Two Suspects

Upon hearing the claims of the female Mink, the assistant thought to himself. 'It could be possible.'

If there was someone that knew of the female Minks various habits and what she made use of in her work then all they needed to do was make a replica of the silver needles and replace them at the right time.

The assistant asked. "Who has touched your belongings or assisted you in your work? Anyone with enough access to your work space or someone close to you.. name them."

The female Mink hesitated for a while then her eyes widened. "It couldn't be.. no. Why would she?"

The assistant looked annoyed that his time was being wasted. "Hurry and speak."

Once she had given the name, the assistant went to another room where there was another female Mink who had been named by one who was being interrogated. "Tell me how you did it and who is involved.. then I might go easy on you."

She became fearful upon hearing she was being suspected and that things were very bad for her. "I swear! I did not do a thing! Who would tell you it was me? I am loyal to the family."

The assistant continued his questioning and analysed what he knew to her which made her look towards him in shock. "So that is how it is. You are the only person who could have tampered with the goods before her and could have had enough access to gain her needles and switch out one with a replica."

She started to struggle but her bindings would not loosen even a little then she pleaded desperately. "I swear! I do have access like you said but I would never try to frame her. I have no reason to! She is the one who helped me get this position, I am nothing but grateful to her so why would I?"

The assistant shrugged. "Perhaps her helping you hurt your pride? Perhaps with her gone then you can take over that position? Perhaps the benefits were too great so you took the opportunity to frame her and eliminate one of the heirs?"

She grit her teeth and let out a roar. "I never! I was grateful! We both entered this household at the same time and I thought we had become friends! I thought she was taking care of me and giving me more work or opportunities to rise up. I needed the money!"

The assistant looked over some information on her then agreed. "You did indeed need the money so that makes you even more of a suspect."

The female Mink thrashed around and started weeping. "I didn't! Why? Why?"

The assistant left the room and looked over the notes he had taken but he displayed a conflicted look. 'Suspect one was suspicious but was able to point the way to an even more likely suspect. Suspect two fits the description of someone that is most likely to have been behind it for both personal and beneficial reasons. However I feel as if something is missing. I need to speak to master Rufus.'

Upon telling him everything he had learned, Rufus calmly responded. "Bring Pixel here. I want to use this as a test for my granddaughter."

He had not seen the limits to his granddaughter's physical and mental abilities so he wished to use the current situation to see some more of her hidden depths.

The assistant stood still in shock. "She is still so young.."

In his own opinion, Pixel was too young to be brought into such serious matters.

It would only put her under more pressure than what she was already in and by Rufus testing her like he was, Rufus would either increase or lose his interest towards his granddaughter.

He was concerned that Rufus was showing a little favouritism towards her over the other heirs which was very unlike Rufus who lived by the rules.

If Rufus continued to act out the ordinary then the elders would try to make use of it in some way to make him no longer suitable to hold the position.

All it took would be some doubts about the mental or physical health of Rufus to push forward the selection of the next heir to inherit the position as family head.

Some could put doubts towards his mental health because he was acting unlike himself and acting irrationally.

As the family head, he needed to make his decisions without bias and as rationally as possible as he always had until one capable heir had become capable enough to inherit that position.

If Rufus was removed then there was a risk of having the heirs fight it out for power too early and the winner becoming a puppet leaving the status or wellbeing of Rufus being damaged after being isolated and pushed out of power.

The assistant feared for his master's wellbeing but he was also very worried about what would happen to himself and the others that served Rufus after he was taken down from the position of power.

Rufus smiled. "Do not worry, this is just a small test and nothing else. She has no way to inherit this family so showing a little favouritism should not hurt too much. I only favour her because she is capable and.."

Rufus stopped himself from calling his granddaughter 'cute' in front of others. "Ahem.. go get her. This is her own problem so there is no problem having her involved a little."

He did not realise it too much but he really had been slightly influenced by the cuteness of his granddaughter many years ago.

His indifference and the wall he had up towards those in the family had weakened ofer the years and it was partly due to his interest towards Pixel.

Due to him not wanting to play favourites, he had taken some steps to looking towards the other heirs which had helped him gain a better understanding to how each of them were being raised and were being treated within the family.

If she had not been born then he may have made many of the same mistakes as before and it was very likely that he would have missed some important things that could lead to the family being put in danger.