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stuff and gave it to the elf, who examined if, frowning for a while. That explained the color of the blood, but in turn it made a whole new series of questions arise.
    «Odd,» he murmured, rather to himself than for the benefit of the others, «a fairy with an identification card.»
    «Evidently she had obtained citizenship», one of the agents replied, kneeling over the body. Fortunately for him, Celen was deep in his thoughts and didn't stress out how useless and obvious that unasked for information was.
    The fact that a fairy, or any other creature coming from Faerie actually, asked for citizenship in any place of the prime plane was quite rare. Usually those beings were less than inclined to conform to laws that weren't theirs, as well as to mingle with mortals, if not at their own conditions, mostly inexplicable to anyone else. As far as he was concerned, Celen had never seen anyone belonging to the fairy Kingdom sporting a valid identification card.
    «I thought fairies were immortal», added the same officer, challenging his luck and losing miserably.
    The elf answered him with such an acrid tone that his words could have dissolved the corpse, not even leaving the bones. «They are», he hissed. «They can't die of old age, or illness. Violent death is a different thing. I thought you learned such things at academy.»
    The agent seemed to become suddenly much smaller.
    «No... I...» For a second he was about to tell him that maybe courses of that kind where planned for lab technicians, and that he didn't belong to the crime scene investigation unit, being just a simple patrol agent. That, however, should have already been clear by his uniform, and pointing it out would probably make the elf even sourer.
    The elf solved his problem by starting to ignore his very existence completely and moving to one of the small columns the gate was hinged to.
    «There's blood on this», he remarked.
    One of the officers who had come there with him immediately moved closer to examine the area he was looking at. A pinkish stain, the same color as the blood on the stones, could be seen in the inner corner of the column.
    «Probably she hit her head on the corner, here», he said, pointing a finger at the column, careful not to touch it. «The impact could have been enough to kill her.»
    «No, you idiot», Celen replied, huffing. The officer turned to him a perplexed look.
    «She must have hit this», the elf added, pointing at the metal ornament on the top of the column, more or less at the height of his head. It was an elaborated decoration shaped like something halfway between a pineapple and a pine cone. There weren't any visible traces on it, even though it would have probably been hard to see that clear fluid on its dark surface without any aid.
    Judging by the reaction of his subordinate, Celen concluded he hadn't understood a thing, and didn't restrain from telling him.
    «It's iron!» he shrieked, almost hysterically «A fairy doesn't die for hitting her head on a stone, it's not that simple. Cold iron is extremely dangerous for them. She must have hit this, then the blood flowed down the stone.»
    He turned again his attention to the document.
    «She didn't live here. Whose is this villa?»
    The first officer was quick to answer, glad that the conversation had turned back on a subject he knew some more about.
    «It's doctor Grace Elmond's», he replied, then hurriedly added. «The surgeon.»
    Celen knew the name, but not the person. He had never met her. Till then.
    «Is there anyone home?»
    «No, no one.»
    «Then find this Grace Elmond and bring her to the precinct for questioning. Any witness?»
    «None. The area is quite secluded, the ideal place for people who want some degree of privacy. Between each villa and the others there is...» he was about to say there was a lot of free space, but the left eyebrow of the elf arching made him desist, before he could strike him just for having said something he was able to see by