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meat loaf with thick gravy, each served on a separate tiny plate again, she finally found some entertainment. Bethany Westmorland, the detective, and a halfway cute Asian looking man walked in both looking at her a little blankly. He looked ethnically Chinese to her, having known a few from her martial arts classes over the years, possibly Korean though, so she'd be careful not to ask and make herself look stupid. Koreans and Chinese people could get touchy about that at times, in her world at least. Old rivalries basically.
      “Excuse me, Miss Farris? We met yesterday, I'm Bethany Westmorland, the Constabulary Detective. This is Daniel Chuan, also a Constabulary Detective. Is it alright if we come in?” She spoke carefully and from very near the door, her voice flat, as if exhausted and trying not to show it, or drunk, but given what she heard the day before, she'd be willing to bet the woman hadn't slept or eaten since they last spoke.
      Gwen gestured them in, still slowly, but without a lot of pain.
      “Please do come in,” she called to them, as if they weren't standing ten feet away. People here seemed very concerned with being polite, so she'd best copy that. She just hoped her guesses about what would count as proper worked here well enough to get by until she learned what to do for sure.
      She gestured at the chairs that had been left since the night before, and asked them to please sit, which seemed prudent as the female detective looked ready to drop where she stood anyway.
      “Detective Westmorland... not to be nosy, but when was the last time you slept, ate, or took a proper bath?” Gwen asked bluntly. The woman didn't reek, but she smelled slightly of stale sweat and looked to be wearing the same clothing as yesterday.
      Again, the woman asked the time. The other detective checked his wrist watch.
      “One fourteen... now,” he told her precisely.
      “I ate last night, when you instructed me to. I slept five days and fourteen hours ago and I last had a bath... seven days ago, if showering counts for these purposes.” This came out as if she had checked some interior clock or calendar, leaving no doubt that what she reported could be proven one hundred percent factual.
      Detective Chuan's eyes grew big.
      “Bethany, you have to eat and sleep! We can put up with the rest, but if you collapse you'll be useless to us. Why haven't you been taking care of yourself?” He didn't sound stern, simply concerned about his partner.
      If she was his partner. That hadn't actually been stated, Gwen remembered, trying to pay attention to everything, since anything could turn out to be new and different here, even things she thought she understood from back home.
      Bethany looked at him blankly.
      “I was given an assignment and no other instructions. I simply kept following those instructions to the best of my ability, as I'm required to.” This came out sounding free of emotion, blank.
      The man shook his head as if trying to clear it of something stupid.
      “We need to find you a caretaker very badly, Bethany.”
      Looking at him without expression, the female detective considered the situation for a moment.
      “We need to find these killers more,” she said.
 
 
 
 
 
Chapter three
 
 
 
 
 
      The male detective, Daniel Chuan, held out small, brown glass vials for her to smell, trying to find what she'd noticed during the attack. After twenty or more vials, Gwen thought she had it.
      “That one. It's not exactly right, but nearly. The overtones were, I don't know, darker? If that makes any sense to you. Almost like licorice. Plus that, whatever it is.” The Asian man nodded and pulled out another vial, which he held near the first and had her smell again.
      “That's it!” She smiled, noticing that Bethany Westmorland kept