Thump Thump Thump
The pounding of the door echoed through the house. Lovino grumpily put his slippers and dressing gown on. He had a killer hangover from washing away the pain with alcohol these past few nights. Last night was no different. "mio dio...WHOEVER IS POUNDING THE DOOR RIGHT NOW BETTER SHUT THE FUCK UP BEFORE I KICK YOUR ASS PERSONALLY" Lovino screamed down the staircase. The door hesitated for a moment, then started to pound louder.
THUMP! THUMP! THUMP!
"Lovino! This is the Hetalian Detective Agency, if you don't open up this instant, we will break the door down!" Alfred yelled, muffled from behind the wood of the door. "Don't you think that's a little extreme? This man's obviously high right now" "Yao, it's my job to snoop out the drug users. I can tell you now, if anything, he's just been wanking. No man takes this long to answer to the police". Lovino rolled his eyes and swung open the door. "Oh it's you asshats. You better have a good reason for being here, my next appointment with you guys is next Thursday" Lovino groaned, rubbing his temples to soothe his pounding headache. "Lovino! First, we are not asshats, we're detectives. Second, Where were you last night?" Alfred asked quickly, pulling a clipboard and a pen from his side. "I uh...I was at home drinking...why?" Lovino spoke, maybe a tad too calmly. Alfred turned to Yao and nodded. "Mr. Vargas, what we have here is a frame by frame of what appears to be your brother walking down the street he was murdered on. This footage was taken just last night as a matter of fact. We came here to check if this was you" Yao explained, handing over the photographs of each frame from the footage. "...that's impossible. Fratello has been dead for 3 weeks now. There's obviously an imposer around here. If you want extra proof, go ask my boyfriend" Lovino spoke coldly, his normally enraged tone becoming as cold as ice.
"Who might be the name of your boyfriend? At this rate we need as much contacts as possible to catch the murderer"/p
"Antonio Hernández Carriedo"
"Good, good. Thanks for your input. We'll do our best to solve this case" Alfred breathed out impatiently. He always hated having to chase up people to solve murders. It just added so much extra work for him. "Sorry for waking you up so early" Yao added quickly as the two turned away from the door. Lovino lowered his shoulders, sighed and shut the door.
"God those annoying officers, poking their noses into everything. Lovino pulled a flask from his dressing gown pocket and took a large swig. "So fratello insists on annoying me even after death? He hasn't changed a bit, dead or alive" he slurred through his drink with a smirk.
"Natalya! What did you do to the body?" "Simple brother, I sliced him up like you said, gave you his blood, you analysed it with me. We got results. We let big sister stitch him up and make him look good again. We sent him to the funeral services. Simply done" Natalya muttered. Ivan frantically searched his office drawers, taking out mounds and mounds of paperwork copies from all the patients he had attended to in his time. "Where is Feliciano Vargas's files?"
"The patient archive remember? старший брат you're getting so worked up over nothing. He's just another patient like the ones we've done before" Natalya sighed with a flick of her long hair. "Nyet, he is alive, Arthur told me if I don't provide evidence that we have treated him and he is defiantly dead, both of us will be put into custody for false information" Ivan confessed, running finger through his hair as he went into a small panic. Ivan's worried face alone made this new discovery all the more overwhelming to Natalya. "старший брат! Why didn't you tell me this earlier! We're going to lose our jobs because of this man!" Natalya snapped, pounding her fist on the desk in a spurt of rage. "младшая сестра! Please calm down! Our priority isn't to get mad but to search for his files!" Ivan quickly spoke, grabbing his sister's shoulder to try and stop her from seeing red.
"….No. If we give them the files, they'll think we faked them to try and clear our names. What we need, is Vargas. Dead. They'll need to open the casket of his grave and see his body, as it was when they saw it lowered into the ground 3 weeks ago" Natalya spoke coldly, her eyes glinting at her brother with a sense of determination. "What are you suggesting Natalya…." "Don't play dumb with me, Ivan! Dead man tells no tales. We have to track him and kill him again to save our jobs" She spoke coldly. Ivan's face grew pale, his stomach tightening. He felt like he was going to be sick. "Natalya….I can't….we can't do that…." He whispered. "What's got your knickers in a twist? It will be easy. I've handled many bodies in my time. I know where to insert the knife. It's a dangerous game. But the risk of losing our jobs is even greater. If you won't, I will. For both our sakes. All I need you to do is sit tight and smile for the policeman"
And without another word, Natalya turned and left the office. Leaving her brother in a state of overwhelming fear, panic and worry. What would become of his sister? Was Feliciano Vargas dead or alive? Ivan slumped into his chair, taking a few long deep breaths before slowly calming his nerves. Maybe his sister was right. If the files couldn't be found, then he and his sister were prime suspects for possible secrecy in the detective agency.
The Braginski family were known throughout the small town of Hetalia for being an intimidating, shut in family. Never going out to play with the other children, but always being outside in the strongest of snowstorms. The family was known for their...interesting trades. Which is what got the detectives so interested. Their family business was never advertised, yet it always had customers. Particularly during epidemics. They handled the dead. Ivan and his siblings, that is. Prodding the wounds, testing the blood, extracting the bone marrow, stitching them up. It was all a process which allowed them to record exactly what type of poison was used, what type of blade was stabbed through the victims. While Ivan was the blood tester and patient documentation keeper, it was his little sister Natalya who did all the examinations. The very thought of what Natalya would do to the patients she treated which made him shiver. His big sister Yekaterina would take the body after Natalya had stitched them up and Ivan had finished documenting everything. Her job was to make them look nice for the funeral service. All three of them frightened the Hetalian Detective agency, but at the same time, all three of them had served for them for many years, were paid well and have solved so many mysteries. Losing their jobs would send their family into a crisis. Ivan could only wish their was another way for their economy to be run where everyone had equal pay. Yekaterina would not be able to support their family just on her own. So many cures for diseases have been invented, so little people have been dying. The Hetalian Detective agency was the only thing keeping their lives afloat.
But was the risk of losing their jobs so great that they had to kill a live human? Live? Ivan blinked and shook his head in his thoughts. No, he was dead. He had to be. There was no possible way he could still have been alive. With a long sigh, Ivan ran his fingers through his hair and looked up at the clock. He hoped his sister will do well in her endeavors.