*** A certain worldwide trend on twitter made me think, I think the hashtag was #dumbfanficmoments. Sure, on detective stories like, I don't know, Conan, Sherlock Holmes, Detective Q, etc. they're all "realistic" and uses actual facts, research has to be done... The only thing that doesn't make any sense in stories like those is that "somehow", wherever the detective goes, murder cases just "appear". Realistic, huh.***

Chapter 6: Hell Underwater

8:10 PM

Len's shift was almost over on the dining hall. He was trying his best not to look so uneasy in front of the passengers, or even the other servants there. From the moment he started his shift this evening until right that second, he didn't refill his champagne bottle at all... Of course if this was his first day as a servant on the ship he wouldn't be too surprised, but this was his fifth day here, he would usually refill his bottle three or four times per shift; same goes to the other servants there. No, that wasn't the source of his uneasiness, on his first and second day the dining hall would be filled with people, it'd be so full there would be passengers who couldn't get any seats. Now, only half of the hall was filled with passengers.

So, the only two possible explanations were:

1. The passengers were sick of the food there and refuse to eat.

2. The passengers were mysteriously disappearing.

None of the passengers seemed to mind; in fact none of them were panicking, or missing anyone... or simply noticed anything. The workers there, both servants and sailors were calm too; Len was the only wary one there. Besides, if anyone went missing, wouldn't someone report such a thing in the first place?

"Lui... Please tell me I'm not the only one who thinks the number of people in this ship is decreasing." Len whispered to Lui who just passed right him. "Look at the dining hall, it's half empty!"

"... Or half full." He shrugged. "I think it's weird too... Kinda... Maybe they just hate the food here? I'd be bored too if I were them. The menu is never changed."

"Come on, be serious!" Sure, it's one of the two possible explanations Len came up with a few moments ago, it's real unlikely for that to actually happen. People need to eat. If they're on land, Len might have bought that. He preferred the "mysteriously disappearing" theory over the "sick of food" theory any day. "Do you really think it's coincidence that half of the passengers would actually lost it's appetite like this? That they would choose hunger over boredom?!"

"Listen, Leon. I really hate this topic 'cause every time we talk about, I don't know, mystery-related things, bad things actually happen. Two days ago you were so curious on that fortune tell-"

"But she really is missing, and my curiosity has nothing to do with it."

"Yeah, well, ... You're creeping me out! I don't want to think about the ship being the end of us and people disappearing like this!" With that worried face, it was safe to say Len was no longer the only one who thought that the number of passengers was decreasing. Lui was just in denial, just like before. "We have five more days until we reach shore, and I just want to do my job in peace."

"Are you saying this happened before?"

"If something as big as this ever happened, you'd hear this in the news, right?" Len had never heard of murders or mystery news involving ships before. Sunken ships? He'd never paid attention to those types of news. "Anyway, this fried chicken is getting cold." Lui left in a hurry to a table on the far edge of the room.

Len leaned on the wall, sighing. He wasn't sure what was worse. The fact that on the fifth day half of the passengers were missing or the fact that he couldn't do anything about it. Or the combination of both, even. Stupid Kaito and his stupid threat. If only he'd won that game, would he really let Len do what he wanted?

'… Rin...'

He couldn't let her be in danger.

He looked at the time and figured he should end the shift there. Len was about to give up and call it a day when a servant with a trolley passed by him. A trolley, filled with cleaning appliances.. Servants on that department could access the passenger's room any time they need to, right?

An idea popped into his mind.

"Hey, wait a minute!" Len caught up with him and walked side by side with the brunette haired servant. "Do you want to switch shifts? Just for one night?" Len thought it'd be a neat deal, anyone would prefer a job where you take and serve orders than cleaning hundreds of rooms, right?

"What? You want to trade? With me? You know I'm on the cleaning department, right?" Len got him now.

"It's a nice change, right? Here..." Len handed him the tray of champagne and took control of the trolley. "Don't forget: Dinner starts at 8:25. My shift starts again around midnight. That's all you need to know, thanks!"

9:55 PM

Kaito might have forbidden him to investigate, but he never said anything about doing some extra work, which Len did with glee despite the grim situation.

He had access to more than enough rooms to confirm the fact that half of the people in the ship were missing. What he had been doing for the past hour was roll his trolley around, knock on people's door, and if there was no reply he'd open the door and check around. He fought his rumbling stomach and heavy eyelids as he thought about the facts he just gathered. It was the same as before, the passengers' luggage were nowhere to be found and on several cases there would be traces. For example, what Len found in the fortune teller's room was a keychain; in one room he found a lipstick under a passenger's bed. They must had fallen off here and there from their bags because Len couldn't find any connections between any of them, they weren't leads or hints to where they could be.

What exactly was the culprit's (or culprits, there were a hundred or so passengers missing, and it would be more logical for this to be a doing of a group and not one person) motive? Judging from Kaito's words, the disappearances was most likely planned. The passengers were possibly kidnapped, and for what? Ransom? Money? Most kidnapped victims' chance of survival was slim after forty eight hours. If this is the same case as the fortune teller's, could it be that they're all dead right now? And the fortune teller's death was actually a trigger or warning to something really big? None of the servants seemed to be talking about it, forget sailors, Kaito had been avoiding him in the past few days, and none of the passengers were panicking! Had they no common sense? Their traveling companions were gone and none of them even noticed!

Even though he had explored god knows how many rooms already, he couldn't see a sign of struggle anywhere. Everything was tidy... In fact, too tidy.

Len stopped his trolley and stared out to space. The only facts he could confirm so far were:

1. People were definitely missing

2. The tidiness could mean that the servants clean the rooms without finding anything, like the disappearance of the owner of the said room, strange.

First things first, he should try and think of a place where the passengers could be; dead or alive their bodies should be there somewhere, they couldn't just vanish into thin air. A large place to hold so many people... The cargo, maybe? His first guess was they were thrown out of the ship and in to the ocean, though with that guess he couldn't do anything about it so he decided that should do as alternate answer in case the people really couldn't be found anywhere on that ship. He couldn't search the ocean, what he could do was check the cargo.

He was about to leave when he saw a girl around ten years of age, when their eyes met the girl approached him.

"I'm sorry sir, but can you please help me? I can't find my mom anywhere!" Her voice was weary, her eyes were moist, and Len knew that within minutes, no, within seconds she would actually cry. But that aside, FINALLY someone actually noticed the missing passengers! Or in this case, a missing passenger. "My mom was tired so she stayed in her room the whole night... I ate dinner alone because I thought it'd be fine, but when I came back the room was completely empty! Even our bags!"

"We should look together, then. I'm looking for someone as well." And that "someone" was half of the passengers there in the ship. That girl was great for his cover, he's not investigating, he's helping that poor little girl find his mother. "What's your name?"

"A-Ann."

"Okay, Ann. But let me tell you that this is a big ship, and it might take a long time to find her."Len tried to reconsider this. Was it really a good idea to drag a ten year old into this mess? What if her mother was dead? Or worse, what if she actually witnessed her mother's death? Her mother was missing and if she found out the worst... No, he wouldn't let that happen. He wasn't even sure if the passengers really were dead! "...Are you sure you're up to it?"

"Of course I'm up to it!"

11:05 PM

No, apparently she wasn't up to it. Not many ten year old could wake up this late, it was nearly midnight and Ann fell asleep on his trolley. Sure, at first Ann was just resting there on top of the metal trolley, then before he knew it she fell right asleep. Len didn't blame her; maybe it was better that way. Over the past hours they checked the cargo, the dining hall, they got lost a few times and met a dead end here and there (she wondered why that could happen at first, but Len explained that he's new at that ship, and so she just sighed every time that happened), they peeked in the captain's control room, nothing. He hadn't checked Kaito's boss' room, he had no idea where it was and the little voice in his head told him to stay away from that place, and at the moment, the deck; which was where they were headed. They hadn't checked it and it should be empty at that time of hour.

The cold breeze was getting to him (being the generous servant he is, Ann was draped with some clean towels in the trolley, keeping her warm and comfortable) it made him sleepy too. He wasn't as alert in the day and really, he could fall any second. He had to hang in there for five more days. Len said in day one, he just wanted to leave the ship and move on with his life back in England with Rin, though being the curious detective he was he wouldn't be as satisfied if he couldn't solve what was happening there.

Len rested his eyes for two seconds, still rolling the trolley with heavy Ann at the top, ... why was he so sleepy? His shift was around midnight with Lui, he was never that tired. He could sleep standing up with ease at that point.

'It's not like anyone gave me any sleeping drug. Pffft...' Then, it clicked. No sign of struggle, the fortune teller died the day she first drank champagne... Len stopped the trolley and shook Ann roughly and she groaned.

"Ann... Wake up!" She was too sleepy, or too lazy, or both, to answer him. "There's your mom!"

"What? Where?" Ann sat up and looked around. It was a little white lie, she'd get over it.

"I'm sorry I lied, but did your mom drink any champagne today?" She was about to protest how Len would trick her like that, so Len cut in before her mouth even opens to protest a single world. "This might help us find your mom, I'm serious!"

"She did drank a little bit, I told you she was tired remember? She fell asleep so I had to eat dinner alone." Len couldn't believe it. That champagne might actually have something in it, he couldn't confirm it with solid evidence just yet but is it coincidence that people who had drank the champagne had been drugged.

It was dangerous to go any further, he hadn't planned anything through and they had to retreat for the time being.

"Listen, Ann, I think we should call it a day. You're sleepy right? I'm sleepy, you're sleepy, we'll continue the search tomorrow when we're full of energy, understand?" Hopefully Ann wasn't the stubborn type and would do as he says. "I'll treat you chocolate cake if you do as I say."

"Let's just look around the deck for a little while, we're almost there... We can see it from here! Then we'll call it a day." Then again, what ten year old could be sleeping at this time of night bearing the fact in mind her mother was missing (for a few hours). Len had no choice but to say yes, she was right anyway, they were a few feet away from the deck. He reluctantly rolled the trolley and sighed.

They could hear voices of people from there, faint, but they were there. Unless Len was half asleep and he was dreaming... A crowd, was it a party or something? That wasn't all, every minute or so he'd hear a splash. By that time his brain, common sense, and heart warned him not to go any further. The brain concluded so many guesses, none of which were good. His common sense told him if anything bad happens (and his brain was sure of this) he wouldn't be able to do anything because he wasn't in his best condition. His heartbeat fastened, and the euphoria erased his fatigue. Not only that, his curious nature kicked in. Overall curiosity told him to move on. Len stopped the trolley, he could see a few people with a lantern up.

"Stay here and don't move." Len said sternly and left.

The deck was large, twice the size of the dining hall. Len hid behind a movable black board where most people would usually use to keep track of scores in games people hold to pass the time. The only thing he could see was the source of light, the lantern there near the far edge of the deck.

He slowly moved the black board, hoping it wouldn't make much noise, he could hear around three people or so talking. He walked closer, still around twenty meters away. The sound of the waves was great camouflage to hide the sounds the black board made, or so Len thought it did. He peeked in to see three sailors, one holding the lantern, the second holding sheets of papers on his hands, the third, the tallest one there was throwing out luggage out to the sea.

So there it was, the truth and nothing but the truth. One lantern wasn't enough to make him see everything at the far edge, it was enough for him to speculate. On one hand, he was more than satisfied that he witnessed the truth, on the other hand, he just realized how close he was to them and how dangerous this could be. The first thing that came in to Len's mind was, if any of them saw his face he'd be done for. Was there nowhere to hide in that ship wouldn't it be best to leave soon before the effect from the champagne kicks in once more? No! What was he thinking? He can't leave! He needed to know more! Even if the risks were high... He'd been through worse situations, right?

Len looked down, the lantern now showed the face of a woman, and not just that there were others; sleeping. Len gulped and continued to watch, taking another few steps with the black board. Screw the risks, he was curious, so long as the lantern doesn't face him they would never notice the moving black board.

He could hear a conversation between them, it was hard to make out what it was. Whatever it is it didn't end very well. Another five steps and to his surprise, everything were far much clearer. The tallest sailor there pulled out his revolver, pointed directly at that woman's head, and without any words from the woman's side; pulled the trigger. The sound of that gunshot echoed in his ears, it was a sight he would see in any crime scenes, still, witnessing it right in front of your very eyes, not being able to do anything about it made him feel, it had always made him feel...

'… I remember now, why I need Rin by my side... Damn it...'

Len... was impulsive by nature. He wasn't proud of it, but he would do bad things if condition asked for it. He'd been on the other side, the one who pulled the trigger. Now he understood what the others felt when they saw him do those things, both the ones who cared for him or his victims.

He understood, but still he couldn't explain it.

"Don't waste your bullets on a woman like her you idiot! What if that actually woke someone up? We have a whole list here to finish and it's still too early for us to get caught!" The sailor with the papers said, he recklessly threw that lifeless body out to the ocean, grabbed a pen and scribbled something on to his paper. "Next time, just break their necks." The tall one there dropped his revolver down and pouted; obviously he didn't like being ordered around. Len thought things could never get any worse than this, he was wrong. He heard footsteps, which at first were ordinary walking steps, then, those feet started to run.

Ann.

"You see what you did? You attracted a girl's attention!" Within seconds Ann would be killed, her small and slender neck would be in the hands of that tall sailor and he'd break them into bite sized pieces. People were disappearing in front of his very eyes, why did he look into it? Because he wanted to stop it. And what was he doing there? He was watching everything as if it was some movie, he should be stopping them.

Without much of a thought, he ran, pushing the blackboard with him, those three sailors didn't get a chance to respond, Len alone with no weapons whatsoever couldn't stand a chance against them, but with a large blackboard he might actually survive. Giving it his everything, Len pushed the three sailors off the edge of the fence, and so went the blackboard as well. The screams of the three who fell ended when Len heard a loud splash at the bottom.

...Was it really over?

He crouched down, the lantern fell along with them so he couldn't see anything, it was pitch black again. He tried to look around, he needed to see the papers, the "list" of people who would die within the next few days. No sign of them, though he did found a revolver which he found more than useful. Len nearly forgot about Ann's presence, his mind raced, what should he say to her? The thought of finding the list and evidence came first before that poor little girl what was wrong with him?

"Ann, you have to believe me when I say those sailors are bad people." Len didn't even know where she was, well, where ever... She was, he knew she could hear him. "That's why, it had to be done." He heard sobbing before those tiny footsteps started to run away.

It took him a while to realize the fact that he just murdered three men in front of a ten year old girl who had recently lost her mom in the middle of the night.