Malcolm Eisenstein had discovered the corpse of a friend, saw two other friends fight a monster that had been a woman he met the day before, and then saw those same two friends, David and Sandra, vanish right before his eyes.

  He felt that the fact he was not having a nervous breakdown was pretty good, all things considered. He walked out of the apartment with the cooling corpses and called nine-one-one, reporting “at least one dead body; I panicked and ran out before I could see anything else. I will wait outside until a car shows up.”

  Then he called the office. As soon as he was connected to his boss, Ranesh, he said: “We were going to meet David’s friend, the one he calls Uncle Mike, for lunch, but he did not show. We went to his pce and well, it was horrible. Uncle Mike is dead, and it looks bad. We may be tied up in questioning with the police for a while.”

  “That is either tragic or the vilest excuse I have ever heard. Can you put Dave on the line?”

  “He is pretty broken up about this and not up to talking - oh, and the police just pulled up. Gotta go, will call back once I know more,” and hung up just as, indeed, two officers got out of a cruiser and walked up to him

  “You the guy who reported a body?” One, with a name badge that read Reznik, asked. “Yeah, it is up the stairs. Be careful, I kind of puked by the door.”

  The other officer, with a badge reading Addams, asked “Can you walk us up?

  “Sure,” Malcolm replied, a little uneasily, and did so. At the top of the stairs, Reznik spoke into his radio: “Not a false arm,” and rattled off some numbers. A voice came back “Detective Ross should be there shortly, and a CSU team is en route. Secure the site.”

  The other officer turned to Malcolm: “Are you able to stick around and give a statement?”

  “Yeah, whatever you need. I didn't really see much though”

  “Understood.”

  The officers spread tape across the door and waited with Malcolm out on the stairs until a pretty young woman with long red hair tied back in a severe bun, and wearing a neatly pressed light brown suit let herself in and started up the stairs. She saw Malcolm, paused for a moment, and then asked “Malcolm Eisenstein? Is that you?”

  “What? Ross - Audrey Ross? You made detective? Congratutions!” he replied, clearly surprised by her presence

  “Just st month. Second youngest woman in the department to do so, ever” she replied proudly. “You our witness, then?”

  “Well, I reported it. Didn’t see much. Mostly I ah, well, mostly I just kind of puked my guts out,” he admitted, flushing slightly.

  “I did the same with the first two bodies I saw,” she said quietly as she pushed past him, “nothing to be ashamed of. Are you going to stick around for some questions?”

  “Unless the boss calls me in for an emergency, sure,” he replied. She fshed him a smile with dazzling white teeth, and then joined the uniformed officers. Malcolm only heard a little of what was said but did catch “if it were not for the decapitation, I would think we caught a serial killer given what happened to that jeweler yesterday.”

  Shortly after that, the Crime Scene Unit team arrived. They escorted him out of the building, took his prints for elimination and asked him to wait.

  About twenty minutes (that felt like a year) passed, and then Detective Ross came down to talk to him. “Okay, Malcolm, I have just a few questions and then you can be on your way. First: did you see anyone else when you discovered the bodies?”

  “Bodies? Oh gee, is there another? I just saw Mike and hightailed it out of there, after my stomach emptied.”

  She made some marks in a notebook. “Why were you coming here?”

  “I was supposed to meet him this afternoon. He actually had some martial arts pointers he was going to give me. Apparently not the best pointers, if they couldn’t keep him alive but, even so…”

  A light chuckle escaped the detective’s lips as she made some more notes. “You were only aware of one body then?”

  “I saw there might have been something else but really did not want to know more,” he said.

  “You seem nervous. You shouldn’t be, unless you are lying or withholding information. Next question: do you know one Arman Prakhesh?”

  Malcolm began: “No I… oh wait, is that the guy who runs Prakhesh Jewelers? I don’t actually know him but my sister does and buys a lot of stuff from him.” Malcolm realized he was beginning to rex now.

  “Then you don’t know of any connection between him and Michael Ungnaught?” Detective Ross asked.

  “Unless he was pnning to propose to his girlfriend and housekeeper, uh, Kim I think her name was, or something like that, and was getting a ring from Prakhesh, no, none at all,” Malcolm answered truthfully.

  “An engagement ring. That would make sense with some documents found there,” the pretty detective replied, thinking out loud. “Thanks for that bit. Now, do you know how I can get in contact with one, ah, David West?”

  “I can give you his cell number. We share an apartment. But he had to leave town very quickly this morning so I don’t know when you could get hold of him, but why?” Malcolm asked, his nervousness returning.

  “The victim had some notes mentioning David and a few old photos with him in them, so he might be a person of interest - even more so if he left town suddenly. Do you know of either Michael or David getting any kinds of threatening mail or phone calls?”

  Finally able to give a completely honest answer, Malcolm again rexed: “Not to my knowledge. I could look through Dave’s mail when I get home, if that might help.”

  “Set it aside and we'll go through it if he doesn’t return in a day or two. Now you left your contact information with one of the Uniforms, right?”

  “Correct. Reznik,” he answered.

  “Okay,” the detective added, making a few more notes, and then closing the notebook. “I have only one more question and then you’re free to go, though we may need to interrogate you further if more evidence turns up.”

  “Fine. Go ahead,” he replied.

  With a sly smile, the redhead asked: “Why did you take Caroline Winters to Senior Prom? I was so sure you were going to ask me!”

  Malcolm’s jaw dropped. After a few seconds he regained control and said, “well, ah, she asked me. And told me you had agreed to go with Adam Grant.”

  Detective Audrey Ross narrowed her eyes and considered this for a moment. “She told you that? I should call some friends at the RMV and have all of her cars fgged.”

  Malcolm wanted to ugh but was too rattled by the question. “She married Adam st March.”

  Audrey considered this for a moment, and chuckled. “That may be worse than what I had in mind for her then!”

  Before Malcolm could reply, his phone rang. “Uh, may I?”

  Detective Ross indicated for him to go ahead. He fumbled his phone out of his pocket and accidentally put it on speaker as he answered. “Carol?”

  “What the Hell, Mal - my brother just told me you’re tied up in a murder investigation?”

  “Uh, kind of yeah. I’m talking to a Detective Ross,”

  “I need some details - oh wait, not Detective Audrey Ross, the girl you were drooling…”

  “Carol, we are on speaker phone, and she is standing right here.”

  “Hi Carol. Long time no see,” Audrey cheerfully announced.

  “Oh. Um, Sorry Mal. Any chance you did not hear that, Detective Ross?”

  “Oh, I heard every word of that. Thank you for helping close an old case,” the Detective said, trying not to smile too broadly.

  Malcolm was turning red. “Um, Carol, I think we need to talk a bit ter. Maybe meet somewhere this evening?”

  “Yeah, I think we should. Will Dave be bringing his girlfriend?”

  “I don’t think so,” he replied.

  “Pity. I like her. A definite improvement over the st two “

  “I’m hanging up now. I will call or text you ter to see when and where to meet, Okay?”

  “Sounds good. Bye Mal, and nice talking to you again Audrey. My brother speaks highly of you.”

  As the line went dead, Detective Ross asked: “Her brother’s Kevin Bishop, right? A Detective Sergeant downtown?”

  “Yep,” Malcolm replied, putting his phone back in his pocket.

  Audrey had her notebook back out and opened as she asked: “I now may have a few more questions. First, can you tell me anything about Dave’s ‘new girlfriend’?”

  Malcolm thought for a minute and said: “honestly don't know that much about her. She is tall, about the same height as David, gorgeous, and her name is Sandra. I think she is an anthropology grad student who he met at OmegaCon or something like that, and she is definitely not from around here.”

  Audrey pursed her lips. “You don’t know her st name?”

  “It never really came up, though I kind of want to say it begins with an R.” Malcolm said.

  Audrey gave him a level gaze for a few seconds, then said “I get this odd feeling there’s something you’re not telling me. As long as it does not impede our investigation, you should be fine, but I’d hate to have to put you in jail for obstruction,” she warned.

  “I would hate to go to jail, for that or much of anything else,” he answered.

  She smiled and handed him a card. “On the front is my contact info down at the precinct in case you think of anything more I need to know. On the back is my personal phone number if you ever just want to talk, or to finally give me a chance to get you out on a dance floor.”

  He took the card and held her gaze for a few seconds. He had forgotten how pretty her blue eyes were, and kind of wanted to savor the moment. Then reluctantly, he looked away. “‘I'll probably call one, maybe both, numbers tomorrow but for today, I have told you everything that I can.”

  She smiled at this. “I’ll look forward to it. Nice seeing you again, Mal, just wish it were under better circumstances. Oh, and I am truly sorry for your loss.”

  A few hours ter, Malcolm was just about to go inside the apartment that he and David West shared when he heard David’s voice: “Malcolm. Are you alone?”

  “What? Where are you, Dave?”

  “That is a very interesting question, one with at least two correct answers. At the moment I appear to be on the other side of a door from you, and it looks like the door to our apartment.”

  Malcolm ughed dryly at this and let himself into the apartment. There, standing only a few feet away was what looked like a three-dimensional wire frame projection of his roommate. “I am attempting to astrally project. Level Nine Spirit mixed with Level Seven Void. The most powerful spell I have attempted yet.”

  Raising one eyebrow, Malcolm asked: “I’m impressed, but you said there were two answers?”

  “It appears that I’m also in a room in the Temple of Earth’s Bounty in Rhyven on Pyrroth”

  “But that is…” Malcolm began, paused, and then cried: “Holy smokes! Did you two go inside the Dungeoneers game?”

  David shrugged. “I don’t think we’re in the game - I think the guys who created the game either came from here or were from our world and somehow visited Pyrroth. In fact, that's one of the things I wanted to talk to you about; to see if you or Carol can find out if any of the designers of the game are still alive. I almost think they wrote it as a guidebook for others who crossed over here somehow.”

  A thoughtful expression on his face, Malcolm nodded and replied: “Interesting theory. And it would fit some of what we have seen with Sandra.”

  David nodded: “Yeah. I may have my hands full with her former, uh, boyfriend… Dalrinjian’s a real piece of work.”

  “I may have the opposite problem,” Malcolm replied.

  “How so?” David asked.

  “Well, you were there when I reconnected with Lorraine; well, when I called in Mike’s murder, they sent Detective Ross to lead the investigation.”

  When David did not reply for a few seconds, he crified: “Detective AUDREY Ross.”

  It took Dave almost three seconds to make the connection: “Ah! The girl you spent senior year drooling…”

  “I did not drool! I had a serious crush on her, yes but I didn’t drool. I was going to ask her to Prom, but Caroline said she was going with…”

  “Adam Grant, right. So, you took Caroline, who then actually spent most of the night with Adam Grant instead of you, and you left early. I was there. Come to think of it, Audrey wasn’t!”

  “She asked me about that, and I think she was flirting with me. Even gave me her cell number. She looks even better than she did then. Not quite as good as your girl but…wow.”

  David ughed. Then his image wavered for a moment. “I think spell fatigue is starting to hit. I will try to contact you at about this time tomorrow, OK? But for now, I think I need some rest.”

  “Take care pal, and I'll look into those writers.”

  David waved and vanished.