Memories of Murder:
Chapter 14:
One week before:
"Where are we going?" Sebastian asked as he was pulled along by Elizabeth.
She was surprisingly strong enough to drag him down the street.
"Stop protesting and follow her," Ciel ordered. "She clearly knows something she doesn't want to tell you in public."
"We are going to my apartment so we can talk in private. It's about the murder, it's not a love confession if that is what you are worried about," she said.
"Not at all," he said and looked around to see if anyone was watching.
There were a few groups of people around that didn't look bothered by the sight of a blonde girl dragging a much taller boy along the pavement. A few paces behind them in the road was a very slow moving car. A red car that Sebastian was sure he had seen in the staff car park of Weston International School.
"We're being followed by a red car," he told her.
Her grip tightened when he said 'red' and he wasn't sure why.
"Let's get a taxi," she said. "From a very public place."
They reached her apartment with no red car in tow. The taxi had managed to lose their pursuer which Sebastian was very thankful for. He didn't want to have an 'accident' like William just before they solved the mystery.
Elizabeth switched on the lights and bolted the door before disappearing into another room. She reappeared five minutes later with a very old looking photo album.
"You got it wrong. Ciel's second hint doesn't lead to Angela Blanc, it was supposed to lead you to Angelina Burnett. She seems to be using her maiden name of Durless now."
Sebastian exchanged a surprised look with Ciel. When Mey-Rin had told them about Angelina Durless the school doctor being the final member of the Weston Six he had been surprised, but ultimately he hadn't thought she was the murderer. It explained why Ciel was too afraid to go in her office. He should have realised the significance before.
"How do you know?"
She held up the photo album.
"She is my aunt and she is Ciel's too. She is Rachel Phantomhive's sister."
Sebastian was beginning to put things together now. The fact that she was closely related explained the reluctance of Ciel's parents to do anything. A sister was certainly capable of emotional blackmail. He cast a glance at Ciel who still looked shocked at the revelation that his aunt had killed him.
"I haven't seen her for years and I had no idea she was in Japan."
She rifled through the pages until she found what she was looking for. She handed it to Sebastian. It was a photo of what looked like a christening. Sebastian had no trouble recognising a very young Ciel and his parents. On the left side of Rachel Phantomhive was a younger looking Angelina Durless dressed head to toe in red. Sebastian realised that the 'R' in the diary stood for 'Red'.
"I do not know the full story about her, all I know is rumours and a few facts. The relationship between the sisters was very awkward," Elizabeth explained. "Apparently they both liked Vincent Phantomhive."
A love triangle between siblings was sure to be awkward. It might provide another motive for her to kill Ciel if she hated his mother for getting to marry Vincent Phantomhive.
"Rachel was the one he married of course and they had Ciel. Aunt Ann married someone soon after that. A few years later she broke off family contact completely. She must have come out to Japan and worked for Tatra Chemicals- she was a doctor in England and occasionally did research for GlaxoSmithKline."
It all added up now. Sebastian had one question though. He asked it for Ciel. Finding out as a ghost that your aunt had killed you was a terrible feeling, but he may have not known that she was his aunt when it actually happened. He wasn't sure if that made it better or worse.
"Would Ciel have recognised her? He only knew her when he was very young."
Lizzie was silent for a minute before she answered. "It's likely. She did play with us a lot- it's how I remember her well and she has a very distinctive appearance- she wears a lot of red. If she taught him when he was alive he would probably recognise her name. That red car earlier has to be hers."
Sebastian began to feel that something was not right.
"Would she really kill her nephew if he found out her secret?"
Certainly she had been unsuitable for a school doctor, but he hadn't sensed that she was capable of murdering a 16 year old boy that was related to her in cold blood.
"Sebastian, you have no idea exactly what happened six years ago. What happened was that Ciel died and it was covered up," Lizzie, the more level headed one told him. "The only way to find out is from her. If she has a conscience, she will tell you."
That was why he was standing in front of the person who he was sure killed Ciel. She looked completely unfazed by the accusation. She put down the tray of bandages she was carrying and sat down. There were still lilies on the windowsill and all of the beds had the curtains drawn around them. Sebastian had a feeling that something or someone could be hiding there.
"What makes you think it was me?" she asked.
Sebastian experienced a mental stumble when she asked that. He could mention that he knew she was the one that blackmailed that Phantomhives to stay quiet, however that simply proved she was involved, it did not mean she was the perpetrator. On the other hand he couldn't say that Ciel had come back as a ghost who had a fear of the doctor's office.
"It's just an idea."
She grimaced. "I suppose Lizzie told you about the familial connection."
"She did. You are the only member of the Weston Six with a direct connection to Ciel and his parents who you could persuade to keep quiet."
Angelina sighed. "I never thought I would be able to manage that. I know they are still close by because they want me to weaken and give up the location of Ciel's body."
It hadn't escaped Sebastian's notice that she had yet to admit to the actual murdering of Ciel. He would have to approach the subject differently. Ciel who was standing beside him was completely silent. Obviously he had no suggestions at the moment.
"Do you think that will ever happen?" he probed gently.
"N-No," she hesitated. "Definitely not. It's that only thing that's keeping them quiet. I don't want to end up rotting away in prison."
The expression on her face told Sebastian that she felt the opposite way. That was what suggested the idea what they were being overheard. There would be no reason for her to lie if it was just them in the room. It was unfortunate there was someone else there because he knew that Angelina was never going to slip up and confess if there was someone watching her back.
"Would you answer differently if we were alone?" he whispered.
She froze and then shook her head. Sebastian had guessed she wouldn't break as easily as that.
"What happened on the day that your nephew died?" he tried another tack.
Her answer would be very useful, mainly because he didn't actually know. Ciel had no memories of how he had died. All he could guess was that Ciel had found the lab and had been caught out.
"Six years ago I was in the teacher's office marking tests. I had just about finished when Angela Blanc came running in and told me that I needed to see something so we went across to the clubhouse. At the foot of the stairs was Ciel with a bleeding head and a broken wrist. The bitch had found the poster in the mystery club room had been moved and traces that someone had gone up to the lab. The only person she found in the building was Ciel so she knocked him unconscious by pushing him down the stairs. The bitch was annoyingly proud of that."
Sebastian appreciated the acknowledgment that Angela Blanc liked pushing people down the stairs and winced at the description of Ciel's injuries. His final day of living had not being a good one.
"He was still alive then so what happened after?"
"After I did a temporary patch up on his head and wrist, we carried him across to the doctor's office. The school doctor had gone home by that point. Whilst I was doing his stitches, Angela searched his pockets and went off gleefully with his phone and the pills he had picked up."
It had indeed been Ciel that had left behind the empty packet of pills.
"Out of interest, why after killing people did this place become a school?"
Angelina scowled deeply. "Someone thought the idea of us teaching children hilarious so that person went to the trouble to convert this building to a school just for amusement."
That person had to be the headmaster. He was the only person with enough power to keep all of them there. The idea of him making it a school for amusement fitted well with what Sebastian knew about him.
"Is that someone the headmaster?"
She nodded fractionally and continued on as if he hadn't asked.
"Soon after that, someone came by to tell me that Ciel's punishment had been decided. I was given the means to do it and told where to take him."
That explanation told Sebastian a lot of things. The most important thing was that she hadn't killed him willingly- it had been an order from someone else. It had to be the headmaster. It was no wonder that Ciel was too scared to go in his office.
He had been murdered there.
"Is the person that told you to kill your nephew Mr. Under Taker?"
She nodded and pointed towards the closed off bed in the middle. Sebastian had a feeling he knew exactly who was concealed there.
"He wants to see you."
Tentatively Sebastian pulled back the curtain surrounding the bed. A cursory glance suggested no one was there. No sooner had he thought that did someone push the covers aside and sit up.
"Hello, Sebastian," the old man said and leered at him.
Anyone else would have screamed at the sight of a leering old man with half his face covered by hair. Sebastian felt a brief feeling of surprise and panic but he managed to recover in a few seconds.
"Hello. Are you Mr. Under Taker? It's very nice to meet you."
"It's wonderful to meet you too. You've been a very clever boy. No one ever thought you would get this far."
"Do I get a reward?" Sebastian enquired.
Undertaker reached out and grabbed the top hat that was at the foot of the bed. He jammed it low on his head and got out of bed.
"Actually yes. I am willing to offer you a deal. It is very generous."
Considering how strange Undertaker was Sebastian could not guess what it could be. Someone like Undertaker wouldn't go for anything obvious.
"What is it?"
"We will let you go unharmed and tell the Police everything. We will all confess too if you do something."
That sounded like it would be the perfect agreement if the price he had to pay wasn't high.
"I don't think you will manage it and Undertaker is just offering it because he wants a laugh," Angelina interjected.
"What do I have to do?"
Undertaker grinned sadistically at him. "Ciel Phantomhive's body is hidden somewhere on school property. If you can find it within two hours- we will give up. If you can't, you will suffer the same fate as him."
A/N: There have actually been sufficient hints slipped in here and there about where Ciel is buried. It's like there were lots of hints about the murderer being both Angelina and Undertaker.
