A Storm in the Desert: Dragonlinked Chronicles Voume 3 by Adolfo Garza Jr. Page B

another chair, and Guildmaster Millinith sat to the investigator’s right.
    Unshielded wall sconces, as well as a floor lamp and two lamps on the low table, lit up the cold room brightly. There were a couple of desks in here, as well as more tables and three or four book cases. A lot of stuff for a relatively small room. A fat candle, perhaps four or five inches tall, guttered in the middle of the table. It was surrounded by a great deal of melted wax, most of it cooled.
    “My information was correct,” Master Gella finally said. “You are expert in nahual attacks and very observant besides. Have you had any training in Investigation Craft?”
    Guildmaster Millinith shook her head. “I have not.”
    Master Gella grunted and continued. “Yes, he was a special investigator. I was supposed to meet him early this morning to discuss what he’d discovered. He was looking into some goings-on in the East and had just returned after several months. When he did not arrive for the meeting that he himself had set up, I grew suspicious and decided to check his home. I was careful about it, making sure I was not followed, and even waited outside, watching. After an hour, however, I saw no one and decided it was safe. When I entered, I found everything as you see it now.”
    Fillion glanced over at the dead man. Someone had killed that investigator. With a shake of his head, he turned back and stared at the candle. Its tiny flame, moving slowly in response to unseen air currents, was mesmerizing as it added its feeble light to that of the two table lamps. How could someone just kill another person?
    “I noted nowhere near as many discrepancies as you did,” Master Gella said, “but I also suspected that he was not killed by a nahual. It was just too much of a coincidence that the night he returned from Stronghold, the night he scheduled a meeting to discuss his findings with me, he should be killed, whatever the circumstances.”
    She shook her head. “I searched the place, but could find nothing as to what he wanted to discuss with me and no clues as to who did this to him. And I don’t understand how that could be. He was an accomplished investigator. I would have thought he’d be more careful with his notes and any evidence he might have found. Was he caught completely unawares? Could he not leave any kind of clue as to what happened to him?”
    Gregor looked toward the dead man. “What of those pieces of paper?”
    Master Gella frowned. “Only a few words were legible, and they didn’t mean much by themselves. There has to be more. At least, I hope there is more.”
    The candle guttered again, catching Fillion’s gaze. From the amount of hardened wax pooled around it, the candle must have been very big. It seemed to have been burning for hours and hours. That, or it had been used over and over for a long time. He glanced at the table lamp on the right. Its steady glow outshone the flickering candlelight. A glance to the left revealed the same for that lamp.
    He looked again at the candle. “Did you unshield any of the lamps in this room while searching for clues?”
    Master Gella turned to him. “No. They were all like this when I arrived.”
    “Did you clean any papers or other things off this table?”
    “No.” She glanced at the table and then around the room. Fillion knew she would find nowhere else as clean as this table.
    “Did you light that candle?”
    Master Gella looked at it. “No. There was plenty of light from—” Her eyes grew large and she looked up at Fillion.
    He stared at her. “Exactly.”
    After quickly blowing it out, Master Gella grabbed and lifted up the candle. The low table came with it and the two lamps fell to the floor. With an irritated sound, she set candle and table back down.
    “Here,” Fillion said. He leaned on the table. Gregor and Guildmaster Millinith joined him in holding it down.
    It took a little work, the hardened wax around the candle did not want to give it up