Murdersdale 7

El Ojo del Cielo.

The Eye of the Sky.

It belonged to the Royal Family and was ceremonially a symbol of the ruling party. It was just like the conch from Lord of the Flies. As long as Frederico Castro, the then king was in possession of the jewel, he was still regarded as the King.

His half-brother, Santiago, had designs on the throne, however, and made an attempt at the throne 50 years ago; a day which was then known as la visitación Nocturna del diablo. The Nighttime Visitation of the Devil.

40 lives were lost in the tragedy, with Santiago's side taking the most casualties. When the dust settled, and the blood was scrubbed out of all the floors of El Castillo Real, it was discovered that the jewel was nowhere to be found. A battle broke out again which transcended to war, and although Frederico still kept the throne at the expense of a hand a dead half-brother, the jewel was never found.

Until today.

Jedidiah was shellshocked. He couldn't even begin to comprehend how the hell the diadem had found it's way to this backwater town in America, being possibly in the possession of an old lady whose name didn't sound the least bit Spanish.

That is if he was believing that this was the actual diadem, which it most likely was. From the picture, it was fairly large, the largest uncut diamond in all of Eurasia. There was definitely a big deal to it; little wonder why it was so valued over there.

"And even today," he sighed. "People are still killing for possession of the damn thing."

He only had to sleep now; he'd worry about the rest of the investigation and also the person who was spying on him the next day. For now, he had to sleep; a detective's work is never really done.

The next morning saw him at the front desk.

"You can employ someone to stay in front of my door and guard it. 20 dollars a day. I'll pay daily. But I would love it if we didn't have a repeat of yesterday's... unfortunate occurrence, thank you."

The man smiled uneasily and said he would find someone.

Jedidiah stepped out and hailed a cab this time. As he got in, he smiled at the weird comfort he enjoyed in taking these horse-driven carriages as opposed to the 'modern' automobiles he used in the city. It made him nostalgic for his childhood.

Within minutes, he was at the station, and the Sheriff was present, much to his liking, He didn't like to waste others' time, and he didn't appreciate his time being wasted either.

"I heard you had a tough day yesterday..." the Sheriff began.

"Uh-huh. I was being stalekd and I had to take that guy out, and then my room got robbed by some nutjob. Luckily he crashed into a horse and I was able to recover what he took from my room, although he escaped."

"What he took? What did he take?"

"A newspaper. What was really interesting was what was on that newspaper. An article that seems to prove that the 'Eye of the Sky' is a missing jewel from the royal family of Spain. It disappeared during a bloody war, and somehow, it's made its way here.

"That's...crazy. Perhaps Lady Cynster might be..."

"A possible descendant who managed to escape from the country? Possibly. But who knows whose side she was on, and the ramifications of that as well? Not to talk of Marcel's true identity, if those are even their real names. The deeper we dig into this case, the more we see that we 're really in for a wild ride today."

"So, you ready to go?"

"Uh-huh. We meet back here at 5, preferably prompt. Anything later and we both know something went wrong. That system works best for me most of the time. Are you in?"

"No complaints here. It seems like a good plan. I'll be going I guess."

As they both walked out, the Sheriff slipped while going down the stairs and had to be held up by Jedidiah. The stairs weren’t at all slippery, so the shoe would need to have worn out soles to cause a slip.

"You okay there? It seems like your boots are giving you a hell of a time. There had to be...what? No traction at all for that to have happened!" Jedidiah said.

"I gotta get me a new pair of shoes, that I do. These soles have worn out completely," the Sheriff said laughing. "See ya!"

As they both walked their separate ways, Jedidiah looked to the sky and smiled briefly before turning back towards the receding figure of the Sheriff.

He wondered why Sheriff Josiah Mantle had raided his room yesterday, and why the innkeeper had kept quiet about it.