Title: Empty Chairs At An Empty Table

Author: lil-miss-chocolate

Rating: This chapter, PG.

Characters: Kurt, Puck, Mercedes, Rachel, Quinn, Tina, Artie, Will, Emma, Sue, Figgins (briefly), Burt (referenced but no appearance), Jesse (referenced but no appearance).

Pairings: Kurt/Puck is the main one, the rest are a little intricate.

Genre: Crime/Romance

Warnings: Various character deaths, some angsty stuff, some smut, and some sickeningly fluffy stuff.

Spoilers: None

Summary: An AU 1920's murder mystery featuring the Glee club (and assorted friends and relatives).

Disclaimer: I don't make the toys, I just play with them. And the idea of a 1920's murder mystery belongs to an anon on the Glee Kink Meme.

Word Count: ~18,000 in total. Chapters vary. Tenth chapter: ~1,600

Beta: Slash_Pl0x. He saved this story from my incapable hands and made it fab, so much love to him.

Chapter 10/13

Puck spoke first, "You don't need to be nervous, Quinn, we're just trying to find out what happened to Miss Berry. We've got to ask you because you were the first person to leave the room after her."

"What about Mrs Hummel? She left before me."

"Yes, we're talking to her as well. But we've got to ask everyone."

"You think I might have done this, Puck? How could you think so badly of me?"

"It's not that, Quinn, you know it's not. But I'm investigating a murder here; I can't just exclude you because I know you."

Quinn looked from Puck to Mercedes, tears threatening to fall.

Mercedes spoke, "Puck, maybe its best if you leave this one to me. You're biased, because you know Miss Fabray already."

"Perhaps you're right. Quinn, I'm going to let Mercedes talk to you alone. She's right; I can't be objective about you. You understand?" He clasped her hands until she nodded, and he left the room.

"Alright then, Miss Fabray. Where did you go when you left the dining room to look for Miss Berry?"

"Like I told you at the time, I went upstairs to the main bathroom. The one we were shown when we first arrived. I looked for Miss Berry there, and I called down the corridor. She didn't answer, so I went into the bathroom to fix my make up."

"Did anyone else see you?"

"I don't know! I don't pay attention to the staff. They may have. Why do you want to know?"

"Because it means you had the opportunity to kill Miss Berry."

"What? Why would I want to kill her?"

"Maybe you were jealous. She'd been talking to Puck all evening, and we both know how you feel about him."

Quinn looked at her incredulously. "Jealous? Of that high-pitched little madam? Enough to kill her? What do you think I am?"

"I don't know, but I know you've been chasing him for ages, missy. Maybe seeing him with her drove you over the edge."

"You're utterly mad. I would never do something like that." Quinn got up and stalked out of the room, her white dress swishing as she did so.

Puck entered from the sitting room moments later, having been too slow to catch up with Quinn before she slammed the hall door behind her.

"What did you say to her?"

Mercedes sighed, not wanting to tell him about Quinn's obvious feelings for him. "I just mentioned that she had the opportunity to kill her, and suggested a possible motive. I don't think she did it, though. And I'm not just saying that because she's your friend. She just seems too... well... good. Over sensitive, perhaps, but good."

"But that's everyone now—and one of them must have done it. We've spoken to everyone, and none of them seem to have the motive, the opportunity and sheer force of will needed to commit murder."

They went through the list of suspects, Mercedes starting. "There was Emma the housemaid. She found the body, and she had the motive of not wanting to lose her job. But she's really scrupulous about cleanliness. She would never have left the body just in a chest like that. And she seemed genuinely shocked last night."

Puck continued the review of the list. "And there was Will. He had the motive of not wanting his affair with Emma to be found out. But you don't think he has it in him to commit murder?"

"Right. He's not got the cold heartedness to sneak up behind someone and garrotte them. Especially not an unarmed woman. He might strike out in self defence or anger, but he wouldn't cold-bloodedly murder someone."

"Sometimes it's the quietest, calmest person who just snaps. But you're right, and he'd have had to either have already abstracted the wire—which mean he was already planning to kill her, with no motive at the time—or gone back for it after she'd found them. And I don't think he left the room after he returned. Of course, I wasn't paying him a huge amount of attention." Puck sighed. "Moving on. Mrs. Hummel, then. What do you think?"

Mercedes thought for a moment before she replied. "She could definitely have done it, she's cruel enough. I just don't see any motive for her."

"What about Hudson? If Miss Berry had said something at dinner to really upset him, he might have dashed upstairs when we split up to search. He could have grabbed the wire form the sideboard easily enough."

"That doesn't explain why she was absent for so long before that, though," Mercedes pointed out.

"Maybe she was just having a hissy fit."

"I can't imagine that she could say anything that would anger him enough. He was going to let her marry that someone else without so much as a harsh word because he thought it would make her happy. He was completely head over heels for her. You saw his reaction. He might have had the motive of jealousy, but if he was going to kill anyone, it would have been the St James guy, not Rachel herself."

"Good point. And I don't think he really would have been able to sneak up to the first floor and back unnoticed—it's not like he knows the servants' back routes in this house. Also, he's about six foot four; someone would have noticed him between the cellars and the laundry room." He sighed again. "Alright, so not Hudson either."

Puck summed up the next two with, "Mr Abrams and Lady Cohen-Chang, then. They might have some motive, but if they do, it's very well hidden. He couldn't have done it physically, and she seems far too gentle and nervy to strangle someone."

"Yes, it is quite a violent way to kill someone. You'd have to steel yourself to do it. I don't know if she's got the gumption."

"Although… like I said before, it's usually the quiet ones who snap and go off in the deep end. Anyone could be a murderer with enough motive."

"Yeah, but what motive? They didn't know each other."

"I suppose." He paused for a moment, before moving on to the next suspect. "Then there's Quinn. I know I'm biased here, but she's too gentle."

"Well, I'm pretty sure Quinn didn't do it either. I can't see her garrotting someone, even someone she hated as much as Rachel Berry."

"Quinn hated her? I thought she just found her vaguely irritating."

Mercedes shook her head despairingly at him, "That much was obvious."

"Oh… alright then. Well, I've got to admit, I'm stumped. I think the next course of action will be to interview those staff who were working above stairs that night, and ask if they saw anything."

"Hold on, we haven't spoken to everyone. There's still Kurt left. And much as I love him, we can't just pass over him. If we're going to investigate this thing, we're gonna do it properly."

"There's a problem there, though. Both of us are biased, and there's no one else we can trust to talk to him. Let me ask you this, though—do you truly believe he's capable of it?"

She pulled a face. "That's the thing. When he gets angry, he'll do pretty much anything. He won't shout and scream, but if you're watching, you'll see him silently snap, and then God knows what he'll do. I once saw him throw a lamp at a guy. It shattered and mutilated his face. If Berry did something to set him off... I just don't know."

"Well, have you asked him?"

"Asked him what?"

"If he did it."

"No. I think I might be a little afraid of the answer."

Puck sighed. "I'm pretty sure he didn't do it, but you know him better than I do. I'll ask him now, make it look like a proper interview and everything. Do you want to be here?"

"Oh no. If my boy gets angry at you, I do not want to be there to see it." She laughed as she left the room. "I'd move the lamp out of his reach if I were you."

Mercedes ran into Kurt in the hallway (almost literally — she was still laughing from the sight of Puck's alarmed face as he moved the set of glass paperweights to the other side of the table). "Hey Kurt, how are you holding up?"

"Not too bad. How's the interrogating going?"

"Not good." She lowered her voice before continuing, "So far as we can tell, no one had the motive and opportunity."

"And I suppose I can't join the investigation, can I?"

"Not fairly. You left the room after she did, after all."

Kurt nodded and sighed. "Well, if I can help at all, let me know."

"Actually Kurt, that's the thing. Puck needs to interview you. Properly, I mean. You're the only one we haven't interviewed yet."

He looked at her curiously. "Why won't you be there?"

"I'm biased."

"No more so than Puck, surely?"

"Well, yes, but he's a professional. And it would be unfair to have two people biased in your favour in your interrogation. Puck left me to interview Quinn because he knew her too well, so it's only fair for me not to interview you."

"I suppose so. He wants to talk to me now?"

"If you're not busy."

"Not at all. Murder tends to cause most of your plans for the day to be thrown out of the window," he commented dryly.

Mercedes laughed, hugged him, then headed towards the entrance hall and the main stairs.

Three chapters left! What do you think of it so far?