Hello everyone. Here's the third chapter of this saga. Hope it meets up to expectations. All reviews will be answered at the end. And wish a very happy birthday to me! Is it 17th of July when this is on the Net? Because if it is, then it's my birthday! Whoo! Have a nice day, people! ^_^

Warning: Quite a long chapter and very mild slashly bits between Riff and Cain. I didn't really see a decent opportunity for real slash. Jezebel appears near the end of the chapter, but he's only a minor character, sorry!

The Lady of the Rain

Chapter 3

By Birdie

When the old woman heard this, she was overjoyed: her daughter might be marrying the prince. But when the girl heard about the news, she was very sad.

"Mother," she said. "I don't want to marry the prince. I want to stay here and look after you when you are too old to work."

The old woman was very angry when she heard this. "Don't be so stupid!" she told her daughter harshly. "Do you know what it means to be a princess?! You may never need to work again, and we won't have to be so poor!!!"

"I don't care!" the girl tried to say.

But her mother wouldn't hear of it. She forced her daughter to agree to the marriage.

The prince was delighted, and began to plan the wedding. But the girl wept sadly, her tears almost as heavy as the rain outside.

~*~

Cain stayed at the Ina Carter Foundation all day. He learned a great many things, like how many doctors there were in the ward, and what the procedure to treating a patient was. He also saw a real operation, and it looked like a normal surgery, to Cain's disappointment. He was hoping for something suspicious to happen.

The count met with the boy in surgery. His name was Oliver; he was Ina's son. The child went in for surgery much like Evangeline's. His behaviour was very normal, and what he timetable was very normal (Cain was again disappointed that there was nothing suspicious happening)

"Oliver, I want to ask you some questions." Cain said, taking out a small, black notebook.

"Fire away!" the boy told him.

"Have you heard of the murder cases?" the count asked.

Oliver nodded, his blue eyes still fixed on the count. "I have," he said coldly. "And I also know people are suspecting my mother as the killer."

"We won't go into that." Cain said quickly. He was trying to drop the suspect.

"You think she killed those girls, don't you?" Oliver asked fiercely. "Well she wouldn't have! She's not that kind of person!"

"Stop shouting, Oliver." Mary ordered. She walked in with a aerosol can, which was very tall and very thin. It was made out of tin material and had no label on it. "Here, take your medicine."

Oliver sprayed the gas and sniffed it deeply. He gave it back to Mary and fell asleep immediately.

"What's that?" Cain asked, pointing to the can.

"It's our medicine to help the patients get better." Mary answered.

Cain looked at it. "It smells rather strange…" he said suspiciously, nose twitching. "And it's not chloroform…"

Mary huffed and walked away. "Medicine smells weird, sir…"

Cain stared at the doorway, which was now empty. "…so is poison…" he muttered darkly.

~*~

Cain blew on his tea before sipping it lightly. It was very hot. "I have a feeling who the murder is." He said to Riff softly.

"Oh?" Riff inquired. "Who might it be then, master Cain?"

Cain smirked one of his sly but oh-so-gorgeous smirks. "I have a sneaky suspicion it's Ina Carter."

Riff frowned. "Ina Carter…? Why do you think that?"

"Well," Cain put his tea-cup back onto the table in front of him. "When I was visiting her clinic, she said:

'A lot of people say that, but a few keep their promises. If you fail to keep it up, your daughter will be taken away from you.'

I had a feeling from that sentence that she was the one leading the girls into the river. AND, today, the ward sister was handing out suspicious solvents. Ina would have prescribed them."

Cain paused. He thought for some time, not saying anything. There was a tense silence in the room. "But it if WAS Ina," he said after a while. "Then she wouldn't have anymore patients left, would she now? And, the solvents were used for her son, she wouldn't kill her own son, would she…?"

Riff nodded sensibly. "I would think so too."

Cain sighed. "That's one suspect down." He pulled out his black notebook and crossed out "Ina Carter".

Riff leaned over and read on the top of the book. "Does that say 'Second suspect: Delilah'?"

Cain nodded. "Yes, I was thinking Delilah has something to do with all these deaths."

"How come, sir?" Riff asked, returning to normal standing position.

"Because Delilah ALWAYS has something to do with mysterious deaths, silly," the dark hair count teased. "It seems sensible to put them down, just in case."

"I suppose now we're going to go on an epic hunt for Jezebel…" Riff muttered, pouring more tea.

"What's that you say?" Cain asked, not hearing everything.

"Oh nothing, I was talking to myself." Riff looked out the window. Rain was pelting on the leaves outside their hotel room. The scenery outside the glass seemed to be a misty grey; it was very depressing.

Riff squinted his eyes as a he say a little figure, running through the rain. It was heading towards the hotel, trying to shield itself with a little umbrella. The person seemed to be in a hurry. It ran into the hotel and disappeared out of Riff's sight.

"Riff…" Cain muttered. "What do you think of this place?"

Riff turned to Cain, who was sitting in his chair, in the exact same position. "You want the honest truth?"

"Oh course."

"This place is worse than the slums of London."

Cain laughed. "Then why stay?" he giggled. It was meant as a joke, but Riff didn't realise.

"I'm here to be with you," Riff said gently. He leaned forward, their faces were now almost touching. "Always and forever with you." He breathed.

Cain blushed. "Umm…that was actually a rhetorical question." He said quietly.

"Oh!" Riff went red too. He suddenly realised what he was doing to and jerked away. Cain blinked blankly at this strange behaviour.

Suddenly, there was a knock on the door. Both men jumped in surprise. Straightening himself up, Riff walked slowly over and opened it.

Evangeline was standing outside, her skirt dripping with rain. She was panting, as if she was in a hurry to get here. An umbrella was in her hand.

"Eva?" Cain realised and stood up. "What's wrong?"

Evangeline looked at Cain with fearful eyes. "I just realised something!" she cried.

Riff led her inside, and she sat down on a next to Cain. She leaned over the Cain and said quickly:

"Ina Carter is not the murderer!"

Cain looked at her strangely. "Why wouldn't she be…I mean why WOULD she be?" he quickly said.

/Gyaah! I nearly gave away the suspect!/ he thought.

Eva started to fiddle with her dress. "Because…because…" she began.

She paused. Cain waited. Riff waited. Here was another tense silence.

"BECAUSE DOCTOR CARTER WOULDN'T KILL HER OWN SON!!!" Evangeline cried at last.

Cain stared. "What?" he said in disbelief. "Oliver's DEAD?!"

~*~

Cain knocked on the door of Ina's office. He knocked twice, but no answer. "Doctor Carter?" he called. "It's Cain Hargreave. Can I come in?"

There was a muffled sob. Finally, a little voice inside said: "Yes, please come in, Count."

Cain opened the door and walked in. The office was very small, and very messy. Books and files were scattered all over the floor and the desk was stacked high with paper and even more files.

Ina turned around, her eyes were bloodshot and still shining with tears. "Hmm…what can I do for you, count?"

"I want to ask you about Oliver's death." Cain answered.

Ina sighed. "Fine, I knew it would come to this. Me and Oliver was arguing before the operation."

Cain frowned. "Really? About what?"

The pale doctor's hand wavered in the air. "I wanted him to marry Evangeline. It meant that her father could have a discount in the operation and I could have a serious grant in my research. But Oliver didn't like Evangeline. I wanted to tell him that I didn't love his father when we first met, but I grew to love him, but Oliver wouldn't listen. Kids nowadays."

Ina smiled at Cain. "There's a lesson to all this, don't you think so, Count?"

Cain stared at her. "What's that."

"Never take your children for granted. Never force them to do something so major if they don't want to. Always remember the moral of Lady of the Rain." Ina told him, and burst back into the tears.

There was another knock on the door. "Doctor Carter," came a voice. "Are you able to operate on Miss. Evangeline today?"

Cain frowned, turning to the door. /That voice is familiar…/

Ina turned to the door too. "No," she called. "You go do the operation for me, doctor Disraeli."

"DISRAELI?! JEZEBEL?!"

Cain pushed opened the door. Jezebel was standing outside, his long blonde hair tied up and wearing a clean surgery outfit.

"I knew it!!" the count cried. "Delilah is behind all these murders!"

Jezebel stared at Cain for a moment, and then said: "You're so naïve, dear Cain."

Cain looked at him. "What…?!"

Jezebel started to walk back to the ward. Cain followed him. "Don't you think I have other jobs BESIDES being a doctor at Delilah?" the blonde explained. "I DO have other work, you know." He turned to Cain. "Now excuse me, I have a patient to operate on."

"You're not going to cut Eva up and put some ungodly substance into her body are you?" Cain asked suspiciously.

Jezebel turned back to Cain. There was a bored look on his face. "Count, stop it. Of COURSE I'm going to put an ungodly substance into her body(!) This has been going on for so long you don't need to ask." Jezebel was being heavily sarcastic, and Cain knew it.

"You didn't have to said it like that…" Cain muttered, annoying was that tone.

Jezebel stopped. "The murders aren't done by me. I wouldn't kill people just so they'll be found again. That's so stupid. And besides, there are a lot more psychopaths in this country BESIDES me," he noticed a trolley wheeling past. "Ah! That's my patient. I need to go now."

Evangeline was laying on the trolley, being ready to be wheeled into theatre. She seemed to be so peaceful when sleeping, her chest gently rising and falling with each breath.

Cain looked at her as she was wheeled past him.

Suddenly, Eva's hand shot out and grabbed Cain's sleeve.

"WHAT?!" Jezebel cried, realising. "Why isn't the chloroform working?! Someone get Mary!!"

Eva looked up at Cain with sleepy eyes. "Count…" she whispered, her voice barely audible. "I think I'm next…"

"What?" Cain asked, highly confused.

"I think the Lady's going to get me next…" Eva was almost crying as she whispered this. "Because my father is making me marry some guy. But Count, I don't wanna die…please, don't let Her get me…"

Cain leaned down and whispered back. "Don't worry, I won't let anything happen to you."

Eva smiled in gratitude. A chloroform-filled (a/n: gyaah! What a mouthful to say!) handkerchief was put before her nose and she past out again.

The trolley was then wheeled out by Jezebel, out of Cain's sight down the dimly-lit corridors.

To Be Continued…

Would Cain keep his promise? Who's the killer? Will Eva die? Find out in the next chapter. Urgh, I sound like a TV presenter…

--Birdie

REVIEWS!!! To…

Rei Bianca: is this update soon enough? Hope you liked it!

Rain: thank you for reviewing again. Sorry if Jezebel wasn't in a very big part, I didn't really know where to put him. Hope this chapter was alright. Hmmm…I won't reveal all about the killer. You'll just have to see. ^_^ All I'll say is this: Count Cain has many twists in the manga. This story also a twist.

MEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!: shut up and go away. I hate it that you're so historical (and yes, working class was from PSHE)

Elf Asato: I've tried to use your writing advice, but I'm not 100% sure I've succeeded. ^_^;; sorry. I hope this is moving at a better pace, and has more build up. I've tried really hard…please review again to give me more advice!

Thanks all! --Birdie