Disclaimer: Blah, whatever, don't own it.
Mel gazed after the two girls thoughtfully, as Cain subjected him to a very suspicious stare. Finally, Mel felt obliged to break the silence.
"That's the first time in a long time that she's randomly hugged anyone," he sighed, smiling faintly. "It must be a good sign."
"She isn't always that friendly?" Cain grunted, feeling a bit misused. He did not appreciate such a degree of familiarity from some girl he had just met, even if she was his type.
"She used to be, but she got shy after… well, I suppose it's not that strange," Mel shrugged. "Say, have you been reading the papers? The body of another Mason was found in the Thames last week. Someone's going to get the entire society of Freemasons coming down on their head soon," Mel said idly, changing the subject.
"Yes, I had read about it, but I wasn't aware that anybody but me had made the connexion between this and the other three murders," Cain replied, perking up. "So you do think it's because they're Freemasons?"
"More than likely," Mel nodded. "The modus operandi is the same; blunt force trauma, and the bodies have all been dumped far from their original residences."
"But what of the third murder, of the Mason who was beaten to death with a sharp object, and was dumped on the doorstep of the family physician?" Cain insisted, leaning in, expression eager, if morbidly so.
"Well, I haven't all the details, but it's probably coincidence, or else a copycat," said Mel, hunching his shoulders. His bright, Cheshire grin reappeared. "This is fun. I hardly suspected the Earl of Poisons would follow such an unremarkable set of murders."
"Anything serial is far from unremarkable," Cain returned, archly. "I like to pay attention to all kinds of murders, and disappearances too, just in case."
"Ah, and here I must confess, I'm a bit of a phony," Mel said sheepishly. "I've only acquired such a morbid hobby recently, at least, only recently pursued it with any seriousness."
"You were residing in the country until recently, am I right?" Cain asked. He continued before Mel could reply. "Naturally. It is harder to get the city papers with any consistency, out in most of the more remote estates."
"That is true," nodded Mel, scratching the back of his neck.
"But I wouldn't doubt that your avid interest in murders does have a more recent incentive," mused Cain, leaning against the wall and watching Mel grow uncomfortable again with interest. "I thought the name Howard sounded familiar. It is rather scandalous, don't you think, to be taking your sister out into society so soon after your parents' deaths?"
Mel looked stricken, but not altogether surprised. It did take him a while, however, to rally and explain.
"Kitty… Kitty was there," he finally said, in a whisper. "Kitty saw everything—the murders, the culprit… but she can't remember any of it."
Cain drew back a little, confusion written in his expression and focusing his green-gold eyes.
"Can't… remember?" he asked. "Why not? Does she know her parents are dead?"
"I've no idea," said Mel bleakly. "Yes, she does know they're dead, but she has no recollection of the incident, and she's probably still in shock, too, which is why she isn't locked in a water closet somewhere sobbing. I came home from the Continent as soon as I heard."
"You were abroad?" Cain queried.
"I'm always abroad," said Mel darkly. "It was only chance that I wasn't in Tibet at the time of the murders. I've been completely disowned, you know. My parents gave me a choice, after the first time I disappeared into the Orient, to either come home and be responsible, or get cut off completely. Kitty was the only thing that made the decision hard."
"And yet you have come to London to seek revenge for their deaths," Cain observed.
"Well, yes and no. Mostly I'm seeking to pull out the intestines of the rat bastard who killed my parents in front of Kitty," growled Mel, radiating cold fury for an instant, to such a degree that Cain nearly flinched. "She's my innocent… to shatter that… no, it's not something I can forgive. I'm only grateful she can't remember, even if it does mean I have to seek out the murderer from scratch."
"It's curious that she cannot remember," Cain mused. An idea, more of a suspicion, struck him. "Do you think she could have been hypnotized by the murderer?"
"I hadn't thought of that," Mel contemplated. He shook his head a little. "But Kitty always was very adept at censoring her own memory to edit out bad experiences. She attended a boarding school when she was much younger, a place that from what I hear was truly horrible, and to this day she can't recall a single day of her time there. No, it's probably amnesia, of a very focused variety."
"Still, hypnosis could be a possibility," insisted Cain. Mel shrugged in acquiescence. Cain frowned, as he thought of something else. "But how did you come to be her guardian, if you were disowned?"
"I'm not her guardian," grinned Mel complacently. "Kitty doesn't need a guardian. She's of legal age, eighteen, to be precise."
Earl Cain was a man of great composure. If he hadn't been, he felt sure he would have taken that opportunity to fall over.
"But she's so short!" was all he could think to say. At that, Mel burst into raucous laughter.
"Just goes to show, eh?" said Mel happily. "I came back in the middle of a vicious custody battle between my aunts and uncles. They'd been so caught up lusting after her money that they'd clean forgotten she doesn't need to be in anybody's custody! I'm really just a figurehead. Although, it seems I have proven useful here in town. People aren't inclined to take Kitty very seriously, even with a chunk of inheritance money, and what we got from selling the manor."
"So, you didn't just relocate into the city temporarily, you sold the estate?" Cain asked, with an amazed grin of his own. "I can imagine your relatives were pleased about that."
"I nearly caught fire from the glares they gave me," Mel grinned amicably. "They're convinced that I'm going to be a ruinous influence on Kitty. But it's not as though the property isn't in the family anymore. I made sure to sell it to another branch. The branch with more money."
"HAY!" came a hearty shout, and all of a sudden, a great, gingery-haired buffoon of a man swooped down on Cain, elbowing him familiarly in the shoulder.
"Oscar?" Cain gaped. "What are you doing here? I thought you hadn't been invited!"
"You wound me, Cain!" cried Oscar dramatically. "I had envisioned you would be overjoyed to see me!"
"What would make you think that?" Cain mumbled. "You still didn't answer the question."
"Of course I was invited," huffed Oscar indignantly. "I may be disowned, but I'm still a Gabriel!"
"Of course," sighed Cain. "Now that I know you're here, will you please go away? There are other people here who can advance you in your parents' good graces much better than I can."
"Why, if I didn't know better, I'd think you didn't want me!" said Oscar, laughing loudly. "But that's absurd, because after all, I'm your future brother-in-law!"
Mel's head was tilted to one side almost horizontally, his expression as lost as the Bermuda Triangle. Cain gave a resigned groan.
"Oh, hey, who's this?" Oscar asked eagerly, noticing Mel. "You've actually made a friend at a party that isn't a lady? Introduce us, Cain!"
"Oscar, this is Melvin Howard. Oscar Gabriel is a trick baboon someone dressed up and let in as a joke," Cain monotoned with a bored wave of his hand. Oscar made a wordless exclaimation of offense.
"Hah!" chirped Mel, gazing at Oscar with wide, amused eyes. "He's so comical. Is he doing it on purpose, or is he really that absurd?"
"What did I ever do to you?" Oscar pleaded, acting hurt. "Cain, you've been influencing him!"
"If I dropped a banana peel, I feel certain he would slip on it," hummed Mel brightly, still speaking as though observing a particularly entertaining animal in the Zoological Gardens. "Are all your friends so interesting, Lord Cain?"
"Where's Merryweather, Cain?" asked Oscar eagerly, mostly to avoid Mel's demeaning show of curiosity. "I want to have a dance with her. It is my right after all!"
"Are you insane?" Cain asked conversationally, not really requiring an answer.
"I like him," announced Mel stalwartly. "You are an entertaining human being, Oscar Gabriel."
"Entertaining baboon," corrected Cain, but quietly.
"Well, at least somebody appreciates me," said Oscar happily. "Say, we'd make some team, eh? Maybe you'll be the one to bridge the gap between me and my future brother!" laughed Oscar, thumping Mel on the back. Mel lurched forward at the thump and staggered a bit, thrown off-balance.
"Not terribly likely," said Mel, with a glance at Cain. "I like you, but I can see why he doesn't."
"He makes the collective intelligence of any gathering decrease, sharply, with his introduction into it," Cain grumbled, looking the other way. Oscar only shrugged.
"Well, boys, let's go make a night of it! It's New Year's, after all!" he cheered. Mel grinned and bowed, offering an arm to both Oscar and Cain.
"Come now, let's all start off the gossip columnists' year with a bang," Mel chirped, as Oscar linked arms with him and Cain, reluctantly, peeled himself off the wall to follow, at Mel's elbow but not attached to it. "Does anybody else feel the need to spike the punch?"
Well, I'm sorry about all the exposition in the first bit, but it's necessary if the plot is to run with any coherence at all. Hee, Oscar's an entertaining character. Ever notice how he always bursts out of the shadows like an obnoxious ninja? I wonder if they would have known what a ninja was, back then, to be able to make the comparison…?
Anyway, more of our familiar protagonist. I hope I've characterized him right. I always worry about canon characterization. By the way, did you know that Kaori Yuki has a Bacon number of four? And by virtue of that, Hakushaku Cain has a Bacon number of five. I wonder if that means Hakushaku Cain fanfic authors have a Bacon number of six…?!!?! That's really low!