Chapter 8
Unlike last time no-one was harmed and so they didn't get the leave time like they did last time, that just made it more frustrating with the amount of worm corpses that still remained in different parts in the archive. They didn't do a good job at cleaning up it seemed. Jon had left them to investigate as many cases as they needed to work out what they wanted about what could possibly be affecting this timeline however Martin was more concerned over the fact that Elias had a little more knowledge than he should've in this timeline. He decided to focus on looking through any information he could find about the previous heads of the institute as well as others who may have been linked to it such as someone like Agnes Montague or Mary Keay, if he was lucky he might find a statement made by some of the former archival staff.
Jon had just finished feeding on a statement, because as much as he could now eat normal food he still needed a statement once in a while to keep him going, when martin had knocked at the door claiming that Rosie had called ahead to say that a detective Tonner and Hussain were heading down to the archives. Jon noded at this and had decided to step out of his office to be able to greet them when they had arrived. He wasn't sure how Basira would react to seeing him in these circumstances but he suspected that she'd rather be happy to great him properly in private.
It'd been so long since he's seen either of them and they looked better than he last saw them, Basira still had the natural look of boredom on her face and Daisy a look of distaste obviously not wanting to be in the archives.
"Ah you must be the detectives, I'm Jonathan Sims. The archivist down here, is there anything you two needed?" He tried to sound polite but Daisy scoffed, Basira slightly nudged her.
"We just need to ask some questions, together and than desperately if you don't mind" It was less of a question and more of a statement.
"Sure, where do you want to begin? We have everyone here we could do first or you could interview us privately first" Jon had replied.
"If everyone is here now we might as well ask em' all?" Daisy looked to Basira and Jon called over everyone else, "It just the four of you?"
"Has been for the past few years" Tim responded.
"That's a pretty small team for such a lot of work?" Basira looked a little confused.
"Well unfortunately only double boss chooses who goes where?" Tim had answered.
"Who?" Daisy raised an eyebrow.
"Elias, he makes the decisions of who works where and me, Sasha and Tim were transferred her from out old work in the Institute" Martin had clarified.
"So he choose you all to work down here?" Basira noted down.
"Well when i got the job as archivist i'd asked for Sasha and Tim to be brought down with me, they'd have some of the best work ethics i'd seen and i thought they'd help me better get all of this organised" Jon waved to the shelves of paper statements that still remained unsorted, "Martin was promoted and moved down here by Elias".
"So how did you manage to get out of here during the attack?" Daisy had questioned.
"Well, we ran into one of the rooms when the worms stared flooding in. they'd been a problem in the archives for a while but for some reason they hadn't really been sorted out, they did start to disappear after a while though but than they suddenly all just flooded back at that moment. In the panic we noticed that the wall felt hollow so being desperate to get out of the room we'd been trapped in we tried to knock through. It worked and we tried to find a way out from there." Sasha explained, leaving out the parts about Jon knowing it was coming and his knowledge of the tunnels.
"And through finding your way out you never came across any other doors or rooms?" Basira looked up at them.
"At the time our only priority was getting out and away from the worms so we just looked for an exit, we didn't pay attention to any of the rooms or doors that came up" Jon replied, "If you don't mind me asking, what is this all about?"
The two officers looked at each other in contemplation before Daisy sighed.
"Gertrude Robinson, Her body was found in those tunnels you all were down in" She stated.
"I'm assuming since you phrased it like you believe she was murdered, you wouldn't be questioning us if that wasn't the case" Jon crossed his arms over his chest.
"Do you know how?" Sasha asked.
"She looked to be shot a few times, only from that we suspect it must've been someone who worked by her" Basira admitted.
They all looked at each other, Jon had realised he never stated the cause of Gertrude's death or that Elias was the one who killed her. He cursed internally.
"That's horrible" Sasha said with a gasp, "I hate to think of what would've made someone do this".
"That's what we're hoping to find out" Basira added, "Now do you mind if we do private interviews? I'll take one of you and Daisy will take another?"
With that Sasha offered to go with Daisy and Tim with Basira.
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Tim sat in front of Basira who had her note book laid out in front of her.
"First of all i should ask did you know Miss Robinson? You two ever talk or meet?" She started.
"Well, everyone knew about Gertrude but no we didn't ever talk. She mainly stayed down in the archives but i'd seen her around a few times when I went to drop off statement, we never talked though, i don't even think she ever noticed me". Tim told.
"What was she like?"
"I wouldn't know but she honestly looked scary so i'm kind of happy i didn't meet her, I probably would've quit from fear of accidentally insulting her" He joked.
"Do you know anyone who could've killed her? Or at least someone who had a grudge?" She pushed.
"I mean i would say her assistance but as far as everyone is aware they all died or went missing, pretty spooky if you ask me? You might have more luck asking Elias though? he did know her and was working with her i believe, she was the archivist before Jon so it would make sense her boss may know more than us" Tim admitted.
She wrote down a few more things before closing her note book, "Okay that's all i need from you unless you have anything you want to ask?".
"Not at all detective" He winked before leaving.
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"Y'know anything about Gertrude, ever meet the woman?" Daisy said leaned against a table.
"We met a few times, I worked in Artefact Storage so she would pick up and drop off things sometimes, I transferred to research a few months after though so i saw her less. She approached me a few times for some of the work i did but other than that she spent most of her time down her" Sasha confessed.
"What was she like? Did she ever seem dodgy or anything strange?" Daisy rose an eyebrow.
"I mean she was quite paranoid you could say? But who wouldn't be after what happened to her assistance and working in these archives" Sasha pointed out.
"What happened to her assistance?" Daisy questioned, interested in gaining more of a background on Gertrude.
"Well most of them died or went missing, I'm not big on rumours but some said that many people had it out for her so i wouldn't be surprised if one of those people offed her. Not that i would know who though, they were just rumours as i said" Sasha defended.
"Anyone you think would've done it?" Daisy crossed her arms.
"I couldn't tell you for the love of me but maybe ask Elias? He knew her longer than all of us"Sasha finished, "Would that be all?"
"For now yes".
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"Mr. Blackwood, you at any point meet Gertrude?" Daisy asked getting tired of being in the archives.
"No, we never interacted, i was up in the library and she never really needed to visit us" He responded.
"Why would than be?"
"Well, the archives are more used to record and investigate statements, it's the researchers who mostly come to borrow books or scriptures and sometimes an occasional student will send an email asking to-"
"A simple no would've done just as good, but i am curious. This archive seems to be pretty separated for a team, mostly the Archives, why do you think that is" She leaned on the desk trying to intimidate him but martin wasn't as fazed as he was the last time she'd interrogated him.
"I mean, i'm sure you might've noticed how weird it is down here. You just get the feeling of nothing feeling right or the watching? I mean you get used to it the more you're here but it never completely goes away. I think that's what drives others away" Martin spilled.
"Miss James Mentioned Gertrude had assistance, ever meet them or know of them" Daisy tried to get more info out of him.
"I mean I've come across a few statements that mention a Gerard Keay and Michael Shelley but no, nothing else comes to mind".
"What did they do in these statements?"
"Well they usually showed up to collect things, I'm sure most of them are in artefact storage" He revealed.
She let out a deep sigh, "That'll be all unless you have something to ask".
Martin rose to leave but just before he did so he turned, "If you really should be asking questions to anyone you should look at Elias, He's known Gertrude longer than all of us".
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Jon had managed to convince Basira to conduct his interview in his own office whilst Daisy was conducting her interview with Martin, so as soon as they got in to his ofice he offered her a seat and looked around for anything that could've appeared while he was gone.
"Jon, what are you doing?" She asked confused.
"Just looking for something" He lied, eventually he found nothing and decided to get to the actual questioning on hand."Shall we get started than?"
she let out a long sigh, "I'm going to be real with you Jon, something doesn't feel right".
"Really" He raised an eyebrow, "What do you mean?"
"Is there always a weird feel to this place, like...i fell like I'm-"
"Being monitored, Constantly being watched?" He finished for her.
"Right, and like this whole investigation is weird to me. You all get attacked by some sentient worm woman and we suddenly find the body of a woman reported dead from twenty fifteenth only to find she'd been murdered" She sighed in frustration.
"Well, I'm willing to help any way i can" He reassured.
"Well, you don't have a choice" She joked, "Now to start, did you ever meet Gertrude or any of her assistance? They seemed to be mentioned a bit"
"While I never got to meet Gertrude I end up meeting one of her assistance, it's rather a sore topic for them though" Okay so technically he did meet Gerry but you can't really count a dead person on that list.
"What were they like? Which one was it?" Basira looked a bit more serious considering she hadn't met anyone who had actually had contact with any of her past assistance.
"I do have a quick question for you though Basira, and i promise this is important for your investigation"
"What is it?" She pushed.
"Do you believe in monsters? Like what others may consider supernatural or just plain against normality" He just needed to know her stance first.
"Well, I am section 31'ed, basically I'm put on watch for stuff like that" She answered, running a hand down her face.
"Yes, but personally? Do you believe in them?" He pushed.
She gave him a look, "I mean, i guess so. After you've seen what my department had to deal with, it's kind of hard to ignore. But you all must be used to it here, that's what your all about"
"Yes" Jon admitted.
"Well, know I've answered your question, you answer mine".
"Right, well i had an encounter with a Michael Shelley not to long ago, they prefer to go by just Michael though".
"Didn't they disappear in two-thousand and ten?"
"Oh yes, i don't have time to properly explain but he was mad however they don't associate with the institute. If you should be looking at anyone than I'd say i'm pretty sure Elias did it" He flat out revealed.
"Well, what makes you so sure?" Basira had lost her professional composure now fully invested in what he had to say.
"All of Gertrude's assistance were gone by two-thousand and eleven, either declared missing with no sign of where they went or dead. The only one working down in the archives had been Gertrude. No-one needed to visit the archives other than Elias, her boss". Jon sighed dramatically, "And that's all i really have".
"That's a lot" Basira looked to be in a state of shock.
"yeah, is that all we need?" Jon asked softly.
"Yeah, it should be. I'll text you if i have an update" And just like that she left the room, Jon shortly followed meeting Daisy and the other three waiting.
"You got everything?" Daisy asked.
"Yep, thanks for your time" Basira spoke and within those few minutes they left, they all let out a sigh.
"Am i right in saying we all told them to speak to Double Boss?" Tim spoke, they all noded in response.
"What now?" Sasha asked.
"We wait i guess, see what happens"