Tasogare No Hime
Chapter 3
As Sephiroth approached the house followed by Lexaus and the rookie Zexion he tried to ignore Officer Xigbar shouting at the group of teenagers who were standing around the mansion out of curiosity. He nodded to Cid Highwind the officer who had originally accompanied the coroner to the scene. Highwind was a high strung, cursing chain smoker, but Sephiroth would much rather deal with him than Xigbar, or Xaldin.
"So what are we here for Highwind? I thought this was an accidental death"
The older man nodded dropping his cigarette but and stepping on it.
"It was till Vexen looked at the body"
They followed him into house avoiding the glass everywhere Lexaus was keeping an eye Zexion who looked like he'd rather not be there. Noticing just how bad the mess was he paused.
"What the hell happened here? Looks like a bomb went off"
Cid shrugged.
"The kids who found the body said the windows shattered spontaneously when they were leaving, they were really shaken up. Don't know about anything else."
To Zexion it was eerily quiet, and he had the feeling he was being watched. He tried to rationalize it telling him self he was just nervous about seeing a dead body for the first time but as he followed Cid, Sephiroth, and Lexaus through the house he swore he kept catching glimpses of other people watching them. When they reached the room Officer Saix was standing just outside the door. He nodded silently as they passed him.
Zexion stopped as he caught sight of the body he'd accidentally run into the very same girl only two days before. He felt sick. "My things are still in the ball room"
Zexion almost jumped at the sound of the quiet, feminine voice. He turned but no one was behind him.
"Ball room"
Perhaps he was hearing things, perhaps not. Zexion without looking behind him headed for the ball room.
Axel blinked stupidly at the young man in front of them as he turned to head to the ball room. He looked at Naminé who also looked rather shocked.
"Holy shit did he HEAR you?"
"Damn Shame, From what I hear she was a nice kid"
Cid walked out of the room to go check on Xigbar, the shouting out side was getting louder.
Sephiroth kneeled beside Vexen to get a good look at the body.
"She's been dead about eight hours. It was the fall that killed her, but look at this"
Vexen pointed to some very distinct bruises on the girls throat. Sephiroth stared at the girl quietly, he then stood abruptly and turned to Lexaus. "Alright. Someone else was in this house last night. I want to try and retrace her steps"
Lexaus grimaced. "That's not going to be easy, looks like she went exploring down here"
Sephiroth looked down at the girl.
"Or was searching for an escape route,.. Where did Zexion go?"
The ball room looked much less glamorous to Zexion than it had to Naminé the night before.
However even though the day light showed how the floor was in need and repair and the pillars needed repainting, and made the thick layer of dust entirely to visible it still held an echo of beauty. Zexion however was more preoccupied with the jacket and backpack lying on the floor in the center of the room beneath the glass dome.
"...Ok...Maybe I wasn't just hearing things"
He turned at the sound of foot steps behind him. Lexaus and Sephiroth entered the room.
"There you are. Don't wander off alone like that"
Zexion nodded.
"Yes sir..um..I found something"
He pointed to the objects on the floor. Sephiroth frowned.
"You found these awfully quickly for just wandering around"
Zexion felt himself blushing.
"Well, I...um, it was"
He was interrupted when Lexaus clapped him on the back hard enough he was nearly knocked on to the floor. The tall man was grinning.
"It's all intuition. See I told you he'd be a natural at this"
Sephiroth just grunted and began processing the scene carefully. After a while of examining the floor without touching anything he finally spoke.
"Look at the foot prints in the dust. The set entering is walking, the set leaving is running. That would imply Miss Eldrige was attacked here, but there is no evidence of anyone else being in this room"
Lexaus who had been taking pictures paused.
"Perhaps she only saw the attacker here and was caught somewhere else"
Zexion frowned and stared at the foot prints.
"But if she saw who it was here...why didn't they follow her? I mean to get through here without leaving any evidence at all you would have to be a ghost"
Sephiroth who was now placing Naminé's things in evidence bags paused again "Well, everyone says this place is haunted."
To be continued.
Next chapter: The CSI team has interviews with Naminé's class mates, and Zexion ends up with a cat.