play of identity

The room was extremely hot due to the oh so many ladies and gents in the Burke royal ballroom.

The young ladies of Buckingham were shyly following their eager Mama's while eligible young men scurried around, expectantly seeking out a fair maiden to share the dance floor with.

These ladies must be ready for courting, cause they all sure look expectant.

she thought to herself,

That made her think back on the time she too had been preparing for a peaceful married life, and as the first child and only daughter of an earl - she had a lot of suitors but....

here she was,

unmarried at the age of twenty eight,

an uprising and promising detective.

She smiled

Father had been furious when I refused to get married so I could become a detective; he called it a rebellion. You see, my father is a very religious man, a man of strong faith in Christ, he doesn't tolerate disobedience at ALL!! We had quarrelled for a whole week,

she sighed

but, eventually I came to realize that my father only wanted the best for me and I wasn't really being a good daughter or an examplery elder sister to my siblings by disobeying my father. So I agreed to marry, at that time when I told my father he had been overjoyed.

And it wasn't as if I was to marry a terrible man or one I didn't like...

no, not at all.

Infact, my fiancee was to be Dion Brisbane, the next in line Duke of Suffolk. It was actually a month to the wedding party that my father summoned me to his private study and sat me down in front of him, he looked me straight in the eye and asked me:

What do you want Emilia Cassandra Warwick? , what do you want to do with your life? Just tell me, and I'll give you my full support as long as it's nothing dangerous or religiously absurd or evil..... you'll have my blessing.

I was stunned, I thought he was just testing me...

but, it wasn't until I finally arrived at the royal detective University that I believed he wasn't joking.

And here I am, Emilia Warwick, a well known detective in the noble circle, maybe even by the queen herself.

I'm home for a case but still I'm glad I get to spend Christmas with my family, unlike last year when I hadn't been able to come home at all to visit my family.

She was happy to see everyone, everyone except for Dion Brisbane. I wonder what happened to him after the wedding had been cancelled. I'm guessing he would have been furious,

Emilia thought dreadfully.

She was snapped out of her trance when she noticed a girl sneak into a corner at the edge of the kitchen entrance, probably the stairs leading to the basement....

That should have seemed irrelevant but Emilia got the feeling that something was wrong somewhere, call it detective instincts that comes from years of experience as a detective. So she followed the girl quietly into the cool darkness. Thank goodness she was dressed prepared for the occasion ( a black T-shirt and trousers with a waistcoat), she was able to maneuver herself through tight corners. She stopped immediately the girl stopped walking, a black haired girl, looking very untidy, black substance painted her face;

was that dirt??

She was holding something?

Emilia strained to see what it was , the next moments were very devastating....

The girl put a knife to her throat, and slit her own throat!!! her movements were so accurate and precise... it was as if she'd done that very same thing before!

Emilia had seen disturbing things in her line of work, but she knew she would never forget what happened. Even after two weeks, Emilia was still finding it hard to get the sight out of her mind. She had tried to save the girl but it was too late, the cut was too deep and precise,

she had died.

The case she was handling involved the consecutive deaths of men from or related to the family of Justin Burke. All victims were men,both young and old. All died of blood loss, no other injuries than a slit throat and a few signs of physical abuse. Sometimes deep knife or blade cuts, scratches that go deep into the victims skin like claws of a wild canine. Though no traces of hair strands or physical prints on the victims, and no sign of a struggle either. Which only made the case a lot harder to solve.

For For someone to have been murdered like that, they must at least have struggled a bit, unless they were all dead before they were physically tortured. No signs of poisoning either on the victims. Some were speculating it being a suicidal case at first when it started with Justin Burke, but then it trailed on to his brothers and other male family members; it was clear now that it was something different entirely. Based on the information she had managed to get on the Burke family, they had few enemies that would want the whole bloodline erased,

except for the fact that they were in a way relatives of the current king of Fareloom which must mean they would have a few political enemies. But that only Les to a wild goose chase in the end...

She was practically back to square one!!!!!

Emilia sighed in disappointment.

She bolted upright when a sudden knock on the door woke her up;

I must have slept off while thinking.

she said dryly as she got up to open the door. She screamed in excitement and flung herself towards her third brother, Jude, to tightly embrace him. He had just arrived home from Marlin.

Hey sissy, how do you do?

he teased playfully

Oh Jude, I'm so happy to see you, I thought you sent a letter to Papa saying you won't be home till next week for Christmas??

Yeah, but I kinda got bored when I didn't see anything to pique my artistic instincts. So I decided to come home, you missed me?

He said, grinning boyishly

Of course I missed you, I missed all of you.

she said smiling back at him

They then went on to talk about his journey and experiences in Marlin; he often travelled a lot.

Wow!! That must have been really exciting,

she laughed in delight.

I Know right?

She playfully pinched him;

So-o-o?, tell me all about your love life, I'm dying to know. Find anyone yet?

she teased

His face went pink, but in a boyish way.

We-e-e-e-el,

he drawled

I'm kinda in a relationship, her name is Diana, she's a very kind and nice person. And very beautiful, and also a Christian too. We're kind of taking it really slow, but we're getting ready to decide on marriage.

He said shrugging his thin shoulders.

Emilia went silent for a while before bursting out in laughter.

Wow, I'm so proud of you Jude, I wish you both a happy life.

He sobered up a bit....

You really think it'll work?

he asked.

Of course it will, and believe me, as long as you have GOD'S approval and father's blessings, you'll be alright.

she encouraged him

After talking a little bit longer she released him to go rest.