AN: Oh hey, here's chapter eight! Some pretty exciting things happen in this chapter, if I do say so myself! As always, thanks to everyone who reads this story, and especially those of you who take the time to to leave a review- that's what keeps me going!
Until next time!
Bloodsport
Chapter Eight
Little Bat, Little Bat, Why is Your Blood so Red?
"So, did his story check out?"
"At the very least, he was telling the truth about receiving a package for one of his clients." Jodie noted, glancing back at the art gallery that she had just left, a tight frown on her face. "Just as he said, this gallery received a rather large painting from him early this afternoon, and are already setting it up for display. Naturally, it's not the one that we're looking for."
"Well, that doesn't mean he's quite off the hook, though." Sera noted. "I got the impression from him that he was definitely hiding something. It's not impossible that he might have had their painting prepared ahead of time, as a cover in case he needed it." The strange manner in which he had treated Heiji had caught her attention as well, but somehow, she got the feeling that it had nothing to do with the case at hand.
"I got that feeling as well. As for the painting, you're certainly right. I'll have to look into what kind of packages he's received lately a bit more closely." Jodie said, nodding her head. "At the very least, we should observe his actions for awhile and see if he might lead us to any further clues. I'm not ready to rule out his involvement in the case just yet."
"Still, what an unpleasant old man." Kazuha said, her eyes narrowing sharply as she recalled the way that he had treated Heiji. They had both discussed it with the other when they'd been left behind, but there was no doubt in either of their minds that the man definitely must have had some idea that Heiji was a vampire. "Right, Heiji?"
"Tell me about it." Heaving a long sigh, making a show of doing so, Heiji rubbed the back of his neck, a rather disgruntled expression setting itself on his face. Of all the people to run into on a case like this, it had to be someone who could tell that he wasn't human. Still, it was that fact alone that lead him to believe that he might have a bit more involvement in this case than he was willing to let on. Given the strange feeling of being watched that he'd gotten outside of the sixth victim's apartment, and the strange matter of the concurrent three deaths, as well as the fact that the sixth painting had been addressed to him- if anything about him had gained the culprit's eye, it was probably that fact. "Well, I've dealt with his type before, so it's not like it's anythin' new."
"I already have a few of my associates investigating his recent actions, including the recent flow of his money." Jodie told them. "If they come up with anything suspicious, they'll let me know. It would be for the best if they could come up with something that would grant us a warrant to search his home, but unless that happens, there's not much that we can do."
Noticing the way that the Osakan pair seemed to exchange a glance between them at her words, Jodie pursed her lips together. "And of course, if we do anything reckless like try and force the truth out of him, such a thing might backfire on us." She added shortly, turning something of a sharp gaze towards Heiji. She had heard of it, after all- the high school detective of the west's reputation as being rather hotblooded and reckless, for acting on impulse. It was best to get whatever he was thinking about in check before he decided to actually act on it.
"For now, we should head back to the hotel, so I can get back in contact with headquarters again. Something might have come up on their end, and I'm concerned about leaving Caroline alone." Jodie noted. "It's possible that whoever is responsible for Madeline Craven's death might decide to come after her next."
"Not ta mention whoever is responsible fer the death of Amelia-han's other three students." Heiji remarked, narrowing his eyes. Jodie and Sera alike had expressed their belief that there was probably more than one culprit involved in that matter, but Heiji couldn't shake the feeling that there was probably only one person behind all of those murders. Maybe Kazuha's witchcraft theory had some weight to it after all.
"I suppose that's true." Jodie said simply, nodding her head. "Anyways, we should be careful. Especially you, Hattori-kun, since the culprit has seemed to take some kind of interest in you."
"I'll be fine, don't worry about me." Flashing her a quick grin, Heiji brushed aside her worries. "I'm pretty strong, after all, ya know?"
"Even though you have an illness?" Sera couldn't help but ask, briefly locking eyes for him with a moment. Judging from the way that he flinched, it would appear that he hadn't been expecting the question. "Well, I suppose you would know your own body the best, Hattori-kun."
"Eh? Hattori-kun, are you ill?" Blinking in alarm, Jodie glanced between the pair of high school detectives, wondering for a moment if there was something going on between them. Her gaze finally settling back towards Heiji, a look of concern crossing her face. "You did mention earlier that you have a mild sun allergy- is this related to that?"
"Y-yeah, ya could say that." Heiji said quickly, nodding his head, resisting the urge to shoot a glare over towards Sera for bringing it up. Still, he was the one who had decided to go along with the 'vague, undefined illness' excuse for any of the more noticeable vampiric traits that he now possessed. "It's really not a big deal though, Jodie-han. Nothin' that ya need ta worry about. I wouldn't have come out all this way if it was really that serious. Like Sera-han said, I do know my body best."
"That's right!" Kazuha chimed in, linking her arm with Heiji's, leaning in a bit closer to him. "Heiji's really fine, Jodie-sensei. It's not like he's so sick that he's suddenly goin' ta keel over an' die or anythin' like that. He just has a few unusual allergies, that's all."
Well, that was one way of putting it.
"Well, if you say so, Hattori-kun." Jodie said finally, giving him a nod of her head. She had never heard anything of this from Ran, who was the one who mostly spoke of the friends that she and Conan shared between them- but perhaps she simply didn't know. "Ah, but now that I think about it, you've been out in the sun an awful lot today- are you alright, Hattori-kun? In that case, we really should head back to the hotel and rest for a little bit."
"Ah, no-" Heiji began, only to be cut off by a light jab to his side from Kazuha, leveling a rather stern gaze on him, silently telling him that Jodie had a point. Finally heaving a defeated sigh, Heiji gave her something of a sheepish grin. Now that she mentioned it, the sunlight was starting to get to him more than just a little- maybe it would be for the best if he ducked inside for a bit. "That might be fer the best, actually. I'll be back up on my feet like normal before ya know it, though."
"Then, in that case, we shouldn't waste any more time standing around here, should we?" Sera asked, already opening up the door to Jodie's car, grinning from ear to ear as she motioned for Heiji to go ahead and take a seat in it. The dirty look that he shot her was frankly, more than worth it. So he had a mild sun allergy, hm- she couldn't help but file away this information with all of the other odd traits that she had noticed about him.
A supposedly sensitive stomach. An abnormally low body temperature, and an abnormally slow pulse. A sun allergy, however mild. For some reason, she found herself including the strange matter from back at Madeline Craven's apartment, and the matter from just earlier, outside of Bradford Wise's apartment. Not to mention the two strange scars on Kazuha's neck... she couldn't shake the feeling that they were all related.
She just wasn't quite certain how. Certainly, there was something in the back of her mind that was pulling at her, but as of yet, she didn't quite know what it was. Well, whatever the case, whatever secrets the two Osakans were keeping, it wasn't as pressing as the matter at hand- if that man really was involved with the murders somehow, then they had mostly likely now drawn more attention to themselves than they already had.
If the culprit had been watching them, from where had they been doing so? She certainly hadn't sensed anything like that- although... pursing her lips in thought as she took the front passenger seat of Jodie car, she spared a quick glance back towards Heiji, recalling his odd behavior just outside of the house of the sixth victim, as they were leaving. For a moment, it seemed as if he had been distracted by something- but surely, if he had noticed someone watching them, he would have told them, wouldn't he?
Unless somehow, that too, tied into whatever secret he was keeping. There was definitely something going on behind the scenes here, of that much she was almost certain of at this point.
"Can ya tell us about the fourth murder again, Jodie-han?" Heiji asked suddenly, deciding to fill the silence in the car. He'd caught Sera looking back at him, and didn't like the expression carried within her eyes, so pulling her away from whatever it was she was thinking about was probably for the best.
"Amelia Hayden's murder?" Jodie asked, briefly sparing a glance back towards him, but otherwise paying attention to the road. With all the one way streets, roundabouts, and horse drawn carriages, it could rather frustrating to make one's way around in this city. "Sure, I don't have a problem with that. Haven't you already read about it in depth yourself though, Hattori-kun?"
"I did. I just want ta hear a bit more about it from someone who was more directly involved." Heiji said simply. He still got the feeling that there was something in that murder that was key- the last murder that had occurred before the eight year gap between the fourth and fifth murder.
"That's fine." Nodding her head, Jodie quickly dug up the details of the murder from her memory. "Amelia Hayden went missing while we were investigating her. At first, we took this as a sign of her being guilty, and that she had tried to run. However, three days later, her body was discovered in the ballroom of an abandoned hotel that was slated for demolition. When the demolition workers went through it for a final check to make sure that there wasn't anyone in the building, they found her corpse."
"That painting was called The Last Dance of the Devil, right?" Sera inquired, peering over towards her.
"That's right." Jodie told her, gaze briefly flickering in her direction. "Given the condition of the body when it was found, she had been dead for a little under three days. She was suspended from the ceiling by wires, and locked into a waltzing pose. The ultimate cause of death was strangulation, though. She was probably already dead before she was dressed up and posed, so suicide would have naturally been impossible. Her daughter identified the body, and her DNA matched with that found in the hairs from her hairbrush, so there's no doubt that it was her."
"Naturally, we asked around to see if anyone had seen anybody coming and going from the abandoned hotel, but unfortunately, nobody had." Jodie said, shaking her head. Briefly sparing another glance down towards her GPS, she made the turn onto the street she'd need to take back to the hotel. "We even tried to track down where the dress the corpse was found wearing came from, but to no luck. Apparently it was sewn by hand."
"Her daughter allowed us to search their home after her mother's death, in the event that it might turn up any leads, but we didn't find anything there either." Jodie told them, a deep frown crossing her face. She couldn't help but recall that Shu hadn't seemed quite satisfied by that- but she had never been able to ask him for more detail before they were both finally transferred to where they wanted to be- to the investigation of the Organization. After that, she had more or less largely forgotten the serial murder case, having been too focused on her current investigation to do any further digging into it.
"Do ya still have the address fer their house?" Heiji asked, a sudden idea sparking in his head. Maybe if he took a look at it for himself, he might be able to find something that they had missed. If there really was something supernatural involved with this case, he probably had a higher chance of finding it than a group of normal, if not highly skilled, humans. "I'm guessin' the hotel where the fourth corpse was found was eventually torn down."
"It was." Jodie told him, pulling into the parking lot of their hotel. "We examined it top to bottom, but found no clues. It was torn down around two months later. As for the Hayden family home, I do still have the address. I don't think anyone lives there anymore, as her daughter moved away after the murder, but I don't believe Caroline sold it either. I could give it to you if you wanted, but what are you going to do with it, Hattori-kun?"
"Ah, well, I thought I might check it out for myself." Heiji confessed, scratching his cheek. "That's not a problem, is it?"
"No, it shouldn't be a problem." Jodie told him, shaking her head as she pulled into a parking space. Reaching into the storage compartment by the driver's seat, she pulled out a pen and paper, quickly jotting it down, before passing it back to him. "How do you plan on getting there though?"
"Heiji's got some friends who live here who could help him." Kazuha interjected, cutting him off before he could let anything more slip than he should. No doubt he was planning on contacting Mitsuta to ask her if there was anyone in the network here who owned a helicopter or something, and was willing to lend them a hand. "He's probably thinkin' of given them a call, right, Heiji?"
"Yeah, that's right." Shooting Kazuha a slightly dirty look, muttering that he could have said that much just fine by himself, Heiji nevertheless flashed Jodie a broad smile, taking the paper from her. "Thank ya, Jodie-han. This helps me a bunch."
"Can I go with you too, Hattori-kun?" Sera inquired, a pleasant smile crossing her own face, even as she locked eyes with him, a silent challenge almost seeming to be written in them. "After all, if our culprit really does have an interest in you, it'll be safer if you don't go alone, right?"
Grumbling a little, Heiji forced his smile to stay on his face, wondering what it was that he was going to have to do to get Sera off of his back already. She was definitely still curious about him, just as he thought she would be- the excuse that he had some kind of mysterious illness obviously wasn't entirely doing it for her. "Yeah, there's no problem with that, Sera-han! Ya know what they say, the more the merrier."
"Well, do let me know before you go, you two." Jodie told them, glancing between the both of them, almost vaguely getting the feeling that if this went any further, she might be mediating a fight. Opening the door to her car, she stepped out, watching as the other three occupants of it did very much the same. "Like Sera-san mentioned, it's probably for the best that you don't make any moves without telling people where you're going first. Especially you, Hattori-kun, since it seems our culprit has an interest in you."
"Ya said that already. 'Sides, I'm not sure addressin' a painting ta me is showin' interest. Probably just tauntin' me." Shoving his hands into his pockets, Heiji fought the urge to tug his cap further down over his brow, knowing that he would be out of the blazing sun in less than a minute. Seriously though, they didn't need to worry about him so much- he was more than capable of handling himself- it wasn't as if he could die that easily anymore. He wouldn't be having so much of a problem now if that were still true.
"As long as it's a possibility, it's prudent to be cautious." Jodie said simply, unable to keep herself from lecturing him as if he were one of the students that she had taught briefly. She had heard that he could be somewhat reckless- mostly from Ran, who mentioned him from time to time, but sometimes she couldn't shake the feeling that he had far too little regard for his own well being.
It was worrisome, to say the least.
"Fine, fine." Grumbling to himself, Heiji only spared Kazuha a glance as she patted him lightly on the shoulder, an almost teasing expression on her face at the short lecture he had earned himself. There was worry in her gaze too though- and that was more than enough to make him shut up on the matter. The last thing he wanted to do was give Kazuha more cause to worry about him.
As they stepped into the hotel, Heiji felt himself letting out a long breath of relief, feeling the faint tingling sensation on his skin giving way. His relief was short lived, however, as he quickly caught a scent that had cause to be all too familiar to him- and frowned, his brows furrowing together deeply as he glanced around the hotel lobby, trying to pin where such a thing might be coming from. There was something else beyond that scent though, something far more unpleasant- though it didn't seem as if anyone else had noticed it yet. What the hell was that?
It almost smelled rotten.
There was something else though too- something which gradually became more and more powerful, the more he became aware of it. It almost smelled like something he was rather familiar with as well- what was that? Different from the other two scents, it's aroma was almost strangely pleasant- in a way that made him almost light on his feet.
"Ah, are you perhaps the guests staying in rooms 303 through 305?" With a look of abject relief on her face, the receptionist called out to them, all but flagging them over to the desk.
"Yes, we are. Why, is something wrong?" Jodie asked, turning to face the somewhat frazzled looking receptionist, quickly noticing that she didn't seem to be alone behind the counter. Rather, it seemed as if there had been a small gathering of hotel employees behind the counter, all of whom were puzzling over something- and the closer she came to the front desk, the more powerful the smell of whatever it was that they were looking at became.
"While you were out, one of your rooms received a package." The receptionist stated plainly, fighting the urge to put a handkerchief over her mouth, her nose crinkling up from the odor. "Forgive us, but we noticed a strange odor coming from it, and it appeared to be, ah, leaking a bit. It troubled us, especially given that you only just checked in, and that there was no return address on the package, so we opened it up. As we feared, there was something strange inside- we were just about to call the police, in fact."
"And? What did this package contain?" Jodie asked, half wanting to fish out her own handkerchief now, and noticing that Kazuha already had- Sera was clearly considering it. Heiji, it seemed, hovered just beyond them, and yet he looked far more effected by the smell than anyone closer to it- almost light on his feet, really. A concerned Kazuha was already moving to be by his side, linking her arm with his, placing a hand against his back to support him.
"Well..." Trailing off a little, the receptionist glanced back to her coworkers, who exchanged a nod with her. Dropping her voice, she leaned over the counter, making sure that only she could hear here. "It's a bat, miss. A dead bat."
As one of her fellow coworkers, equipped with thick gloves and a pair of thick towels underneath the package to catch the red, leaking liquid, brought the item in question into view, Jodie found herself almost recoiling from the scent of rotted flesh alone. The bat had probably already been dead for at least half a day, the heat of the day making it smell even worse than it normally would. Just faintly, through the smell of it's rotting flesh, she could barely make out the aroma of roses, crushed petals of which seemed to line the bottom of the box.
A dead bat, killed by what appeared to be a stake driven through it, at that. There was more blood in the box than just belonged to the bat itself, far fresher than the rest- and that in itself was rather worrying. Hopefully it would just turn out to be more animal blood, but they would have to analyze it right away to make sure.
Slowly turning back towards the receptionist, Jodie narrowed her eyes, dropping her voice. Faintly, in the background, she could make out the sounds of a small commotion, but didn't yet draw her attention away from the receptionist. "Forgive me, but exactly which room was the package addressed to?"
"Room 304, I believe." The woman told her, letting out a breath as her coworker moved the package away, and after a brief discussion with their manager, decided to bring the entire thing out back before it could stink up the rest of the lobby.
Now she really could make out the sound of Heiji swearing underneath his breath- because that, she knew, was the room that he shared with Kazuha. As Jodie turned on her heel to face him, she did so just in time to watch him wavering on his feet, watching as his childhood friend called out to him, just as he seemed to black out.
"Heiji!"
Blue eyes snapped open, as their owner suddenly recalled what had happened all at once. Jolting upright in what he quickly established was a bed, he quickly glanced around the room, trying to place where he was, and what the situation was around him. Were such a thing still possible, his heart would have no doubt been hammering out of his chest, filled with anxious thoughts as his memories up until the moment that he collapsed flooded back to him.
At the very least, he wasn't chained up this time- his memories of the last time he had blacked out like this were still too raw within him. Since he had been properly moved to what appeared to be the hotel room that he was sharing with Kazuha, at the very least, he probably hadn't tried to hurt anyone this time- and it was only at that realization that he allowed himself to let out a long breath, more of an act of relief than of any kind of necessity.
As the door opened, however, Heiji's eyes jolted towards it, once more feeling a sense of relief pass through him when he realized that the person coming through was Kazuha. His shoulders slumping, he managed to let a grin surface on his face, watching as a look of relief washed over her own upon seeing him awake.
And still himself, doubtlessly.
"Heiji!" Hurrying over to his bedside, Kazuha wrapped her arms around him, drawing him tight in an almost bone crushing embrace. At the vague sound of compliant that he let out, she somewhat relaxed her grip on him, pulling away from her otherwise tight embrace. "Thank god. I was so worried about ya, idiot! Ya just passed out all of a sudden!"
"Sorry, Kazuha." Giving her an apologetic smile, Heiji let a small laugh escape him. "I probably caused ya a lot of trouble, didn't I? Fer some reason, I just suddenly got overwhelmed by somethin', an' before I knew it, I was driftin' off like that. Don't really know what happened."
"It was the roses." Kazuha told him, pulling up a chair and sitting down next to him. "I called Mitsuta-san after ya collapsed, an' told her everythin'. She says it was the rose petals in the box that did it. Apparently it's not just that weird flower that vampires are sensitive to. She said somethin' about roses having the effect of some kind of sleepin' drug. I don't know what they were plannin' on though, sendin' ya somethin' like that."
The message, at the very least, she got loud and clear. A bat with a stake through it could only mean one thing- well, two things, really. That the culprit definitely knew what Heiji was- and that they wanted him far away from this case. She had half a mind to tell him as much herself, but she knew that he would never listen to her. Not after he had gotten this involved.
"Well, in that case, it's probably fer the best that I'm not the type ta give out flowers in the first place." Heiji couldn't help but joke, letting out a slight yelp as Kazuha glowered at him, giving him a sharp pinch to his arm, telling him that this wasn't the time for making such jokes. "Well, at the very least, I didn't end up becomin' some kind of monster this time. What happened after that, Kazuha? Judgin' from the fact that Jodie-han an' Sera-han aren't loomin' over me with weird looks on their face, an' that I'm not in a hospital morgue somewhere..."
"Somehow or another, I managed ta convince them." Kazuha told him, giving him something of a strained smile. "I told them that every so often, this sort of thing happens ta ya. Sera-chan at least seemed a bit skeptical, an' Jodie-sensei... well," trailing off a little there, she averted her eyes briefly from him. "...it sounds like she has half a mind ta send ya home, Heiji."
"I ain't goin' home. Not after gettin' something like that." Heiji told her rather firmly, watching as she let out a long sigh. Running a hand through his hair, he paused to run his tongue over his teeth, grumbling a little as he realized his fangs were still out. With a bit of willpower, he shrank them back down to their usual size. "They didn't see the...?"
"Yer fangs?" Kazuha asked, shaking her head. "No, I didn't let 'em get anywhere near ya. If they found out that ya didn't have a heartbeat... well, it would probably end up like ya said, Heiji. Yer just lucky I could haul ya up here by myself. I had ta princess carry ya, ya know."
"Well, thank ya ever so much then, my prince~." Flashing her a broad grin as he lightly teased her, partly to cover his own embarrassment, Heiji swung his feet out of the bed. Catching the way she half seemed to want to fuss over him out of the corner of his eye, he reached down, patting her on the head. "I feel fine now, Kazuha. A little hungry, but fine."
"Jodie-sensei sent the box and the bat in to be analyzed." Kazuha told him. "She's afraid that the extra blood in the box was possibly human. We haven't gotten any results back yet though. Are ya gonna be alright, Heiji? If it's just a quick snack, I can still give ya a bit more blood, ya know."
Half wanting to turn down her offer, Heiji rubbed the back of his head, considering it for a moment. "Well, in that case, it might be a good idea. Sorry ta keep imposin' on ya like this, Kazuha. I almost feel like I'm usin' ya as my personal blood bank sometimes."
"That's not true, Heiji." Kazuha told him, rising to her feet. "It's not like yer forcin' me ta do anythin'- I've told ya that much before, haven't I? I give it to ya because yer my childhood friend, ya idiot. After spendin' all these years with ya, I couldn't possibly abandon ya like that. Now, here." Extending her wrist to him, an expectant look crossed her face. "Someone's supposed to come check up on us in a little bit, so hurry it up."
"Then, thanks fer the meal." Heiji joked, grinning a little as she rolled her eyes. With a flash of his fangs, he lightly sunk his teeth into her wrist, taking only just a small bit of blood from her. Drawing away after only a moment, Heiji licked his lips, erasing any stray traces of blood from them, watching as the bite mark he left behind slowly healed itself, leaving only two faint pinpricks behind.
A bit light on her feet now herself, Kazuha used the chair to steady herself. Still, Heiji's color seemed to improve a little, for which she was grateful. She was kind of worried about letting him out of her sight though- but if he didn't get more blood from a source that wasn't her soon, there would probably be trouble. Of course, using Jodie or Sera definitely was not an option, and she was pretty sure that Heiji hadn't even considered it. Strangers were one thing, but he didn't take blood from people he knew unless he had obtained permission for it first.
He hated it, she knew. She couldn't blame him.
"Better?" Kazuha asked, giving him a light smile.
"Yeah, better." Returning her smile with one of his own, willing his fangs back down again, Heiji leaned down, giving her a brief peck on the forehead. "Where would I be without ya, Kazuha?"
"Probably lyin' dead in a gutter somewhere." Kazuha answered frankly. "Now come on, Jodie-sensei said that she wanted ta talk with ya when ya woke up, Heiji. You've already been sleepin' fer the past three hours, ya probably shouldn't keep her waitin' any longer."
Sera had gone to stake out the house of Bradford Wise, if she recalled correctly. Jodie had tried to discourage her, given the current events, but she hadn't really listened. She had promised to give them a call if anything came up though, but as of yet, they hadn't heard anything from her. Although the culprit's interest seemed to be fixed pretty heavily on Heiji, she couldn't help but be worried.
Even if it was probably for the best that Sera wasn't here right now. When Kazuha had insisted that it was fine if they didn't call an ambulance, and that they didn't need to take him to a doctor, both FBI agent and high school detective alike had been rather skeptical of her words. Well, seeing Heiji up and walking about should help to dispel those, at the very least- at this rate, she was going to have to come up with a fake name for this fake illness that Heiji supposedly had- one that definitely totally wasn't vampirism.
"Then, we shouldn't keep her waitin' much longer. Let's go, Kazuha."
So far, Bradford Wise hadn't made any suspicious moves.
At least, not any that involved leaving the confines of his house. In the two and a half hours that she had been staking the place out, making used of an abandoned property that she had spotted just across the way the last time they were here, he had only left his house once, to check the mail. She was starting to suspect that in spite of having a rather grand mansion for it's location, that this guy didn't actually have any servants- since she hadn't spotted any of those either.
Reclusive elderly man living alone in a grand town home that was basically a mansion, all things considered, with no servants at all to attend to him? There was definitely something a bit fishy there, even if he really did have nothing to do with the case. And that was something that she doubted very much, given the way that he had been behaving. There was something in his tone of voice, something in the way he had addressed them, that told her that much, almost as if he were making a confession. That confidence he had that they wouldn't find anything wasn't because he wasn't involved- it was because he was confident that he had covered his tracks well.
The biggest question in her mind was if he was acting as a patron for the previous four murders as well, or if the murders had only restarted because he had expressed an interest in being their patron. If latter were true, was the earlier theory of there being a patron for the first four murders true as well? And if that was so, why did they suddenly stop? Did their patron stop supporting them? Or did perhaps something happen to them?
What was the culprit's motive in the first place? There had to be some kind of motive, even if it was one beyond her comprehension.
"Show me what secrets you've got, Mister Scrooge." Sera muttered underneath her breath, adjusting the binoculars that she had stopped to buy. "There's no way you're not hiding something."
If he had been the one to send the bat to Heiji's hotel room, then he had to have known that they were coming ahead of time. Given the fact that they had only found out about the package to him by pure chance, she doubted that was the case- so the culprit behind that, at the very least, probably wasn't him. Just as Jodie thought, it would appear that there was more than one culprit involved in this case- but even so, something about it still didn't add up.
How exactly was the culprit keeping tabs on them? Was there a chance that they were working for the FBI? If that was the case, it would be simple to monitor their every move. Still, that wouldn't explain how they knew exactly which hotel rooms they had been staying in- nevermind which of them was Heiji's. They hadn't been there long, after all, and the front desk wouldn't have known that information themselves, since Jodie had gotten the rooms for all of them, and had only passed out the keys once they had gotten to the third floor.
It certainly didn't feel like someone was following them. To follow them all the way out here without losing him- they would have to be very talented indeed. That thought almost made her feel like she was being tracked, and as unpleasant a thought as that was, she couldn't help but feel like she wanted to rise to the challenge. She was never one to run away from such things, after all.
She doubted that he would run away either. Certainly, she had some questions about the means of delivering it- was there any meaning to a bat being chosen? However, the meaning of it was crystal clear. With this recent incident, there was no doubt- the culprit was issuing a direct threat against Heiji, warning him that there would be consequences if he continued to be involved in this case. Jodie seemed determined to convince him to go back home- but she doubted that it would work. Even if she refused to allow him to investigate the matter with them any longer, she didn't doubt that Heiji would continue on his own anyways, in secret.
Well, she was worried about Heiji, of course. Just because he was obviously keeping some very unusual secrets, didn't mean that she didn't like the guy- he was quite interesting, in fact. It almost seemed as if he hadn't been breathing when Kazuha had dragged him off to their room, an obvious lie on her lips about this being the sort of thing that happened to him from time to time, that it was nothing to worry about, on her lips. That panicked expression in her eyes was the truth- that she hadn't been expecting this to happen, and that something out of the ordinary for him had just occurred.
At the very least, she seemed to be calmer once she had gotten off the phone with someone, discussing the matter with them in hushed tones. If there was any merit to what she had been told by her earlier, perhaps she had been contacting his doctor, or something along those lines. Seeing her in a calmer state had told Sera that whatever had happened, Heiji's life probably wasn't in any danger- especially as she continued to insist that they didn't need to call an ambulance.
She was a little too insistent about that, really. That in of itself was curious.
Well, right now wasn't the time to worry about such things.
"Oh?" Blinking a little as she adjusted her binoculars once more, a sly grin surfacing on her face. "He's finally come out, that old fox. Let's see what you've got up your sleeve." Leaning a bit closer to the window, Sera fixed her gaze on him, watching as he seemed to make his way down to his car. Just as she rose to her feet, getting ready to head out so that she could attempt to follow him, an overpowering feeling struck her all at once.
The feeling that she wasn't alone here.
Turning around on her heel, carefully scanning the empty room, she narrowed her eyes. For a moment, the figure of Madeline Craven, plummeting to her death, flashed through her eyes, as she searched the room to find no one. Still, the feeling that she wasn't alone here hadn't changed- and was growing more and more powerful by the second.
What was...?
She would have sworn underneath her breath were she capable of such a thing, for in the next second, she felt what she could only assume were hands wrap tightly around her neck. This strength... she could barely breathe. Gasping for breath, Sera narrowed her eyes, mind reeling, wondering what was happening right now- there was still no one else in the room- not that she could see, anyways. Once more, her mind's eye flashed back to the last moments that Madeline Craven had been alive- namely the fact that she could have sworn someone had pushed her out the window.
Someone that she couldn't see.
"It's almost as if some kind of invisible force pushed her out of the window."
Like hell she was going to let herself be killed by something so absurd, though. If this thing had very solid hands to strangle her with, there was probably more to it. Gritting her teeth, she gripped her binoculars tightly, swinging them with all the strength that she could muster towards down on what she could only hope would be a pair of invisible, but equally solid, arms.
And felt one of the hands give way as she struck home. A fierce grin painting her lips, Sera kicked outwards, feeling her foot slam up against something, freeing her very quickly of the other hand. Gasping for breath, she placed a hand around her neck, rubbing where she had just been strangled, savoring the air that she got for everything that it was worth. Still, she couldn't let her guard down just yet- that thing, whatever the hell it was, was probably still here.
It was only when she felt the presence seem to fade, that she finally let out a deep breath, coughing a little as she did so. Slumping back against the wall, glancing down at the now shattered pair of binoculars that she still clutched in one hand, Sera closed her eyes for just one moment- before she snapped them wide open, swearing underneath her breath, remembering what she had been doing here in the first place.
He was gone- and his car with him, too. That timing was a little too much to be a coincidence. Clicking her tongue, she rubbed her neck once more, wondering if invisible hands would leave a very visible mark. Seriously, what the hell had that been? Whatever it was, it was in no way normal- just like everything about this case, she was starting to feel.
"Damnit, what am I going to tell them?" Sera mumbled, pushing herself to her feet, wondering if she really was alone in the room right now. At the very least, she couldn't feel that thing's presence anymore- so it was probably gone, she thought. It had given up pretty easy once she had shown that she could resist it- and she found that even more curious. "That I was attacked by the invisible man?"
Still, somehow, she got the strangest feeling that Heiji and Kazuha would completely understand.
