The Man in the Petticoat: A Drag Shergi Mystery

By Kimberly Vogel

First Age, Year 950 : One day you're going along minding your own business. The next day you're trying to figure out why a man with no enemies ended up nearly dead. The way he was treated could never have been mistaken as an accident. So into the theater to solve this mystery the private detective Drag Shergi goes. There lurking in the wings is a secret that could end with everyone dead! For some people fantasy and reality are too hard to distinguish from each other...

• Language: English
• Publisher: Lulu.com
• Release date: Dec 16, 2011
• ISBN: 9781105362842

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The Man in the Petticoat: A Drag Shergi Mystery

The Man in the Petticoat: A Drag Shergi Mystery

Kimberly Vogel

Copyright

Copyright © 2011 by Kimberly Vogel.

ISBN eBook 978-1-105-36284-2

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to any actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

For additional copies refer to:

http://www.lulu.com/shakkathi

Acknowledgements

I want to thank my family and friends for supporting me.

Without you, I don’t know where I would be.

The Man in the Petticoat

This was one of the sadder times, not so much because the person died, but because they lived. How it was after the incident was worse than before. Some people think there is a difference between certain phrases. The words may differ, but the intent towards the ultimate result is the same.

It was a lovely late spring evening. The time was far enough into the night that it was past dinner, but not so far that the dimming light would affect the activities. While I could have gone to the music halls to listen to a concert, I went instead to go to one of the theaters to watch a play. The building that held it was in the center of the town. While it wasn’t as large as ones in the big cities, it was very well maintained.

Since it was early May, I’d just passed my thirty-second birthday. Over the years my outfit hadn’t changed much. I had a black trench coat that had lived half as long as I had. It might not have lived so long if I didn’t take good care of it, both when wearing and when not wearing it. My preferred line of work didn’t allow me to purchase new things very often as the pay was minimal, but my seasonal jobs picked up the slack. At the moment most of the seasonal jobs were out of work; the want for entertainment brought me this way. I blended in fairly well with the crowd with my coat over my white T-shirt, blue jeans, and black boots. What kept me from blending in fully was my height of six feet three inches; not many were that high. At least with my age the silver shadowed white hair didn’t look so odd. My pale blue eyes set in pale skin were pretty normal at least.

The admission into the theater was not much, just one hundred and fifty coins. I was a little surprised since most charged double that price for a matinee. The lower cost was welcome though, so I continued inside after I left the money in the box by the entrance. There were two arches for people to enter through. There were three rows of seats with one aisle between each. It was a small theater, so it only could fit one hundred and fifty people total. The aisles led down to the stage that covered the far end of the building; it was set like a diamond rather than a square. The ceiling had many portions that could be rolled back to let in the sunlight; all of the openings were used to make the best of the evening light.

I wandered down the aisle until I came to the third row from the front. I sat down in the second seat on the end. I didn’t mean to block people’s heads, but my height was just awkward. Thankfully, the slope of the floor helped to make it so the one directly behind me wouldn’t have such a disadvantage. To further it, I slumped down in my seat. My eyes glanced around as the theater filled halfway up.

For a moment, the lights seemed to dim. That was the signal for the start of the play. We were allowed to have food in the theater, but it was limited to water and various snacks. Except for the stifled noise of those being eaten, it was quiet in the place. Then, the sound of sticks hit on a drum echoed – first soft, then louder.

A spotlight shone on the left corner of the stage. There sat a young man with his legs curled around a drum. He appeared to be about twenty-four years old. The brown hair on his head was cut to feather over his skull; it left the tan skin of his face open. Occasionally, as his head tilted fully down, his brown eyes were hidden. He lifted his arms then brought them down so the sticks in his hands played along the surface. The rise and fall of the red fabric was broken slightly as over the shirt was a black vest; the same black color made the pants.

While the music played, a single figure stepped slowly across the stage. His fiery red hair was clipped shorter than the other man’s. The color was bright compared to his tan skin; the same could be said for the contrast between his blue eyes and his skin. With each step the black sandals bent with his feet. There was a midnight blue overskirt with silver beads on the ruffles. Under the skirt was another made of black fabric. Higher on his form was a midnight blue jacket with silver beads sewn in a wheel over each breast pocket. The jacket was left open to help provide contrast. He appeared to be two years younger than the other man, as well as four inches shorter at five feet five inches.

Once upon a time, there was a young man. A woman who seemed to be in the year between the two of them spoke. Her height was an inch more than the younger man’s. She stood straight on the opposite corner from the man playing the drum. Her pastel