Department of Paranormal Investigations IC

[Llyarden]

It is not your first day working as full-fledged detectives for the Los Angeles Department of Paranormal Investigations. Perhaps that would be dramatically appropriate, but unfortunately criminals care little for narrative convention.

After being introduced to each other on the first day by Cpt Hatheway, you have more or less been left to your own devices since, without any interesting cases coming across your desks. You haven't been completely without work, of course, but it's all been very mundane stuff, much like the tasks you spent most of your time doing as probationary agents - for the most part, you've been checking over the scenes of crimes that were prevented by the main police department. It's stuff you could more or less do with your eyes closed, with no surprises lurking in wait.

It is just after 5am on a Friday morning when this changes as Sgt Newman calls to request your presence at the scene of a murder.

You are called to the outskirts of the city, a fairly peaceful suburban street. Crime scene tape is stretched around a small corner shop and an alleyway besides it. You are met by Newman, who has apparently found the time to get himself a cup of takeaway coffee. "Morning, gents," he nods up at you. "The Department of Paranormal Investigations - interrupting a good night's sleep since 1843," he adds with a wry grin.

Spoiler: OOC

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For most cases I think I'll just start the scene at the crime scene itself, but since this is literally the first post of the game I figured I'd give you a post to do some characterisation before getting into the investigation proper.

Also yeah for reference the cases that the game will focus on are not the only things you will be spending your time doing - they're just the interesting ones. DoPI agents have to examine any crime scene where magic is used (even if the only magic is used by the police officers that respond to the crime), mostly because bureacracy.

[Hyperbolic sine]

Although never welcomed, it hadn't been the first time his cellphone rang with the emergency ringtone in the middle of the night; this time, though, was special. With what he liked to call his "hurry routine", as soon as the call ended Thalgram went into the kitchen, flipped the switch of his coffeemaker, and disappeared into the bathroom to get ready while the much-needed sleepiness-counter brewed.

Twenty minutes later, he was walking out of his apartment and donning the usual pair of round sunglasses, the tinted lenses offering no impairment whatsoever to his dwarven sight despite the sun not having risen yet. Soon after, he was speeding through the still empty roads of LA in his beloved Challenger, feeling slightly elated and kind of guilty about it.

***

"Newman." he greeted the gnome. "Well, I hear sleeping too much is bad for the skin." he retorted, returning the grin. "Kind of reminds me of my days with SWAT."

He turned to his young elven partner. "Ready for our first real case, kid?"

[Capt. Infinity]

Lucien didn't really know how to feel about the training he'd received.

On the one hand, the vast majority of everything the officers and trainers had explained to him were things he had either known from the beginning of his personal career, or which he had quickly figured out for himself throughout the its course. But, on the other hand, there was a genuine sense of camaraderie inherent to the process. A sense that, in the act of joining the DoPI, he was becoming something far greater than what he was before. That he was, from this day onwards, a crucial piece of a manifold and gargantuan machine, designed solely for the pursuit of answers and justice.

Whether or not such a feeling was empowering in its sensation, or suffocating in its limits was another matter entirely.

Lucien was not too bothered by the desk work. He had no love for it, to be certain. But there was a certain calmness to be derived from the act of simply drumming through pages and pages of simple, easy paperwork. Especially when the young Elf’s superhuman intellect allowed him to work through the masses of files and reports at a breakneck speed. Nevertheless, the normally stoic young man could not hide the upwelling excitement he felt as he was, for the very first time, handed a case by the illustrious organization to which his services had been rendered, the Paranormal Detective all but too eager to rise from his rejuvenating trance in order to forge towards the task ahead. Even as the young man arrived dressed in a weighty longcoat and dress shoes, and the crime scene revealed itself to be rather simplistic in its outer shell, the former PI couldn’t help but savour the early morning air as he stood before it. Having parked his motorbike on the curb and approached the yellow tape with a deep sense of irreverence. The scents somehow feeling starker and ever more intense, with the promise of a newly minted case following in alongside them.

The Elven Investigator nods to Sgt. Newman, the constabulary liaison acting just as chipper and upbeat as he did during their previous interactions. A habitual jokester. Consistent in his levity and upbeat attitude. The dragontouched Elf offhandedly thinks, his mind unconsciously running analyses on his surroundings as his mind revs up in preparation for the crime scene ahead. Realizing he was being both rude and conspicuous by just staring at his surroundings, the pale Elven man permitted himself a smile as he responded to the Gnome Officer’s greeting. “Count yourself lucky that you don’t have spellcasting to attend to. I’m almost certain it’s the only reason they still allow us a full eight hours’ rest.” The young Elven man jokes, his voice deep, yet flowing, with a tonality and meter that made every syllable sound as though it were both a whimsical tune, and a weighty stating of authority and fact.

As Lucien’s partner, a staunch and well-experienced dwarf in his own right, chose to break the silence between them, the young Elf could not help but cut loose a bit of witty repartee, in the face of the older Detective’s use of the word “kid”.

“My first real case, Detective Ironmaster, was a murder-suicide three years back, where it looked as though the murderer had shot himself, and then the victim. This is simply my first official one.”

“Though, to answer your question honestly. I am more than ready for what’s come.” He lets slide, the sudden defiance fading as the young Elf made a genuine attempt to banter with the man he would be working with for the rest of the foreseeable future.

[Hyperbolic sine]

"Ow, ow." Thalgram lamented with fake pain, bringing his hands to his heart as if clutching a wound. "Hit and sunk." he announced with an amused smirk, admitting defeat.

~He really did.~ a voice whispered in his mind, unheard to anyone else.

He then turned to Newman again. "So, who's the victim?"

[Llyarden]

"Ah, you're going straight for the tricky questions today," Newman replies to Thalgram with a slight grin at the banter between the two detectives, turning and leading the two of you to the alleyway, where it becomes immediately obvious why the identity of the victim might be a 'tricky' question.

Slumped against a dumpster a couple of feet into the alley is...well, a humanoid body probably about six feet tall. More than that is rather difficult to determine, because someone seems to have taken the time to set the body - and the alleyway around it - on fire, leaving it little more than a charred corpse. "Body was found by the owner of the store," Newman explains, "when she came to open up. She's inside," he adds, gesturing back to the storefront. "We're guessing if anyone else walked past in the night they didn't see the body in the dark."

Spoiler: OOC

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Just for reference and because I forgot to mention it earlier, the standard protocol for crime scenes (at least as far as this setting is concerned) is that nothing gets touched unless it's unavoidable until the detectives working the case arrive to examine things. But you can generally assume that by the time you get to a crime scene there are already people there to, like, dust for prints and take any bodies away and generally do all that crime scene...stuff.

[Hyperbolic sine]

Well, this explains the smell.

"And no one noticed an entire alleyway on fire?" Thalgram asked, dubious. "Well, hopefully the corpse can still speak." he then added with a shrug, and proceeded to examine the scene.

Spoiler: OOC

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Will a combination of Explosive Devices and Investigation let me determine things like where the fire started, accelerants used, etc.? Also Perception (1d20+20)[38].

BTW, what's the protocol on using magic? I imagine things like Detect Magic are allowed (and I'm using it, if that's the case), but for something like Speak With Dead do I have to wait until the body is brought to the Department's labs?

[Hyperbolic sine]

"Alright. I'm pretty sure our friend here has a slight case of Burning Hands." Thalgram announced, his preliminary examination concluded. Then, he reached out for something in mid-air and his hand disappeared into a small portal, coming out soon after with an evidence bag in its grip.

Carefully leaning the body forward to reach the gun he spotted, he grabbed it and put it into the transparent bag. "And it looks like he wasn't here for a leisure stroll." he added, shifting his attention on the tusks. "Hmm. I'd say orc. Perhaps half. Seems like we can get a dental print if we need to, anyway."

"Detective Whitespark!" he called. "Found out anything interesting? I need you to examine the aura over there...I think the killer got away while invisible given the magical trail, but I can't say for sure."

Spoiler: OOC

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Even if Lucien doesn't have Detect Magic there's spectral sights, am I right?

[Capt. Infinity]

"Well then. At least we aren't being wasted on anything simple or banal." Lucien muses as he takes a step into the alleyway. As he peruses the area, a part of the Detective's mind casts outwards, gauging the mystical auras of the surrounding area, attempting to divine further towards the means and methods of this heinous crime.

The young man opens his eyes, exhaling as he brings his mind back down into the Prime Material. "Your guess, whilst by no means outlandish, is correct, Detective Ironmaster. This was indeed a magical assault, though it seems our perp was at the very least smart enough to mask his Aura." Lucien bends down to get a better look at the marred corpse of the victim as he speaks. Though, even as he begins to look more closely, his eye is drawn to a set of scuff marks leading out of the alley. Scuff marks which, as coincidence would have it, line up perfectly with a trail of the assaulter's remnant Aura.

"Well now, isn't this interesting." The Elf mutters, following the trail out of the alleyway, and across the front lawn of the store, before coming to a stop at the tree in front of the simple little building.

"An Aura trail reaches from down the road, up to the tree. And then a physical trail leads from the tree into the alleyway. Why?" The young Elf tilts his head up to look at the tree's uppermost leaves, attempting to scan the whole of the structure in a swift and discerning gaze. Even as he says this, he hears Thalgram voice his suspicions of the tree as well.

"Don't worry, Thalgram! I'm already on it." He nods to the Dwarf behind him, before casting out his senses towards the large plant's mystic state, hoping to glean some information in the process.

Spoiler: OOC

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Alright, first and foremost, Perception on the tree to see if there's any remaining physical evidence of the crime.

Perception: (1d20+10)[18] + (1d8)[8]

Divine on the tree to sense any remaining Auras, and then Knowledge (Arcana) to discern the Aura's nature.

Knowledge (Arcana): (1d20+10)[27] + (1d8)[6]

[Hyperbolic sine]

Too bad for the invisibility theory.

Leaving the auras to his partner, Thalgram returned his focus on the physical side of things and examined the scuffle trail: from the looks of it, if was very plausible that the (half?) orc was unconscious, if not dead already, when he had been dragged to where he was now. ~So he didn't suffer...I'm envious...~ a woeful voice resound in his head as he then proceeded to ezxamine the corpse again, this time checking for wounds other than burns, but without finding anything: it looked like they'd have to wait for the coroner to do their job.



At this point, there was one thing left to do. "Excuse me, Father." he called to a man sporting a religious symbol. "Can you come here for a bit? I'd like to question the soul's remains."

[Llyarden]

The Pharasmin priest in attendance is a middle-aged human man with a doleful expression, his ceremonial black robes somewhat tattered with age. He murmurs something under his breath, holding his holy symbol in both hands, before looking around as if apparently waiting for something. Nothing seems to happen, which seems to be what he expects, because he lowers his hands again after a few moments and nods to Thalgram. "Proceed, Detective," he instructs.

[Hyperbolic sine]

Thalgram nodded as a thanks to the priest, produced a small notepad and a pen from his extradimensional storage, then focused on the corpse. He made no gestures nor spoke any arcane words, as his magic required neither: instead, he projected his consciousness on the remains, the power of the bond between his and the spirit of his deceased partner acting like a magnet for the soul fragments that still lingered in the orc's body and making them coalesce into a single piece.

Then, once he'd confirmed the spell had taken effect, he uttered the first question. "What is your full name?"

Spoiler: OOC

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I guess I might as well exploit the fact that for once the GM doesn't live on the the other side of the world.

1/3 asked.

[Llyarden]

Some of the - presumably newer to the job - CSU workers flinch away slightly as the scorched head of the body moves slightly. Rather unsurprisingly, the poor state of the body makes the corpse's voice grating and difficult to understand, but not unintelligible. "I...am...R'otak...McDewitt," it rasps, the orcish given name and human surname suggesting that the body is that of a half-orc.

[Hyperbolic sine]

Thalgram wrote down the name, nodding in satisfaction at the answer. "What was the purpose of your presence in this block last night?"

[Llyarden]

"I...was...meeting..." the raspy voice begins, before going quiet for a few moments. Thalgram feels the reconstituted soul struggling, like a fish caught on a line, against his magic, and somehow it manages to break through the spell. "...someone," the corpse-voice concludes, and despite having a magically-powered, near-emotionless tone, it nonetheless manages to add a definite air of satisfaction to the word.

Spoiler: OOC

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So, er, you know that natural 20? That was McDewitt's save against speak with dead.

[Hyperbolic sine]

Behind the tinted lenses, Thalgram's eyes narrowed at the defiance the soul remnant showed. He pondered what to ask next: the name of the killer was obviously out of the question, as evidence pointed to the fact that MCDewitt wouldn't be able to answer; the name of who he was meeting seemed like a good choice, but again the half-orc might not have known. Hmm...

Well, there was something. Carefully choosing his words, he uttered his last question, his voice colder - although almost imperceptibly so - than before. "What was the ultimate purpose of the meeting that, last night, you came in this block to attend to?"

[Llyarden]

This time there is no hesitation, nor evasiveness, in the spirit's reply. It almost seems like McDewitt's soul is happy to have been asked. "To bring down...the corruption...that infests...this city's government."

[Hyperbolic sine]

And just like that Thalgram's power faded, the piece of soul again splintering into countless fragments.

"Ohi ohi. This is a big one." he muttered, before turning to the priest. "Thank you, Father. I'm done here."

"Newman! I've got a name!"

[Capt. Infinity]

"Better than what I got on my end!" Lucien shouts from his position by the tree, walking away from it casually.

"Nothing left by the tree that indicates the killer did anything else other than drag him over from it. BUT, I did manage to figure out something of worth. Your suspicion was right, Thalgram, that blast was definitely Burning Hands. What's more, it was done by someone with very strong spellcasting ability. In excess of the output limit of the spell. The second spell, the Divination one, seems to have been initially cast outside of the current location. Meaning it was likely some form of long duration Divination spell that the culprit activated before ever having arrived." The Elf elaborates as he walks up to his newfound Dwarf partner, before gesturing to the evidence bag he now toted.

"I'd like to have a look at that gun when we get back to the station. The last owner may be dead, of that much we are certain, but the owner before him may well be alive and kicking. And may prove to be a delightful insight into why our poor victim might've needed the gun in the first place." The Elf looked back out the alley, towards the storefront, in which there remained one possible source of clues. "R'otak McDewitt, was it? Well, let's see if our dear proprietress has anything to say in regards to our dearly departed friend." With elegant poise, and a straight-backed gait, the pale-skinned Elf makes a stride towards the storefront door, attempting to make a casual greetings once he steps through the portal.

"Pardon me, madam. I'm Detective Lucenehel'nesen Whitespark of the Department of Paranormal Investigation. I don't suppose I could ask you a few questions?"

Spoiler: OOC

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Let's go for a deep analysis combo!

Reassurance, Flattery, and Interrogation, all to get this woman to talk freely and honestly about what exactly she may know in the talk to come.

[Llyarden]

The proprietess, as it turns out, is a tengu woman, with slightly bedraggled feathers being the only real sign of her advanced age. She is currently being kept company by a police officer, who occasionally encourages her to take sips of the cup of tea that she grasps in trembling talons. "Oh, y-yes, of course," she says quietly after a moment or two, looking up at Lucien with wide, almost fearful eyes. "I'll help how-however I can, but when can I re...reopen my shop? I j-just want things to go back to normal," she admits, with a downcast expression as if she expects to be scolded for her selfishness - the discovery of the body has obviously shaken her quite badly.

Outside, meanwhile, Newman reemerges from his car bearing a laptop. "R'otak McDewitt, half-orc, 37," he reports. "Married, no children. Pretty easy to look him up - he's got a record. Multiple misdemeanour charges going back ten years for disturbing the peace and unauthorised protests, but he never did time. Got charged with inciting a riot three years ago, but the charges were dropped. Seems he quieted down after that." He tilts the laptop so that Thalgram can also see the screen; the unflattering mugshot at the very least displays the tusks that Thalgram noticed on the corpse. "Apparently he's the leader of a protest group, 'Citizens Against Corruption.' Pretty sure I've arrested some of those guys before," he muses. "Got a last known address."

[Capt. Infinity]

Lucien puts on his best airs as he addresses the Tengu women before him, wandering into the store in order to stand at customer side of her clerk's desk. He gives the woman a warm smile.

"You don't have to worry ma'am. We'll be out of your hair as soon as we're done collecting and cataloguing evidence from the scene. It shouldn't take us that much more time to do so. But it might take us even less if you help our investigation by telling us exactly what you saw coming in today before you phoned for the police. Please, don't consider any detail too tangential. Some of these cases are blown wide open by something as simple as a pencil being knocked off a table. And I should know; that's how I cracked my fourth ever case." The pale Elf smiles, doing his absolute best to seem confident and jovial as he attempts to talk the woman down from her frayed and worried high.

[Llyarden]

The tengu woman manages a small smile at Lucien's joke, though it doesn't really reach her eyes. "Well, okay, but I'm...not sure how much help I can be. I closed up at midnight, as normal, I must have left before one? Nothing unusual had happened then. And then, when I got here this morning, at about...half four, I think? And then I was just about to park, when..."

She pauses, and gestures out towards the direction of the body (though, probably fortunately, it can't be seen from her current location). "...I saw that poor person. I...well, I sat in my car for a few minutes, I'm afraid. I know I should have checked if they were alive, but I didn't want to get out and get close to them. The smell was..." She trails off, suppressing a shudder. "Any...anyway, I called the police, and they got here about five minutes later, and they made me move my car down the road. And then Officer Wilmshurst -" she nods to the policewoman who has retreated to the other side of the shop, who gives her an encouraging smile in return "- made me a cup of tea while we waited for you. And then, um, you arrived."

"I, um, didn't see anything unusual with the shop beyond that. Everything is how I left it last night."

[Capt. Infinity]

Lucien nods as the Tengu woman gave her story, taking mental notes.

Only about 3 hours and change spent outside of work. She must be carrying some form of sustenance-based magic item. That means she's tied to her work. Which means she'd never jeopardize it or her job. She's almost definitely clean.

"Thank you ma'am, that's very helpful. You needn't feel any shame in how you reacted. As a matter of fact, given the circumstance, you are acting exceedingly bravely." The Elf looks out the window-laden doors for a moment, recalling the final murmurings of the burnt-out corpse.

"I... Don't suppose this place is often witness to any unsavoury types? Not by any direct association, obviously, but do you ever notice ruffians or irreputable people frequenting the general location? Gang members? Career criminals? Anti-establishment types? Nothing against you or your building, of course, but we do have reason to believe that the victim of the crime may have been some form of anti-government protester. Which lines up with the fact that this was some form of criminal-on-criminal assault. After all, you don't tend to kill someone like this over something like a purse-snatching or a drug sale gone wrong." Lucien spoke evenly, and clearly attempting to normalize the horrendous topics through his casual demeanour. A psychological tactic he's found has a moderately soothing effect on shell-shocked witnesses. Speak as though it is not the most traumatic event in their life, and a small part of them will choose to believe you.

He only hoped it would be enough to get another lead out on this case.

[Llyarden]

"Not that I've ever heard of," the tengu woman replies, after a moment's thought. "I mean, I know the store over the road is used by rough sleepers who don't trust the official shelters, but none of them would do anything like this. Although..." She pauses for a moment, obviously considering something, but it seems like Lucien's soothing demeanour has engendered the older woman's trust, because after a moment she looks back to him.

"In the winter, when it's really cold, I sometimes bring anyone over there hot cocoa," she admits. And for the first time since Lucien had spoken to her, there's a confident, almost defiant note in her voice. "I know that they're there illegally, but those people have done nothing wrong. Everyone looks down on them just because of what they are. And...I know what that's like firsthand. Forty years ago, L.A. wasn't the cosmopolitan place it is now." She seems to rouse herself from whatever memory she'd been reliving. "Anyway, if there was anyone there last night, they might have seen what went on. And the regulars there trust me. I might be able to reach out to them, see if anyone knows anything."

[Capt. Infinity]

Lucien's eyes light up as the connection is made to possible witnesses to the crime. He smiles kindly and nods in turn at the Tengu woman's story.

"I understand completely, ma'am. I would never fault you for an act of sympathy and kindness." Reaching into his jackets outer breast pocket, the young Elf produces a pen and notepad, and quickly jots down the number for his personal work phone. He tears off the page, folds it, and hands it to the store clerk. "Here's the number for my personal work line. If you manage to get anything of note from the people who squat there, or especially if you find anyone willing to give a direct testimony, please do not hesitate to call." He takes a step back and bows kindly to the Tengu lady. "Thank you very much for your cooperation. With any luck, this can all be over before you know it." Lucien then turns, and makes a polite exit onto the city sidewalk outside.

He turns to speak to Thalgram and Newman. "We have a lead on possible witnesses to the crime. Apparently the shop across the street is known for attracting homeless people looking for shelter in the night. The proprietress of the store apparently has a good relationship with some of the regulars there, and has offered to smooth over relations, and ask them if they saw anything the night of the crime. Now, we could go and investigate ourselves, of course. But something tells me those spurned by the majority of society would be a lot more talkative with a kindly old Tengu woman than they would a pair of government-funded Detectives." Lucien finishes with a wry smile, taking no small pleasure in the honour and illustrious nature of his newly minted career.

[Hyperbolic sine]

"Well then, let's hope she can find out something." Thalgram replied. "I think we're done here, then? Newman, get the body shipped to the lab ASAP, I want to know if he was already dead before being cooked."

"I'm heading to the victim's home, want a lift?" he then asked Lucien with a smirk, fully knowing he arrived at the scene on his own.

[Capt. Infinity]

Lucien pauses for a moment to consider his Dwarf partner's offer.

"Honestly? It wouldn't be a terrible idea. Assuming your car has the room, I'd much rather keep my bike hidden in there than put several paychecks worth of faith into whatever sort of neighbourhood our victim could afford on a serial anarchist's salary."

[Llyarden]

McDewitt's house is about a twenty minute drive away - normally more like half an hour, but it's still too early for there to be much traffic - during which time Newman phones through to report that the gun found at the scene is registered to the victim.

As Lucien had suspected, the neighbourhood could not exactly be described as upmarket, though there isn't too much in the way of graffiti and vandalism to be seen, and there are a number of cars parked on the street that seem to have survived the night untouched.

The house in question is a bungalow terrace with about two feet of well-maintained front garden. There are some signs of life within, and the door is answered after a couple of minutes of waiting. "About bloody..." The occupant is an orc woman, probably in her mid to late thirties, reasonably tall and slim (by orc standards, that is), who looks rather surprised when she opens the door fully and sees who's there. "...oh. Who the hell are you?"

[Capt. Infinity]

Lucien was not exactly expecting the Orc woman's appearance at the door. But the man was a trained detective, and he wasn't about to let such an upset throw him off his game.

"Hellow miss. My name is Detective Lucien Whitespark. This is my partner, Detective Ironmaster. We've come here to do some basic investigative work in regards to a crime that happened at a local convenience store. And we'd be very thankful if you could help us answer a few questions." He speaks smoothly, trying his best to maintain an air of calm and calculation.

Spoiler: OOC

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Flattery, Reassurance, and preemptive use of Interrogation. This MIGHT get a little ugly.

[Llyarden]

"You're cops," the orc woman surmises, with a dull, almost resigned tone. "Fine," she sighs. "Come in. What's my husband done now? Something big, I guess, if you have to come knocking at six in the morning."

She doesn't wait to see if you follow before heading back into the house, which is clean and tidy if not exactly lavishly furnished. "Have a seat if you want," she adds, gesturing to a squashy-looking sofa situated in the middle of the living room and moving back to the sole seat at the kitchen table where, it appears, she was eating her breakfast before being interrupted. "Just make it quick; I gotta be at work in an hour." Interestingly, despite having obviously picked up human patterns of speech and speaking Common perfectly fluently, she still has a strongly orcish accent.

[Capt. Infinity]

A wife. Lucien muses to himself. To die so brutally with the knowledge of a wife waiting for him, the man was either very loose with his life inherent worth despite his responsibilities, an accomplice alongside her, or far in over his head when he died. Whatever the case, this entire investigation just got more complicated.

Lucien sat down on the couch, turning to face the Orcish woman, and absently glad that she had already had the good sense to sit down.

"Madam, I'm sorry to say that this isn't in regards to a crime your husband's comitted.
At least, not directly." The pale-skinned Elf takes a deep breath, taking on a rather serious, if soft-edged tone. "This morning, around 5 am, your husband was found dead in an alley beside a convenience store, just down the road from here. At this point in the investigation, we have absolutely no doubt that he was murdered." He refrained from mentioning the immolation of the woman's husband so swiftly. Worried that such a thing, even now, would be too much too quickly.