Murder Mysteries a Play for Voices (9781466109827) (5 page)

RAGUEL THEN

It’s beautiful, isn’t it? The city, from
this height. And the darkness, beyond the city...

SARAQUAEL

Yes. It’s beautiful. It’s all there is.

RAGUEL THEN

I may want to talk with you some more,
later.

SARAQUAEL

Very good... Sir? Do you know if they will
be assigning me another partner? For Death?

RAGUEL THEN

No. I’m afraid I don't.

/SFX/MUSIC UNDER. RUNNING WATER -- A
RIVER...

RAGUEL NARRATION

In the centre of the Silver City was a park
-- a place of recreation and rest. I found the Angel Lucifer there,
beside a river. He was just standing, watching the water flow.

RAGUEL THEN

Lucifer?

LUCIFER

Raguel. Are you making progress?

RAGUEL THEN

I don't know. Maybe. I need to ask you a few
questions. Do you mind?

LUCIFER

Not at all.

RAGUEL THEN

How did you come upon the body?

LUCIFER

I didn't. Not exactly. I saw Phanuel,
standing in the street. He looked distressed. I enquired whether
there was something wrong, and he showed me the dead angel. And I
fetched you.

RAGUEL THEN

I see.

/SFX/ THE SOUND OF WATER.

LUCIFER

The water’s so cold... Is that all?

RAGUEL THEN

Not quite. What were you doing in that part
of the City?

LUCIFER

I don't see what business that is of
yours.

RAGUEL THEN

It is my business, Lucifer. What were you
doing there?

LUCIFER

I was... walking. I do that sometimes. Just
walk, and think. And try to understand.

RAGUEL THEN

You walk on the edge of the City?

LUCIFER

(a beat)

Yes.

RAGUEL THEN

That's all I want to know. For now.

LUCIFER

Who else have you talked to?

RAGUEL THEN

Carasel's boss, and his partner. They both
feel that he killed himself -- ended his own life.

LUCIFER

Who else are you going to talk to?

RAGUEL THEN

Maybe everyone.

LUCIFER

All of them? There must be thousands of us.
Millions. You’d speak to each of us?

RAGUEL THEN

If I need to. It's my function. I cannot
rest until I understand what happened, and until the vengeance of
the Name has been taken on whoever was responsible. But I'll tell
you something I do know.

LUCIFER

What would that be?

/SFX/ WATER DRIPPING...

RAGUEL THEN

Carasel didn’t kill himself.

LUCIFER

How do you know that?

RAGUEL THEN

I am Vengeance. If Carasel had died by his
own hand, there would have been no call for me. Would there?

RAGUEL NARRATION

He did not reply.

(beat)

I flew upwards, into the light of the
eternal morning.

/SFX/ SEVERAL BEATS, AND THE LA NOISE RISES
UP...

RAGUEL NOW

You got another cigarette on you?

NARRATOR -- LIVE

Here.

RAGUEL NOW

Obliged.

/SFX/ A MATCH IS STRUCK, THE CIGARETTE IS
LIT, AND THEN THE NOISE FADES BACK INTO THE CITY OF ANGELS
UNDER...

RAGUEL NARRATION

Zephkiel's cell was larger than mine.

It wasn't a place for waiting. It was a
place to live, and work, and be. It was lined with books, and
scrolls, and papers, and there were images and representations on
the walls: pictures. I'd never seen a picture before. In the centre
of the room was a large chair, and Zephkiel sat there, his eyes
closed, his head back. As I approached him he opened his eyes. They
burned no brighter than the eyes of any of the other angels I had
seen, but somehow, they seemed to have seen more. It was something
about the way he looked. I'm not sure I can explain it. And he had
no wings.

ZEPHKIEL

(elderly, wise, tired)

Welcome, Raguel.

RAGUEL THEN

You are Zephkiel?

/SFX/ LA NOISES COME BACK GENTLY THROUGH
THIS NEXT SPEECH...

RAGUEL NARRATION

I don't know why I asked him that. I mean, I
knew who people were. It's part of my function, I guess.
Recognition. I know who you are.

NARRATOR -- LIVE

You know who I am?

RAGUEL NOW

That’s what I said, didn’t I?

NARRATOR -- LIVE

(pause, then) Who am I?

RAGUEL NOW

You think I came here by accident? You think
you met me by accident? There are no accidents. Now.... You want to
hear this story or don’t you?

NARRATOR -- LIVE

... I want to hear it.

RAGUEL NOW

Damn right. So I asked him if he was
Zephkiel. And he said,

/SFX/ IN ZEPHKIEL’S CELL...

ZEPHKIEL

Indeed. I am Zephkiel. Yes. You are staring,
Raguel. I have no wings, it is true, but then, my function does not
call for me to leave this cell. I remain here, and I ponder.
Phanuel reports back to me, brings me the new things, for my
opinion. He brings me the problems, and I think about them, and
occasionally I make myself useful by making some small suggestions.
That is my function. As yours is vengeance.

RAGUEL THEN

Yes.

ZEPHKIEL

You are here about the death of the angel
Carasel?

RAGUEL THEN

Yes.

ZEPHKIEL

I did not kill him.

RAGUEL NARRATION

When he said it, I knew he was telling the
truth.

RAGUEL THEN

Do you know who did?

ZEPHKIEL

That is your function, is it not? To
discover who killed the poor thing, and to take the Vengeance of
the Name upon him.

RAGUEL THEN

Yes.

ZEPHKIEL

What do you want to know?

RAGUEL THEN

Do you know what Lucifer was doing in that
part of the City, before the body was found?

ZEPHKIEL

I can hazard a guess.

RAGUEL THEN

Yes?

ZEPHKIEL

He was walking in the Dark.

RAGUEL THEN

Yes. Of course he was... You know. I’ve
almost got it. It’s like having a shape in my mind, or a pattern.
I’m just missing one piece...

ZEPHKIEL

Well, if I can do anything to give you your
missing piece, Raguel.

RAGUEL THEN

Maybe you can. What can you tell me about
love?

ZEPHKIEL

Love. Ah yes, love. Well, it’s what we call,
an emotion...

RAGUEL NARRATION

And he told me. And I thought I had it
all.

/SFX/MUSIC, WIND, CHIMES, MUSIC.

RAGUEL NARRATION (CONT’D)

I returned to the place where Carasel's body
had been. The remains had been removed, the blood had been cleaned
away, the stray feathers collected and disposed of. There was
nothing on the silver sidewalk to indicate it had ever been there.
But I knew where it had been.

(pause)

/SFX/ THE RUSHING OF WINGS.

RAGUEL NARRATION (CONT’D)

I ascended on my wings, flew upward until I
neared the top of the spire of the Hall of Being. There was a
window there, and I entered.

/SFX/ ALL SOUNDS CROSSFADE WITH

/SFX/ INTERIOR OF THE HALL OF BEING,
UNDER...

RAGUEL NARRATION (CONT’D)

Saraquael was working there, putting a
wingless mannikin into a small box. On one side of the box was a
representation of a small brown creature, with eight legs. On the
other was a representation of a white blossom.

RAGUEL THEN

Saraquael?

SARAQUAEL

Hm? Oh, it's you. Hello. Look at this: if
you were to die, and to be, let us say, put into the earth in a
box, which would you want laid on top of you -- a spider, here, or
a lily, here?

RAGUEL THEN

The lily, I suppose.

SARAQUAEL

Yes, that's what I think, too. But why?
Spider - lily -spider- lily ...

(sighs)

There's so much to do, Raguel. So much to
get right. And we only get one chance at it, you know. There'll
just be one universe -- we can't keep trying until we get it right.
I wish I understood why all this was so important to Him...

RAGUEL THEN

Do you know where Zephkiel's cell is?

SARAQUAEL

Yes. I mean, I've never been there. But I
know where it is.

RAGUEL THEN

Good. Go there. He'll be expecting you. I
will meet you there.

SARAQUAEL

I’m afraid it’s quite out of the question. I
have work to do. I can't just...

RAGUEL THEN

(voice treatment)

You will be there. Go now.

/SFX/ STEPS, THEN WINGS

RAGUEL NARRATION

He said nothing. He backed away from me,
toward the window, staring at me; then he turned, and flapped his
wings, and I was alone.

/SFX/ AS HE SPEAKS WE HEAR HIM TUMBLING
THROUGH THE UNIVERSE, UNDER...

RAGUEL NARRATION (CONT’D)

I walked to the central well of the Hall,
and let myself fall, tumbling down through the model of the
universe: it glittered around me, unfamiliar colours and shapes
seething and writhing without meaning.

/SFX/UNIVERSE MUSIC...

/SFX/ A NUMBER OF ANGELS ARE CHANTING LISTS
OF WORDS, ALPHABETICALLY, WHICH WE HEAR AS WE FALL, MOVING FROM ONE
VOICE TO ANOTHER...

ANGEL VOICES

(strange whispers)

Interaction, Interest, interface,
international, intervention, invasion...// Blue Monday, Blue Moon,
blue Murder, Blue Noses, Blue Peter, Blue Pigeon, Blue Ruin, Blue
Stocking, Blue Stone...// manannan, Mara, Marool, Melsh Dick,
Melusine, Merrow...//aquatic, marine, maritime, oceanic, pelagic,
pelagian, seaworthy, thalassic...///

/SFX/ ENDS. RAGUEL BEATS HIS WINGS AND LANDS
IN THE ECHOING HALL, UNDER...

RAGUEL NARRATION (CONT’D)

As I approached the bottom, I beat my wings,
slowing my descent, and stepped lightly onto the silver floor.
Phanuel stood between two angels, who were both trying to claim his
attention.

ANGEL #1

Sir. Excuse me...

ANGEL 2

Sir. This won’t take long....

PHANUEL

One at a time. You first. Hmm. No. I don't
care how aesthetically pleasing it would be. We simply cannot put
it in the centre.

ANGEL #1

But it would looks so much better. And it’s
very appropriate.

PHANUEL (CONT’D)

Background radiation would prevent any
possible life-forms from even getting a foothold; and anyway, it's
too unstable. You’ll need to completely rethink it -- maybe put it
out in the Milky Way somewhere.

ANGEL #1

Yes, sir.

ANGEL 2

Sir? I have the colours you were asking
for.