Disclaimer: Like I said before, I do not claim KWMS and P&P as my own... they are of Fujiwara-san's and Austen's... I'm just a fan... not electric fan, ceiling fan, desk fan, stand fan, or any other machine with propeller for air or whatnot...

Chapter 12


After reading the letter, Misaki almost spent the whole day in her room.

She did not take her breakfast with the Norrises; instead, she dried her tears, took her bath in her room, dressed for the day although she isn't going anywhere. After that, she sat down on her chair, thinking deeply and staring at a certain part of the letter where the name of the sender was written.

By noon, she was alarmed when the door suddenly opened and the Inspector Norris came. She quickly hid the letter, looked at the man and said, "It is taught that a person should knock on the door first and ask permission to come inside the room. Weren't you taught good manners when you were young, Sir?"

The Inspector, in Misaki's observation, looked quite angry.

"Where is your wife?"

"She's with Lady Everglott in her palace."

"Why didn't you come?" she asked.

"I decided to discuss with you about the case you're holding," he answered.

"Do you mean get the information from me?" Misaki asked in a bitter voice.

"So, Miss Ayuzawa," Inspector Norris said, "How will you investigate without getting out of your room? You will miss a lot of chances to investigate about Mr. Usui. Or perhaps, something happened between you two and you just don't like to see him again..."

"Nothing happened between us," said Misaki, blushing a little, "I just, well, happened to get what I wanted."

"Pray, tell me everything," he said.

"First let me ask you, what leads you to think that Mr. Usui is the killer?" Misaki asked.

Chuckling, the Inspector said, "I know you'll ask about that, that's why I brought the evidences which points to him, making him one of the suspects of the murder." Then he brought out a black bag and laid on the table the following: a kitchen knife, a gun and a kerchief, all bloodied and each in a sealed container.

"What are these doing in here?" Misaki asked.

"If you please shut your mouth first, I'll explain everything," the Inspector said. Misaki was silent as Inspector Norris began to talk by asking, "Do you know that the Scotland Yard is trying to use fingerprints as evidences against people?" Misaki did not speak any word instead of answering.

"Well, we in the Scotland Yard are trying to use this method in using to solve our cases. We keep records of fingerprints first from the criminals, and we found out that no fingerprint is of the same pattern of another person, even if they are twins. So we recovered some fingerprints from the bloodied kitchen knife which is found a few feet from the corpse. If you remembered, Miss Ayuzawa, that the knife we saw was not really the murder weapon, as we got the fingerprints we found out that it came from only one person, from the corpse, Miss Angelique. The fingerprints from the knife that we recovered had the two sets of fingerprints: from Miss Angelique and an unknown person. Then we found a gun, which was near the shattered mirror; though we debated whether this was the murder weapon or not, but the peculiar thing was that the fingerprints recovered were the same with the unknown person from the knife, and the kerchief stained with blood which we recovered near the hand of the victim had some initials with the letters "T.U." on it, embroidered with golden thread, I guess. We secretly recovered Mr. Usui's fingerprints, and it matched with the unknown fingerprints from the knife and the gun, thus we conclude that Mr. Usui was involved in the crime by killing Miss Angelique. So, what do you say, Miss Ayuzawa?"

As he finished his lengthy discussion, Misaki was fighting against sleepiness, as she tried not to close her eyes and sleep. This offended the inspector and was about to say something when she interrupted him, "So, what do you think his motive for committing the crime?"

"We interviewed his nursemaid before who is also the housekeeper of the Usui's, erm, mansion, that his aunt possibly arranged him to marry her, Miss Angelique, the daughter of their business partner. Mr. Usui never agreed, and then he killed Miss Angelique for good."

"That was a brilliant theory, Inspector, but don't you think of it too peculiar that the evidences points to Mr. Usui alone? What of 'C. Brown'" Misaki said.

"What do you mean? That he was framed for the crime? What if he and 'C. Brown' was the same person?"

"Well, that's true. But the handwriting from C. Brown's letters and Mr. Usui's was not a match, and may I ask you about the position of the lady's fingerprints in the knifeas well as Mr. Usui's..."

"What? I mean, yes, um, for Mr. Usui, the position was as if getting ready to attack, or more likely, as if he would stab the victim in the stomach like holding a sword while the position looks like it is pointing against the assailant... or more likely..." he said, as his eyes widened with his new discovery which Misaki tried to explain.

"Yes. The positions were not like in the ideal 'defending' scenario, where the fingerprints of the defender were not like in those who would like to defend themselves, but as if trying to commit suicide. And furthermore, the length of the second knife, as I can remember, does not match with the victim's stab wound, and no some sort-of gun power near the victim's wound was found, according to your report, so the gun is out of the question."

"And the kerchief?"

"It may seem not agreeable for me to do this but hand me over that kerchief," she said. The inspector handed it over, and she took it out of the container.

"Miss Ayuzawa! That's evidence..." and he stopped, for he saw Misaki smelling the kerchief.

"A,are you mad or something?"

"No, I'm a completely sane person," Misaki said calmly. "As I suspected, this stain, most of it, were not blood."

"What?"

Misaki smiled and said, "All I can say for now is that the killer planned this if his calculations did not happen the way he wants it, and to make sure, he dipped this with blood red paint, the only wrong here is that the kerchief was not crumpled, or looked as if someone is holding it. He wanted to make sure that the murder was done by Mr. Usui."

"So in other words, Mr. Usui was framed?"

"Yes"

They fell into silence, which Misaki broke, "Tomorrow, I will go back to Elmswood. Ms. Satsuki needed me there."

The Inspector rose and headed outside the room and said, "Do as you please"

As he closed the door, Misaki started packing for tomorrow.

-0-

The sun has not yet started to rise when Misaki rode the carriage towards home. She did not look back for the memories were too strong; her encounter with Usui left her with a heavy heart. She does not what to remember what happened between them, otherwise she will be hurting herself again and again, but even if she closes her eyes, the memory of her rejection of him was fresh.

It was not late in the afternoon that she arrived by her house. As she arrived, she dressed and brewed some tea. After that, she went straight to bed.

-0-

"...Misaki..."

"...Misaki..."

The sounds were droning in her head.

"...Wake up, Misa..."

"Huh, what?" she said, finally awake.

"Misa, as I've told you many times before, don't overwork yourself," said Ms. Satsuki.

It was almost three days after she returned home and Misaki decided that on the next day of the day of her arrival, she would go back to the restaurant. But as she woke up, she had a very heavy feeling, as if her strength left her gradually. She had not spoken to Ms. Satsuki about what happened to her back in Nottingham, especially about Usui.

"Misa, you are not feeling well today," Ms. Satsuki said with much worry, "You should go home; the others have already gone home."

"I, I should make up those days which I was not working. I-it's not fair for the o-others who had been working hard," Misaki said.

Cough.

"Misaki! You're ill! Here, let me accompany you home instead... I'll help you..." Ms. Satsuki said but stopped by Misaki.

"No! I'm fine. If you insist, I can go home by myself. I'll be fine, really. I'm stronger than you think," Misaki said with a smile, and then she left.

Ms. Satsuki did not do anything but prayed for her safety and she continued to close down the shop.

-0-

Misaki did not deny to herself that she was now weakening. She was staggering while walking in the dark alley, but her senses were still active. And to add her misfortune, it was again raining, and she forgot her coat.

As she was on the entrance of the alley, she was surprised that a group of two men awaited her which she recognized being her attackers (well, almost) while she was on her way home in the past.

"I'm surprised that the young miss in this state," said the first man. "Young miss, I'll ask you again, fancy some drinks?"

Misaki gave him a smirk and said, "Sorry, I do not have any time for you."

She was pushed towards a corner by the second man and said, "Do you think we'll let you go on your way that easily? Don't underestimate us, Miss Ayuzawa; Last time you were just lucky to escape from us, and now, I don't think so..."

'And of all these days, now? I'm... still this weak..." she told herself, and then she started to punch the first guy, but the guy almost twisted her arm. Misaki screamed painfully while as the first man held her in the back; the other guy started to strangle her and said, "Such pitiful, little girl. You're just like a doll which we can break easily—"

Misaki was almost unconscious by this time; all she heard was that the man who was strangling her stopped talking and, as if it was her imagination, she saw the man almost flying towards the alley. Then, she saw another man, though her vision was blurry, she could distinguish a man with golden hair and deduced that the man punched the guy for him.

The man who held her at her back let her go and she fell, her body being that weak, she couldn't stand anymore. But she could see that the golden-haired guy had taken care of those two men and were beaten black and blue. As those men ran away, the blond guy checked her pulse and her breathing if she was still alive, then she checked her forehead. As she was about to close her eyes, she heard him, although his voice was droning, "I told you, those men will come back for revenge. You should hve been more careful..." then she fell unconscious.

-0-

Misaki opened her eyes and she could see that she was already on her room. She was on her bed; on the side table was a basin of water. She tried to remember what happened last night, but only a few details.

"Oh, Misa! Thank goodness you're okay!" Ms. Satsuki exclaimed.

"W-what happened?" Misaki asked.

"You were attacked by some men by the alley, and someone helped you. He brought you here and asked me to help you recover," Ms. Satsuki said and smiled.

"Who helped me? I have to thank him. Is he here?" Misaki asked.

"He was, but then he left a few hours ago. Too bad, Misa, he won't let me tell you who he is, but he left this," Ms. Satsuki gave her a black coat of a man, "just as you would like to know, he used it to shield you from the rain. He's so sweet... and handsome too! Kyyyaaaa!" she said as she left Misaki so she can bring her food.

As she left, Misaki got up and suddenly a piece of cloth fell from her forehead which served as her compress. Out of curiosity, she unfolded the kerchief, she was astonished of what she saw in a corner of it; on it, embroidered the initials of its owner.

"T.U."

_END_


Okay! Another chapter again! Well, not much to say but I'm on my way to the home province of my mother and to visit my late grandparents...

Thanks for reading, reviewing, liking my work! I hope I can read your reviews soon! Don't worry; the romance part will start... soon... XD if something is confusing (I know there is), don''t hesitate to ask... all kinds of reviews are welcome...

Happy Halloween!

Otaku911

Lovelots!