Well for everyone who waited for this new chapter forever, thank you for your patience! I am the worst at quick updates, I know! I hope you enjoy this chapter!
Yugi and Takumi went to the Kaiba residence to inquire about Seto's mysterious appearance on the security tape. A boy with a head full of black hair answered the door. Yugi almost didn't recognize Mokuba Kaiba; he had grown a lot since the last time the two had met. The younger Kaiba brother ushered the two troopers into the house, and promised them that Seto would be down in a minute. When Kaiba finally entered the room he looked less happy then normal, if that was possible.
"I answered your questions, I gave you the surveillance tapes, what more could you want?" he asked tiredly, his ice blue eyes filled with pain. Yugi wondered if Kaiba could really kill Serenity. He seemed to truly love the girl. Yugi was pulled out of his thoughts by his partner's voice.
"That's why we're here Mr. Kaiba… the video surveillance. There is an extended duration of time where you do not appear on the tapes." A quizzical look came to the CEO's face, and his eyes became lost in thought.
"Oh. Now I remember," Kaiba said. "I went to my office to work for a while. There are no cameras in there." Of course Takumi asked if anyone could confirm this, and of course Kaiba said "No". He was the only one at Kaiba Corp, aside from the janitorial staff. Kaiba insisted that we went to his office, and pleaded the cops to believe him.
"If you're telling the truth then I assume you wouldn't mind taking a lie detector test I assume?" Yugi inquired.
"Of course I don't mind. Anything if it will get you off my back, and out looking for Serenity's killer," he said calmly, a menacing glare in his eyes. They took Seto down to the station and hooked him up to the polygraph machine. They drilled the young CEO with questions for almost an hour, but to no avail. Seto passed the polygraph with flying colors. Takumi punched the wall as he came out from the questioning.
"Damn," he said. "I really thought he did it."
"I never did," Yugi informed his partner, shaking his head. "He loved that girl. You could see it in his eyes."
"You know what they say," Takumi told Yugi. "You always hurt the one you love."
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The next day Téa arrived at the Wheeler household bright and early. "You didn't need to waste your time coming over here," Mai said glumly when she answered the door. Téa embraced the blonde woman in a large hug.
"If a friend is hurting it's never a waste of time to help them out," Téa informed Mai with a strained smile across her face.
"Any other time I'd be disgusted by that friendship speech, but right now I'm really thankful for it. I'm lucky to have a friend like you," Mai told the brunette, tears gleaming in her eyes. Téa began to clean the house, preparing for the guests. There was going to be a wake for Serenity at the Wheeler household that day. After Téa finished the vacuuming, sweeping, and dusting, she wandered into the kitchen. Mai was cooking, and Téa offered to help.
"Téa you lost a friend as well," Mai said, stating the obvious. "Maybe you should take it easy."
"I'd rather keep busy," Téa said. Her big, blue eyes begining to brim with tears. "That way I can keep my mind off Serenity." The two girls stood in the kitchen, sobbing, and holding each other tightly. The tears eventually stopped flowing, and the girls returned to their cooking. They got everything set up just in time. As soon as they set out the last dish, the doorbell rang. Joey called out that he would answer the door. Mai and Téa could hear indistinct voices coming from the doorway. Then Tristan walked into the living room, followed closely by Joey. He swept all his friends into a group hug, and they all soon began to cry.
"I can't believe she's gone," Tristan wailed.
"She meant so much to all of us," Téa added.
"Your sister was a very special person," Mai said between her tears. The four sat crying. Not speaking, but all understanding each other perfectly at that moment. None of them could really believe this was happening. It was like some awful dream, and as soon as someone pinched them, they would wake up. It would be a bad dream, but a dream none the less. They would all go on with their lives like normal. Serenity would go to school, and become a pediatrician, just like she wanted to. All the crying, all the pain, none of it made the situation more real. The doorbell rang again. Joey stood up wiping away the tears, and then wandered off with a hallow look in his eyes.
Guest began arriving by the dozens. Many family members and friends were still in town from the wedding, which had sadly been forgotten. Mai and Joey hadn't even got to go on their honeymoon. Yugi showed up, as did Ryou, the Ishtar family, Serenity's friends from the university, and even the Kaiba brothers. This came as quite a shock to Joey, who had no idea that his sister had been dating Seto. When Joey demanded to know why he had come, Seto shrugged and replied,
"Mokuba wanted to. I couldn't very well let him come alone." Joey was skeptical, but he didn't question the Kaiba brothers any further.
"It's so nice to see everyone," Téa said, trying to be upbeat. "I bet the last time we were all together was at the Battle City Tournament." A dark look came over Seto's face. Yugi caught a glimpse of his evil look, and immediately began laughing. Everyone gave Yugi an odd look, and took a step back from him as if he were insane.
"You're not still mad about Battle City are you?" Yugi asked Kaiba between laughter.
"I fail to see the joke in that," Seto said. At this comment, the rest of the group began to laugh as well.
"That was almost ten years Kaiba. C'mon, let it go," Téa told the CEO.
"Whatever," the blue eyed man replied. The laughter increased, and Seto became even angrier.
"It feels good to laugh," Mai said. Her friends nodded in agreement.
"I hate ta be da one ta ruin da mood, but is der any new information in da case Yugi?" Joey asked.
"I can't discuss that with you Joey," Yugi informed his friend. Joey's eyes tried to plead with the cop, but Yugi didn't cave. The group stood in an awkward silence. Nobody could think of anything to say. Finally Yugi spoke,
"I haven't seen you in forever Ryou. What have you been doing?"
"Oh," Ryou said, surprised someone was talking to him directly. "Well, I've got a good job at the bank, I'm vice president. It keeps me quite busy."
"Good for you. Seems like you've made quite a career," Yugi complemented. Ryou gave a small nod. Silence tool over the friends once again, but this time it was quickly interrupted by the ring of a cell phone. Yugi blushed slightly, and apologized.
"I have to take this," he said, and then made his way towards the door. The call was from Takumi. He informed Yugi that Duke's alibi checked out, and Yugi cursed softly.
"I liked him for our killer," Yugi told Takumi.
"Not me," Takumi said. "I still think its Kaiba." Yugi protested, saying that Kaiba had passed his polygraph. "You know that people can beat the lie detector," Takumi argued. "And he doesn't have a solid alibi!" Yugi didn't want to argue, so he decided to change the subject.
"Get any good leads from the list of people at Gravitation?" Yugi inquired.
"Nah," Takumi replied. "I'm at some guy's house right now. His name's Ryou Bakura, but he's not answering. I guess he's not home right now."
"Ryou Bakura?" Yugi asked. "He's was at Gravitation?"
"Yeah, why you know him?"
"He's an old friend," Yugi answered. "He's at the wake with me right now."
"Really?" Takumi said, his interest perking. "Maybe you should try and interview him now." Yugi agreed, and hung up his phone. He went back inside the Wheeler's home, and asked Ryou if he could speak with him for a moment. Ryou looked shocked, but didn't ask any questions. He silently followed Yugi outside. Yugi gave Ryou a small encouraging smile.
"I didn't mean to scare you or anything," Yugi told the cotton haired man. "I just need to ask you a few questions."
"About Serenity," Ryou said. "I mean I did see her that night, at Gravitation." Yugi was surprised that Ryou was talking very freely with him. It was probably because they were friends. Yugi let out a little sigh of relief; this would make his job easier. He didn't believe that Ryou had a hand in Serenity's murder, but he had to follow standard procedure.
"Yeah," Yugi replied. "Mai told us that she, Serenity, and Téa were at Gravitation the night she was murdered."
"They were all out dancing, and having a very good time," Ryou said, unsure of exactly what Yugi wanted from him.
"What time did you leave the leave the club?" Yugi inquired. Ryou pondered the question for a while, rubbing his right hand the whole time. Yugi noticed that the hand was cut, swollen, and bruised.
"Oh I'd say around 11:15 or so," Ryou answered.
"Do you know what time the girls left?"
"Around 11:00, if I remember correctly." Yugi nodded, jotting all the information down in his notebook.
"What happened?" Yugi asked, gesturing to the swollen hand that Ryou was rubbing.
"Oh, this?" Ryou said holding the hand out. "I'm helping a friend from work remodel his house. We were knocking down a wall, when a huge hunk of plaster fell. It landed on my hand, and this is what happened."
"Ouch," Yugi said grimacing.
"Ah, it's not as bad as it looks," Ryou shrugged.
"Where did you go after you left the club?" Yugi questioned, again changing topics.
"I went home." Yugi asked what time Ryou arrived at his house, and he replied that is took him twenty five minutes to drive home. "So you were home by 11:40," Yugi said. Ryou nodded, and Yugi thanked him for his time.
"Oh, by the way, can anyone vouch for you getting home at 11:40?" Yugi wondered.
"Yeah, Marik, Ishizu, and Odion are all staying with me for the wedding. They were up when I got home." Yugi again thanked Ryou, and they both went back inside. Upon entering the home, Yugi saw Joey by the food table, slowly piling food on a plate. Yugi hadn't had a chance to talk to his friend alone yet, so he made his way over. Unsure of exactly what to say, Yugi simply commented that there was a lot of food. Joey nodded his head, not saying a word.
"Uh…Joey…I haven't really gotten the chance to say how sorry I am about Serenity. I loved her like she was my own sister. I think everybody did. She was so full of love and life. Just because I've been all business when it comes to her case doesn't mean I'm not hurting. My way of coping is burying myself in work. But, I… really…do…miss her… Joey. I really do." Yugi could hardly get out the last few words. Tear were now steadily falling from his violet eyes.
"I know pal," Joey said. "Ya don't have ta say anything." Tears were now pouring out of his brown eyes as well. The two embraced each other and stood for the longest time, not saying a word. After a while, the two old friends dried their eyes. Yugi decided that he had better question Marik, Ishizu, and Odion, to see if they could confirm that Ryou had returned home at 11:40. Letting out a huge sigh, the Trooper walked back to where everyone else was congregated. While he longed to get the questioning done with quickly, his professional side told him to follow procedure. He did things the long way, taking all three of his friends aside separately; asking them what time Ryou had come home the night of Serenity's murder.
He was emotionally fatigued by the time he got around to interrogating his last comrade, Marik. "I just have a couple of things to ask you about the night Serenity was murdered," he told the blonde Egyptian. Marik gave a small nod. Upon looking into the man's violet eyes, Yugi felt as though he were glancing at a mirror. He knew his eyes contained the same weary sadness that we could now see in Marik's. He decided to cut the police crap and ask exactly what he wanted to know. "Do you remember what time Ryou got home that night?" Marik suddenly looked very uncomfortable. His eyes began darting quickly around the room, as though the answers lay hidden somewhere in the walls. He nervously shifted his weight back and forth, from one foot to the other, and bit his lower lip.
"Uh…" Marik trailed off. "He came home at about midnight." He looked like there was something that he was repressing, and Yugi believed it was the information he was withholding that made Marik so edgy.
"Are you sure that's the time he came home?" Yugi asked. Marik contemplated the question, and then gave a small shrug followed by a nod.
"Yeah," he said. "Give or take a few minutes." Yugi thanked Marik, and let the man go back to the join the others. As soon as Marik was out of sight Yugi buried his face in his hands and let out a groan of frustration. What he thought would be a routine questioning had turned into a big problem. He had two conflicting stories, a sinking feeling that Marik was hiding something, and two people (Ishizu and Odion) who unconvincingly claimed they were asleep by the time Ryou had arrived back at the house while Yugi distincly remember Ryou saying they had all been awake when he came back.Yugi pulled out his cell phone as was about to dial Takumi's cell phone number when his phone rang, startling the young Trooper.
"Hai? Moshi moshi," Yugi answered.
"We have a problem," Takumi said. Yugi raised an eyebrow.
"Yes we do, but how you know about it confuses me," Yugi told his partner.
"Are we talking about two different problems?" Takumi inquired.
"Mine concerns Ryou Bakura."
"Mine concerns Seto Kaiba. The security cameras caught him leaving Kaiba Corp. when he claimed to be in his office."
"Well Ryou Bakura claims to have gotten home at 11:40 the night Serenity was murdered, but Marik, who was staying at his house for the wedding, said he remembers Ryou coming home at midnight."
"Oh God," exclaimed Takumi. "Well I guess now we have one huge, confusing, complicated problem on our hand."
I love to leave off at cliffhangers! Muh hah hah. I'm pretty evil, I know. I will try with all my might to update soon! Christmas break is coming soon and I will have a lot of free time so expect a quicker update this time! Oh, and please leave your guesses as to who you think the killer is! I love to hear all the guesses, for some reason they just make my day! I'm odd, I know it.