Finding Destiny
Chapter 25
"A mere favor, that's all." Meyrin replied calmly. "Nevertheless, we're sisters and sisters help one another out."
"Sisters? You still think I consider you as my sister? How pathetic." Luna spitted out hatefully.
Raising her eyebrow slightly, Meyrin shook her head in distaste. Turning her gaze away from Luna, Meyrin quietly scanned the shelter. "Still working at this dump, I see."
"Meyrin," Luna warned loudly. "What do you want?"
Tilting her head to look at Luna, Meyrin smiled. "I have a question. Remember the one guy we both had admire during the war?" Receiving a blank look from her sister, Meyrin added, "The son of Patrick Zala."
"Athrun Zala?" Luna asked confusingly.
"Yes."
"What about him?" Luna asked, watching her sister suspiciously.
Scanning the room once more, Meyrin said quietly, "I don't know if you read the news awhile back, but his wife disappeared in the local women's clinic bombing."
"I heard about it," Luna responded.
"Where is she hiding Luna?" Meyrin asked dangerously, as she slowly turned her body to face Luna.
"Who?"
"Where is his wife hiding, Luna? Cagalli Attha Zala?" Meyrin asked more seriously.
"How in the world am I suppose to know?" Luna shouted back.
Narrowing her eyes slightly, Meyrin quickly took out a piece of paper from her purse and handed it toward her sister.
Unfolding the paper, Luna quickly scanned the document. "This…this…is….."
"Your statement to the police." Meyrin replied calmly. "And it would seem like you took notice of a stranger the day after the clinic bombing who was all cut up and bruised. Probably the very exact person I am looking for."
"What would make you think it was Zala's wife?"
"Who else would it be?" Meyrin asked, raising her eyebrow.
Handing the piece of paper back, Luna tuned and walked walk away. "I haven't seen her since that day. I wouldn't have the slightest clue where she might be."
CLICK
"That wasn't the answer I was hoping for." Was Meyrin's straightforward response.
Turning around slowly, Luna came face to face with the gun her sister held. "Meyrin, you wouldn't."
"Didn't you just say a minute or two that you didn't consider us sisters?" Meyrin asked dangerously. "So if I was to kill you now, all I did was kill off another worthless human being."
Staring wide eye and terrified, Luna slowly started to back away.
"Last chance, Luna." Meyrin said slowly and clearly. "Where is she?"
"I….I…don't…." Luna sputtered fearfully. "I don't….know."
"What a shame."
With that, a shot was fired.
………………………………...
Once in the office, Athrun only had minutes to set up his plan. His secretary, Patricia, just stared quietly, as he quickly used the copy machine without her help.
He then walked into Yuli's office as if just planning to say hello.
Yuli Amarifi looked busy, but he made time for Athrun. "Glad to see you in so early."
Athrun leaned on Yuli's massive desk. "I had to come in. We had a walk-in a few days ago who wants me to handle her divorce. I thought the case would be routine, but now I'm not so sure."
Yuli didn't look interested. "Glad to hear you're back at work. Walk-ins can be a pain, but they're one way to get back in the saddle."
Smiling slightly, Athrun answered, "I suppose, but this walk-in is a more interesting case than I first thought. Seems the husband has a folder full of old oil leases and many warehouses of weaponry that was once used during the war. He want to keep it out of the settlement. He probably could if she didn't have a copy of some of the documents."
"Really?" Yuli asked, lifting his head up.
Fighting the urge to smirk, Athrun continued, "Trouble is, I don't know much about what she is talking about. I may be asking for help on this one since you had more experience of weaponry storage during the war, than myself. I don't think the woman has any idea what she had and according to her, her husband is too interesting in visiting other women down on earth to keep up. They need someone to take over their books and from what the woman says neither has a child."
Yuli stood up quickly. "That does sound interesting. I'll be glad to help however I can."
Athrun swore he saw the man lick his lips.
"I could talk to this woman, if you want me to Athrun. My schedule is not all that packed this morning."
Shrugging his shoulder slightly, Athrun replied, "If you like. I'll bring her in here when she comes by."
"Mr. Zala?" Patricia stood at Yuli's open door. "A Mrs. Rose is here to see you."
Looking at her carefully, Athrun responded, "Please ask her to come in here. Mr. Amarifi will be sitting in on this one with me."
Patricia looked uncomfortable. "I've already seated her in your office."
Smiling gratefully, Athrun knew she would have done just that before she went looking for him. Patricia was much too considerate to leave an old woman on crutches standing in the lobby.
"I'm not sure she can make it to this office. She looks exhausted."
Turning toward Yuli, Athrun said, "Well, thanks for offering, but…"
"Nonsense." Yuli started to walk towards the door. "I can go into your office. I see no problem." With that, they walked towards Athrun's office.
Within minutes, Rose did exactly as Athrun had instructed earlier. She acted as if she trusted Yuli far more than Athrun, even commenting on how younger folks don't always understand the problems.
Yuli agreed without giving Athrun a glance. The man was at his best when dealing with older woman. He knew just how to make them feel comfortable.
Athrun talked down to Rose the first chance he got, explaining something to her as if she were a child, which obviously irritated Yuli.
Rose leaned closer to Yuli and turned so that she left Athrun out of the conversation.
When Athrun asked how many leases her husband held, Yuli clearly let it be known that he thought Athrun was being too bold. He looked directly at Athrun and reminded the younger partner that he had other appointment waiting.
This was the standard code for asking another to step out, but Athrun still looked confused.
"You're welcome to use my office, Mr. Zala. I'll finish talking to Mrs. Rose." Yuli glanced toward the door, leaving no doubt, what he wanted Athrun to do.
Without looking at Rose, Athrun excused himself and went straight to Yuli's office. He'd left enough phony leases in Rose's file to keep the old partner busy for an hour and Rose could probably hold him longer if necessary.
Closing Yuli's office door, Athrun smiled as he saw Yuli's keys dangling from one of the files. Winslow was the only partner who kept locked files in his office. He locked everything and never left without his keys. Only today, greed had made him forgetful.
………………………………...
"Are you positive that is what you heard?" Dearka asked cautiously.
"Yes." Was Tarak simple response. "Yuli Amarifi was the one who set up the clinic bombing to eliminate Aunt Cagalli."
"What about Meyrin Hawk?" Miriallia added quickly. "How can you two be positive that she was involved."
Looking at one another, both Tarak and Estelle kept quiet.
"They aren't positive about Ms. Hawk." Yzak responded after a moment of silence. "You can say it is more a hunch."
Quickly glancing at one another, Miriallia and Dearka both nodded mutually. Dearka then said confidently, "Then I guess we need to find some evidence."
Raising his eyebrow in curiosity, Yzak asked, "How would you do that? If she is connected to Amarifi, then I bet 100 that she covered her tracks."
Laughing quietly, Miriallia shook her head in amusement.
"What?" Yzak asked, annoyed.
"You got to start watching TV." Was her simple response.
"Like those detective shows?" Tarak asked, confused.
"Exactly."
"This is no TV show, Aunt Mir," Estelle replied sternly. "People's lives are at risk, including my mother's."
"Then I guess we can afford being caught," Miriallia responded back, seriously. "We need proof if you want to convict Meyrin or else you have no case."
"She has a point," Yzak said quietly. "We need to find something that connects Amarifi and Hawk together." Looking towards the two children, Yzak stared intensely, then smirk slightly.
"What?" the two asked.
"I think I'll be going now," Yzak responded quickly as he turned around and started to leave.
"Yzak, wait!" Dearka shouted. "Where in the world do you think you're going?"
Without turning around or stopping, Yzak answered, "You guys deal with Amarifi, I'll get Meyrin Hawk."
Watching him walk out the door, the group of people inside the apartment building stood stunned.
After a minute of silence, Estelle asked, "Do you know what just happened?"
"Not a clue." Dearka responded.
"Yzak," Miriallia whispered quietly. "What are you up to?"
"I like him." Was Tarak's simple response.
………………………………...
It was almost 11:00 p.m. when Athrun walked into the café. Monday waited on him, forgetting the cream, but he was too tired to care. After he finished his second cup, he asked about Ash with what he hoped sounded like only mild interest.
"She went home early," Monday volunteered. "She reads to the doctor she lives with when he's feeling poorly and tonight he wasn't feeling all that grand. She sometimes reads to him till dawn. Not that she ever complains."
He was about to ask another question, but Detective Snyder walked in. In an off way, they had become good friends. The both shared a desire to solve a crime. The mutual obsession connected them.
Athrun had tired to reach Snyder several times during the day but all he got back was a message to meet him here. So, Athrun had to hold his news while he had spent the day researching on the new information he had received from Amarifi's office.
Snyder motioned Athrun to bring his third cup and join him at a table. It took several minutes for Monday to deliver Synder's coffee and run out of any reason to hang out at their table. Snyder seemed to be a regular and no doubt that girl's favorite.
When alone, Athrun asked first about the fight between the thugs and Miller. Since he didn't read anything in the paper, he figured no one got hurt.
"The old man picked up a couple of thugs who got close to the bag lady and literally threw them out of the way. We rounded some of the boys, but I couldn't see arresting Miller. From what I could figure, he stopped them before anything got ugly."
Snyder leaned back and mumbled his way through another bite of muffin. "Miller took a little nick on the arm. He refused the ambulance saying he knew a doc who would sew it up, but I insisted of driving him to the emergence room."
"I see," Athrun said quietly.
Snyder finished off the muffin. " I need to talk to you for another reason. I'm going to tell you something that I probably shouldn't."
Athrun leaned forward.
"We got a tip a few weeks ago as to what the clinic bomber looks like. It wasn't from the most reliable source, so we filed it away. But last week, with the pizza place drive-by, we got a dozen witnesses giving us the same description as the tip."
"And?"
Snyder took a drink. "One of the uniforms spotted someone who fit the description two days ago. I'm thinking if I tell you the facts, you would be another set of eyes watching for the guy. But I want you to swear to me that if you think you see him you just call, that's it. I don't want you confronting him. No citizen's arrest or anything like that."
"I know that law," Athrun said, ending Snyder's rambling. "I want this guys behind bars worse than you do."
Snyder agreed. "Look for a man, slim build, blue baseball cap and dirty hands. The First informant said he had silver eyes, but the others didn't remember that."
"Don't you think the description is kind of vague. Color of eyes is hard to see walking the streets at night. And anyone can change caps. He has probably washed his hands. Not much of a lead."
Before Snyder was able to add anything else, Monday returned.
"If you two have had enough male bonder, I thought I would get you to try my new muffin recipe."
"I would love too," Snyder replied smiling. Tuesday giggled and ran off to retrieve the muffin.
"I think I also found a lead." Athrun replied once Monday left. "I found a man who would stand to lose a great deal of money if I won the position of Chancellor. In fact, Amarifi knows me well enough to guess that if I got the job, I would do it with a passion. And eventually, I would discover the flaws in his legal dealings of weapons in the northern part of the world.
Raising his eyebrow, Snyder said, "This got interesting."
"I know Amarifi was behind the bombing that morning," Athrun said confidently. "His son was killed in battle during the war, which left his heartless and cruel. He doesn't care the results of his actions. It was in his best interest to be my friend because I'm honest, but if I were in office, I wouldn't look the other way. Not even for a friend."
Passing Snyder a vanilla envelope, he quickly scanned the documents. He was fascinated. He glanced at the first few pages, then looked up. "But would he kill to protect himself."
"Not me, it would cause too many questions. But he might have someone killed to stop me. If he were desperate and, from what I've been able to discover, Amarifi is desperate. He has already begun to lose money in the market recently."
"What are you trying to say, Zala?"
"Your theory is right. Cagalli was the target that morning the clinic. He must have been at the end of his rope to come up with such a crazy plan. But maybe he knew the right people who would do anything for a dollar. I think I may have met the man you just described in Amarifi's office one night.
"If we can tie the bomber to Amarifi…."
Athrun stopped him as two people passed them on their way to a back table. "If?"
"Are you sure about Amarifi?"
Athrun nodded. "I've made copies of enough files to send him to jail for the rest of his life."
"How did you get these files Zala?"
"I used greed as bait and it worked. I had just enough time to copy the files so he won't suspect a thing until the moment he's arrested. The papers in the files are on standard office stationary so legally, since I didn't break and enter, we should be able to use them as evidence. I even have a witness who will testify that Amarifi told me to use his office. And if I know my secretary, she overheard the entire conversation between Amarifi and me. She will back me up."
"I see you are on top of things Zala." Snyder said, once he took all the information in.
"You got to be if you suspect to get a head."
………………………………...
"First, there were ten -- a curious assortment of strangers summoned as weekend guests to a private island off the coast of Devon. Their host, eccentric millionaire unknown to all of them, is nowhere to be found. All that the guests have in common is a wicked past they're unwilling to reveal -- and a secret that will seal their fate. For each has been marked for murder. One by one they fall prey. Before the weekend if out, there will be none. And only the dead are above suspicion." Reading the short description of the book And Then There Were None, Cagalli smiled softly. Turning to face the sleeping doctor, she quietly placed the book on the nightstand. "I'll save the book for next time."
Walking over to the window, Cagalli stared at the empty street for a moment, thinking about Athrun.
"What are you doing right now Athrun?" she whispered quietly.
………………………………...
Staring at the empty gun in her purse, Meyrin smiled softly. "You are so foolish Luna. Could of saved the both of us time." Looking back up at shelter, Meyrin scanned the area as the both police and new casters stumbled around the murdered scene.
"Excuse me, but would you know what happened?" a male voice interrupted Meyrin's thoughts.
"Someone was killed." Meyrin responded without looking at the stranger.
"Do they know who the murder is?"
"Nope."
"I wonder who would do such a malicious thing," the male voice asked, coldly.
"I don't know." Meyrin answered simply.
"I see. I hope they catch the murderer soon. Considering that this wasn't their first time killing someone……actually wait, let me rephrase that," the voice said dangerously. "I suppose the murderer failed once again to eliminate their target."
"Excuse me?" Meyrin asked, turning to face the stranger. "What are you talking about?"
"Didn't you hear?" he asked, looking at her surprised.
"What?"
"The young lady who was shot, is still alive."
Staring at the silver hair man, speechless, Meyrin kept quiet.
Smirking slightly, the man waited for her to say something.
"Who are you?" Meyrin asked angrily.
Taking hold of her hand, he shook it quickly. "Yzak Joule is my name and you, Meyrin Hawk will be soon convicted for all your crimes very soon."
………………………………...
Author's Note
Finally a new chapter after God knows how long! Once again, I want to say sorry for the very very long wait and I do hope you enjoyed the new chapter. I am hoping that I'll get the next chapter up as soon as I can.
I want to say thank you for all the reviewers and thank you for your patience.
