Chapter 8: Fun And Games
Back in the Elf Centre Tallin and Joe sat in the incident room and racked their brains for a way to move forward. The facts they had gathered were these:
1. One or more participants in the Lugnasadh Games were being given an unfair advantage by the use of performance enhancing drugs, thereby destroying the very principle of the games. This could have extremely serious consequences, not just for the future of the Games themselves but for the whole political situation that existed between the various faerie factions.
2. The people in charge of the Games, one of the most influential Elf families, the Florendels, were apparently behind this outrage.
3. The Elf Inspector either had prior knowledge of the offence, and was thereby guilty either of conspiracy or being an accessory before the fact, or he found out about it afterwards and had been bribed or blackmailed or otherwise persuaded to keep it quiet, which meant that at the very least that he was guilty of being an accessory after the fact. Neither scenario looked good for him.
4. Moghdran the gnome had apparently been involved in the offence in some way which had apparently led to his death, and although that death had appeared at first to be from natural causes it was found to have been caused by a performance enhancing drug.
Trying to trace where the drugs had originated seemed a complete waste of time. Such things were easily available in the human world and Joe had no reason to suppose that it would be any different here. These folks probably had all manner of pills and potions at their disposal, as well as spells. No, what mattered was who had obtained them, who they were being administered to, and why.
The Druid had given Tallin no clue as to how to proceed, merely told him he must, so here he sat with Joe and exercised his mind.
"We need to talk to some of the participants if you ask me," said Joe. "That might give us some leads. And other members of the sporting body organising the Games - there are others besides this family, I take it? They may have had their suspicions. I wonder if this has happened before, or whether it's something new in Gamesmanship here."
Tallin looked concerned, and rather embarrassed. "I couldn't say, really I couldn't," he told Joe. "We've always trusted the men in charge y'see. Never had any reason to doubt them at all."
"Yeah, well, I guess that's how it is until you learn different. Ok, how about getting hold a list of all the people taking part this year and set about interviewing some of them? "
"Right, that’s a good idea you have there Joe. We'll go over to the admininstration building now and get that list, and that'll be a step in the right direction. You know, Joe, you've been a great help already, indeed you have."
Joe would have blushed had he been the blushing sort, but he wasn't, so he just looked a little embarrassed and coughed. "Come on, then," he muttered, "let's go."
A quick flight later the two stood outside of the Administrative buildings of the Lugnasadh Games Committee, looking up at its fine architecture. Walls of massive stone blocks, adorned here and there with ivy, were punctuated by tall gothic windows, and round towers with high conical roofs stood at the corners. It looked for all the world like a castle out of a fairy tale. There were flags flying from the towers, bearing the symbol of the Games.
Joe looked at the elf beside him. "I don't suppose you have a contact here, too," he grinned. "No Eldrinda to work your charms on?"
"Ah, it pains me to say it, but no," replied Tallin. "I'll be having to rely on good old fashioned blarney."
Taking a deep breath, Joe followed his companion up wide stone steps to the impressive entrance and went inside the castle. There was a large entrance hall and on a wall he saw the coat of arms he's seen on the button they'd found at the Elf Centre. Joe sniffed. He suddenly wondered how safe they'd be, coming here and making waves this way.
Tallin looked at him and smiled. "Don't be worrying, Joe," he said, " we'll be ok. Didn't the Druid himself tell us to do this? He'll have one of his spirits somewhere around I'll betcha, to keep an eye on us."
Joe raised an eyebrow. Spirits? How come no one had mentioned those before? Jeez, he thought, It gets no easier, does it? Without warning the thought of Katie and the baby popped into his consciousness. He'd been so distracted over the last couple of days he'd had no time to think of them, but suddenly they were foremost in his mind. He stopped dead and put a hand to his head.
The elf turned and looked at him, concerned. "What is it Joe. What's botherin' you? Ah, don't tell me, someone's tryin' to distract ya aren't they? Hang on, I'll see what I can do."
He closed his eyes and concentrated hard, muttering and gesticulating for all he was worth and slowly the image of Joe's wife and child began to recede.
"Thanks," said Joe. "It's not like I don't want to remember them," he said, “but right now it's not a good time."
"You're right there, boyo," said Tallin. "Look," and he gestured with his head towards a large stone staircase at the far end of the hall.
Coming down the stairs was a tall imposing figure, all in purple, wearing a long cloak with a design of leaves and flowers worked in gold thread. He had pure white hair, a very regal looking bearing, and a face that spoke of dignified power. He was accompanied by a what looked like a brownie who was behaving most obsequiously, bowing and scraping before his illustrious boss.
"Come on now," whispered the elf. "Follow me and don't look at him. Pretend you haven't noticed him and we'll maybe get away with this."
Joe followed as Tallin turned and walked quickly through an archway and almost ran along a long passage-way until they came to a wooden door and practically fell through it into a small reception room.
The figure of a young elven girl sat behind a desk and she looked up in surprise as the elf and the once again miniaturised human burst in so abruptly. "Yes?" she said. "Can I help you?
"Ah yes," declared Tallin with a swagger. "I do most sincerely hope so. My associate and I are here on most important business. Police business. We are investigatin' rumours concernin' certain of the contestants in this years' Games. We need a list of all those takin' part, and sure aren't you just the girl to know where we might get hold of such a list. If you would be so kind."
"Ooh! what kind of rumours?" asked the girl, whose name was Finta, if the name plate on her desk was to be believed.
"Never you mind, " repled Tallin, with a wink, "but we think there are some some folk enterin' who have no right to be here at all."
"That wouldn't surprise me in the least," Finta said, surprising her interviewers. "There's been an awful lot of comin' an' goin' lately. It's been non-stop here for far too long. I'll be only too pleased to help."
Joe and Tallin breathed a sigh of relief. Was it really going to be that easy?
Finta moved across to a filing cabinet and riffled through the files in a drawer. "Ah! here we are!" she said, holding aloft a sheet of paper.
She handed it to Tallin who scanned it quickly before passing it to Joe. "A list of all participants," he said.
Joe began to scrutinise it, saying nothing.
"Right, if there's nothing else," said Finta, "I do have work to do."
Joe stopped what he was doing and he and the elf thanked her profusely and left the room, peering around the doorframe and up the long passageway before exiting. Once outside they hurried back to the main hallway then paused once more to stick their heads around the archway before venturing forth. Thankfully there was no sign of the people they'd seen earlier, the place was empty, so they hot-footed it to the main entrance and got out of there as quickly as they could.
Breathing sighs of relief in unison, the two made their way back to the spot where they'd arrived and the elf did his stuff again, transporting them back to outside Erin's house, whereupon they promptly went inside with Joe back to his human proportions. He was getting quite used to it.
Sitting in the study with mugs of tea in hand, they examined the list closely. The names of the competitors were grouped under the various events. Most were mounted events like the Toad Race, the Grasshopper Chase, the Bumblebee Half Mile Challenge and the Snail Trail, as most faeriefolk were able to use magic to get themselves hither and yon if they couldn't fly so running and jumping were not really skills they possessed.
However, there were two team events: an aerial game which involved passing a tiny ball from person to person played by the fairies, and another ball game which involved some clever footwork, played by pixies.
These were of course for tiny races of faeriefolk, or those larger ones who could shrink themselves down to size for the duration. Gnomes were not too good at that apparently, nor brownies, they came in standard sizes and mostly stayed that way. Elves, fairies and pixies could manage however, and a few others too, so these made up the bulk of the contestants. Goblins were banned, they were far too likely to cause trouble with their known hatred and intolerance of everyone else.
Trolls were also banned, Tallin told Joe, but kept trying to infiltrate in disguise. They were usually discovered quite quickly however, as their disguises were never totally convincing. Size was the biggest giveaway. They do tend to be pretty tall.
"Right," said Joe, "are we looking at doping of competitors or their mounts?" He tried to imagine a snail on speed and chuckled. The whole thing was preposterous!
"This is no laughing matter, Joe," said Tallin. "It could be having serious consequences, and it didn’t it for poor Moghdran?"
"Yeah, you're right," admitted Joe. "Sorry, I wasn't thinking there. Ok, how do we go about finding out who or what was given these drugs and by whom and for what purpose, other than winning a race or races, of course. I mean, clearly that would be the objective but what would be the underlying reason? The prizes can't be worth that kind of a risk, surely."
"Prizes? Oh no, to be sure. Not prizes. Prestige maybe, but that's all anyone would gain. No, it's more about the taking part and havin' some fun, the craic, you know."
Now Joe was even more bewildered. If there was nothing much to be gained, what the heck was this all about?
They sat and pondered, getting nowhere fast. The minutes ticked by and turned into hours while each in turn postulated theories and put forward suggestions, each more ridiculous than the last. Bridget kept them supplied with tea and sandwiches to keep their brains alert, and kept well out of the way the rest of the time. She had no intention of getting herself involved with these shenanigans, thank you very much. She liked her life kept simple.
Eventually Joe looked at Tallin and said, "Perhaps we should ask Erin for that gift of Veiling thing again and go and see what the Inspector's up to. Does that sound feasible to you?"
The little elf considered this. It was risky of course, but was there any alternative? They certainly couldn't think of one. Visiting the governing body again could prove a little too risky, even invisible. Who could say what kind of magic was at work there?
It appeared to be settled so they went in search of Erin.
They found her out in the garden. The day was bright and sunny, and she was collecting herbs for some potion or other but stopped when the pair approached. "Hello there," she said, "anything I can do for you today?"
Joe was a little uncertain of how to approach this, even though it had been his idea, but Tallin had no such reservations.
"Indeed, you can," he announced. "We're thinkin' the way forward is to go back to the Inspector, all unseen, if you take my meanin' ma'am," and he winked.
Erin's eyes twinkled a little as she said, " I see. It's the gift you're wantin' again is it?"
"It is, to be sure."
Joe decided it was probably time for him to add something. "We can't see another way round this at all," he said, "so if it's at all possible...."
"Oh I think so," she replied, smiling. "After all, it's helpin' the police in their enquiries, isn't it? And a good citizen like me, what else would I be after doin'?"
So, for the second time, the two detectives found themselves approaching the entrance to the Elf Centre unseen and, hopefully, unheard.
Once inside the Inspector’s office, invisible once more and of a similar size, Joe and Tallin started to look around for anything suspicious. After a fruitless search lasting some little time they heard footsteps outside in the corridor and kept very still. The door opened and the Inspector himself walked in, followed by an elf who looked very important indeed, if his clothing and bearing were anything to go by. His jacket was much decorated and there were buttons just like the one they’d found in the other room previously. Trying not to gasp with excitement Tallin was hopping from foot to foot, though fortunately, silently. Joe just watched, wide-eyed.
As they watched the Inspector spoke. “I hope you realise what a difficult position you’ve put me in,” he said. “I have a very important job to do here, and I can’t be seen to be colluding with this kind of - of - shenanigans.”
“My dear inspector,” the VIP replied. “I do understand, of course I do, but I am also between a rock and hard place, am I not? My wife insisted something be done, and how could I refuse? You’ve met my wife I believe, yes? Well then, you understand my position. In any case, it was an accident you know, you must see that. No one intended the gnome to die. Can we not just put it down to an unfortunate accident and let it rest?”
“I don’t know,” said the Inspector. “I brought in this human detective hoping he would see it that way and, as an independent authority, his word would have been accepted. The trouble is, hasn’t he been cleverer than we expected, and isn’t he snooping around as we speak?”
Joe and Tallin almost chuckled aloud at that. Little did he know!
The other elf looked less than pleased. ‘Well,’ he said, ‘I can see why you did it, to be sure, but it hasn’t worked out too well for you, has it?’
“Not yet, no,” admitted the Inspector. “I’m trying to find a way to put him off the scent. Bamboozle him a bit. There must be a way. Anyway, let me give it a go, will you? There’s a few more days we have until it has to be settled.”
“Very well. I will trust you to sort it out. Just be sure you do though or you may find yourself out of a job! Are you any good at anything else? Though you couldn’t be much worse I suppose.”
And with that, the important looking elf left the room.
The Inspector sat down in his chair, sweating a little, wondering what on earth he could do to fix things, while Joe and Tallin were wondering what they could do to get out of the office without being heard.
Fortunately for them it wasn’t long before an elven clerk came into the room and told the Inspector that he was needed outside. Two of the elves in the filing room had mixed up a load of paperwork and had started fighting over whose fault it was, which had set off a general to-do and then general mayhem had ensued.
The Inspector sighed a deep sigh and followed the young elf out of his office to see to it, which gave our two heroes the opportunity they needed.
Back outside they removed the Veiling and sat down to think things over.
“So who was the other guy?” asked Joe, puzzled.
“To be perfectly honest, Joe, I haven’t the least idea. Though from what they were saying he must be this Florendel we’ve heard about. Whoever he is, he was in on the whole thing, was he not?”
“You’re right of course. Why didn’t I think of that?”
If Tallin had thoughts on that subject he kept them to himself.
“We’ll have to be very watchful now,” he said, “Your man will try to trip us up somehow.”
“You’re not wrong,” agree Joe. “Whatddya think he might do? You know him better than I do.”
“Well. There you have me. I’ve not had much to do with himself, you see. Just followed orders handed down, in the past, haven’t I?”
Joe sighed. He could see they needed to take a lot more care for the next few days and look out for anything that seemed suspicious. Though what didn’t seem suspicious in this place was more to the point, he thought.
Back at Erin’s home Joe tried to explain a little about their dilemma, without giving too much away. Clearly he couldn’t name names but he did mention that certain people were going to try to stop the investigation. What should they expect in the way of being tripped up, or put off the case?
Erin gave this some thought but without knowing who was going to be doing the interfering or why it was to happen, there really wasn’t much she could offer in the way of advice. “Besides,” she said, “I”m sure you’ll recognise it when it happens.”
Joe wasn’t so sure but had to leave it there. Tallin was somewhat worried. This could come back on him too, if the Inspector wanted to make things difficult. So they both went to bed that night with troubled minds.