"The Mississippi Mystery" - Part Five

 

Part Five

            There was one clue Tyler picked up on the killer – he wore a black raincoat. “Only the higher-ranking officials aboard the Jefferson wear those coats, in the event of a storm,” Clemens noted.

            “And yet there wasn’t one the night of the murder,” Rania indicated.

            “No, there was not,” Clemens concurred with a wary tone.

            “We can rule you and Mr. Grant out as possible suspects,” Rania told him. “That would leave other high-rank officials, like the chief engineer, the ship doctor, and your Second Mate…”

            “Mr. Casey, yes,” Grant said. “I wanted to question him last.”

            “If it’s all the same to you, Mr. Grant,” Rania said, “now would seem a better time than any for questioning Mr. Casey.”

            On her insistence, they went to Casey’s private cabin.

            First thing that Rania noticed about him was how nervous he appeared, his hair specifically out of sorts. “You seem awfully anxious, Mr. Casey,” Rania addressed it directly. “Are you feeling alright?”

            “A murder took place aboard this very steamboat, Miss Walker,” Casey returned defensively. “Of course I’m not feeling alright!”

            “Easy now, Casey,” Grant simmered him, handing him a glass of Brandy to calm his nerves. “This is merely a questioning. You’re not on trial.”

            One sip of the Brandy and Casey was calmed. “My apologies, Mr. Grant.”

            “I’ve noticed that your raincoat is missing from your private stock,” Grant noted.

            “It was stolen…by a negro, I presume,” Casey stated, taking another sip.

            “Why did you never report it?” Clemens asked.

            “I’ve been too busy keeping this ship in order, Mr. Clemens.” Casey’s defensive manner resurfaced. After taking in the rest of his Brandy with one large gulp, he excused him, “Speaking of my duties, I reckon I must be getting back to them.”

            He attempted to leave, only for Tyler to stand in his way. “We’re not finished,” Thorne told him.

            “It’s fine, Remy,” Rania permitted. “Mr. Casey is free to go.”

            Tyler shot her a confused frown, and she gave him a reassuring nod. Trusting her, he stepped aside and allowed Casey to leave his cabin.

            “Is there something you’re not sharing with the rest of us, Miss Walker?” Clemens voiced his own skepticism.

            “Yes, I was rather confused by that abrupt conclusion myself,” Grant added.

            “Did any of you gentlemen notice how shady Casey was during the interrogation?” Rania inquired.

            “I certainly did,” Clemens said. “He did say the murder properly uneased him.”

            “He also said a negro possibly stole his raincoat,” Grant recalled.

            Following this new lead in the case, they checked the negro cabin together and searched all the private stocks. The black raincoat was found, along with the gun…in Rooney’s private stock.

            “Oh, no,” Rania whispered, not having anticipated this unfortunate twist.

            “I’s never even seen t’at gun befo’e,” Rooney defended himself as he was arrested by Grant. “I never seens it, I tells ya! I’s don’t know wheres it came from!” Seeing Rania there in the room, he desperately cried, “Miss Walker! Please! Tells ‘em I’s never seen t’at gun befo’e!”

            For a split second, Rania opened her mouth to say something, but it wouldn’t have helped Rooney at the time. There was no proof to clear him of any wrongdoing. It was obvious to Rania and Tyler that Rooney had been set up, but they wisely chose not to tell Clemens or Grant until they had concrete evidence.

            “Oh, c’mon!” Leeka griped. “That’s some—!”

            “Jennifer,” Rania scolded, nodding to where Craig was standing beside her in the TARDIS console room.

            Leeka embarrassedly covered her mouth. “Oops. Sorry, sugah.”

            “It’s O.K.,” Craig pardoned her. “But it is a load of crud!”

            “I think we all can agree on that, lil’ dude,” Tyler said. “And it’s pretty clear it was either Casey or Kincaid who did it.”

            “Jenn, have you gotten anywhere with the Archivist?” Rania asked.

            “That funky-smellin’ goblin was just spoutin’ a whole bunch of nonsense – even tried gettin’ into poor lil’ Craig’s head, too,” Leeka recounted. “He kept sayin’ how he only wanted to talk to you.”

            Rania scowled. “That’s fine with me. ‘Cause I wanna talk to him.”

            A short moment later, the TARDIS team had gone back to the Archivist’s cage, listening to the rogue Promethean elaborating on his earlier warning. “The Cyber Legion has officially allied with Skynet to make a last-ditch effort in ending both you and your child, Tinkerer.”

            “You’re tellin’ me two sworn enemies have just willy-nilly joined forces like that?” Rania queried cynically. “Impossible…unless someone made them do it.”

            “I have reason to believe my own people – the Prometheans – are behind the conspiracy,” the Archivist said. “Without you or the Gladiator to interfere in their control of the multiverse, they have total reign – and the reprogrammed Cyber Legion and Skynet will be their enforcers.”

            Rania was silent for a long while, processing all this disconcerting (yet invaluable) information. She then told the Archivist, “Thank you…and, in exchange for this intel, I will free you…” There were some verbal protests from her three companions, which she silenced with the raise of her left hand. “…on your word that you will never bother me, my family, or my friends ever again.”

            “I am merely a humbled traveler, like you, Aznavorian,” the Archivist claimed.

            Accepting that as a guarantee, Rania used her sonic to unlock the cage and free the Archivist. It didn’t take very long for the Archivist to depart from the realm via a portal that he conjured by means that were unknown to Rania and her companions.

            “With him gone, Kincaid no longer has anything to auction with,” Tyler indicated.

            “Oh, yes, he does,” Rania told him. “Do you still have that glass Casey drank that Brandy out of?”

            Tyler reached into the right side pocket of his suit jacket, retrieving the item that he carefully pilfered and stored in a Ziplock bag shortly before they went to the deckhands’ cabin. “Got it right here,” he said. “I’m not sure how we’ll convince anyone that we matched the fingerprints with forensic analysis that’s more than a few decades ahead.”

            “I’m not counting on forensics, Ty,” Rania said. “I’m counting on genealogy to prove Rooney’s innocence, bring Kincaid and Casey to justice, and find little Fred’s daddy – all at once.”