Night Shift

Annual #1

Martis dies, Id. Nov., 2745 AUC.  A flashback to Lt. Therius' past career in Nova Roma!

A serial killer has been making the headlines in Nova Roma.  Ignored at first because he was targeting the lower classes (the poor, Nubians, slaves, foreigners of low status, etc.), he eventually rose to fame because the bizarre, spectacular cruelty of the killings (even for Nova Roma) and his taunts to the Praetorian Guard. The media call him "The Caligulator."

Lowly beat cop Therius, already in little favour because he is a Nubian, came up with the theory that The Caligulator is in fact the popular Senator Deodatus Titus Valerius; this earned him his superiors' ire and he was moved to the worst beat in town.  His partner is the young, idealistic, and zealous Mina, because zealous officers are nothing but trouble and because both Therius (due to Selene's favour) and Mina (because she shapeshifts to an owl) work best at night.

Recently arrived on the beat, Therius and Mina are called to answer a noise complaint late at night; the self-styled DJ Celebritas is hosting a rave.  He offers them their "normal cut" but they disdain it, earning his respect as a "man of the people." 

A bit later, as they are patrolling the dock area, they are attracted by a sound, something between a growl and a caw.  They find a group of opinicii busy chewing on what is obviously a dead human body.  Therius used his Amulet and Sorcery to yank the body from their midst, while Mina scared off the opinicii.

Mina then examined the scene and the body, discovering a few important clues.  (1) The body had been dumped here; there was too little blood for it to have been the crime scene.  (2) This (*gasp!*) looked like The Caligulator's work.  (3) The victim was a young male, possibly Phoenician, branded as a slave.  Between his brand and the his soap-and-oil-scented hands, Mina deduced he worked at one of the bath houses.

After running the body to the precinct station, Therius and Mina questioned the nearby night-time passers-by, including DJ Celebritas.  They then went to the bath house and talked to the Nubian head slave.  He was sad to hear of the victim's fate.  He said the slave, Paulo, had been living on his own recognisance in very cheap dormitory-style housing, saving to buy his freedom back.

Mina and Therius then visited the apartment, where Therius had to intimidate the slothful property manager into opening the place for them.  They met with Paulo's family and friends, who were very sad to learn of the murder.  They investigated the cubbyhole behind a broken tile where Paulo had been keeping his money – the slaves apparently did not steal from one another – and discovered, to everyone's surprise, a large denomination coin among the smaller change, and a silver locket that looked like a foreign deity.  No one had heard Paulo brag of a rich client or a sudden windfall.

Aggripina Flavia learned of the new Caligulator murder on the morning news on arcanevision, as she was preparing an exquisite breakfast/dinner for Therius' return at the end of his shift.  She knew of Therius' "obsession" with the idea that the Caligulator was Senator Valerius, and she decided she must prove to Therius how wrong he was before he destroyed his career any further.

After questioning her husband on the case over breakfast (with only moderate success), she looked up her old Vestal colleagues to find one who was now working in Senator Valerius' household as his secretary.  She tracked down Cornelia Massala, convinced her to have lunch at Vesuvio's so she could tell her the latest nasty gossip about a mutually disliked colleague, then probed with questions about the household and Senator Valerius' comings and goings.

She learned that the night before, Valerius had been engaged with an important gala dinner, and had returned home between 11:30 pm and midnight.  She also learned that Senator Valerius was a pearl among Nova Roman politicians, since he seemed to show no interest whatsoever for philandering, had no mistresses or boys on the side, and was generally of irreproachable character.

That same day, DJ Celebritas decided to tap his own contacts.  First he went to the baths and chatted up patrons and slaves about Paulo and his clients.  While Paulo didn't have "regulars", a well-groomed, pleasant gentleman had showed up a few times in recent weeks.

DJ Celebritas then questioned the food vendors from whom Paulo had often bought or bartered dinner on his way home, and learned that the night before, the well-groomed man had walked past, talked to him as if they knew each other, and invited him to dinner at a local chain-style restaurant, The Stuffed Olive.  The man had even given the lentil vendor a small tip in compensation for Paulo not buying dinner there after all.  At The Stuffed Olive, he found a waiter who thought he had recognized the senator.

DJ Celebritas paid the street urchins Claudia, Maximinius, Secunda, and Buteo to lead him to Therius' apartment.  They knew the place well because of the incredible cookies baked by Aggripina Flavia, so they agreed to help Celebritas if he would get them some of those.  A few cookies later, DJ Celebritas invited himself in, somewhat surprising Aggripina Flavia with his lack of manners, but winning some approval with his enthusiasm for her cooking.

She set an additional place at the table for him, and over a hurried dinner (Aggripina Flavia was NOT going to let anyone ignore dinner!) he explained to a harried Therius what he had discovered.  DJ Celebritas had even obtained one of the coins Valerius had allegedly giving to the lentil merchant, which with sufficient effort could be arcanely traced back to its owner [equivalent to getting a DNA analysis for a case no one cares about; it can be done, but the Department would have enough evidence to be convinced to try.]

Horrified, Aggripina Flavia told Therius about her conversation with Cornelia Massala, and assured that it couldn't possibly have been that nice senator who murdered a worthless slave; he had been at an important dinner and then home.  Besides, he was of such unbelievably excellent character!

Therius grabbed his partner Mina and headed to get official statements from all the people questioned earlier by DJ Celebritas, then went see Cornelia Massala.  Though she tried to stonewall the lowly centaur and talk only to Mina, they browbeat her into admitting that she had not herself been at the gala dinner.  She consulted Oracle [her computer!] and grudgingly obtained the guest list for them, all the while threatening to have them fired.  As soon as they left she called her contacts, but of course it was the evening and the two cops would have a little time before being called off the investigation.

Therius and Mina spent a bit of time tracking down those who had been at the gala, and at other events where Senator Valerius was supposedly present and which happened at the same time as some of The Caligulator murders, slowly establishing the fact that he could have slipped out unnoticed or even couldn't be confirmed as present at these events.  DJ Celebritas hung on the edges, discovering that other street people had been unwittingly befriended by the senator, but not all had been killed.

Cornelia Massala called Aggripina Flavia and berated her for abusing her confidence as well as for marrying below her station.  In tears, and deciding to leave Therius and curse his household, Aggripina Flavia decided to end the evening in a bar and drown her sorrow.  She was tipsy with several too many drinks when she noticed that across the room from her, sitting in the shadows was none other than the mysterious Senator Valerius, accompanied by a very young, pretty slave girl.  For a man reputed to have such impeccable morals, he was all over the girl.

Aggripina Flavia was just nursing her courage to go speak to him, but the couple stood up, leaving a few coins on the table, and headed out.  Aggripina Flavia followed them, a bit unsteady.  Apparently, the girl was also a bit drunk; her companion guided her into an alley.  Approaching from the street, Aggripina Flavia started bellowing incoherent apologies.  "Senator Valerius! Senator Valerius, I'm so sorry about my husband!"  Etc.

In the alley, the man gave a startled jump and whipped around; the girl fell to the ground.  In the light of the full moon, his face was a white grimacing mask; Aggripina Flavia started screeching in fear.  He quickly reached her and silenced her by seizing her throat, then at knife's point forced her to accompany him to his nearby vehicle.

Following the report of screams and the discovery of a dead woman in the alley, her throat cut of a single slash (when Aggripina Flavia startled Valerius), Therius and Mina on the one hand, and DJ Celebritas on the other, arrived to investigate.  Mina easily found the tracks of a centaur and a man leading to where a vehicle had been waiting.  Therius used his Sorcery and Amulet to locate Aggripina Flavia, had a vision of her handcuffed in a dingy warehouse, being hurt by a man wearing a grimacing mask!  Using the amulet, Therius tracked her to the location where she was being held prisoner.

Mina and Therius were talking about strategy but DJ Celebritas merely busted down the door and charged in, surprising The Caligulator and dishing out a great deal of damage.  A big battle broke out!  Eventually, the forces of order prevail and The Caligulator was unmasked, but Aggripina Flavia never forgave Therius for having ruined her social ambitions by bringing down the senator.  Naturally, Therius' superiors were not happy with the scandal; the credit went to Mina, the blame to the Nubian centaur.

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