Here you go, Chapter 12. Good news for all you Ryuu/Shizuko lovers. If you are. I am still a little hesitant to come out with their pairing.
Just tell me if I'm a little over the line.
Disclaimer: I DO NOT OWN DETECTIVE SCHOOL Q. I do want to own Ryu's pendant though. HAH. I'll just look for a clone in a local jewelry shop. XD
Chapter 12: S-O-S!
From her position on the music room's floor, Ms. Minamoto stared back at the students in horror. Yui's blood was dripping from a rag she held in her hands.
This was an unexpected twist that even the Class Q members did not expect. Even Ryuu was caught off-guard by the scene.
"Caught in the act!" said Satoshi, breaking the silence.
"No way…" whispered Kazumi. "Ms. Minamoto?"
The middle-aged lady stood up shakily. "I can explain…"
"What's to explain?" asked Minoru. "You were seen with her blood on your hands!"
That's true, Ryuu thought. But that doesn't mean she killed Yui…
"I didn't kill her!" cried out Ms. Minamoto. "Why would I do so?"
"It's all about the inheritance!" said Satoshi, fuming. "You've been killing students so that you could take this school!"
"I didn't kill Yui!"
"All right, that's enough!"
Everyone turned to Kinta, who had just slammed his fist on the door to get everyone's attention.
"The first thing we should all do is call the police," Kinta continued. "Ms. Minamoto, if you're innocent, you don't have any reason to run away from an interrogation, so don't."
"Everyone else, for the time being, stop accusing her. None of you have any proof that she killed your classmate," said Ryuu.
"But the mere fact that we saw her with Yui's dead body—isn't that enough reason to accuse her?" asked Yamato, turning to Ryuu.
"We'll leave that for the police to decide," said Kazuma.
With a few grumbles, the students left the scene, while Kinta went off to call the police.
All this time Shizuko had remained silent at one side of the hallway.
"You okay?" asked Ryuu, looking at her.
"Yeah, but…this just bothers me…" she replied. "She certainly looks suspicious, but still…"
"I don't understand this either, but we should really step up our pace now," Ryuu told her, "and we should bring Meg and Kyu up-to-date."
"I'll call on them," said Kazuma, walking out of the music room.
Meg's cellphone began ringing at a funky beat.
"Come on, Meg, I'm sorry, can't you just—"
"All right, Kyu, you're forgiven, but wait, there's an incoming call…Yes, hello?"
The young programmer's voice came over the receiver. "Hey there, Meg. It's Kazuma. You'll never believe what happened this time…"
"What is it, Kazuma?" Meg asked, concerned.
"Yui's just been murdered!"
"WHAT?"
"Yeah, and get this—Ms. Minamoto was at the scene of the crime!"
"So she's guilty?"
"We're not certain. She keeps denying it. And it's just so weird…I have this feeling she's really telling the truth, Meg."
"What makes you say that?"
"I don't know. Something in her eyes, I guess. And there's something about that crime scene that bothers me as well…she was there with a rag in her hands. Maybe she was trying to clean up…"
"Do you want us to go back there?"
"No, no, you guys had better keep to yourselves down there for a while. Maybe there's still a clue in the town. I'm positive that there's evidence there. Ryuu, Shizuko, Kinta and I will take care of things up here."
"You're sure about that?"
"Yeah, I'm pretty sure. We'll see you later."
"Bye…"
Meg disconnected the call and stared wordlessly at her phone.
"What is it?" asked Kyu.
She looked at him, pink-tinted eyes filled with worry. "You'll never believe the news…"
Shizuko stared at the crime scene, her gaze full of thought. "Who do you suppose killed her?"
"I don't know yet," said Ryuu. "We can't tell for sure…" Ryuu put on the gloves from the DDS notebook and began inspecting the dead body. "She was stabbed several times, about underneath the rib cage…and I think she was also hit over the head with something…"
Shizuko slipped on gloves and picked up the knife. "This is weird…"
"What is it?"
"Something about the knife bothers me."
Ryuu stared at it. "Yeah…something isn't right."
Shizuko turned it over in her hands, being careful to hold it only at one end to avoid smudging any fingerprints. "I can see a bunch of bloody fingerprints on the handle, but…it was made on top of the blood smear..."
"Is that wrong?"
"Well, technically, when someone stabs another, if there was blood, it would go around the edges of the print, or cover it…this set of fingerprints was left after the stabbing. It might be Ms. Minamoto's, if she picked up the knife when she'd gotten into this room…"
"That could be right…but something else about this knife bothers me…not the handle…but…"
Ryuu's traveled along the cutting instrument. "…the blade."
Shizuko looked at it intently as well. "Yeah…there's something not right about this…"
She squinted. "About how many inches of blood is there on this knife?"
"Approximately about five inches…"
"Five inches of blood and this knife's about 6-and-a-half inches, that's more than half the length of the knife," Shizuko murmured.
"Doesn't that mean that it's a crime of passion? Deep, serious stab wounds…?"
"Maybe but…how does a woman, that old, and that frail, stab someone and get more than three inches of blood on the knife?"
Ryuu's eyes widened. "We're looking for a different killer."
"A male," Shizuko affirmed.
"But which one? If you're right, then we still have three suspects to narrow down."
"I can't be sure…"
"We have to check up on each and every one of them. We need to pry into this now. This is serious." Ryuu frowned. "Let's go."
As the two of them stepped out of the music room, they spotted Detective Yoshimura striding down the hallway. After he had given them a quick salute, he asked about the situation.
"We've asked that old lady, Ms. Minamoto, about the killing, but she keeps denying it even though she's got blood on her hands. We're about to take her into custody, but we thought we should consult you first for any new developments."
Ryuu shook his head. "She's not the killer, Detective. We've taken the crime scene into consideration, and we've narrowed down our suspects to three…"
"So which one of those three is it?"
"We don't know yet," Shizuko replied.
"We still have a lot of investigating to do, sir, but we'd like you to stick around nearby in case anything happens."
Shizuko turned to Ryuu as soon as Detective Yoshimura left them. "What do you think we should do next?"
"Since we've narrowed down the field, maybe we can conduct a much more detailed investigation…can we take a closer look at those three?"
"I suggest we split up and take a look—"
Ryuu frowned, making her stop mid-sentence. "What is it?" she asked.
"I'm just worried…the killer's almost gotten everyone…"
"Are you worried that he's after me?"
Well, YES, he thought, but said out loud, "Only a little. So far he hasn't done anything but leave threats, but…"
"Well, I don't feel any sense of foreboding just yet, and we'd cover so much more ground if we go separate ways…"
Ryuu's face fixed itself to one of worry, but he quickly covered it up with one of determination. "All right. You'd better take care of yourself."
"I will."
They looked at each other, unsure of what to do before they parted ways, so Shizuko shrugged a little, casually, and ran off in one direction.
You'd better be safe when I see you again, Shizuko. Or...well, I can't say I'll be held responsible for what I'd do next…
He quickly strode down the other direction before he changed his mind about leaving her on her own.
As Shizuko rounded the corner and made sure she was out of Ryuu's sight, she leaned against the wall and sighed heavily, closing her eyes. I know I shouldn't go alone, but I have to show him I'm strong enough to do this. I have to learn to make it on my own…
She opened her eyes, thinking firmly, I can do this. I'll find evidence on any one of them and make a break in the case.
She made her way quickly to the second floor, where most of the rooms were. She carefully peeked into the hallway. No one was around, and she couldn't hear any noise that indicated occupation of any of the rooms.
She carefully tried the doors, skipping over the rooms of those who had recently died, and passing over a room that was obviously Kazumi's—a nameplate had been nailed to the door.
She raised her eyebrow at a door that was half-open. Carefully pushing it open, she entered cautiously.
She couldn't tell whose room it was, but it obviously belonged to one of the male students, judging from the slight messiness of the room and the navy sheets that graced the bedspread.
She squinted at a small black box at the foot of the bed.
What's that..?
She stepped closer to it and picked it up with a gloved hand. "This looks like a tape recorder…"
As she pressed the "play" button, a faint strain of music reached her ears. But she couldn't seem to place it…
She pushed on a button to raise the volume, her brows knitting.
Her eyes widened as she began to comprehend what she was listening to.
And just as she was about to get up and tell someone about her new discovery—
"Ow!"
She had been struck on the back of her head. As she collapsed to the floor, a dark figure raised itself above her menacingly.
After checking that she was unconscious, the silhouette picked her up easily and heaved her on his shoulder like a prize.
Oh, the trouble that this girl was in now…
When Shizuko came to, she was startled to see that…well, she couldn't see anything. A blindfold had been put over her eyes.
As she tried to move her arms, she felt bindings at her wrists.
Oh, just BRILLIANT, she thought, frustrated. Her ankles were bound tightly, and a gag had been stuffed in her mouth as well.
I am in SO much trouble, Shizuko thought. What the heck do I DO!
She strained to listen for her assailant's footsteps, or a sign that he was there.
She fumbled with the bindings at her wrists. They were tight, but not as tight as the ones at her ankles. She could still move them a little. Can I reach my penknife? No, wait, if the killer sees me he might kill me on the spot…I have to bide my time a little…
She felt a small device slip slightly out of her pocket. My cell phone! Of COURSE! But I can't talk, damn…WAIT.
Slowly moving her bound hands, she slipped her mobile phone out of her pocket. Being familiar with her phone, and remembering that she had put it on silent mode earlier, she managed to open her phone list, and called the first number listed there: Amakusa Ryuu.
Ryuu's phone rang urgently. Not a call at this time, he thought exasperatedly, taking it out of his pocket.
He checked the caller ID: Miyahara Shizuko.
Brightening a little, he answered it saying, "Hello? Shizuko?"
Shizuko felt a small vibration on the receiver of her phone, indicating that Ryuu had answered his phone and was now speaking into it. Thinking quickly, she pressed on one of the buttons on her phone.
Ryuu raised his eyebrow at the series of beeps that was now coming over the receiver of his phone. "Shizuko, what's going on?"
Beep-Beep-Beep Beep…Beep…Beep… Beep-Beep-Beep
Beep-Beep-Beep Beep…Beep…Beep… Beep-Beep-Beep
He wrinkled his brow. "Come on, Shizuko, talk or something…"
The beeps only became more persistent. He began to notice a pattern in the regularity of the beat.
Beep-Beep-Beep Beep…Beep…Beep… Beep-Beep-Beep
Beep-Beep-Beep Beep…Beep…Beep… Beep-Beep-Beep
Abruptly, the call disconnected. Ryuu's eyes widened. "What—"
He tried calling back, but all he got was a recording, saying. "We're sorry, the subscriber is either out of reach or the phone is unattended. Please try your call later…"
Yeah right, as if you're sorry, he wanted to snap at the recording. He ran down the hallway, narrowly avoiding Minoru, who was walking down the corridor.
Meanwhile, Shizuko had quickly disconnected the call, hearing footsteps coming towards her. She put the phone down on the ground, just so she could leave a trace of herself behind…
The next moment, she felt herself being dragged out of an enclosed room and into the open air. The faint smell of chlorinated water reached her nostrils.
Damn. Was I in the pool house? I could have grabbed a big net in the corner and used it to knock out the killer…
She struggled against her captor, who only muttered, "Oh, so you're awake now…"
She felt additional bindings strap onto her ankles.
"Well, it doesn't matter. No one's going to hear you call for help, even if you tried."
Shizuko knew what was coming, and panicked.
He's going to drop me into the deep end of the pool!
Kazuma blinked at him in confusion. "You think she's been what?"
"I think she's been attacked, you have to help me find her," snapped Ryuu at him impatiently.
"Hold on, hold on, you said you were talking on the phone with her before the line went dead."
"It wasn't exactly a conversation, she was sending over a series of beeps over the receiver. I think she was attempting an SOS. And yes, I need to you to see if you can get her last location while I was talking to her."
"Fine, fine, hold on," muttered Kazuma, connecting Ryuu's phone to his laptop.
After a few seconds of beeps and tiny whirring sounds, Kazuma declared:
"She wasn't that far from here at the time—last time you heard from her she was around the back area of the Music school."
Ryuu leapt to his feet. "Right. Thanks." He sped off.
Kazuma stared after him, bewildered. "He really needs to get his act together."
Ryuu nearly bumped into Kinta on his way out.
"Whoa! Hang on, speed devil," said Kinta, grabbing Ryuu by the neck of the collar and stopping him in his tracks. "Tell me what's the hurry."
Ryuu stopped, and quickly explained, "I think Shizuko might have been attacked—her phone went dead when I was talking to her and I can't reach her, so we have to find her NOW."
"Okay, now we can hurry," said Kinta, sprinting at his heels when Ryuu began running again.
Ryuu stopped at the entrance to the pool house at teh back of the school.
Kinta stepped in cautiously. "You're sure she was here?"
"She was, look," Ryuu replied, picking up a cell phone which had been dropped near the inside of the door. "This is Shizuko's mobile phone."
"That means she was here when she was talking with you, then."
"Kinta, can you see if you can find her or something?"
"I may not be a bloodhound and sniff for her, but look at this," Kinta said, pointing at the ground. "This looks weird."
"Those are drag marks," said Ryuu. "Something was dragged here…"
"Check that out, someone's been here recently," said Kinta. "Loads of odd-looking marks…aside from that, the water looks disturbed…"
Ryuu's eyes darted to the pool. Could she be...no. Please, no. Anywhere but in…
Bracing himself for what he could be seeing next, he walked closer to the pool and took a look.
With a new wave of panic, he realized what he was staring at.
"Shizuko!"
She appeared to have been tied by the ankles to a heavy piece of iron from the shed…in addition; her arms seemed to have been bound as well. A gag was over her mouth.
She was still struggling underwater though, which was a good sign.
Without a second thought he dove into the water, swimming quickly to where she had been crudely anchored to and took off her blindfold and gag. She stared at him in confusion, but before he lost any time, he cut the cords at her ankles using a penknife, and brought her to the surface.
She coughed out some water, choking. "Ryuu…"
As Kinta undid the bindings that were on her wrists, Ryuu held her by the shoulders. "Shizuko, are you all right? What happened?"
"I-I was in one of the rooms in the violin school, I found something in one of the rooms, the next thing I knew, someone hit me over the head. I don't know how he got me into the pool house, but my hunch is that he carried me out his window; it was just the second floor…"
As soon as her wrists were free, she quickly threw her arms around Ryuu. "Thank you…"
His eyes widened in surprise, and he looked up helplessly at Kinta, who was snickering. Ryuu flushed crimson.
Almost as if she'd just realized what she'd done, she let go of him, hiding a sudden blush.
Kinta thought mischievously, Well, well, well, it looks like we've got ourselves a new set of lovebirds.
Shizuko stood up, along with Ryuu, and said, "Kinta, you'd better stop thinking what you're thinking or I will give you the worst beating you'll ever have in your life."
She walked off to the violin school, managing to look a little bit dignified underneath dripping wet clothes.
Kinta looked at Ryuu, asking, "How does she always know?"
"You're predictable," answered Ryuu simply, going past him to join Shizuko at the violin school.
"I take that as a personal insult!" Kinta called out to them.
Ryuu and Shizuko looked at each other and tried to hide the smiles on their faces at Kinta's ridiculous reaction.
Down at the small village, Meg stared solemnly at the flower shops. "Kyu, do you really remember the shops that you and Kinta visited?"
"Yeah," said Kyu. "There were only a few of them, and only three weren't open on that day. I might need your photographic memory for this one, Meg…"
"What for? I don't know what flower shops you went to…"
"No, not like that. You remember the roses at Daisuke's room, right?" asked Kyu.
"Of course I do."
"Well, if you happen to see any similar roses in any of the shops, that might mean we've found it. Or if you spot a similar arrangement, then we'll know too."
"Oh," said Meg, understanding. "So that's why you asked me to come with you this morning."
"So, let's go!" said Kyu enthusiastically, pulling Meg behind him.
Meg jogged a little to keep up with Kyu's pace. The beautiful flowers caught her attention more than once, and she hated to hurry on because they were just so pretty to look at…
She just had to stop at one particular stand though, watching with a small smile on her face as the florist placed some fresh-looking daisies into a vase. Kyu, hyperactive as he was, kept going on for a few more stalls, but he stopped as soon as he saw Meg some distance behind him. He quickly made his way back towards her, grinning.
Meg smiled back at him, and noticed something in the next florist shop. She blinked in surprise at what she saw.
"What is it, Meg?" asked Kyu, looking a bit worried.
"Kyu, did you and Kinta go into that shop yesterday?" she asked him taking him by surprise.
"That one?" asked Kyu, squinting at the shop she was looking at. "No, not yet."
"One of the displays there," Meg began slowly, "It looks a lot like the arrangement that Daisuke got…"
"What? Are you sure?"
"Yeah."
Without any hesitation, Kyu grabbed at Meg's hand and pulled her into the next florist shop.
Rants: YAY! This was an extra long chapter. LOL. More suspense in the next—the killer and the method may be revealed! (Maybe. XD)
Watch out for the next chapter! The mystery is close to an end!
And PLEASE REVIEW!