Chang Wufei was a man of few words. His rigid posture screamed authority – and the attitude of someone used of getting answers, one way or another. Trowa Barton looked friendlier, albeit a bit subdued. Half his face was covered with bangs of auburn hair and his visible green eye was darting around the room, as if nothing could escape its attention.
Duo paled. "Yesterday.. Dorothy.. what?"
"We are sorry to overwhelm you with this news, mr. Maxwell. As she was a student of yours, we need to investigate every trail and lead if possible."
"Yes, of course." Duo was confused. Dorothy? The same Dorothy who was complaining about the lesson, only yesterday? Blond-haired, spiky-eyebrowed Dorothy Catalonia?
"Impossible," he said aloud. "This can’t be.."
"You mentioned someone named.. Heero?" Trowa’s voice was calm and composed, but had more warmth to it than Wufei’s clipped, curt tone.
"Heero is my life partner," Duo confirmed. "I just assumed something happened to him when you said you wanted to talk to me. I’m sorry, I totally forget my manners! Can I get you some coffee?"
"No thank you, mr. Maxwell. We won’t be long. We have to ask you some routine questions."
Duo lost himself completely in thoughts. He couldn’t believe it, he just couldn’t believe it. Dorothy.. murdered? What kind of an idiot would do that?
"I still can’t escape death," he mumbled.
"What?"
He blushed furiously. "Please, take a seat, please." He motioned them to the couch and they simultaneously sat down.
"These are just formal routine questions. Where were you at 03.00 at night, yesterday?"
"Sleeping," Duo answered. "I.. I always go to bed around 22.30 a.m."
"Is there someone who can vouch for your being here?"
"Hee… Heero." Duo felt nauseous and horrible. Dorothy was his student and now she was dead. He couldn’t escape death. They were intertwined… without an option to break free.
"Where is this Heero or where can we find him?" Chang Wufei looked stern at Duo, examining him from top to bottom. He had gained a lot of experience in judging people and their behavior after years and years of working in the homicide division. The piano teacher looked frail and helpless, but he had a strength that was struggling to surface. A strength some people would not see in him, and because of his emotional, shocked response to the death of the Catalonia girl, they would rather keep this Duo Maxwell for a sniveling wimp- only to be proven false when in the end, his strength would survive them all.
"Heero.." The doorbell interrupted him. Trowa rose to answer the door, but Duo jumped up.
"No, wait! It’s only Hilde.. she is my next student. Just a moment.. I will tell her to come back later, if you want to."
"No, let her in," Wufei motioned. "We were almost finished anyway, mr. Maxwell, if you give us the answer if someone can vouch for your alibi and where we can find Heero."
"I don’t know where he is. Heero has his own daily routine and.. excuse me, I must answer the door."
Duo left the living room and quickly opened the door. Hilde Schbeiker hugged him, giving him a friendly peck on the cheek.
"Good morning, Duo! I am ready for class! The nocturne I was studying was.." She trailed off by the lack of the usual, exuberant response.
"Duo? What’s the matter?"
"Hilde, I’m sorry, but I don’t think I’m good for any classes today.."
"What happened?" Hilde saw the two men in the living room and barked. "Who are you? What are you doing here? What do you want from Duo?"
"Hilde!" Duo cried out indignantly. She looked furious at him, but softened immediately.
"Duo.. what happened?"
"Detective Chang and detective Barton told me that Dorothy has been killed. She has been murdered and they wanted to know my alibi."
"Absurd… " Hilde’s eyes grew as big as saucers. "Dear Lord, Dorothy.."
"Did you know her, miss..?" Trowa asked.
"Schbeiker, Hilde Schbeiker. Yes, of course I knew Dorothy. I know all of Duo’s students and they all know me. It’s one of his great talents to mix the students to give them all an opportunity to play together and learn from each other’s techniques. I played quatre-mains with her a few times."
"Did you notice anything unusual about her, the last few days? Did she mention something out of her usual routine?"
"It’s just a piano class, not a freakin’ psychology lesson," Duo answered. Hilde clasped his shoulder.
"We don’t talk much personal issues during class. I can’t say very much about Dorothy because I only met her three or four times. I only know she has a grandfather and he was paying for the lessons. She was complaining about how he wanted her to play at least one musical instrument, because he esteemed it high for her education. She was way out of my league."
"Thank you, miss Schbeiker." Trowa closed a little notepad he was scribbling in.
"I think that will be enough for now," Wufei said and inclined his head slightly towards Duo and Hilde. "Thank you for the information."
Duo showed the two detectives out and hesitated by the door.
"If there is anything I can do, please let me know," he ventured.
Wufei nodded. "Thank you, mr. Maxwell."
They walked through the long corridor to the elevators. Wufei was used to Trowa trailing a few steps behind him – not because the other thought he was superior. This was the third year he worked with Trowa Barton and he couldn’t have wished for a better colleague. The green-eyed man had frighteningly accurate eyesight, despite all that hair in front of his right eye, and there was so little that escaped his attention. If there was something Wufei would miss, than Trowa certainly would pick it up. He only used that little notepad of his to write down some names or observations, observations as sharp as razor blades and invaluable for whatever case they were working on.
He punched the button to call the elevator.
"Well?"
Trowa shrugged. "The piano teacher is clean. He seemed genuinely shocked by the news. Lack of motive. I wouldn’t know what he would gain by murdering one of his students, and certainly one where Duke Dermail is paying for."
"Yeah. It’s Dermail who is also pulling strings and using all his influence to investigate his granddaughter’s death- and that’s why we have to sort through all these leads, no matter how insignificant they may appear."
The "ping"-sound announced the arrival of the elevator.
Trowa looked behind him, to the light yellow painted door of the apartment they just left.
"However, that Heero fellow sounded intriguing to me… when even his life partner doesn’t know where he hangs out, that’s certainly arousing questions."
"Exactly." Wufei took a step forward. Before entering the lift cage, he turned his head to his colleague.
"Put a note on this Heero, Barton. If other leads don’t work out, we can always follow this one."
Chapter 1 | Chapter 3 |