Memories of Murder:
Chapter 5:
"There is something you have missed," she brought him out of his internal monologue where he had been serious debating what had happened to Ciel.
"What is it?"
She tapped the cover of the yearbook with a pink manicured nail. "This book was allowed to be printed at the end of the academic year with Ciel's name and photo in it."
Elizabeth picked up her phone again and showed him a photo of a group of teenagers mostly in the old Weston International School uniform. Ciel was sitting in the front row sporting what looked a forced smile.
"Ciel sent me this at the time it was taken," she explained. "The yearbook was allowed to be printed with proof of Ciel's existence, but the pages were later torn out. Do you understand the significance?"
The inconsistency never occurred to him. If the school had feared people finding out Ciel had attended there, the yearbook would have not been permitted to be printed with Ciel's name and photo.
"The school had no concern at the time about there being clear evidence of Ciel's existence only to deny it later."
"Exactly. Then something must have happened to make them worried and tear those pages out. I wonder what it was," she said and smiled suddenly. "It was me. I turned up a number of months later asking about him. I finally realised his parents were not doing anything productive so I came here."
What she said made sense, however Sebastian could not quite picture her as being a genuine threat. She seemed to guess what he was thinking.
"Just because I wear pink, it does not meant that I cannot be tough. After enquiring there and getting nowhere, I decided to snoop there instead. I was caught before I got too far. That is probably when the evidence got destroyed."
Sebastian was still failing to imagine that. But she was right. The only trigger for the destruction of the yearbook had to be her.
"The mystery club are planning to investigate the old school building tonight. How easy is it to sneak in?"
He had realised if she had tried and been caught, she would know what not to do.
"I cannot say I know anything about sneaking in at night, but during the day is hard. I think the main factor was that security were on the lookout for me. There are more security guards during the day because there are more students around and all the gates are open. At night it should be more relaxed. Along the boundary wall around the back there are less cameras. If you go for climbing over the back wall rather than over the gates, you will be fine. What I don't know is where this building that you mentioned is."
Sebastian explained the matter to her. She was sceptical of its significance at first until he explained how it linked to the Seven Mysteries.
"I hope you find something in the very least. You have done a better job than me so far," she sighed.
Technically she was at a disadvantage because she was not able Ciel's ghost and she had no access to the mystery club where he had found the major clues so he was not critical of her. Although he could think of one avenue of investigation she had missed.
"Why didn't you enrol there instead?"
She picked the strawberry off her cake and frowned.
"By the time I got here I had done my A-levels. I was debating trying to apply there citing wanting to redo exams when Vincent told me it was too dangerous."
Hearing that added more evidence to Sebastian's almost certain theory that Ciel's father knew exactly what happened.
"Did he explain why?"
She shook her head. "I ended up doing university entrance exams instead. I have not just spent four and half years here shopping. I graduated last year."
It had crossed his mind that she had spent her time buying clothes and pink things to entertain her. At least he knew that was not the case.
"Do you see the Phantomhives often?"
"I go to their house every Sunday for a roast dinner," she answered. "It feels awkward a lot of the time."
Sebastian could imagine that. His family dinners were bad enough, but he did not have a dead relation that his parents knew what happened to and were keeping quiet.
Once they had finished their tea and she had finished her cake they left the café.
"Please let me know what you have found," she said. "If you want to know the locations of any particular shops I can tell you- I know the shopping districts quite well."
Her offer reminded him that he only had one tea bag left. He considered that an approaching catastrophe.
"Do you know any places that sells English tea? Decent tea that is," he was careful to specify.
She gave him an address in Shibuya and they parted outside the shopping centre. Sebastian returned to his apartment with several new black hooded tops. The bonus was that they had cats on.
At half past eleven he crept through the apartment. The lights were off in the kitchen and living room so he had a clear route through there. He could see from the sliver of light cast on the carpet that the light was on in his parents' bedroom so he was extra quiet when sneaking past. He took the precaution of not putting his shoes on until he was out the apartment to limit noise. The real concern was getting back in quietly as the lock beeped whenever a code was input.
It was strange to see his route to sixth form almost deserted and dimly lit. The roads were also unusually quiet due to the lack of congested traffic. He spotted the other members of the mystery club standing underneath a streetlight a little down the road from the school. Their position made them extremely easy to pick out which did not make him feel very optimistic about their ability to sneak into places. On the other hand they were all wearing black clothes which showed they had put some effort into it and William had a large backpack. Sebastian was not sure that he wanted to find out what was in his backpack.
"Did everyone bring torches?" Finny asked like a teacher on a school camp.
Mey-Rin took hers out of her pocket and William patted his backpack.
"I have mine," Sebastian contributed.
"I brought a flashlight," Bardroy added.
The English members all nodded at him and changed the subject.
"Does anyone know how we should get in?" Finny asked and scratched his cheek awkwardly which suggested he had not considered it before.
"As the leader of the club, shouldn't you have planned this better?" William sighed. "I should have expected this."
"I have no experience in breaking and entering!" Finny protested.
Sebastian wondered why William was not the leader as he was the oldest member and seemed to find fault with the Finny's leadership. He asked Bardroy instead of either of them as they were both arguing.
"Will was the leader last year, he had to step down this year because university entrance exams are coming up," he explained. "He still acts like he is though. Most final year students completely leave clubs, but he stayed on. I think it's just to make sure Finny doesn't ruin anything."
Sebastian waited for a break in the conversation between the two before he interjected.
"I suggest we walk around to the back wall and go over the wall. There is less chance of being caught on CCTV there."
William silently led the way down the road and to the street behind the school and they all turned to assess the height of the wall surrounding the school. As it was brickwork instead of concrete there were available footholds. Sebastian checked was the time was as he had agreed to meet Ciel at midnight by the trees. It was now ten minutes until that time. At the rate they were progressing he was going to be late.
"Who is the best at PE? They can try it first," Finny suggested.
"It is probably me," Sebastian said just to move everyone along.
He scaled the wall easily and found it was quite a drop on the other side. Fortunately there was a flower bed that cushioned his landing. It took ten minutes for everyone to make it over.
They did not turn on their torches until the grove of trees came into sight due to the fact that the school grounds were dimly lit with orange light from Victorian style streetlights. Once they were there Sebastian looked around for Ciel. As he was wondering if Ciel was late too, the boy emerged from behind a tree which caused him to jump. Ciel had an unearthly glow at night which was disconcerting to look at. It reminded him that Ciel was really a ghost. It was easy to temporarily forget it during the day because he looked normal. Now he looked spectral.
"Sebastian, are you scared?" Mey-Rin questioned, having noticed his reaction.
"Not at all," he smiled at her, noticing in the dim light that her cheeks were red. He forgot the effect his smile had on people.
"You can stop flirting and lead the way," William said, thankfully interrupting the moment.
Sebastian exchanged glances with Ciel and the sulky teenager gestured for him to follow him. So Sebastian wove his way through the trees and managed to not trip over any roots in the dark or flinch whenever a branch that he couldn't see touched him. The same couldn't be said for the rest of the club behind him.
Ciel came to a sudden stop and Sebastian nearly went through him.
"We are here," Ciel announced and stepped aside so Sebastian could see the old school building.
Illuminated only by his torch and the moonlight from the full moon it was an eerie sight. The windows were boarded up and a lot of the roof tiles were missing which helped it resemble a haunted house. If it started to rain it would truly feel like the building belonged in something of the horror genre.
From the sharp intakes of breath behind him he could tell everyone else had arrived.
"I'm glad I'm not here alone," Bardroy commented with a shiver.
"Do you think it is even scarier on the inside?" Mey-Rin asked fearfully and grabbed Finny's arm.
"Stop whining and get on with it," William snapped. "If it is ghosts you are worried about seeing: they don't exist."
That had been Sebastian's prerogative until the previous week.
"Do you have any concerns at all about going in?" Bardroy asked.
Instead of answering William unzipped his backpack and took out a hard hat.
"I am concerned about the ceiling falling in," he explained. "It is almost certain there is earthquake damage or after effects of land subsidence."
Finny had a dumbstruck expression on his face. "I didn't think of that."
William placed the hat on his head and turned to Sebastian.
"Of course he didn't. I am also concerned about being out so late. You have the key so get on with it."
The main entrance was sealed with an industrial padlock. After a brief minute of difficulty due to poor lighting and struggling to hold his torch, Sebastian had it unlocked and removed it. He opened the door and shone his torch inside.
The sight confronting him was a collection of dust filled cobwebs swathing groups of lockers. The air smelt unpleasantly damp and musty. It all added up to suggest that no one had been here for a long time.
William arrived and looked over his shoulder.
"There is a certain atmosphere to this place," he smirked and gestured at Mey-Rin who looked terrified.
They all gathered around in a circle in the centre of the lockers. Ciel lurked behind Sebastian.
"If we are going by the Seven Mysteries we need to check all the staircases, the windows on the top floor, the music room and the science labs. The other two are outside so we can do those later," Finny said, sounding more sure of himself now there were inside and the ceiling hadn't fallen down on them. "Should we split into groups or go around in one big group?"
If Sebastian remembered correctly the mysteries related to the interior of the building were the twelve steps that became thirteen, the bloody face at the window on the top floor, the electrocuting bulb in the science lab and the piano in the music room.
"Splitting means wasting less time," William answered instantly. "I suggest one sensible person a group."
The groups ending up being Sebastian with Finny and Bardroy and Mey-Rin with William. The second group were assigned the first two floors whilst Sebastian and Finny got the top floor. Ciel followed a few paces behind them.
"We need to count these stairs first," Finny said when they reached the foot of the first staircase.
There were nineteen exceedingly creaky and shaky steps. Sebastian was careful to be on the watch for any missing steps.
"Nineteen steps is different to twelve steps," Sebastian noted as they walked up to the next flight which also had nineteen.
Maybe there was not anything in the Seven Mysteries after all.
The steps leading to the third floor looked enticingly shorter and Sebastian allowed himself to a feel a little hope that it was not all a waste of time.
There were twelve steps.
"So this one could be true!" Finny exclaimed happily. "The thirteenth step is supposed to be a dead body."
That sounded horribly morbid. He looked over at Ciel who was squinting at the ceiling.
"Shine your torch on the ceiling," he ordered.
Sebastian did so and noticed that it was certainly a very low ceiling which explained the lower number of stairs. It was an inconsistent building.
"We need to check all the windows next so that means going in all the rooms. I hope they aren't locked," the blond said worriedly.
"What classroom are up here?" Sebastian asked before using his torch to check the nameplate on the nearest door. "Cinema club?"
"All the clubrooms were on this floor," Finny explained. "The mystery club room will be here too."
Sebastian opened the door of the cinema club and took a look inside. The chairs were stacked neatly in the corner and were covered in spider webs. There was a DVD case left on the desk at the front of the room. It gave the impression that the room was vacated in a hurry.
"It matches what the caretaker told me," he said out loud. "Everything was left as it was."
"It does look like it," Finny agreed. "I didn't know Tanaka was that talkative though. Did you manage to understand his strong accent?"
Strong accent? Tanaka had a strong English accent that made him very easy to understand. Finny was English took so he should be in the same boat.
"Do you mean the strong English accent?"
"No, he has a really strong Japanese accent. Not that I've heard him speak a lot. He usually just walks past with his head down."
Finny's description was the complete opposite of that Tanaka he had encountered. That added one more strange thing to the list of strange things about the school. Did that mean Tanaka could not be trusted? He had given him the key and led him to Elizabeth after all so he had not been a hindrance, he was more of a help.
"We're supposed to meet Will and the others in twenty minutes so we need to move on," Finny told him and waved his phone at him to show the time.
Sebastian put the Tanaka problem to the back of his mind and followed Finny out. The chess club was next and only revealed by dusty chess pieces that had rolled into the skirting boards. The literature club and Maths club rooms provided nothing as well. The mystery club room was next.
Sebastian turned the handle and took a tentative glance inside. If there were going to be any clues, the mystery club was the most likely place.
The layout of the tables was quite different to the current one. They were arranged in a horseshoe around the whiteboard at the front. There were a few posters on the wall of famous detectives which spanned several countries. Sherlock Holmes was the only one he could recognise without reading the name. Others were Kindaichi, Maigret and Poirot.
Sebastian tried to decide on the most likely place something would be hidden and looked at Ciel expectantly.
"Check underneath the chairs and tables, in the desk drawers and in the cupboards," Ciel suggested.
The chairs being on the tables instead of stacked in the corner made it easier to check under them. Not that there was anything there besides some very disgusting chewing gum. Sebastian was under the desk at the front when he found something. Written on the underside of the desk in black permanent market was 'Room 23' and 'Shelling Ford'. Sebastian took a photo on his phone in case either of them meant anything. By this point Finny had gone to check the other rooms by himself.
Next he peered into all the cupboards. This was the most difficult task due to the poor light. He resorted to trying to sense abnormalities in texture by touch. He was about to give up when Ciel spoke.
"There is a corner of a piece of paper sticking out right by your hand."
Sebastian felt a smooth texture right at the bottom of the cupboard right by the wall and gripped it with his nails and pulled it out. The piece of paper was brown and was uncannily similar to the colour of the woods used for the cupboards. He shone his torch on the piece of paper.
It was a grainy old photo of the exterior of the old building before it had all been boarded up. The important point was the face at the window on the top floor. It looked like a mask. One of the Seven Mysteries was a face at the window. He turned the drawing over to check if there was anything on the back.
"Mask looks like one owned in by drama club- investigate" was written in an untidy scrawl.
Now he knew the source of that mystery. The Seven Mysteries sounded like they were deliberately created a for a reason.
"Sebastian?" Finny called from the doorway. "I've checked all the other rooms."
Sebastian placed the photo in his pocket and left the clubroom. He was sure he had found anything that could be found.
They met up with the others by the entrance. Mey-Rin was sneezing profusely and muttering about dust and Bardroy's hair looked grey in torchlight and William looked the same as he had before they split up to search.
"What happened to you?" Finny asked Bardroy.
"Someone had to check all the lights- that person turned out to be me," he groaned. "Will wouldn't do it. The power is off here so we wouldn't know if they electrocuted anyone anyway."
"It was a fruitless search," the oldest member agreed. "The music room was the same. The piano was out of tune and certainly did not play by itself."
"We were more successful," Finny informed him with a smug smile. "There are twelve steps on the set leading to the top floor. We went in the old mystery club room as well."
That got everyone's attention for different reasons.
"That's interesting about the stairs," William said thoughtfully whilst Bardroy and Mey-Rin were more excited about the clubroom.
"Was it better than our room?" Mey-Rin wanted to know.
"Of course. It's a room dedicated to the mystery club and not just some classroom we have to use."
"Next is the statue outside, the cherry blossom tree and the well. I know where two of them are," William said. "Let's by quick about it, it is one o'clock and I want to get some sleep tonight."
Sebastian replaced the padlock and William led them around to the side of the building and shone his torch around.
"The statue is around here somewhere," he readjusted his glasses and pointed ahead of him. "It used to be whiter."
The statue was marble and looked to be of an angel holding a delicate looking sword in her hands. Sebastian felt that he had seen something like that sword before.
"Naturally there is no body hanging from it. "This used to be where the smokers used to sneak cigarettes. Even they would have reported the dead body."
"Where is the well?" Sebastian questioned.
"At the back. It might have been grown over by now- we were told going anywhere near it was a detention and taking off the cover meant immediate expulsion."
The threat of expulsion made it sound like there was definitely something hidden there. The well had moss growing up the side and looked unordinary until Sebastian noticed all the warning signs in red writing that were nailed onto the stonework. The dark light made the signs look even more ominous.
"I refuse to take the cover off in case we get caught," the oldest member made sure to say.
Sebastian sighed and gave it an experimental push. It seemed light enough to he pushed it to the side with relatively little effort. He shone his torch down it and saw nothing except black. Ciel joined him and had a look too.
"You need more light to see the bottom," he helpfully stated the obvious. "Tell those wimps they aren't going to get expelled."
Mey-Rin came to look of her own accord whilst the other three stayed where they were standing.
"You have all broken into school property and trespassed, this not going to add much," Sebastian said.
That persuaded them to help him to illuminate the well. The light was powerful enough for Sebastian to see something.
"Is that-" Mey-Rin looked queasy.
"I think it is," Finny answered sounding similarly ill.
At the bottom of the well the outline of something that looked like a skull was visible.
