A/N: The line "why do you bring these daggers from the plate?" is originally from Shakesphere's MacBeth (which is a good read and movie depending which one you see); this line was important in the movie version of Orient Express, so using it is a homage to that. I obviously don't MacBeth.
Chapter VII
Finney took the offending object from the bellboy and held out it in front of him. It was a uniform, near identical to the one that Ben himself wore, but it was too big to seen on the young alien man. Looking at the jacket, Fin noted the missing button; putting his hand in one of the pockets, he found a passkey.
"Where did you find this?" he whispered.
"Kim and I," he began. "That is to say, Kimiko the servant and I found it stuffed downstairs in the dining area."
"How did you find it in the dining area?"
"She was taking lunch up to King Roshi," replied Ben. "She had dropped some silverware, so I offered to get her another set. While we were picking up the pieces, we noticed this stuffed in a corner by the table. I brought it up to you as soon as I could."
"Thank you," he murmured. "Is Kimiko still downstairs?"
"Possibly," Ben replied. "She was rather upset about finding this."
Fin nodded. "Ask that she make time to see me later." Ben nodded, slowly before turning and going the way he came.
Finney took the uniform with him as he headed back to his room. He wasn't surprised to find Tony nor the doctor already there as he entered. And both seemed to want to tell him something of importance. "Diluted hydrocyanic acid," the doctor said, at the same time Tony blurted, "Everyone in the apartment was attacked."
The inspector scrunched his face in confusion. "One at a time, please."
Nodding, the doctor proceeded with his report. "Diluted hydrocyanic acid," he repeated. "It's also known as prussic acid and has similar properties as potassium cyanide."
"What does all that mean?" Tony asked, impatiently.
"It means," the doctor huffed. "We've found the true cause of death; well, the beginning cause of death. It causes salivation and paralysis in small doses, which is what I was able to take from her coffee mug. It's my amateur opinion that this was diluted within her tea and when she drank it, she was rendered paralyzed. Then her killer…mutilated her, before escaping."
"Or maybe when Fin saw the mysterious bellboy," Tony began. "He was taking her the tea."
"And then escaped out the window!" The doctor finished, causing both to smile. They turned to Finney to gage his reaction. The inspector smiled at their enthusiasm.
"Interesting theory," he said, nodding. "And your news, Tony?"
"huh?" the American alien asked, forgetting that he too had news to share. "Oh! Right! I was saying that, according to the police report, all those in the apartment - with exception to the children – had been injured in the attack."
"There were children in the house?" asked Chou, horrified.
Tony nodded. "The report said there were four," he said. "Luckily, as I said, they weren't hurt. Whether the attackers knew there were children or they left them alone, I don't know."
"What else did you learn?" Finney asked.
Tony pulled out a similar notebook that his friend owned and flipped through pages. "I had to have my friend read it over to me on the phone," he said, a bit embarrassed. "Uh…oh. There was a couple of stuff that was in the papers, you know to give them a story. Like naming all founders of O'Neil Tech and their relationship to each other.
"As for the attack itself," he continued. "Confirmed deaths were that of O'Neil and her adoptive father; get this! The last name of the father? Splinterson!"
"That does it then," the doctor said, excitedly. "Splinterson came here to kill Oroku. His father was one of the victims!"
"That can't be right," Tony murmured, his face scrunching in confusion. "My guy said the father was a big rat. How the hell to you get a turtle from a rat?"
"Tony…"
"Yeah, yeah," the American alien muttered. "Anyways, the report said that aside from the murders, there were four injured victims, all who went to the hospital in critical condition."
"What were the injuries?" asked Finney.
"One person had a shattered knee," Tony stated. "That I know was the husband; that was in the papers. Two had massive blood loss."
"Due to what?" asked Chou.
Tony flipped through a page. "One had a severed limb," he said. "The other had some severe chest damage. It didn't say in the report what it was. I bet it's in the hospital charts."
Fin nodded slowly. "If I miss my guess," he whispered. "Our last guest should give us the last pieces of the puzzle."
The inspector sent his fellow investigators ahead of him, while he hoped to run into the second of Mr. Hamato's royal servants. Luck was with him as she noticed her coming out of her father's room, grumbling about something.
"Ah," he stated, startling her somewhat as she turned to face him. "Kimiko, is it? I had hoped that Ben had mentioned that I wanted to speak with you."
The girl took in a breath before nodding. "He did mention that," she said. "How can I help you, Inspector?"
"Ben mentioned that you had been the one to find a disguarded uniform in the dining area earlier," he began. "What was your reason for being there?"
"I was getting myself and Lord Roshi some lunch," she replied.
"Did you not think to call for room service?"
"Sure," she said, shrugging. "However, we're snowed in, with no outward signs of immediate rescue, there's a dead woman somewhere on the floor, and one of the guests is a murderer. I figured with all of that going on, the best thing for me to do was to get myself some food. Besides, I was talking to Ben. He was helping me get some stuff to bring up."
Finney nodded. "I had been speaking with your brother earlier," he said, noting the slight surprise that registered on her face. "I take it that you have also met Casey Jones at some point."
Kimiko crossed her arms, before staring coldly at the alien before her. "I did."
"Perhaps," Fin replied. "Being the elder, as I assume you are, you could tell me the name of his child. That or the name of the boy's godparents."
"What, may I ask, does that have to do with anything?" she asked. "You'll forgive me, Inspector, but it seems to me that you're doing your fair share of being noisy instead of trying to discover where that woman's killer could be."
"And if the killer is here in this hotel?" he countered.
"Then shouldn't you try to find out who that is?" she asked. "Instead of prying into the personal lives of those who are no longer among us?"
"It doesn't bother you then," the alien sneered. "That everyone in this hotel not only heard about the dead woman, but know of the case in which she was implicated."
"Please, Inspector," Kimiko huffed. "Anyone who lives in New York or had lived there knows of Oroku Karai, Oroku Saki, and the Foot. And anyone who's anyone has heard of O'Neil Tech. Isn't your friend from the states? Are you questioning him too? Or the doctor?"
Finney only smirked. "I have gravely underestimated you, my dear," he said, bowing to her slightly. "You may be right. I do enjoy a good mystery and perhaps I am using my…ignorance in the previous case to cloud my judgement on this. You have my apologizes."
"None needed."
"I will keep you no longer," he said, walking past her, however he stopped. "However, if I may ask one more question. Could you tell me what you were doing on the night in question?"
The girl shrugged. "Nicky and I sat around playing cards for a while," she stated. "Then we made sure Dad didn't need anything, Nick stayed, and I went to bed."
"Nothing happened?"
Kimiko began to shake her head, but then stopped. "I saw one of the busboys go by around eleven," she replied. "I thought it was Ben, but he seemed kinda big, you know, so I didn't think anything of it."
"And what were you leaving your room for?"
"I noticed Nick wasn't the room. I went across the hall and wasn't surprised to see both he and my father up doing something to keep them awake."
The inspector laughed in mirth. "Thank you, Kimiko," he said, bowing once more. "Again, my apologizes from keeping you from your duties." Giving her one last smile, he turned and headed downstairs.
"Mr. O'Neal," Finney said, greeting the large turtle as he entered into the sitting area. "Forgive us for keeping you waiting."
"No big," he grunted, sitting himself down in a nearby chair. "Whatcha wanna know?"
Finney took a seat across from the turtle, casually glancing at him from the corner of the eye. He was much larger than that of the other turtles, not in height, but in pure muscle mass. For some reason, Finney felt this turtle could easily take anything the wrong way and he and the others would need to watch what they said to him.
"On your passport," the inspector began. "It states that you're from the city of Manhattan, New York. Have you lived there long?"
"Born and raised."
"The bellhop Ben mentioned that you and Mr. Angel had been conversing from about eleven to eleven thirty. What were you two discussing?"
"I wasn't discussing anything," the turtle huffed. "Loudmouth wouldn't stop talking for all that time. But yeah, I made my escape around 11:30pm."
"In speaking with Mr. Splinterson," Finney said. "The two of you had the dinner the night of the murder. I couldn't help but overhear him tell you to 'leave it'. He stated it was because you had some previous dealings with Oroku Karai."
O'Neal folded his arms across his chest. "Not with her personally," he replied, coolly. "Her little outfit happen to be in league with the Purple Dragons."
"Purple dragons?" the inspector asked, wondering how colored mythical creatures came into play here.
"You know," the turtle offered. "The gang? Anyway, The Foot backs them with weapons and what not; like any good citizen, I kinda take offense when it comes to punks trying to shake down my city."
Fin nodded. "Then it came as no surprise to you that her true indentity was revealed."
"A snake can shed its skin, but it's still a snake."
"You would then be familiar with O'Neil Tech."
"Tech ain't really my thing," O'Neal said. "But yeah, I've heard of it."
"Did you know April O'Neil?"
"Heard about her, didn't know her."
"What about Casey Jones?"
"Didn't run in the same circles," the turtle grunted. "But I knew the guy and he got a raw deal, if you ask me. And for what? Cause he busted a few Dragons and Foot on a nightly basis? Cause he was tryin' to keep his city clear of punks who go about ruining it? Guy coulda been a big star, playin' hockey for the Rangers, but instead he's take out the punks who burned down his dad's store, took his dad out, too. No man like that should have ta bury his wife and unborn little girl. And he didn't have to go and hang himself neither.
"You want me to be sorry that uppity bitch got what was comin' to her?" he growled. "No way in hell. I only wished it was sooner."
"What do you think happened, Mr. O'Neal?" Fin asked.
"To Karai?" the turtle huffed. "Ain't it obvious? She pissed off too many people and one of them finally gave as good as she got. I think you're wasting your time in asking us questions; the guy's probably long gone by now."
"That thought also occurred to me, Mr. O'Neal," the inspector replied. "Who do you think killed her?"
"With Karai," O'Neal chuckled. "I wouldn't be surprised if one of her underlings killed her. The Foot weren't too happy when she took over."
"Really?"
"Common knowledge."
Finney, personally, found that tidbit to be most interesting. If it were true, then that meant the killer had a pseudo identity and, if what O'Neal believed to be truth, was now long gone with no word of his whereabouts or name. Just as he went to ask O'Neal further, a gasp from Dr. Chou caused him to look and see the smirking face of Mr. Angel.
In his hand, he held a medium sized dagger, whose blade was coated in dried blood. "Why do you bring these daggers from the plate?" Fin murmured, standing and walking over to the turtle.
"What?"
"He means where did you find this?" asked Tony.
"I found it in my room," the turtle replied. "Under the bed."
"Why would that be in your room?" asked O'Neal.
"Dude, how the hell should I know?" the agitated turtle exclaimed. "There I was, right, hit by the writing mojo and I'm all a-twitter in like excitement and I drop my pen. I drop down to get it and it rolls under the bed. So I'm like, 'terrific?', so I go get it and this thing's all glittery and spooky and stuff…"
"Thank you, Mr. Angel," Fin interrupted, afraid that if he let the turtle continue, he would do just that and never stop. Instead, he took the dagger from Angel and handed it to the doctor. "Doctor?"
"The blood could definitely be human," he concluded. "This could very well be the murder weapon."
Finney nodded. "Thank you for bringing this our attention," he said, looking at Angel. "If you would gather the other guests and Ben to join us here, so that we can explain this charade of a murder."
Angel stared at Finney, no hint of an expression on his green face, before trading a glance with O'Neal. Angel nodded, slowly leaving to do as Finney commanded. "I would like to thank you, Mr. O'Neal," the inspector whispered. "You've been most helpful in this matter. You are, of course, requested to stay to hear the outcome of our evidence."
"Not like I got a choice in the matter."
"No," Finney smirked. "You do not."
