“Look where we are. I overheard a bunch of students discussing it. It’s a fairly big topic since August was popular,” he reassured. “Don’t you trust me?”
“I’m part of the mafia,” Berga told him. “I don’t trust anyone.” He sighed and rolled his eyes. “But yes, fine. I’ll tell Baikal that you overheard it from a student.”
“It was from a student,” Bay confirmed, only so Berga could feel confident in doing so. He didn’t want his friend to think he was lying to his future Dominus. Nilawasa student too. Just not one at Vail. “There’s something else.” He hadn’t planned on looping any of his friends in, but now that he was confronted with it, it didn’t seem right now to. “I found out more about what happened with my grandmother.”
Berga’s gaze turned as sharp as his horns in a flash. He’d always hated what had happened to her, had even wanted to get the Brumal involved. Bay had stopped him, at first because he’d been concerned over getting them in trouble—Berga had only just turned twenty at the time—and then later because he’d given up and hadn’t wanted to deal with it.
“I’m hoping you might be able to help me actually,” he continued. “Shed some light on something for me.”
“Of course, tell me.”
“It wasn’t a heart attack. Or, even if it was, it wasn’t done naturally. She might have been drugged.”
“How did you learn this?” Berga rubbed at his chin in thought. “The medical report came back with no traces of any foreign substances in her blood.”
“Yes,” Bay drawled, “and you and I both know that means one hundred percent that she wasn’t slipped anything.” He gave him a pointed stare.
“Abundance doesn’t cause heart attacks.”
“I’m aware,” he agreed. “But there’s got to be something out there that does, because my grandmother had one right after being given it.”
“And this person definitely wanted her dead?” Berga snorted as soon as he said it. “Right, of course they did. It was Haroon, wasn’t it? That worm took everything right out from under you, it had to be him.”
Bay waited for him to ask if he had any proof, but Berga didn’t.
“So, we’re looking for something that someone like Haroon would have been capable of getting his hands on two years ago,” Berga began ticking things off with his fingers, “And something that leaves no traces in the body. There weren’t any injuries or defense wounds found on her either.”
“Haroon told her he was my friend from school and he needed to pick up some notes,” Bay confided.
“That would have done it.” Berga was well aware how kind Idle had been. “Anything else?”
“Apparently there was someone in the Shepards he’d brought on to act as a Butcher,” Bay made a face at the same time as Berga, them both obviously finding that ridiculous. “I heard you recently dealt with him, so he’s no longer in the picture.”
“Did we?” Berga twirled a strand of black hair around his pointer and shrugged. “There’ve been a few things going on between us and the Shepards. I can’t keep track anymore. I wonder if this person left any records.”
“I can have someone look into it.” Bay said, recalling Sila’s contact within the gang, whoever that may be.
Actually, he made a mental note to demand Sila tell him. He didn’t like not knowing. What if they were a potential love rival and—
What the actual fuck was wrong with him?
He dropped his head into his hand. “I’m losing my mind.”
“Do I even want to know about who this person may be?” Berga clucked his tongue when Bay gave no reply. “All right. I’ll trust you on this as well then, since you’re older and all, Be’tessi.”
Bay lifted his head at that. It’d been a while since Berga had last referred to him as “older brother” in the old language. Up until a hundred or so years ago, the planet had operated on a much stricter hierarchal system. There’d been important titles given to everyone from close friends to relatives. Many of the older generations still used them, but people their age tended to forgo, so it wasn’t as common to hear.
Before his grandmother’s death, Nate, Berga, and Flix had all called him that, especially in front of her.
Berga didn’t seem to notice however, and he stood with a flourish, clapping his hands together. “I’ll get right on this, let me know if you come across any new findings that could be of any help. And do try to see if you can uncover any notes from this wannabe Butcher.”
“Sure.” Bay nodded, but his friend was already halfway to the door.
Almost as an afterthought, he turned and gave a partial bow. “Thank you for your time, Professor.”
Bay blinked as Berga slipped out into the hall and the door shut behind him. Things were always odd with that one though, so he should be used to it. Since he’d had coffee with Nate at his house that morning weeks ago, Bay wondered again over all the subtle things he’d missed out on with his friends while he’d been shut off.
A robot, Berga had called it.
