A/N: And after months of waiting… The conclusion! Sorry for the delay guys, real life got way out of hand. Only one person got it right! -cries- Well, good job Sexy Ryu!


Chapter Two:

"I need a squad car out here, and those trace results!" Ryuichi barked into his cell phone. He sprinted down the stairs, jumping over the railing at the last moment.

"K! Is the perimeter secured!?"

The sheriff jumped, blinking. "Yeah, when we first cleared the scene."

"Do it again! Make sure you have men on every exit! The victim isn't dead; our murderer didn't count on us getting here," he hissed, pulling out his gun from his belt, his radio with the other. "If I give the order, shoot to incapacitate, I want our suspect alive!" he ordered into the walkie-talkie.

He slid into the parlor room, gun cocked. His eyes scanned the room, ignoring the shouts and screams of the occupants. …One person missing… "As I thought," he muttered, lowering his gun. "Where is he?!" he barked, grabbing the nearest person. Nakano.

"What?!"

Ryuichi growled, "Where is he?!"

Hiro opened his mouth to answer the now-scary detective when three shots pealed through the air. The brunette gave a snarl of anger, and then took off running in the directions of the shots.

He found himself near a back entrance of the mansion, where K, Noriko, and a few other policemen were surrounding someone.

"Did you shoot him?!" Ryuichi demanded.

"No, sir. The sheriff didn't shoot; I did," Noriko replied, "Three warning shots when he ignored the order to stop."

"Good girl," Ryu murmured, pushing the way through the crowd of police officers. "Good job, cuffed too."

"I'd have never thought it'd be him," Noriko murmured. "Talk about loyalty."

"Aw, his type snaps easily," K replied.

Ryuichi laughed, holstering his gun, smirking at the perpetrator. "Well, now. Humiliated yet?"

The suspect gave a low snarl, "Quite, thank you."

"Too bad, because you have to come with me, where I'll explain your plan to everyone. I mean, they need some reason to why I waved a nine-mil in their faces. Maybe I'll make you issue an apology," Ryuichi said cockily, nudging the cuffed man with his foot. "Stand."

"So much for being cut slack through personal ties."

Ryuichi laughed merrily, shaking his head. "No way. That would be an obstruction of justice."

-

Ryuichi entered into the room, smiling. "Well, we've caught him guys!" He stepped aside, much to the astonishment of everyone in the room, to reveal the perpetrator.

Tohma Seguchi.

There was the shattering of glass from the back of the room, and everyone turned to see Shuichi, who was ghost white. "How could you kill him?" he whispered, stricken.

"Oh, suck it up, he's not dead," Tohma snapped.

Ryuichi slapped Tohma in the back of the head, "How do you know? We've already completed the autopsy on him."

"I know because he'd been taking the damn poison for months!"

Shuichi walked slowly forward, "Months? What? Sakuma-san, what's going on?" he asked helplessly.

Ryuichi sighed; "Seguchi here has premeditated attempted murder on his plate. Your lover has conspiracy to attempted murder on his." He held up his hand to silence both Tohma and Shuichi at the same time.

"Let me explain. Seguchi set this party up because it was the perfect guise. Between all the people and the entertainment, no one would notice if Yuki disappeared. Tohma here and Yuki had a little plan. Tohma would administer non-lethal doses of a natural poison so Yuki would build up a tolerance.

Tonight, he'd administer the fatal dose. But because Yuki had a tolerance, he'd fall into a coma, his respiratory and cardiac functions depressed. Tohma hid Yuki's comatose body where he thought no one would look. The coat closet. After the party, Yuki would be awake, and those two would fly to New York, together. They'd stay there."

"How do you know? Those tickets were for me and my wife!"

Ryuichi looked smugly at Tohma. "Yes, I remember that. My assistant Kuma-chan went to go find out. Let's see what he asked."

Ryuichi pulled his cell phone from his pocket, dialing Kumagoro's number.

"Kuma-chan, this is Ryu."

"Oh, hey, I'm on my way right now. Yuki's awake, by the way. He's lawyer-ed up," Kuma said, his voice coming from speaker-phone.

"As I thought he would, but Kuma-chan, I just want to confirm one thing. When you asked Seguchi's wife about the tickets, what did you say?"

"Oh… um… I asked her if she knew Tohma bought the tickets. She said yes."

"Did you ask if she was going with him?"

"No… Did I do something wrong, boss?"

"Not at all," Ryuichi replied smoothly, hanging up. "See? There seems to be a flaw in your alibi, Seguchi."

"I want a lawyer," Tohma replied stubbornly.

"That doesn't matter now; we've got a slam-dunk against you." Ryuichi turned to K, nodding. "Book 'im."

Ryuichi watched as Tohma was led off by K and Noriko.

"Um, Sakuma-san," Shuichi said weakly, walking up to the police officer. "I… do I have to testify or anything?"

Ryuichi looked over at his friend, who had obviously had enough stress for a lifetime. "No… no you don't. I'll make sure you don't," he said kindly, ruffling Shuichi's hair.

He turned to the rest of the people. "Alright, you guys can go; if you've had personal property seized, go see the nice security guards. If it's not evidence, you should get it back."

He looked over to the other side of the room, where Noriko was talking to Tohma's wife, who looked only surly, not shattered. "Alright, Shu-chan. How about we go get some food? My treat," he offered gently.

Shuichi nodded quietly.

"Hey, Sakuma!"

Ryu turned his head, finding himself now face to face with Hiro. "Oh, hello Nakano. Wanna join us?"

Hiro shook his head. "I'm sorry, man. You were just—"

"Doing my job, I know. It's okay. No hard feelings, Nakano?"

"None."

"Alright, Shuichi, really, now let's go!" Ryuichi chimed, holding out his hand to the singer.

Shuichi gave a watery smile, taking the detective's hand. "Thank you, Sakuma-san…"

"No problem at all Shuichi. No problem."