Chapter 2
In which a proper investigation starts, and a suspect is found innocent in an unfortunate manner.
Yao was still slowly bleeding in Elisabeta's hands, and his white shirt was slowly stained more and more pink, then red. For a second, it was not the Chinese man bleeding to death in front of her, but someone else, and she was not on the floor of a train car but sitting on the ground in a forest on her father's estate. The man under her had brown hair, and he smiled and told her it wasn't her fault, but...
Francis turned back to Lilli. "Miss Zwingli, please go find Messrs Beilschmidt for us and send them to find the remaining passengers and staff. That way we can begin a proper investigation." Lilli's face was deathly white, but she managed a nod before staggering off into the car behind her.
"Francis, what will we do with Yao...with the body? We can't just leave him here," Elisabeta said. "And it isn't like we can throw him off the back. It would be disrespectful to his spirit."
"We will lay him out in the back of the train after everyone is present. Come. We must begin our investigation." He helped her up, and she walked back to her seat in the other car with shaking legs.
Francis looked over the body for a few more moments. Multiple stab wounds, but they were oddly circular, as if done by a spike. And who could Mei be? The name sounded vaguely familiar, but he couldn't remember where he'd heard it before.
Obviously, it had been done by one of the four who hadn't been in the car with them when Feli made his announcement, and Francis was personally suspecting Arthur. But what kind of motive did Arthur have? And how could someone like him kill Yao? He walked with a cane, for god's sake!
Perhaps he got his American friend to do it. But no, Alfred didn't have the mentality to be a killer. He was far too...nice.
So Vash or Lovino then. But honestly, he doubted either of them could have done it either.
Francis was starting to get excited. Oh, it was complicated and impossible and lovely. His brain was getting out of the relaxed state it had been in for the past two weeks and it felt amazing.
He glanced back down at Yao's body, then pulled a handkerchief from his breast pocket. It was embroidered with a blue F B in the corner. It wasn't something he was willing to part with, seeing as it had been a gift from a very important person, but...well, respect for the dead, and all. He laid it over Yao's face, then returned to the passenger car where everyone else had already gathered.
"Ladies and gentlemen. I am saddened to inform you that one of our fellow passengers, Mr. Yao Wang, has just been murdered." Alfred, to his credit, gave a theatrical gasp. "This is a tragedy for all of us, but the more important matter is the fact that someone on this train is the one who killed him."
"Well who is it? I wanna know who here is a goddamn murderer!" shouted Gilbert.
"We do not know the identity of the killer yet, however, my assistant and I will be investigating. For now, we have decided upon four suspects. These four men were not present in the train car with Elisabeta and myself during the time of the murder, and as their whereabouts were unknown, they are the first on our list."
The Beilschmidt brothers both visibly relaxed, but Lilli's face became a chalky white color. "You're not going to say that my big brother is a suspect, are you?"
"We're sorry, Lilli, but we can't prove he's innocent," said Elisabeta. "We will do everything in our power to, though."
Lilli brought her knees up to her chest and wrapped her arms around them, then buried her face in them.
Francis ignored her. "We have decided upon four suspects," he repeated. "Arthur Kirkland, Alfred Jones, Vash Zwingli, and Lovino Vargas, please stand up." The four men grudgingly stood, Arthur leaning heavily on his black wooden cane. "You are our four suspects. I will ask you all outright: which of you killed Yao Wang?"
"How dare you!" shouted Arthur. "I am a gentleman, and no killer. Besides, how could I? I walk with a limp, Monsieur Bonnefois. I could not kill a man if I tried."
"Mr. Kirkland, the victim was stabbed in the stomach. Even with a limp, I'm sure you could manage to take someone down with a sharp enough object," Francis replied coolly. "I'll take it your answer is a no, then?"
"It bloody well is! I killed no one! Alfred and I were in the dining car, we were both feeling a bit peckish and wanted to see if there was anything there to eat," Arthur said scathingly. "Isn't that right, Alfred?"
"Yeah. That's what happened. Neither of us killed that guy. Sorry, Detective." He shrugged his shoulders apologetically. Francis stared him down. There was something off about the way he said they were both innocent, but what? Perhaps he was lying. Or perhaps he was just tense. Francis wasn't ready to write it off as that quite yet, though, and filed the thought away.
"I see. Thank you for your input," Francis said. He turned to Vash and Lovino. "What do you have to say?"
"I didn't murder anybody! I was...I was in the kitchen car, making pasta for dinner," Lovino said defensively.
"And I was in the bathroom," added Vash.
"Interesting," replied Francis, stroking his stubble. "And neither of you can actually prove this, yes?"
"W-Well, no, but-"
"Then you are our prime suspects," Francis declared coldly, "unless you can prove to us that you were where you said you were."
"What are you gonna do about it? You can't just stop us from being here. And you can't throw us off the train or anything until you prove we're guilty, which we're not," growled Lovino.
"I'm sure we'll figure something out. Perhaps we'll lock you in the caboose with Yao's corpse," Francis mused. "I believe that would work. You would be out of our way and able to watch the body and hold some kind of proper wake for him. We'll be too busy conducting our proper investigation to do so, so you'll do it as part of your repentance."
"But we didn't do it!" protested Vash.
"You both say 'we'. How can you be so sure Lovino did not commit this crime, Mr. Zwingli? And you seem so sure Mr. Zwingli did not either, Lovino. How do you know?"
Lovino's face went red, though Francis couldn't tell if it was because of anger, embarrassment, or something else. "He's Lilli's brother. No one related to Lilli could hurt someone. He practically raised her. If he really was a killer, wouldn't that have rubbed off on her?"
Francis furrowed his eyebrows. "This is true. But every parent keeps secrets from his children, and Vash is no exception, though they are siblings, not father and daughter."
Lilli untucked her head from her knees and screamed, "Vash would never hide anything from me!" Her eyes were red from crying. Elisabeta rushed to her side to try to comfort her, but Lilli brushed her away. Elisabeta visibly deflated and went back to her seat.
"No more excuses. You two are the closest we have to suspects right now. Alfred," he said to the American, who jumped at hearing his name. Interesting, thought Francis. "Could you escort Mr. Zwingli and Mr. Vargas to the caboose?" He nodded and put his hands on the two men's shoulders, pushing them lightly past Francis. Lovino spit on the Frenchman's shoes, but Francis did not react visibly. "And Elisabeta, could you help me move Mr. Wang's body? We ought to lay it out properly as soon as possible."
"Oh, me and Luddy could do that for you, we wouldn't want that pretty face of Elisabeta's getting blood on it-" Gilbert started, but Francis held up a hand.
"I'm almost positive she has more experience in this sort of thing than you and your brother, Mr. Beilschmidt." Ludwig bristled, but said nothing. "Elisabeta, if you please." She nodded and followed him out of the car, back to Yao's corpse.
"Do you really think Vash or Yao could have killed him?" Elisabeta gestured to the body.
Francis shook his head. "No. Personally, I believe it was Arthur, but I can't figure out how. Is there anything unusual about his body?"
"Well, the wounds aren't regular stab wounds, they're-"
"Circular, yes, I know. So he was stabbed with a spike of some sort. But where would anyone get something like that?"
Elisabeta shrugged. "I have no idea."
Francis sighed. "Well, it was worth a shot. Come, let's take the body down to the caboose. I'll take the head, you take the legs." He knelt down and lifted Yao's head up while Elisabeta took the legs. Francis wrapped his arms under Yao's armpits and they carried his body down the train and through several cars until they reached the caboose, where a bench was sitting empty. They laid him down gently, then turned to the car's other occupants.
"Treat the body with respect," Elisabeta ordered.
"What, are you afraid of some vengeful spirits coming back to haunt us if we don't?" Lovino asked sarcastically.
She glared at him. "God help you if they do." She turned around and stalked out of the train car, passing Alfred on her way out, who gave a low whistle directed at Francis.
"Firecracker, huh?"
"You have no idea." He followed her out of the car.
Alfred turned to Vash and Lovino. "I'm really sorry about this, guys. I'm sure you didn't do it, but I can't argue with the professional here."
"How can you be so sure we didn't, huh?" challenged Vash.
"Trust me. Neither of you are killers. I'm gonna lock the door now. You should probably get some sleep, it's getting pretty late. My watch says eleven o'clock. I'll lock the door now. Lovino, your brother will be by in the morning to deliver breakfast. Maybe I'll come too. Anyway, I'll see you soon." He closed the door to the caboose and locked it with the key Feliciano had procured from his grandfather, the conductor of the train.
He decided to stop in the bathroom of the next car for a minute. All of this murder tension was really about to make him pee his pants. Plus, what if Yao's ghost came? That would be so scary.
Meanwhile, Lilli was still quietly crying to herself in her seat. How could they do this? She'd really trusted Elisabeta, but she'd sided with that weird French guy when he said that Lovino and her brother could both be the murderer! She knew neither one could have done it. Vash would never,and Lovino, while kind of violent sometimes, was so sweet to her, he couldn't have done it either! They were both just too good of people.
But the detective did have a point. How did they know the other didn't do it? Maybe they were...together? Well, it wouldn't be surprising. They met up a lot when their paths crossed, if Vash's business took him on the Vargas Express for whatever reason. That was how she met Lovino, actually, and through time their relationship had blossomed.
It always seemed like he knew when she was coming in advance. He always gave her lilies-of-the-valley when she boarded the train. She wasn't sure Vash approved, but Lovino was just so kind to her. And he always seemed to have his time off when Vash was in business meetings, and he'd always take her on little outings when they were in the same city. In Venice they'd get gelato, in the Netherlands they'd get Dutch letters, and so on.
There was no way he was a murderer. And Vash wasn't either.
She sniffled and rubbed at her eyes. She noticed Ludwig, the blond German man, giving her a pitiful look, so she shot him a glare and decided to take a short walk.
She really needed to wash her face, she realized a few cars down. Wasn't there a bathroom in that car right by the caboose? And then maybe she could see Vash and Lovino and see how they were.
She was just about to reach the bathroom car with the bathroom when she heard a strange, wet noise. She stood on her toes to peek through the window on the door and gasped.
Alfred was lying on the ground, choking. There was a red, gaping hole in his shirt, and blood was spilling out of it. And standing over his dying body was...
AN: I'm such a bitch.
It's probably obvious by now, but if it's not, you're going to have to wait a little longer to find out who it is. Probably next chapter or the one after that.
Who sees my horrible plot hole? Anyone? As long as you don't, it's fine. Don't see it. Really. I don't want you to.
Anyway, see you next time! Thanks for reading, I hope you enjoyed!
