How elegant is this? I'm crashing a funeral- not just any funeral the Peacecraft funeral. The ambiance is amazing; someone really went all out for the beautiful starlet. I can see the mounds and mounds of white lilies being places on her even whiter coffin, and I can almost see the somber look of Quatre Raberba Winner as he places the last lily on the coffin. It's close to raining today; I can smell it coming in the air. The clouds are gray and it's been threatening rain all day long; this is a perfect day for a funeral.

The feel is rather somber today. I fight my way through the sneaky reporters and their bastard photographers that just want to get a shot of the now deceased starlet. I feel for the rich and famous; I really do. The usual suspects are lined up perfectly, though I don't have a fucking inkling as to who the hell could be responsible for Wufei Chang's untimely disappearance. I see Yuy, Merquise, Winner, and Roddy surrounding the grave sight, their respective entourages surrounding them. Everyone is looking rather somber, fake or otherwise, except me. Everyone is dressed in the best black clothes that they could find in their closets, except for me. I'm dressed in a washed out brown suit and an even more washed out trench coat. I scan the expanse of the funeral and see the usual suspects- Yuy, Merquise, Winner. I suppose now that Winner is definitely not a suspect in this case, considering that I'm standing at his fiancé's funeral. Truthfully, I don't have a clue as to who could be responsible for the untimely kidnapping of Wufei Chang. I went over and over this case in my head for the past three days and I don't have a fucking inkling as to what is going on. In a situation like this the one thing I can do is go over the facts and relationships; I down at my notes taken last night and this case still doesn't make any sense to me.

Fact #1: Wufei Chang, the Triad mob boss is missing. He's been missing for over a month now.

Fact #2: Wufei Chang has a mistress named Hilde Schbeiker (recently recovered).

Fact #3: Hilde Schbeiker, alias Persephone, works for Quatre Raberba Winner in his nightclub the Savoy. Quatre slept with Roddy Chang.

Fact #4: The Savoy is a goldmine and haven for criminal activity. Criminals that roost there (three families) the Triads (Chang), the Yakuza (Yuy), and the Cosa Nostra (Merquise).

Fact #5: Turf war between Yakuza and Cosa Nostra 6 months earlier.

Fact #6: Shiprock Lake holds cherry land.

Fact #7: The day that Chang and Winner were going to sign for the property Chang was kidnapped.

Fact #8: Triads own 51% of the Yakuza capital.

Fact #9: Heero Yuy is pissed because of losing his assets.

Fact #10: Quatre Winner's house got shot up three days after a meeting which could have caused more anger to rise between the three families.

Which brings me to what I'm doing now the funeral of Relena Peacecraft. I can't help but be reminded of Cathy's funeral. Though my sister's final rest wasn't as lavish and full as Ms. Peacecraft's it was still as beautiful- I made sure of that. I feel a little sprinkle on my hand and realize that it's starting to rain like I predicted earlier. With a flutter, umbrellas around the gravesite pop up.  I walk closer, avoiding the annoying questions from the reporters. They're lowering the beautiful Ms. Peacecraft into the ground as I near and I see sullen faces everywhere. I feel for Mr. Winner. His life with her was just starting and some bastard took it away so suddenly. I guess I feel for any man that has ever lost a woman that was dear to him. I don't think I've been to a funeral since I went to my sisters.

People start to disperse from the gravesite and I see handshakes and small, phony smiles all around the site. I see Mequise stand; he has to be the most effete man that I've ever seen. He has platinum blonde hair flowing down his back and he's holding an umbrella over his small-framed wife and their newborn son. I see him shake hands with Winner and wonder why they're conversing so eagerly and calmly. The closer I get to the gravesite, the more people I notice and they notice me in return.

Heero Yuy is standing with his wife, both of them surrounded by and entourage of Japanese men. These men are, no doubt, armed to the tooth and ready to pounce on anyone that dare challenge Mr. Yuy. I see Zechs and Quatre walk over to the woman that I'm looking for, Roddy Chang. She's wearing dark sunglasses to match her dark black suit. I now notice that everyone is wearing a different colored rose in their lapel to signify which family they belong to. The Cosa Nostra has a white rose, the Yakuza a yellow rose, and the Triads the red rose. Roddy, Quatre, Zechs and Noin exchange hugs and small kisses to the cheek. I notice that Roddy and Quatre linger a little too long in the embrace, but then I notice that Mr. Winner is crying when she releases him. I suppose he and Roddy really are just friends now. I watch as Yuy and his wife, Jina, walk towards Zechs and his family to offer their condolences. Zech's facial expression immediately changes. I get closer.

"I am extremely sorry about your loss, Quatre," I hear Jina say. Winner's eyes narrow and I see a flicker of anger rise in them.

"Why did you even show your face here? I know what you did. Jina, you and your husband are never allowed in the Savoy again." I don't think I've ever heard him sound so serious. Then again, I only know the side that he shows me.

"Winner, you couldn't possibly think…" finally I hear the silent Japanese speak.

"You'll pay for what you did, Yuy." Winner whispers and walks away towards the limo that is waiting for him. He is accompanied by Zechs and Lucrezcia who counter his threat with evil glares. Roddy follows them to the limo and I see one more hug exchanged between she and Quatre. We catch eyes and she hurriedly walks the opposite way of me. I quickly catch up with her and grab her by the arm.

"What are you doing here?" she asks.

"Why are you running from me?" I counterask.

"I asked you first."

"I came here to pay my respects. I was there the day that Relena was killed."

"Oh, well, then you should know that the funeral was by invitation only."

"Ah. Maybe you can help me with something," I say pushing her behind a sarcophagus so that no one can see us. Her back is pressed into the cold metal and I'm leaning my hips against hers so that she doesn't get away.

"I'm a married woman." She grounds out as she struggles to get away from me.

"That's never stopped you before," I say playfully back. She chuckles and stops struggling and I pull away from her.

"What do you want?"

"What was that exchange between Winner and Mequise all about?"

"Why don't you go ask them? I have no idea. I just came to pay my respects."

"I think you're lying."

"You can think whatever you want. How about you get to work on the case that I'm paying you for. The last time I checked my husband was still missing." She pushes me off of her and starts to walk away.

"We found his mistress in a trunk at Shiprock property."  This stops her.

"What property was it?"

"The Omni Dog Food Company."

"Heero Yuy, that bastard. I knew it was him all along." She says these words more to herself than she does to me. I pull her back towards me against the sarcophagus.

"That's what I came to talk to you about. All the evidence adds up to him, but I seriously have a hunch that's it's not him."

"What? Even the police think it's him. They're swarming his home to find evidence in the murder of Peacecraft. That's why Quatre was so unkind to him today, everyone knows it has to be the Yakuza."

"I just don't think it's him. Personally I think it's Merquise or some other outside source that's terrorizing your glamorous underworld." I don't think I've ever seen her so upset. She's looking at me with such incredulity and anger that I take a step back from her. She walks closer to me and grabs jacket lapels and pulls me down so that we're face to face.

"Relena Peacecraft was Zechs Mequise's sister. Would you kill your own sister, Barton?" She pushes me away from her and quickly walks away towards her waiting limo. I'm completely stunned. I'm so stunned, in fact, that I watch her walk all the way to he limo and watch as it disappears into thin air around the twists and turns of the graveyard. I pull out my pad and paper and right down fact #11: Relena Peacecraft was Zechs Mequise's sister and Quatre Winner's fiancé. This leaves me with no other choice, I have to go question the Yakuza.

****

I arrive at the home Heero Yuy the next day at noon. It's not exactly what I would have expected from the head of the Yakuza mob family. The home is rather modest compared to the other homes that I've visited over the past three weeks. I suppose everything is modest after you've visited the Winner estate. Now keep in mind that by modest I mean modest for a mob boss. In the case of Heero Yuy, the poorest and worse off of the three families, I would have to say that he's not living too badly.

It's a three story brown wooden house that has the ambience of a small pagoda. In the front there is a small pond full of koi, much like the Chang residents. There is a black Rolls Royce sitting out front in the courtyard and the hedges are well manicured. I notice that there aren't any bodyguards, there are no attack dogs, there is nothing keeping me from opening this wooden gate to the garden. I open it and walk straight up to the round door, ringing the doorbell. I am greeted by Jina, the sexy bartender from Quatre's bar. At first I wonder why the hell she's here then I remember that she's Heero's wife of six months. She doesn't look too happy to see me, but she lets me in all the same.

"Come in, sit down, make yourself at home. I was just berating my husband for being such a dumbass." She says picking up her already lit and smoked cigarette from a delicate ashtray. I follow her into the living room and I can see that Heero Yuy, the usually stern-faced Yakuza mob boss is sitting on the couch with a pained expression on his face. He looks like he's just got into an argument with his wife; I feel kind of bad for intruding.

"So, what is it that you wanted to discuss?" he asks, standing to shake my hand.

"I don't think we've been formally introduced, I'm…"

"I know who you are. Answer the question." He's a tough one.

"Stop being such a dick Heero, he's here to help us." she said after taking a long drag from the cigarette.

"Actually I'm here to help Mrs. Chang."

"Oh, that bitch sent you!!!" Jina is standing from her seat, anger seething behind her eyes. I sense some tension between Jina and Roddy.

"You don't like her?" I ask, pulling out my pen and pad.

"It's not that I don't like her, it's that I hate her. She's a lying manipulative little bitch. She thinks that if she can shake her huge ass and tits in a man's face that he'll do anything for her. The only problem is that she's right; men are that stupid!!!" She said throwing her arms over her head in anger.

"Calm down, Jina, Roddy is not that bad." Heero says quietly. She looks at him with stern eyes and hits him on the shoulder. Hard.

"I never want to hear her name and my name in the same sentence again coming from your mouth, is that clear. You're so naïve Heero, don't you see? She played you for a fool a complete fool and you still stand up for her." She fell to the sofa with a defeated sigh.

"What are you talking about?" I ask, completely amused by interrupting a couple argument.

"Mr. Barton, you will have to excuse my wife, she's a bit upset with me. You see, all of our finances have been going to pay protection to the Triads so that the Cosa Nostra won't completely shut down Yakuza trade. Basically, the Changs own 51% of our capital." I already knew this, but I wanted to know more, so I pretend that I don't know as much as I really know. In short, I play dumb.

"Oh really?"

"Yeah. Really, that bitch came over here and basically seduced my husband into giving Chang money. Those Triads are sneaky little bastards, and Roddy is the fucking ringleader." Jina ranted.

"The Triads are helping us, protecting our business interest, yet they too are taking us over. We're almost broke because the police have ceased so many of our assets. They're coming after us, no one wanted to see Relena die. I don't know who did it, but I know we're being framed." Heero Yuy didn't seem to be one of those types of people that would hurt anyone. He seemed like the type of guy that would do a fair deal and if you crossed him then he'd retaliate.  I looked into his baby blues and they looked trusting enough.

"What about Peacecraft?" he winced; this was obviously a sensitive subject.

"There is no proof that we had anything to do with that. Everything is just specula…" the doorbell rang, interrupting Mr. Yuy's attempt at explaining himself. His wife excused herself demurely from the sofa arm and went to go answer the door.

There was scuffle and some shouting, and then the police rushed in full force, guns cocked. They surround Yuy and I as the ringleader threw Yuy on the sofa face down and read him his rights.

"What is this for?" Yuy asked, his voice muffled from the sofa being pushed into it.

"You are being arrested for the conspiratory murder of Chang Wufei," those words sparked my interest. They pulled Yuy up from the sofa and led him out. Jina followed, grabbing the keys to her car and tailing the police car with her husband quickly. I grabbed an officer that was casing the house for clues and stopped him.

"He's wanted for the murder of Chang Wufei?" I asked, confused, bewildered. How was it possible?

"Yeah, haven't you heard? Chang's body was found floating in the harbor late this morning." The words sounded ridiculous to my ears. I'd failed this case, I'd failed my client, and I'd failed myself.