Hmm...not many people are reading this story. AH, who cares? As long people actually read, I am happy.
Responses:
Ri2: Well, after this is the unmasking of David's killer, and everything will be explained then.
Nintendo Nut1: Oh yes, I will. Actually, I'll crank out a few more mystery stories like this after this is done, so keep an eye out for the mystery stories Family Feud and Murder at Tingaling Villa, my friend. SQUEE!
"Anyone know where Ferdinand is?" Falco asked as Dr. Mario skimmed over David's autopsy reports.
"No-a...hasn't Fox come-a back yet?"
"Obviously not..." Falco growled, plopping down onto a nearby stool. "I'm taking a nap...don't wait up."
"Sure-a..." No sooner had Dr. Mario said that, Fox burst into the room so quickly and so suddenly that Falco fell out of the stool in complete bewilderment.
"Fox! Where the hell have you been, huh?"
"Sorry...searching for someone on the Smash Database is harder than I thought." Fox stated bluntly. "Anyway, Ferdinand owns a pizza joint in Nelson's Landing, called the Italy Pride Parlor."
"Anyone like pizza?" Falco asked as he and Fox started to leave.
"Make-a mine pepperoni and-a sausage!" Dr. Mario yelled as they left.
"New customer, eh?" a young man said from behind the desk, his New Zealand accent nearly making his words unrecognizable. "What do you want?"
"Um, we'd like to talk to someone named Ferdinand Fenwick." Fox answered.
"I am he..." the cook replied. "What'd you want?"
"You remember someone named David Clemenceau?" Falco asked.
"Why bring him up?" Ferdinand asked. "I ain't heard that name in a while...but he was a good man. He always kept his cool, even when I would mess with him."
"So, was there anything weird that happened before his death?" Fox asked.
"Yeah, but most of the things that happened between us would have convinced the 5-0's then that I was guilty. Sure, I bullied the guy, but I didn't have the incentive to kill him!" Ferdinand racked his brains while twirling a ball of pizza dough on his fingers. "Wait a tick..."
"What?" Falco asked.
"There was a little something going down between Robert and Marianne." Ferdinand said. "It was a minor scuffle, but David got involved and things weren't very pretty. It was hysterical, though."
FLASHBACK
"...and you had no right to do that!" Marianne yelled at Robert, a dark undercurrent in his voice.
"Says who?" Robert snapped. "Who are you, to dictate what I can and cannot do? My mother?"
"If I hear you say that one more time, I'll..."
"My mother? My mother? My mother?" At this point, David strolled up to the bickering duo and watched with interest. He grinned when the two of them stared at him like idiots.
"Hey, guys! What's up?"
"David will settle this!" Robert said, pointing to the young man.
"Hey, wait a-if you're fighting, there's only one thing I can do."
"What is it?" Marianne asked.
"RUN AWAY!" Before anyone knew what had happened, David broke free from Robert's grasp and started running down the hallway away from his two feuding friends, and almost collided into Ferdinand and the stairwell.
"Yow! What the fuck-?"
"SORRY!" David yelled as he rushed downstairs.
END FLASHBACK
"That was funny..." Ferdinand laughed. "Don't know what exactly happened, but that was priceless to see David's face!"
"That sounds cool..." Falco stated. "Oh, yeah! A friend of ours wanted a pepperoni and sausage pizza. Can you make one now?" As Ferdinand started to work, his cell phone rang. "Yes, what is it?" Falco shot out irritably. His face changed drastically, and he looked grave by the end of the call. "... ... ...thank you."
"What's with you?" Fox asked.
"Ferdinand...keep the pizza here for now. Fox and I will pick it up later." Ferdinand just shrugged and stuck it in the warming oven. He and Fox walked outside, where he spilled the news:
"A gunman attacked a McDonald's, and Krystal and Zelda were over there at the time of the shooting."
"Krystal!" Fox yelled, running up to the blue vixen at the aforementioned McDonald's several minutes later. "Thank god you're safe."
"I know." Krystal chirped. "But this guy's nuts..."
"Please tell me you found something good..." Zelda asked, a little freaked out from the shooting but still in one piece.
"Unfortunately not." Fox said. "But the way the murders and the events in your book played out, I would guess it would have to be someone familiar with the Mansion...wait a minute."
"Only one who would fit the description would be Thomas." Falco blurted out at the same time. "But why did he do it?"
"Maybe it wasn't Thomas."
"Zelda, how can you be so sure?" Fox asked.
"I just trust him, that's all...besides, he doesn't look like someone who would kill anyone. I don't know why." He received another phone call, and this time it was from the Mansion. "'Ello. Fox here..."
"Fox? It's Link." His voice sounded cheerful. "I got a hit on the mysterious crystal square in the car...you'd better take a look."
"What took you, huh?" Link's eyes narrowed in annoyance as Falco and the others stepped into the small mini-laboratory that had been set up in the medical lab.
"We got held up, okay?" Falco set a pizza box onto a nearby table, and Link looked at it quizzically. "So, what's so important about us being here?"
"I decided to Google the materials in the crystal, and I found out it was made from sand, nitric acid and a bit of plastic. But I also saw something that looked like a design, and I Googled that, too." He pointed to the overhead screen and showed them the logo, a silver letter "S" enclosed within an off-white circle. "This used to be the logo of a popular skate organization in New Orleans until after the apocalypse, when it seemingly disappeared after that. The crystal I found was part of a trophy, and look at who won the most trophies in 2000 alone..." He gestured the others over to the computer screen, and Fox felt his jaw hit the floor in surprise.
"Holy crap...it was him?"
"Yep...looks like it. Guy had a record in '97 for hacking into a government database and trying to siphon off much money by changing the interest rate. He also was known as a class-B hacker, who knew how to slip in undetected. The only way to stop him was a sting of some sort, creating a false entry point and-."
"We get the point, Link..." Falco muttered, resisting the urge to tear out his feathers.
"Explains how he could breach the security firewalls here for the Mansion, and how he made my story come to life, or so to speak..." Krystal stated.
"Yep..." Falco muttered. "Just bring him in for us, okay?"
Sweat dripped from his brow as the lights shined on him full-force in the face. His leg was shaking; his eyes nervous; his hands twitching. Across the room, Krystal and Fox were staring in disbelief at him, wondering what drove him over the edge in the first place. Fox was scanning his mind for the best possible approach for this, and sighed as Krystal walked up to the killer and stared him in the eye. "I was hoping we wouldn't have to do this...but, why, Robert?"
"I didn't kill anyone." Robert stated stubbornly. "Don't you people have anything better to do than to harass people?"
"We found your skating trophy in the wreckage of David's car." Fox said. He noted that Robert looked all the more nervous. "We also know about your computer hacking skills, and how you performed those murders to try and pin the blame on Thomas."
"What? You must be kidding!" Robert yelled. "You don't have a shred of evidence that I killed anyone at all!" He winced, and Krystal looked to see a bandage wrapped tightly around his leg.
"Nasty wound you got there. Where'd you get it from?"
"Oh, just some construction accident-ow!" Before he knew it, Krystal had torn off the bandage and saw a bullet hole in his upper leg. She almost smiled as she pulled out a bullet casing from his leg, covered in blood and muscle tissue.
"Whoa...that proves you were the shooter. That's the exact spot I shot at the gunman to stop him from killing anyone."
"Care to revise your story, then?" Fox taunted. "We have you anyway, Robert. If not us, the system then."
Robert looked at them both and scowled. "Why couldn't you leave well enough alone...he found out something I never wanted out...I had to shut him up somehow..." His face was now full of sadness and remorse. "But I nevermeant to kill him..."
FLASHBACK
"Huh...that's good." Robert was piling stuff into his locker, slammed it and started towards the stairs when he quite literally ran into David near the stairwell. Papers and books flew everywhere and littered the concourse.
"Sorry about that!" David grinned. "Didn't see you there, Robert...what the?" He looked at one of the papers, and his happiness dissolved into disbelief. "Dude...this is the teacher's exam! What the hell are you doing with this?"
"Look, it's just a little test..." Robert laughed nervously. "You won't mind, and the teacher wouldn't mind. End of story."
"That's not cool; that's bogus!" David growled. "You'd better find some way to return that, or-!"
"Look, man! My grade's dropping , and my parents are going to evict me if I don't improve, okay?" Robert stammered. "Just let it slide on this one, okay?"
"I don't believe this..." David muttered. Robert looked at him, and David's eyes were full of disappointment. "I thought you were a guy with some mettle...but I guess I was wrong. Look, this is for your own good." He started to walk down the steps of the university's hallway, but Robert was stuttering complaints.
"No! Don't! You don't know what will-STOP!" Before he knew what he was doing, he had picked up a nearby book and hurled it hard at David. Robert was aiming for his head, but a minute later a snap was heard as David crumpled and fell down the rest of the way, his neck broken from the force of the book. "Oh, shit...David? DAVID!" He ran down to his friend's corpse, and feeling no pulse, he broke down into a convulsive sob. "Sorry, bud..." He then noticed the car keys in the dead man's hand, and he almost grinned. "No one will have to know, bud...no one."
Minutes later, he had snuck into his dorm and left with a skating trophy, heading fro David's car. After positioning it on the hill above the library, he posed his friend's corpse as if he were driving, left the keys in ignition, and stuck the trophy onto the acceleration. Robert just watched as the car crashed into the tree, sending David flying through the window. He took one last glance before running off, back to the university.
END FLASHBACK
The wise man said just walk this way
To the dawn of the light
The wind will blow into your face
As the years pass you by
Hear this voice from deep inside
It's the call of your heart
Close your eyes and your will find
The passage out of the dark...
Krystal just shook her head in sadness as Fox slapped on a pair of cuffs on Robert, who was sobbing as they carried him to the car. Link, Zelda, Falco and Dr. Mario also looked on, their faces showing indecipherable reactions except for one: disbelief and sadness.
Here I am
Will you send me an angel?
Here I am
In the land of the morning star...
Minutes later, with case box in hand, Krystal and the others walked up to the police department in Nelson's Landing, paparazzi and the press hemming in closely for a better shot of Robert. Among the faces were Marianne, who looked on with tears in her eyes; Thomas, who showed signs of disapproval; Loretta and Ferdinand, who just looked on with casual indifference; and Evelyn and Kennedy, who was just in shock as anyone.
The wise man said just find your place
In the eye of the storm
Seek the roses along the way
Just beware of the thorns...
As Krystal looked around languidly, at a nearby bench in the city park, she thought she saw David sit there and flash a goofy grin, one that seemed to heal even the most wounded of souls. Marianne noticed this too; her eyes teared up again as she smiled back. Krystal watched this exchange and almost laughed, but when she turned to look at the bench no one was there...
After the arrest, Krystal was glad to hand the photo album back to the parents of the deceased and gave the case box to the police, with one minor change: the word CLOSED scrawled atop the lid of the box.
Here I am
Will you send me an angel?
Here I am
In the land of the morning star... –Send Me An Angel, Scorpions (David Clemenceau's theme)
FIN
Well, there's my finished attempt at a mystery. Sorry if it seemed so crappy (hence the low reviewer turnout), but the next mystery story will be much better, I promise! Farewell to all for now!
Gamer21