To Mrs. Chang's disappointment I decided to involve Mr. Winner in my sleuthing. I basically had no choice; he was the only person that would give me answers to questions. Besides, the guy was just so generous with his cash. So, three days after talking with Roddy, I made an appointment with Mr. Winner and was on my way to his humble abode, if you can call a three-story mansion humble.

It was a nice place on Shiprock Lake, a white house with marble columns a large plush garden and a gate complete with guards in front of it. This made entering with a taxi difficult and the guards at the black, metal gate made me walk the rest of the way towards the mansion. When I finally reached the front door I noticed the same white Bentley from the club; I knew that I was in the right place. I walked past the large, marble columns towards the door with a large camel as a knocker. The same large, burley man that patted me down at the club answered the door. You'd think that Mr. Winner, being the smooth businessman, would make it customary for his men to shave. I suppose that this guy was the ruler of the crew and Winner's personal bodyguard so it didn't matter whether he shaved or not. Besides, who would mess with this man, he was the size of a barn.

"Detective Barton, I have an appointment with Mr. Winner," I said flipping my badge so that he could see it. The tough, grim face of the large man quickly dispersed into that of a smirk and he stepped from his barricade of the door and allowed me entrance. The Winner's house was amazing. It was something that I would personally want to have. Sure, the Chang's residence was fit for a Chinese mob boss, but Winner's place was fit for a king. I was in the foyer, that's what rich people call the front room, and there were expensive paintings hanging on a  gray-colored wall. 

"Yeah, I remember you. You're the same guy from the club," the big guy said closing the door behind me and leading me into the main part of the mansion, "I'm Rashid, I'm sorry for roughing you up at the club, but need to protect my boss, you know." So the big guy's name was Rashid. He reached out his large palm to mine and I shook it and he offered me a simple grin, I returned him with a smirk. My expectations of this house were more that I could have bargained for. He had one large staircase that split at the top leading people to either the east or west wing of the house; the kind that you see on the movies or in rich hotels. There were palm trees adorning the staircase, the green leaves contrasting with the gold of the railing. At the top of the staircase, there was a large painting of Mr. Winner or someone that looked exactly like him contrasting the red of the wall behind it. Now that I survey closer, the whole place was red like the Savoy. The whole place was, in fact, set up like a Middle Eastern palace. There were lush multi-colored pillows adorning the soft couch. The drapes that were hanging on the windows were different colors that I hadn't seen before. There was a strange purple-reddish color and a blue-greenish color. There were vivid yellows and cool blues and greens. Everything reminded me of Arabian Knights.

"This is a nice place," I say looking at Rashid. The tall man looked down at me and smiled.

"I'll take you to Mr. Winner, he should be in his room," We walk up the large staircase about two flights, passing the painting. I got a good look at it and it is Mr. Winner. We made a left turn walking towards his quarters.

"Mr. Winner mostly resides on the second floor in the west wing. He has everything he needs up here, a library, a study, a sitting room. His room is the farthest to the back past the library and the study, I'll lead you to it so that you don't get lost." He was giving me a tour? Did Quatre plan on having me over often enough that I would just walk to his room without having to go through Rashid? We neared his room and I got to peak in the study and the library, which was extensive; to be clear, my whole apartment could fit in that library five, maybe six times.

My feet started to sink in the plush, cream carpet as we trudged what seemed like a mile towards Mr. Winner's quarters. Upon nearing the room our auditory senses were met with the sounds of either a woman or a screeching cat, we couldn't tell which. The closer we got, the more audible the sounds were and Rashid and I could tell that it was definitely a woman. When we finally reached Mr. Winner's quarters, there was no doubt as to what was taking place behind the door. Rashid blushed as he looked at me and I had a rather stoic smirk, if that's even possible.

"OH….Oh… Quatre… Quatre! QUATRE!!!!!" It was definitely not a cat. The mingled sounds of the bed squeaking and the woman's cat-like screeching led my stoic smirk into a smile; I was completely amused, and I wanted to know who the woman was. Rashid knocked on the door lightly, stopping the squeaking but not the panting from the woman.

"Master Quatre?" The tall man said softly. This shocked me because I didn't know that huge men with gruff voices could talk with anything other than a manly yell. However, Rashid seemed like a child talking to Quatre in this rather delicate situation.

"What is it Rashid," I heard the man yell, obviously annoyed, "can't you hear that I'm busy with Ms. Peacecraft." So it was the Peacecraft doll that he was doing behind that door; something to tell Duo.

"Y-yes, but s-sir, Detective Barton is here for his appointment, sir." Rashid said. I could here the sigh of aggravation from Mr. Winner and I could hear the small voice of Peacecraft mumble something inarticulate.

"Give me ten minutes," he grumbled. Rashid turned and led me quickly away from the door; Relena's shrieks echoed behind us as we scampered down the hallway and back down the staircase.

****

Twenty minutes later, as I was sitting on the plush leather couch sipping some strange tasty alcoholic beverage, I see Mr. Winner dart happily down the stairs. The man is dressed all in a white, white pants, white button-down shirt with a smudge of blue on the collar, and a white sweater tied around his neck. He looks like he's either ready for sailing or for tennis.

"I'm sorry for being late, I just had to take care of some things. I trust that you won't share anything you may have seen or heard with anyone else." He says as he pours himself a glass of brandy and sits down across from me.

"Hey, what or who you do is of no concern of mine." I say.

"I must say, Detective, that when you contacted me a second time that I was completely astounded, I wasn't expecting that I gave you much to go on." He is a cordial bastard and I feel bad for bringing him into this mob business.

"Yes, well, I spoke with Ms. Chang on Sunday and she was a bit less than helpful." I say taking a sip of the amber liquid that was in my snifter.

"Yes, she told me at the meeting later that day," my face lit up and he smiled after taking a sip from his own glass, "I take it she didn't tell you about the meeting."

"You would be right in your assumption." I say setting my glass down on the marble table.

"There was meeting of the three families on Sunday afternoon at the Savoy. She, of course, had to come in Wufei's place. There was some tension, but it was soon stored away. Mr. Yuy and I had some bad blood between us, but we have recently cleared it up. Roddy, on the other hand, seemed to be handling her husband's capital quite well in his untimely absence." Quatre said.

"So there was some tension at the meeting?"

"Yes, between myself and Mr. Yuy. It seems that some of his men mistreated one of my girls, there were many apologies. Mr. Yuy and I don't completely agree on certain things. I wish I didn't have to remind him that he met his wife at my club."

"Mr. Yuy's married?" I asked, shocked.

"Yes, you've met Jina, my bartender. They've been married for at least half a year now. Believe me when I say troubles do follow that marriage. Mr. Yuy is not exactly liked by the Cosa Nostra. I believe that it's because of Roddy that they haven't snuffed him out completely."

"How has Roddy saved him?" I ask. Mr. Winner seems to have diarrhea of the mouth after he's gotten some tail.

"If it weren't for the Triads protection to some of the Yakuza assets Yuy would have gone under financially a long time ago. Chang already owns 51% of Yuy's industry and stock."

"Then why does Merquise have such a problem with Yuy?" there was a long pause as Quatre refilled his snifter. He looked at me with serious eyes and took a sip of the amber liquid.

"Off the record," he said and I put down my pen and pad, "Zechs and Heero made a deal about two months before Chang's disappearance. Zechs wanted the Yakuza to pay protection for the lakefront property on down Shiprock. Yuy owns a few businesses down there along with Zechs and Wufei. Wufei was trying to make a deal with me to go in as partners so that I could move the Savoy to the Shiprock front. I didn't want to get involved with this because it sounded like a start of an all-out turf war. The Yakuza and Mob were already killing each other over bakeries and ship yards…" His voice faded off as if he'd said too much. I wasn't going to let him stop talking.

"Why ship yards?" I ask, picking back up on the last of his words.

"Both families push spank and whores around the ship yards. They wanted to use the Savoy more than they already do. I try to keep my business legit, what my girls do behind my back is beyond my control."

"Did Persephone work for anyone else but you?" I ask him. He takes a swallow.

"I saw her around Yuy a couple of times, a few months before she started humping Chang on the regular. I don't know what she did, but she had to be getting money from somewhere else, and she was getting popular with Yuy's boys. "

"How do the Triads play into this turf war?"

"The turf war is basically over. Somehow the Triads came out with most of Yuy's assets and that pissed off the Mob and Yuy. I think Chang was in over his head. All he wanted to do was set up places for gambling on the lake. He wanted me to move the Savoy to the lakefront and pay him protection for his girls. Yuy and Zechs wanted the same thing, but I didn't want to get involved so I just left the Savoy in the Industrial. Chang offered me a partnership and I considered it and the day I was supposed to sign him half of my deed to the club he disappeared."

"So the Cosa Nostra and the Yakuza are in it together, you think?" I ask leaning forward on the couch towards him.

"Hell no. The Yakuza is basically broke and they hate the Cosa Nostra, those two factions would never go in together; there is too much bad blood. As a matter of fact, at the meeting Roddy and I announced that I would be signing with her to complete the partnership that her husband previously intended. This is the argument that I mentioned earlier. Yuy wasn't happy about it at all, in fact he walked out. Merquise saw this as a dishonor."

"Wouldn't Yuy be pissed that the Triads hold most of his capital?"

"Yes, but he's protected, that's all that matters until he can open up some more whore houses or push some more spank. Which he can do when we open up on the Shiprock."

"Why with the Triads and not with any other family?"

"I trust them, especially Roddy. Besides, I don't do anything illegal in my club, the booze is legal, the gambling's legal. The Cosa Nostra and the Yakuza want to push drugs and women, I'm not into that." He smiled finishing his second glass of whiskey.

"Was Chang trying to go legit?"

"I don't know. He's always been an honorably businessman, though. I don't know about Zechs and Heero, both seem like men that would stab you in the back." He says setting his whiskey glass on the marble table close to mine. That's pretty much all I can tell you, everything else can get me killed." The man smiled and stood. He stretched languidly like a cat and offered me his hand. I shook it with strong enthusiasm.

"Thank you for your time," I say noticing that only an hour had passed by.

"No problem. I'm afraid that after tomorrow I won't be available to you any longer. I'm going out of town for a week or so after the signing. You know, next time that you come by, and I hope it's not for this mess, I will send a car." I saw the beautiful Relena Peacecraft start to descend the stairs in similar colors as Winner was dressed and she had a tennis skirt on; so they were going to play tennis. I saw him smile towards her and she smiled back coquettishly.

"Thank you Mr. Win…" The sounds of furious automatic gunshots rang through the windows of the house. It seemed like slow motion as glass flew like paper as the windows crashed and broke. The ricocheting of bullets chipped the paint and marble and the servants within the house screamed and dove to the ground. Quatre dove quickly to the floor, a bullet catching him in the shoulder. I was quick to follow him as I saw Rashid crawl towards his boss trying to shield the much smaller blonde from the spray of bullets. Then, it was over. Everyone that was splayed on the ground waited for what seemed like hours before they got up.

"Everyone okay!" Rashid screamed as he removed himself from Quatre's still form. The blonde underneath him looked up, and I could see that the bullet had only hit his shoulder. There was blood oozing out of the wound onto the perfect cream carpet, over his white sweater and white shirt, and marring his creamy skin and blonde hair. I sat up quickly, trying to help the man stop the bleeding on his shoulder. He sat still, in shock it seemed before the scream of a maid brought him back to consciousness.

Relena. It was she who got the worst of the attack. She was coming down the stairs when the bullets started crashing through the windows and it looked as if everyone of them hit her. She was lying face down in a pool of her own blood, turning the creamy white carpet a deep crimson red. Her usually shiny blonde hair was covered and stained pink and the blood on her skin was too fresh to even be brown. Her previously white tennis skirt and blouse was covered in blood. Quatre crawled from his position between the two couches and over to her not caring about the glass that was crackling and no doubt sticking into his hands and knees. I didn't think that I'd ever see anything like this up close, but the blonde man cried and held her. He rocked her back and forth and kissed her left hand, which I finally notice held a tiny, gold band.