I know I haven't updated as much as either you or I would like, but that's why I'm working on it now. Hopefully it won't take me too long to update anymore. It is summer vacation, and I'm quitting my job too so I can focus on guard…course guard is going to be taking up a lot of my time too…we have practice twice a week during the summer up until band camp, at the end of July. And during the school year, we practice every day. Except Sunday. Anyway, why am I boring your eyes off with this? On with the story!

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"They think it was us." Kitty said as soon as they were safely back inside one of the apartments. "You can tell by the way they kept looking over at us and whispering."

"Like we couldn't see them." Rogue said disgustedly. "Annoying pricks."

"Well of course they think it was us." Caveman said logically, sitting down in a chair. Apple came over and squeezed next to him. "Like Apple said, as soon as we move in, dead bodies start showing up. And we were convicted of murder. They obviously know that we're capable of killing somebody…"

"Those were accidents!" Link burst out, her face very pale. Her lower lip trembled and she looked like she was about to cry. "We didn't mean to!"

"Of course they were accidents." Armpit assured her, shooting Caveman a dirty look for upsetting his girlfriend. "We would never kill anybody on purpose."

"Though many people have tried to kill us." Squid muttered under his breath. Star gave him a shut-up glare.

"You think it's on the news yet?" Fidget asked, squirming over everybody else to reach the television. She flipped it on.

"No." X-ray said as nothing popped up on any of the news channels. "As soon as they find out about, we'll see the news trucks outside."

"Good point." ZigZag said, and they all rushed over to the window. The diggers were giving up. They had dug very deep, and no more bodies had been uncovered. The three bodies that had been dug up were being carted away in an undertaker's van.

"Guess the news crews missed it." Twitch commented, leaning so far out the window that Caveman and Armpit grabbed him by the shoulders and yanked him back in. Armpit had developed a horrible fear of heights ever since Paris…

A knock sounded on the door of the apartment. They all exchanged worried looks, then Star pulled it open. Officer Handy stood there, looking stern. Two more policemen were with him, looking as though they already believed the kids had done the killing.

"Hello Miss…"

"Serendipity Miller." Star introduced herself quickly.

"Miss Miller. I'm Officer Handy, with the New York Police Department. Do you mind if we step inside for a moment?" He brushed past her without waiting for an answer. "We have a few questions to ask you kids."

"Um…no problem…" Star shut the door behind the three policemen and leaned against it awkwardly. With three fully grown men inside now, there was practically no room to move around.

"You saw the bodies dug up by the gate, correct?" Handy demanded, flipping open a notepad and taking a pen from his belt.

"Yeah, we went out to watch." Star nodded.

"And how did you know there were bodies being dug up?" Handy demanded, fixing her with a steely glare. He obviously already believed them guilty as well.

"Fidget, I mean Fox," Star pointed to Fidget, who waved slightly. "Was coming back from work and she saw the first body being dug up and came and told us."

"Where do you work?" Handy demanded of Fidget.

"Candy Craze." Fidget answered promptly, and he scribbled it down in his notebook. Then he turned back to Star.

"Don't you think it's sort of morbid that you all rushed out to view a dead body?" He demanded of her, his eyes glinting maliciously.

"All humans are drawn to anything out of the ordinary." Jewel explained philosophically. "If other people had been around to know what was going on, they would have come to see the bodies too."

"Well from what I understand, your former lives weren't ordinary at all. In fact, they were the very opposite." Handy's lip curled up into a snarl of a smile. "Stealing money, killing people, being pirates, causing scenes on national monuments…"

The kids didn't answer. They were all glaring at Officer Handy with the utmost loathing. The two officers with him were smiling knowingly as though the kids had offered them a confession.

"We didn't kill those people, Officer Handy." Star said firmly, trying to keep the rage from her voice. "I know you think we did, but we didn't. You should be interrogating somebody else, because we don't know anything."

Officer Handy slapped his notebook shut. "I'd like you to come down to the station. See if you can maybe identify the bodies."

"We've already told you!" X-ray burst out in annoyance. "We've just got normal lives back! We don't know anybody!"

"All the same," Handy said coldly. "Come with me."

The kids had no choice but to follow him, Minx clutching Charlie tightly in her arms. They all piled into the police cars, which turned on their sirens as though they were carrying criminals.

They pulled up in front of a morgue. It looked like a normal building from the outside, but they all shivered with the depression of the place. They all piled out, and Officer Handy and his cronies led the way up a flight of stairs and into a cold room that smelled strongly of chemicals.

A tall, broad-shouldered woman wearing a white labcoat and a surgical mask over her nose and mouth approached them. "Good afternoon." She greeted them seriously. "I am Doctor Ellis. I'll be doing the autopsy on the bodies."

"Good afternoon, Doctor Ellis." Officer Handy nodded respectfully to her.

The kids were passed surgical masks and gloves to wear, and they put them on. Doctor Ellis suggested that Charlie shouldn't be present, as the fumes were exceptionally strong. So one of the cronies took Charlie and waited outside. The others could see Minx fidget with worry.

Ellis uncovered the first body. This one was of a young girl. She was probably about thirteen years old, nude. Her pale body was pasty and covered in dirt. She had bruises all over her body. Her blonde hair was a tangled muddy mess. A huge chunk near her left temple had been ripped away, leaving a bloody raw spot. There were rope burns around her neck, and she had a brand on her right hip, in the shape of a circle with a lion inside.

"Obviously strangled." Ellis said, running one of her gloved fingers over the rope burns, which cut deep into the girl's flesh. "But that could have happened after she was already dead." She opened the girl's mouth. "Got all her teeth. Fully developed." Taking a pair of pliers, she wrenched a tooth loose. The kids all winced. "Dental records." Ellis explained.

She looked at the bruises on the wrists and ankles. "It would appear that she was bound and was trying to get free." Ellis explained. It was obvious she enjoyed having an audience. The kids realized that most of the time she had to do this by herself.

She covered the first body and moved to the second one, on a different table. The kids, Officer Handy, and the cronie that was still present moved with her.

The second body was also of a young girl, who couldn't have been more than seven. The kids found her naked, bruised, and bloody body repulsive. Link had to bury her face in Armpit's chest to keep from vomiting.

The same bruises on the wrists and ankles were on this child too, and the rope burns around her neck. The brand was on her right hip. Her blonde hair was equally matted, and another huge chunk had been ripped away.

Ellis pried a tooth from this girl's tiny mouth as well. "She's missing a tooth already, but that could have nothing to do with the attack. At her age, she should be losing her baby teeth." Ellis explained as she deposited the tooth into a Petrie dish and labeled it properly.

Then she took a wet sponge in a pair of tongs and began dabbing at the blood on the girl's head. The blood was slowly sponged away, and the pale skin of the girl's scalp became visible. "Now what's this?" Ellis breathed, mostly to herself. She took a magnifying glass and zoomed in on the now cleaned spot of scalp.

"What is it?" Handy demanded eagerly.

"She's been injected with something." Ellis said, indicating a tiny pinprick in the scalp. "Somebody put a needle into this girl's scalp."

She hurried over to the first body and cleaned the bloody scalp. She let out a pleased exclamation as she uncovered another needle mark.

They moved on to the third body. This was the one the kids had seen being removed from the ground. She was probably about nine, with the same odd markings on her body as the first two. When the bloody place on her scalp had been cleared, they found yet another needle mark.

"It'll take a few hours for the results on the injection to come back." Ellis said, covering up the third body and pulling her gloves off. "You can wait around, Officer Handy, but I really don't think it's a good idea keeping these kids here."

Officer Handy looked miffed at the coroner telling him how to do his job. It was one of his biggest pet peeves. "Yes, well." He said stiffly. "That is entirely up to me, now isn't it?" And he ushered them out of the autopsy room.

Minx snatched Charlie from the cop holding him, and cuddled him closely. Even being away from him for a little while caused her great anxiety.

"Alright, we'll take you back to your apartments." Handy said after thinking it over a bit. "Are you sure you don't recognize those girls?"

"YES!" They shouted at him.

He grimaced, but they were taken home.

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Okay, I guess I've been watching shows like CSI too much…oh well…it was kind of fun to write…anyway, more next chappy! Review! No posties till I get 305 reviews. It's only ten, so you guys can do it!