Redmond’s walk

Five minutes later, Redmond exited the library, trying to look as discrete as possible as he set out to find out more about Harold’s whereabouts.

There were two things that were on his mind as he set about his business. First, there was the scratching on her door that the Countess von Koningswald had told him apart during the part of his and Hudds’ visit when the two watchmen had still been carrying out an interrogation rather than partaking in an orgy.

Redmond didn’t know why exactly his instincts were telling him that that was significant, but he had been a cop for long enough to know that he could usually trust his gut-feeling. Either the beast had been trying to get in but had been scared off by the realisation that the Countess wasn’t alone, or it had been somebody else who had been scratching on the door, somebody who somehow controlled the beast and steered it towards its targets. But that still didn’t explain the absence of any marks on the door.

Second, there was Alexia. Redmond was far from thrilled about the prospect of discussing the case in front of her, partly because she was a civilian and partly because he wasn’t sure that she was just a civilian. Her brother was one of the main suspects in the case, due to him lacking a solid alibi for both of the first murders, so it would be a good thing to keep her away from him until they knew whether or not he was the murderer.

And as much as Redmond didn’t like to admit it, he could very well see the possibility that if Leo was the beast then Alexia might very well be the person controlling him. He very much doubted that this was the case, but the suspicion was there nonetheless.

As for the ball that evening, Redmond very much doubted that the beast would strike in public. So far, it had murdered its victims without there being any witnesses, and it was likely that that was what would happen the next time it struck.
Redmond began to play with the idea of placing Riolta in the Countess von Koningswald’s suite as bait, hoping that she would be capable of holding the beast at bay until help would arrive.

The fact that he didn’t know Dhara’s surname was a bit of a problem when Redmond began to ask various servants and guards as to her whereabouts, but mentioning her forename and the fact that she had been a participant in the scandal which had occurred earlier at the archery range provided Redmond with the information that he needed, and it seemed as though Dhara and Harold were still holed up in the baths.

If they had spent that long down in the baths, that meant that they weren’t merely getting cleaned up, particularly not since Redmond knew that Harold’s idea of a bath was to scream out one obscene phrase after another before quickly submerging himself in the water and then come shooting out of it, dead-set on using the soap to beat someone up.

Grinning at the fact that he and his two subordinates, who had seen so much together and more than once risked their necks, were now seemingly at risk of being split up due to several women, Redmond considered it a bit of a boon that Harold could be found at the baths since Riolta and Alexia were most likely heading there as well, ensuring that the group could be united again rather quickly.

Descending into the bowels of the palace, where the baths were located, Redmond set out to find the particular chamber where Harold and Dhara were to be found.