Act 1: A Midsummer's Nightmare
The Canterlot Theater Hall was the city’s pride and joy. While sister cities like Manehattan could claim they have the most theater halls at three (admittedly, only one of them was the most popular due to size and authenticity), Canterlot’s had that nostalgic look and feel represented by its long history, which certainly outdated any in Manehattan. It was the perfect setting to conclude what had been a busy week for the private detective Shadow Spade and her assistant Coco Pommel.
“I can’t believe you were able to book tickets to this show, Miss Spade,” Coco said excitedly as the two women made their way towards the ticket booth. “I’m also surprised you wanted me to come with you…”
“Coco dear, don’t be silly,” Spade said, who was wearing a red dress underneath a heavy coat. “You are my trusty assistant and you deserve some quality time just as much as I do. After all, that last case took more out of me than expected and I could really use the R&R…”
“Okay, but I’m pretty sure these tickets were sold out well in advance so obviously you have friends in high places.”
Spade chuckled. “Let’s just say I called in a favor from someone.” The two of them presented their tickets to the ticket master, who nodded and let them through. They were directed towards the middle balcony. Coco wasn’t an expert on acoustics, but it seemed from this angle they could get the best view and be able to hear everything quite well.
As for the story, it was your typical love story where a prince falls in love with a commoner but the girl is actually believed to be a witch and the king forbids it. Coco found the whole thing slightly cliché but Spade admittedly was a sucker for romance. However, nothing at the Canterlot Theater Hall ever disappointed and to even be able to go to one of these shows was on many people’s bucket lists.
The two of them found their seats high up in the balcony, the low lighting setting up the theme of the story while the small orchestra in front of the stage warmed up. They didn’t have to wait very long before the curtain began to rise and the orchestra began to play. The background and setting were exquisite, making one feel as if they were truly in the era that the story took place.
As the overture continued, the characters began their roles: the king on his throne, the prince kneeling before him, begging while his beloved stood by his side. “Father, you cannot believe the rumors that have gone around the kingdom, they’re nothing but lies!”
“Lies!? Our misery is because of that woman! She is evil!” the king yelled.
“But I love her!”
“Blasphemy! Guards, take that vile wretch to the dungeons!”
It was in that moment that the woman, essentially the main protagonist of the story, stepped forward as the spotlight focused on her and soon she began to sing. Coco had never been to an opera, though she had seen and heard plenty from movies in the past, but they didn’t do it justice compared to what she was witnessing now. To be present in this moment, it was as if she was being taken to a different dimension, a different world of sorts.
Naturally, Spade was lost in the moment as well as the show continued on towards the intermission. It was about a three hour performance so the fifteen minute intermission was necessary for most who had to use the ladies room, Spade included. “I can see that glow in your eyes, Miss Pommel,” she said with a grin as she got up. “I may make you a fan of the finer arts just yet.”
“What do you mean ‘make me a fan’?” Coco huffed slightly. “I enjoy theater and music…” Admittedly, her choice of music was a mixed bag, some not exactly to Spade’s tastes, but then again Spade was more interested in the classics and overall enjoyed classical music.
“I am merely teasing, my dear,” Spade chuckled slightly. “Now then, I best make a trip to the ladies room or I’ll find the next hour and a half most unbearable.”
Unfortunately, as she had expected, the line was exceptionally long, despite there being numerous bathrooms in the theater. “I suppose I’m going to have to suffer after all…” she muttered to herself. She then noticed a door nearby with a sign reading “Employees Only”. Normally Shadow Spade wasn’t a rule breaker, but a full bladder tended to make people rather desperate. I’m sure no one will notice… She casually made her way over to the door and when it appeared no one was looking, she quietly slipped inside.
It was oddly quiet inside, which meant no one else was inside, or at least she hoped. Surely, there had to be a bathroom nearby…
That was when she saw it, a door to her right, which someone conveniently put a sign up for. She grabbed the knob and turned, only to find it was locked. “Oh um…sorry, I didn’t realize someone was already inside,” she said sheepishly. There was no response, though Spade wouldn’t expect one in this slightly awkward scene.
She waited patiently, keeping her eye on the clock and realizing she only had ten minutes until the show would begin again. “Listen, I don’t want to rush you darling, but this is an emergency and the other stalls are occupied so if you could hurry up I’d greatly appreciate it.”
There was still no response and Spade was starting to get a little annoyed. “There is someone in there, right?” Again, no response. Spade sighed loudly. “Fine, I gave you your warning so don’t get upset at me for breaking in.” She took a hairpin out of her bag and used it on the lock. Lockpicking wasn’t a skill she was willing to brag about, though sometimes private detectives had to be crafty. It took only a few moments to unlock the door and she turned the knob and opened it. She suddenly jumped back in horror.
Laying on the ground on her side, thankfully fully clothed, was the same woman who had been performing only minutes before. Her wide-eyed stare told Spade plenty that the woman was already beyond help.
The sight was enough to turn Spade’s blood cold. It was hard to say how long she had been dead, though judging by the time gap, she had to have died just recently. But now wasn’t the time for investigating, she had to call the police and at the same time hope no one walked in on the scene.
Wasting no time, she called the Canterlot Police Department immediately, explaining the situation calmly. The authorities would be there in less than ten minutes. For now, she was going to keep quiet on the matter, at least until the police showed up. After all, there was a possible killer in this building.
In the meantime, she decided to investigate the body, being careful not to disturb the crime scene. Luckily, she was wearing gloves so fingerprints wouldn’t be an issue.
The first thing she noticed was a foamy liquid coming from the victim’s mouth. Spade was no medical examiner but she’s seen plenty of cases to know this was possibly death by poison, though she couldn’t confirm that at the moment. The question came to mind was what kind of poison? Was this fast-acting or the kind that would slowly shut down your organs? However, admittedly, she couldn’t rule out the possibility of suicide but it seemed unlikely. Again, she didn’t have that kind of information, at least not yet.
After her quick analysis, she decided now was the time to leave the crime scene, no doubt the police would be showing up momentarily. Spade then sighed. And to think so many paid good money for this show tonight…
The CPD had arrived in record time and as such, people were being escorted out of the building, much to their confusion and dismay. Unfortunately, Coco was one of those people and she had lost track of Spade amidst the confusion, though she had a feeling Spade was about to get herself involved in this case. Shadow Spade never could turn down a case, if she could help it.
Meanwhile, Spade was quick to inform the police that she was the one who discovered the body. One of the officers told her to wait nearby and that someone would be with her shortly. He had been right since the one in charge came right up to her.
The long trench coat and pair of aviators told Spade that she was dealing with a fellow detective and also that she, for it was definitely a female, was all business. Her short orange colored hair made her stand out and apparently she had a reputation since most of the officers offered her respective nods. “You the one that found the victim?” she asked, straight to the point as she pulled out a notepad.
“That’s correct.”
The detective glanced at the door. “The door says ‘Employees Only.’ Care to explain what you were doing in there?”
This is what Spade was worried about. Being in a restricted area where the crime took place obviously made her very suspicious. “Ah yes well…I really needed to use the bathroom.”
The detective removed her shades, looking at Shade very skeptically. “That right? Had to go so bad you had to sneak into a restricted area?”
“Listen Detective…”
“Spitfire.”
“Detective Spitfire, I can assure you I had no part in the poor woman’s death, in fact it seemed like she had died only minutes before I showed up to the scene. Also, I think I can hypothesize what caused her death.”
“Oh yeah? And who are you exactly?”
“Detective Shadow Spade at your service,” Spade said, bowing slightly.
“Wait…I know that name. You’re that private detective.”
“Yes, though I assure you I was here only for pleasure.”
“Listen detective, this is a police matter so while I appreciate the offer, its better you stay out of it.”
“If you insist…but I’m almost certain that your medical examiner will be able to diagnose the possible cause of death from poison.”
“…That right?”
“Oh yes. The victim was foaming from the mouth, which is usually a telltale sign poison was involved, though I can’t say for sure what it was but if I had to guess, it was a very slow-acting one.”
“That’s a pretty bold claim detective…”
“Please, Spade is just fine.”
“Right…anyway the ME will be here shortly so I’m sure she can fill in the details. For now, you’re staying put here and don’t even think of butting in.”
“I wouldn’t even dream of it.”
About ten minutes later, the medical examiner came into the room and started examining the body. She looked to be in her fifties and judging by her posture, she took her role very seriously. “Well Detective, this is an interesting one. Judging by the victim’s foaming mouth, we can definitely say this was death by poison. However, which poison exactly is what concerns me. If she was alive and performing half an hour ago, there’s no way this was recent. Our suspect used a slow-acting poison, something to slowly shut down her system.”
“Makes sense, poison like that makes it hard to track down when and where it was suggested…though how is our next question,” Spitfire said.
“We’ll have to search and examine all of her belongings,” the medical examiner said. “I’m going to go out on a limb, and I hope I’m wrong, but I have a bad feeling this poor woman died from thallium poisoning.”
“Thallium?” Spitfire asked. “You mean-?”
“Rat poison,” Shade said. “Due to it being odorless and tasteless, it was used as a poison for mice and rats, but once it was realized that such poison was much too lethal, even for humans, many countries banned the poison from being used.”
The medical examiner looked impressed. “You seem to know your way with chemistry. And you are?”
“Detective Shadow Spade, and yes, I did take a slight fancy to chemistry when I was younger though I’ve dealt with a few cases dealing with death by poison.”
The woman chuckled. “I like her,” she said to Spitfire. “Could use more detectives like her on the force huh?”
“Yeah, sure,” Spitfire said, glaring at Shade. “Do what you gotta do, doc. I’ll make sure the boys in forensics analyze the stuff. I just hope you’re wrong about this.” She then made her way out of the room. “Spade, you’re coming with me.”
“I’m not following? I thought you didn’t want me involved in this.”
“I thought so too…but I guess having an extra pair of eyes and ears can’t hurt. Unless you got somewhere to be right now.”
“Well I’m not quite used to working with others, especially the CPD, but I’ll do my best.”
“Good. Let’s see if we can nail the son of a bitch behind this.” Spitfire then left the room.
The medical examiner suddenly laughed. “You may not be able to tell, but I think she’s starting to like you.”
Spade soon followed Spitfire out and to no surprise the area was crawling with police. A small group of people were in the lobby, which Spade assumed were some of the actors and crew. Spitfire was talking to one of the officers as Spade made her way over. “See the woman over there?” Spitfire said, nodding towards the group. “Long brown hair, amber-colored glasses and enough bling to make Sapphire Shores blush? Apparently she’s the director of this entire show. Name’s Abby Singer. We can’t put her down as a person of interest yet, but she has to know the victim well enough and should be able to fill us in on who she is and who her closest colleagues are. We start with her and work our way down.”
“Very well, how do you want to approach this?”
“You good at buttering people up?”
“I’m assuming you’re asking if I’m good at charming people? Then yes, I have a lot of experience with that.”
“Good. I’m way better as the bad cop anyway.” The two of them went over. “Miss Singer, can we speak to you for a moment privately? I’m Detective Spitfire and this is Detective Spade, we just want to ask you some questions.”
Judging by the woman’s posture and the look on her face, she already seemed stressed out enough as it was. “Y-Yes of course.” The three of them moved towards the far end of the lobby. Once they were out of earshot of the other potential suspects, the woman groaned loudly. “How could this have happened!? This was going to be the next big hit on the big stage, maybe even a potential movie down the line and now this!”
Spitfire and Spade glanced at one another. “Miss Singer, considering what’s happened, I think you should be a little bit more concerned on who’s behind this,” Spitfire said.
“I…of course yes. It’s a terrible tragedy. Miss Capella was among one of the best singers I’ve ever worked with, at least when it came to opera. She was fine about an hour ago and to suddenly turn up dead…can I ask what happened?”
“I’m afraid she was poisoned.”
“P-Poisoned!? My god, who in the world would do such a thing?”
“That’s what we’re here to find out,” Spade said. “By the way Miss Singer, do you know what thallium is?”
“Thallium? Um…I can’t say I do.”
“Technically now it’s an illegal substance but it used to be used as a rat or mouse poison and-”
“Did you say rat poison?” Abby’s eyes widened in fear. “Oh no….oh no no no…no that’s impossible.”
“What is it Miss Singer?” Spitfire asked urgently.
“I…this past week there were complaints about a rat infestation in parts of the theater, mostly the make up rooms and such. I called an exterminator to get rid of the problem but…”
“I think we need to know the name of this exterminator,” Spade said.
“Right of course…” She pulled out her phone and searched through her recent calls and showed them the number. “I swear I had no idea this would’ve caused someone to die.”
“We can’t confirm whether this company is to blame just yet but I can assure you we’re definitely going to look into it,” Spitfire said as she wrote down the number. Now, was Miss Capella closely associated with any of the other actors or crew here?”
“Well she got along with pretty much everyone, but the two she usually hung out with were Gaffer, who’s the head of lighting and Harmony Cantor who’s a fellow actress as well. But I can’t imagine either of them are involved, they were a pretty tight group.”
“We’ll speak to them nonetheless,” Spade said. “I think that’ll be all Miss Singer, thank you for your help.”
“Yeah…” The woman looked dejected as she went back to where she had been sitting.
“I can’t help but feel bad for her,” Spade said softly. “She must now feel partly to blame for this happen, regardless whether it was a murder or some horrible freak accident.”
“We still can’t rule her out just yet,” Spitfire said as she pulled out her phone and dialed a number. “Hey…I need a favor. I’m sending you a number for a pest control company and I need you to look into it. Much obliged.” She gave the number and soon hung up. “Well, now we know who to focus on for now. The best thing to do is divide and conquer. I’ll handle Mr. Gaffer and you talk to Miss Cantor.”
“Very well. There’s just one thing I wanted to ask-”
Suddenly she was cut off as someone was yelling near the entrance. “Please, its very important I’m allowed in and see Miss Spade! I need to make sure she’s okay and-”
“Who the hell is that?” Spitfire snapped, looking towards the front door.
Spade couldn’t help but laugh slightly. “That would be my trusty assistant.”
