Searching for Clues

[HoD Bch 0]

Bch squinted her eyes as she poured through the electronic pages… She hated paperwork in any form, and the tedium of the files she was scanning now kept a headache dully throbbing behind her eyeballs, just waiting for the opportunity to take over. She took a slug of piping hot raktajino (her fifth so far that morning) and so beat back the beast yet again.

 

Messner was on his way home with the boys, and tomorrow they would have to report in for duty on the Qob, so time was running against her. If she did not find evidence against Qunjalth before the next day broke, the opportunity to strike against him would be lost, and she would yet again be leaving Mnstral to cope with problems she did not create or deserve on her own. The woman had been hounded enough by the scourge of dishonorable worms, and her time for defending the House of Bch by herself were over.

 

The one thing Bch had learned over time was that the dishonorable could not hide. Somewhere, some how, this creature, if he were behind this, would have left evidence. A clue. Something.

 

And so, she turned to the archives. Her military status gave her clearance into many areas (who knew!), but the amount of information available was endless, and her time wasn’t.

 

She smacked the empty mug back on the table and returned to tapping on the keypad. She was now into her father’s generation of military data and had found nothing significant. Qunjalth had served in the same timeframe that her father had, often in the same venues. After Vax’ death, Qunjalth applied for the council, but wasn’t appointed until after the Qob disappeared… Blah, blah, blah, nothing everybody didn’t already know…

 

Bch scrolled further back to the files of Vax’ father (her grandfather). Genealogy… great, just great. Now, history of a great house was always a welcome topic, but orally, you know? In song over bloodwine, preferably. But in the haze of a sleep-less eyestrain headache of bright red electronic letters on a monitor… Bch felt the beast behind her eyeballs pacing.

 

Wait a minute… Bch stopped mid-reach for her mug and slowly returned her hand to the keypad.