| rdfs:comment | - The thief had been calculating, cold, and precise. Most of all, he'd been well-prepared. Looking at the room, one would hardly have noted that any larceny had taken place. Everything was still in order, nothing upturned, nothing broken, nothing out of place. He knew precisely what he wanted. The only indication that anything was amiss was a single open drawer in an ill-regarded armoire- and this was only open because the inspector had opened it himself, to observe the absence of something crucial to the scene... "Are you quite done yet Inspector General?"
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| abstract | - The thief had been calculating, cold, and precise. Most of all, he'd been well-prepared. Looking at the room, one would hardly have noted that any larceny had taken place. Everything was still in order, nothing upturned, nothing broken, nothing out of place. He knew precisely what he wanted. The only indication that anything was amiss was a single open drawer in an ill-regarded armoire- and this was only open because the inspector had opened it himself, to observe the absence of something crucial to the scene... The Baron had been vain, true enough. He dressed his wife in fineries, put her on display. And when his wife tired of a thing he troubled to put it on display elsewhere in the estate to assure his hard-spent resources did not go to waste. He'd had the necklace placed in a leaded glass case in a side chamber of the estate's master ballroom, ad when he entertained guests he was keen to show them a sampling of one of the greatest gifts he'd bestowed so graciously on his beloved wife. It was a beautiful piece, the necklace. Studded with a great many precious and semi-precious gems, any one of which was worth a serf's life savings. But the crowning stone- the one that outshined the rest- was an iridescent fire opal. A fluke of nature, and yet stunning in it's perfection, the gem had a shifting radiant core- perhaps only a consequence of how the light was refracted among it's various facets, but beautiful to behold nonetheless. Having the stone cut alone cost a king's ransom. The stone was not set in the necklace in the traditional way, either. Instead the setting was an englamored one, ensuring that the gem could not be separated from it's housing. And here, in the midst of all this, stood a proud but troubled figure of a woman. She fretted and furrowed her brow as she watched the inspector go about his business. "Are you quite done yet Inspector General?" The ruddy-haired Sin'dorei exhaled a near-inaudible sigh of frustration, "Your Ladyship, these are delicate matters, and while I certainly respect your right to be present to..." he chose his next words with care, "observe, I would really rather prefer that you wait in some other area of the estate. There is contamination of the scene to be considered here-" She cut him off, "You have a job to do, Inspector, and I'm quite sure you are good at it, else you would not be here," she crossed her arms for emphasis, "I am also sure that you are quite capable of working around me. What do you have to report thus far?" The Baroness' husband had been vain, true enough, but he wasn't entirely a fool, "The decoy the Baron had deployed in the adjunct master ballroom is untouched," he rubbed his temple in thought- a desperate attempt to wrap his mind around all the variables, "our man knew what he wanted, and he knew it wasn't here..." he paused, wincing visibly as he asked, "Are you quite sure my Lordship has no enemies?" "What silly sort of amateur question is that, Inspector? Of course he has enemies- he's a Baron." she frowned, darting the inspector a disgusted glance, "And the sentry?" "Disabled," he replied flatly, "I would dearly love to tell my Ladyship how, but engineering is not my area of expertise, we're having a Goblin chap in forensics look it over, so far he has nothing to offer save that it just stopped working". "Well what good are you then inspector?" and with that sentiment she stormed out in a huff. Just as well, thought Inspector General Haldenai, she was definately contaminating my concentration if not the scene...
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