April 20, 2005
"Are you watching the news?" said Alejandro to Coralis.
"No, why?"
"Turn it on, you want to see that, it's all over the news."
Coralis was reading a spirit spell book to figure out how to strengthen mind-links within werewolf packs, following a question from Alpha Collins. She knew how to create strong mind-links between elementals, but was less knowledgeable on werewolf pack links. She paused her research to open her holographic monitor.
"Holy gods from above!"
Frank turned around to see if there was something he needed to be worried about. Busy with preparing dinner, he wasn't paying attention to what Coralis was watching when she turned on their holographic monitor.
"What happened?"
"An EBEE elder from Spain has been found dead in his beach villa. I don't know Elder Roumwiz personally, but I've heard a lot about him from Alejandro and Andrew."
"Did you see?" said Alejandro.
"Elder Roumwiz has been killed? He's one of the roaches who worked with Alfredino, right?"
"Yes. Have you seen the footage showing who killed him?"
"No, haven't seen it. They're calling the suspect The Rogue Paladin, but haven't shown any pictures or videos so far. Maybe they showed it but I've missed it."
"When you see it, tell me if I'm crazy. I think The Rogue Paladin is Andrew."
"REALLY?"
"I'm pretty sure. If Andrew killed Roumwiz, it means you were probably right and he killed Alfredino too."
"Hold on, I'll search the press on the fixed hologram."
"I'm guessing you got the news first through mind-link?" said Frank.
"Yeah, Alejandro thinks The Rogue Paladin is Andrew… look at this, now I understand why the press nicknamed him The Rogue Paladin, he's wearing a damn silver suit making him look like a silver paladin, even got an open face helmet to complete the look… holy gods from above, this IS Andrew," said Coralis before replying to Alejandro. "HOLY GODS FROM ABOVE! You're right, it's Andrew!"
"Did you talk to him lately?"
"No, still no news since he cleared my name for the Massina murder. To be honest, I thought he killed Alfredino because he told me he was planning to do so the last time I spoke with him, but it's been over a year and no one heard anything from him since."
Frank turned off the heat on the stovetop and leaned his elbows on the kitchen island to look at what Coralis was viewing on the fixed hologram.
Coralis's hologram vibrated and she pressed on it to answer.
"SIS! Have you seen the news?" said Erik.
"I'm watching now, Alejandro mind-linked me about a few minutes ago."
"The Rogue Paladin is Andrew, right?" said Henry.
"Yes, that's Andrew."
"With Gus, we will do some diggings to see how close this Elder Roumwiz was to Alfredino, because if they are, then it's like you said and Andrew probably killed Alfredino too," said Erik.
"They're close. What I want to know is if Andrew killed Jorgie, because he said he wanted to start with him when he told me about his plans."
"It's a shame this is elemental news and will most likely not spill into human news. It would have been a great topic for The Secret Posse. If I find out he did kill Jorgie, I think I'm telling Sebastian first," said Henry.
The next day, mid-afternoon, she met with Mal in Edinburg, at the same spot they met to discuss her name on the Most Wanted Witches. The Roumwiz murder wasn't in the human news, but considering Andrew was seemingly the one who killed him, she was convinced he wanted to talk to her about that.
Mal wasn't at their meeting point yet when she arrived, so she watched from the shadows and the cover of the trees, sitting on a low tree branch. She looked at the time, he wasn't late yet. Right on time, she saw him approaching, carrying a suitcase, and she jumped down from the tree branch when she saw he was alone.
"Blue Thunder, always a pleasure to meet with you. It's been a while."
"It has been, indeed."
Most of her visible injuries had healed during the past 2 weeks, but some pale bruises were still seen from the base of her neck and next to her left eye.
"I have seen videos of your escape and I must say, we were impressed and glad you have been able to walk out of there. However, I am not here to talk about that and I will go straight to the point. What do you know about The Rogue Paladin and Andrew Waterway."
"The last time he and I spoke was when we parted ways after we cleared my name to the British elders of the EBEE for the Massina murder, in December 2003. I watched the news about the murder of the Spanish EBEE elder Roumwiz, well, the elemental news, but I didn't know anything about The Rogue Paladin before it."
Mal opened his suitcase and pulled a small device out of it. He turned it on, pressed a few buttons and handed it to her.
"Early this morning, before I asked you to meet me here, we received this video. Do you know the victim?"
Coralis watched the footage of The Rogue Paladin entering Elder Roumwiz's beach villa just before his time of death and exiting it after, with blood spatters on his pristine silver suit. The video also showed Andrew seemingly fighting his target with magic before pulling a long-curved knife from a sheath and pushing him out of camera range.
"It's the same video that has been circulating on the elemental news," said Coralis, watching Andrew coming back within camera range holding a blood-covered knife. "I haven't met Elder Roumwiz personally, but I heard a lot about him. He was an elder at the Spanish branch of the EBEE, and he was one of the elders who betrayed us and led our kind into a war between factions that started a long time before the witch-hunt did."
"Along with this video, we also received an odd report telling us The Rogue Paladin is part of an organization called the Order of Silver Blood. We believe it came from a different person who sent us the false reports against you, but the same group."
"I haven't had any contact with Andrew for over a year. The Order of Silver Blood is the first I hear of it, that information hasn't been reported in our press, at least not as of yet," said Coralis, handing the device back to Mal.
"What we find troubling, Blue Thunder, is the connection between this Elder Roumwiz and the fire at your London flat."