One Day in a Small-Town Desert, chapter 18, page 6

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Detective Sétıpímo Marıdaré leaned back in the interrogation-room chair, chewing on his pen cap. The foreign kid wasn’t budging from his wild story and it all was holding together, just so long as you believed in miracles.

Bhanar looked at him expectantly, but Sétıpímo let him wait.

The pseudo-emperor’s story meshed with the rumors that had been whispered around Tuhanı for decades: Vata sacrificed animals to Névazhíno. The kid claimed the god was Zhíanoso, not Névazhíno, but that hardly mattered. It was unlikely he’d heard the rumors, anyhow. Sétıpímo had always assumed the rumors were merely part of the miners versus ranchers, Kínıtíní versus Névazhíno rivalry in the town, but perhaps there was some truth to the stories after all. The old girl had an aura of superiority and perfection that sometimes rankled others, no matter how genteel and nice she was, so it had seemed natural that they would single her out.

One thing was certain in Sétıpímo’s mind, however: Bhanar Narak was innocent. He hadn’t killed the Enforcer; he hadn’t been complicit in any of it. All his gun-waving had just been self-defense. The real perpetrators were the Narakamíníkan couple, Zhíno Zhudıro and Fírí Parızada. Before Sétıpímo could interrogate them, though, he would have to wait for the lawmen to catch them.

The detective pushed his chair back from the table and stood. “Wait here,” he commanded, the pen cap sticking out from between his teeth. He collected his notes and headed for the door.

If Vata truly was sacrificing animals, Sétıpímo would have to find the chapel. It apparently was a hidden room somewhere in their house. He didn’t want to arrest Vata, but the law is the law. Up till today, he’d only heard rumors--not enough to act on. Now that he had an eyewitness account, no matter how strange and mystical it sounded, Sétıpímo was compelled to search the Kılímos’ house for the chapel.

But that could wait until after the murder investigation.

He exited through the observation room to the main office.

They still needed to get into the Kılímos’ house to retrieve Pí‘oro’s body and do a cursory check of the gunfight in the kitchen, so Sétıpímo had plenty of cause to enter, but it just didn’t feel right to barge in on the grieving widow. Sétıpímo had held the lawmen outside through the night, but maybe it was now time to go in.

He’d like to get a warrant from Judge Ríko, however, just out of respect for the old girl.

Crossing between the desks, headed straight towards him, walked little Séara.

The detective stopped and pulled the pen cap from his mouth. “Has Tamé got the autos back here yet?” Another item on Sétıpímo’s list: a thorough search of the automobiles used by Zhudıro and Parızada.

Séara halted a meter away, her hands behind her back. She nodded sideways. “One so far. The sedan.”

Sétıpímo scowled. What’s taking him so long? “Very well. Tell him to get the cruiser next. Bhanar Narak is free to go. He might not want his pickup towed here.”

The corners of Séara’s mouth turned ever-so-slightly upward, joined by a crinkling near the eyes. “Yes, sir.” Apparently she had taken a liking to the famous foreigner.

Sétıpímo took a step around the girl, but stopped. “Help get him processed and out of here. When he leaves, try to avoid the front door. There’s quite a crowd out there.”

As he headed for his desk to get the search-warrant paperwork, the detective grinned to himself. If little Séara was so enthralled by the pseudo-emperor, the least he could do was let her spend some time with him. At least something good might come from the day.

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