Chapter 3

Reiner didn't say anything more. He scooped up Kaede's body, tossed her over his shoulder, delivered her to Hanji, and left.

Hanji rubbed her hands together excitedly. "Ooh, boy. A fresh one." She turned to Armin, who was furiously scribbling his observations in a notebook. "Do you know how hard it is to get a human body around here? All the dead are either Titan food or too badly damaged to be of any use. But this-" Hanji gestured at Kaede's body, lying naked on a cold metal table- "is pristine!"

"Hanji, I didn't bring her here for you to dissect," Armin told her firmly. "I want help examining Kaede's body because I think she was murdered."

"Murdered?" Hanji didn't sound quite so excited- more like she was curious."Why do you think that?"

Armin pointed out the bruises on Kaede's arms and neck. "They're finger-sized. I think someone was holding her by the forearms before they got their hands around her neck. And if she really committed suicide, then there would be rope burns or marks or something where the 3D gear cables were in contact with her neck. But there's no mark of the cables on her neck, because by the time she was placed in the tree her blood had stopped flowing, so the cables left no marks."

Hanji nodded. "That's a viable hypothesis, Armin." She smiled widely. "I'm impressed that you know so much about human biology."

"I'm not done," Armin continued. "In a suicide by hanging, the blood would flow to her feet, wouldn't it? Gravity and all that." Armin gingerly rolled Kaede's body until she was face down on Hanji's table, suppressing a shudder as he did so. Armin was okay with touching her dead body, but touching a dead, naked body seemed like crossing a line. "But here, her back is dark because that's where the blood went- indicating that she was on her back for a while and then moved. And when I went to close her eyelids, they were stiff. So were her limbs. She would have had to have been dead for at least three hours before she was found."

Hanji had a serious look on her face. "Listen to me, Armin." she said. "I don't want you to talk about your murder hypothesis to anyone. Imagine the uproar it would cause in the corp."

"But if there's a murderer-"

"Armin, listen to me. I believe you, but Erwin and Levi won't. To them, it has to be concrete. They don't have any uses for those of us who make observations." Hanji laughed humorlessly, telling Armin that she knew this all too well from personal experience. "It's better for everyone to believe that this was a suicide."

"What about Hannah?" Armin countered. "You think she wouldn't want justice for her friend?"

"Better for everyone." Hanji said, leaving no room for argument. "If there wasn't the Titan menace, Armin, I would wholeheartedly help you. But everyone has to devote their time to something else. If you want to investigate, go ahead- but please keep it quiet."

"All right," Armin sighed. Hanji draped a sheet over Kaede Harrison as Armin left the lab, closing the heavy wooden doors behind him.

At least I know where to begin- with the person who saw her last. And I will bet anything that that person is Reiner Braun.

Armin found the tall blonde in the mess hall, slowly eating the Survey Corp's typical lunch of dark, chewy bread; baked potatoes; and radish soup with bits of mystery meat floating in it.

"Hello, Reiner." Armin greeted.

Reiner eyed him warily. "Hi."

"I'd like to ask you some questions, if I could?"

"About Kaede." It was a statement, not a question.

"Yes. How did you know each other?"

Reiner shrugged. "I met her during the female Titan thing. And we started talking, and, you know, became friends."

"Good friends?"

"Yes."

"Just friends?" Armin questioned.

Reiner glared a little. He stood abruptly, gathering his dirty dishes. "Yeah, Armin, we were just friends. Excuse me now. I'm gonna train with Bertolt."

Armin watched Reiner's retreating back. Yeah, he's hiding something- quite a few somethings. Armin made a record of that in his notebook:

Reiner claims he met Kaede during the clash with the female Titan. I don't think he has a reason to lie about that, but will investigate anyway. Everything else was obviously a falsehood- clearly considered Kaede more than a friend, probably romantically involved. Love does crazy things to people- could very well motivate Reiner to kill her. Ask Bertolt, Annie if they knew where Reiner was last night- and see if they have (credible) alibis too. Need more information!

Armin underlined the last three words. He decided to find some other friends of Kaede and see if they could provide any information.

Armin really didn't want to bother Hannah about this, so he did the next best thing: he asked Sasha, who seemed to know everyone. He gleaned two more names: Jill Ford and Ayla Schwartz.

Jill Ford and Ayla Schwartz were found in the stables, tending to the horses and talking quietly. Ayla was mucking out a stall while Jill groomed the horse- a handsome chestnut colored mare. "Hi," Armin interrupted their conversation.

Ayla wiped her brow and leaned on the shovel, while Jill peered over the mare's hindquarters. "Hi," Ayla responded. "Uhm, Arlert, right?"

"Yes." Armin fidgeted with his notebook and pen. "I hoped I could ask you some questions about Kaede Harrison."

The girls' faces fell. "Yeah, I guess. Why?" Jill asked. She was a short redhead with light blue eyes and glasses.

"I just want to make sense of it." Armin told her. "I only knew Kaede casually, but she seemed to be a cheerful and outgoing person."

"If someone like Kaede killed herself, do the rest of us have hope, really?" Ayla wondered. Although she was up to her knees in horseshit, Ayla was obviously beautiful. She was tall and had short brown hair, although her eyes were sad. "I mean," she continued, "Kaede was a good person. She loved the Survey Corps. If she despaired, then…" Ayla left the thought unfinished.

"I want to know what was on her mind on her last night," Armin began. "Get in her shoes, so to speak. Do you know what she was doing?"

"I saw her last night at supper, and she was her normal self." Ayla replied. "That's the last I saw of her, because then I went to bed early. I knew I'd be in the stables at dawn."

"I saw her at supper, too." Jill sighed. "Afterwards she went to her room and changed her clothes. I wondered why, and she said she was meeting someone. A guy, I guess. She wanted to look good for him."

Armin jotted this down. "Thanks." He then looked Ayla and Jill in the eyes. "I am really sorry for your loss. I know we lose friends all the time, but it never gets easier for me."

"Me neither." Jill responded.

"Thank you again. Good bye," Armin nodded and took his leave.

Meeting a guy. Looks like I'll have to have another conversation with Reiner.

Hi guys! First author's note, and I just wanted to say thanks for reading. Drop me a review and let me know what you think, what you liked, what you hated, what you had for breakfast, etc.

Thanks for reading :)