It was raining.
Arthur stood with his hands in his coat pockets, without an umbrella, and fixed his steady gaze on the tombstone in front of him.
Victoria and Feliciano were crying.
The others just watched in respected, solemn silence.
Gilbert Beilschimdt
können Sie in Frieden ruhen
May you rest in peace.
It seemed so… cliché; the inscription, the setting, the atmosphere. It seemed like an exact reprint of a scene from a tragedy with gloomy weather and a shared feeling of loss and being grim about the matter. Gilbert's body wasn't there though—it was taken by the forensics for autopsy.
"We'd better go," Johan whispered as he placed a hand on Victoria's shoulder.
Dabbing her eyes, Victoria nodded.
Arthur waited for everyone to leave.
So it wasn't Gilbert.
Arthur hadn't got back the autopsy results, but he had already been at the crime scene. Gilbert's skin had been sliced open, revealing his bloody insides. Toris had been there too.
"Just like the other victims, Gilbert Beilschimdt had an organ stolen from him," Toris had reported. "It's a kidney. There's no particular pattern though. Beginning with Roderich Edelstein, it was the brain and left eyeball. His son Rufus Edelstein's lungs were taken. Hercules Karpusi had his liver taken. Matthias Densen had his entire right arm taken. Some policemen are going to search Gilbert's house, but there's no news so far."
Disgusting. Arthur grimaced. Each method of killing was getting more grotesque. More blood was spilling. It wouldn't be long before it was Arthur.
He sighed.
The rain kept falling, showing no intention of stopping. The puddles that formed at his feet were spreading out, stretching out a few lengths, reflecting the dull grey clouds that saw each bloodspill.
"Aren't you going back?"
Arthur turned around.
Johan's eyes seemed darker and more shaded than usual. He stepped forward, and offered half of his umbrella to Arthur, who was half-drenched. With rain coming down in the background, Arthur's green eyes met Johan's empty, black ones.
"Thanks."
"I'll see you back."
The walk back had never been this quiet, this awkward.
This disapproving.
When Arthur got back, Victoria was cooking.
"Leon!" Victoria exclaimed, popping out from the kitchen. She was holding on to a ladle and wearing an apron over her clothes. She had changed out from the black dress she wore earlier and was wearing a sundress. Arthur gave her a weak smile and hung his wet coat on the coat hanger.
"Since it's cold, I'm making beef stew," Victoria said. "I hope you won't mind."
"No, not at all," Arthur replied. "Do you need any help?"
"Oh, thanks!" Victoria beamed. "Come in!"
Arthur followed her back into the kitchen, pleasantly greeted by the aroma of homemade cooking. There was a pot on the stove and a few jars and sliced vegetables on the counter. Victoria went to check on the stew. She gestured to the vegetables.
"Help me cut those, will you?" she said.
Arthur nodded.
He picked up the knife and began slowly cutting the potatoes and carrots. It seemed to help him take his mind off things for a while. He tried to relax with every little motion. He didn't always cook at home. He was terrible at it. Each one of his dishes ended up as an unrecognizable burnt lump and because of that he often ate out. It wasn't all the time he got to eat home-cooked food.
Victoria was humming a cheerful tune as she stirred the stew. Out of the corner of his eye, Arthur saw her pouring in some ingredients into the pot from different jars. She grabbed a jar and upturned it. She suddenly paused.
"I'm out of spices," she murmured.
"Do you need to buy some?" Arthur asked.
"I have some at the back," Victoria replied. "Can you watch over the stew while I go and check?"
"Sure."
Victoria smiled gratefully at him and left. Arthur took her place in front of the stove and stirred the stew. It smelled good. He satisfied himself with stirring, watching the meat and sauce mix together. He wondered how it tasted like. Deciding to cheat a little, he grabbed a spoon and scooped a little stew out, and tasted it. It was as delicious as it smelled, but it seemed to be lacking something.
I wonder… Arthur opened the cupboard just in front of him and checked the contents. Mayonnaise, butter, mustard, jam, biscuits, canned sardines…
Arthur smiled when he found what he was looking for.
Canned tomatoes.
He grabbed the can. And set it on the counter. He found a can opener in a drawer and took it out. Although he wasn't a master chef, he knew how to use a can opener. He dug the can opener into the lid of the can and tried to cut through it.
Hm? To his surprise, the can was already open.
Did she use it before? Arthur peered under the can. There were still a couple of months until the expiry date. He sniffed the contents. It still smelled fresh. He looked into the can. Other than the tomatoes looking a little more watery than they should be, they looked safe.
Arthur upturned the can and used a spoon to scoop out the contents. Slowly, lumps of the red slices of tomato dropped and descended into the stew, mixing with the stew. One by one, one after another.
Then something dropped into the stew.
Arthur blinked. Was he seeing things? He must be. He emptied all the remaining tomatoes into the stew and used the ladle to stir the stew. He grinned with satisfaction as the tomatoes slowly surfaced and the stew turned a reddish hue. He kept on stirring.
Until an eyeball surfaced.
Arthur let out a gasp and he dropped the ladle.
A deafening clatter resounded through the whole kitchen.
He froze and his mind stopped completely.
W-was that…? Could… it…? No… but… This…
He was shaking. His body was quivering. He took a step back.
He saw it with his own eyes.
A human eyeball.
It…! Arthur's thoughts were interrupted as a horrid smell struck him. He began coughing and hacking. The smell wasn't really pungent or rancid, but plain… overpowering and fatal. And yet, it smelled so familiar.
It was the scent of blood.
An eyeball and blood…? Arthur's eyes widened as he realised it.
It was always right in front of him.
It was Victoria.
She had been behind all the murders.
She had been hiding the bodies.
She had been playing with him.
She had always been laughing behind the scenes.
"THIS BULLCRAP CAN'T BE EATEN!" Arthur yelled in raw anger as his arm struck out and he flipped the pot. The pot clattered to the floor and the reddish stew spilled and splattered across the white floor, beef, blood, eyeball and all.
The eyeball stood out and rolled across the spilt stew.
And bumped into Victoria's shoes.
"Leon…" Victoria murmured, staring at the eyeball at her feet with her head bowed.
Arthur stumbled backwards and felt his hands shaking in fear. Cold sweat gathered at his forehead as Victoria looked up, with wide eyes and a distraught expression.
"Why… did you have to help?"