Author's Notes: I don't even know how this came to mind. It's pretty random, actually, and it might not make much sense ... I dunno. Just read and review ... uh, please?

The Maids Know Everything

Duke Red stood at the foot of the stairs, staring at the sliver of light that peeked at him from the kitchen door that was left ajar. He could faintly hear voices from the other side of that door, and one of the few things he caught wind of happened to be his name.

Narrowing his eyes, Duke Red crept closer to the door, peering around it to find six people sitting around the table, all with their backs turned.

"... and the way he always slapped that boy around ..."

"Yes, yes I know! Made me want to slap him around, it did!"

There was a short bout of laughter. When it stopped Duke Red could hear some of them sniffling, and a woman was wiping her eyes with a handkerchief.

"Mr. Rock was always quite nice to me. I don't know what the Duke's problem with him was, always beating him around like that, yelling at him like that. I mean, what could the boy have possibly done wrong?"

"Beats me, Enmy."

"And then creating that horrible, horrible replica of his daughter. Completely destroyed what little bit of respect I had for the man ... building a robot like that ... hmph!"

"And getting all those people killed! Taking down that tower and all ... still don't know what it was for but the damage it caused ... makes me cringe to even think about it!"

"It killed so many people ... It's like he's a murderer. It was his fault, after all."

"Yes, and did you hear what those rescuers said? I've heard that when they pulled Rock out of the debris and had a coroner and whatnot, they found a bullet hole, the bullet still inside him and all!"

"Amazing ... you think the Duke did it?"

"I don't know ... he certainly beat the boy a lot, seemed to hate him ... certainly there's more than enough motive for the man to shoot his son."

"But remember, Rock wasn't really the Duke's son."

"I would've preferred Rock to stay on the streets than to have that beast of a man bring him in. I say he would have been safer out there than he was in this manor."

"I don't know about the Duke pulling the trigger himself- you know, he doesn't like to get his hands dirty- but it could swing both ways, you know. Having Rock killed, I mean. He did seem sad earlier today when he went off to visit Rock's grave. Would an uncaring person go once, let alone all the times Duke Red goes off to the cemetery? He goes just about once a month. With flowers, no less!"

"Notice how he never wants a car to take him ... he may want to go by himself all the time because he doesn't want us to see his real grief for Rock ..."

"I highly doubt it."

"It may all be a front. His visiting the grave so often, I mean. Since they're investigating it and everything, he may be trying to fool people into believing he's grieving Rock's death."

"That's true, I suppose. Well, it has possibilities. But with that man, you never really can tell, can you?"

"Nope ..."

They all fell silent.

"Well, I suppose I shall be heading up to bed now."

"Yes, me, too."

When they all began to move towards the door, Duke Red crept back up the stairs.

Someone was getting fired in the morning.