I wake up and notice that the Maid isn't standing by my bed ready to help me get ready. I look at the clock. It's 10:00... Are you kidding me?! How could I sleep in? I quickly get dressed and run out to see the Inspector. "Good Morning Inspector Macdowel. Why are you here?" I ask him. His long brown coat has some blood on it. "Well it seems that Joseph Kagalet was Murdered. It seems that whoever was here wanted to know about his business. Since he's tight lipped about it he refused. Enraged the Killer smashed him with the first thing he could find: A Bottle of Vintage Kuriso Wine. With Joseph now dead he threw the bottle out of the open window and into the lake. Because of how deep it is we cannot recover what was thrown out there. Then as the Killer was leaving he bumped into the Second Victim the Maid. He drew his gun and fired but missed the Maid and hit the flower pot. After he reloaded he shot her dead center of her chest. Open and shut case. We just need to find one of your brother's enemies and throw him in jail." Brother Joseph was killed? That's not possible. It can't be true. "Shoddy investigative work as always Inspector." I look past the Inspector to see someone in a suit. He's also missing an arm... "Detective Len. I thought I smelled a rat. So what are you doing here? Since your both Kagalets you can't investigate this alone. Face it Unsupervised your technique could use some fine tuning." Detective Len...Kagalet? "Brother...Len?" He smiles at me. "Oh morning Rin. How long have you been up?" It's been so long. I walk over to him. "Not long why?" He smiles with the bright intensity of the sun. "Your hair is a mess and you're not wearing makeup." His smile turns into a smug grin. "Jerk! I'm nice to you and this is how you treat me?!" He then pats my head and walks past the inspector and crouches over Brother Joseph's Body. He then pulls out a black watch with golden hands. The ends of the hands are little golden skulls that cover the numbers. I walk back over to the inspector. "What's that?" I ask pointing to Brother Len's watch. "It's a Mortem Watch. It allows detective to tell how someone died and evaluate their investigation accordingly. It keeps time and a detectives investigation." I notice the eyes glow green and turn from the current time to 4:00. It then goes back to the current time. He stands and turns to the Inspector. "He died from poison. By the way inspector the Bottle of wine you said was lost was actually here. He points to the bottle of wine on the table next to him. "That sounds right. Brother always preferred to drink alone." I absent mindidly say. "Then how did the Maid die?" Why is he questioning Brother Len? "You were right about that. The Killer was angry but not why you think. Here's what I think happened. Brother Joseph came to his study to be alone. As he was opening his bottle The Maid walked in surprising him. He began yelling at her. As they were having their screaming match Joseph in rage drew his gun and fired. BANG! After realizing what he did he poured a vial of poison into the bottle thus filling it to the brim. He then filled his cup and drank. Thus it is a Murder Suicide." The Inspector gets angry. "Then who shot the vase? And what evidence do you have to back up your claim?" Brother smiles as he looks at me. "Sister Rin. Tell me would anyone be able to hit that vase from the door?" I look at the vase. "No. The person would have to stand where the Inspector is standing now." I think that's right. "Exactly. Now what possibly happened is this. The Maid and Brother Joseph were fighting. When he draws his gun the Maid tries wrestling it out of his grip. Then suddenly the gun goes off surprising the both of them. That kills the Vase. Then Joseph recovers and forces the Maid off of him. He then quickly reloads and shoots the Maid then Poisons himself." I guess it seems right. The Inspector then leaves fuming with rage.
I notice Brother Joseph's gun on the ground. I pick it up and hide it in my clothes as Len looks around and walks over to me. "Well we should probably tell Uncle Dugus. He was close to Brother Joseph." Oh yeah Uncle Dugus was pretty close to all of us. He was Father Rem's Brother until he changed his name to Montsune. Course he has his own family as well. "I agree Brother Len lets go together." I say as I extend my hand towards him. He seems hesitant but eventually accepts my offer. "Yes. Let us be on our way. I have a carriage waiting." With that we leave for Dugus' Manor. Len's carriage is very comfortable. Though I wish he would talk to me instead of reading his notebook. Plus it's been over an hour. The Case just begun how many notes could he possibly have?! "Len I'm here. Why don't we have a conversation like normal people?" He looks up from his notes. "What could we possibly talk about that wouldn't bore you to tears? After all it's not like I'm all that remarkable." That's not right... He received two Mortem Watches because of his exceptional skills, not only that but he also received a medal for being in the war, Is able to act as a mediator for the Kagalet and Montsune houses, Has mastered nearly all forms of swordplay and gun-slinging, and has even solved many cases that couldn't be solved by the Inspector. "Are you feeling okay Len? I mean you've done so much are you sure you're not very remarkable?" He quickly smiles. "Of course I'm feeling fine Sis. I'm kidding around with you. But really who wants to hear me go over the gory details of cases?" For one you. Every other time you've taken a ride with me in the carriage you can't shut up. But these past couple months have been difficult with Father Rem Dying and Brother Michael becoming the new head of the family. He insists we call him Father Michael but nobody does. "Well I like the Blood and Gore. Like the one when the twin sister killed her younger brother and blamed it on her sister. The Inspector almost believed her before you used your two Mortem watches to find out which one was the real culprit." He looks a little worried but recovers quickly. "Yeah I tried that because we're twins. I figured it wasn't going to work I was just lucky." You never told me that detail. In fact that case didn't happen. But I'll keep it under my hat for now.
We spend the rest of the ride in silence as I wait for him to say something but after my little jab at his credibility he just went back to flipping through the pages of his notes. We FINALLY arrive at the manor but it seems different. The air of this place feels different than a place in the forest should... Someone is going to die soon... That's the aura that this place has. I've already lost so many other people why do I need to lose another? We walk inside and are greeted by a maid wearing a Doctor's Mask. "Lord Dugus is not seeing visitors!"She tries pushing us back out of the manor with both of her hands. It kind of works on me but Len did't budge. He slaps the maid with the back of his hand knocking her to the ground. "Where is my Uncle? Where is Lord Dugus?!" She stands rubbing her cheek in pain. "I'll take you but you should wear these. Lord Dugus has a terrible sickness. I would hate for you to catch it." She hands us the same masks she has. We put them on as we walk through the Manor. I walk in front of him to protect the maid if he decides to pull that stunt again. When we reach Lord Dugus' Chambers the doors have a large red X painted on them. I knock on the door. "Uncle is it okay if we come in? It's your niece and nephew Rin and Len Kagalet." I hear no response and am about to knock again before Len kicks open the door. "I don't have time for this!" I hear him growl as he kicks it open. I see Uncle Dugus looking worse off than I remember when I saw him last time. Granted it was 2 years ago during Christmas but people can't possibly change that much. Can they? His hair is grey and he is incredibly pale and thin. "Ah... I was going to open the door for you. After all with Rin coming all the way out here I thought it would've been nice to not have to open the door. But my have you two grown. I see your back from the war Len... I'm sorry about your arm. How did it happen?" What is he talking about? Len has been back from the war for about 4 years now... We talked about it for three days straight... Though my memory of the third day is fuzzy. "Simple Uncle it was shot off. The enemy's cannons were powerful." I think he's lying but I can't remember. "I see. So tell me. How is it that you two grew so much?" Len seems worried. "Uncle... What is the year?" Dugus thinks for a few seconds then answers. "Don't you know? It's the year of Akimina. She was coordinated yesterday." Akimina was assassinated two years ago. "It seems to be severe memory loss... Rin give me the room." What? "No! Dugus is as much my uncle as he is yours!" Len only gets angrier at me. "Leave! NOW!" Before I have time to protest any further he throws me out of the room and into a wall. I know it's his only arm but damn it is really strong. The door to the room is shut as the Maid runs over to check on me. "Mistress Rin! Are you alright?" I nod. "I'm fine. Brother Len is throwing a fit." Why the hell am I having such trust issues with him? Why did he want to be alone with Uncle? Not only that but theres more than just loss of trust going around. Not only that but why does it seem that nobody really knows just what the hell is going on? Sure the Inspector is usually wrong but there are plenty of holes in Lens theory as well. He has memory of things that haven't happened. And the way he lost his arm doesn't sound right. Not only that but Uncle's Memory Loss seems odd. There are pieces of a case here but we don't have all of the pieces yet.
The door suddenly opens. "I'm done... I'm heading back to the carriage." He walks away as I decide to see Uncle one last time. I walk into his room. He's in his bed. "Rin... I'm sorry. But I don't have much longer. Listen to my words. Terrible things are going to happen. I know it is tradition but you must not join the ferry. He Will be there." Who? "Who Uncle? Tell me!" I yell at him with tears in my eyes. I know he's at Death's Door but I need to know. "The one who Murdered Joseph. The one who is the impostor is... Is..." He suddenly closes his eyes as his body goes limp. The air in the room becomes cold. I stand trying to hold myself back... I wrap my arms around myself and leave. I look cold but in reality it's only my heart that's starting to ice itself over. You can kill Joseph. You can kill my father. But now that you killed my uncle I will hunt you down. And no matter where you hide I will Find you and I will kill you. And I will make sure you know true despair before I end your life.
I get outside to the carriage and we ride back home in silence. Just what was going on? Why is today the one day when I have to have the worst day of my life? Well soon it won't matter. I'll go to bed. Cry myself to sleep and kill that impostor... But who in the family would want to kill us off? We're brothers and sisters for Gods sake.
