Disclaimer: Still not mine, darn it. For full disclaimer please see Act 1.
ACT 10
SCENE 1
Interview rooms in police stations tended to be all the same. The same tables, the same chairs, the same sense of hostility and hopelessness lingering in the air.
Aaron sat down and glanced around himself as if where he was, was not in a squalid little room furnished with a beaten Formica topped table and torture implements disguised as chairs. His entire attitude would instead have been comparable to that of a man sitting down in comfort to stare out at a Zen garden, with the full intention of spending many hours in contemplation of it. It was a mental state he had worked hard to achieve over the years as he'd often had to make the best of places like this. He'd spent more time than he'd liked to have in rooms similar to this one when either an actor or the theatre itself had done something... stupid.
Of course, it wasn't usually for anything quite as extreme as attempted murder. Well except for the kidnapping and rape incidences a little over ten years before. However, those events had never been resolved, legally. It was probably considered a cold case now, as the rapist had disappeared shortly after. Something that had been surprising to many, as it was obvious that he was going to slide out from under the charges.
Aaron was fairly certain that Vincent, Thing, and at least two of the actresses who had been the bastard's victims had all had something to do with that disappearance, but he had never asked and they had never told.
He shook himself free from old, distasteful memories and turned his attentions to the two detectives as they entered.
"Mr. Talley, thank you for coming in. We should only have a few questions to go over, but we would like you to describe the events of yesterday in your own words, for the record, before we start.
Aaron nodded and gave them a run down of his day. A day that had been fairly normal, until the sounds of distress coming from the audience during the performance had clued him into the fact that something had gone terribly wrong. After that he tried his best to sort out and explain the pandemonium that occurred up until the police and ambulance had arrived.
"Thank you Mr. Talley, that seems very straight forward." Detective Wilder flicked open a file folder he'd brought with him and gave the top sheet inside a quick glance. "Now, I just wanted to ask you a few questions about the people working for you."
"Yes?"
"Vincent Valentine"
"As I believe you already know, Vincent is an actor with the theatre. He hasn't been in any large roles for a few years due to a car accident that did, at the time, leave him in a coma and partially paralysed for a little over six months."
"And you've know Mr. Valentine for sometime?"
"Yes, a very long time."
The detective smiled at him. "When's Mr. Valentine's birthday?"
"October 13th, why?" Aaron replied, confused.
"Just wondering. How old is he going to be on his next one?"
Aaron gave a little smile that seemed to hold secrets. "He'll be twenty seven."
"Hmmm, it seems strange to me that a man, so very much younger than you, is such a good friend."
Aaron smiled even wider at that. "The difference in our ages has never been a barrier to our being good, long time friends."
Donaldson shifted beside him and finally spoke. "It would also seem to have nothing to do with your case. Please keep your questions on track and stop fishing around for personal information on my client."
"Of course Mr. Donaldson," Detective Wilder said and started to run down the list of employees, gathering evidence that might help to fill in the gaps to the puzzle they were trying to solve.
SCENE 2
Yuffie paid the taxi driver, told him to keep the change and bolted out of the vehicle and up the wide steps of the police station. It was quieter inside than she had expected. No screaming crooks or smart-alecky TV type police officers to be seen anywhere. She gave her name to the desk sergeant, then took a seat on one of the benches to wait and fidget nervously.
She breathed a sigh of relief when she saw Mr. Talley come out from behind the swinging doors to her right. He was followed by a smaller man, who's appearance quietly alerted anyone who looked at him as to his profession as a lawyer. With a movement of his head the theatre manager indicated Yuffie to the man behind him and they both came over to talk with her.
"Ms. Kisaragi, how are you this afternoon?"
"Oh, fine Mr. Talley, how was questioning?"
Talley gave her a smirk, indicating that she'd find out for herself soon enough.
"I'd like to introduce you to Ira Donaldson. He's my lawyer and I've asked him to represent you as well." When Yuffie opened her mouth, obviously to protest, Aaron held up a hand to cut her off. "The theatre will cover the expense and I'd rather you had someone in there with you who knows all the legal ins and outs."
Yuffie closed her mouth and grudgingly nodded her head in acquiescence.
"Good," was all Talley managed to say before Yuffie's name was called and she and Ira set off into the lion's den.
SCENE 3
.
Yuffie looked around the interview room and found herself suddenly depressed and cold. She shivered and rubbed at her arms a bit in an attempt to warm up. The lawyer, Mr Donaldson, just gave her a little smile and being a gentleman, helped her into one of the plastic chairs.
Detectives Wilder and Spencer entered then, only slightly surprised to see the lawyer they had just been dealing with back for a second round with a different client.
"Ms. Kisaragi, Mr. Donaldson." Detective Wilder nodded at each of them, then sat down and opened another file. This time he looked over a couple of pages before looking up to start his questioning.
"Ms. Kisaragi, I think it would be best if you went over the events of yesterday in your own words and then if we have any questions we'll ask them at the end."
Yuffie nodded and once again, but in more detail than previously, described her day from the time she arrived at the theatre until the police had arrived after the stabbing.
"Thank you Ms. Kisaragi, now, I would like to ask you about the stage noise you say you heard during the sword scene."
"Umm, yes, it was the floorboards."
Detective Spencer gave Yuffie a glance, getting the feeling that 'the floorboards' was an answer that she expected most of the people she knew to understand. The interesting thing was that it appeared that her lawyer, Donaldson, did know exactly what she was talking about.
"The floorboards?"
"Oh," Yuffie crossed her arms, hugging herself and hunching her shoulders. "Sorry, its just that everyone at the theatre knows about the floorboards."
"So, what about the floorboards?"
"Well, they're cursed," she said, with a moment of utter conviction. "Well, okay they're not really cursed, its just that everyone thinks they are."
The detective looked at his partner and then back at her, waiting for the rest.
"Ok, there's this spot on the boards that always makes a horrible noise when you step on it. The cast likes to catch out new people by letting them step on it without knowing about it. The noise is so bad that all of the plays are blocked to avoid the spot at all costs."
Detective Wilder gave her what amounted to an amused smirk of disbelief. "Why don't they just fix it?"
"That's why everyone thinks its cursed. They've tried to fix it off and on since the theatre was built. They've even replaced that part of the stage three times in the last twenty five years. Nothing's worked." Even if Vincent hadn't told her much about himself during all the times they'd eaten together, he had turned out to be a fount of information when it came to the theatre.
"Heh. So if they always block the plays to avoid it, who stepped on it?"
Yuffie clasped her hand, squeezing her chilled fingers together tightly in an attempt to warm them up. "No one, that's why I thought to mention it. It was also louder than usual. Everyone jumped, including the audience." She swallowed the lump that suddenly bloomed in her throat. "Actually, I think if Nelson hadn't jerked away at the sound that you'd be investigating a murder, rather than an attempted one."
"Hmmm." While Wilder didn't think there was anything important about a squeaky floorboard, other than the fact that it might have saved Potts' life, he was interested to see how may of the actors would mention it. It might be a way for him to gauge the amount that other witnesses were leaving out when they told their stories.
"Thank you for clearing that up Ms. Kisaragi. So, can you tell me about your relationship with Mr. Potts.
"The only relationship I have with Nelson is a working one. He's a nice guy and he doesn't try to walk all over you in a scene, but we don't see each other much outside of the theatre."
"And Mr. Palmer?"
Yuffie rubbed at her arms, not from cold this time, but rather as if she were trying to wipe away something slimy. "He's a letch and I avoid him at all costs. If I could avoid him on stage as well I would, but that isn't possible."
Having met Mr. Palmer both of the detectives did their level best not to smirk at that statement. They mostly succeeded.
Detective Wilder pulled a photo out of the file and placed it on the table. Yuffie was relieved that it was just a picture of Hamlet's sword. The detective tapped the picture and looked up at her. "We need to discuss the sword we found in your closet during the search."
The lawyer perked up at the mention of a search, something that didn't surprise the detective in the slightest.
"A search that may have been illegal," Ira interjected.
"We had permission from management to search the theatre, all of it, for a prop sword."
"Management may not have had the right to authorize a search of what could be considered private space."
"They're dressing rooms, not living space." The detective said, not really expecting to do more than stalemate the argument. When it came down to it they would say they were right and the lawyer would file motions to say they were wrong and a judge would decide which way it went.
"I don't know anything about a sword being in my closet. I never saw it there and I certainly never put it there."
"Well in that case, would you be willing to give us your fingerprints?"
Yuffie nodded before Donaldson could stop her, but he gamely tried to intervene.
"My client is not under arrest and therefore has no reason to give you her fingerprints."
"True, however there were several fingerprints on the prop blade. If we have hers, we would be able to compare them and eliminate her as someone who touched the sword."
Yuffie narrowed her eyes at the detective. "You mean someone who had touched the sword with their bare hands.
Wilder jerked slightly, surprised that Yuffie had made the distinction. Even Spencer showed his surprise, moving for the first time during the interview when his eyes went from half closed to three quarters open.
Yuffie smiled a little wryly at their looks. "I saw the play the theatre produced just before they hired me. It was a murder mystery with enough red herrings to feed every stray cat in my neighbourhood for a month. Anyone involved in it would think twice before leaving finger print evidence."
"And since Ms. Kisaragi's prints will not help in a search for something that isn't there, there is no reason for her to submit to the indignity of being finger printed like some common criminal." Ira said, jumping into the moment of silence.
Yuffie raised her hands to forestall further debate from the detectives and her lawyer. "I don't know if it will help or not, but I said I would, so I will."
Ira gave a little sigh, but deferred to his clients wishes. "Will there be anything else gentlemen?"
Detective Wilder gave a little shake of his head. "No. If Ms. Kisaragi would be kind enough to follow Detective Spencer to be fingerprinted, we'll have her statement printed up so she can look it over and sign it once she's done."
Yuffie nodded, realizing that anything that got her out of this room was something she was all for.
SCENE 4
Vincent let go a small sigh of relief when he entered the police station and found Aaron sitting on a bench, looking like he was waiting for someone to come out rather than waiting to go in himself. Then he tensed up again, knowing that the person he was probably waiting for was Yuffie and while he was hoping to see her here, he would now have to talk to her about earlier and, and...
He stopped that train of thought right there before it could drive him anymore around the bend and went to talk to his old friend.
"Aaron." Vincent said, a near study in stillness.
"Vincent." Aaron smiled up at him and indicated a seat beside him.
"Is...is Yuffie in there?" Vincent asked hesitantly as he sat down.
Aaron raised his eyebrows at Vincent's tone of voice and turned on the bench to look at his friend fully. "Yes she is." Aaron's eyes narrowed as he watched Vincent do something he hadn't really seen him do since before the accident.
Vincent fidgeted.
"Okay, what happened?"
Vincent winced, but gamely tried to bluff. "Happened?"
Aaron just glared at him. Vincent still could have done it better, but the manager hadn't been friends with him for this long without learning a thing or two. Vincent mentally squirmed under the look even if he managed to stay perfectly still physically.
"Vincent." Aaron pretty much hissed his name out.
"Did she seem alright to you?" Vincent asked him.
"Yes Vincent, she was fine. Now what HAPPENED?"
Vincent coughed into a fist. " I may have done something that could be considered extremely forward, with Yuffie." Vincent paused, not wanting to underplay what had happened. "Actually extremely forward is probably putting it very, very, very, mildly.
"And did she return this forwardness?"
Vincent coughed again. "Ah, yes." Vincent was glad that he couldn't blush anymore. He would have been beet red at the moment otherwise.
Aaron slapped him on the back. "It's about bloody time. I was afraid that you would never... well, you know."
Vincent dropped his face into his hands. "Aaron it can't work, you know it can't."
"Why the hell not!" Vincent looked up, surprised to see that his friend was actually angry. "It only won't work if you don't let it." Aaron held up a hand to stop his friend from protesting. "I know the situation with Lucile was already too messed up to change, but Yuffie isn't Lucile and this isn't the same situation."
Vincent sighed. "I know, but.... I will have to tell her. She'll have to know exactly what I am and..." Vincent cradled his head in one of his hands and gave a bark of laughter that had no amusement in it. "I'm afraid, afraid that she'll walk away once she knows. No actually I'm afraid she'll run away screaming once she knows."
Aaron shook his head. "I don't know if she will or not, but I think Yuffie is made of fairly stern stuff and she won't let go of something she really wants."
Vincent looked up at him. "But am I what she really wants?"
Aaron's reply was lost as the doors behind them opened and Yuffie, Donaldson and the two detectives came into the waiting area.
Vincent's eyes were only for Yuffie, who looked at him with wide eyes of her own before looking down and blushing slightly. Vincent would have gone to her right then, but there were to many people in the room and the detective, Wilder, had definitely noticed even that small amount of interplay between the two of them. He didn't want to give the man anymore ammunition than he already had. Not when it was aimed at himself and Yuffie, rather than at whomever had set this mess in motion in the first place.
"Ah, Mr Valentine, I didn't expect to see you here." Detective Wilder said as he approached. "We haven't been able to get hold of you all day."
Vincent was going to reply that he had been away from the phone for most of the day, but the sentence locked in his throat when he realized how Yuffie might take it. He coughed to clear his voice and chose to more or less ignore the implied question.
"I am here now, did you want me to make an appointment for a statement?"
Wilder smiled, briefly reminding Vincent of a shark. "Actually, why don't we get it done right now?"
Vincent shrugged, minimally of course, then nodded slightly and rose to join the detectives. Aaron got up with him and flicked a look over to Ira, then back to Vincent. Vincent understood and nodded his acceptance of the lawyer's help. Aaron in turn nodded to Ira who fell in beside Vincent as he started to walk to the interview.
The two detectives flicked quick looks at each other and followed.
Yuffie stood in the waiting area, blinking rapidly at the non verbal conversations that had flown around her. Just when, she wondered, had everyone suddenly become telepathic?
SCENE 5
Detective Wilder watched Vincent as he took in the interview room. Or rather, as he ignored it. His reaction was neither like Ms. Kisaragi's, who obviously felt nervous in the room or like Talley, who took the experience in stride and was pretending that it was a nicer place than it really was.
Valentine, Valentine just doesn't care, Wilder thought. He wouldn't have cared if it was the most sumptuous palace in the world or the most unpleasant pit. In some fundamental way Valentine wasn't living in the world the same way everyone else was.
Wilder mentally shook his head at himself. He often liked to try to get into the suspect's head, even if it was just about how they took the interview room, but this was bordering on fantasy.
Still....
"Is there something the matter Detective Wilder?" Justin blinked out of his thought trance and looked over to Vincent, who was regarding him with a somewhat frosty look. The detective shivered slightly, the room suddenly seeming colder than it had before.
"No Mr. Valentine, thanks for asking though. Please, have a seat." He indicated one of the crappy plastic chairs that the department had gotten stuck with several years ago. The things were as uncomfortable as hell and nearly indestructible. They'd probably last forever.
Vincent sat, looking neither comfortable nor uncomfortable. Mr. Donaldson and the detectives followed suit, shifting slightly as they tried to find a position their bodies would agree with. The lawyer shifted more than usual, which focused the detectives attention on him.
Strange, Wilde thought, the lawyer almost looks nervous. Which was odd as they had dealt with Ira Donaldson during other cases and knew that the man was pretty much unflappable.
"So Mr. Valentine, if you would please start by telling us what happened yesterday, starting from the time you arrived at the theatre, through to when the police arrived."
Vincent nodded and began his narrative.
As Wilder listened he began to understand why Mr. Valentine might not be able to return to theatre work. His voice, while a good one, was somehow always the same. It wasn't quite a monotone, but it was as if he couldn't be bothered to vary the tone of his voice, or else he had no emotion with which to make it vary.
No, he didn't believe that the man was emotionless, that frosty glare pretty much vetoed that idea. It did however seem as if his body was cut off from his mind in a way. Wilder began to wonder just how bad Vincent's accident had been. He would have to look it up. Given what Talley had said it may have been bad enough to have a police file.
Wilder realized that his partner was giving him a few sideways glances and jerked himself out of his second thought trance of the afternoon to pay attention to what Vincent was saying. His rendition of the day was a bit different, in that he got to the theatre earlier than anyone else other than the manager.
He also seemed to be skipping a few things, he couldn't have gone the whole day without eating after all. However, he may just not have thought it important enough to mention. Which lead the Detective to wonder what else he might have left out. Still, he did reaffirmed that he had searched Ms. Kisaragi's room, but added that he had cleaned out her water pitcher and glasses and refilled them. This action he fully admitted to as paranoia, having no evidence other than a bad feeling to back it up.
Valentine might for some reason rub him the wrong way, but he would pin money on any bad feeling this guy got. Wilder told him it was too bad he hadn't had a similar feeling just before the stabbing, but Vincent just tilted his head in an abbreviated shrug and continued his story.
There wasn't much more to add. He did remember the floorboard noise and he also told them about Ms. Kisaragi's level headed directing of people after the incident, something that the young lady herself had failed to mention. After that the police had arrived and it had been a trip to the break room, questioning and heading home with Talley.
"So, when you searched Ms. Kisaragi's room for dangerous practical jokes, did you check the closet?
"Yes."
Was there a sword in it?"
"No."
"Are you and Ms. Kisaragi involved?"
Vincent just looked at him. The detective could swear he could feel his limbs start to ice up. Even his partner shifted slightly beside him, an act that would translate as panic in another man.
"Is that question really germane to your investigation gentlemen?" Donaldson asked, casting a nervous glance over at Vincent.
His partner came to the rescue for this one. "Yes sir," Dom's voice rumbled in the small room, almost echoing off the four corners of the space. "we..."
"You need to ascertain our relationship in an attempt to verify the veracity of my statements concerning the young lady."
The two detectives just stared at the actor. Even the lawyer looked slightly shell shocked at the sudden excessive verbiage.
"Ah, yeah, I'm afraid we do," Wilder told him carefully.
Vincent lowered the glare intensity, but didn't let it go altogether. "Ms. Kisaragi and I are…" He paused for a moment. "We are a work in progress."
"A work in progress?" Wilder winced as his voice came out a bit high pitched and squeaky.
"Yes, while we are often in each others company and, and seem to like each other, it is still too new to call it a relationship. Although in the future I have hope that it may become one."
Strange, Wilder thought, he didn't seem to be as disconnected from reality when he talked about the girl.
And why did Donaldson look like he'd swallowed an entire raw onion?
The lawyer cleared his throat nervously. "Gentlemen, do you think we could get back to the actual case?'"
"Uh, sure. Mr. Valentine what's your relationship with Mr. Potts?"
"I don't have one. At most we nod to each other in the hall when we pass each other. If it matters I believe he is a good actor with an even better work ethic, but beyond that I don't know anything about him."
"And Mr. Palmer?"
"We don't even nod to each other. He is a good actor, a very good actor. He is also an ass and other than keeping an eye on him to make sure he doesn't do anything irredeemably stupid I don't have anything to do with him."
"Do you keep an eye on a lot of the people there?" Detective Wilder asked.
Vincent just stared at him.
Wilder notice Dom shifting again and decided to wrap it up.
"Thank you for your time Mr. Valentine, we'll be in contact if we need to speak with you again." Which you could bet your sweet bippy they would be needing to do, no way was this over.
"His statement gentlemen." The lawyer said, before anyone could move to leave.
"Well, if Mr. Valentine can wait we can get it typed up and he can look it over and sign off on it today, or he could come back in a day or two to.. "
"I'll wait." Vincent said, not letting the detective finish.
Strangely, it didn't take all that long for the statement to be ready. Vincent let Ira check it over before reading it himself, then he signed it, his signature a flourish that contrasted with the plain print of the words above it.
The detectives saw the two men out, then went to their desks to kick around a few thoughts from the days interviews.
Wilder almost sighed, sure that they didn't have enough information to connect the dots. Heck, he wasn't even sure they had enough to say that they even had dots.
He decided that as soon as they were done here he really needed to take another look at the scene. They wouldn't be able to keep the place closed forever and he wanted to check it over again before a few dozen people started trampling over any possible evidence. So he would have to go either tonight or in the morning.
Hmmm, only idiot TV detectives went wandering around dangerous places at night, in the dark, so morning it would be. He'd give Talley a call and tell him that they could reopen the day after that as long as there were no new developments.
SCENE 6
Yuffie gave new meaning to the word fidget as she waited for Vincent to finish his interview.
Talley watched her carefully for some time, wondering if the young girl was going to vibrate out of her seat. He had a sudden memory of cartoons where a character would vibrate so hard they'd break through the ground all the way to China or through a wall to go vibrating off down a road to certain, if temporary doom.
"Yuffie, how long have you and Vincent been dating?"
Well she stopped vibrating, but now she'd turned so red he was afraid she might explode.
"Dating?" She squeaked out. "No, we're not, well not really, we just eat together a lot of the time and he walks me home and we had phone sex." Yuffie's eyes widened to about the size of a dinner plate and she slapped her hands over her mouth, obviously mortified.
Aaron started to wheeze. Very, very, very forward indeed Vincent. Not to mention downright surprising. "I think you may want to consider the possibility that you and Vincent are dating," He said once he got control of his breathing again.
"Oh," she said, sounding a little lost.
"Is that a bad thing?"
"No, no its not, I'm just not sure that he thinks of it that way."
Aaron snorted, the two of them were so very much alike. He was really surprised about the phone nookie now, as Yuffie and Vincent were the type to waste time dancing around each other and their own emotions.
"Trust me Yuffie," he started, but was interrupted as Vincent and Ira came back from the interview.
Yuffie jumped to her feet, only vibrating slightly. Aaron joined her a little slower and declined to vibrate.
"How did it go?" The manager asked the two men.
"It went well enough. They aren't really doing anything more than fishing for information," the lawyer told him. "And since we seem to be done for the day I'll leave you. Let me know when they want to see you again. Aaron, do you want me to start hounding them to let you back into the theatre?"
Talley thought for a moment, then shook his head. "If we haven't heard anything by tomorrow afternoon, then yes. I'll give them until then to check the place over."
"Then I'll be seeing you. Call me when you need me."
Aaron nodded and watched as Ira leave. Then he turned to look at the other two with him and gave them a small smile. "Well, now that that's over, may I give both of you a lift home?" Aaron briefly wondered if he could get the two of them to sit in the back seat. Sports cars didn't have much room back there and they would have to get very friendly with each other.
"Yes, thank you." They both said together, with both of them looking embarrassed shortly after doing so.
"Well come on, lets get out of here before they charge us with loitering."
And with a sweeping move worthy of any actor on the stage today, Aaron led their little group out of the building and into fresh air and sunlight