"Will! What the devil happened? Why are you here in jail?" Jack Sparrow exclaimed once the guards had locked Will's cell.
"Good question." Will said in his ridiculous attempt to bring his voice up high to sound somewhat female.
"It's just us, mate." Jack patted him grimly through the bars. "You can be a man again."
Will grinned, adjusted his wig and protested, "But I like it so much, Jack. I wore this to know what it's like to be you."
Jack wrinkled his brow a little, confused. "What the bloody hell do you mean by that?"
"I had just been wondering what it was like to act like a woman all the time," Will smirked.
"Very funny, Will, but that is most definitely not your color." Jack licked his thumb and made to wipe the makeup off the other man's face.
Will looked revolted as he edged away from the bars. "Jack, that is disgusting!"
Jack shrugged and smirked. "Pirate, you know." He winked.
There was an uncomfortable silence before Jack finally broke it, saying "So now, what happened?"
Will cleared his throat and began to tell of his adventures after he left from Mr. Wont's shop:
"OKay, Let's see, then... after I curtsied and exited his gun shop, I decided to stop at a bar. I realized then that it would be much more convenient (not to mention less embarrassing) if I changed back into man's clothes. I approached the ship, forgetting Elizabeth's awful condition, and was shooed away by one of the doctors (I'm not sure which- they both seem the same when they're drunk).
"Thinking quickly, I said, 'I am Elizabeth's sister, Willa. I just came back to pay my last respects before she, um, passes.' It was awfully hard to say, Jack, but I had to say it.
"The only woman on board - apart from Ms. Swann, that is - seemed to consider it and said that I could only stay for a few minutes, but that I had to cover my nose and mouth.
"I almost cried, Jack!" Will actually let a few tears trickle down his cheek, smearing his powdered blush as he spoke. "She was just so pitiful, almost dead! Her skin was pale and nearly transparent. You could see the blood in her veins and I wondered when it would flow in them no longer. I would have kissed her then, but it would have seemed odd, me being her 'sister' and all, so instead I whispered some words to her and patted her hand before I was ushered out.
After that depressing encounter with my fiance-" Will, broke off, remembering that she had called off the wedding two weeks ago. "Erm, I mean my ex- fiance. Anyway, I left the ship, but not till I was on land did I remember that I was supposed to get my man clothes. I tried to get back on but was turned away quite rudely.
"I revisited some of the bars again, this time hiding in the shadows so I wouldn't be seen. I heard them talking about Marie Radford and how she was pregnant and how awful you were for taking two innocent lives.
"One of the men was boasting proudly about how he was the father and I looked up, expecting to see Radford. Instead, I saw a man who was addressed by his friends as Thomas Redd. He seemed proud and arrogant, until one of his friends reminded his that the baby was gone.
"Redd sat down, very red-faced, and cursed your name a thousand times over. Not that your name is too honorable around here," Will added with a small smirk, before continuing. "Anyway, another man rushed over and replied that he might have been the baby's father for all they knew. He said that almost any man in the bar could have been the father, most of them having slept with her at least once.
"It was to my great distress that all the men agreed.
"One of them then squinted up his eyes and pointed to me, saying, 'isn't that Marie there?'
"I panicked and saw that I would have to leave as quickly as possible, so I slipped away and under the table. I stole out of the back door, hiding in shadows all the while until I reached a booth where man with a long, pointed nose and yellow skin was calling out to all within hearing distance of him:
"'Hear the Truth of Captain Jack Sparrow and Marie Radford right here, in the square in a quarter hour! That is correct! Straight from one of Jack's personal friends, the real story of the double murder that took place! One bullet that killed them both! How it really happened!' the man boomed. 'Hear of their secret affair, the attempted murder of her husband, the sinking of the ships of England, and the poisoning of dear, sweet Elizabeth Turner! Come hear it all in a quarter hour!'
"I became puzzled, of course. There had never been anything at all in my story about a love affair, poison, sinking ships, or the attempted murder of her husband, Radford. At first I had been overjoyed that people would see it from your side of view, but I soon became outraged at what I had heard.
"I bided my time for fifteen minutes before the it was time for the truth revealed. Quite a crowd had formed already, and more people were clamoring up the streets, eager to hear the man.
"He started the story with what he had supposed was your birth. He claimed that you had been the product of a lost bet and a drunken night with a devil and the prostitute-"
Here, Jack snorted with a mixture of amusement and rage.
"He then reminded the crowd of what once happened with that official once, a while ago. The one that charged you unfairly for making port with your ship and was then given a year in jail. Yes, you remember. Good. That alone got people grumbling. Then he said that Marie Radford was your cousin and you raped her and gave her the child. After that, you tried to kill off her husband so he wouldn't find out about it. The man told the townspeople that you had attempted to sink the ship he was sailing on with him in it and the door to the quarters where he slept locked tight. Of course, he didn't leave out that there were four other men in that room with Radford and that you didn't care about taking innocent lives. The yellow skinned man said that you had killed Marie herself in a last resort to save your reputation. He had everyone grumbling at you and cursing his name, then announced that he would be doing a retelling of this tomorrow. I was so upset that I physically attacked Mr. Wont and I landed in here."
Will stopped to look at his best friend, the one that he had hated not so long ago. Jack was deep in thought, but said slowly. "So, in other words, Mr. Wont twisted the story and sold me out."
Will nodded grimly. "Aye, Jack. It seems so."
"Clever," the captain said, to Will's great surprise. "Now, if you would be so kind to excuse me for a moment, I need to think some things over…"
Elizabeth was completely drenched. The doctors had tried pouring water over her to cool her fever. Her skin had gone scarlet in the forehead, burning to the touch. Cool towels were wiped over her skin every few minutes or so, but it was not working-she was worsening quickly.
"Even healthy people cannot survive the Malade Flu!" one of the doctors said. "With her wound, it is nearly impossible!"
One of the doctors wiped his brow and spoke clearly, sounding determined, "Nothing is impossible."
Jack Sparrow had been pacing back in forth in his tight cell (which is very hard to do, considering its size) and thinking. He knew that the only way to be set free was to find out who the murderer was, but he had no clue.
A small thought began to form in his mind. He waved it off impatiently, but the more he thought about it, the more it made sense. He stood still for a while (okay, so he was still swaying. But he's always swaying- he's Captain Jack Sparrow) and pondered his idea. A slow smile began to form on his face as everything became clear.
"Jack, what is it?" Will asked, eager to be in on it too.
"Will, my dear boy, I have just realized who the murderer is."
Okay, now reply or send me a private message and tell me who you think is the murderer. I already know who it is, but I would like to see if anyone else caught on. It can be any of the characters mentioned in this story:
Elizabeth
Will
Jack
Radford
Mr. Wong
Marie Radford
The doctor from the Town
The doctor from the Pearl
The lady who bathed Elizabeth
Thomas Redd
The man with yellow skin and a pointed nose
Just give the name of the character and I count them up to see just how many people caught on. I will be collecting votes for probably about a week or so, but if I don't get enough, the world may never know who did it! Dun, Dun, Dun! (Inset high pitched scream here). Please reply or send a message :)