding he's rather just conduct the questioning here than try to move the stubborn Syme into his office. "Well then, describe your night for me, starting at the seance."

"Hold on," Syme said, lifting a hand as Marblehorn came forward with the handcuffs. He looked at Lee. "How long has Fairchild been missing, Inspector?" by his tone it was clear he knew the answer and was just wanted to make a point.

Inspector Lee paused a moment to do the math. Marblehorn also stopped his advance, figuring that Perry wasn't going anywhere, though kept a good eye on him just in case.

"It's been about thirty minutes since the report, and about eight hours since someone last saw him. While it hasn't been the standard twelve hours for a missing person's report, there is still suspicion of foul play at hand."

Syme stood his blue eyes flashing. "Whatever your personal opinion may be Inspector," he said coldly, "Until the twelve hours have passed, there is no official missing persons case and therefore no crime, no suspect and no arrests. Lord Fairfax has every right to come and go as he pleases and he also has every right to file a complaint of fraud against Mr. Fairchild."

Syme glanced over at Perry then back at Lee, "I might recommend that he first file a complaint to the chief of police concerning the way you have insulted him and attempted to manhandle him with a false arrest."

"It would be a terrible policy to let suspects run free on loopholes like that. It would give him a good four hours to leave the island. He's been suspected of a crime, he's being held until further notice. He still holds the right to file his complaint of fraud, just not to take part in the investigation nor leave the office," Said Lee as he adjusted his hat. "You can argue your points all day, I'm still in the right."

Syme's glare heated up. He really despised people like this Inspector Lee. Fool! Ration and common sense just fell off fools like water off a duck's back. Still, for Perry's sake, Syme tried to make Lee see reason. "Sir, do you really think a guilty man would have walked into a police station and attempted to file a complaint on the man he has just committed a crime against?"

"Even if this crime did exist, which legally it does not. You have very little grounds on which to suspect Lord Fiarfax. When we left Mr Fairchild's home, Fairchild was safe and well. After that, Fairfax was with me and several others at Genuna until 1:30 and if you need to extend his alibi beyond that, I'm sure you can ask his mother, or his servants what time it was when he returned home."

"Inspector, what happened here is clear. Mr. Fairchild realized we had discovered his fraud, fled his home and asked his servant to come here and distract you with the missing person's report. We are all being stalled, while Fairchild flees the island."

"Well, if you would stop wasting time and let us get to our investigation, we can prove your friend's innocence. There are two paths we can take here, and it sounds like you're wanting them both. We can either consider it a possible murder case and investigate now, leaving Fairfax here, or we can consider ti a missing person's case and wait four hours before we can even begin our investigation."

As the inspector spoke, the front door opened and Police Sergeant Kirby came walking in with a scowl. He wasn't exactly a striking man, though his three chevrons on his uniform betrayed his rank. After a glance around the room, his eyes stopped on the inspector. "I expect a good explanation for this."

The cockiness of Lee was quick to disappear. "Oh, Mr. Kirby sir. I didn't see you there. I was just discussing protocol with this man here. A spiritualist has gone missing and there's good reason to believe the culprit is Lord Fairfax-"

"Has he been missing for the standard time," Asked Kirby. He understood Lee's frustration with Lord Fairfax. The man had been quite the pain over the last while with his demands.

"Not yet, though it is beginning to look like he will remain missing by this point," Lee said, beginning to look slightly irked. He couldn't do much if the Police Sergeant blocked him from his case and maneuver.

Syme nodded you the sergeant and introduced himeself, "Good Morning, I am Lord Sullivan Syme of Elon. I came with Lord Fiarfax to try to file a complaint of fraud against Mr Fairchild. Inspecter Lee has informed us that Fairchild was reported missing, but I fail to see why that should inhibit us from fileling our complaint."

Syme spoke to Lee again, "I can see that you are eager to investigate Mr. Fairchild's disapearance, however until the 12 hours have passed you have no case to persue. That is, unless you allow us to file our complaint. While investigating our acusation, you would be talking to the same people, going to the same places, as you would investigation the dissapeerance. The only diferance would be that you could not detain Lord Fairfax."

"There's reason to suspect that Lord Fairfax may have committed murder, sir. A servant came in earlier this morning to file a missing person's report on one Alistair J. Fairchild and cited Lord Fairfax and Lord Syme as being suspicious during the night. I figured it would be beneficial to detain the lead suspect until we can can get an investigation going, though Lord Syme would like us to let Lord Fairfax leave and possibly escape the island before we can finish," Lee tried to explain with a bit less certainty than he had used with Syme not too seconds ago.

"They have a claim of fraud against Mr. Fairchild, though that also needs to be investigated before conclusions can be drawn."

Kirby reserved a special dislike for noblemen. They always seemed to think they were better than other people just because their great-grandfather was a pirate who stole a fortune and bought his way into the nobility. They liked to walk around like they owned the place, and that Fairfax especially thought he had every right to do as he pleased. It would certainly be worth it to see him learn what hardship was.

Even so, start down that road and they'd slide down the slippery slope. There were rules and laws and even if it would give immense satisfaction, even if the man deserved it, even so... They couldn't flout the rules without a damn good reason. Creative interpretation of the law gave them plenty of leeway to act as they pleased, but this was going just a bit too far.

He turned his scowl on Lee as he pulled out a cigar. "You don't arrest a man without good evidence, Lee. Take them both into questioning. Whatever the case is, get the full story. From the beginning." He put just the lightest little emphasis on the words to make it clear exactly what he meant. Men were always guilty of something. With a bit of sweating they would cop to anything. At worst, the police could get a bit of their own back by wasting Fairfax's time in turn.

"When you're done, if there's nothing solid enough to hold them on, cut'em loose." He turned his eyes on Fairfax then. "After that, if I hear the slightest word of you coming in here to harass my officers, I'll put you up on charges of interference in police business."

Lord Fairfax moved to readjust his ascot tie, quite a bit more calmed down than when he was first being threatened to be arrested. While he took no particular joy in being in charge, he definitely felt off when he had control taken away from him. This went double for the times he found himself wanting to be in charge of something and being denied access to it. "I understand." He said. His mind wanted to add in, I promise I won't report any crimes I find in the future, though he was almost certain that would not result in pleasant consequences.

Mr. Lee offered a nod to his superior, a bit disappointed at the lack of an arrest though remained satisfied that the possibility was still there. He could still waste the two gentleman's time as revenge for wasting his own, one of the only reasons he even wanted the arrest to begin with.

And while he didn't dislike Lord Syme as much as he did Lord Fairfax, he still had a bit of revenge to get for the small amount of time wasted here and the threat to go to the Chief of Police. "Understood sir, I'll get to it at once," He said as he stood, shifting his hat down a bit. "If you'd follow me, Lord Syme, we should be be taking this conversation to my office."

His eyes glanced at Kirby, wanting to make sure he was pleased with his next statement. "We should have Lord Fairfax wait here until he's read to be questioned." While he was certain that Sergeant Kirby would agree that Fairfax shouldn't be allowed to run free while the questioning was going on, he wasn't sure if he would have preferred the Lord to be restrained in a cell or just left to wait in the waiting room. The waiting room was easy enough to just walk out of after all...

Kirby pulled out a match to light his cigar, seeming unconcerned though his eyes twinkled. "It's procedure to get separate statements, Lee. You know that." He lit the cigar and took a contemplative puff as he turned to Lord Fairfax. "There's coffee if you'd fancy a cup while you wait." The coffee was suitably horrible, and would likely make the Lord's visit that touch more unpleasant.

The inspector smirked slightly for the briefest moment before moving to escort Syme into his office for questioning.

A ruffle of Perry's eyebrows silently confirmed that this was going to be a terrible day. He moved to take a seat in the room, assuming this was going to take a while if it was going to go through the bureaucratic machine of the Central City police process. There were few things more fowl in the world than coffee, at least that the general population would drink. And judging from the rings on the pot, this coffee had been there for a while. "I believe I will be fine with water."

He obviously expected someone else to get it for him with the way he sat.

Syme rolled his eyes in slight annoyance. He still didn't like the attitude the police were taking, but maybe things would sort out once he and Fairfax had explained things.

He had to stop himself from wrinkling his nose and grimacing at the smell and site of the office, but after only the slightest hesitation at the doorway, Syme stepped in with composure and took the seat across from the desk.

"Would you mind if I smoked, while we discussed this?" He asked, as Lee shut the door. Hopefully pipe smoke would mask the stench of rum and cigars.

"Feel free," the Sargeant answered Fairfax as he moved to his desk behind the counter and began to look over the paperwork. The nobleman could bloody well get it himself. Sargeant Kirby had better things to do than babysit an interfering nobleman.

"Feel free," Answered Inspector Lee as he headed to sit down at his desk. Once Syme's pipe was out and lit, he began his questioning. It was a fairly light as far as investigations went, mostly asking about who was where, why he suspected the fraud and how people reacted. It could have been quite a bit longer if the inspector had zeroed in on certain points, though he was nice enough not to drag it out too long for Syme. The whole process took an hour, long for the short list of events though not as long as it could have been.

After he was finished, Lee set his notebook down and stood back up. He said, "Sounds like a pretty clear case to me. You're free to go." And with that he barely waited for an answer before heading for his door and for the entrance again.

Perry sat straight in his chair with his hands neatly folded in his hands. He was quite thoroughly bored, though he would be damned if he was going to let the police realize just how miserable they were making him. His head perked up at the sight of the door opening, his mouth opening to say, "Lord Syme, I assume it wen-"

"No talking, get moving." Said Inspector Lee with a becoming gesture. This shut up the young lord and what would count as a sour expression on him crossed his face. He stood up and began to head for the room, avoiding eye contact with Syme.

Durring the interview, Syme had answered every one of Lee's questions with complete honesty and as much detail as seemed necessary. Syme was an honest man, who firmly believed in both truth and justice. True, he didn't like Lee very much and could see that the inspector was biased against Fairfax, but Syme was confident that Fairfax was in the right, that Fairchild was a fraud, that he and Perry had nothing to hide, and that Lee, or at least someone in the police, would eventually realize all this and do the right thing. The sooner the police understood the facts, the sooner they would be able to come to the realization and take action. Syme would willingly have spent another hour answering questions, if it would have meant Lee had a better understanding of things.

"It went fine," Syme said, ignoring Lee's order not to talk and trying to catch Perry's eyes. "Fairfax, I've already told Inspector Lee that I have other affairs to attend to today, but if you want to me to stay until you're done with your interview, I'll wait." Syme tried to give his friend an encouraging smile. He wanted Perry to be confident, but could already see that he was feeling discouraged by Lee's reception. He needed support and probably a drink and a conversation about what to do next, would be the best thing for him after this. Syme was sincere in his offer. He had the meeting with Miss Highland at lunch time, but he was beginning to feel that this matter with Fairfac and Fairchild was more important, than making ridiculous travel arraignments with a young commoner, and a woman at that.

Perry shook his head. He already had several matters he was going to have to attend and was a bit worried he was going to miss his appointment to sign over the house they had in Central City under his name as well as figuring out the logistics on the factory his father had there.

"Tomorrow-" Was all he could get in before Lee snapped his fingers.

"Hey, cut it out," Said the inspector, getting rather annoyed with his authority being overstepped. "I told you no talking. Don't want an collaborating going on."

Syme rolled his eyes slightly at Lee's impatience and rudeness. They obviously were not collaborating a story here and Syme was pretty sure that Lee had no right to keep him from wishing Fiarfax good luck.

So he ignored the inspector a moment longer so he could hastily add, "Very well, I'll see you tomorrow then. Good luck Old Chap." He gave Perry a last smile and an encouraging slap on the shoulder, before nodding a good buy to Lee and heading towards the door.

Perry offered stern nod in return, trying to show non-verbally that he was hardly going to put up with this more than he had to, though was too worried about being arrested on charges of interference with police business to go much further.

Inspector Lee watched Syme leave the room, wanting to make sure he wasn't going to come back and make more trouble for him, considering the amount of protesting he had been putting up. Once he was sure the lord wasn't going to return, he moved to escort Perry back to his office.