Berwald was starting to get really sick of people knocking on his door in the middle of the night. He looked up from the rocking horse he was building and frowned as he realised someone was frantically pounding on the back door, and not the front. There was no one else in the room- he had sent Tino to bed after the man kept falling asleep and jerking awake covered in paint- so it was up to Berwald to answer it. He stood up and wore the scariest expression he could pull his face into, ready to frighten off whichever rude person dared disturb him, but the glare turned to a look of concern when he saw who was at the door.
It was William, and he was in tears.
"Please help," he begged, "Jemima! She's gone missing."
Berwald nodded and stepped aside to let him in, but William shook his head.
"I have to try to find her, but please watch Charlotte and the others, make sure they're safe, then try to set up search parties, please," he started running towards the back gate, "and get the police!"
Berwald nodded again and ran up the stairs. He found Arthur, Erikur, Aleks and Mathias lying on the sofa around the fire.
"Hey you're just in time, Waldy," called Mathias, "we have presently cracked open a bottle of rum to celebrate Arthur not dying at sea;" his smile disappeared when he saw Berwald's face. "What happened?" he asked, worry in his voice.
"Jemima has d'sappeared," he informed them. Ignoring the gasps from everyone in the room, he continued; "I have to watch their childr'n. Erikur, get the police and the rest of you wake Tino up and help William search."
Erikur leapt up and was down the stairs in an instant. Mathias and Arthur followed Berwald to the bakery whilst Aleks dragged a grumpy Tino out of bed, whose grouchiness disappeared after Aleks filled him in as he pulled on whatever clothes he could find. By the time the two men reached the front of the bakery, Erikur had already found two police officers, who were listening to a distraught William explain what had happened.
"She sai-said she was going to," he sobbed, "t-take the washing in a-and I waited for her to come back but she never did to I we-went outside to che-check a-" William burst into fresh tears.
The taller of the of the two policemen, which Tino recognised to be the same one who had tried to arrest Ivan, patted William's shoulder.
"Please, you have to tell us what happened so we can get her back," he told him.
"She wasn't there, a-and the washing basket was just lying there and the-there was clothes all over the floor and the g-gate was broken!"
"Do you think someone dragged her away?" the taller policeman asked the shorter one, who shrugged.
"Possibly, in fact, very likely," he said. William whimpered, burying his face in his hands.
"Hey, we will find her, I promise?" Mathias assured him.
"Now, the best thing to do would be to split up into groups and search the area for her, got it?" said the taller policeman, "and thank you all for volunteering to form search parties, we will need all the help we can get."
Mathias nodded in agreement; "good idea, Officer…?"
"Ludwig, call me Ludwig, and my partner here is-"
"Eduard Von Brock," Tino smiled, "you always said you wanted to be a peeler and here you are! Who knew, right?"
Eduard chuckled, "it is good to see you too, Tino, and nice to see that you have also made something of yourself."
"Wait, you two know each other?" asked Erikur.
"Yes, we used to work in the same factory in our early teens," Eduard informed them, "have not seen him though for nearly eleven years now."
"Didn't know ya worked in a factory," mumbled Berwald.
"That would be because I didn't tell you," answered Tino, "and, to be honest, I had no intention of telling you."
Berwald didn't reply.
Ludwig cleared his throat impatiently, glaring at each one of the people gathered; "there is a woman's life at stake could we please get back to the matter at hand?"
Everyone nodded guiltily and listened as Ludwig assigned them into search groups.
…
Tino really did not want to be paired with Berwald.
Sure, the neighbourhood was pretty creepy at night, and there was the possibility of a mass murderer lurking in the shadows around them, but Tino was troubled by the idea of being asked about his past; it was not something he wanted to even remember, let alone discuss with someone he respected and cared for; hopefully, though, Berwald wouldn't bring it up. Not at a time like this.
Still, he couldn't think of that now. He, along with Berwald and William, were searching for Jemima south of the bakery, with three other groups looking in different directions. William walked several paces ahead, holding a lamp out in front of him to light the way. He thoroughly searched every back street and alley they passed in the hopes of finding his love. Berwald walked next to Tino, who both had lanterns of their own, and, although it was never said aloud, neither of them expected to find Jemima alive.
It was the early hours of the morning by the time they found her.
Well, they heard frantic footsteps and spotted Eduard running hysterically towards them; he reached them and doubled over, trying to catch his breath.
"What is it? Have you found her?" asked William.
Eduard nodded, not looking any of them in the eye.
"And?" William demanded.
Eduard shook his head and burst into tears.
…
Eduard had found her lying in an alley after he wandered from his search group and when the four of them ran around a corner they saw Ludwig, Erikur and Arthur standing around her. For a few moments, nobody moved at all. Then, William ran to his wife and knelt beside her, crying fresh tears.
There was no doubt that she was dead. Her eyes were open wide, but unseeing, her chest was still and her face pale, like one of Tino's china dolls, had it not been for her horrific injuries. The bruises on her face and the state of her hair and clothes suggested she'd put up a brave fight against her attacker; nobody would have expected anything less of Jemima. The dark red gash on her chest matched the other murder victims, according to Ludwig, who looked exceptionally ill as he spoke, which surprised Tino who, although was feeling a little ill himself, thought that the policeman would be used to gore and death. It made the terrifying man seem more human, like he felt real emotion from time to time. It made Tino feel slightly reassured.
William held Jemima close, sobbing into her hair and not noticing that he was now covered in blood. Her blood. Of course, he had more important things to think about. William's whole world was destroyed and his best friend, his partner, his soul mate, was gone forever. No one had the heart to disturb him, and the two policemen began to search the alley for clues, anything that might help them find who did it.
Something metallic caught Ludwig's eye and he bent down and picked up an expensive-looking cigarette case. It was made of silver, with elaborate, detailed carvings that, if Ludwig squinted, looked like musical notes.
"Hey, do any of you smoke?" he asked the people gathered around.
"Is now really the time?" asked Eduard with a disgusted expression before shrugging, "but if you're offering…"
"Nein-err no, I meant that I have found this," Ludwig held up the cigarette case for Eduard to see. The others all gathered around too.
"So this case belongs to none of you then?" continued Ludwig. Everyone shook their heads.
"Well, then we may have collected our first hard evidence," Ludwig studied the object in his hand, smiling slightly, "you can tell a lot about a person simply by looking at their cigarette case and between this and Mr Fernandez Carriedo's statement, we now have more evidence than we dared hope for. With a bit of luck, this will be enough to catch whoever did it."
"You think so?" asked Tino.
"Most likely."
It was then that Mathias and Aleks came running into view, stopping when they saw everyone. Their eyes fell on William cradling a lifeless Jemima and paled, heads shaking.
"Oh no," breathed Mathias; "we were too late." He walked over to William and rested a hand on his shoulder.
Nobody dared speak and the only sound to be heard was William's sobbing and howling.
…
Roderich quietly opened the front door and checked to see if the coast was clear. Finding no one, he let himself in, noiselessly shutting the door behind him and creeping towards the grand staircase before him.
"And what time do you call this?" demanded Elizabeta.
Roderich wheeled round to face his wife, who was standing in a doorway, hands on hips and glaring at him.
"I-I'm… apologies," he tried, "please, I was busy at work and-"
"You are a composer, Roderich Edelstein; you work at home messing about with that piano of yours."
"Well sometimes I play the violin too-"
"Do not test me Edelstein," she growled, "where have you been?"
"I am afraid I cannot tell you just yet," he admitted, "but I will notify you of the reasons behind my absences, and soon, I promise."
"You had better," threatened Elizabeta, then her face softened, "so, would you like me to wake up cook so you can have something to eat?"
"That shan't be necessary," informed Roderich, "I have no appetite at this moment. By any chance, have you seen my cigarette case? I seem to have lost it today."
"The one I gave you last year?" asked Elizabeta, arching an eyebrow.
"Yes, the musical one. I love it and it would be a shame if I lost it."
"Well I would offer to help you look for it tomorrow," said Elizabeta, "but I am sure you would rather do that alone. All I can suggest is that you retrace your footsteps in the morning. But it is almost dawn now so we have to go to sleep." Then she walked up the stairs without saying another word.
"Yes dear," replied Roderich, following her.
….
First of all, apologies to all aph Australia fans and I hope that there was sufficient warning of character death. Honestly, killing off characters is physically painful, but I'm afraid this is a murder mystery and we're only about half way through.