The Land Lake

"Dear Log, September 17th, 2020. As you know from my last entry, Mary Pine, a young nun, was found murdered on the sidewalk of Venice, on one of the many del Forner streets. The victim's body has been taken to be examed. I'm currently at the crime scene with-"

"Victor, will you shut that off?"

Victor looked up to see this his partner, Ann, standing over top of him. He shut off the tape recorder as Ann pasted him a pair of gloves. He slipped them on.

Ann was never a fan of Victor's constant recordings. She was the kind of detective that liked to think in her head. She hated the fact that she even had a partner. She didn't want on, but her boss had informed her that Victor was the best of the best. From the few cases they had worked together on, Ann doubted it.

Together, the two detectives began to search the crime scene, bagging up anything that could help lead to the murderer.

"Ann, come over here," Victor said.

Ann walked over to see what he had found. He was holding a long purple strand of fur in some tweezers. Ann had never seen anything like it before.

"What is that?" she asked.

"Look, there is a trail of them," Victor said.

He was right, the purple fur was scattered on the ground in almost unseeable places.

"We should follow them," Victor said.

Ann nodded. She wasn't a little nervous, but she was a detective, it was her job to explore.

Victor and Ann began to follow the purple fur. It was hard to spot, but with their detective's eyes, they could notice things normal people would overlook. The fur led them down to a dock. They looked around seeing if they missed anything, but there wasn't any more fur around.

"I guess it jumped into the water," Victor said, "We'll have to get a dive team, the water is to cold to-"

Before he could finish his sentence, Ann jumped into the river. She didn't know why, but for some reason, she felt the urge to see what was down there.

Her body froze when it hit the water. She tried to swim up, but she had almost no control over her body. She felt herself sinking into the dark water. She was going to die, this was it.

At least, that's what she thought as she closed her eyes allowing the water to consume her, but it didn't. Suddenly, without her realizing it, she was on land once again. She was dry as well, as though she had never jumped in the river.

Ann opened up her eyes slowly. Ann looked around to see that she wasn't in Venice anymore. The ground around her was blue, like the water she had jumped into, and it looked a little like water as well, but it wasn't a liquid anymore. It was sold ground.

Ann studied the land more to see that there was a huge wall in front of her. She couldn't see where it ended, but she took a guess that it went around, making a sure circle around the blue land.

She felt a tap on her shoulder, causing her to jump and spin around. It was only Victor.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to startle you," he said.

"Well, ya did," Ann replied.

"Where do you think we are?" Victor asked.

Before Ann could reply, they heard a scream from off in the distance. They looked at each other before rushing to see who the scream belonged too.

As they got closer, they began to make out a creature with purple fur being beaten by a creature holding a long whip. The purple creature resembled a dog, though it's fur was much longer. It had pointed ears and a short tail. The creature beating it looked more like a human, though its skin was green and its hair was tie-dyed.

"Stop, sir. Please, I'm sorry," the purple creature said.

The human-ish creature wasn't beating it anymore but he still stood in a menacing stance with a tight grip on the whip.

"Excuse me," Ann said, "but what is going on here?"

The human-ish creature looked up, noticing Ann and Victor for the first time. He stared at them blankly.

"How did you get here?" he asked, "Only Gyrids and their pets can enter into the Typhine land."

"I'm sorry, what?" Victor asked. Ann was just as confused, but she kept her thoughts in her head, trying to figure out what the green man was talking about.

"You're humans aren't you?" the human-ish creature asked.

"Yes, I'm Victor, and this is my partner Ann. We are here investigating the murder of Mary Pine."

"I'm Jaliphin, and this is my pet, Ace. I'm sorry to hear about the murder, but I promise you, you aren't going to find anything here in the Typhine land," the green human said.

Ace, the purple creature, looked up when he heard his name and stared as Jaliphin. It was at that time that Ann noticed that Ace was bleeding. She wasn't that he was bleeding, but she was surprised that the blood was white.

"Can I talk with him?" Ann asked, pointing Ace.

"Why?" Jaliphin asked.

"We found purple fur at the crime sight," Ann said, "I want to test to see if it is his."

Jaliphin glanced at Ace for a second before agreeing to let the two speak. Jaliphin went off, saying that he would return in a second but he had errands to run. The last thing he said before he left was "Tell Lorlence I said hi."

Victor pulled out his tape recorder once again. Interviews were the only time that Ann would allow him to use it.

Ace sat up tall, wincing a little as he moved. Ann wondered this that was because of the Jaliphin. All evidence seemed to point to it being his fault.

"Dear Log, we are here with Ace... What's your last name?" Victor asked.

"I don't have one."

"Alright, we are here with Ace to ask him a few questions about the murder of Mary Pine."

"Ace, where were you September 16th, 2020 between the hours of 9:52 and 11:34 last night?" Ann asked.

"I was with my master. He was in a fight with his parents and wanted to take out his anger on something," Ace said, "I was there to... calm him down."

"Can you tell us why you are bleeding?" Ann questioned.

"As I said, I was there to calm him down," Ace said.

"Did you know Mary Pine," Ann asked.

Ace opened his mouth to answer but quickly shut it. He seemed to think it over in his head before taking a deep breath.

"Don't tell Master I said it, but Master did know Mary Pine. Miss. Pine was one of the few humans that knew about the Typhine land. She visited very often, and Master got very happy when she was around. Then, one day she stopped coming around as often as she did. I was sent out to see where she was, but by the time I got there, I was dead. I returned home to tell Master what I saw, and he got very angry."

"Are you saying Jaliphin didn't know that Mary Pine was dead until you told her?" Victor asked.

"Yes, Master was very shocked at the news, though his parents were not. Of course, Master's parents never really liked when Miss. Pine visited," Ace said.

Ann and Victor stared at each other for a second. They were both thinking the same thing.

"Ace, can you take us to Jaliphin's house?" Victor asked.

Ace nodded and stood up on his four paws. Victor turned off the recorder and they followed Ace back to the house. Once they got there, Ace knocked on the door with his tail. It opened up.

"Ace, welcome home. Where is Jaliphin?" the person who opened the door asked. Ann assumed that she was Jaliphin's mother, though she couldn't be certain.

"He went errand running. I believe these people need to talk to you," Ace said.

The women had green skin just like Jaliphin, but she had long blue and white hair. She was much taller than an average human, Ann guessed around eight feet high.

"Come on in," she said.

The tall green lady led Victor and Ann to the kitchen. The house seemed pretty normal, other than the fact that both Victor and Ann seemed very small in it.

"Can we talk to everyone in the house one at a time?" Ann asked.

"Of course. I'll go first," she said.

Victor and Ann both took a seat at the huge table. Their feet didn't reach the floor, but they were able to see over the table to watch the lady sit across from them.

Ann watched as Ace left the room, his tail tucked between his legs. She couldn't but feel as though he knew more than he was letting on.

"What is your relationship with Jaliphin?" Ann asked.

"I'm his sister, Brenifinia," she said.

"Can you tell us all you know about Mary Pine," Victor asked, cutting straight to the point.

"She came over every once in a while. I could never really tell if she and Jaliphin were dating, but they acted like they did. I never really talked to her much, she didn't talk to me either, and when she did, it was about religion and god and whatever. I believe she came to this world to convert everyone here to Christianity," Brenifinia said.

One by one Victor and Ann began to question every member of the house. Jaliphin's mother and three siblings all had similar stories with little difference.

"She seemed to always be over here, hanging out with Jaliphin," Jaliphin's younger brother, Kelpin, said, "She spoke a lot about this creature called god. She didn't like the rest of us very much, and she hated Ace, but she loved Jaliphin."

"She came over a lot, especially on the four and third day of the week. She would hang out with Jaliphin and ignore the rest of us unless it was to talk about Christianity," Jaliphin's mother said.

"Mary Pine, yeah I knew her. She hung out with Jaliphin and the two of them ignored me and the rest of our family," Jaliphin's older brother, Lorlence, said, "She spoke of a god, I didn't care much about her though, at least, until she started to abuse Ace."

It was Jaliphin's dad's story that didn't match. It was also Jaliphin's younger sister whose story seemed suspicious.

"I've never seen her," Jaliphin's younger sister, Helmine said, "I heard she was rude according to Lorlence, but I've never met her."

"Mary Pine, you mean the young girl my idiot of a son was dating? Yeah, she was over a lot. She talked to everyone about everything and never stayed long enough for dinner. I'll be honest, I hated that girl with all my heart. I'm glad that she's dead."

"So, who do you think did it?" Victor asked once everyone was cleared out of the kitchen and it was just him and Ann left. They had listened to the recordings of all the testaments at least twice, looking for anything to help them piece it together.

"Do you think we can talk to Ace again. He seems to know more than he lets on," Ann replied.

Victor nodded and left to go get the purple dog. As he was gone, Ann listed to Jaliphin's dad testament again, she couldn't help but feel something was off about it.

Victor reentered with Ace at his side. The dog looked nervous as he jumped up onto the chair. He had to stand up on the chair with his front paws on the table to be able to see over it.

"Ace, can you tell me who you think murdered Mary Pine," Ann asked, cutting straight to the point.

Ace shook his head, "I can't, I just can't I can't betray my master and his family, I just can't."

"So you know who did it?"

Ace took a moment to think and look around the room before saying, "I lied before, I was there when Miss Pine was being killed, I saw who held the night. You were right to think it was someone in this family, but I won't tell you who, I can't... I'm too scared."

"I understand," Ann whispered though she really didn't.

"Thank you for your time," Victor said before dismissing Ace, but Ace didn't leave.

"I can tell you this, Brenifinia didn't care, Kalpin was jealous, Lorlence was scared, Helmine was missing, and I saw it all," Ace said.

"Thank you," Ann said with a smile. She knew exactly who did it, "Can you call everyone back into the room."

Ace nodded his head and left. The purple dog returned moments latter with Jaliphin's family. They each took a seat around the huge table.

"Welcome everyone. I'd like to inform you, that one of you sitting here, is the murder of Mary Pine," Ann said for dramatic effect, "We've talked with all of you, and I believe I know who did it."

"Will you get on with it?" Lorlence asked rudely.

"That's nice of you to ask, especially since you were the once that murdered Mary Pine," Ann declared.

"What proof do you have?" Lorlence asked.

"You and Jaliphin were close, best friends I'm guessing, at least you were until Mary Pine showed up. She ignored you, causing Jaliphin to do the same. You were scared that you were going to lose your best friend, so you killed her, but before you could hide the body. You say Ace walk up, and you darted away," Ann said.

Lorlence clapped his hands slowly. A twisted smile appeared on his face.

"Congrats, you got me. But now what, how do you expect to arrest me, you can't get me to your world," Lorlence said.

"She doesn't have to, you'll have plenty of jail time right here."

I turned around to see Jaliphin had returned. Ace scamped over to his master, hiding behind his legs.

"Thank you for finding out who killed Mary," Jaliphin asked, "I own you one."

"Just doing our jobs," Ann said.

"Though, if you know how we could get home..." Victor said.

"Of course. Ace, take them home, I have something to deal with," Jaliphin said.