After their conversation finally ended, Randy left to return to his apartment so Holden and Sable could get started on their investigation. The moment Randy was gone, Holden moaned while stretching his arms. “My god. How can some talk that much?”


    “Isn’t that Brandish friend of yours the same?” Sable pointed out. “Maybe it’s just the artistic types who just have their heads up in the clouds all of the time.”


    “You mean like a certain cait-sith who thinks up poems and song lyrics when he thinks no one is looking.”


    Sable covered his face with his paw, recalling the incident in the Middows the other day where he started singing. “Please, don’t remind me of my shame.”


    “Still reeling from the Middows. You know, the singing cat made headlines the other day. You can have a real career as a comedian if you keep this up.”


    “Could we get back to the case, please,” Sable groaned. “Who are our prime suspects? I dozed off during Randy’s explanation.”


    “Randy’s publisher is a company called RavenEye Publishing,” Holden began to explain. “They have a printing press in the city, along wth a couple of other authors who are currently living in Chrimoria. The RavenEye publishing house focuses exclusively on mystery. One of those other authors was struggling with their latest manuscript, and was even in danger of being let go by the publishing house. He should be our first suspect.


    “There also Irene & Eloquence. They’re one of Thanador’s largest publishing houses that distributes to virtually every country. They have a publishing house here in Chrimoria, too. Along with a local mystery writer. Though there isn’t enough to go on to say they’re a real suspect.”


    “That’s true,” Sable said. “isn’t it possible that a burglar could’ve just broken into Randy’s apartment, and stolen it without any ulterior motive? I mean, a manuscript by an author could sell on the black market to the right people.”


    “That’d be a difficult thing to sell without a buyer lined up. It wouldn’t be worth targeting otherwise.”


    “So, then our first suspect is this other author with RavenEye. What’s his name? And where can we find him?”


    “Samuel Howe. But before we question him, we should gather more evidence. We’re going to start with Randy’s apartment, then go from there.”


    ***


    When Holden and Sable arrived at Randy’s apartment complex. It was a simple two story brick building in northern Chrimoria with stairs on the outside leading to the second floor. The first place they went to was the front desk of the lobby. There was a male elf standing behind the desk with a bored look on his face. He greeted Holden and Sable in a monotone voice when they walked up to him.


    “Hello. Welcome. What can I do for you?”


    “We’re investigators,” Holden explained. “One of the residents had something stolen directly from his apartment. It would’ve been a manuscript. Do you know anything?”


    The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.


    The elf man sighed. “Oh. You’re talking about Randy. Like I told him. There was no one unusual walking into the building yesterday. Just the resident and the typical guests I see coming and going pretty frequently. Nobody out of the ordinary.”


    “Are you sure? Do you work the desk the entire day?”


    “The other guy who works this desk didn’t see anyone either. If my word isn’t enough, you can talk to him yourself. He lives in apartment 10 here on the first floor.”


    Holden and Sable took the man’s advice. They knocked on the door of apartment ten where a dwarf woman answered the door.


    “What do you want?” She said, brimming with anger. “Do you know what time it is? I work the night shift, and I’m about to go to sleep. So make it snappy.”


    Holden remained unfazed by her crabbiness. “I’m investigating Randy’s stolen manuscript. Did you happen to see any unusual visitors coming through here last jight. Or maybe even the jight before?”


    “No. I didn’t. That coot probably just misplaced it or something. His apartment’s a mess. I wouldn’t be surprised if it were buried underneath something. Or if the idiot accidentally threw it out himself without even realizing it. Do yourself a favor and quit this pointless case.” The woman then slammed the door in their faces without another word.’


    Holden and Sable decided it would be best to ask Randy’s neighbors just in case they saw something that neither of the receptionist it’s at the front desk had seen. It took them about an hour to get to each apartment. Not very many people were home since it was the middle of the day, and the few that were claimed they didn’t see anything out of the ordinary.


    The duo''s next stop was Randy’s apartment to get a look at the scene of the crime. Holden knocked on the door, and Randy looked a bit surprised to see them.


    “What brings you two here?” Randy asked. “You would happen to have solved the case already?”


    Holden waved his hands in denial. “No, that’s not it. We wanted to take a look at your apartment. Search the scene of the crime. You know how it works.”


    “Yes. I understand. Come on in.”


    Randy let them inside, and they quickly realized that the dwarf woman’s claim that Randy’s apartment was a mess was an understatement. The entire floor was covered in paper, some of which was crumbled up into balls.


    Sable read one of the pieces of paper on the floor by the doorway. It looked like it was part of a story, so he was compelled to ask, “Are you sure your manuscript isn’t spread out all over the floor? It looks like you have an entire series on the ground here.”


    Randy made a dismissive gesture. “No. No. I’ve looked through all of them. Plus, my entire manuscript was bound together. These are all just indivual pages. Trash really. A bunch of old idea that I threw out because I’m they didn’t sound right, or the story wasn’t good.”


    “Every think of a trash can?”


    “There’s no time for that while I’m writing. Every second wasted might cause me to lose an idea. Can’t afford to waste time. Please do feel free to look around. Search through the papers if it makes you feel better.”


    Holden and Sable immediately started sifting through the piles of paper on the floor. Holden also took the opportunity to inspect the doors and windows for any signs of tampering, but found nothing. The window in Randy’s bedroom was open. When asked about it, Randy said he often kept it open because it got really stuffy inside of the apartment.


    “It’s the red pixie,” Sable said partially in jest. “Or other oixies. Could be fairies, too.”


    “Cat, you’re paranoid,” Holden replied. “You think everything is the red pixie’s fault.” Another question came to Holden’s mind after that brief exchange. “Hold on, Randy. You said that your manuscript was stolen at some point when you were gone this morning. Is it possible it might’ve been gone before you even woke up?”


    “Maybe,” Randy said. “I thought I saw it on my desk this morning, though. It had to be while I was gone to get coffee this morning.”


    Holden went back to looking at the window after that. It was open wide enough for a small person to climb through. That included dwarves, fairies, goblins, or anything else around the size. It was also possible a person could’ve opened it completely, snuck in, stole the manuscript, then returned it to its partially closed state. Regardless, the window was something Holden would keep in mind during his investigation.