Heh. The woman trying to talk to Redrock was in a suit. Sure, she was good enough to hold his attention while the other, more appropriately dressed women were busy, but the second she and Aurum walked over, Riley had a feeling the mood would change.

Aurum gave the green light, and over they went. He’d made a good switch, from the slightly downtrodden to the confident man that actually fit in with the type of people at this party. It was all about status, and knowing how to impress the right people. At least as far as Riley knew, Redrock was one of the right people. He was also far more tolerable than most of the lechers at this party.

They approached, and true to form, the mustached man turned and greeted her with a smile that made the skin around his eyes crinkle. “I was wondering where you’d wandered off to!” he exclaimed taking the hand that Riley had offered for a moment and a quick kiss as she approached with Aurum. “I see you found new company.” Maurice said, eying Aurum as if they hadn’t been in the same room together for the past hour or so.

“I did!” Riley said, casting another bright smile in Aurum’s direction, “There are just so many lawyers to talk to tonight. Even brand new ones! Aurum, this is Maurice Redrock. Maurice, this is Aurum, I mentioned how much you like cars and he just had to come talk to you.”

Redrock was instantly interested. This was far better than the woman who had been shoving resumes at him a few moments ago. He offered his hand to Aurum to shake. “What did you say your name was again?”

Riley grinned.

”You lawyers and your cars. Soon you’ll both forget I’m here.”

They approached, and the woman who the man had been talking to gave them a perplexed look, then made herself scarce with an 'If you'll excuse me'. The mustachioed man didn't seem to mind.

Riley truly was a good actress. In his time in school, Aurum had never mastered the craft. Perhaps a natural gift was his to boast? Perhaps not? They would see. His charm, he kept on working, as Riley and Redrock talked.

Aurum returned Riley's smile, and gave one to Redrock, too.

The man extended a hand. "Aurum," Aurum repeated, shaking that hand. "Like 'gold'."

>>”You lawyers and your cars. Soon you’ll both forget I’m here.”

He released the hand and gave Riley a joking chuckle. "Somehow, I don't think that's possible." He swung his focus back to Redrock. "I also restore motorcycles. I'm a bit of a mechanic, when I have the free time."

Aurum liked cars. He knew a whole lot more about types of motorcycles, however.

Redrock liked motorcycles, too. "Is that so?" He asked. "My! What is your favorite brand?"

"I'm a Harley Davidson man, Mr. Redrock. I just love the All-American, All-muscle feel."

Redrock liked that answer. "Please," he stopped Aurum. "Call me Maurice."

To his credit, Aurum performed magnificently, right down to the little anecdote to help the older man remember his name. Maurice was absolutely smitten, and all Riley really had to do was stand there and look pretty until the conversation swung her way again. Now that Aurum was around, she didn’t have to wander aimlessly and talk to people she hardly knew. While she waited her turn to speak, the brunette made a list in her head of all the people she could introduce Aurum to. It wouldn’t do to simply have him talk to lawyers. One of the observant chaps would figure out that he was trolling for a job and that might just ruin things.

Realizing what she was doing, Riley started a bit at herself. When had this gone from a half-assed excuse to get out of boring chit-chat to an actual attempt to be helpful? She looked up at Aurum, now in his element with motorcycles, and sighed. This whole multi-dimensional friendship thing was a little addicting…and wait…had he just said something about motorcycles?

Things were getting more and more interesting by the moment. Who’d have thunk? The golden boy liked to work on bikes. Riley had to admit, she was impressed.

On and on, the conversation went. From cars, to bikes, then back to cars. Maurice also had an interest in speed boats. Aurum didn't know much about them. He smiled and nodded through it, into golf, though.

After what seemed like forever (but was only in reality six minutes), Aurum found himself an out from the conversation. Maurice had seen one of his friends.

"It was a pleasure talking to you, Aurum my lad," He beamed. "Now, if you'll excuse me. My good friend Olivia Wood over there has been begging for my attention."

"Quite alright, sir. Good bye." He smiled.

Aurum turned to Riley, beaming. "Well, that went well."

Well good. Maurice had liked Aurum, and the baby lawyer had probably secured himself a good impression if nothing else. Those counted for a lot in this town, Riley knew, and she preened a bit over the fact that she’d helped make it happen. Maybe this was why people liked having friends so much. It actually felt nice to do things for them. Riley didn’t want to make it too much of a habit though, she had a reputation to maintain.

There were more people to talk to though, and as Maurice wandered off, Riley scanned the crowd for them. “Hmmm. Who next? That balding guy over there is a Lawyer. He’s a hell of a womanizer. He’s got a wife and two girlfriends that I know of. One of them is the vamp on his arm.” she said, nodding towards the man she had described.

”And that guy over there…the one who looks like a nerd, is a giant nerd. He loves to talk about computers, but he’s apparently a heck of a hacker, so he has his share of legal problems.”

”Any questions?”

The first man Riley had gestured to, Don Renkles, was indeed balding. He had fat lips and a fatter wallet. The woman on his arm looked to be interested in one thing: Money. She wore a red slip of a dress and held her black purse close to her side. Every time Don told a joke, she'd laugh and hold his arm. He told quite a few jokes, to encourage this behavior.

Aurum glanced away from the man, towards the second Riley had mentioned.

The second man wore glasses. He was dressed like a nerd, and like Riley had said, he was. Everything about him was true to her words, from the slight look of panic on his face as he glanced around to the way he mopped the sweat off his brow. He was a talented man, but he had his share of legal problems. Legal problems meant money problems. Aurum got the feeling, from the way the guy was eying the others at the party, they were in a similar boat. They both wanted to make some connections. They both wouldn't mind a job.

>>”Any questions?” Riley asked.

Aurum smiled. "Let's meet the womanizer first." He said.

Riley agreed. Off they went.

For some reason, Riley had thought that Aurum would pick the nerd. Maybe it was because the nerd was a little less intimidating than the womanizer and his expensive suit. Riley had to chide herself. Aurum was made of sterner stuff, it seemed. Apparently he’d settled into the party now that she was around. Damn, she was good. They headed for the man and his arm candy.

They mingled. They chatted. They moved from person to person, Riley making introductions where she could and other members of the party making introductions where she could not. Things were going swimmingly, and for the first time at the party, the brunette found that she was really enjoying herself.

More talking, more mingling, more ginger ale. Aurum was networking, and Riley was relaxed. They moved on to the next person needing mingled. This guy was different from most of the others they’d been talking to. Cyrano was tall and dark and leanly muscled. The guy had a square jaw and couldn’t really be described as anything other than good looking. They all talked. It was interesting.

Then someone screamed.

Things were probably going to get even more interesting.

Aurum turned.

The big thing about screamers at parties was screaming got attention. Aurum was not the only person to turn. The even bigger thing was that it usually caused panic.

"What happened!?" Someone shouted.

Someone whispered "dead."

More whispers broke out. A woman wobbled into view, eyes wet, mascara smeared. "I found..." She gulped, nearly choking. "A body."

"Well," Cyrano thought out loud. "You don't hear that every day."

Aurum turned to arch an eyebrow at him. "I should hope not."

Out of all the people at the party, Cyrano seemed to be the only one other than him, and maybe Riley, who was cool as a cucumber. He did not seem bothered by bodies or mention of death.

"Someone call the police, please." Cyrano noted.

Aurum cut in, shooting the guy a surprised look. "And don't anyone touch the body or disturb the area around it."

He still didn't know if the body was a him or a her. He didn't know the victim's identity. He didn't know anything. Except. He did know about murders. This was certainly not run-of-the-mill for him.

Someone had found a body. Presumably a dead one. At the party. And they were screaming.

Excellent.

Aurum had really gotten into his stride as far as the mingling was concerned, networking was happening left and right, and Riley was actually enjoying herself. Figured that someone would find a dead body and ruin the whole thing.

Only…Aurum stepped up.

Riley was…impressed as she watched the conversation between him and Cyrano, and then he was giving orders. She pondered her options for a moment, then shrugged her shoulders.

“You sound like you’ve done this before. Anything we can do to help?”

Cyrano looked to Riley. "You can wait by the entrance and direct the police to me when they get here." He offered charmingly. Aurum cut him off.

"She's with me," he said. "And I'm going to be taking point here."

"Oddly confident," Cyrano noted. "Especially in this sort of situation. I take it you aren't a prosecutor, though? And haven't done a lot of working with police?" He smiled confidently. He wasn't mad at Aurum, oh no. Just amused. Giving the boy a gentle ribbing.

"I'm a defense attorney," Aurum lied, arching an eyebrow. He felt no need to give the full story while defending his name.

"Oh hoh! Then we most certainly should not let you anywhere near the body! You'll compromise the evidence." Cyrano smirked.

"Not in a million years," Aurum shot back defiantly. "And I've had enough experience with this sort of thing to give you a lesson or two." That experience being largely imagined. Through books, films, and radio dramas. Nobody needed to know that, though. Aurum was confident he could handle this. His first mystery had been a success, after all. Even though he'd forgotten what he'd done up till the end.

"Listen, son..." Cyrano dropped his voice a notch. He adopted a pleading look. "You don't need to fight me on this. There's nothing to win. I'm more experienced. I work with the courts, the police. It's my job, and--"

Someone nearby interrupted him loudly. He had obviously been listening. "And why are YOU so eager to see it, then?" He asked.

Another person chimed in. It was the woman with the mascara. "Weren't... you...?" There was some recognition in her eyes.

"Weren't I what?" Cyrano asked.

The woman seemed to have calmed down a bit since her first appearance. "The victim," she said quietly, but seriously. "Weren't you talking to him... earlier?"

The room erupted in hasty accusations and possible untruths.

"He was with the victim?"

"Him?"

"Talking?"

"They knew each other?"

"Was there a fight?"

"Arguing?"

"Did he...?"

"My!" Cyrano's voice rose cheerfully as he looked around at the people talking about him on all sides. "But aren't those some interesting words! Listen, son." He turned to Aurum. "What's your name?"

"Aurum."

"Aurum," Cyrano repeated. He smiled. "What say we both take a look at this body here and put these peoples concerns to rest. You're an honorable man, no doubt. He's an HONORABLE MAN, PEOPLE." Cyrano turned and insisted, then returned his attention to Aurum. "You and your lady friend can help me out here. And if it comes to it... stick up for me? Yeah?"

"Sure." Aurum said, taken aback.

"Super," Cyrano smiled. He waved over the mascara lady. "Miss. Can you lead the way?" It wasn't like he knew where the dead body was, right? Haha. That was a hilarious insinuation. Just crazy.

And then a whole lot of conversation that didn’t have anything to do with Riley happened.

Aurum was actually arguing with Cyrano over the body, and suddenly everyone had forgotten she was there. Were they really that eager to stare at a corpse? Riley had seen a couple in her day, and she would have offered her opinion of the experience if she have had room to get a word in edgewise. As it was, she just stood and watched because she was with Aurum, and he said she could stay.

Riley’s lip curled a bit. Had she just thought that? The lip curl faded into slightly pursed lips. Apparently she was as interested in the freak show as everyone else. Accusations started to get thrown around, mostly at the handsome prosecutor, and Riley found herself smiling a bit. The guy had pissed her off when he’d told her to play door-girl.

Aurum was going to be nicer though, and probably keep the guy from the lynch mob that had quickly started to form. Riley probably would have left him. Chalk another one up for the golden boy being nice. Cyrano called the wobbly chick with the mascara over and then they were off.

”No chance I can get a refill?” Riley said with a wave of her empty glass to Aurum as they followed.

Aurum only smirked weakly and kept walkin'.

The body was in an adjoining room with a glass window and beautiful bookcases that looked expensive. All fancy and wooden and ebony. The desk matched the look, majestic. In the seat, slumped over with an empty martini glass by his hand lay the corpse.

He was the guy who'd thrown the party. Aurum hadn't met him. He didn't know him. He had a hair lip, was short and stout. Looked the part of someone's friendly uncle. Someone's friendly, potentially creepy, uncle.

Aurum was not smirking anymore.

Cyrano was the first into the room. He didn't touch the body, or anything like that, if Aurum had wondered. He kept his hands where they could see em. Bent over. Sniffed the martini glass.

"Ginger ale." He said. He looked at the body. "Poisoned."

The stiff…wasn’t quite stiff yet. That made sense, Riley supposed, the guy hadn’t been dead long enough for rigor to set in…or whatever it was called. Unbidden, the memory of the other body she’d seen floated to the forefront of her memory. The girl had been young, and someone Riley had seen off and on at this party or that. The party had been kicking…until they’d found the girl dead. It hadn’t been a clean death, and it had changed something in Riley. For the better.

Unfortunately, she didn’t think this second body would have the same effect.

Cyrano said that it had been poisoned Ginger Ale that killed the guy, and Riley couldn’t help herself. She laughed.

Nope. Apparently this one wasn’t Earth-shattering.

”Guess I’m glad I didn’t get that refill.” she said, completely oblivious of the other reactions in the room.

Aurum arched an eyebrow at Riley. Laughing at a dead body?

His attention drew back to Cyrano and what he'd said.

Hm... he held his chin. "How do you know it's poisoned?" He asked. There were only so many ways a guy could know something like that. "And what exactly was it you two were talking about earlier...?"

"Kid. You're killing me. Not you too?" Cyrano looked hurt.

"It's nothing personal." Aurum replied coolly. "I just want the facts. It's no good jumping to hasty conclusions. Holmes wouldn't approve."

"Hah. Holmes. Don't hear that every day." Cyrano quipped. "Okay. Fine. Look at the room."

"I'm looking." Aurum said. And he did.

Now that he was looking, he noticed it. Things were in disarray. Books, knocked around. Some pulled out, as if in a haste. Like the victim had struggled to get to the chair and used the book case to help him. And the contents of the desk were shuffled, too. The man's mouth was slightly frothed over, lips with a slight discoloration. His eyes were still open, dilated. Now, what did this make him think of...?

"Strychnine." Aurum said.

"Bingo." Cyrano shot Aurum with an invisible gun.

Riley shrugged at the arched eyebrow Aurum shot in her general direction. So she’d chuckled, it wasn’t like she was going to offend the stiff. Mr. High-and-mighty lawyer could shove his eyebrow. Cyrano had said something funny…it wasn’t like it was a crime to laugh.

…or was it?

The conversation going on between the two lawyers was a little lost on Riley, and when she turned to see what Mascara girl thought…the woman was nowhere to be found. Huh, Riley thought, the other woman must have left while she’d been busy not caring.

The boys were still playing detective, and even mentioning Holmes. Riley rolled her eyes at that one, but followed the small trial of clues they’d sniffed out. The stiff had worked his way to his desk to die. The dark haired woman wanted to make a comment about workaholics, but figured her wit would be underappreciated.

Yes, the lawyers decided, the man had been poisoned. Aurum suggested something, and Cyrano seemed to think he was on the right track.

”Is that bad?” she asked. ”Or obvious? Have you solved the case?”

She looked back and forth between the two men, ” And if either of you says ‘elementary’ you’re getting a face full of ginger ale.”