CHAPTER 14

"Où allons-nous?"

"The library." Alice answered Francis. "I just need to look something up."

Francis gave her a curious smirk. "You need to look somezing up?" Well, that was it. The world was ending. "What is it?"

Alice glared at him. "Shut up, you bleeding frog." She paused, "And its classified information." Alice liked libraries. Very little people-and the few were generally quiet-, a vast array of books and voices from the past. Alice spent a lot of her time with books as a child. Books and violin.

The ceiling of the library stretched tall and wide, bookshelves stacked high up for at least two stories. And the library was still closed, so there was no people. Perfect.

"Isn't zis breaking and entering?" Francis asked from behind her.

"No." Alice said. "Not if you're a police officer. People tend to let those things slide when you're a police officer."

"Alice!" Francis scolded her as she opened the front door.

"Look," Alice showed him the silver key in her hand. "I have a friend who works here. She's supposed to be meeting us here in a few minutes, but she has a habit of running late so she gave me the key, all right?"

"You have friends?" Francis teased.

"Shocking, isn't it~!" A thick Romanian accent echoed through the library. They turned around. A woman dressed in red and black ran bounded to them, her strawberry blonde hair lashing around and red eyes gleaming. "Alo!"

"It's about damn time-Ooph!" Alice was cut off when the Romanian girl threw herself at Alice.

"Ali!" She squealed, pulling Alice into a death hold. "I missed you so much!"

Francis saw a rare, shy smile cross his boss' face. This girl must have meant very much to her. A strike of jealousy shot through him. He knew he was being ridiculous, but still- why didn't he get this kind of attention? "I missed you too, Mira."

The Romanian girl spotted Francis for the first time. "Ooh, who's zis?" She wiggled her eyebrows at Alice. "Your boyfriend? Fiancé? E iubitul tău secret?"

"Mira!" Alice snapped, her face bright red, not noticing how red Francis was. "This is my work partner, Francis Bonnefoy."

"Încântat de cunoștință." Mira held her hand. "Vladimira (AN: Do I really have to tell you who she is?). I'm Alice's cousin."

"Cousin?" Francis repeated, slightly confused. The only thing that looked vaguely similar was the blonde hair and even that was a completely different shade.

"Yeah, no one else sees it eizer until I do zis," Mira cleared her throat and out came a perfect British accent. "Bloody hell, I'm Britain's best fucking detective."

Francis just stared. "Mon Dieu."

Mira burst out cackling, while Alice just huffed. "Where's the ancient hieroglyphics and symbols section at?" Alice asked.

"Just down zat isle, turn left on bookshelf zirteen and you'll find what you're lookin' for." Mira said absently. "Hey, Frenchy-fry, wanna go look at some porn wiz me?"

Alice practically growled at Mira. "Do not make me call your husband."

"Bine! Bine! Ma predau." Mira laughed. "I'll go set up shop, and leave you two lovebirds to yourselves~!" She skipped away happily, still laughing.

Alice let out a huff. "Sorry about that, she's just a little eccentric."

"Not at all," Francis smiled. "Alors, que voulez-vous que je fasse?"

"Go to the historical section. See if you can find any records on a Vash Zwingli, the two girls and the Fox and Goblin."

"Sur ce, ma reine!" Francis winked before walking off to a different direction.

That'd keep him busy for a while. If Alice somehow involved Francis into the whole Mafia business, he could get killed and maybe his son, too.

The ancient hieroglyphics and symbols section was huge. It wasn't surprising since Mira was a mythology professor at the local college and was an avid reader of such things, since she'd been an archaeologist beforehand. Alice pulled out five books and started from there. The first line was a mix of Greek letters and Latin symbols.

Delta...Omikron...Lambda...Another omikron...Phi...Omikron and Nu...Iota and alpha.

To murder. A chill sizzled through Alice. She looked at the Latin symbols. An oval shape and something that looked like a sideways top. Woman and man. Man murder woman.

"Well, at least we can be sure he's a dickhead." Alice muttered, sarcastically.

The next line was full of German.

Grimm auf diejenigen, deren Hände in Sünde gewirkt gebracht werden... Grim on those whose hands are wrought in sin.

Alice frowned. Grim? Death, then. So, some man was punishing women who sinned. The next and last line was in latin.

Ira malum...Wrath of evil.

Alice tried not to shudder, pulling out the other two notes. The first was covered in Viking runes and Greek.

Pi. and rho...Ohm and tau...Omikron and sigma: First.

Oh. This was Isabelle's letter, wasn't it? Alice's scowl deepened as she moved to the next line.

Fe, gyfu, hagal: Wealth, exchange, sudden change...or scattering. Alice's mind flashed back to the murder scene. Another line of poetry, this time Chinese.

眼睛見證血液瀉，

作為報復被帶來的，

對於情人的輕蔑，

火是我的憤怒，

一跌，很多去，

我不會停止，

直到我的情人報仇。

Which roughly translated to:

Eye witness the blood spilled,

As retaliation be brought,

For the lover of contempt,

Fire is my anger,

One down and many to go,

I will not stop until my lover revenged.

"Damn it." Alice hissed, moving onto the next letter. It was Russian that time. "Damn it."

Два ушел, Сколько еще погибнет?

Никакое количество золота, ни серебра, ни бриллиантов не остановит меня.

Девушки с волосами бледного золота упали,

Сколько еще до твоего поймать меня ?

Two gone,

How many more will die?

No amount of gold or silver or diamonds will not stop me.

Girls with hair pale gold fell,

How long before you catch me?

"Fuck!" Alice hissed, running out of the library. He's not done yet.

"Alice?!" She ignored Mira.

"Cab!" Alice yelled, "Cab!" A black cab pulled up and Alice rushed inside. Before he could ask 'where to, miss?' she cut him off. "The Royal Justice and Crime Building. I'm in a hurry, sir."

The driver nodded and took off.

"Yo, hey dude, what's up? Find anything at the library?" Alfred's voice boomed over the phone.

"Bring Zwingli in." Alice hissed over the phone. "I've got a few questions for him."

XXX

"He says he'll only talk to you." Alfred said, walking into Alice's office with a frown on his face.

"That's not what he said last time," Alice grumbled before following Alfred to the questioning room. The room was large, with reflective mirrors for walls and simple, white tile floors and ceiling.

The bright light shed Vash in a harsh light. His dark emerald eyes stayed focused on the table, his glare acidic.

"Hello, Mr. Zwingli." Alice said, walking into the room.

"Warum bin ich hier?" Vash asked, looking ready to kill. "Lüg mich auch nicht, Schlampe."

Alice glared at him. "May I remind you that I'm a police officer? Getting on my bad side isn't really in your best interest, arschloch." She took the seat across from Vash. "Sir, do you know these two women?" She slid pictures of Isabelle Blackwater and Olivia Forester across the table.

"Nein."

"Liar!" Alice yelled, slamming her hand on the table. She was sick and tired of his nonchalant, lying, conceited bastard-like attitude. "We have footage from the Fox and Goblin that shows you had been involved with the two girls for at least six months."

Vash just stared blankly at her.

Alice settled back into her seat. "What was your relationship with Isabelle and Olivia?"

Vash paused for a moment. "We were in a ménage à trois."

Alice froze completely. The blood rushed to her face in a flurry. Is he fucking kidding me? "I see." Alice tried to keep her face emotionless. "And when did that...arrangement start?"

"Almost a year ago." Vash grumbled. "Isabelle was zinking of breaking it off, zough."

"When did she tell you and Olivia this?" Alice asked.

"Two weeks ago, Tuesday." Vash said. "Can I leave now?"

"No." Alice hissed, "Why did Isabelle want to break it off?"

"It repulsed her." Vash said. "She was religious, zought what we were doing was a sin."

Yet she let it carry on for almost a year. "What did you and Olivia do?" Alice asked.

"We said we'd talk about again next week, after Isabelle cooled off."

"But she never showed up," Vash nodded. "And Olivia died soon after, didn't she?" He nodded again.

Alice stared at Vash for a long while before she said anything. "Mr. Zwingli," She paused. Was this really a good idea? "This...Is the knife that Isabelle and Olivia were killed with." She pulled out one of the Mafia knives and slid it onto the table.

It all happened in a matter of seconds.

A flash of silver. BANG! BANG! Ear-pounding screaming. Blood. Darkness.

Translation:

Où allons-nous? = Where are we going?

Alo! = Hello!

E iubitul tău secret? = Is it your secret lover?

Încântat de cunoștință. = Nice to meet you.

Mon Dieu = My God.

Bine! Bine! Ma predau. = Fine! Fine! I surrender.

Alors, que voulez-vous que je fasse? = So, what do you want me to do?

Sur ce, ma reine! = On it, my Queen!

Warum bin ich hier? = Why am I here?

Lüg mich auch nicht, Schlampe. = Don't lie to me, bitch.

Arshloch = Asshole.

Nien. = No.