Lonely Thieves

Act II, Part VII

Daryl's Side (April 9, 5:00 am)

Daryl stirred awake, yet his vision remained dark. Immediately, he realized that he was blindfolded, his arms were cuffed behind his back, and he was tied to the chair he was sitting on. He slowly began to remember that he and Norah had been taken to an unknown location, and they had been left here for some reason or other. He could sense people around, but couldn't tell exactly what was going on.

Suddenly, the blindfold was removed from his eyes, and the light hanging from the ceiling momentarily blinded him. Daryl looked around expecting to see a police interrogation room, but he was surprised to instead find himself in an apartment that must have been abandoned for quite some time. In front of him were two women speaking to each other in hushed tones. He recognized them as Ingrid Hayasaka and one of her subordinates, and he quietly tried to listen in on their conversation.

"...I'm just worried. We're doing all this behind the backs of not just the Overman Foundation, but also Mr. Hayasaka as well. Will you be alright?"

"I'm simply doing my duties as Captain of Hayasaka Security. Grandfather will understand."

"Very well. The others are watching Ms. Albert in the back room, so we should be good to proceed with the interrogation."

Ingrid nodded, pulled out a chair, and sat down across from Daryl. She wore a rather friendly face, but Daryl could tell that this was going to be far from a friendly chat.

"Hello, Mr. Haddock. Let's keep things simple, shall we? Help us out and we'll let you go free."

That was quite simple indeed.

"Your image was pulled from the security cameras at the Hayasaka mansion," Ingrid explained as she took out a zoomed-in image of Daryl at the mansion. "If we wanted, we could immediately have you arrested and rotting in jail at a moment's notice. Understand that I'm doing you a big favor by giving you a deal."

"...What do you want from me, then?"

"Just cooperate with us as best you can. First of all, let me ask you some questions." Ingrid pulled out an image of the emerald necklace and showed it to Daryl. "We searched your person for the necklace, but we didn't find it. So who has the necklace right now?"

Daryl didn't answer. After all, he never said he would cooperate. It might put him in a bit of hot water, but right now, he didn't see any incentive to comply with her demands, especially when it seemed like she wasn't acting in an official capacity.

Ingrid seemed dissatisfied with Daryl's silence, but she did not press him to answer. Instead, she decided to change tack to another subject. "All right, then. Why did you steal the necklace in the first place?"

This was a little trickier. As a Night Hunter, maybe the worst thing you could do was reveal that to a member of the police. After all, it was rife with criminal requests, and being a Night Hunter alone was enough to put you under suspicion.

"I have a debt," Daryl explained, craning his neck to show off his debtor's collar. "To pay it off, I wanted to steal something expensive and sell it for loads of cash." Technically, none of what he said was untrue.

"But why this specific necklace?" Ingrid pressed. "In the first place, people don't normally try to steal from one of the most powerful families in Twilight, do they?"

"They do when their debt is as massive as mine," Daryl countered.

Ingrid scowled for a moment, then got up and paced around the room for a second. Daryl wondered what she was thinking about. It was probably wishful thinking to assume she didn't suspect him of being a Night Hunter. While it was almost certain that she was aware of Megumi's existence, it didn't look like she actually knew who she was. That was the only card he held, and it didn't seem to be much help.