Chapter 13: Kim and Lila

WARNING: THERE IS A MURDER SCENE IN THIS CHAPTER THAT MAY DISTRESS SOME PEOPLE. PLEASE READ WITH CAUTION.

"Who knows what we're going to see," said Adrien. He, Marinette, Nathaniel and Zoe were getting ready to check the CCTV footage.

"Who knows if they'll let us check the footage," said Zoe. "Security can be pretty strict about these things."

"Hopefully we can explain that we're taking the evidence to the police," said Marinette.

"Wait - we don't need to," suggested Nathaniel. "We could just tell them that we had lost something and we were looking for it. People are allowed to do that; I checked the hotel rules and regulations myself."

"That sounds like a plan, Nate," said Marinette approvingly.

"Yeah," said Zoe, "they might get suspicious if we ask to check who had killed the guard."

"Wouldn't they have done that already?" pondered Adrien. "I mean, this is Fabio Chapdelaine's workplace."

"I don't think they have, and I know it," mentioned Nathaniel quietly.

"You do? How?" said Marinette curiously.

"I was walking around the other day when I overheard the hotel manager arguing with another security guard - one of Fabio What's-His-Name's friends, apparently," said Nathaniel. "The manager was refusing to take the evidence to the cops."

"Gee, so much for a managerial post," said Zoe, with a roll of the eyes.

"Uh - Marinette?" came a voice. Marinette turned around to see Max fidgeting with his glasses.

"Max? Aren't you still mad at me for breaking Markov?" said Marinette sarcastically.

"Uh - I thought about what Adrien told us yesterday," said Max sheepishly, "and I can't help but think: he was right in saying that you wouldn't be guilty of such a severe crime. I'm sorry."

"Are you shitting us?" said Adrien aggressively. Even Marinette was surprised.

"No I'm not," said Max earnestly. "I really am sorry, Marinette, and I want to help you out of this mess."

Max genuinely meant what he said. Everyone could tell; Adrien regretted his harsh tone.

"Apology accepted, Max," said Marinette, smiling.

"In fact, now that you've seen sense," said Nathaniel, we were wondering if you could help us out with something."

He whispered his plan to Max. Max agreed.

"I can analyse the footage. It shouldn't be too hard, but it would have been much easier with Markov," he sighed. "I'll fix him as soon as we get home."

"I sure hope this plan goes well," said Zoe. The others nodded in agreement.

It wasn't long before they got to the security room. A guard (the one Nathaniel had overheard the other day) greeted them and asked what they needed.

"We'd been working on a poster over here, and we had misplaced it about a week ago," said Nathaniel, lying through his teeth. "We were wondering if we could look back to last Friday to see if it could be found."

The guard gave his permission for the five classmates to look at the cameras. Thanking him, Marinette, Adrien, Nathaniel, Zoe and Max went into the control room, where they monitored the dining area's vicinity a week prior.

It was thirty minutes - much sooner than anyone had expected - before they got to the scene they were waiting for. Max had his phone out, so he was able to get the footage onto it.

Once they were done, the five friends thanked the guard once again. Then they went out to the lobby to observe the footage - and what they saw left them nothing but shocked.

A man of average height, with curly black hair and a moustache, was leading a classroom of about fifteen people to the lift. That meant that the akuma attack had not happened at the same time as the murder, like they had thought!

"Did you get the murder scene?" asked Nathaniel.

"We're coming to that now," said Max. And it wasn't long - only about fifteen minutes and two passers-by- before the murder occurred.

"Did you see who those people could have been?" said Zoe to Max.

"If I'm not mistaken, one of them was Kim. And the other one, if it's any surprise at all, was Lila."

"Shh," said Adrien. "I think it's happening now."

Someone in a hoodie was trying to get into the lift.

"It looks a bit like our Adrien," said Max thoughtfully, "but it's not."

"Shush!" stage-whispered Marinette, "It's happening!"

The guard, who had left the hallway for a moment, returned and appeared to call out to the intruder. The intruder, in what appeared to be a state of panic, grabbed a glass vase and broke it against the wall. The guard made to stop the intruder...

...only for the intruder to drive a shard of glass into the guard's chest.

Marinette and Zoe screamed, earning some angry looks from passers-by. The guard staggered towards the front desk, and was seen no more.

"This can only mean one thing," said Nathaniel, rising to his feet. "Either Lila or Kim was behind the killing!"

"AHEM!"

Everyone turned. It was (at the most inopportune moment, I might add) Kim and Lila.

"I knew you'd land yourself in trouble, Dupain-Cheng," snarled Lila, "but who knew you'd be low enough to drag other people into this!"

"Says the person who most probably killed an innocent man," rejoined Marinette.

"How many times should I tell you?" screeched Lila. "I AM INNOCENT!"

"Really?" said Max crisply. "Care to explain this? And you, Kim?"

He made to show them the footage, but Lila grabbed his phone from him.

"OY!" shouted Adrien.

"That does it," said Nathaniel. "Lila Rossi, you're the murderer, aren't you?"

"Kim, can you please be honest with me?" begged Max. "Did you kill Fabio Chapdelaine?"

Kim looked distressed.

"Max, my best friend: I'm being honest with you," he said. "It wasn't me. I swear. I did go downstairs that night, but I had to use the bathroom. And you were in the room's bathroom at that time!"

Max thought back. Being the (supposedly) smart one, he had an elephantine memory that allowed him to recall where he was and what he was doing at certain times.

"I have checked the time on the video," he told Kim, "and I can confirm that I was indeed in the bathroom at that time. So, I do believe you when you say you didn't kill the guard."

"Thanks, Max," said Kim. "Can I go now?"

"Of course," said Max, and Kim left. Max turned to Lila.

"As for you," he said, "we've some more questions to ask you."

The heat is on! Stay tuned for Chapter 14, because the final battle will begin then.