"But…"
Brie gentled her tone. "Aleksandra, I'm no expert on paranormal decay, but from the report I read over last night at dinner, in regards to Dr. Rheia Bradley's findings about cellular degradation and how it is slower due to each races' regeneration abilities, I think it's safe to say your people were killed right about the time the shadows began to appear. There was nothing you could have done."
The queen practically collapsed back in her chair. "Gods, you're right."
Izzy breezed through the door with a tall mug, Cord at her side, carrying a platter of bacon. She immediately went to Carson. "Try this." She set it down in front of him.
Carson blinked up at her and lifted the mug to his lips. He took a sip, shuddered, then began to down the contents of the cup. When he was finished, he looked up at Izzy. "I love you."
Oron stood, growling at the witch. Izzy, however, just nodded. "I know."
"Coffee Goddess has a new acolyte. The empire of Merytopia grows!" Meryn crowed from her seat.
Amelia turned to Meryn. "Empire? I thought you were your own religion now."
Meryn shrugged. "Izzy is a better religion. I will be an Empress instead."
Izzy high-fived Meryn as she walked by, then pulled her mate back down into his chair. "I created a new place of worship at Dav's pub."
Aeson just stared slack-jawed at the women. "How did we go from mass murder, to cellular decay, to Merytopia?"
Aiden shrugged. "Welcome to my world."
Anne pointed to the table. "Meals are kinda always like this."
The queen had a bit more color to her cheeks. "And thank the gods that it is. You girls have given me so much strength," she turned to Brie. "And your level-headedness has saved me much turmoil."
Meryn snapped her fingers. "If we got Kari and Beth here, we could probably take over the world."
Aiden just nodded and grabbed more bacon.
Even Portia looked a bit more steady on her feet. "If we could get evidence that time of death occurred weeks ago, most of the concerns centering around the case of No Confidence would evaporate."
"I'll call River. He is a vampire that has been working as a Vanguard in Monroe. He is currently heading up the forensic side of this case. I'll see if he has an update," Brie volunteered.
Portia winced. "Could you do it in the next thirty minutes? That's when we go to Tribunal."
Brie pulled out her phone. "Calling now." She sent off a text first, to make River aware she was calling from the queen's chambers and that he would be on speaker. He sent back the devil emoji and answered his phone.
"Hello, Wilson."
"Got anything?"
"Not much, but I do have some information I can pass along."
"Shoot."
"After you requested method and time of death, you piqued my curiosity. I spent all last night running panels."
"Please tell me you got some sleep."
"I will be fine. Anyway, you are on to something. Now, my equipment is nowhere sensitive enough to track rate of decay down to the hour, but I can tell you that, for sure, they all died the same day."
"Any idea when?" That was the big question.
"That is a little more tricky."
"Why?"