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Another Sunday night was well underway when the theater that was home to a certain new and highly regarded murder mystery released its audience back out to the city. Among them, of course, were Deductive Logico and Inspector Irratino, embroiled in a conversation that had begun nearly as soon as the curtain finally closed.
Logico was striding with purpose down the sidewalk, making sharp gestures for emphasis as he spoke. "It was entirely in the clues, my friend. The playwright deftly wove them in from the opening scene. It was crafted."
Laughing softly, Irratino shook his head, loping alongside Logico with his hands in his pockets. "It was inspired. Following carefully laid bricks along a wall is all well and good if that's how you insist on doing things, but art's clearly beyond that, and the solution to this particular mystery was as well. It was even in how the actors carried themselves. It was a vibe, if you will."
The expression that crossed Logico's face at that was only barely shy of revolted. "A vibe? Irratino, even for you, that's a bit much, wouldn't you say? You can't solve a mystery based on nonsense."
Irratino's answering smile was bright, if just a bit wry. "Just because you can't make sense of something doesn't mean it's nonsense." He withdrew one hand form his pocket to indicate himself. "After all, I frequently solve mysteries based on what you consider to be nonsense."
The only reason Logico did not roll his eyes was because it was Not What He Did. "What nearly everyone considers to be nonsense."
"Only nearly everyone," Irratino pointed out. "Besides, you're hardly perfectly logical yourself."
"I think I might be insulted."
That caused Irratino to laugh. "I think you're not. You know it's the case. Who do you come to if you're really stuck on a case, after all? Not someone completely bound to your logic, after all. You come to me."
Logico just sighed. "Of course I do. You're my friend, even if we disagree on basically every possible working method. And even if what you're saying makes no sense whatsoever, it will at least usually spur my logic back into working again."
"Oh, is that how you justify it? Then how do you explain this," Irratino asked, waving an arm in a loose circle encompassing... Logico had no idea, really.
"Explain what?" he asked, brow furrowing
"Today, for instance. Once a week, like clockwork, you believe I'm dead again, oh so logically solve the mystery, and are somehow still shocked when of course I haven't been murdered, and invite you to some pastime or another."
"I never think you're going to actually do that again," Logico responded, in the long-suffering tone of someone who has had to make this argument several times in the past and knew it was entirely possible he'd have to make it several more times in the future.
"Exactly! How on earth is that remotely logical?"
"Well, what if you do get murdered on a Sunday?" Logico pointed out. "Especially now that basically the entire stable of suspects has now been a victim of your fake deaths multiple times."
Irratino contemplated that for a moment. "Oh, wouldn't that be an interesting twist? I mean, it's an unlikely one, as the worst it ever gets them is an upgrade to a nicer prison wing. They should honestly be thanking us for it."
"I wouldn't find it very interesting at all," snapped Logico with a frown.
"Of course you wouldn't," was the airy reply. "We are going to our usual diner, aren't we?"
The abrupt topic change made Logico blink. "Of course we are. Where else would we eat after the show?"
"Excellent!" Irratino's voice was bright. "My treat, I think."
That was met with a sharp shake of Logico's head. "Hardly. You provided the tickets to the play, it's only logical that I should pay for our meal afterward."
"Consider it my apology for fooling you with my supposed murder yet again, then," Irratino answered with a shrug. "I won the tickets in a contest, anyway. I correctly guessed how many jellybeans were in a large jar shaped like a rather portly cat."
Logico only just barely managed not to gape at that. "You correctly guessed it exactly? Were you allowed to measure the jar?"
"I'm not sure, to be honest. The answer came to me in a dream, actually. Although, to be fair, I didn't guess it exactly. I just came the closest of all the entrants. I overestimated the number by three and a half."
That was absolutely beyond the pale. "Your guess for the contest included a half jellybean?"
Irratino shrugged. "There could have been a half jellybean in the center somewhere. Besides, as I said, the number came to me in a dream. I wasn't about to round up under the assumption that there were no half jellybeans. I may not have won if I did that."
"Was the runner up four away?"
Irratino shook his head as he pulled open the door to the diner, holding it open for Logico to enter ahead of him. "No. I think twenty-seven."
Logico stopped halfway through the door and just stared incredulously at Irratino. "Then how-- No. Never mind. I am fairly confident that I don't actually want to know the answer to that question." He then continued through the door and the two of them headed for their usual booth in the corner.
As they sat across from one another, the usual Sunday night waitress approached. "Good evening! Getting your usuals, I'm guessing?" As they nodded, she nodded back. "I'll be right back with your coffees. Your food will be just a bit longer."
Irratino sat back in his seat. "So, what are you planning for the rest of the week?"
"Well, logic would say that it will end up like most every week. I'll solve a number of murders through deductive reasoning, and then maybe I'll finally be able to have a day off on Sunday."
Irratino just smiled. "Perhaps finally you will."
The two of them sat, chatting amiably over their dinner, Irratino offering to read Logico's Marot and Logico, of course, declining. Both of them certainly knew that Logico would not, in fact, get a day off the following Sunday. Irratino was already planning precisely how he would pretend to have been killed in the luxury prison, and Logico was considering what event he should book tickets for that evening.
To say it was his turn next, after all, was only logical. Irratino would be able to get the meal afterwards.