Loveless Detective Club
Chapter Two: The Scarlet Heart Case
April 1st, 10:12p.m.
All was silent in Wall Market; it was a Sunday, and everyone was tucked up in their beds, readying themselves for work tomorrow morning. Yuffie, however, was not. Walking silently along the streets, she took on the warm breeze that caressed her whole body as she approached the telephone box. Holding a small business car in her hand, she opened the telephone box's door and stepped inside.
"Let's see..." she muttered to herself, glancing up and down the notice board. As there was no room, she tore down a small ad for a 'Swedish "Message."' and placed her own ad there. Smiling to herself, she turned around, and came face to face with Barret.
"Don't tell me yer goin' on the game!" he laughed, in his husky manner. Yuffie gasped, staring at him through the glass.
"Barret?" she mouthed, slowly opening the door and stepping back onto the streets, where she she stood in silence for a moment. "Is it really you? It's been ages!" she cried, flinging her arms around him.
Sniggering softly, Barret pulled away, and pointed to the phone box.
"So, gonna tell me whatcha doin'? Posting ads in phone boxes?" he asked her, with a questionable look on his face. Yuffie went red, and stared at the floor.
"It's not what it looks like..." she said, weakly. "Look!" she brightened up. "Come with me, see Tifa, and we'll explain everything!" she beamed, grabbing his arm and pulling him towards Tifa's 'Seventh Heaven'. He hadn't even had the chance to read the damn business card, nor to tell her it was illegal to post such things in phone boxes.
* * *
"So that's how it is, huh?" Barret asked, a frown burrowed deeply on his brow. Tifa and Yuffie explained everything to him slowly:
After being 'hired' to find Aeris' cat, they found it through painstaking investigation. 'Exchanging' some Gil for the cat ignited an idea in Yuffie, that they should do this sort of thing freelance; people would hire them to solve mysteries, or do odd jobs for them in return for money. It would mean Tifa would not have to work so hard at the bar, Seventh Heaven, and Yuffie could continue to lounge around all day doing nothing.
"Why are you frowning?" Tifa asked him, as she stopped washing up the glasses which would be used in the bar. Barret bit his lower lip, and looked around, settling his gaze on a full ashtray.
"Well, yer know... yer just two little girls..." he muttered.
"Hey!" Yuffie exploded. "We're two, independent young women! Are you saying we can't hack it?!" she demanded, slamming her fist down on the bar. Barret placed his hand over hers. She attempted to pull it away, but couldn't. Moaning and groaning, she pulled and pulled, but to no avail. Just as she was about to scream in frustration, Barret let go.
"See what I mean? What if yer came upon some tough guy?" Barret suggested.
"I wouldn't let him hold my hand!" she spat, gesturing toward her shuriken.
"Well... I guess yer can handle yerself in a fight... what about, Tif'? Think you can manage it?"
Tifa gazed at the shiny glasses hanging up, thinking deeply on the matter. She knew Barret was right in some way, and that he was looking out for them.
"Yes, Barret." she said after a while. "But then again.. it's only Wall Market. Nothing really big happens here. We've only just begun anyway! With a little ad in a phone box! I doubt we'll get much custom just yet." she laughed heartedly, as she continued scrubbing the glasses clean.
"Well, if yer do need any help, you know you can call on me anytime." Barret said, helping himself to some whiskey. Tifa rolled her eyes and smiled, nodding.
* * *
1:04a.m.
It had started raining, heavily. In the playground outside Wall Market, a woman cloaked in a cotton hood hid herself underneath a large cat play-slide, awaiting the arrival of a young man.
"Damn!" she cursed to herself. "That bastard said he'd show. I bet he's with some floozy, right now." she spat, her eyes narrowed. Peering into the starless sky, she tried her best to block out any emotion, but she couldn't help but feel sorrow. Running away from the cat-slide, she fled into the night, the hood flying off into the wind...
* * *
April 3rd, 9:05p.m.
Tifa sighed, as she locked the bar's doors, ready to count the tills for the night's takings. Smiling, she felt she had had a good night; there had been many people, and everyone had seemed joyous and chatty. No one had mentioned the Loveless Detective Club she had set up with Yuffie though; they had left out any details about who they were for their own protection.
As she flicked off the lights and headed for the kitchen to make herself a cup of tea, the phone started ringing.
"Oh, I bet that's Yuffie, wanting to go out somewhere..." Tifa thought, annoyed; she was exhausted, and was not in the mood. Going over to the phone, she hesitantly picked it up.
"Hello?" she said.
"Loveless." a voice called from the other end. Tifa was speechless; it was the password any potential client would have to say if they wanted to request their services. Quickly regaining her composture, Tifa replied.
"Zhu Da's Take Away, 10 minutes." Tifa uttered, quietly, and hung up the phone. Zhu Da's Take Away was a location not far from Seventh Heaven where she and Yuffie had decided to arrange client/server meet-ups, to prevent any mishaps. Excitement and adrenaline coursing through her veins, Tifa quickly picked up the phone and rang Yuffie to tell her the news.
* * *
9:14p.m.
"Look!" Yuffie exclaimed, as she and Tifa hid behind a wall that was close to Zhu Da's Take Away. "There's a woman sitting alone at a table."
"Think it could be her?" Tifa asked, glancing over at the restaurant.
"I dunno. But look at the way she is acting!"
Yuffie was right; the woman seemed agitated, she was looking left, right and centre, and played with her necklace. They couldn't quite make out her face, as she wore a red veil.
"We'd better not waste any time, Yuffie, let's go." Tifa suggested, heading towards the meeting place. Yuffie followed after her.
* * *
Entering into Zhu Da's Take Away, they both got a closer look at the woman. She was dressed completely in red: she wore a red veil, a luxurious red silken dress and a golden necklace with a suspended ruby. Yuffie and Tifa approached her table.
"Loveless." Tifa said. The woman quickly looked up and gasped in shock.
"You!" she cried, lifting her veil. It was Scarlet, of the now dead Shinra.
"S-Scarlet?!" Yuffie exclaimed, stepping back in shock.
"What.... what are you doing here?" Tifa demanded, her expression totally clueless.
"I could ask you the same thing..! Loveless, you say? Then that means..." Scarlet whispered. "You're the people I was going to hire?!" she grimaced in horror.
"Why look like that?!" Yuffie cried, angrily drawing closer. "We kicked your company's arse!"
"Hmph. I have no more ties with Shinra." Scarlet smiled, tilting her head to one side and pulling a red cigarette case out from her handbag. Lighting a cigarette she gestured for them to sit down.
"Well, are you going to help me or not?" she asked flatly.
"Why should we?" Tifa replied, folding her arms.
"Because I am offering you 10,000 Gil in return for your services. I know you're good, you did defeat Sephiroth after all." Scarlet laughed quietly, puffing on her cigarette.
Yuffie, controlled by Gil, was drawn to the chair and sat down, taking Tifa with her.
"What do you need help with?" Yuffie requested, flipping out a notebook.
"Well, well, aren't you well prepared." Scarlet sniggered, flicking the ash in a red pocket-ashtray she held on a silver keyring.
"What a strange woman." Tifa thought.
* * *
"It all began last Tuesday." Scarlet sighed, crushing her cigarette out. "I'd left my house to meet up with my boyfried at his house. When I got there, the door was open, and I heard... noises coming from his room. I... I didn't know what to think, so I left as quietly as I came in." she recalled the memory painfully, but quickly composed herself, and lit yet another cigarette.
"So what do you want us to do?" Yuffie asked.
"Shut up and listen!" Scarlet commanded.
"Woah!"
"So, the next day, I ask him to come and meet me outside Wall Market, late at night... I was going to spice up our relationship a little... see if we couldn't work things out. But he never showed. I just know he's having an affair! That dirty rat is cheating on me!" she exclaimed, chewing the cigarette butt.
"Uh, again, what do you want us to do?" Yuffie sighed, putting her notebook away.
"Well, isn't it obvious?!" Scarlet cried, throwing her arms in the air. "Follow the rat, and find out who is seeing! I want to ruin them both! No one cheats on me and gets away with it." the words shot out of her like a knife.
"Well... it's not what I had in mind for one of our first cases... but a job's a job. We'll do it." Tifa nodded, smiling at Scarlet.
"Tifa!" Yuffie muttered, close to her ear. "Are you sure we can trust her?"
"I think so, Yuffie." Tifa replied, handing over a hand-written contract for Scarlet to sign.
The contract read thus:
[ I, the client, hire you, the server,
for
__________________
And upon completion, the sum of
__________________
Shall be paid in full, and in cash.
Signed:
__________________
Dated:
__________________]
Scarlet read through it carefully, and signed it in a red fountain pen she had procured from her red leather handbag.
* * *
FILE II: AFFAIR/THE SCARLET HEART
April 2nd, 9:21p.m.
Having shut the bar up for the night, Tifa and Yuffie sat in the kitchen, going over yesterday's notes they had obtained from their conversation with Scarlet.
APRIL 2 - SUBJECT: SCARLET
SUSPECTS BOYFRIEND MAY BE HAVING AN AFFAIR.
INFO ON BOYFRIEND.
NAME: JONNY
WORKPLACE: THE HONEY BEE INN/WALL MARKET.
ADDRESS: ROOM 217, SINGING DRAGON APARTMENTS, WALL MARKET.
TRIVIA: GETS NERVOUS EASILY AROUND WOMEN, WORKS TUESDAYS, THURSDAYS AND SUNDAYS.
"Ew, he works at that Bee place?" Yuffie grimaced. "Who would ever step into a joint like that?"
"Aha..." Tifa laughed, very weakly, turning red in the face. "Yeah... anyway, moving swiftly on. Where should we start? Should we go to his house, or go to his workplace?"
Yuffie tilted her head tartly and smiled at Tifa in disbelief.
"What are you, an amateur? I've already got a plan set out in my head." she pouted, looking very happy with herself.
"You're kidding?" Tifa gasped. Yuffie pouted even more, sticking her lips out like a fish, and grabbed Tifa's cigarette packet from the table, lighting one up. "It's Tuesday tonight, we act tonight." she smiled, blowing smoke slowly into Tifa's face. "Wear something extremely ... seductive."
* * *
11:13p.m.
Tifa shuddered, and stared deeply into Yuffie's eyes.
"Please tell me you're having me on?" she pleaded. They were both stood outside The Honey Bee Inn, its neon lights of various colours cascading down and illuminating the dirty street below. Tifa, wrapped in a heavy brown trench coat, shivered uncontrollably, even though it was quite warm. She looked again at the Honey Bee Inn. Did she really have to go in there?
"Oh, come on, Tifa!" Yuffie laughed. "It'll be fun! Think of the hot guys... that's why you're wearing something seductive!"
"I'm not here to think of the hot guys, Yuffie! We're on a job!" Tifa exclaimed, stamping her foot.
"Yeah, but who says you can't have a little fun? Think about it... you get to have a little massage,... you don't need to be pressure into anything else."
Tifa looked again at the Honey Bee Inn. It was all the part of the job they were doing for the client... and she wasn't doing anything completely drastic... and who knows? She might actually enjoy herself. A thought occurred to her.
"Why don't you do it?" she asked.
"Oh! Well I look far too young, I'd never be allowed in..." Yuffie smiled, looking up at the starry sky. Just as Tifa was about to protest, Yuffie gave her a shove towards the door, pulling the overcoat off her.
"Good luck!" she whispered after her.
* * *
The Honey Bee Inn had changed since Tifa last went there; it had a complete overhaul, and switched to a Western decor, with the orient theme completely gone. The walls were of red brick, with small pink spotlights cascading up them. In the centre of the room stood a stature of a nude man and woman locked in a passionate embrace. Tifa approached the statue, wearing her most revealing black nightgown. As she appreciated the fine art, a short young woman approached her.
"Welcome." she said, bowing low. Although the decor was Western, the staff seemed to still be Japanese. "What would you like this evening?"
"Well, I uh..." Tifa laughed, embarrased. "I am just a little stressed... and wanted to see Jonny for a massage..."
The short woman remained in her bowing position, but opened her eyes in shock, staring at the ground. Holding in her breath, she stood upright and looked strangely at Tifa.
"You wish to... have Jonny...?" she gave her a questioning look.
"Uh.. I wish to get a massage from Jonnny." Tifa corrected her.
"From Jonny?" the woman asked again. Tifa was getting impatient.
"Yes! Jonny! I want a massage from Jonny!" she repeated, feeling like a parrot. The woman smiled and bowed down low.
"Please wait a moment." she remarked, walking off. Tifa stood alone for a few minutes, but she didn't mind. She gazed around at the potraits that hung on the walls; they were all portraits of various UK Prime Ministers for some reason.
The short woman returned, and Tifa blushed furiously; she was going to be topless in front of a stranger in just a few seconds.
"Please, this way." the woman instructed. Tifa followed after her through a large corridor, adorned with rare Italian, erotic oil paintings and a spectacular shag carpet. They stopped at a room that had a sign upon it, written in Japanese.
"Hey, what does that sign say?" Tifa asked the woman.
"It says, 'Rubbing Room'." she smiled, opening the door and gesturing Tifa in. She crept inside, peering about.
The room was quite steamy, but she could make out that it was of Eastern decor. In one corner there was a hot-tub, bubbling. It looked pretty inviting, Tifa thought. On the other corner of the room was a paper-screen, with a lovely picture of a woman in a kimono, fanning herself whilst snow fell around her. In the centre of the room was the massage table, and behind that was Jonny.
END OF PART ONE - THE SCARLET HEART...
