The combined effects of the mustard gas and the loss of his foot took their toll on Loose & Lanky, and he was stuck in hospital for quite some time. However, he seemed to be in good spirits when Lynne, the Good Detective and I went to visit him.
"You scared the hell out of me, you know that?" said the Good Detective as he sat next to Loose & Lanky's bed.
"Yeeeeah, I gotta admit, I thought I was a goner for a while back there," Loose & Lanky wheezed.
"Sissel told me to tell you that he's sorry that he couldn't open that lock," Lynne said.
"Hey, tell that cooool cat not to sweat it!" Loose & Lanky grinned. "If our lucky black cat hadn't shown up, I would've –COUGH!"
"Try not to overdo it, you idiot," the Good Detective scolded.
Loose & Lanky had to settle his coughing fit before he could speak again, "How you two holding up on your end?"
The Good Detective looked at the ground shamefaced, "You should've seen the look on Kamila's face when she heard they took my badge. I can't believe I let myself get used like that…"
"From what Sissel tells me, there wasn't much you could've done anyway," Lynne said comfortingly. "And now that I think about it, I reckon that's probably how the Twister was snatching his victims in the first place."
"Sit in them like a toad and direct them to the slaughterhouse," muttered Loose & Lanky. "How are you holding up, baby? Enjoying being the biiiig boss?"
"Not at all," groaned Lynne. "Ridge and Memry and the others are all looking to me for answers and I'm coming up with a big fat zip. Just when will you get outta here anyway?"
"Hopefully by next week," Loose & Lanky replied.
"Really?" Lynne jumped up. "That's great!"
The Good Detective didn't share her sentiments, "Hold it, Cab; you're in no shape to be on the field. How can you lead the investigation in your state?"
"Weeeell… I reckon you're right about that," Loose & Lanky looked Lynne straight in the eye, "so I've decided that I won't be leading."
Lynne's eyes went wide, "Wh… what?"
"You heard me baby – look at me," he pointed to his stump of a leg, and presented the blisters on his arms, "I've lost a foot, my eyesight's shot, and I'm still coughing up phlegm. I'm useless."
"B-but," Lynne wrung her hands, "I don't have the experience you and Jowd have!"
"I'll still be active on the case, and I'll give you advice if you need it," Loose & Lanky reassured her, "but you'll be calling the shots and you get the final say."
"I'm here too, remember?" I told Lynne. "You can do this Lynne. I know you can."
"Cabanela and I—and Sissel, of course – will always have your back," said the Good Detective. "I can't help you officially, but I'll be sure Sissel finds his way to you."
Lynne didn't reply, but I could tell from her smile she was somewhat relieved.
The rest of that week was spent trying to keep up the morale of the Little Lady, as she had become very despondent at the news of her father's suspension. On this particular day, she wasn't in much of a mood to play with my catnip mouse, so I simply sat in her lap and allowed myself to be stroked.
"Dad's a good person," she muttered half-heartedly. "I know he would never help those bad people…"
My mind was spinning as I thought about the case. In the other timeline, Yomiel had a clear motive; he was desperate to end his pain. But the Twister enjoyed his condition. He seemed to have no other reason for his crimes other than the sheer pleasure of watching others suffer. And what did he stand to gain by helping the blue-skinned foreigners? They seemed to be tiring of his antics, but I reasoned that they were too afraid to simply snatch his Temsik fragment and run. No, Sith was a cunning fellow, that's why in the past timeline he had sent Yomiel and the rest of us to a lonely fate at the bottom of the sea. And it was likely that they had invested too much time and energy to simply abandon the mission altogether, a chance for a piece of the Temsik meteorite was too good to pass up. And what about that coreless body from Loose & Lanky's kidnapping? Why didn't the Twister just use his own?
I was so engrossed in my thoughts that I mustn't have heard the phone ring.
"Jowd, it's Cabanela," the Beloved Mother called out. "He wants to speak with you in private."
"I'll take it in my study," the Good Detective replied.
That was the signal for me to follow the Good Detective into his office so I could listen in on the conversation. I felt bad about leaving the Little Lady in her time of need, but if I was ever going to clear her father's name, I had to be involved.
I crawled into the file cabinet – my new designated hiding spot since it was pretty much off-limits – and leapt from my body into the phone as the Good Detective took the call. I could see Loose & Lanky, having been finally released from hospital, at the payphone on the other end, leaning against the wall and holding onto his crutch with his free hand. Behind him, a group of uniformed officers were keeping a crowd of curious onlookers behind the yellow tape, supervised by a visibly upset Lynne. I couldn't help but feel that the area looked somewhat familiar.
"What's new, Cabanela?"
"Hey, Jowd," Loose & Lanky greeted him. "That cooool cat of yours free to come round?"
"Is it a lead on the Twister case?"
"Well, no, buuuut…" Loose & Lanky looked over his shoulder towards Lynne and the others. "I could really use his talents right now."
"What is it, Cabanela? What's wrong?"
"It's Yomiel, and his girl," Loose & Lanky replied grimly. "I know I shouldn't be doing this, but after what we put them through… I just can't leave them that way."
I didn't need to hear another word. If something had happened to my Old Friend and his Fiancée, then of course I had to go there and help him.
"Sissel should be around shortly," the Good Detective replied. "Take care of yourself."
I sped down the line as the Good Detective hung up the phone, hitching a ride in Loose & Lanky's crutch as he hobbled back towards Lynne. I jumped to her core as soon I was close enough.
"I heard you needed a favour," I said to her. "What's wrong? What happened?"
"We got a report of a commotion," Lynne replied sadly, "and when we came out… oh, Sissel, it's awful. Why would they do something like that?"
I could see Lynne was very distressed, so I decided not to press her any further, "I think it might be better if you just showed me."
I jumped into Lynne's badge as she walked into to the taped-off area, and what I saw broke my heart. Lying in a pool of blood, face down and side-by-side, were Yomiel and his Fiancée – dead. Yomiel's eyes were shut tight, his face taught in a pained expression; the Fiancée's eyes, on the other hand, were wide open and staring into space like broken china doll. Even after all that had happened with the Twister, seeing the man whom over ten long years I had grown to call my friend in this manner shook me to the core.
I did my best to hide my grief as I turned back to Lynne.
"Can you help them?" she asked me.
"Well uh, y-yeah, they still have their cores so…"
Lynne looked at me with some concern, "Sissel, are you ok?"
"I, uh…" I flustered as I thought of an explanation, "it's just we saw them not so long ago. It's just a shock to see them like this…"
"Well, you can fix that, right?"
"Uh yeah, I-I'll get right on it…" I jumped away from Lynne and straight into Yomiel's core. Anything to get away from that dreadful scene.
Yomiel was already conscious when I got there, as I had already expected. Neither of us said anything at first. We hadn't exactly parted on the best of terms last time we had seen each other.
"I was hoping you could come," Yomiel said finally. "Sorry I had to greet you like that, though."
"Mind telling me what happened?" I asked him.
Yomiel shifted uneasily. "S-Sissel fell off the roof…"
"Of your apartment building?"
"Yeah."
"How did you end up dead, though?"
"Well uh… to be honest, I jumped after her."
I was dumbfounded, "Wait, did I hear you right?"
Yomiel looked towards the ground and rubbed his arm, "Yes."
"Yomiel. Please tell me you're joking."
He didn't reply.
Incredible. I was so furious that I wanted to scratch his face again. "What the hell? That has gotta be the single most stupid thing I've-!"
"Sissel, listen," Yomiel raised his head, looking me straight in the eye, "remember when we went back to ten years ago, how the statute nearly fell on Lynne? You remember what you said, right?"
That's right. I had feared that the memory of such a violent death at such a young age would have a negative impact on Lynne. "There's a very slim chance of your wife actually remembering anything, though," I told him.
"I know, but I can't risk it, not how she is now!" Yomiel said with an air of desperation. "Ever since we got that thing on our doorstep, Sissel has been… She's been getting worse."
"Worse?"
"Sissel has always been a little sensitive," Yomiel explained. "But lately, she's been on edge, jumping at shadows, waking up screaming in the middle of the night. I've come home and she crying, but she's been evasive and won't talk to me and…!" Yomiel stopped to catch his breath; I could see he was on the verge of tears. "I can't risk it, Sissel. If she remembers any of this, it could break her. Please."
I could see his point. It wasn't unusual for some to regain their memories straight away, and if the Fiancée's current state of mind was as Yomiel believed it to be it could spell disaster. I could take a guess that Yomiel had thrown himself off that building not long after the Fiancée fell, so there shouldn't be an issue with timing.
"For the record," I said as we went back in time, "I still think you're an idiot."
We started out in his empty apartment, but the door had been left open. Yomiel, it seemed, had just arrived home from work and quickly noticed something was wrong.
"Sissel? Sissel, are you there? Where are you?"
He looked around, trying to stay calm but I could see that he was panicking. He rushed back out into the hall and went up to the door of a neighbour's door and knocked frantically.
"Have you seen her?" he raved as his neighbour answered the door. "She's not at home, where is she?"
"Whoa, calm down there," the neighbour replied. "I haven't the foggiest idea of what you're goin' on about."
"Sissel!" Yomiel cried frantically. "My wife – she should be at home, but the door was open-!"
"Oh yeah, her. Passed her by in the hall 'bout a minute ago, she was headed for the roof and muttering to herself 'bout somethin' or other…"
Yomiel rushed to the stairs leading to the roof, leaving his neighbour perplexed and put off.
"You're welcome," he called out sarcastically as he shut the door.
Yomiel had either ignored or simply not heard his neighbour as sped up stairs, he nearly ripped the door leading out to the roof off its hinges in his mad rush to reach his wife.
There, against the backdrop of the night sky was the Fiancée, her white nightgown flapping in the wind and she danced merrily on the ledge. She was singing to herself.
"It was mother who slaughtered me, it was father who ate me, but pretty Marlinchen looked for my bones, and laid them 'neath the juniper tree…"
"Sissel?" Yomiel called out to her. "What are you doing out here?"
The Fiancée stopped singing for a moment and turned to face him. There were dark circles under her eyes and her skin was unhealthily pale. Her gaze seemed to look right through Yomiel, just barely acknowledging that he was there. I couldn't believe that this was the same happy, cheerful woman I had met three times already.
She didn't reply to him, instead turning away from him and going back to her bizarre dancing and singing, "But pretty Marlinchen looked for my bones, and laid them 'neath the juniper tree, kywitt, kywitt, kywitt, oh what a beautiful bird am I!"
"H-how about I take you inside, huh?" Yomiel cautiously made his way towards her, holding out his hand. "It's gotta be freezing out here. How about I make you some hot chocolate, huh?"
The Fiancée giggled at this suggestion and started to walk onto a length of pole sticking out the ledge, overhanging the street below; I saw the fear Yomiel's eyes as she wobbled dangerously. By now, people on the street had noticed the strange girl dancing on the roof ledge and their voices could be heard rising from below.
"…Is she high or something…?"
"…Better call the police…"
"…Lover's spat, I reckon…"
"C'mon Sissel," Yomiel sobbed, "th-this isn't funny anymore. Please, just come down and let's talk about this…!"
The Fiancée, having by now reached the end of the pole, just gave another giggle, gazing towards the empty sky and started up another song, "Ring around the rosy, a pocket full of posies…"
She lifted her foot out towards the open air.
"Sissel…" Yomiel's face was pale, there were beads of sweat on his brow, "please don't do this."
"…Ashes to ashes…"
The hubbub from below grew louder.
"I… I think she's going to-!"
"Oh Gods!"
"Shit! Everyone back off!"
The Fiancée started to lean forward, and Yomiel began to choke in panic.
"…We all…"
"No…"
"…Fall…"
"Sissel, no!"
"…Down."
"NO!"
Yomiel leapt out to grab her, but it was too late. The Fiancée was hurtling towards the earth before he could reach her, and her body landed on the cold, hard concrete with a sickening thud, followed by the screams of the crowd below. Yomiel stood there at the ledge, shaking, tears in his eyes, unable to look away from the splayed and broken form of beloved wife. After a few seconds, he gritted his teeth and climbed up on to the ledge. Folding his arms across his face, Yomiel jumped forward into the open air, causing the crowd below to scream again. I couldn't watch any more after that.
"You said that she fell," I said as I turned back to him.
I realised that Yomiel was trying to hold back his tears. "I couldn't bring myself to say it," he admitted. "I still don't want to believe that I… that I…"
"That you what?"
"That I failed her."
I couldn't bear to see him hurting like this. "You won't fail her," I reassured him. "Not as long as I'm around. I won't let her die on you, and then you two can focus on getting things back on track, okay?"
I restarted the sequence of events from the bottom of the building, where I had found the bodies of Yomiel and his wife. I jumped from him towards a trashcan and up the drainpipe, up to the roof. There was the Fiancée, dancing and singing to herself but not on the ledge yet, thankfully.
"If I could just keep her off that ledge until you get out here, you could grab her and pull her inside," I said to Yomiel.
"There's not much up here for you to take advantage of," said Yomiel anxiously.
"I'll think of something," I told him. "I won't let her die. I won't let you die."
"Bobbie Shafto's gone to sea," the Fiancée was saying to and fro as she sang. "Silver buckles on his knee…"
She started to make her way to the ledge. I frantically looked around for anything that might stop her, and then I noticed that attached to the end of the pole was a pulley, which had a length of rope wrapped around it, part of which rested on the building roof.
"How long would you say that is?" I asked Yomiel, pointing towards the rope.
"It's used for moving furniture between floors," Yomiel told me. "It usually reaches all the way down, but there's a switch that keeps the rope from rolling back out."
"Right," I took possession of the rope, manipulating it into a small noose and laid it in the path the Fiancée.
"…But he'll come back and marry me…"
The Fiancée stepped into the rope. Quickly it tightened the rope around her ankle, good and fast. She didn't even notice as she climbed up on the ledge.
"…Pretty Bobbie Shafto."
"That should do it," said I. "now for that switch."
She was up on the ledge, and then the door flung open, and Yomiel came out. I jumped into the switch controlling the rope. But there was a problem. The switch was stuck and I was having serious trouble getting it to move.
"Sissel, what's wrong?" Yomiel cried. "She's about to jump any second!"
"I'm trying!" I replied. "How long has it been since this thing's been used?"
"You mean it's stuck?" Yomiel panicked. "Oh Gods, she's going to – no, please, make it stop!"
But despite this setback, luck was still on our side. The still-living version of Yomiel had seen the rope around his wife's foot, and just as she was about to fall, he lunged for the switch. Our combined effort finally got the switch to move. Yomiel gave a scream as his fingers got caught in the gears, but the rope gave a crack as it became taught, and the cheers of the crowd from below confirmed our success.
"I-I'm… I'm amazed that worked the first time…" Yomiel said as he finally relaxed.
"I'm amazed that we managed to make work at all," I replied. "Sorry about your fingers, though."
"They'll heal. I'm just glad she's ok." He smiled at me, "I owe you big, you know that."
"No," I shook my head, "you owe me nothing. You're my friend, Yomiel. I was doing what any friend would."
Yomiel didn't reply. We were silent as we returned to the present.
I made my way from the roof back down the drainpipe and to the sidewalk. It seemed that the commotion from the Fiancée's uncanny display had resulted in Lynne and Loose & Lanky still being present at the scene. An ambulance had been called and they were tending to Yomiel's fingers as he sat on the building doorstep. The Fiancée, who was still fairly incoherent, was seated inside the ambulance were her ankle and arms were being tended to, evidently she hadn't escaped the incident without injury. I saw Lynne walk up to Yomiel, and the too looked at each other nervously.
"Yomiel, right?" Lynne fumbled with the buttons on her coat. "I wanted to say sorry for going off at you last time we saw each other."
"No, it's alright, really," Yomiel rubbed the back of his head with his good hand. "I deserved it."
"No, you didn't," Lynne insisted. "Jowd and Cabanela told me the whole story – how you nearly got yourself killed instead of just running away."
Yomiel was silent, but I could see he was uncomfortable.
"You saved my life," Lynne continued. "I know you weren't planning on it, but you did, and I really just wanted to say-"
"Please, just stop," Yomiel interrupted her.
Lynne was taken aback, "Excuse me?"
"I don't deserve your thanks," Yomiel explained, "because I wasn't trying to save you. I was trying to die."
She didn't say a word.
"I'd given up all hope," he continued. "I thought that my life was over. Everything I did that day was out of pure selfishness and nothing else. So please," Yomiel got up from the ground, "I only deserve your anger and hatred. Now if you'll excuse me, I have to see about my wife."
Lynne watched him walk off towards the ambulance, stunned. I went up to her core.
"He's obviously carrying a lot of guilt," I told her. "I wouldn't worry too much about it if I were you."
"Yeah," Lynne replied half-heartedly. "You're probably right. Still, poor guy…"
Loose & Lanky hobbled over towards Lynne, "I've talked with McClaw, and he says there's no doubt about it."
Lynne groaned, "You're kidding me, right? The guy's just managed to avoid seeing his wife die and now I've got to arrest her?"
"Wait, arrest her?" I jumped into the conversation, alarmed. "What are you talking about?"
"We didn't come here about a suicide attempt, Sissel," Lynne explained. "We came following a suspect in an arson case. Someone set the Chicken Kitchen alight – burnt it to the ground."
"What?"
Lynne sighed, "Witnesses say it was one of the waitresses who committed the crime. We eliminated all of the day-time waitresses as suspects, so that leaves…"
"Oh no..."
"'Fraid so," Lynne said grimly. "Yomiel's wife, the girl who happens to share your name."
"For the love of-!" I seethed. "You could've told me all of this before you sent me to save them!"
"Sorry to spring it on you like that," Lynne said apologetically. "But you pretty much jumped in before I got a chance."
This had to be a mistake, "Are you sure it's her? Anyone could've gotten a uniform and-!"
"Sorry," Lynne shook her head. "Both the head chef and the bartender say they saw her light the fire. They say they saw her face clearly enough to make a positive identification."
Once again my head was spinning, I had saved the lives of Yomiel and his Fiancée but for what? "I should head home," I told her. "I'll talk to you tomorrow."
"Sissel, are you sure you're okay?" Lynne asked me. "You seem to get pretty emotional over these two."
"I-I, er… I'm sorry Lynne, but I have to go. I'll talk to you tomorrow."
"But, Sissel – wait!"
I left Lynne and Loose & Lanky to deal with the arson. I was a coward, running away like that. It was getting harder and harder for me to continue making up excuses to protect Yomiel. Should I tell her the truth, the whole truth? Should I bring up those painful memories that we'd tried so hard to leave behind? It didn't seem to be necessary, so why bother?
Making things worse was the fact that I had just lied to Lynne – I didn't plan on leaving straight away, but instead I just wanted to make one last check on Yomiel and his Fiancée to make sure that they were okay. I snaked my way towards the ambulance, where Yomiel and the Fiancée were getting fixed up. I had expected that she would've come to her senses by now, but she was still in a state of delirium, and Yomiel was trying desperately to bring her round.
"Get away from me," the Fiancée slurred. "Leave me alone."
"Sissel it's me," Yomiel reached out his hands towards hers. "Yomiel. Your husband."
She shrunk away from him, curling herself up into a ball, "Don't touch me."
Lynne and Loose & Lanky approached them. I could see the shock on Yomiel's face as he noticed the latter's missing foot, but he said nothing and greeted them as cordially as possible.
"I want to thank you both for all your help-"
"Uh, you miiight want to hold off on that for a while," Loose & Lanky said awkwardly.
He explained the whole situation with the Chicken Kitchen to Yomiel, and the suspicion of his wife's involvement.
"That's insane," said Yomiel with a nervous chuckle. "That place has been good to Sissel, she wouldn't do something so stupid. Right Sissel?"
He turned to his wife, who didn't reply. Instead she hunched over and folded her arms close to her body, as if she were trying to hide them. I saw Yomiel's face fall. He snatched his wife's arms and pulled them out so he could see them clearly. From the wrists to the elbows, they were covered in bright red burns.
Yomiel shook his head, his mouth hanging open, "Sissel, what the hell…?"
The Fiancée gulped, "Th-the worms… the worms made me do it…"
"Sissel, look at me!" Yomiel gripped her by the shoulders and pulled her up to face him. "Something is going on, I know it! Please, Sissel, I can't help you if you don't-"
"GET YOUR HANDS OFF OF ME!"
The Fiancée raised her hand and whacked it across his face, hard. Yomiel reeled back in shock, letting go of his wife as he tried to process what had just happened. The fact that a whole crowd of curious onlookers had just seen the whole ugly scene didn't help matters.
This was bad enough, but I had just noticed something else that made me worry. The Fiancée had a Core of the Dead, and I knew for certain that I hadn't caused it to be there. There were only two other ghosts that I knew of right now – the Twister, and Toon-Face. The Twister had boasted about his misuse of the power to rewind time, but I couldn't be sure if he was telling the truth, and even so why would he save the Fiancée and let her escape? I wasn't sure if Toon-Face had the power, and even if he did I found it highly unlikely for him to have run across the Fiancée, and even if he did, was he really the type to care enough to try and help? I was reminded of that mysterious, unseen ghost that had caused the Fiancée so much grief when we had gone to the Chicken Kitchen. Was there another ghost out there?
I reached to Yomiel's core, I had to talk to him, "Yomiel! Are you alright?"
Yomiel's expression showed his hurt and confusion, he looked at me once before turning his back to me, "You should go home, Sissel."
"But, Yomiel-!"
"Please, Sissel."
I wanted to stay and warn him, to comfort him. But I afraid to push him and end up causing either one of us into saying or doing something we might regret, so I respected his wishes and started to leave.
"You have Jowd's number if you need me," I told him as I headed back to the phone. "Don't be afraid to use it."