I followed him into his home. The place was very similar to the Panne home. Without the wailing to distract me, I could see the details that spoke of wealth. I had assumed the homes on this street were modest, but in Chelli terms, they were mansions. The furniture was well made, there was art on the walls, and all the little decorations were expensive. Interesting.
A terrible relief came to me with the return of my calculating curiosity. I was glad to be away from the mourning family. This man had his emotions under control, probably for my benefit, and I was grateful for that. I could leave the compassion to the family now and focus on justice.
“I'd offer you a seat but . . .” He looked around.
“The floor suits me fine.” I sat down on a thick rug in front of his couch, much as I had in the Panne home. “Mr. Rulli, could you answer some questions for me?”
“Just Rulli.”
I nodded. “Please call me Tekhan.”
His eyes widened. “Thank you. And yes, Tekhan, I can answer any questions you might have. Shall I begin by telling you what I know?”
“Yes, by all means.” I took out my notebook and pencil.
“Vissa is my blooded sister. Because of this, I went into business with her husband, Lansho. He is a good man. Smart, kind, and talented.”
“Talented?” I looked up from my notes.
“We are jewelers. We own a shop together.”
“I see.” I noted that. The occupation was common among Chelli. As Earth Magic users, they excelled in summoning precious gems and metal from the ground and mountains. The usual career paths were miners or jewelers. Sometimes both. “Do you partner with any Ricarri?” This was also common, but I wanted to verify it.
“Yes. We have one Ricarri employee. As I'm sure you know, Ricarri with a talent for fine metal work are hard to find.”
“Yes. Go on, please.”
“Well, yesterday, we were closing shop when Lansho remembered we had a special order due to be picked up that night.”
“Do you often stay open late for customers?”
“As I said, it was a special order and part of the specialness was the collection time. Lansho told me to go home. There was no sense in both of us missing dinner over the order.”
“What was the order?”
He scrunched up his face. “Lansho fulfilled it. I can't remember. I think it was a light tube. I remember a slim, tubular object.”
“That seems an odd commission for a jewelry shop.”
“Sometimes we get requests for specialized tools that require jewels.”
“You mean spell crystals?”
“No, I mean jewels. We don't enchant gems, nor do we work with enchanted gems unless a customer brings one in to be added to a piece.”
“I see. So, you saw nothing unusual in this order?”
“Not enough to warrant anxiety.” Rulli grimaced. “But that was the last time I saw Lansho. I waved—” his voice broke, and he had to rub at his eyes before he could continue. “I waved goodbye, thanked him, and left.”
“And did you lock the door behind you?”
“Yes, of course. Both the back and front doors. The customer knew to knock for entry.”
“I see.” I wrote it all down.
“It was him, wasn't it? That customer killed my brother-in-law.”
“He is a suspect. I must speak to this customer. Did you get a name?”
