"Did you hear?"
Starfish wasn't really paying attention to what her Guard colleague was saying. She had a lot on her mind, sitting at her desk and pretending to do paperwork. "Hm?"
The guardstallion helping dust her office was new. He was on cleaning duty for gossiping about Shining Armor too openly. "I heard that we're getting close to bringing charges against Fireball Whiskey!"
Starfish's brow furrowed. "Did we find something new?"
"No? Why would we need to?" he asked in confusion. "That bottle is plenty."
"Have we even looked into who else might have been able to poison that bottle?" Starfish asked.
"Hey now!" The rookie frowned at her. "No need to overcomplicate things. That kind of talk scares the public. We caught the monster. It's okay."
"Weren't you one of the ones who was fawning over her, and insisting she tell you stories?" Starfish recalled.
He flinched. "Hey! Don't say that where somepony might overhear! I don't want them thinking I'm soft on the serial killer! Anyway, I think I'm done."
Starfish sighed, rubbing sore temples. "Just… get out of my office."
He left, and Starfish was alone with her thoughts.
It had been like this since Fireball was arrested. None of her colleagues actually cared to look into it any further once they had a suspect that was slightly more likely than the others.
No, that was wrong. It had been like this since long before Fireball was arrested. There were just a couple of things that made her actually notice it.
The most obvious was Bloodhound. It had been much easier to see the holes in cases since the small mare started relentlessly jabbing them.
The less obvious one though…
Starfish took a framed picture down off the wall. It was of herself, on her graduation from Guard training.
Many of the other drill sergeants had just been the needlessly cruel stereotypes, meant to give the trainees a common enemy. But Fireball had been an actual war hero before her retirement into training duties. She could yell and berate all she liked, but to Starfish, she'd always been more inspiring than intimidating. Someone to point at and say I wanna do what she's done!
The others had all been fans of her too, but not to the level Starfish had. Maybe that's why they had an easier time with this.
Accusing someone of murder is much more difficult when they're your hero.
She did think Fireball was suspicious. There was no doubt about that. But Starfish didn't want her to be guilty. She knew if Fireball wasn't guilty, it would open up a whole different can of worms. Faith in the Guard would plummet. Bloodhound and Merri's reputations would likely be ruined, not to mention Starfish's own. More than likely their careers would be over. Not to mention all the panic, possible protests, doubt in Guard methods…
…The same doubt that Starfish was feeling right now. Because despite all that, she still didn't want Fireball to have committed these murders.
It made the overweight, promotion-focused desk sergeant think back to the bright-eyed rookie, who wanted to be a hero, and think of how ashamed that rookie would be of her.
She'd done all the things her colleagues were doing now. The screaming, intimidating interrogations, the stubborn belief in evidence that may not have been solid. Sure, a lot of her arrests had literally sung about their criminal actions. But some hadn't. Now, all she could do was think back and wonder if she'd ever sent an innocent pony to the dungeons.
When Fireball had snapped at her before leaving with Bloodhound, and Starfish had a chance to look at her, she hadn't seemed murderous. She was agitated, sure. But so far, the Mare in the Mirror had been nothing but cunning and clever in all their actions. Fireball seemed overstressed and frazzled. Not the kind of pony about to commit a calculated crime.
Was she really going to attack Bloodhound, as Bloodhound seemed to think?
Starfish found she couldn't sit still. So she pulled out the file on this case, and started looking over everything one last time.
Bloodhound… really didn't remember much after she was taken away from the bar.
It was a whirlwind of activity, shrouded in a mental haze. The Guard took custody of Fireball, assuring Bloodhound that they'd take care of everything, with very few questions. There wasn't even any paperwork.
Someone had tried to talk to her. Maybe it was Merri? Could have been Bucky. Whoever it was, they seemed panicked and angry with her.
Then, somehow, Bloodhound was back home. A day or two passed. It was mostly quiet. She just did some chores, feeding her bugs.
However, the emphasis remained on mostly quiet.
Merrilight banged on the door for the seventh time that day. "Alright, Bloodhound, this is your last warning! Open this door, or my friend here will open it for you!"
Bloodhound wasn't particularly paying attention. She was too busy polishing the floor. She wasn't really sure if the floor needed to be polished. But she wasn't sure of a lot of things that needed to be done. Fireball didn't really believe in maids, and Bloodhound hadn't really asked her what she did in a day.
But just as she was about halfway satisfied, the perfectly clean, mirrorlike floor was sullied with wooden splinters, as the front door was kicked in.
She didn't look back as she heard hoofsteps enter the house. Just started cleaning up the mess.
A hoof gently laid itself on her shoulder. "Bloodhound?" Bucky's concerned voice said. "Not gonna ask if you're okay, because that's a stupid question. But please, talk to me."
"What's wrong with her?"
Merri stepped into her view, waving a hoof in front of Bloodhound's face. The air draft made her sneeze.
Bucky let out a heavy sigh. "I've seen her get like this before. Something really stressful happened, and now she's just kinda retreating and hiding from it."
"Can we snap her out of it?"
Bloodhound lifted the door back up, but found she didn't know how to repair the hinges. So she set it back down.
"Fireball told me something that worked once," Bucky said doubtfully. "But I don't think it's exactly recommended by shrinks."
"Well we've got to do something!"
Bucky sighed. "Alright. But you're gonna stand in front of me."
They went upstairs, and Bloodhound pretended they weren't there.
…Until…
Bucky appeared at the top of the stairs, galloping quickly down. "Hey Bloodhound! Your nightmare bug got out!"
Bloodhound's head snapped up in alarm. "Rudy!"
She rushed up to her bedroom so quickly she almost left flames on her trail.
But thankfully, she found something wholesome rather than horrifying.
"Awww, who's a good boy? Is it you? Is it you boy?"
Merrilight had Rudy on the bed. The scorpider was just lying there, eyes closed, enjoying Merri gently stroking his back with a sound almost like a snore.
Bloodhound tried to scoop him up, but he actually raised his tail in a lazily threatening manner, refusing to have his pets interrupted.
Bucky approached from behind. "Glad to see we got you out of that trance at least."
"What happened?" Merri asked seriously. "You left us to go with Fireball. The next thing we hear is that an anonymous pony arrested the Mare in the Mirror, and you just disappeared!"
Bloodhound scooped up Rudy, holding his tail so he couldn't sting her, and put him back in his enclosure. "I just…"
Her head throbbed and pounded as she tried to think back. "I remember… I was scared."
"Why?" Bucky asked, in a softer tone than Merri's.
"All the reflections around me… She was going to attack!"
"Attack?" Merri said in confusion. "Why would she do that?"
"I think… She was going to confess to the murders!" Bloodhound shuddered.
"Wait, is that what happened?" Bucky asked. "Did you arrest Fireball?"
Bloodhound nodded weakly. Now that she was somewhat more aware, she was also aware that she really had not been taking good care of herself. Her joints ached from sleeping on the floor the first night, she was starving, and she smelled like she hadn't showered in days. Which, she supposed, she hadn't.
"So that's why the Guard were crowing about you when I last saw them." Merri looked troubled. "That's… really not good, Bloodhound. I really don't think she did it. But now they definitely do."
"But she was going to kill me!" Bloodhound protested.
"Why do you think that?" Bucky asked. "You said she was going to confess something to you. Why would she then also attack you?"
"And according to your story, you attacked her before she actually said what she wanted to say," Merri added.
Bloodhound's face fell, and her body sagged so hard it looked like she'd physically shrunken. "I did it again, didn't I?" She said with a despondent sigh.
"Did what?" Merri said, puzzled.
"Self-sabotaged." Bloodhound ran her hooves through her mane, almost getting them caught in the tangled swamp of curls. "I do it every time. Things get too stressful, and I somehow manage to make all the worst decisions possible. Now I've…" She blanched a little as she remembered exactly what she'd done. "...I've assaulted a suspect, interrupting her confession."
"Well, yeah," Bucky confirmed. "But to be frank, you really shouldn't have been sent off alone with said suspect, without any training how to handle that situation, AND right after a traumatic near-death experience." She shot an unsubtle glare at Merri.
"That is correct. The blame for that lies on me," Merri agreed. "I will definitely make a note of that when plotting the Watch hoofbook."
"But… aren't I fired?" Bloodhound asked incredulously.
"Weeeellll technically all good common sense says you should be," Merri said slyly. "Buuuut none of the Guard seem to want to tattle on you for some reason, Fireball hasn't been talking, and I am really understaffed. Soooo… Maybe we should just talk to Fireball, and get her opinion on the situation? She is the victim of your transgression, after all. You could try taking responsibility, and fixing what you did wrong, instead of hiding yourself away."
Bloodhound groaned. "I could chainsaw somepony's head off, and you still wouldn't let me quit."
"That is entirely correct!" Merri said, smirking. "Which is why I think you should talk to Fireball."
"You made a dumb decision," Bucky soothed. "Get used to it. You're gonna make more. It builds character. Just learn to balance ‘em out with good decisions."
Bloodhound was still unsure. But Rudy tapped the glass of his tank with his stinger, and pointed angrily. At first, she thought he was encouraging her. But then she noticed he was pointing at the bathroom, specifically the shower, and she recalled that a scorpider's olfactory sensors were even more sensitive than hers. "Well… Okay. I should at least…" She had to grit her teeth. "...apologize for hitting her with a stool, and see what she has to say. Just… Let me clean myself up first."
She took a quick shower to get the funk off of her. She didn't have time to get her mane entirely in working order, but then again it never had been in the first place. So she just did her best.
When she emerged from the bathroom, her watch uniform had been placed, neatly folded on her desk.
Bloodhound gave a heavy sigh, and put it on. I don't feel very good at this job. Guess I've just got to get better.
The streets of Canterlot were jubilant. Newspapers crowed about how the Mare in the Mirror had been captured even days after the event. While festivities were winding down, Bloodhound could still see a couple of parade floats sitting on the sides of the street. One of them was in the shape of Bloodhound's face.
Of course, this made Bloodhound cringe, and even in the shelter of a carriage, the songs that were still being sung made her migraine worse.
Thankfully, Merri teleported them past the crowd waiting with banners outside Guard HQ. Ponies in this city both panic and celebrate at the drop of a hat. It's honestly a little disturbing.
Unfortunately, her ears were assaulted by a loud cheer from the guards inside as soon as she arrived.
"Quiet down!" Shining Armor ordered, before addressing Bloodhound. "I was wondering when you'd show up. Was confused when you didn't bring Fireball in yourself."
"I wasn't in good condition to do that," Bloodhound admitted. "I'm still not, to be honest."
Shining Armor actually looked sympathetic. "I can't even imagine. Having to arrest your own mother must have been horrible. She still hasn't talked, if you want to interview her."
"She hasn't talked?" Bloodhound said with a note of alarm in her voice. I didn't hit her that hard, did I?
"Seems real torn up about getting busted," Shining Armor replied with a chuckle. "If you can get a confession, we'll all be pretty happy. Even though we don't really need one, it saves on paperwork."
"A little harsh, don't you think?" Merri said testily.
Shining shrugged. "She's the first serial killer in centuries. I don't feel inclined to be nice." He jerked his head towards a door. "She's in interview room three, if you want to see her."
"You gonna be okay?" Bucky asked.
Bloodhound shrugged. "I don't know."
"I'll be out here in the waiting room if you need me." Bucky gave her a hug.
Bloodhound thanked him politely, and they made their way inside.
Fireball was somehow in even worse condition than Bloodhound had been. Her head was wrapped in bandages where Bloodhound hit her. Her eyes were bloodshot, with heavy bags under them, and were utterly empty save the fog of despair.
She didn't lift her head when they first entered the room. Her eyes flicked towards them, and she only lifted her head when she first laid eyes on Bloodhound. "Oh thank goodness. Please tell me this was all some kind of misunderstanding, or a nightmare!"
Bloodhound did not reply. Just stared at her.
The small trace of hope in her eyes slowly died, and Fireball's gaze fell to the table.
Bloodhound wrinkled her nose. "Awkward silences are becoming unfortunately common between us."
Merri gave Bloodhound a concerned look, but didn't step in.
Fireball heaved a deep sigh. "I bet you hate me, don't you?"
Bloodhound surprised herself by shaking her head. "No. I just don't trust you. You've been acting out of character ever since Mum died.”
Fireball nodded, eyes closing tightly. "Maybe you're right not to trust me."
There are moments in life that just light the powder keg without bothering with a fuse. Fireball had effectively just done so while she was very much still in the blast radius.
"Are you JOKING!?" Bloodhound slammed her hooves on the table. It didn't make much of a bang, but it was enough to make Fireball jump. "I have been working my arse off, at catching Mum's killer. I have been dragged away from any kind of emotional stability. I have seen more corpses than the average pony will in their entire life! I have been plopped in front of the bloody rulers of my homeland with a single conversation's worth of preparation time. I have nearly died. It took all that to finally reach the lofty standards of Fireball Whiskey. Well now you're the one who's failed to meet my expectations. Do you know why you're here?"
"I…" Confusion entered Fireball's eyes.
"You can't remember, can you?" Bloodhound said, voice trembling. "I suppose a chair to the teeth will do that. We found the venom in the wine bottle you gave me. You were the only one in the house when I was attacked by the Mare in the Mirror." She took a breath. "When I was attacked by you."
Fireball's mouth opened wordlessly. "Wait, you…? You think I'm…?"
Her breathing quickened. Her pupils shrank. "W-waitwaitwait! Nonononono you can't think I did that!"
"Why not?" Bloodhound prompted coldly. She'd never seen Fireball properly afraid like this. But it didn't move her.
"Wha— Bloodhound, please! I would never hurt Sprout! I love…" She flinched at her accidental use of present tense. "...loved her."
"You've been acting incredibly strangely lately," Bloodhound replied. "Far nicer than usual. Almost like a weight's been lifted off your shoulders."
The look of hurt on Fireball's face was indescribable.
"Maybe we should take a break!" Merri said suddenly.
"Wait wha—?" Bloodhound tried to protest, but Merri physically herded her out of the room before she could. As the door closed behind them, she heard Fireball break down crying.
"What did you do that for?" Bloodhound snapped.
"I should be the one asking that question!" Merri snapped back.
Bloodhound flinched. It was the first time Merri had ever been angry with her.
"What happened to taking responsibility and apologizing!?" Merri demanded. "What kind of uncontrolled wrath did I just see!?"
Bloodhound… had an answer. But it wasn't a good one.
Merri sighed, looking uncertain. "I'm sorry for yelling at you. But I need to know why you're acting like this. You were acting fine at your house once we shook you from your stupor."
"I should think that's rather obvious."
They both turned, to see Starfish standing nearby, in full armor.
"What do you mean?" Merri asked.
"Weren't you listening to her rant in there?" Starfish said. "You seem to have forgotten, but Bloodhound has been through more in a short time than many trained guardsponies do in their whole career. And even with military discipline, many of us aren't able to handle that kind of trauma with grace. Bloodhound is a horrifically traumatized civilian, being allowed to interrogate a suspect that she has a very emotional connection towards."
"I'm fine!" Bloodhound insisted. "She's a killer! It's not like she didn't deserve any of what I said!"
Starfish stared at Bloodhound for a moment. The guardsmare looked… sad. "Is that so? Well, why is that?"
"Because we found the venom in her wine bottle. The one she gave to me!" Bloodhound reminded.
"I see." Starfish's gaze never wavered. "And is she the only one who could have put that venom in there?"
"Well, no…" Bloodhound admitted. "But—"
"Is it possible she didn't know the venom was in there?" Starfish pressed.
"Why are you saying this?" Bloodhound demanded. "I saw you when we arrested her! You were just as suspicious as I was!"
"Yes, and I'm a bloody fool who's focused on nothing but promotions and looking good to the public!" Starfish snapped. "I watched them turn on her. They forgot how, not long ago, they all respected Fireball. All over a very flimsy piece of evidence. That's when it hit me, just how many times have I done that before? How many times have I put what was easy, over what was true, in the name of not scaring the public? That shouting and screaming you did? That's something I would have done. Not you. You're better than that."
Bloodhound grit her teeth, unwilling to answer those charges.
"Take a deep breath and think," Merri encouraged. "Is there anything you've seen, anything at all, that could indicate she might be innocent?"
Reluctantly, Bloodhound stomped down her anger, closed her eyes, and wracked her brain. Alright. Let's try and think. Question by question, just like before. Why am I so suspicious of Fireball?
She could have re-entered the house during Sprout’s murder. She had access to the poisoned bottle. She hasn't given us any alibi for Matchstick's murder. She was at the restaurant for the murders there, and she knew the blackout was planned. She was in the house when I was chased.
Okay. Those are definitely damning. Maybe if I think hard enough, I can even prove she did it. Is there anything on that list that ONLY she could have done?
The chase! She was in the house when the killer chased me, and she's the only other person I saw in the house that night. Whomever chased me had to have been in the house, or the mirror spell wouldn't have worked. If nothing brings those facts into doubt, she has to be the one who chased me!
Alright. Nearly there. I just need to make sure I'm not missing anything. Is there anything that suggests my mother could be innocent?
Surprisingly, there was a scene that pecked at the corners of her mind immediately: the investigation she'd done with Merri and Starfish the day after she was chased. She tried thinking past that, and even before, during the chase, but something about it nipped at her heels, bothering her until she came back to it. So she gave in, and recalled the incident.
She and Merri started out downstairs. The living room where Fireball had been sleeping during the chase was still going on was a good place to start, but Bloodhound couldn't tell what was a clue and what wasn't.
Fireball clearly hadn't cleaned that spot. There were some snack wrappers, a couple of cups from the kitchen, a large bottle of soda, and a large bowl of said snacks. Fireball had a taste for extremely spicy chips, which unfortunately meant that Bloodhound's nose burned too much to actually smell anything useful there. So they moved on.
Wait.
WAIT!
The image of the coffee table was frozen in her mind. Right by where Fireball was sleeping. She saw Fireball’s notoriously spicy chips, and all the discarded snack wrappers. Fireball hadn't had the chance to clean that place up, since she was either at the Guard HQ or with Bloodhound the entire day. Bloodhound had never touched it.
So in her mind’s eye, what she saw on the table hit her with a big pang of guilt and embarrassment. “...Two cups…”
“What do you remember?” Starfish prompted eagerly.
“When we searched my house after I was chased,” Bloodhound recalled. “I looked at the spot where Fireball had passed out, when I saw her before the Mare in the Mirror chased me. The table had two cups on it.” She paused, pursing her lips. “Also wrappers for more snacks than one pony could probably eat. It's possible somepony else was there that night.”
“So she's innocent?” Starfish sounded more relieved than Bloodhound felt.
“Maybe,” Bloodhound emphasized. “She could have faked it, but…” The fire she'd been feeling suddenly went out, as if a bucket of cold water had been poured on her soul. “I need to talk to her. Alone.”
“You sure that's a good idea?” Merri asked with a frown.
“No,” Bloodhound replied with a heavy sigh. “In fact, it's an idea that makes me sick to my stomach. But I feel like I can't shy away from this.”
“We'll interrupt if it goes bad,” Starfish assured. She held the interrogation room door open for Bloodhound.
Fireball didn't look up as Bloodhound sat down across from her. Fireball's head was planted on the table, with her forelegs wrapped around it to hide her face.
Bloodhound took a puff of her inhaler and a deep breath before she spoke. It was mostly a buffer so she could find the right words to say. “I'm sorry for my outburst.”
Fireball shrugged without lifting her head.
Alright. I deserved that. “Mother. Look at me.”
Fireball slowly lifted her tearstained eyes up to look at Bloodhound. She looked nothing like the strict warrior of yore. She just looked like a broken mare who was going through a really terrible time.
Bloodhound tried to keep her righteous anger going. She did her best to hold onto how sure she was that Fireball was the Mare in the Mirror. But… she couldn't. Honestly, right now she was having trouble holding back tears of her own. But she kept them back. “Right now, everypony thinks that you're the Mare in the Mirror, including me. We're all angry, scared, and driven a little crazy because of what's happened. But right now, my only goal is to catch whomever killed those people. If you loved Mum as much as I do, you'll be honest, and help me do it. Clear?”
Fireball's eyes searched Bloodhound’s face. After a moment, she managed a small smile. “Crystal,” she said in a hoarse voice.
Bloodhound nodded, face still grim. “You claim you're not responsible for any of the murders. But you seem guilty about them nonetheless, and say that you have something to confess.”
Fireball's smile fell, and she looked down at the table. “It's a long story. May I have some water, please?”
Bloodhound nodded at the window behind her. Merri passed her a styrofoam cup through the door.
Fireball downed it like a shot, all in one gulp. She was visibly shaking.
Bloodhound waited patiently.
“That interview you had, with the Guard recruiter,” Fireball began. “That wasn't an ordinary job interview. I had your application fast-tracked. Guaranteed you'd get an interview for whatever you applied for. I had to pull some strings to make that happen. Do some… favors.”
Bloodhound did not like the dark tone she said that last word with.
“I'm not proud of it,” Fireball mumbled. “Sprout actually teased me a bit when I asked if I could trade favors with anypony to cut through all the red tape.”
A connection suddenly made sense in Bloodhound’s head. “She told you to go to Matchstick.”
Fireball's head thunked to the table, and she let out a groan. “I didn't want to! The last thing I wanted was to talk to that smug, two-faced son of a whorse! But… I wasn't exactly the networking type during my career. I had my reputation, and not much else. I'm assuming by your tone that you know his true business?”
“Organizing affairs between married nobles,” Bloodhound said with a nod.
“Not just nobles,” Fireball corrected. “Anypony with the money. Merciful Celestia, the smirk on his face when Sprout and I turned up on his doorstep…” She shook her head in disgust. “Well, we asked him if anypony in his books was looking for somepony buff and swarthy. Don't look at me like that! It's how Sprout described me.”
“May I ask a couple of clarifying questions?” Bloodhound said.
“I suppose so,” Fireball replied. “Not too many though. I don't want to lose my resolve before the important part.”
“Of course. Firstly, your name was written in invisible ink in Matchstick's ledger, while many other names weren't,” Bloodhound said, trying not to sound accusatory. “Why would your names be special?”
“Wait he—” Fireball's eyes darted back and forth as she put it together. Then her hoof slammed down, flattening the empty water cup. “That no-good RAT!”
Bloodhound flinched a little. That's the Fireball I know and am kind of afraid of.
“Sprout paid extra to keep my name out of that blasted customer list of his!” Fireball spat. “His new wife even showed me the book when I came back to make sure!”
“New wife?” Bloodhound asked.
“Well, a wife I didn't know he had.” Fireball shrugged. “She was there when we went to visit, but he wasn't.”
“That would be when you were photographed meeting with Countess Spiderweb,” Bloodhound deduced.
Fireball's nostrils flared. “Somepony took a picture of me!?”
“A nosy neighbor,” Bloodhound confirmed.
Fireball's head was getting quite acquainted with the table. “Yeah. That's why I went. After how terribly things went, I really wanted to be sure things never got back to me.”
“Your, erm… meetup went poorly then?” Bloodhound asked.
Fireball leaned back. Now the haunted look had returned to her eyes. “As poorly as a house on fire. He arranged a… night. A night with those who had the connections I needed.”
Bloodhound couldn't wrap her head around it. Which may have been good, because she really didn't want to. “But wait, if Mum knew about all this, why are you so guilty about it?”
“It's not that I'm guilty about,” Fireball said gravely. “There were a few ponies there. I could tell some of the others had done it before, because they were masked and used fake names. But I and another weren't. The other unmasked mare was somepony I knew: The Canterlot Royal Treasurer, Coin Trick.”
Bloodhound blinked. “Flip’s sister?”
Fireball nodded. “She was such a party animal that she didn't even bother disguising herself. Her family always hushed her many scandals. I remember she was happy to see me. Honestly, I was relieved to have a familiar face there too.” Her face was even redder than usual. “Ahem. Well, we agreed that they'd pull the necessary strings to get your application fast-tracked, and I… fulfilled my end of the bargain.”
Nothing iced Bloodhound's fiery rage better than hearing way more than necessary about her mother's bedroom experiences.
“But in the midst of that, something went wrong,” Fireball continued. “We heard a camera shutter. A pegasus reporter was taking pictures of us from outside the hotel window.”
Bloodhound’s jaw dropped.
“Given I was under a giant pile of ponies, I managed to teleport out,” Fireball admitted. “I suppose the others did the same, because I never saw their faces in the paper the next day. But Trick never learned to teleport.”
“Oh no…” Bloodhound whispered.
Fireball nodded sadly. “That kind of thing doesn't happen in Equestria. Not without consequences. Especially in Canterlot. Trick wound up disowned. Her family couldn't suppress that kind of public exposure, so they cut all ties with her. She was left near-penniless, and all alone.”
Despite the tragedy of the situation, Bloodhound’s mind made several connections. “Mum directed you to Matchstick. Matchstick arranged the whole thing. Penny Pincher and Coin Shortage were Flip's parents, making them Trick’s too. The victims are all the ones responsible for Trick’s downfall. What happened to her after that?”
Fireball's flinch made Bloodhound's heart sink. “She's dead,” Fireball replied sadly. “I can only imagine what must have been going through her head. Her family wouldn't acknowledge her. She never approached me for help, so she must have thought her friends would do the same. All I know is she left town, booked a room on the top floor of a hotel room… and jumped.”