Zor: The First Case - Part Two

The office was quaint. It featured an abundance of furniture, most of which were in the colors of black and grey. She had a sleek, metal black desk that held a few papers, bins, and random office supplies that may or may not be needed. To the right she had a large grey bookshelf. On this were rows of books that dealt with detective work and mystery solving. On the left wall there was a black workstation which featured more office supplies, two chairs, and even more paperwork.

     Zor sat behind the desk in a large black chair to match the desk. She rolled around and swerved on the grey carpet and stared up at the black ceiling, attempting to get a sense of relaxation. She was very tense. The paperwork in front of her wasn't much but because she hadn't done the job in quite a long time it seemed overwhelming. She flipped through it and noticed it was thirteen pages long. Too much for her to read at that moment. She did nothing.

     Then, after getting bored of maneuvering the chair under the desk she stilled herself and leaned over the file that was lying in front of her. She quickly flipped open the folder and started to read.

     It droned on and on. Every little bit of evidence was covered, some irrelevant to the case. Hairs were found on the floor. Of course they were. It was the main corridor. People walked in and out of there like walking in a shop at Neopia Central. Fingerprints covered every square inch. Everyone dropped files, tripped, bent down, or just touched the floor for no reason. It was an office building. But, they cancelled out all the workers prints and were left with one hundred and sixty four people. They removed from that list the visitors within the past three months and were left with twenty. They then ran a scan on who knew Arkados. Three. Three lucky people who would be interrogated by Zor.

     Zor was presented with a list of names. Each name had a small photo and a file number. She grabbed the sheet that had this information and headed out of her office down to the filing room. She arrived there with speed, remembering all the exact turns to get there.

     Zor was now in a dimly light room with filing cabinets covering the walls, each labeled in minuscule numbers. She looked around and found the filing cabinet she wanted. All the names were under the number prefix 718. After grabbing the files she made the five minute trek back to her office to sit down and sift through the newly accounted for files.

     And that she did. Once at her desk she immediately got to work on reading the files. They were filled with all the information Zor needed to get a firm base started on the case. She made two separate piles. One was immediate suspects in which the few Zor thought she should check out immediately due to some strange research that left her puzzled. Others she put in the hold pile which contained the ones that didn't seem too suspicious but not as valuable to go through as the others. Though the two piles weren't that big but it gave Zor a general idea of who was important.

     The boring part was now completed. Now Zor could move on and get her adrenaline gland pumping as she actually faced the suspects and asked them the questions she had been writing down on a notepad while researching. And there was the first file. Dr. Zinidad Goldferb. A doctor who had treated Arkados for a serious injury a few years prior. But things went wrong and Dr. Goldferb did something and Arkados was mad at him from then on. Zor was hazy on the details and never bothered to look deeper into the story.

     She grabbed Goldferbs file and walked out of her office, down the stairs, and out the front door with a determined look on her face. She would squeeze out every bit of information she possibly could from the doctor.

     In about twenty minutes she arrived at a white painted building on the corner of Aisha Avenue. People rushed past the office barely noticing its existence. But it was a massive building and hard to not look at. Zor assumed that it was home to a variety of doctors all in various stages of their career.

      When she walked into the building through the transparent door she was hit by the hospital smell she dreaded. The sickly smell that filled the airwaves and the noises. Beeping and clanging and rolling and stomping. She felt like she was going to throw up on the spot.

     Zor took a breath and walked towards the receptionists' desk. "Excuse me," she said softly to the Usul who was leaning back in her chair, reading. No response. "Excuse me," Zor said a little louder this time.

     This caught the Usuls attention and she looked up from the black covered book. "Yes?" she asked in a light and friendly voice.

     "Where is Doctor Goldferbs office?" Zor asked, adjusting the file in her paw.

     The Usul pointed to her right. "Take that staircase up to the sixth floor. Do you have an appointment?"

     Zor shook her head. "No. I'm from the Neopian Detective Agency and I need to ask him a few questions."

     "Oh...erm...okay..." she uttered, a shocked face on. "Yeah, sixth floor..." she stared at Zor as she left the lobby and then returned to reading her book.

     The walk to the sixth floor took about five minutes. Zor traveled up about ten flights of stairs until she reached a transparent door which read: "Dr. Zinidad Goldferb - Trauma". When she opened that door she was hit by the same wave of hospital smell that lingered on the first floor.

     Another secretary was seated at a desk. Zor walked over to the Aisha and shook her from a few papers on her desk. "Oh, my, I didn't see you there. How lovely you look today! Please take a seat. You're a good person, you know that. Just go take a seat and no troubles or fears will come your way." The secretary put on a smile that Zor could see right through.

     Zor raised and eyebrow and stared at her for a moment. She then recalled that Dr. Goldferb was a Trauma patient and that the Aisha was attempting to make her feel good. "Nothing is wrong with me. I'm from the detective agency and I need to speak to Doctor Goldferb."

     The Aisha had a worried look on her face. "Oh...he's in with a patient right now," her stare darted to a clock on the wall. "He'll be about five more minutes if you can wait."

     Zor nodded and walked away from the desk. After looking around the small waiting room she spotted a chair next to a depressed looking Yellow Wocky. After sitting, she noticed the Wocky was shivering. "What's wrong?" Zor asked in a quiet voice.

      "They-they're coming. The Meepits...they...oh...they're coming to kill me," the Wocky muttered in a quaky voice. Then her head turned to Zor and with large eyes she said. "You are not safe."

     The Faerie Zafara immediately jumped from her seat. Trying not to sound rude she muttered a "Nice meeting you". She then scurried away to wait by the desk.

     After a few minutes a Brown Lupe walked out of a door on the right wall. His mouth was moving very slowly. Zor then noticed he was talking to a Quiggle who had a few papers in his hand. Then the Lupe walked over to Zor and smiled. "How may I help you?"

     Zor then realized this was Dr. Goldferb. "I need to ask you some questions."

     "Do you have an appointment?" he asked, looking over at his secretary. She was unresponsive, buried in her papers.

     "No," she said. "I'm from the Neopian Detective Agency. Your name came up in a file."

     The Lupe had a worried look on his face. "Oh...uhm...come right into my office. Make yourself at home."

     Zor nodded and walked into the open door, making note of her surroundings. Wood paneling lined the walls which were windowless. There was a small bookshelf behind a large oak desk. A couch was adjacent to the desk and beside it was an oak end table. The end table had a stack of magazines, a box of tissues, and a lamp. Zor took a seat on the couch and took out her notepad as well as a pen.

     Dr. Goldferb sat across from her at his desk, looking uninterested. "What is this about? Did one of my clients get in trouble?"

     "Kind of..." Zor said. "You treated a patient by the name of Arkados, correct?"

     "Yes, I remember him. His Petpet ran away and he came to me for a few sessions. Nice person, really."

     "Hm...let's just say he's not alive anymore."

     A confused and dazed look overtook the doctors' face. "What? How did this happen?"

     "Maybe you can tell me. Why were you at the detective agency the night of his death?"

     "When was this?"

     "April 3."

     The Lupe stood up and went into the bookshelf behind him. He then pulled out a rather large book and started to flip through it until he found what he was looking for. "Yes, I was there. About what time did it happen?"

     "About nine o'clock," Zor answered. She couldn't tell if he was stalling and try to make up a story or telling the truth.

     A puzzled look came upon the Lupes' face. "Yes, I was there at that time. Someone with the last name of Bipid had had some scary dream the night before and needed to see if it had any relation to what had happened a few days ago. He was given quite a spook."

     Bipid was scared of something? Zor knew he could be sensitive but he never saw him be outright scared of something - especially a dream which he knew was fake. Zor even remembered something he had told her when she started. "This job is tough and you may dream some horrible dreams. They're just dreams. Try to brush them off." Unless the doctor was lying. "And if I asked him about this he'd tell me so?"

     Dead silence.

To be continued...