Chapter 5 of Murder She Wrote...well, here goes something.
Responses:
Ri2: So many questions, but I'll answer them in order...it seemed that way at the time; yes, the chef's name is Gumbo; yes, old dudes survived the apocalypse; yes, Marianne also survived; you'll have to wait and see; and this is a cold case! Sometimes a re-examination of the body is in order!
Anters: Thanks. Your reviews help me to write better, so I try to type up something good. Oh, and yes, it's pronounced, 'Ev-lin.'
Nintendo Nut1: Wait, you died from suspense? Whoa...and I'm a dude, not a girl. This is like Anters and Amazing Race all over again...and I'm glad you enjoy this as much as I do! But I'm a guy, okay?
"We-a need to exhume David-a from the grave." Dr. Mario was greeted by a slew of mixed reactions. Falco just looked on with usual indifference; Zelda looked pale. Link looked as if a ghost, and Krystal was embracing Fox out of fear and cowardice. "What-a?"
"But what if we incite a ghost?" Zelda asked.
"Don't-a tell me you-a believe in-a ghosts!" Dr. Mario threw his hands up in exasperation. "There's-a no such thing-a!"
"Then what was Luigi's Mansion full of?" Link shot back.
"Oh, never you mind-a about the trivial details-a!" Dr. Mario retorted. "Wait-a, if his body was in a cemetery, and-a the apocalypse destroyed it-a..."
"Hell, that'd be a problem." Falco finished. "Someone check online which cemetery David was buried in. Meanwhile, find the car that was involved in the accident."
"My, my, aren't we becoming the bossy dude..." Krystal teased playfully as she wormed over to the computer lab.
Instead of searching, though, Krystal had opened up the dusty cover of the photo album given to them by David's parents. Flipping through the pages, she noticed many of the photos of David himself, Marianne, and several others she didn't recognize. She giggled; one of the pictures was of a cosplay David dressed as Darth Vader at an expo. Several other amusing pictures followed, along with several more of David and Marianne in kindergarten. "How cute..."
"What's cute?" Fox asked, walking up behind the blue vulpine.
"Fox!" Krystal jumped and nearly fell out of her chair. "Don't do that!"
"Sorry..." Fox just grinned crookedly. "So, what's up?"
"I thought we might find something in this photo album that could be of use to us."
"Well, that's good." Fox replied, pulling out some of the pictures. "This should help somewhat...but how? AUGH!"
"Calm down..." Krystal calmed, as Fox punched a nearby wall. "Maybe we should go outside and rest a bit; get some fresh air."
"Yeah..." Fox stuttered, shaking his hand to ward off the pain. Krystal giggled a bit, and soon Fox was caught up in laughing, too. The other Smashers looked as if they were crazy as they walked past, but Fox and Krystal never gave it a second thought. They strolled over to the entrance and walked out into the gated courtyard, teeming with trees, shrubs and an opulent fountain in the center. Around it was a driveway and the front gate of the Mansion. Fox sighed in satisfaction as he sat at the edge of the fountain, and Krystal grinned at him.
"I told you the fresh air would do you good!" Their laughter carried over to the two guards standing at the gate, serving as a sort of watchman for all that came into the Mansion. One just shook his head and turned back to face the highway, but the other lowered his sunglasses and took notice of a photo album in Krystal's hands. He decided to stroll over to see what was up.
"Yeah, you're right..." Fox replied. "I think this tournament is getting to me."
"Maybe one day we can take a vacation and get out of this place...what do you think?"
"I don't mind." Fox replied. "I've heard the Tingaling Villa at Yoshi's Island is a great tourist spot..."
"That sounds good!" Krystal giggled. "Um, Fox...you didn't piss any security off, did you?"
"No, why?" Fox was taken aback by this question and looked at her as if she was insane.
"Then what's he doing here?" Krystal pointed to the driveway, where the security person from several quotes earlier was striding up to the vulpines, and Fox looked bewildered.
"I don't think he's here for any personal score..." Fox replied.
"Excuse me...can I see that?" The security guy asked Krystal, pointing to the album.
"Well, okay, but why...?" She trailed off after the security dude, but all he did was look at the photos and laugh about them.
"Ahh, those were some great times..."
"What do you mean?" Fox asked the security officer.
"I apologize. I am Thomas McCallister. And you are?"
"So, you didn't see David the night he died?" Fox asked.
"No, not until I got the news from the cops." Thomas answered.
"Really?" Krystal asked skeptically. "I don't buy it, because from what I've heard, you had a bit of a fall-out with him six nights before his death."
"Wha-?" Thomas was rendered speechless, but then stuttered, "Yes, I-I had a fight, but that doesn't mean I killed him! I mean, he even came over to my house and helped me learn to dance!"
FLASHBACK
"Ouch..." Thomas muttered as he landed on his butt for the fifth time that night, trying to master a simple waltz. "Didn't think it would be this difficult..."
"You're trying too hard!" David laughed. "You're making things too complicated! Try to relax as you dance."
"But I can't if I forget how to do a freakin' waltz!" Thomas protested.
"There you go again, with worrying about the goddamn dance. Loosen up, will you?"
"I'll try, but I doubt I'll get it in time for the school dance."
"Just keep dancing; you'll get it soon..."
END FLASHBACK
"After that, it was the last I heard of the guy." Thomas replied. "Never did get that dance..."
"So, was there anyone that he pissed off?" Krystal asked.
"I wouldn't know...his friend, Robert, did, though."
"Robert?" Fox asked.
"Robert Bramingham. He was a bit snide at David, but he was his friend nonetheless." At this point, Falco ran outside to Fox and Krystal's location, waving a paper above him in urgency. He was shouting loud enough that anyone in space could have heard him.
"HEY! DR. MARIO FOUND THE MISSING WRECKED CAR THING!"
"So, who was that you were talking to outside?"
"It turns out he's the Thomas person we were searching for." Falco was about to ask another question, but absolute silence between both vulpines convinced him otherwise. It was an uncomfortably silent walk back to the medical labs as Dr. Mario, Link and Zelda were scrambling around, carrying this and organizing that, when the Starfox troupe walked in. "What'd you all find?"
"It turns out David is buried in the Ranton Hill Cemetery in Nelson's Landing." Link reported. "And the wrecked car is at a ruined garage on a cliffside overlooking the ocean."
"Why am I not surprised...?" Zelda asked. "It's rather typical that the evidence is on a track of destruction..."
"Who cares?" Falco quipped. "We found it, so let's get 'em!"
"Careful...careful...yeah!" That was the end of a successful car-collecting mission at Nelson's Landing as the garage fell off the cliff and into the sea. Link just sighed and grinned widely. "Take it to the garage at the Mansion!"
Once at the Mansion, Link had used a small electric saw to help pry apart the mess of a car and try to revert it back to its normal form. After using various tools, like a wrench and bolt cutter, to pull apart the twisted wreck, Link sighed. It wasn't his best work, but at least the car was recognizable. He sighed and began to search. Pulling out a flashlight, he placed a UV lens over said flashlight, and did a quick sweep of the car, with no favorable results. Next he sprayed the car with some kind of chemical and used to UV lamp again, but nothing showed. He was about to quit when a glimmer under the seat caught his eye. "What's this?"
Next thing he knew, he had pulled out a large piece of crystal, part of a larger object; Link wasn't sure yet. He smirked a bit, and continued his search.
"Zelda?" Dr. Mario asked the Hylian princess as he examined David's body.
"Yes?"
"Tell-a me; what-a do you see in-a these X-rays?" Dr. Mario had X-rayed the dead man's head and stuck it in front of a fluorescent light and scrutinizing them. Almost immediately he noticed something was wrong.
"Well, let's see, there's a few bumps and bruises at where David collided with the library floor; the neck's also broken." Zelda just sighed. "I don't know what you're thinking, but it looks like he died in the accident."
"No-a, no-a, no-a... take a closer look-a at the neck." Dr. Mario pointed to where the neck was on the X-ray.
"Hmm...well, not much to report except the neck fracture is somewhat rough...what are you getting at?"
"It's-a too clean a break-a for a car accident-a." Dr. Mario noted. "It-a doesn't make sense, unless..."
"Unless he died somewhere else." At that moment, Link ran up to where Dr. Mario and Zelda was, waving a photo around excitedly. "Hey, Link. What's up?"
"I found something interesting in the car." Link showed them the photo, which was of a square made of heavy crystal. It was riddled with cracks and breaks. "I searched the car and found this. I also did a check on the car; the acceleration was broken when I finished. That's either a stunning coincidence, or it's-"
"It's-a evidence for murder." Link stared at Dr. Mario, and he explained. "The-a neck fracture that-a killed David was too clean for a car accident-a. Likely he was killed-a somewhere else."
"Okay...so that means someone killed him, figured it out, panicked, and-"
"And made it look like an accident to cover it up." Link finished. The three of them stared at each other in the quiet silence of the medical lab, soaking up the information and standing in the presence of untimely death, which was quite unnerving for them, to say the least.
Meanwhile, Fox and Krystal were having a hard time finding Robert, so they decided to drive to the Java Bean Internet café in the Grand Metropolis to relax and unwind from the stressful events of the day. Krystal just sighed and lay her head down on the table. She was about to fall asleep when Fox nudged her softly and held out a coffee to the vixen. "Thanks, Fox."
"Heh, no problem." Fox replied. "This getting to you?"
"No, I don't think so...it's just that it's so demanding, and I don't know..."
"We're doing fine, aren't we?" Fox grinned. "We're cracking this thing, and we're doing a lot more progress than the police...I think this will turn out ok."
"I hope so..." Just then, a young man with a purple streak in his hair and fashionable driving clothes strode into the café, an air of brooding intensity surrounding the man. After glancing around the café, he strolled over to an empty computer, logged in and began to type at a vigorous speed. "Who's that guy?" Fox just shrugged.
"Man, he looks rather odd, don't you think?" Next thing they knew, a pen flew over to their table. Both Fox and Krystal looked around, and they saw the young man walking up to their table. He gave his misgivings.
"I apologize for the pen; I tend to lose stuff like that when I'm-" His gaze lowered to the photo album, and his eyes widened in surprise. "Wha-? Is that...it can't possibly be...!"
"What? This?" Krystal pointed to the album, and he nodded. Fox napped his fingers as several bits of information clicked together in his head.
"You're Robert Bramingham, aren't you?"
"It's been too long since I talked about David..." Robert said. "I thought he would become a distant memory...but five years has been a while, huh?"
"Yeah. A lot can happen in that amount of time." Krystal concurred. "Was there anything interesting that happened before his death?"
"None in particular...wait, there was." Robert recalled. "I was hiding in an air shaft in the girls' locker room-"
"Hiding?" Fox asked skeptically.
"I know, I'm a pervert." Robert muttered bluntly. "Not one of my best moments in high school, I tell you..." Fox just laughed.
FLASHBACK
"Slow down, baby..." Robert grinned slightly as one of the girls removed her shirt, unaware she was being watched. "This is cool..."
"Now where did it go...?" Searching for a lost earring, she stooped over so her butt was facing the air duct, and Robert drooled.
"Hell, yeah..." A loud noise caught his attention, though, and Robert averted his gaze to the locker room door. The girl finished changing and ram outside. Minutes later, Marianne stormed her way into the locker room, dragging David by his wrist. "What on earth?"
"I thought you said you were going to go!" Marianne yelled. "What's with you?"
"Look, Marianne, I'm having some second thoughts about this!" David shouted just as loudly. "I don't think my parents are going to let me have the end of this..."
"Who cares about them?" Marianne growled. "What about us?"
"I care, Marianne, but my parents are really suspicious now, and I wouldn't want to be on their bad side!"
"But what of the kiss we shared? Doesn't that matter to you?" Marianne was on the verge of tears.
"I know, but-" A slap to the face ad cut off whatever he had planned to say, and David turned to the sobbing Marianne. He tried to explain, but Marianne interrupted him, saying one thing through her tears:
"I should kill you, making a slut out of me." She rushed out the door, still sobbing, and David followed suit. Meanwhile, Robert had suddenly gotten uncomfortable after witnessing the argument, and wormed his way out of the duct.
END FLASHBACK
Krystal and Fox could only stop and stare at each other as Robert continued:
"I don't know what he did to piss her off, but if she was going to dump him, I wouldn't have minded hitting it off with her." Robert stood up and left, leaving only Krystal and Fox to register their brains on this new information.