Quinn and The Quasars: Chapter Eight

 

An Adhara Space Station Serialised Story

Read from the beginning here: Chapter One

Read the previous chapter here: Chapter Seven

Quinn sat motionless in the interrogation room staring at her vague reflection in the shiny black surfaces all around her. Her hair which had been damp with perspiration after the performance she had given before she was arrested, was beginning to dry and as vague as her reflection might be, Quinn could still tell that her stage make up was smudged and melted. She looked about as terrible as she smelt in her sweat drenched clothes.

Sweaty, dirty and looking like a grimy techno clown, Quinn was scared and confused by her arrest and initial interrogation but as a princess of a top tier world in the Alliance she had been rigorously trained not to show any genuine emotion when she was in a vulnerable situation. If Quinn gave in to her fears that would be used against her. The security forces would probably use any show of weakness to their advantage, after all they had already made the drastic mistake of arresting her so they must believe that they had enough evidence to convict. No one in the Alliance would have been stupid enough to arrest such a high ranking princess unless they were sure that she was guilty. The trouble was, she was innocent.

Quinn exhaled slowly, the best thing she could do as a princess and an innocent person was to keep her wits about her and try to learn more about the situation. She would have to get more information out of the security officers than she gave, working the situation to her advantage if possible. Hundreds of generations of her direct ancestors had been the rulers of their people for a reason.

Looking around the room Quinn noticed that there was no clock or other display that could indicate the time, she had no idea how long she had been sitting there or when one of the officers would get back to her. Aleister Trice, her old school friend had been the one to arrest her but he had left a long time ago saying that he was going to speak to her family. Quinn wished that she could speak to her family or friends even her manager Mr Lee. Anyone really…

Just as Quinn was wishing that someone would come through the door and join her in the quiet, black cell, the door opened and an immaculately dressed Thothian was shown into the room. Quinn recognised the man as the father of yet another former schoolmate who was at this moment studying law to join his father’s firm. The man’s name was Chief Scully Golgotha and he was the most famous criminal defence attorney in the Alliance.

Quinn felt a surge of relief washing over her. Her parents must have retained the services of Chief Golgotha. Now at least she would have a fighting chance. Quinn was just about to stand up to greet the Chief when she saw another, taller figure walk through the door behind him and felt her feet slide from underneath her. The second person to enter the room was none other than her former high school sweetheart, Prince Asgar of Niflheim. 

The second person to enter the room was none other than her former high school sweetheart, Prince Asgar of Niflheim

Quinn cringed internally, all too aware of how she looked and smelled. She had no idea what Asgar was doing there but he was the last person she had wanted to see. Quinn and Asgar had dated throughout school only breaking off their relationship in the final year of high school. Only Quinn and Asgar knew why the relationship had broken down. Most people speculated that they must have fallen out of love or because Quinn would soon marry Serpentine. The truth was Quinn and Asgar only ended their relationship because things were getting too serious. Quinn had been betrothed to Serpentine the prince of another Varunian Kingdom for the entirety of her relationship with Asgar. It was not considered cheating, because they were children and the betrothal with Serpentine was a purely political arrangement but as Quinn and Asgar grew older and certain impulses became too hard to resist, the couple had decided to end things before they went too far. The proprieties needed to be observed.

Asgar, now officially ranked as one of the Alliance’s most handsome men, would always be the one who got away, the man in whose arms she fantasized about being and Quinn had hoped that perhaps she would be the same for him but here she was, in an interrogation room, accused of seducing and then murdering another man, all the while smelling awful and looking worse. Quinn’s humiliation was complete.

“Ah, Princess Ula, how nice to see you again,” Scully Golgotha said making an almost imperceptible bow as he strolled nonchalantly into the interrogation room. “Prince Asgar has retained my services to act on your behalf until your family’s lawyers can arrive.” He continued indicating Asgar who flashed Quinn a dazzling smile that set her pulse racing. Seeing the look that passed between Quinn and Asgar, Scully Golgotha cleared his throat and giving one of his extremely toothy grins said, “I’ve just popped in to let you know that I’m on the case. There are however some things I need to attend to. If you’ll excuse me,” with that he slid backwards out of the room grinning at the pair as he left.

An awkward silence filled the room when the former sweethearts found themselves alone. Asgar stood awkwardly by the door, looking at Quinn who hung her head in embarrassment. “What must you think of me,” she mumbled at last hunching herself down so that she took up as small as space as possible. After all of her efforts to maintain a stony facade in the face of her problems. Asgar turning up and doing more to help her than her betrothed Serpentine was doing, was too much. It was all Quinn could do not to burst into tears.

Before she knew what was happening Quinn felt the soft but slightly cold touch of Asgar’s hand on hers. He was patting her hand gently. “Don’t worry Quinn, everything will be all right. You’re innocent, I know that and so does everyone who knows you. We’ll get you out of this mess no matter what.”

Quinn nodded but kept her head lowered. She did not want Asgar to see her smudged make-up and she could not allow herself to believe that she would get out of this mess any time soon. The security forces would never have arrested someone with her power and connections unless they genuinely believed that they could convict her. If it could be proven or even implied that her innocence was obvious, whoever had approved her arrest would be ruined. In the Alliance careers had been lost for much less.

“Thanks for trying to help,” Quinn sighed. “I can’t believe this is happening.”

Asgar rubbed the back of Quinn’s hand and said, “Neither can I. Anyone who could believe you’re capable of committing murder doesn’t know you at all.”

Quinn gave a wry laugh, “No one would have thought I was capable of threatening to murder a man either but I did that.”

“Yes, I heard about that,” Asgar said. “I hope you don’t mind but I took the liberty of speaking to one of the officers to see what sort of evidence we’re up against. She told me that your very public threat of death to this Tigre Stripes person, a message he apparently had from you asking him to meet you at your home on the evening he was murdered and the fact that he was found dead in your bed were their strongest pieces of evidence. Oh yes, and of course the murder weapon.”

Quinn looked at Asgar incredulously, he had obtained more information from his chat with one of the female security officers than she had been given when she was arrested, obviously he had charmed the woman. Quinn could not help feeling a little jealous but she reminded herself that she was the one who had broken off their relationship and she was the one who was set to marry another man. She had no right to be jealous of whoever Asgar chose to flirt with. Besides, it looked as if she was about to spend the rest of her life in prison for a crime she had not committed.

“I’ve never arranged to meet Tigre Stripes anywhere in my life,” Quinn insisted, putting her jealousy aside for a moment. “I’ve no idea how he did it but that man stole The Pearls of Mer and then told people that I gave them to him as a love token,” she said with some embarrassment. “I didn’t you have to believe me. I didn’t.”

“I believe you,” Asgar said squeezing Quinn’s hand.

“Thank you,” Quinn replied and this time she managed to look up into Asgar’s eyes.

Time seemed to slow and the room was completely silent as the former sweethearts stared into each others eyes, remembering a past when they had been happy together and regretting the future that would see them separated forever.

At last remembering how terrible she must look and smell, Quinn slid her hand out of Asgar’s grasp and averted her eyes. “You mentioned something about the murder weapon?” Quinn asked clearing her throat to cover her embarrassment.

“Yes,” Asgar said. In her peripheral vision Quinn saw the forlorn look on Asgar’s face as he withdrew his hand from the table. “Tigre Stripes was killed by a poison from your homeworld. A substance known as Tears of The Abyss.”

“Oh my I-Am!” Quinn exclaimed, turning back to look at Asgar. “That’s an ancient poison from my kingdom. It’s not available anywhere. How could someone have gotten their hands on it to kill Stripes?”

“I’m not certain,” Asgar said shrugging. “The officer I, um... spoke to, said that’s the lynchpin of their entire case. She sent me this picture of the bottle that contained the poison. Apparently if you can prove that you didn’t bring this bottle to Adhara and if we can find out who did then we’ll know who really killed Tigre Stripes and who’s trying to frame you,” he explained showing her the picture on his Com-D.

Quinn took the Com-D from Asgar’s hand and looking at the screen felt her heart skip a beat. “What is it?” Asgar demanded, getting up from his seat and hurrying to Quinn’s side. The princess had become even more pale than she was already and she looked as if she was on the verge of fainting.

Quinn looked at Asgar in desperation and confusion, “That bottle. It’s mine. I brought it to the station.”

Next Chapter: Nine