Malik paced outside the interrogation room. After the police force combed the perimeter and all surrounding areas for hours, Ryou and Jack the Ripper were nowhere to be seen. Kaiba didn't need any word of mouth to order his officers to seize Pegasus's manor.
But to everyone's surprise, Pegasus was there asleep.
That should have been a warning in some way. Something about this felt completely off. Everything seemed to be falling apart, but Malik didn't know how or why. Ryou had been certain of Pegasus's guilt. Hence why Kaiba was laying into him behind the closed door. If anyone could get a confession out of his impossible boss, it would be an extremely angry and irate Kaiba.
Probably for the best that Kaiba forbade Malik from revealing himself to Pegasus. It took everything in Malik to slow down his heart rate, his mind buzzing. The fact that the man responsible for kidnapping his sister and his lover sat just beyond the door was agony. He knew if he entered that room, he likely would pummel Pegasus until he was a bloody pulp and Malik was jobless.
Still, it was torture to wait. He had been outside for near an hour. He couldn't sleep. He knew he couldn't sleep. Not when every second counted and the chances of Ryou and Isis both still breathing was fading quickly.
Malik snapped his head up as Kaiba left the room, closing the door behind him. The commissioner stared straight ahead, anger etched into every feature of his face. Malik pushed off the wall, rushing over towards him. "Where are they?"
Kaiba raised a hand, pressing a knuckle against his lips. He didn't respond as his eyes stared at something unforeseen.
"Where's he hiding them?!" Malik demanded, a desperate edge to his voice.
"He's not," Kaiba replied, his voice dipping low as he shook his head slightly.
Malik felt his heart drop at those words. He couldn't breathe. He couldn't see, he couldn't do anything. He felt his vision grow dark, feeling trapped in his mind and unable to lockpick his way out. He thought there had been a chance. He thought… "You mean, he-"
Kaiba dropped his hand, clenching it into a fist. "He confessed quickly upon my entering the room. But not to any of the murders."
Malik blinked, inhaling a shaky breath. His eyes focused momentarily, meeting icy blue. "Wait, what?"
Kaiba sighed, stepping away to head towards his office with Malik at his heels. "He had been selling off rare Egyptian artifacts for his own profit. He was terrified at having been caught and gave me a list of all the antiquities sold for his own personal gain. But when I pressed him about the Whitechapel murders, I realized he couldn't be our killer. He handed over everything – according to his datebook, he was out of the country on the night of three of the murders."
Kaiba held up the agenda in question. Outside of Kaiba's office, Duke stood waiting, gray shadows hanging under their eyes. Nobody had gotten any sleep last night after the detective was taken hostage. "Duke, contact the individuals in all of these meetings, including the ones overseas. We need to verify whether he made these trips and if his alibi checks out."
Malik was still in shock, the words not registering in his mind. He thought about the missing artifacts; the scepter, the pin Ryou found in Pegasus's manor. Mysteries laid before them yet the most important one remained unanswered. Malik stepped into the office after Kaiba, who didn't bother closing the door. He seemed to resign himself to his presence. "Wait – are you telling me that Pegasus isn't Jack the Ripper?"
Kaiba sighed. "So it would appear. At least, it seems unlikely."
Malik couldn't feel relief or disappoint at this. It was like Kaiba told him the truth but he refused to accept this reality. That meant that they had been wrong. That meant they didn't have any other leads and with Ryou missing, nobody to solve this mystery.
Without him, they couldn't figure out who the true killer was.
"Then what do we do now? We have to find them!" Malik demanded, desperate for some sort of direction.
Kaiba sank down into his chair, his fingers digging into his hair. Malik had never seen the commissioner so exhausted. His usual neat and well-kept appearance was starting to slip, his control over the situation unravelling.
"I don't know. Ryou was our best bet at finding the killer. We put all our eggs in that basket and now we've failed."
"So we're going to let them die?"
Kaiba pinned him with a tired gaze, a sense of terror and agitation spreading in the room. "They could already be dead for all we know! It's over! Jack the Ripper got the ace on us and we have no leads. The one suspect we had was a false lead! We have nothing!"
Malik felt the same rage and panic that had consumed him in the alleyway. The one that made him stop and unable to act. An overwhelming sense of defeat threatened to swallow him. He pulled out the photo of his sister, hand trembling as he tried not to crush it. He didn't even have a single picture of Ryou to remember him by, yet his body felt the imprint Ryou left on him.
Malik didn't think before he acted. He grabbed a small statuette on Kaiba's desk. It looked like some sort of lizard but he didn't have time to observe as he chucked it into the corner of the room. The statue shattered immediately upon striking the floor. Malik slammed his fist down on the desk, the urge to break more things fluttering to the surface but he managed to rein in that desire.
He glared at his fists on the table, golden hair hiding his face from the commissioner. He wanted to tear apart this city. It seemed easier to rip each brick out until he could see his sister's smile than to chase down this ghost in his life. He would dig through the rubble until his fingers brushed through those soft, snowy locks and gaze into those warm, brown eyes.
Malik took a shaky breath, tilting his head up to look at Kaiba. The commissioner seemed angry, though no more so from the broken statue. They both were too on edge to care about such small details.
Malik licked his lips. "I'll solve it."
Kaiba stared at him, uncomprehending. "What?"
Malik stood up straight, shoving himself away from the desk. "The case. Jack the Ripper is not going to steal everything away from me. I've had it up to fucking here with him. We've come too far for it end like this."
Kaiba frowned, eyes narrowing. "Malik, we have no other leads and we're running out of time-"
"I don't care!" Malik snapped, raising his voice. He shook still, knowing that he was this close to falling apart but he couldn't. Not yet. Not when Ryou still counted on him.
Malik paused, an odd thought crossing his mind. Ryou relied on him. For so long, he felt as if he needed the detective, but the idea that he was there for Ryou, that he could reciprocate the help he had received, seemed foreign. Ryou had staked everything on this case. He had done everything he could. And he could almost hear Ryou chiding him to stop lazing about and do his end of the work.
Ryou had always put him to work on the case. Even from the beginning, when Malik insisted on being part of the case. Ryou never once shot him down, but accepted his aid without question. Malik had feared he would be dead weight, but Ryou never doubted him for a moment. Ryou counted on him.
And Malik refused to let him down.
Malik turned back to meet Kaiba's gaze. Despite how he struggled to keep his breath steady, his voice was even and clear. "Please. We have nothing to lose – let me pick up where Ryou left off and finish this for good."
Kaiba didn't move, his eyes locked with Malik's. A strange calm fell over them, an acceptance of their fate. This was their judgment day, where they would finally catch the killer or fail and he would escape for good. The gloves were off and neither were willing to accept defeat.
In that moment, Kaiba didn't need to speak. Malik already knew his response.
"Tristan's in charge of building management. He'll have a spare key to Ryou's office. Second floor."
Malik nodded, releasing a breath he didn't realize he was holding. He didn't have a second to waste. He knew that Ryou would be counting on him to figure out the last piece to this puzzle. He knew Ryou wouldn't give up the challenge until the last second. And neither would Malik.
Until they were both in his arms again, Malik wouldn't rest until he found them.
Ryou swore as his hand slipped, snagging against the metal. He pulled it back, sucking on the cut for a moment. He had been working on the lock from the moment Namu left and had broken four hairpins thus far. The chain was a bit different from the door lock that Malik had told him about and thus trickier to figure out.
But Ryou didn't have time to complain.
He smiled as he heard the gear fall loose. With careful attention, he slipped chain away, rubbing at his ankle. The metal had been rubbing him raw, the skin agitated and red. Of all his injuries he had received thus far, this was the one that concerned him the least.
Ryou gritted his teeth as he shifted away from the chain, more to put distance between it and himself than anything else. His leg still throbbed from where Namu had stabbed him. He stared at the blood staining through the skirt. He scowled before tearing away the petticoats, until he was left in nothing but undergarments. A thin short shirt over a pair of drawers remained, the red sharply contrast the white linen.
Ryou shoved the heavy blue skirt away, his costume left in a dirty pile stained darker by his blood. His lips were dry and cracked, reminding Ryou of how long it had been and how thirsty he had become. He knew that losing blood had not been good given his current condition.
Freed and injuries accounted for, Ryou began the arduous task of standing up. The very act made him feel faint and weak, his head spinning. He used the wall to steady himself, not trusting himself to place any weight on his leg. It was only after he fully stood that he dared to step forward.
He nearly lost his footing, the pain screaming through his body. He stumbled forward, balancing himself on his left foot. He panted, trying to ignore the stars the speckled his vision. If he was going to escape, he had to get a move on. He couldn't be weak now – not when his life depended on it most.
Ryou hobbled his way to the other side of the room, finally catching his breath as he pressed against the door. He still had a multitude of bobby pins. He was certain this door he could break his way out. He peeked through the small barred window into the hallway, trying to catch a glimpse to see if Namu was back. He knew he had some time, but he didn't want to take any chances.
Ryou had only taken a few of the pins out when a voice made him freeze. "Hello? Is someone there?"
Ryou felt panic seize him for a moment before he realized the voice was female. He pressed against the opening, glancing around. "Yes? Who is this?"
Ryou narrowed his eyes before settling on a door across from his. Another heavyset door with a small window. A pair of blue eyes met his, hair black as night with facial features too similar that it couldn't be anything less than family resemblance.
"I'm Isis. And you are?"
Ryou felt his breath catch, a shaky smile growing on his face. "Isis Ishtar? You're alive?"
Isis paused, a look of surprise crossing her face. "How do you know me?"
Ryou felt his mind racing, the cogs working again. Of all things to happen, it never occurred to him that… "I'm Detective Ryou. Malik has been working with me to help catch Jack the Ripper and save you."
The mention of her brother caught her attention. "Where is Malik? He's not here, is he? Is he okay?"
Ryou shook his head. "Don't worry, he's safe. He's working with the police right now." Ryou assumed he was, given how much of a stubborn ass Malik was.
Isis sighed, a worried look crossing her face. "That's good, then. But what do we do now? I don't think Namu will likely let you live, detective."
Ryou, despite the graveness of it all, chuckled. "No, I doubt he will… You're familiar with Namu?"
Ryou already knew the answer from Malik, but he waited to hear from his sister to better understand their past connection. Isis frowned. "Of course I do. We were old childhood friends. I was shocked to find out that the man who tried to murder me was an old companion."
"So why did he target you?"
"What do you mean?"
"I mean, why you? Was it for your knowledge of Egyptology? What information could he desire?" Ryou puzzled. He had postulated that was why Isis was taken hostage, but given that Namu didn't have any particular interest in ancient history, that seemed less likely. Perhaps it was a ruse to throw off his scent. He had done so in this case.
"I'm not sure what you mean. I've barely seen him outside of providing me food. I don't really know what he means to do or why I'm still alive. I suppose it's because we know each other, though I don't see why that has stopped him from killing me before." Isis shook her head, a sad look crossing her face.
Ryou frowned. That didn't make sense. Namu didn't request anything from Isis nor did he have anything to gain by keeping a hostage. His situation was far more precarious having kidnapped someone who knew him. So what was the point of it-
Ryou started laughing, shaking his head. All this time, he had thought Jack the Ripper to be this immaculate genius. But as he found out from his conversation earlier with him, he learned he was less god and more human that he had realized. He hadn't kidnapped Isis, or at least he hadn't intended to. He never planned on killing her.
She was a mistake.
Namu realized after choosing her in the dark that he knew her. Too risky to kill someone he knew, someone who could be tied to him. Her death would have been an outlier among his victims and would have drawn the most attention. But he couldn't let her go, now that she knew who he was.
So he kidnapped her, unsure of how to proceed.
"Jack the Ripper made more mistakes than I realized. That's reassuring," Ryou muttered, a smile growing on his face. Perhaps if he was as imperfect as the rest of them, then this hairbrained scheme he was tossing around in his head just might work.
He turned back towards Isis, his mind racing. "Isis, are you chained up at all?"
She shook her head. "No. I've been left in this room for days now, but I can move about freely. Why?"
"I'm hatching an escape plan," Ryou explained, turning back towards the lock. He needed to get his door open first.
Isis blinked, a nervous flicker crossing her eyes. "What if he comes back?"
"We have a couple of hours at worst. He'll have business to tie up at the station before offing me," Ryou explained. He grinned when he felt the lock come undone. He was getting pretty good at this – Malik and Bakura would be proud of him.
Isis held her breath, fear still evident. She seemed reluctant to anger her kidnapper, but they had no alternative. She couldn't remain prisoner here forever. "How will we get out?"
Ryou shook his head, scooting the door open slightly as he staggered across the hall. He wasted no time working on her lock. "Not us. You. I can't move fast enough, but you'll have enough time to get out and lead the police here. Especially if I buy us some time."
Isis blinked, shaking her head. "I can't leave you here! It's too dangerous! I don't even know where here is!"
Ryou gave his best patented smile, reassuring and confident. "I can take care of myself. Don't worry. As for where we are, I have a fairly solid guess on that one as well."
