Posted by Civilian Jeannette Mathis (Federation Ambassador) in Mathis Residence- TMODJ

Posted by Civilian Joseph Karlson (Police Commissioner) in Mathis Residence- TMODJ

Posted by Civilian Jeannette Mathis (Federation Ambassador) in Mathis Residence- TMODJ
Posted by… suppressed (5) by the Post Ghost! 👻

(snip)

Mathis nodded. “Thank you. I told the detective that I would be here when they needed to take a statement, and honestly, this is where I need to be, with Ren and Jessie.”

“I agree,” Eela said softly. “I’ll let you know how it goes with Kek, but for now, I’ll let myself out.” She rose and rested her hand on Jean’s shoulder for a moment, before she slipped out of the office and the residence.

Stepping back into her slider, she told them to take her back to the Governor’s residence.

~Eela Dasca & The Mathis Family

She was waiting.

Awhile after Eela had left, Ren stepped into the office and quietly reseted a hand on her shoulder. “Jean, Love, let me make you something for breakfast. I know you’re going to tell me you’re not hungry but you need even a small amount. Today is going to be a long day. And maybe after you can take a nap?”

Jeannette nodded, knowing the wisdom of Ren’s words, and was even grateful for them. Goodness knows she wasn’t in a place to make a lot of decisions right now. Even deciding what food to eat seemed too hard. So she let Ren lead her to their kitchen and slipped up onto a barstool at the large island.

“Did the police say when they were coming by?” they said, moving about and gathering ingredients.

She shook her head. “No, I suspect it’ll be after they are done at the apartment. But I could be wrong. And Eela is going to let me know how it went with Ambassador Kek.” She shook her head. “What a mess. Until we have more info, the speculation alone will be terrible.”The timing of it all was just too suspicious, even if deep in her knowing she understood the Vren weren’t a part of this. “And all I can do is wait.”

“No… all we can do is wait,” Ren said gently, meeting her gaze. Jeannette nodded and broke into a faint smile. “Have I told you lately how much I appreciate you?”

Ren’s eyes crinkled. “It might have come up at some point, but I won’t turn down hearing it again.”

“Well, I appreciate you greatly, love-of-my-life.”

They blew a kiss, despite the sadness that pervaded the room and grabbed a knife to start prepping some food.

~The Mathis family

Just an Hour after the Ambassador arrived home the doorbell chimed. Standing outside was archaically dressed Detective Chief Inspector who was in charge of the Dash homicide investigation standing outside with both hands in his pants pockets looking directly ahead.

DCI Pangolin

It was notable that the expected Starfleet security presence had been increased and they weren’t even trying to hide it. They had double checked Pangolin’s credentials before allowing him past the front gate to even approach the townhouse where the Ambassadorial family lived. They didn’t give the detective a hard time at all though, they were simply being cautious and thorough. There was a quiet communications between one of the guard and inside the home.

Pangolin was fairly neutral when it came to the confirmation, it was just a part of the job no matter how tedious it was. He did analyze their movements, placements, and how they treated new arrivals. Starfleet security was good but he knew that the Fleet shined most through their engineers and scientists. The Security staff were professional and dutiful but this wasn’t a true military operation at least in the way he understood the Military, his former UFP Marine training told him of each weak point someone with proper training and force could exploit, he made a mental note to speak with the head of the protection service later.

Jeanette had had a little bit of the egg scramble that Ren had made her, and one of the two pieces of toast. She was still exhausted but even if she had wanted to sleep, her mind would not let her. And so, when the call came in about their visitor, it was the Ambassador herself that greeted the detective at the door. Opening the door, Mathis looked weary and yet still held herself with impeccable posture. Her pale blue eyes were dim. “Detective, please, come on it,” she said, stepping to the side and leading him inside.

“Thank you” He said politely, he was more than a foot taller than the Ambassador and wide in the shoulders, stocky build in a coat made him seem larger but he walked softly, keenly aware of his size and walked with a slight slouch when entering the room.

The townhome had three floors and was fairly modest in size. It was certainly not the massive home many higher ranked diplomatic staff opted for, and in fact was furnished and decorated with lots of cozy touches: throw pillows on the sectional sofa, blankets draped over the sofa and overstuffed arm chair, pieces of art on the walls, and handwoven rugs on the wood floors. This first floor contained the living room, dining room and kitchen all in an open plan, with an office tucked off the kitchen.

The Inspector seemed to take everything in as he walked through the house,, he looked around and memorized each facet of the room, building a character profile in his mind.

Jeanette had not changed from earlier, and another figure moved from the kitchen to the living room where their spouse was taking a seat on one side of the sectional. “Please, have a seat,” she said as the other person, a tall Human with a lean build and short cut brown hair, joined her. “This is my spouse Ren, whom uses the pronouns they/them.” There was no point getting off on the wrong foot given the likley difficult nature of the conversation. Ren sat protectively close to Jeannette and gave Pangolin a nod. “Detective.”

~The Mathis Family

Pangolin sat down, giving the Ambassador’s spouse a polite nod of greeting, he gave them a short once over, memorizing their figure, face, and pronouns, it was almost a muscle reflex by now. He reached into a pocket and pulled out a notepad made of actual paper and a pen to write with, you can’t remotely access paper. He began like he did most suspect eliminations, a small talk question “Do you have a preferred honorific?” He asked Ren, there was an implication that the honorific was necessary but he suspected that the spouse of an Ambassador was likely used to that.

“Mx is fine,” Ren said.

“To start with I’ll be needing your alibis,” He said directly “This is standard procedure for anyone in Mr. Jones’s life, if you could inform me of your whereabouts between the hours of two and five” They had a start of a timeline already but he wasn’t going to speak with the Lieutenant Governor yet, dealing with Starfleet was tricky and he’d gotten confirmation that Karlson was arriving dirtside in a few hours, he could be the one to speak with the Starfleet commander.

DCI Pangolin

Standard or not, Jeanette frowned, but not for any reason the detective might glean correctly. She drew in a breath. “We had gone to bed late, around what, midnight?”

Ren nodded. “Quarter after was the last time I saw before we went to sleep.”

“I awoke suddenly in a panic. Something was wrong and it…” Jeanette frowned more deeply, unsure how to explain it.

Ren reached over and squeezed their wife’s hand. “My wife is one-quarter El Aurian, Detective. It’s rare, but sometimes she just knows things. But this was different and she was pacing all over the house for several hours. I was at a loss for what to do and after awhile I finally gave in and decided to call Dash. He usually knows what to do, but I couldn’t reach him. I didn’t know what else to do, so I called the Lieutenant Governor. She and Dash have been dating, so it was a guess that if he wasn’t home and expected at work in the morning that he might be elsewhere. But when I reached Eela, she said he had been there but left at two am. That’s when she suggested and arranged the wellness check.”

“When I was told he was dead, I knew,” Jeanette said numbly. “I think I knew earlier but I couldn’t quite process what I was feeling.”

~The Mathis Family

Pangolin nodded, understanding in his eyes. His parentage was fairly complicated as well being part Betazoid, Trill, Vulcan, and Human. The odd mix of different genetic materials led to an odd sixth sense which is what led him to become a police detective, his empathic abilities were not a conscious effect, closer to a feeling in his gut than a useable ability, although in his job it allowed him to ignore the distraction the the emotions of others and also not clouding his impressions when someone felt guilty because they hadn’t had a good last conversation and not feeling guilty of murder. Their story was standard for that time of night, he would of course not take their word for it, and there would be extensive checks of their security systems and nearby surveillance cameras. As far as he knew El-Aurians did have extra-temporal sensitivity which could explain how she felt something was wrong “Had Mr. Jones seemed to be under any additional stress, something you wouldn’t attribute to his workload, perhaps something in his personal life?” He asked.

DCI Pangolin

Jeanette nodded. “I had noticed that he was slightly edgy outside of meetings and anything official. Dash was always able to keep pretty good control over his emotions on the job. Hard to pick up unless you knew him well or he wasn’t trying to hide them. And I asked him last week about what was bothering him. One thing was he was worried that his relationship with the Lieutenant Governor might bring negative scrutiny or criticism to our efforts with the Vren, or reflect badly on myself. I told him flat out I saw no issue with their relationship. They have been exceptionally professional on the job and there was no reason to be concerned.”

She frowned. “But there was something else that was bothering him and that he wasn’t ready to talk about. I never found out what it was about. But Eela also noticed and he said he was going to tell her today at lunch.” She shrugged. What else could they do? It wasn’t like she could generate information out of thin air.

Just then the sound of feet thumped on the stairs and a teenage boy appeared. Ren looked over their shoulder. “Jessie, can you go back upstairs, please?”

Instead he came down all the way. “Is there news? Do we know what happened to Dash?!”

Jean got up and moved over to him. “Jessie, the detective is here to talk to Per and I. I need you to go upstairs. This can’t involve you, Love. Upstairs, now,” she said firmly.

His face screwed up in frustration. “It’s not fair!”

Jeanette rested her hand on his broadening shoulders. “I know,” she said, holding back tears. “None of this is, and it’s hard to be patient but we must. We need to let them do their jobs and we’ll know when there is something to know, okay?”

He wasn’t entirely mollified but Jessie nodded and headed back up the stairs, though he cast Pangolin a long look as he did.

The ambassador returned to her place on the sofa with a deep and pained sigh. “Don’t mind Jessie. It’s been hard for all of us, but for him Dash was like an uncle and they were very close. It’s the first person he’s really lost in his life.”

~The Mathis Family

Pangolin slowly nodded “Understandable” He didn’t mind the outburst, such things were expected with loved ones of murder victims “What can you tell me about the relationship with Mr. Jones and the Lieutenant Governor?” He asked in the same tone as before.

DCI Pangolin