The Hunt For Fred Dukes

Soon at Logan's office at police headquarters, Logan and Althea were discussing the murder of Bobby 'Iceman' Drake. "Well the bullet we recovered from what was left of Iceman's body is definitely from the same gun that killed Jean Grey. But other than that, nothing!"

Just then the phone rang. Logan answered it. "It's your husband," Logan handed it to her.

"And I'll tell you another thing Logan," Todd was talking on the phone, obviously unaware that his wife was now on the line. "I've been doing a little detective work of my own. That flat foot I married thinks she's smart but I'm one jump ahead of her!"

"Oh really?" Althea grinned. "Tell me dear, how was Grant's Tomb?"

"Lovely," Todd said. "I'm having a copy made for you."

"So what have you got?" Althea asked. She listened. "What? Really? We'll be right over!" She hung up the phone. "He's at Mystique's place! Alvers is missing!"

Soon both were at Mystique's apartment. They were interrogating Mystique, Rogue, Remy and Pietro. Mystique was nearly hysterical. "This is nonsense! Lance is probably at a club somewhere! I don't see how it's important! He had nothing to do with this!"

"That's not for you to decide," Althea told her. "Everybody's under suspicion. The police will need a description of him."

"But he didn't do it!" Mystique shouted.

"We're gonna need more than your word for that!" Logan told her.

"Fine! Then you'll get it!" Mystique snapped.

"You wouldn't!" Rogue shot up.

"Watch me!" Mystique snapped. She glared at Logan. "You want proof? I'll give you proof!"

Rogue knew what her mother was planning to do and ran out of the room horrified. Remy followed her and hugged her. "Rogue don't cry."

"Oh Remy this is awful! I can't get my mind off of it," Rogue sobbed.

"Chere! You can't go through any more of this," Remy said, "Tell you what, pack your bags and Remy take you someplace to forget about all this for a while."

"I can't forget! I can never forget!" Rogue sobbed. "But you gotta forget about me! If you ever want a normal life…Well as normal as it can get for a mutant's you have to forget about marrying me!"

"Chere! What are you saying?"

"Please with my powers and my mom's past this idea of you marrying me was bad enough but this is just the straw that broke the camel's back!" Rogue ranted. "The entire family is nuts! That's what will happen if you marry me and have kids! How would you like to have a couple of little murderers for children? It would be fun wouldn't it?"

"Chere, you remember Remy's family right?" Remy gave her a look. "Thieves' Guild, ties to the Assassins' Guild…Sinister? Any of that ring a bell?"

Rogue ignored him. "The whole family is crazy and anyone who comes in contact with any of us goes nuts too! That's what happened to Fred and I'm not going to let it happen to you! Now go away!"

She grabbed Remy and threw him out the door. Then she threw herself on the bed and sobbed. Pietro casually walked in. "You know you're wrong about all your kids becoming murderers," He told her. "I've studied the latest news and experiments on genetics. This experiment with sweet peas, according to their findings and they're pretty conclusive. Only one out of four of your kids would probably be a murderer. So the thing for you is to stop at three. Oh wait, that might not work, The first one might be the bad one. I'll have to look it up."

"DO YOU HAVE TO SPY ON EVERYONE?" Rogue snapped at him.

"Yes," Pietro said simply.

"Well it doesn't matter! I'm not getting married and I'm not going to have any kids! From now on I'm just out for the ride!" Rogue snapped.

"What does that mean?" Pietro blinked.

"It means look out world! Rogue's going to party!" She went to her closet to find a good party outfit.

Back in the living room Mystique was showing Logan the watch chain. "I took it from her hand," She explained. "It's Duke's watch chain. I wanted to protect him."

"Protect your source of income most likely," Todd scoffed.

"Well I guess that clinches it," Logan looked at the evidence. "Fred Dukes killed both Jean Grey and Iceman!"

"Fifty will still get you a hundred," Althea wasn't convinced.

"Good enough for me," Logan said.

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The next few days were a flash as the entire nation was on a hunt for Fred Dukes. "Be on the lookout for Fred 'The Blob' Dukes," Xavier said on the radio. "Reported to be hungry and dangerous. Can you believe the lines I got in this story?"

"Shut that off!" Todd shut off the radio in his apartment. "That's all you hear about nowadays! I wish they'd put something else on! Do you think they'll find them Al? Al?"

He saw his wife getting her coat on and had Coyote on a leash. "Where are you going?" He asked.

"Gonna take Coyote for a walk," Althea shrugged.

"I've just been for a walk," Coyote pouted.

"Then you're going for another one!" She snapped at him.

"What's all this stuff?" Todd opened his wife's coat and his eyes widened at what was in there. "Skeleton keys, throwing stars, a knife, smoke bombs, explosion caplets…" He pulled out a gun. "What is this?"

"It looks like a hold up," Althea put up her hands in mock fear. Then took the gun away from him.

"Okay what are you up to this time?" Todd asked.

"I've got a hunch. I'm gonna take another look at Dukes' shop. I want to find out why it was closed," She told him. "Besides the fire anyway…"

"I'm going with you," Todd said. "You can't go alone! He might be hiding down there for all we know!"

"Listen one of us needs to stay behind," Althea told him. "I might need bail or something. Besides what are you worried about? You're the one who got me into this!"

"But Dukes is crazy! He could be a killer!" Todd said.

"I'll look out for her," Coyote said.

"Oh yeah! You did such a swell job the last time!" Todd snapped. "Fine Al. Go on. See if I care! But it's a dirty trick to bring me all the way to New York just to make me a widower!"

"You wouldn't be one long," Althea pointed out.

"You bet I wouldn't!"

"Not with all your money," Althea smirked. They kissed passionately.

"Just be careful huh?" Todd said. He glared at Coyote. "And you, if you let anything happen to her you'll never wag that tail again!"

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Soon Althea was rummaging around in Dukes' closed shop. "Some ninja you are," Coyote mocked as she turned on the light. "What kind of ninja needs lights?"

"Shut up and look for clues!" Althea snapped.

"There's nothing here I tell ya," The Coyote snorted. "This place isn't so scary it's…AAAAHHHH!" A sinister shadow moved into sighed. "MOMMY!"

The figure came into view. It was a small kitten. "Meow?"

"Some coyote you are," Althea gave him a look.

"Ha, ha," Coyote growled. Then sniffed the air. "Wait! I smell something!" He went to a part of the floor. "This is new cement here! Someone recently buried something!"

"You sure?"

"You bet my tail I'm sure! There's something down there!"

"You're not a coyote, you're a police dog!" Althea took out an explosive caplet and placed it on the floor. "Now let's see what's underneath. Fire in the hole!"

BOOM!

"Yeah that's subtle," Coyote grumbled as the smoke cleared.

"I'm not breaking my back over this," Althea told him. She peered inside. "Now what do we have here? Oh boy…"

"Is that what I think it is?" Coyote gulped.

"A skeleton, oh yeah," Althea nodded.

"I was afraid you'd say that!" Coyote groaned. "Let's get out of here!"

"Not yet," Althea said. "I think someone's upstairs."

"Couldn't we just phone?" Coyote moaned as Althea took the stairs to the next floor.

In Fred Dukes office a very nervous Lucid was rummaging through the papers. "Where is it? Where is it? What good is X-Ray vision if you can't…" He turned around and saw Althea. "AAAHHHHH!"

"Stick 'em up," Althea said.

"Don't hurt me!" Lucid threw his hands over his head.

"I won't," Althea said. "But make one false move and that coyote will tear you to shreds. When he's finished cowering under the table!"

"I got scared! Okay!" Coyote grumbled as he crawled out.

"I have to do everything around here," Althea grumbled as she picked up the phone. "Logan! It's Althea. I'm down at Duke's shop and I found something. Two things actually. A body and another suspect."

It wasn't long before Logan and the police were there. "Back to your old tricks huh Lucid?" Althea asked as they were interrogating him.

"You know this clown?" Logan asked.

"Yup," Althea nodded. "What are you doing here, Lucid?"

"I worked in here until they closed the shop," Lucid explained. "That time you sent me up the river, I learned bookkeeping. Figured it would come in handy. Jean Grey got me a job here."

"Apparently it did," Logan frowned.

"Look I swear I never touched those books," Lucid said. "Jean took them. That's what got her killed. He got sore when he found out, Dukes that is. Okay maybe I did do a little chiseling on the side but just a little. I came here to put it back. I didn't want him to come after me!"

"Did you know anything about this?" Logan pointed to the huge body being lifted from the floor.

"No," Lucid shook his head. "I didn't."

"We'll see about that," Logan grunted. "Take him outta here." Scott took Lucid away. "Now I wonder what Dukes had against this guy?" He pointed to the body.

"Find any other clues?" Althea asked.

"For starters this," Logan took out a belt. "About the only thing that wasn't disintegrated. Look at the buckle. It has the initials CX on it. Hey who was the guy that tried to kill Dukes a while back?"

"Charles Xavier, it could be him," Althea shrugged.

"ARE YOU JOKING?" Xavier shouted off camera.

"CHUCK IT'S JUST A STORY! CHILL OUT!" Logan snapped. "Where were we?"

"I never saw the guy," Althea shrugged. "I don't think anyone ever saw him."

"Just the same," Logan said. "Dukes would mind having him out of the way wouldn't he? The body's been here at least a couple of months. Only other thing we found was this where the stomach would have been. Looks like some kind of metal donut." He showed her. "It's pretty obvious, Dukes kills this guy. Jean learned about it and tried to blackmail him only to get bumped off herself. Iceman must have caught him and tried the same thing and boom! Well you've been a big help. Wanna pay me that hundred now?"

"Wait until you actually catch Dukes," Althea said.

"Don't worry, we will," Logan said.

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"Extra! Extra! Read all about it!" Spyder called out selling newspapers on the street the following morning. "Third Body Discovered! Dukes wanted in three states! Holiday Horror Murder Spree continues! Boy trapped in refrigerator! Eats own foot! Extra! Extra!"

Back at the apartment the reporters were there taking pictures. "Here doggy! Doggy! Good Doggy!" Kurt took pictures of the Coyote hamming it up. "That's it! Work the camera baby!"

"Be sure to get my good side!" Coyote posed. "I should have been a model! Can certainly give Tyra Banks a run for her money!"

And of course Darkstar and Starchild were back as well. "Twice in one fic, that's a record," Darkstar grumbled. "Have the police any idea where Dukes is?"

"No," Althea answered.

"You think they'll find him?" Starchild asked.

"I know they will," Althea said.

"Anything else to say about the case?" Kurt asked.

"Yes it's putting me way behind on my drinking," She quipped.

"What's your next plan?" Kurt asked.

"We're going home to rest from our vacation," Todd said. "All right fellas that's a wrap! Get your souvenirs from the gift shop below in the lobby." He showed them out the door and soon the three of them were alone. "Wonderful. Back to California."

"Swimming pools and movie stars here I come!" Coyote grinned.

"My lord man I give you three murders and you're still not satisfied," Althea noticed Todd's expression.

"That's not the only thing he's not satisfied on if you get my drift," Coyote snickered.

"Why don't you go play fetch on the freeway?" Todd snapped. He turned to Althea. "Al why don't you stay here and find Dukes?"

"I did," She told him. "It was his body we found buried down in the shop."

"WHAT?" Todd yelled. "Are you serious? But they said it was…"

"Just a little trick the murderer decided to play," Althea shrugged. "It's pretty obvious if you think about it. The belt for instance. It was too well preserved. I mean all the other clothes and the body was destroyed so why not the belt? Too obvious. The person who killed him assumed that all skeletons looked alike. The murderer also forgot to move the metal object stuck in Dukes' stomach. Besides the skeleton was over six feet tall and unusually large. As if it was made to support a large weight and who else has a skeleton like that around here?"

"Wait," Todd held up his hand. "So Dukes is in the basement? He's been dead right?"

"For months," Althea nodded.

"They he couldn't have killed those people!" Todd said. "We gotta tell Rogue!"

"Not just yet," Althea held up her hand.

"Why not? The poor kid's been going crazy and Logan…" Todd began.

"Can't tell him that yet either," Althea grinned. "I take my bets seriously. I have a plan. You got that nice tuxedo back from the cleaners?"

"Yeah, but what does that have to do with anything?" Todd asked.

"We're gonna give a little party," Althea grinned. "And invite all the suspects."

"You think they'll come?"

"They will if Logan issues the invitations."

"So who do you think did it?" Todd asked.

"Mystique," Althea said. "Alvers, Pietro, Lucid, Matthews, Remy…What were you doing on the ninth of June?"

To this Todd responded by throwing a pillow at her. "You know you're getting to be quite lethal with those things!"

So who is the murderer? Stay tuned to find out! Or if you've already read the original you know who it is but…stay tuned anyway!