Two giant breasts stared at me from across the table.

Okay, so I was doing the staring, but I couldn’t help myself. They were practically popping out of her black leather corset. Thankfully, women couldn’t tell when you were staring at their boobs.

“Ryley...” Yaika sat on the couch next to me. “Shouldn’t you look at her face if you’re going to talk to her?”

My life flashed before my eyes. Could… all women tell?

“Ryley, huh?” The woman ran her fingers through her long turquoise hair. “Princess, you’ve brought me quite an… interesting man.”

Yaika gave her a lazy smile. “He’s an expert in this thing called ‘law’.”

“He’s one of your father’s men?” the woman puffed her chest up, not that I was looking or anything.

“For now,” Yaika nodded. “My father says he’ll kill him if he fails, so that’s pretty neat.”

Yeah, neat.

“So, Ryley…” The woman’s eyes moved up and down my body before finally stopping on my eyes. “I’ve never seen a demon like you before.”

“I-I’m not a demon,” I said, tearing my gaze away from her chest. “Anyway, I’m, uh… I’m just here to ask you a few questions about what happened last night. You’re… um, Cyana, right?”

She narrowed her eyes and smiled. “That’s me.”

Oh god. Looking her in the face wasn’t making this any easier, but this really wasn’t the time to be getting flustered. I wasn’t some horny teenager. I was a horny adult, and horny adults knew how to keep it in their pants when there was work to be done.

I cleared my throat, recomposing myself. “Can you tell me about your meeting with Volk last night?”

“I could tell you about it…” Cyana leaned forward just a little too close. “Or we could… get to know each other a little better.”

Oh, come on. She wasn’t making this easy.

I glanced over at Yaika. Her eyes were like dark swirling whirlpools staring back at me. As per usual, it wasn’t clear whether she was spacing out or threatening to kill me.

“Interview her,” Yaika said, her voice chilling me to the bone. Yeah, okay. I didn’t want to wait to find out if it was the latter.

“Just the meeting, please,” I said.

“Hmph,” Cyana plopped down in her chair, turning her head away. She couldn’t seriously be disappointed. After all, I was average looking at best. Well, I was average in the human world anyway. I had to assume she didn’t particularly want to talk about this. Fuck. I didn’t particularly want to talk about this either.

“Let’s start with the basics.” I cleared my throat again. “What did he want to talk to you about?”

“He just talked to me about our upcoming concert,” Cyana said, still refusing to look at me.

“Can you… be a little more specific?”

“It was just the usual kind of talk,” Cyana sighed, changing her crossed legs from one side to the other. “The set list, the dance chorography. Nothing special, really.”

“Did he seem… different at all?” I asked. “Worried about anything?”

“No. He was his usual calm and confident self.”

“I see.” I mean, it was only a matter of time before I came across someone that didn’t want to talk to me. I just didn’t think it was going to happen so quickly. I decided not to press the point for now. After all, Violetta had basically told me the same thing. “What time did the meeting finish?”

“Around 6:20,” Cyana said.

“Okay…” I didn’t feel like I had really learned anything. This was just baseline information. What was I supposed to ask next?

“Wow,” Yaika’s shadowy eyes were almost sparkling. “So this… is an expert.” I was simultaneously grateful and ashamed to see that she was being completely genuine.

“Alright…” I looked back to Cyana. “What did you do when your meeting was over?”

“I came here to the lounge,” Cyana said. “There was a show I wanted to watch.”

“Wait… ‘show’ as in TV?” I asked.

“Yes.” She pointed over at the corner of the room. Sure enough, there was a TV, and a flat screen at that. What did they even watch? I didn’t remember seeing any cameras when I was in the palace, so at least they weren’t going to televise my execution.

“What show did you watch?” I asked. “And around what time was that?”

“Princess.” Cyana crossed her arms, looking over at the royal weirdo next to me. “How is this relevant, exactly?”

“Ryley.” Yaika turned her head to me. “How is this relevant… exactly?”

There was a moment of silence. Well, as silent as it could be with Brad going to town on his notebook.

“This is what you have to do,” I sighed. “You ask for details. Sometimes, you won’t know if the information’s relevant until you hear it.”

“I see…” Yaika slowly turned her head back to Cyana. “…This is what you have to do. You ask for details…”

I cut her off. “I think she heard me.”

“Yes. Thank you, Princess.” Cyana smiled. Of course, her face changed back to one of disgust when she looked back to me. “I was watching ‘Demon Star Search’. It’s on every Saturday night at 6:30. I always watch it, so that’s why Mr. Volk talked to me first.”

“Rayne mentioned that you all split up to find the source of the alarm,” I continued. “Which room did you go to?”

She sneered at me. “Here. The lounge.”

“Did you leave the lounge at all before the fire alarm went off?”

“I got up to use the bathroom once.” Cyana switched her crossed legs again. “And before you get suspicious, you have to pass by Ms. Rayne’s desk to get there. She saw me.”

She was picking up on my intentions quick. Everyone on this floor was a suspect, and that included Boobs McGee here too. I decided to ask the obvious question. “Can Rayne see the entrance to Volk’s office from her desk?”

“She can. Didn’t you see for yourself when you got off the elevator?”

Well… shit. With Violetta the last person Volk was scheduled to see, things weren’t looking any better for me.

“Alright, that’s all for now.”

“That’s it?” Yaika tilted her head “So… did she do it?”

“Princess!” Cyana gasped.

“We need to gather more information before we’ll know that,” I sighed. “We have to talk to the other member next.”

“Oh, okay.” Yaika said. “Brad, go ask Rayne where Goldie is.”

“No prob.” Brad slinked out of the room like a slug. I wasn’t sure if I’d ever get used to that.

“I didn’t kill Mr. Volk,” Cyana yelled, pressing her boobs down against the table.

I stood up. “That may be true, but Violetta didn’t either. I’m here to figure out who did.”

I walked out the room looking like a total badass, but I couldn’t have been more uneasy. After all, every new thing I learned seemed to lead to the same conclusion.

The conclusion that, as things stood, there was no way anyone other than Violetta could have done this.