-We also don t know what happened Rick, I wasn t at home during the days when all that happened, all we know is what was told to us by Leandro while he was mortally wounded to the library camera right after the attacker had left -Just a moment - I asked if what happened was taped, how couldn t you have identified him? More importantly how no one heard a combat?
-That person really knew our routine very well, seeing that he acted on the very same day we usually make the backup of the security system, that meaning, the cameras were off and didn t record a single second of it, being turned on again on the exact moment that my son tried to say something referring to someone hearing the combat you know that that room is soundproof to ensure the tranquility of our old husband Capuleto always wanted to read since Leandro could really be a noisy kid at times -Indeed in that department Leandro really stood out - I pondered for some moments Margareth, which were the workers that knew about the security schedule? We can, by those names, interrogate each of them and maybe find a lead -Unfortunately Richard four persons were responsible, in twelve hour turns working one day, taking the day off on the other all of them were killed on the day before the murder took place and on the attack day the most probable is that the assassin discovered, be it by bribing or force, the name of one of them, killing her in sequence; staying that to workplace and eliminating the others, when that part of the operation ended, he finished with his plan.
-That implies much more things - I commented frowning Margareth, I have that royal induct that would allow me access to anything that I would request now; however due to the relations between our families, I would rather bid you to authorize me to make a complete search on your house for any trace that can grant us some lead to the assassin -Granted Rick - she replied nodding if you find the accursed one that destroyed my family I will have a lifetime debt with you!
-It is decided then Margareth, sorry for taking your time I finalized my talk with her by standing and bowing to her.
-Not a problem she replied and looked to her worker Sir. Monterrey arrange everything that Richard ask to you as if it was myself doing it, no matter what it may be, understood?
-Yes Mrs. Margareth he said, bowing to her.
-So the next call will happen at December twenty three; at half past nine in the morning, until there may the good winds guide you all then the screen turned off and the call was ended.
-How can I help you with the investigation? asked me Monterrey.
-Let me see - I replied thinking has the death scene been washed?
-No, just the corpses were removed and the police made the usual procedures, however as this was a private matter, we decided to carry the investigation ourselves and support the security worker s families; we hadn t made much progress, that is why we are placing our faith in your hands.
-Exactly that made sense; in this point the nobles had the direct royal authority how many active workers are in the residence, active right now?
-Aside Ginka and I, just to maids and a couple of cooks; why do you ask Richard?
-Ask them to leave the premises, together with you and Ginka and just come back once I finish making a complete scan on the house; that will make sure fake evidence won t be placed among the real ones.
-Certainly Richard, anything else? he asked while bowed.
-No, you can go now, thanks.
After all the employees and slaves had left, I explained to Dawn what I had in mind; we would first to go the library, then we would head to Leandro s bedroom, to watch the video of the last moments of my friend as well I wanted to have some nostalgic time in that room as I missed him a lot after a couple of minutes we arrived to the place, the inumimi immediately covered her nose and with a disgust face said:
-This place reeks as rotten meat Rick! What happened here?
-Well I began explaining, surprised by her smelling skill, seeing I could barely smell anything this is where both Capuletos, father and son were killed, I need to check if if find any evidence and if it is possible to you and not very painful, I want you to check if you can feel any familiar smell, alright?
-I shall try Richard - she replied shaking her head but with this smell I cannot promise anything.
We opened the door and headed in, just to become shocked what our eyes saw on that place; there was blood on the ground in puddles, ceiling and walls as if a huge massacre had happened here, it was hard believing just two people had been murdered here I began looking at the books that were left on the reading couch; they weren t out of the ordinary, both for father and son, I looked at Dawn and she tried at all costs to stop the repulsive wave that was racing towards her stomach that was when I asked:
-Are you alright Dawn-chan? Is there any known smell on this room?
-No, just two similar smells but it is hard to say which is which it is stinking too much she replied almost puking.
-Two smells? Shouldn t we have three? I asked really confused -I can just smell two - she replied while she headed to the exit but that can mean that the assassin s smell, if he is a professional one and, by consequence cold and meticulous, is masked by the stench that floats around here -It indeed makes sense I commented wait outside, I will just snap some pictures and I will leave in a few alright?
-Yes Rick she replied leaving the room.
I examined a little more the place, according to the autopsy reports handed down to me by Sir. Monterrey, the old Capuleto was eliminated having his throat sliced open by a cutting weapon, probably a dagger; Leandro on the other hand was hit on the belly and dying of hemorrhage, as he had his lower artery sliced on the attack but something didn t make sense the fathers blood really gushed to all around as it was expected but there was a huge amount of it on a puddle near the cam where my friend s last moments were filmed I shook my head thinking it might be there where he was hit . That would explain that fact and with that I forgot about this subject, little did I know that had a much bigger motive
We headed then to my friends room, and that made me sad seeing a lot of my childhood memories and teenager days were made inside there; Dawn could easily notice a shy tear rolling down my face trying to take me out of my melancholy cycle, she said:
-So this is the room of said friend you told me about?
-Yes, the biggest good-for-nothing I knew in my life and the most uncorrectable one - I looked around the room I cannot even imagine how many women he slept with on this bed -A lot? asked Dawn, while trying to smell something in the air but Rick... I can only smell five different scents here -Just five? I asked totally taken aback by the news and all the women he had?
-I don t know why, I just feel his scent here, a strong one, a weaker one that is equal to the library one, that looks like his; which I supposed might be his dad, a routinely one, probably a maid in charge with the cleaning your smell is also very common here and an extremely familiar smell to me but I am not sure whom this smell is it s weak as if not been here to many times woman nekomimi where I felt that smell before? I cannot remember -It is alright Dawn I commented and petted her head for now that might be a good hint for more leads in the future, in case we cross with said person or you remember who she is warn me immediately, understood?
-Yes! she smiled and wagged her tail.
Then we put the video to play in the latest generation video player that was present at the room, moments later the image of my friend appeared on the big screen; he had great pain showing on his face, his hands on his belly, the old Capuleto was practically lifeless on the sofa he had been reading, having still small twitches and what was left of his blood flowing through his slashed open throat, Leandro was looking at the screen and then he said:
-We were wrong the one we killed wasn t the nekomimi leader we killed an innocent!
A macabre shiver raced in my spine when I wondered we might have killed the wrong person however according to L via s investigation among the ones of her race she was totally sure that the target was right then Leandro s began doing an extremely disturbing cackling as if someone just turned insane what that the fear of death? Becoming insane because of the proximity of passing away was the reason he didn t seek for help? I don t believe it would be it something inside of me told me that he was already insane but what was the motive? He took a step back and we could see he had a sword stuck inside his belly that would hurt a hell lot as far as I know how could he talk like that? Then, apparently his last moments arrived, when he began saying:
-UGH? grimacing in pain already? It is t too soon Rick I know that you are going to see this do me a favor for this old friend of yours find out who is the responsible for us having murdered the wrong person and avenge me in my stead I beg you search for it in our memories for answ ers Montecchio Ri cha rd - collapsing to the ground afterwards in his death throes.
That disturbed me seeing someone that you like that much dying like this that was something really disturbing.. I began crying deeply, I felt really sad, alone and unprotected; it was so comforting when dawn hugged me and fondly said:
-I know this can be considered insolence on my behalf Rick, but I want you to think of me as a little sister because that is how I feel when I think about you as my older brother you will never be alone as long as you let me be at your side Rick-niichan -Thanks Dawn-chan I replied drying my tears it is so good having you beside me now -Yes! she said while looking at the screen what he meant in search the memories for the answers? -I don t know - I replied searching my memory for something that might have been missing what could it be?
-Wouldn t it be like some kind of secret that only you two know and that could be used as some kind of password at something? Seeing that that message was targeted clearly towards you Rick.
-Some secret - I said to myself while I shouted in sequence THAT S IT! IT CAN ONLY BE IT!
-What would it be Rick? asked me Dawn while she followed me around the room.
-Leandro and I had a secret Dawn I said while positioning myself at the side of the bedposts something silly, but very important to us both a place where we kept our memories things that only we should know signs of our friendship.
-Something like a diary? asked Dawn on the exact same moment I found the small lever I was looking for.
-Yes, however just us could have access to it something like a secret of ours here Dawn grab this I asked her showing where to hold that is one of the levers, move it as soon as I order you to, alright?
-Yes Rick, but what would be it?
-A mechanism to open a little secret place of ours I replied while positioning on the other side of the bedposts as they had a habit of cleaning the place constantly, he thought of something that would prevent the place in case it was used alone, just us both knew about it that was probably why he tried to use this method; come on move it on the count of three one two three now!
Then a light sound of something moving were heard as was expected, a painting of about three feet (approximately one meter) moved upwards exposing the simple wall behind it, Dawn wasn t understanding very well what was going on when the wall itself moved aside and revealed a numeric display and even if someone managed to get this far, one would need to type the correct answer, something just we both knew; as soon as all stopped moving the routinely message showed up input password to which the answer was really easy, the date I met Leandro for de first time twenty three years ago beginning by the year, then month and lastly day; if we were on the year 2020, so the meeting year was nineteen ninety seven march and day six, 19970306.
As soon as I finished inputting the numbers on the panel, a metallic noise was heard and the small door to the safe opened slowly, revealing a drawer and a small machine unknown to me, that didn t exist since my last visit six months ago, I decided to ignore it for now and open the same spot where our memories together, one after another I took them out and began showing to Dawn:
-Look Dawn, having in my hands a photo we took this one on a noble s event, some kind of Olympics for us, he was as fast as a rabbit, winning a gold medal on the 100, 200, 400 and 800 meters; I got it on the bow and arrow and fencing -Impressive! she replied with a curious face I think there might be a lot of interesting things inside there but might be there a hint as well?
-I don t know Dawn-chan but that is what we will find out as soon as I take everything out of here.
When I said that, I put my hand inside de drawer and proceeded into removing all it s contents; instants later we heard a sound of something falling to the ground and saw it was a pen-drive, over it was written: Insert this inside the machine that is inside the vault ; I decided then to do as directed and as soon as it was inserted the device apparently turned on instants later, the bottom of the safe opened and something that wasn t there before opened, it was a computer screen that showed the following statement: Are you Rick? and the options 1 Yes and 2 No on the keyboard, of course I entered yes; then there was another question Are you accompanied? and the same choices
As soon as I pressed the same 1 option a light turned on in the middle of the huge room, in a square shape, with around 1 6 foot of side (around 50cm) and an instruction on the screen ask the person with you to heard there and not to leave until told so ; even thinking this was a little weird, I ordered Dawn to head there, as I thought it could be another security measure adopted as we were used to when she positioned herself, the screen showed the following message along with a tennis ball grab this tennis ball and throw it to your partner, reminding him not to move .
When I threw the ball to Dawn a click sounds followed by something humming past us, dragging the ball with it; which fallen to the floor pierced by two crossbow bolts; then I heard a voice in which I noticed being Leandro s; the monitor showed a video of him, with a disturbed face, he said: For how long do you believed you could fake being Richard, you impostor? I don t know how you got this far but I won t let you take our last memories together, because if you are seeing this I already am gone! followed by laughter full of wickedness; then mechanical things locked in place my feet and waist in place, both coming out of the wall; cold sweat broke on my forehead and to my complete despair; his voice said after that:
-If you are indeed Montecchio you don t have to worry, seeing you will know easily the answers to this trivia, otherwise both you and your partner will die as you already saw it was possible you have twenty seconds to reply to something that Rick knew as if it was the palm of his hand what was the day and month that Richard met the love of his life? Live or die, make your choice! then a huge 20 showed on screen initiating the final countdown.