..It took an awful lot of convincing to get myself to go to Ghaleon's, and apparently even more to get Yuffie to come with me. She didn't seem very enthusiastic, refusing to follow along.

.. "I know that I have the day off," she'd said. "But that only means I'm here to help you with anything that actually comes up. I'm not your bodyguard."

..I didn't really have anything to argue this with, so I didn't. Fact was, I did kind of want her as my bodyguard. If you were going against a world-famous sorcerer who was on vacation from the most brutal combat league in existence because he fought too well, you'd take whatever protection you could get, even if it was just a puny world-saving ninja princess.

.. I turned to leave. "Oh, Face," she said.

.. "Yeah?"

.. "Aren't you supposed to wear green, on a commando mission?"

.. She just wanted to get a response out of me. I gave her one, assuming she understood remedial sign language. I left.

..When I got to Ghaleon's hotel, the first thing I noticed was how much better than mine it was. This was not a subtle appearance to the walls (which were in pristine condition, to the ramshackle state of my place), it was not an assessment of accessories (and indeed, Ghaleon's hotel had both a swimming pool and a wading pool, while mine had a small puddle of beer outside the lobby), nor was it a measure of the class of people found lurking about (for which this hotel had beautiful, perfect women everywhere, while my own had women who might have looked beautiful once, ten years ago, in their own fantasies).

..No, what stood out the most about Ghaleon's hotel was just that. It stood out. Costa del Sol isn't a very big neighborhood, but the tourism industry there thrives. There were many small hotels around which never suffer for business, but this was the only resort in the area. It was probably the only building around that could rationally be measured in stories, and what was there more than tripled any of the other buildings in the city.

..Ghaleon, of course, had himself a fancy suite on the highest of these stories, which I didn't bother to count when I took the stairs. The stairs themselves were nicely carpeted, and I didn't see a stain on them the entire trip up. In between each floor, there was a part where the direction of the stairs shifted, and there was a window overlooking the coast. The view was spectacular.

..Eventually, the stairs stopped going up, and I saw that above the door, it had said "15". Not counting had really paid off. I pushed my way into the main hall of the resort.

..Now, I had intended to do some rudimentary snooping around. Maybe ask the other folks on the floor if they suspected Ghaleon of any suspicious activity and come back later. You know, when I'd had a sufficient amount of immortality prepared to protect myself from Ghaleon so that I could question him personally.

..Ghaleon himself had other ideas. As I walked by his door, it opened at me, and the man himself was behind it. He said, "Ah, you must be the investigator," in a tone that was very matter-of-fact and surprisingly pleasant. I stopped dead in my tracks, not turning around until my heart started beating again.

..At a loss, I said, "Uh... yeah, that'd be me I guess," and waited.

.. "Do come in," he said. I didn't like his tone. His words weren't spoken loudly, but that didn't hold back any of his aggression. The bite was small, but packed enough venom to fell a camel. I hoofed it in his direction, because I didn't want to become one.

..If the outside of this resort completely put my hotel to shame, the inside kicked mud in its face. The sheets, curtains, and other linens were of some variety of silk that seemed to be harvested with the sole intention of making the suite look really nice. There were pillows here that could cost me a year's worth of cases just to stuff.

..Lounging over a couple of pillows were two of the most beautiful women I have ever seen. They had to be beautiful, because they didn't seem out of place against the pillows. The one on my left had long blonde hair that she'd tied at the top, and it spilled out, flowing down her back. The one on the right was also a blonde, but her hair was short, for a woman, which didn't stop it from looking perfect. Both had tattoos, and neither girl was dressed to leave much to the imagination, but my imagination wasn't about to let anything stop it. My imagination was breaking out the bubble bath and soft music. My imagination ran out of my head to go cool down and took most of my coherent thoughts with it.

.. "Buh," I said. Smooth.

.. "Please, have a seat." Ghaleon shuffled me into the room and set me on a third couch - Check that. Third. Couch. Of four - That was directly between the two lovely ladies. I made myself as comfortable as possible, which wasn't very.

..The short-haired girl stood up and went into the other part of the suite, and Ghaleon took her place. He said, "I don't believe I caught your name, sir."

..We both knew that was because I didn't give it, yet. "Boniface Traveler," I said. This didn't feel like the crowd for nicknames.

.. "Well then, Boniface," he began. Damn! I was hoping he'd call me Mr. Traveler. "I suppose you're here as part of the investigation into the recent deaths."

..I noted he didn't call them murders, but wrote it off as him wanting to make it sound more pleasant. Frankly, I was shocked he didn't come up with a new and exciting term for it. I told him that I was, because I suspected he could catch me in a lie. Lying would have been pointless, anyhow. I had nothing to lose by hearing him out.

..The girl came back, and handed a steaming mug of something to Ghaleon, who sipped at it. She gave a second mug to me, and I noted that she didn't have one for herself or the other girl. Taking a sip, I realized that it was tea, and rather distinct-tasting tea at that. I suspected that it was specially imported.

.. "Thank you," Ghaleon said. The girl stayed, standing up. "Royce, Xenobia, would you leave us for the time being?"

..No! Anything but that! I didn't want to be alone with Ghaleon, and I didn't want the pretty things to go away. I said, "Why not let them stay? They can do nothing but back whatever you say."

..Thankfully, he didn't take offense to this, and he even agreed with me. "Very well then." Royce, who had to have been the one who fetched the tea - as Ghaleon looked at her when he said her name - took a seat on the same couch as Xenobia, and Left suddenly became my favorite place. Royce stretched out and smiled at me. I squirmed a little, and she suppressed a laugh. Xenobia just snarled. I didn't know whether to be intimidated or turned on, so I chose the latter, because Ghaleon was intimidating enough for everyone.

..Ghaleon continued, "Your statement is not incorrect. To be blunt, Boniface, I could not have killed anyone. Royce and Xenobia will attest that I have not left my suite since I arrived in Costa del Sol." Both of them nodded at this.

..Well, yeah. I wouldn't leave either. Lucky bastard. Besides, what would Ghaleon do at the beach? Work on his tan? I said, "Fair enough, there's plenty of fun things to do indoors." I flashed a smile at the ladies, and noted that Royce shook her head at me, slightly.

..Huh. That was just weird. Somehow, that made me hate him even more. I said, "I believe you, but you may want to keep from drawing too much attention to yourself. I assume you're aware that the victims were killed in a fashion not unlike some of your spells?"

.. "I am indeed aware of that. Again, I assure you, I had nothing to do with their deaths. Thank you for your warning, Boniface. I shall not take it lightly. Will that be all?" It was a nice way of telling me to get the hell out.

..I got the hell out. OK, so Ghaleon claimed innocence. That hardly surprised me, but it didn't really give me any insight as to what was going on. I really did believe that he had never his apartment, but I wasn't quite sure that he hadn't killed anyone. I didn't hear anything about his girls not leaving his apartment; I was sure that they could have easily brought the victims to Ghaleon, if he so desired. The frustrating part was, I couldn't pin a motive on Ghaleon to save my life, and I really needed to see where he was coming from to get any insight into this mess. I tried to think of who else there was to talk to. Maybe I could get one of those girls alone. It depressed me that it'd only be for an interrogation, but I tried to forget about work, and let my irrepressible imagination take me away.