A Lesson in the World

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The folks here were "on edge," as the witness pointed out; and, when a sharply-dressed woman asked to explain what they were so concerned about, they got so dramatically spooked and talked such terrible things of the creature that ran amuck only minutes ago, she became thoroughly fearful of the scaly being herself. When the whereabouts of the reptilian was passed, and the grossly talkative lead, revealing the last sighting of the monster to the woman, clutched his suitcase close, and remembered his tardiness to the meeting he was supposed to be attending, their communication ceased and she had enough information to work with.

It was too bad to think that with her most recent guild affiliation her bravery and nobility would still be unfit to execute a heroic chase. In touch with her cowardice, she used the directions given in a rather heated debate between whatever shred of human decency she had left and the miserable wretch that was her irresponsible side. “Am I dead set on dying today?” she asked, so candidly, that she turned heads. Those in her vicinity remained quiet for nearly most of the talking she did with herself, especially after deciding she was just a bit touched in the head and too absorbed in her conversation to notice the discomfort she was creating in others.

“I believe that what doesn’t kill you,” she drawled, licking her dry lips, “never really found you. Would it be so bad if I just,” she ran her fingers through her bangs, “looked the other way? It’s Friday.”

The conniving devil, and she appeared perfectly fine taking a different route than what the fellow had advised. Goodbye to kindness and duty, but she did have second thoughts: where were the reinforcements she could have called for, instead of hiding away in the guise of the common citizen. She was out of uniform, clad in a white dress shirt, black slacks, and with matching shoes. The brightest feature was the crimson bow around her neck.

At once, and only now, when the first person rushed past her she didn’t think much of it, then when two more joined the screaming runner, Miss Walden blinked and stopped, as if a solid weight had placed itself upon her slender shoulders, and, for a moment looked afraid, went very nearly cold with fear, but the next minute, readily dismissing whatever she thought had scared her stiff, she was curious enough to turn her head. She spotted a tall, elegant figure in the narrow passage and her victim lying on the floor.

"I’d love to, but now I can’t. There is a literal corpse lying there. Do you know how awkward this is for me?" Vera asked, with such repulsion in her bright blue eyes, she could have kicked herself for coming and for flashing her badge. Her guilty feet had led her here. That so-called wrong turn? Never happened. She remembered being told that this ‘hellish monstrosity’ was being hunted down by a hero. Now this aforementioned hero was dead. She normally would not have hesitated to lash out, but the killer’s stance was defensive and the tone of her voice spoke volumes to Vera. "What happened here?"

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