Disclaimer: I do not own Sony, PS 47000,Sherlock Holmes, orTrigun. But Legato's family is a reflection of the voices I hear at night…
C-E: YES! As promised, Family shall be continued till its very end. I'm enthusiastic about this story and it promises to be my breakthrough! Oh, don't stay too attached to the baby……
Legato's Family Reunion
Chapter Three:
Mystery of the Dead Baby
((((Start))))
((The Ship))
Crystal light. The chandelier spun helplessly above letting its faceted light fall upon the five-course meal set out on the cherry wood table. The fragile crystals clinked gently together in it's own curt symphony of sound and splashing light…
Now that he thought about it, when did Midvallina get a chandelier? …
He heard the front door close and three pairs of footsteps venture ever closer, like the throbbing sound of a tornado inviting itself to your inevitable doom. The first to enter the room was Midvallina andthen the tan-skinned and short blondish haired Poco entered wearing a bright flora shirt with tan cargo shorts and bright flip-flopsas he pounded Legato's back in brotherly jest. Midvallina sat on Legato's right side and showed Poco to the chair next to her. They sat down and the table waited for the second brother…
Vivace sat with her baby bouncing on her lap. "Where is your brother, Legato?"
Legato shrugged and turned to Midvallina who smiled and said with a nod, "He received a call and went outside to take it. But, I'm afraid I haven't had the pleasure of being introduced to your other brother, Honey…"
Legato sighed, staring at the steaming pizzas and glistening ham beckoning his fork. "That is Poco a Poco. All one name. I believe his ability is controlling weather," he droned, slightly drooling.
Midvallina squealed and turned towards him. "Really? The weather! My, you must be in some demand on such an arid planet!"
Poco waved the comment away and leaned back in his chair. "It's nothing really. I mean I have been traveling the world and stayed with the most admirable and rich people on Gunsmoke; but it's nothing really. Recently, I've been feeling a tad pale so I caught a few rays near a small town on the edge of Ransom Canyon-"
"You mean the town where all the peopleexplodedfrom the intense heat?" Midvallina ventured, smiling as he nodded.
"Yeah, can you believe how soft some people can be? I mean, they can't even stand a little heat!" he said, placing a slice of pizza on his dish, "I hope you don't mind. I haven't had anything to eat since I left town."
Midvallina giggled and waved her encouragement, "Don't worry. It's ok! Legato! Wait until everyone has had some before you start eating!"
Legato glared at her and retracted Vash's hand from where it ventured to grab hold of a ham cutlet. Another person walked into the room and placed himself next to Poco's seat, reaching to grab a slice of pineapple pizza with black olives. He took one bite, swallowed and greeted the glances in his direction. "Sorry for the delay. I had an urgent call from Sony (A/N: Yeah, Sony's on Gunsmoke…. they go everywhere.) saying that the new game consolehas a glitch and must be delayed in production. Can you believe it! I have over 4 million pre-orders of the PS 47000! Thanks for understanding. Oh! You must be Mrs. Bluesummers!" he said, turning to the dashing Midvallina, "I've gotta say, Legato, you're the luckiest brother of the three!"
Midvallina blushed and waved at his comment, "You're too kind!"
"Yes, it was very fortunate that I caug-found her. I don't know what I'd do without my ...beautiful ...wife." he said with a rigid smile. "Dear… This is my littlest brother, Andante. I believe he has some finesse with electronics and owns his own company…"
"Yes, that's correct Legato. But finding people with my own expertise to manufacture the finicky machines is harder than it sounds!" he chuckled at his joke and Vivace sighed.
"I think you boys have been starved long enough and Legato's about to get his fingers chopped off-"
"Nothing new to me."
"Let's go ahead and eat. I know Maestoso will be late as always…"
The dinner passed with laughable stories and fantastic events that time has never seen! And after all the stomaches have been filled and the table was nearly cleaned of anything organic (due to the Bluesummer's super metabolism), Midvallina packed the remains for Maestoso and put it into the kitchen and the family was left with no audience to dull their sharp tongues…
Vivace started. "Well, Legato. I'm happy to see you finally found a wife. She seems to be exactly what you need though she is a bit homely… I would hate to see your children."
At this, Legato expelled the liquid contents of his mouth… across the table. He jumped up and glared at this mother. "I'm MARRIED! Why can't you be satisfied with that? Just because two people marry does not mean they want KIDS! And I certainly will NOT have kids with that woman in there! Just because you have to have something under your control at all times…" he finished sitting down and wiping his mouth in a rage.
Vivace set her hard glare on her eldest with a cold smile. "Then you don't like your new sister? If not, why don't you kill her?"
The table grew silent and Midvallina walked in and stopped. "Um. Legato, dear, I think the Plant for the lights is getting tired. Perhaps this isn't the right mome-"
BAM. Legato slapped his hands on the table, glaring at his mother's victorious smile, and jumped up. "Don't worry, sweety. Let's check it out…"
They left and arrived halfway to the Plant room when Legato murmured something about leaving his fork behind. He left Midvallina in the halls when the lights shut off.
"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"
"WAH WAH WAH-"
Silence.
Just as suddenly, the lights flipped back on and Midvallina ran down the halls toward the dining room. She froze in her tracks as she witnessed a gruesome scene. The baby lay on the table with a fork in its back, Vivace cried over the dead infant as John tried to pull her away and comfort her. Legato's two brothers sat at the table stricken with horror. Legato ambled in and stopped at the gloomy silence.
He straightened with rage and walked over to the body. "What evil person would kill a baby!"
"Well Legato, mom did ask you if you wanted to kill her…" Adante leered, standing up and walking around the table toward Legato. "It's seems to me as if you had a pretty good motive…"
Poco jumped up and pulled a cloth over the baby's body. "Whoever killed her doesn't matter right now. We need to get mother under control or all of us will pay!"
So, the Bluesummers pulled out the portable hug-me jacket from the parent's car and tossed Vivace into a handy pillow-covered room Legato had handy. The four men and one "woman" set to work on solving the Mystery of the Dead Baby. The five moved to the living room to make sure the crime scene stayed pristine for the authorities. Adante paced the floor and Poco sat next to Midvallina, who started crying over the poor baby. John sat at the grand piano (which suddenly appeared for this purpose) and Legato stood behind the wet bar with a bottle of rum at his side (which Midvally and Wolfwood insisted on having).
Adante stopped and peered around the room with keen eyes. "Obviously, the murderer must be within this room, seeing as mother loved her child with the enduring love she showed us when we were young-"
"Well, in that case, we shouldn't count mom out yet." Legato said, pouring John a shot of rum for his "nerves."
Adante glared at his brother and continued, "Yes, well. I should think that you have the motive Legato AND you were away from the table at the time. Am I correct?"
Legato sighed, "Yeah, I should suspect you'd be right since YOU WERE THERE!"
"Quite a temper you have…. JUST THE TEMPER YOU'D EXPECT FROM A BABY KILLER!"
Poco jumped up, letting Midvallina run to the kitchen in tears, "Stop fighting! Accusations will get us nowhere. We need to work as family for once…"
A silence fell over the Bluesummers' men interrupted abruptly by a knock at the door. "That must be Maestoso," Legato muttered walking towards the door.
He opened it. SLAM! …………… "HONEY! I NEED TO TALK TO YOU."
Midvallina skipped into the front hall, back to her old spirits. "Yes dear?" she asked straightening his hair.
"What did you do?" Legato asked with narrow eyes.
Midvallina smiled, proud of her answer, "I didn't want all of you fighting and it was such a terrible thing not knowing who the murderer was; so, I called in an expert!"
Legato chuckled as the door pounded behind him. "Midvalley, I don't think MASTER can be considered an EXPERT!"
"I fail to see your reasoning young sir," a placid voice said, behind Legato. The blue-haired man turned around and sighed at the oddly English form of Knives. "My name is Millions Knives and I have been called by your dashing bride to investigate the death of an infant. Behind me is my archivist and collogue, Dr. Watson," he finished, pointing behind him at Vash wearing a fake mustache and a pillow beneath heavy wool clothing.
Legato stepped aside and let Knives through with Vash huffing in tow. He took his master's heavy coat and Holmes-ish hat as the Plant pulled out a pipe and filled with tobacco to smoke.
Knives walked into the dining room and stood there for a few minutes calling Vash in there after a while. "Dr. Watson, tell me in your own words what you perceive here," Knives said, puffing a cloud of smoke as he lifted the cloth off the baby's body and let Vash have a look as the twin muttered something about not being Watson.
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" thud.
"Hmm. So, the child is, indeed, dead. Thank you, Watson. Sir," he said turning to the confused Legato, "Please call everyone into the living room. I believe I have the answer to this mystery."
Legato sighed and pulled Vash's body into the living room where everyone waited. Fifty minutes passed until Knives walked into the room with his wool vest and white linen shirt with gray slacks. He tapped his pipe against an ashtray and walked around the room. "This case is quite peculiar as the murderer in question had some deep and resentful reason for killing his victim at that precise moment. First, I would like to call to attention the fork as the killing implement, as I believe it a key factor to this investigation.
"Next, I would like to inquire as to who was not in the room at the time of death. As I understand it, Legato you and your wife left to check on a Plant but halfway down the hall you left her alone and returned to the scene of the crime, at which point the lights turned off. Am I correct?"
Legato nodded from behind the bar.
"Good, and you, Legato's Father. I perceive that you were sitting next to your wife as she held the baby at the dinner table at the time of the crime. And you, Mr. Adante was next to Poco who sat parallel to the murder victim, yes? Good, good." Knives paused, filling his pipe with a fresh bout of tobacco. "Ah, Watson, you've awakened! I would like you to examine the group for weakness in ankles if you will."
Vash sat up on the floor and glared at his older brother, "My name isn't WATSON! And why do you want to know their ankle strengths, even if I did know how to get that information!"
Knives smiled at him in an igamatic way, "My dear Watson. You've lived with me long enough, surely you understand a tad smidgen of my methods?"
Vash narrowed his eyes as he stood up. "This is the last time I'm letting you read Sherlock Holmes… or anything of the like!" Knives waved his comment away and continued with his investigation ignoring Vash.
"Well, all things aside. I now know who the murderer is; the only person that could reach the baby without anyone the wiser; the one person who had sufficient reasons to perpetrate such a crime. And that person IS…"
((((End))))
C-E: MWUAHAHHAHAHA! Ha! I noticed I startedwriting like an english person! Sorry much!CLIFFHANGER! Not really. Hey, don't flame me for the baby killing, we all knew that baby had no real purpose and I never really meant to kill it…. Naw, I did. I really did. Stay tuned for the next chapter and the thrilling conclusion of Knives' keen analytical skillz. Yo'. ……………… Yeah. Next is a chapter of Ham Hams.. Yay!