9. The Revised Suspects

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"Look at this," Braig said to Dilan, thumbing through Ienzo's reports. "Apparently I've been in denial about Ansem's death for the past few days."

"It doesn't seem to have affected you much. I'm sure Ienzo says that—"

"That I've poured it all into my subconscious, yeah, yeah. Check out Xeha's. Poor guy's been having trouble sleeping. 'Seems jumpy and uneasy.' Well, what do you expect? He and Ansem were real close. Xeha's never taken death well…"

"Is something wrong?"

Braig was flipping back and forth with a frown.

"I dunno, seems pretty short. Maybe Ienzo took something out for study…?"

"He says Even's overworking."

"What a genius. I would never have figured that out."

"And it's making Aramuil worried."

"Ha, I'll bet. Ara's smitten. We've got to get them on a date."

"They went to a movie the night Ansem died."

"Something more romantic. I'm thinking Tony's."

"Uh-huh. Look, it's me: 'Shows an almost alarming lack of discernable emotion.'"

"Pfft!"

"Am I really that…"

"…blank? Yeah. Sorry, Dil. You know, that totally turns girls off? They're all into emotion and everlasting love and stuff like that."

"As fascinating as this is?" Tron interrupted.

"Oh, come on. You might learn something to impress Mrs. Computer Program."

Tron's pixellated face gave him a quizzical look. Artificial intelligence, in Braig's opinion, was not all it was cut out to be.

"Yes, Tron?" Dilan asked patiently.

"I have put in and refined the criteria you gave me."

"All right, shoot."

"Of the members of the precinct, four remain on the suspect list: Ael Roberts, Even Winter, Xehanort Gallagher, Aramuil Tomimori. Also on the list are certain associates of Maleficent's and some other residents of the city, including but not limited to Riku Gallagher. Further criteria would narrow the list further."

"And most of the criteria are based on suspect investigators' evidence," Dilan said.

"Yeah. Still, we have to trust in what we have. Tron, keep working on those victims. Add Ienzo, also, but leave Ansem out."

"Affirmative."

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Tuesday night, Riku realized. It had been almost five days since Ansem's death. Xehanort continued to be miserable, although their weekend together had cheered him. Riku would have to remind himself to try it again sometime. It was nice to work at the happiest place in the world.

"Riku?"

He swiveled in his desk chair to see his brother in the doorway. It looked as though something was bothering him.

"Yeah?" Riku replied, waving at the bed to indicate that Xehanort could come in. The older brother did so and sat.

"I think… something's wrong with me," he said quietly.

"What do you mean?" Riku asked, sliding out of his chair to sit on the bed too. Xehanort wove his fingers together, which Riku recognized as a nervous habit.

"You remember… three years ago?" he asked. Riku blinked; it was rare for Xehanort to talk about the incident.

"Yeah, of course I do."

"I don't," was the murmured reply. "I still don't remember. And that's not all. Sometimes, there are other things I forget. I think something happened to me."

"Something did happen, Xeha, something really bad, and you had to forget about it because you couldn't handle it. That's what the psychologists who examined you said."

Riku hugged his brother hard. Xehanort wrapped one arm around him.

"Do you think I'm messed up?" the older brother asked.

"They checked you out, didn't they?"

"They… yeah. Yeah, I guess they did."

Riku glanced up to see Xehanort frowning.

"I… I don't really remember that."

"Really?" Riku asked. "Well… what else don't you remember?"

"Forget it," Xehanort said, after a moment of thought. "It doesn't really matter. I talked to Ienzo about it earlier. I'm sure he'll tell me what to do."

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"Well, if you think of it this way, at least we get out of school." Sora said. His voice still trembled. Riku was sitting at Xehanort's desk, face in hands.

"You're sure you didn't see anything?" Braig pressed.

"Nothing, nothing, and nothing!" Riku said, for the third time that day. "We didn't see anything, okay? I'm sorry! I'm a little grumpy right now! Wouldn't you be, if someone tried to killyou?"

"Riku," Xehanort said. His face was very pale, and he was sitting at Braig's desk, unable to support himself. "Don't. Braig, they didn't see anything. They didn't see."

He looked plaintively at his best friend.

"You know why this happened, don't you?" he said. "He knows we're onto him. He must have thought I was still on the case. He wanted to scare me off."

"I got it, Xeha, I got it," Braig answered. He took a swig of coffee. "Riku, you stay here. Don't go to school. Don't go anywhere. Sora, you're free to go."

"I want to stay," Sora said stubbornly.

"Let him," Riku pleaded.

"Okay, okay," Braig said, throwing up his hands. "You guys stay here. Just hang out. Xeha can give you a tour. Pretend it's 'bring a kid to work day,' or whatever."

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"You think Xeha's onto it?" Braig asked. "Think he's right?"

Dilan massaged his temples.

"Maybe. Maybe… Maybe Riku knows something. Maybe he saw something he shouldn't have. Maybe Sora did. I don't know, Braig. Maybe it wasn't our man at all. Two kids walking to school get shot at. City like this, these things happen all the time."

"The bullet matched the one that almost killed Ienzo," Braig said, shaking his head. "It was our man, all right. Either Xeha's right, or one of the kids knows something. Maybe they don't know that they know. Maybe the killer only thinks they know something."

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"So. Braig. You ever take a bullet?"

"Nope. Been shot at, though. Given a few. I took an explosion, once. Ever talked to your brother? He's taken a bullet, for me. So I took the explosion for him. Fair and square. That's what friends are for."

"I'd do that for Sora any day."

"Yeah, kid, I know."

"Braig!"

"What? I'm having some quality time with my best friend's brother, here!"

Dilan shook his head.

"No time to socialize. Even's got something for us."

"Okay, Dil, your turn to babysit. I'll go check it out."

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"I found something interesting in the most recent doctor's in-tray," Even explained. He handed some papers over. "Take a look at this."

"What is it?" Braig asked, peering at the papers.

"A blood test. After I looked I sent Ara and Jack to take another sample of the blood on the floor. Here's that one."

"Whose is this?"

"Look."

Braig did.

"Oh," he said finally. "Well."

"Yes."

"But…"

"Yes."

"Then…"

"Yes."

"Does…"

"No."

Braig sighed.

"Okay. Why don't you go upstairs and tell everyone to get together? I'll be right there."

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"Hey, Tron."

"Oh! Braig, I found what these psychologists all have in common. They all—"

"Yeah, I know, Tron. Print the data. And confirm this for me."

"Oh."

"Yeah. Thanks."

"Braig."

"Yeah. Thanks."

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A/N: Hm. Braig knows! Do YOU?