No Apparent Cause

Posted on Fri Aug 12th, 2011 @ 6:22am by Captain Li Hawke & Commander Oralia Zeferino & Lieutenant Norval Tigan

Mission: In Our Time of Need
Location: Norval's Quarters
Timeline: Following 'Things Not As They Should Be'

* * Norval's Quarters * *

As Norval opened the door, Oz smiled slightly at him. "Evening, Lieutenant Tigan," she greeted him and glanced down the hallway to see Commander Hawke coming toward them. "Li," she nodded at the woman and stepped through into Norval's domain. "What are we here about?" She'd interrupted her evening's activities - those with Connor, which he wasn't at all happy about - and come dressed in attire that, seeing Li's outfit, seemed downright frumpy in comparison. It was, however, her duty uniform, one of the easiest to don outfits she had.

"Oz, hello again." Li was also definitely out of uniform, still wearing the low-cut red dress and high heels. The conversation with one of her informants had gone on longer than expected. "Hi Norval, what's so urgent?"

Norval was casually dressed, barefoot in jeans and a green linen shirt clearly manufactured on Trill as it was cut in such a way to show off more of his spots than any Terran-standard clothing might.

"Oz, Li," he said by way of greeting, stepping aside to let them in. He had relaxed some since realizing his quarters had been intruded, mostly thanks to his most recent visitor, and then resisted the urge to put everything back as it should be. Preserving the scene, and all. "Nice shoes," he added to Li as she walked past, grinning.

"Anyway, sorry to call you both out here, but given the nature of our guests and their security... it seems significant that my quarters were broken into tonight."

That definitely had Li's attention. "Broken into? Was anything taken? What about your terminal?"

Immediately, Oralia looked around the apartment with a new eye. Li had just asked all the initial questions, so she remained quiet, noting Norval's taste in decor.

The Trill chuckled for an instant. "Unlike your husband, I don't take my work home with me. No Ops terminal here, at least not one with any more access than any other terminal on the station." He paused, taking his own look around his quarters. It was evident that Norval liked color, there was a great deal of it, be it in the form of paintings or sculptures that adorned his walls and tables. There were several candles burning, and a hand woven tapestry of some sort hanging over the couch.

"I'm, ah... very particular," Norval said, choosing the word carefully. Obsessive compulsive was likely more apt. "I like to have things just so," he explained. "Several items are not where they should be, though it's obvious whoever got in here tried to put things back. The differences were subtle, but... well, I notice when my PADDs aren't alphabetized." He glanced shyly to one side, knowing that probably sounded ridiculous. "The furniture's been moved, the bedroom and bath both searched, and ... I'm missing a lily. Nothing else."

And you don't break in to steal a lily, Norval thought, a frown tugging at the sides of his lips.

"No you don't," Li answered aloud. "Hardly appealing enough to break into an officer's quarters."

"A lily?" Oz raised a brow at him, wondered what comment Li had just been responding to, then spied the other lilies in a vase. And he alphabetizes his PADDs.... Bemused, she wandered closer to the furniture, requested information from Security and ran a scan of the room with her tricorder. Just to mess with Norval, she moved the throw on his couch, shifted the candles to one side, then backed off. Security records showed nothing unusual; neither did the tricorder.

"Norval, is there anything you might have kept here related to the Divitians?" Li asked the question as she moved about the room. As she drew near the remaining lilies, she shivered. "Oz, check over here."

Norval twitched slightly as he watched Oz fuss with his things, but he let it wash over him. He hadn't put anything back yet... preserving the scene of the crime and all. There'd be time for that later.

The Trill shook his head in reply. "No, I keep the Divitian arrangements locked to my console in Ops. But if you didn't know that... well, it would be reasonable to search my quarters for something of use, and it would also explain why nothing was actually taken. Hey, that's almost logical," Norval congratulated himself. "My boss would be proud."

Chuckling at Norval's self-congratulations, Oz moved over to Li's side and scanned the lilies. In the middle of the scan, her commbadge chirped and a voice said, "Kh'ali to Zeferino. Oz, something strange has happened in my Quarters. I went out for a walk and when I returned, there was a lily lying on my pillow. I'll leave it as it is for you to check."

A lily? Oz glanced at Li and Norval then, puzzled, answered, "Acknowledged. I'll be around shortly." Closing the commlink, she looked at Norval and dryly asked, "I don't suppose you're making a romantic overture towards Kh'ali, are you?" She already knew the answer and had the feeling that Kh'ali's lily would prove to be the one missing from here. What was up? Both Norval and Kh'ali had dealings with the Divitians; but... stealing a lily just to put it in Kh'ali's quarters?

Norval lifted his hands in a gesture of innocence. "Wouldn't report one break in only to implicate myself in another," he said. "Besides... Kh'ali would break me. I'm not built for Klingon romance," he smiled slyly.

"Yeah, didn't think so," the security chief shook her head. Turning towards Li, she asked, "Want to go with me over to Kh'ali's? There's not much here to go on." She included Norval in her assessment, "Whomever did this covered his tracks quite well. Maybe something at Kh'ali's will give me something to go on."

"I'll be glad to." Li looked back to Norval. "If you notice anything missing, or something strange happens again, call us."

"Well, I can't promise nothing strange will happen on this station," the Trill replied, "but I will certainly let you know if I've lost anything other than that lily."

"Good deal," Oz answered, "We'll be in touch if things at Kh'ali's are stranger than just a lily appearing."


*********

LC Oralia Zeferino
CSEC

Lt. Norval Tigan
Assistant Chief Operations Officer

Lt. Commander Li Hawke
Chief Intelligence Officer