Memories of Murder:

Chapter 6:

As a result of their discovery the night before the mystery club had an emergency meeting the following morning before school. This meant Sebastian was unable to meet Ciel in the library beforehand. He had been dying to ask Ciel if it was his skull in the well.

"On the positive side we know now why looking in the well is worthy of expulsion," Mey-Rin said brightly.

Sebastian raised an eyebrow whilst the other three remained silent and William glared at her. Judging by Ciel's state of affairs it was expulsion with a twist.

"That is one way of looking at it," he said to her. "Would you like to investigate further?"

Her face flushed red and she twisted her hands awkwardly. "Maybe."

Again Sebastian wondered what sort of discipline system the school has in place. It worked very effectively.

"Is the headmaster really scary?" he probed tentatively.

She shook her head. "When I attended the school, the deputy head was all we ever saw. He was very strict and severe. I've never seen the actual headmaster."

If he remembered his conversation with Derrick Arden correctly the head master had owned a pharmaceutical business and the original school building was where it had been housed. Thinking of that now that he had been there added significance to the information. That had to be the building he was in last night. Could the skull be connected to that?

"Has anyone ever met the headmaster?" he asked curiously.

Ciel had said he was too afraid to go into his office so he had to be involved somehow. There was a chance that Ciel had some latent memories regarding his death and unconsciously wanted to stay away from related places.

"I was under the impression he is never here. It is the deputy that does everything and appears in the promotional material," William said.

There went Sebastian's plan of going through the website and prospectus again. Bardroy raised a shaking hand.

"I've met the principal."

Next to him Finny was nodding. "He has. He nearly set fire to one of the labs and blew up a lot of expensive equipment."

Sebastian recalled being told that on the first day. The next question was why Bardroy had gone pale all of sudden and looked unwilling to speak. Sebastian looked at him and Bardroy let it all out at once.

"It was scary, his office was scary and he was scary. I can't remember much besides being scared. I don't think I can remember his face anymore. Sorry. He was just so creepy."

"Never give evidence in court," William commented unkindly. "You would be a very unreliable witness."

Sebastian could sense that the conversation was about to descend into trading of insults and there was only two minutes until the bell so he pressed forward with his main agenda.

"Who wants to continue with the Seven Mysteries?" he asked.

"I will," Finny said.

"Me too," Mey-Rin agreed.

Bardroy and William stayed silent. The chain smoker was avoiding eye contact and the other was looking straight ahead.

"I want to so you are both outvoted," Sebastian said with a plastic looking smile. "You two can sit this one out if you like."


Sebastian next encountered Ciel outside his Japanese class and they remained in the stairwell until everyone had filed out.

"We have a lot to talk about," Ciel said. "What was Elizabeth Midford like?"

The discovery of the skull had nearly made him forget about his meeting with her. He glanced at Ciel's hair and face again. There was definitely no resemblance between them.

"I cannot believe you two are related- she is much politer than you. She seemed to be very fond of you surprisingly."

Ciel rolled his eyes. "I'm about as fond of you as you are of me. Enough with my former self being wonderful and likeable, did you get anything useful?"

"Your parents know you are dead and they don't like Elizabeth trying to investigate."

The ghost frowned. "Oh. Do they not want to obtain justice for me?"

Sebastian could understand his thoughts. It sounded like Ciel's parents did not care that he was dead. The fact they were still in Japan indicated they did and their warnings to Elizabeth sounded like they did not want her to end up dead like Ciel.

"I think they do. It seems like someone more powerful than them is behind it and they cannot do anything. Do you know anything about the headmaster besides his scariness- it turns out Bardroy got sent to his office and was so scared he cannot remember anything about him."

Ciel shivered. "From what I overhear, he is not around here very often. His actual name is never mentioned and apparently anyone that meets him ends up leaving because he is so creepy."

Now Sebastian had a strong desire to meet the headmaster just to experience how scary he was. The only downside was that he did want to keep his life.

Ciel appeared to be able to guess his thoughts. "Do not try to meet the headmaster- it's too dangerous. You are human and can be killed."

The emphasis on being human made Sebastian suggest something to him.

"Why don't you take a peek? You are not human anymore so you cannot die again."

The ghost scowled at him and looked sulky for a few seconds before relenting.

"I will take a small peek and that is it."

"Good boy," Sebastian patted just above his head. "Do you know if that skull is yours?"

"I do not think it is. I did not feel anything when I saw it. I always imagined I would feel more complete if I found my body."

That meant the school had another victim. Come to think of it, if the well had been out of bounds before Ciel was murdered, there had to have been previous victims. That opened up new possibilities. Perhaps Ciel had found the skull six years ago and had been murdered for it.

Just then his phone buzzed so he pulled it out and checked the caller's identity. It was Elizabeth Midford's number.

"It is your cousin," he told Ciel and accepted the call. It had not been something he had been expecting at all.

"Sebastian? Am I calling at a bad time?" she asked.

"Not at all. Lunch break just started," he assured her. "May I ask why you are calling me at school?"

It had to be something important if she was taking the risk of calling him during school hours.

"I've just got back home from elevenses with Ciel's mum. I may have found her diary from six years ago on the way to the bathroom."

Of course that could be interpreted as being she had used the pretext to search her room.

"I take it you found something."

Ciel leaned in closer towards him and Sebastian put his phone on speaker so he could hear.

"On the day he disappeared it says he was intending on staying late at school to do something for the club. He never came back. The Police were contacted the next morning and then they had a visitor."

Sebastian and Ciel exchanged looks. Perhaps the mystery would be solvable now with just Lizzie's investigation.

"Did it say who the visitor was?"

He heard her make an exasperated noise and he guessed the answer before she said it. "No. It says 'R'. Clearly that means something to her. 'R' told them to drop the missing person's report before the Police arrived at the school."

That provided more clear evidence the school was behind it if they did not want the Police visiting and asking questions.

"They agreed as easily as that," Ciel griped and folded his arms. "How pathetic."

"She did not write what sort of influence 'R' had over them. Although it does say that 'R' refused to give them Ciel's body."

It was now clear how the Phantomhives knew Ciel was definitely dead. His murderer had told them.

"Is there anything that explains why they are still in Japan?"

"I was short on time so I did not get a chance to read anything else. I get the feeling they are waiting for 'R' to weaken and tell them where Ciel's body is," she paused for a moment before changing the subject. "Did you find anything in the old school building?"

He predicted she was going to squeal or scream when he told her about the well. He was right.

"Do you know if it is his?" she questioned once she was over the surprise.

"I don't. It would have to be handed over for investigation and it's too soon for that. We didn't have the means to go down and retrieve it either."

She sighed. "I would not put it past the school to have previous victims. The only people who could get to it and find out who it is would be the Police."


That evening Sebastian had his evening shower and was walking back to his room in his towel. As he walked past his mother sitting at the table in the dining area, the towel began to slip a little.

"Your towel's slipping," she helpfully pointed out.

"You have seen it before," he retorted.

It would have not been an unusual occurrence if he had not entered his room and found Ciel Phantomhive sitting on his bed. Ciel had definitely never seen him in a towel before.