CHAPTER 49

Five months later…

The Englishwoman gazed off into the sunny skies of London. It was the end of April and the flowers were blooming. Everything in London was at peace again. Many people were still talking about the Beildschmidt case, but people had settled down since the first week or so that Alice was out of the hospital.

She hadn't stepped into her work until a month or so ago, when her family finally decided that it was okay for her to venture out into the real world again. Things had been going fine. Great, even. There had been no homicides, and Matthew was safe with his father, who was also safe. And quite happy, too. Alice had a huge weight lifted off of her chest. The case was solved; she could talk with her siblings without any tenseness. Usually. Their family was fucked up. They had been that way since for as long as Papa died. One might even say that it started after their Mum had passed away. You couldn't fix together something that broken in a week.

But they'd get there. Anything can be fixed with enough superglue.

"So, you're-a not-a dead."

Alice nearly whipped her head around to screech at the short, cocky Italian man that he was late. No, she wouldn't do that. It'd just give him some sort of satisfaction. She paused and counted to five seconds. Then, a firm sigh. "I hope you're not disappointed." Alice didn't look at him. Not yet. Make the wanker wait for a few minutes.

"Hmm, no, you're still useful to me. Even if I'm sure there are more negatives than positives in keeping you around."

Alice nearly snorted. "I hope that wasn't a confession, Pasta-head." She didn't offer him a glance, testing his patience. "You're married, now. It'd be a shame if I needed to fight off the entire airhead's army to win my fair lady's hand, now wouldn't it?"

An undignified squall came from behind her. Now she did smirk. "How about it, dickwad? Ready to fight it out for Lovino's honor?"

Lovino ignored the fact that Antonio was barely being held back by at least seven other Mafia and or pirates. "You seem to be under the impression that I'm a virgin." He was scowling down at her.

Alice winked. "I'm no saint either, sweetheart." Oh, dear lord. Alice nearly burst out laughing, watching the slight blush spread across Lovino's tanned face. She stood from her spot on the park bench and was met with Lovino, a practically steaming Antonio, and eight shocked faces. At that, she snickered. Probably were trying to contemplate how she managed to get away with flirting with Lovino without getting killed or beaten to death. "Lutz is right here." She pointed vaguely to the urn. Alice had had cremated him, since the Mafia had nearly no interest in what happened to his body afterwards. The man was insane, yes, but Alice was partly to blame for that.

Lovino took the urn. "Any requests as to where to spread it."

"The ocean." Alice spoke immediately. "Make sure it's the same spot where you dumped Venziano."

"Sì, ragazza." It was Feliciano who had spoken. "We'll-a make-a sure-a to that-a." Ludwig nodded slightly from behind the Italian and that was enough for Alice.

"Well, is there anything you'd like as a reward, witch?" Lovino asked her, causing heads to turn in very well hidden shock. He took out a rectangular package from his pocket. "Care for a pack of Jolly Sailor?"

Alice looked down at the pack of cigars and nearly drooled. Jolly Sailor was her father's favorite cigar brand. It was the nastiest she ever had, but had held sentimental value, and that made it better than anything. The brand had sold out years and years ago. This was one of the few, if not the last, of the Jolly Sailors in the world.

"No," She sighed. "I've quit. I will ask you for something else instead, though."

"Oh?" He raised an eyebrow. Even Lovino was in shock.

"My brother, Dylan," Alice said. "Lutz is the reason why he lost his legs."

"Fair enough," Lovino said. "Any particular kind?"

She shook her head. "As long as they're new, have at least ten years' warranty, and are hypo-allergenic, I don't care."

"Shouldn't be hard to do. Expect something to come your way in a couple of months." Lovino said and turned around, waving slightly. "Ciao, ragazza."

After that, Antonio trudged on behind him, but not before giving Alice the nastiest glare she'd ever seen by a non – Kirkland. Ludwig and Feliciano showered her in thanks and praise before they too left. Elizabeta sobbed on her shoulder and nearly strangled her with a hug, and that took Alice by surprise. Kiku bowed and then left, smiling slightly. That she did expect.

The last was a man about her height, with silver hair and ruby red eyes. He gave her a loud, obnoxious laugh. "Kesesesesesesese~!" He sniggered. "I've never seen anyone talk to Lovino like zat. Antonio looked like he vwas going to blow a socket."

"I've got a bit of a knack for pissing people off. Antonio is so easy it's ridiculous." She shook hands with him. "Alice Kirkland."

He laughed that weird laugh again. "Ah, I finally get to meet ze hero!" His red eyes softened slightly. "You saved my bruder. Twice. Danke. My name is Gilbert Beildschmidt."

Her eyes widened but said nothing. "Lutz was our cousin, you know." Gilbert said, noticing her silence. "He was a good man. Before, I mean. But after Venzi died…"

Alice nodded absently. "I understand."

"And thank you, for putting him to justice." Gilbert continued. "I know you could care less about it, but I know zat he was just miserable like zat, all alone in ze world."

She said nothing for a minute, knowing that she would have only growled out something about how the mad man had killed four people viciously and attempted to kill at least eight others, and then finally decided, "He liked languages, then?"

"Loved zem. He knew Chinese, Russian, Belarussian, Japanese, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese. You name it, he probably knew it." Gilbert said. "Loved ruins, too. And he vwas good at forging handwriting, since zat vwas what he started doing from ze beginning. He used to forge documents and money, you could never tell the difference unless he told you. Unless you were Venzi."

"He could spot the difference, then?" Alice asked.

"Zat vwas how zey made a connection." Gilbert shrugged. "Venzi wanted a document for some blackmail, Lutty vwas good at making fakes."

"A match made in heaven."

"Hell, more like."

"And what about Johnny? Johnny Tucker?" Alice asked. "Why was he killed?"

"Johnny had a bad gambling habit and went nearly homeless in Las Vegas. Lutty helped him, but for a price." Gilbert sighed. "I would assume that he used Johnny to take pictures and stalk you. Probably even set up the incident in America, but Lutty ran out of uses for Johnny after that. We found cyanide in Johnny's stomach after we searched him."

Alice sighed, letting all the pieces of the case fit together in the small, shattered pieces that they were.

"I've seen you before." Gilbert said, "But not under the name Alice Kirkland. What was it?"

"Guinevere, probably." She said, "Guinevere de Lyonesse."

He grinned. "Kesesesesesesese~!" Gilbert's ruby eyes shone. "I knew you looked familiar."

"It was my stage name." She smiled. "It was fancy enough for top-hats and skirts, so I kept it. None of them knew that it was Queen Guinevere's maiden name from the King Arthur legends, though."

"I'm a huge fan." Gilbert said. "I play the flute, but I always envied the violin. Never had the knack, though." He looked down at his watch. "Damn. Well, it's time for me to go. I have to go and get to the blimp before Luddy kills me." And then he was gone, just like that.

Alice looked away into the bright sky again, thinking about the man with the red eyes. Something about him seemed similar. Not in a bad way, though, which was a welcome change. Had she given him an autograph or something? No, she never did that. The higher-ups didn't find it classy to ask for someone else's autograph. Well, whatever. She had to get back home.

Alice had a date with a frog, today.

XXX

Alice yelped.

"Oi!" She cried, clutching her head with one hand. "Watch it."

"It's no' mah bloody fault ye can' even brush ye're hair once a week." Wilma snarled back at her. "Seriously, ye don' have to be girly, just brush ye're damn mob once in a while, will yeh?"

"Is that really coming from the girl who chopped off all of her hair to keep from having to brush it every morning?" Alice shot back, wincing as Wilma continued to viciously attack the pale, seemingly-permed-lion's-mane that was called her hair.

"I donated it." Wilma said.

"Not even the mop factory would have taken that thing – OW!"

"Girls, would you stop it?" Dylan sighed, mumbling a few cuss words from behind the sisters. "Alice, how the hell do you not any socially acceptable clothing to wear?"

"Being pretty isn't exactly in my job description, now is it?"

Dylan sighed. "Wilma, keep working on the hair and makeup. I'm out to go get her something proper to wear." He rolled away. "Patrick Ian Fionn Kirkland and Alistair William James Kirkland, get your god damn arses off of that, or so help me –!"

Wilma and Alice snickered as a chorus of surprised yelps came from Patty and Alistair. "Get your shoes and coat on, we're going to buy a dress and shoes. Possibly jewelry, too, seeing as our idiot sister doesn't even have a candy ring layin' around here." Dylan's voice was soft again, but it held a razor sharp tone. And with a few scuffles, they were gone.

XXX

The boys were back, about thirty minutes later.

"Have you finished yet, Wilma?" Dylan rolled up the stairs, Patrick and Alistair trailing behind him.

"Nearly," Wilma growled out. "I can't find any lipstick."

"I figured. Here," Patrick threw a stick at her. "Found it in the clearance isle."

Wilma caught it seamlessly, quickly opening and inspecting the lipstick. She frowned slightly. "It's not the best color for her skin tone, but it'll do." Patrick and Alistair snorted at that, but said nothing. Wilma shot them a quick glare before applying the lipstick.

Her siblings left the room after that, letting her change into the dress that they had bought. She stared at the mirror. The dress had a white Peter Pan collar, which rested stark against the black dress. The dress reached to her kneecaps and the sleeves completely covered her arms. They completely covered her scars. She was thankful for that.

Alice smiled slightly, looking at her reflection. It wasn't what she was used to, that was for sure. Wilma had managed to tame her curly blonde hair, though there was a slight wave to it still. Alice spotted the pair of stud earrings that her siblings had left on the bed. She fastened the small pieces of jewelry into her ears, before crossing the room to slip on her heels. They were the only pair that she owned and they were simple, with a two-inch heel and completely black.

She slipped them on easily and opened the door to see Wilma and Dylan waiting for her outside. "Well?" Alice asked. "How do I look?"

"Classy." Dylan smiled, "But not boring."

Wilma smirked. "Five pounds says the baguette starts drooling as soon as he sees you."

"Come on, I thought you knew better than that, Wilma." Dylan smirked back up at her. "If you're going to bet on something you know is going to happen, you might as well make a profit."

"Think I can get Patty to put up twenty?"

"Enough, you two." Alice scolded, blushing to the tips of her hair. She was probably as red as Alistair's hair right then. The doorbell ringed.

Wilma headed back down the ramp. "And so Prince Charming arrives!"