Legendary Detective at the World's End (Volume 1) (19 page)

   “Was she with anyone?”

   “I don’t know. It kind of looked like she was dancing with someone, but here, everyone’s dancing with someone.”

   “Did you see him?”

   “Yeah, with about a hundred other guys.”

       Kirin looked away from Kara, wearing an expression of disappointment on his face. As he stood there in thought, Jake looked from a distance at the body. “Who the hell did this?”

     Kirin looked at Yumi. “We’d be better off asking Yumi’s brother about this.” Kirin said with a look of interest in his eyes.

   “What?” Yumi said as if she was a mother defending its young. “If you’re thinking what I think you’re thinking, the answer is no. Milk couldn’t possibly hurt anyone, especially murder someone.” She said looking at him as he muttered under his breath. “Milk… He’s always been a bit slow in the head, we never leave him alone, me and my brother. We’ve always taken care of him. He couldn’t possibly hurt anyone seriously.”

   “Seriously?”

Yumi’s eyes shifted at Kirin’s emphasis on that word.

   “Hmm…” Kirin began to pace the room, dismissing his probe of Milk. “Then that leads me to Mr. Number two who’s always supposed to be with him.”

   “What?” Yumi said holding Milk tighter to her.

   “Hey,” Jake said stepping forward. “Take it easy Rin, don’t you think you’re jumping to a lot of conclusions here?”

   “Am I?” Kirin said looking back at the body on the ground before quickly crouching down and analyzing something around her neck. Letting his fingers lift the necklace lying on her chest, he found a medallion with cursive letters molded in gold that made out a name.

   “What?” Jake said looking at the intense stare Kirin gave to the medallion.

   “She’s a Kartier.” he replied looking at the necklace with the same name written out on it.

      Gregg threw up his hands in displeasure. “Ah, damn, I knew it from the moment I saw you here that you’d be bringing me trouble.”

   “What?” Kara said with a panicked expression on her face. “What’s going on? What is that supposed to mean?”

   “Nothing until we check the doors.” Kirin said looking at Gregg with a dead serious look in his eyes that prompted Gregg to rush back out the door behind him with a panicked expression on his face.

   “Hey, Gregg!” Kara shouted at him. “Where are you going? What’s going on?” she said looking back at Kirin.

Standing up, Kirin looked at Jake, giving him the same look as he did Gregg. Cringing at first, Jake rushed over to the door, exiting in a panic.

   “Tell me?!” Kara said looking around, feeling a sudden pressure about the moment. Yumi, still holding her brother in her arms, looked at Kirin with a heavy guard and uncontrollable interest in what was happening along with what he was doing about it.

   “Kirin…” Yumi called out. Kirin turned around and looked coldly at her brother while he still wept in her arms. Repelled by his aggressive demeanor, Yumi held her voice.

   “No need to be shy,” Kirin said. “I’m not going to do anything to your poor brother, but the City Guard might.”

   “City Guard? Don’t you mean the City Patrol?”

   “No, not this time.” As Kirin’s words escaped his mouth, Gregg along with the shorter bouncer entered the room and slammed its door shut. “They’re here!” Gregg shouted in a panic with his gun drawn. As Kara looked at them for answers, Jake rushed into the room from the other side, slamming the door as well.

   “Damn it, Rin!” Jake shouted. “Why do you always get me trapped in a room?!”

     Kirin smiled as he began to pace around.

   “What’s going on?!” Kara asked again. “Someone tell me.”

   “Yeah…” Yumi said with a worried look on her face. “What’re you all shouting about?”

   “We’ve been had,” Kirin replied. “Or more like, I underestimated the Captain earlier, brushed him off as a mere crony when he was a perfectly round cog in this giant mechanical machine called the Union.”

   “What’s that supposed to mean?” Yumi asked.

   “It means he tricked us.” Jake shouted as he pulled a dresser from the wall. Just as he covered the door with the dresser, the music outside cutout as screams from the crowd began to rise over the sudden silence until a forceful call blurted out over their sounds of terror.

   “City Guard! City Guard! Do not interfere or you will be fired upon!” Their words echoed from the outside into the small dressing room.

     Yumi wore an expression of sudden panic on her face as she turned to look at Kirin. “Why is the City Guard here?”

   “It seems that the Captain has some loose ends to tie and we just so happen to be the knot to make the connection.”

   “What the hell are you talking about?!” Kara shouted, afraid and confused. “You speak like an old hermit on the hill. Just tell us straight up, are we screwed right now?”

   “Absolutely not. It just means we’re in a tight situation.

   “How tight? Because I had nothing to do with this, I don’t see why I have to hole myself up in here with you lot.” she said heading for the door. As she did, a loud bang against the face of the door Gregg was guarding rang out.

   “City Guard! Open Up!”

   “Damn.” Kara scoffed, backing away and heading to the door Jake was covering. As she neared, another loud and repeated bang against the door rang out from the side Jake was holding back.

   “City Guard! City Guard! Attention! Attention! Criminals and those harboring them: You have hereby been sentenced under the Dear Nautilus Act for the crime of Murder against the Merchant Kartier working under the Noble house Kurant. Under this act, you have been sentenced to death on sight by any means!

     Kara took a step back. “They can’t be serious?!”

   “I’m afraid they are…” Kirin said as the banging on the doors increased in sound along with the calls for opening the door. “You see, it would seem the Captain has done his Union duty and has properly given us blame for their wrongful murder of a Merchant who served the Nobles of a foreign city.

   “So you didn’t kill him?!” Gregg asked as he placed a chair under the handle of the door while he pressed his body weight against it along with the short bouncer.

  “Of course not.” Kirin said.

   “Who cares about that!” Kara shouted. “We’re about to be shot down either way, we need to get out of here.”

   “Yeah.” Jake nodded, holding the dresser drawer against the door as the guards repeatedly banged against its surface. “Rin,” he continued. “Do you think you can think your way out of this one for us?”

   “I don’t know.” Kirin said in deep thought.

   “Loud!” Milk began to shout out from the arms of Yumi. “Loud! Loud! Loud! Loud!” he repeated like a drone, his soft tone voice adding to the crescendo of banging and shouting from the City Guard.

   “Shut up!” the short bouncer screeched at the large boy as he pulled away from the door, leaving Gregg to fend for himself.

   “Hey,” Yumi said. “Don’t talk to my brother like that.”

   “Forget him.” he growled. “We wouldn’t be in this situation if it weren’t for this retarded murderer.”

   “I told you, he didn’t do it. Did you even listen to Kirin?”

   “Forget him too.” The short bouncer said pulling at the hairs of his head as he broke into a nervous breakdown. “It’s both of your faults for even coming here. You should leave us law-abiding citizens out of your madness.”

   “Hey,” Kara said pushing the short bouncer to the side. “Cool it Ham, if she says it to be so, it is.”

   “Grr…” Ham growled.

   “Hmm…” Kirin hummed as his eyes caught the corner of the blood spool around the dead girls head. “Interesting…” Kirin said looking as the blood seemed to seep through the tiled floors of the dressing room in a drip like fashion. It was almost as if there was something beneath the floor.

   “Lace, Lace, Lace…” Kirin whispered as a smile came over his face. Crouching down, he looked towards Ham and Kara. “Help me move this girl over.”

   “What? No.” Kara pulled away. “Let the dead rest.”

   “I found a way out.” Kirin said, changing the mood of Kara in an instant as she smiled enthusiastically.

   “Then let’s raise the dead.” She said crouching down, pulling Ham along with her. They both knelt down to help Kirin drag the body away from the leaking space on the floor, revealing an uneven tiled part of the ground. Placing his bare hand on the bloodied surface, Kirin glided it across the floor, soaking up blood until he felt a corner slightly tilt forward as he pressed his weight against it. Grabbing one end of the tile, he found a handle and quickly pulled it open like a hatch, revealing an iron made ladder attached to the wall going down a dark hole.

   “Hah!” Kara let out a scream of excitement. “There it is, an escape route.

   “Really?” Jake said placing chairs and other equipment on top of the dresser over the breaking door.

   “Really!” Kara shouted back to him.

     Yumi, taking notice, stood up, lifting the scared Milk along with her. As she inched closer to them, she looked down the hole. “Do you know where that thing goes?”

     Kirin looked at her. “Only one way to find out.”

   “Out of the way.” Ham said impatiently as he pushed everyone aside while he placed his feet on the ladder. “I’ll find out first.” He said climbing down.

     As he reached the mid-way point down, Kara smiled. “I guess I’ll be the second.” she said placing her feet on the ladder. As she began her descent down, the banging on the door stopped, grabbing everyone’s attention. As they all looked in cautious silence at the stillness of the doors beside them, a sudden shot rang off, followed by the scattered spread of bullets from a machine gun rattling, tearing apart the doorframe at a blinding rate. Gregg, along with Jake, jumped away from each of the doors, sliding to the ground towards the open hole where Kara wasted no time to climb down the iron ladder.

   “Hurry!” Gregg shouted at Kirin as he pulled out his handgun and began firing at the door, drawing away the furious barrage of bullets from the City Guard. Kirin, turning to Yumi, grabbed her by the arm. “Go!” he said to her panic face.

     Milk began to cry at the noise. “I don’t want to go! I’m scared of the hole. Monsters are in the hole!” Milk cried. Hearing his weeping, Yumi grabbed him by the cheeks and looked him directly in the eyes.

   “Milk, can you hear me? Listen to my voice and nothing else.”

Milk, still weeping and scared at the gunfight ensuing around them, looked at Yumi, trusting her calm voice. “Yes…”

   “Milk, I need you to be brave for me and climb down this ladder, can you do that for me?”

     Milk turned and looked at the seemingly deep hole leading down the ladder.  As he did, he glanced at Gregg on the ground, firing his pistol at each door, staving off the incoming horde of City Guardsmen, he then looked back at his sister, meekly nodding his head. With Yumi’s guidance, he hesitantly lowered his legs down the ladder.

   “Yumi!” Jake shouted from the ground, ducking his head. “We need to go!”

   “He’s doing his best.” She shouted back.

     With measured steps, Milk made his way down. With enough space for another person, Yumi quickly jumped down and grabbed onto the iron sides of the ladder, climbing down at a furious pace to catch up with Milk. Kirin, watching them as they scaled down, turned to Jake. “You’re up next.”

   “Finally.” Jake said crawling over in a hurry as he slunk himself over the open hatch hole, grabbing onto the ladder handles as he pushed off the tile floor and swung onto the open spaces on the ladder.

   “Let’s go, let’s go!” Gregg shouted as the guards hammered through the door with the butt of their rifles. “They’re coming through.”

     Kirin looked as Jake made his way down quickly before looking back at Gregg. “You’re up.”

   “No way.” Gregg said reloading his gun. “You go first, I’ll give these guys one last round of hell.”  He said finishing reloading his gun before immediately shooting at both sides of the door, pushing back the guards once again. Heeding his words, Kirin climbed down the ladder. As he got the full length of his body inside the hole, a shadow cast down upon him. Looking up, Kirin saw Gregg standing at the foot of the hole with the hatch in his hand.

   “Tell Lace, whenever you see him, I did my best to keep you safe.” Gregg smiled. “It isn’t over…” he sang as he slammed down the hatch, shutting the hole and placing everyone into complete darkness.

   “Gregg!” Kirin shouted out into the darkness, but all he could hear in return were the shouts of the guards then a hail of gunfire and the many ricochets of bullets bouncing off the surface of the tiles floor. Piercing the hollow roof of the hole Kirin was in, light began to seep in, briefly illuminating the dark space, but that light was soon covered after the gunfire died down and the sound of a weighty body crumpled onto the ground, covering the small glimmer of light.

     Biting down on his teeth, Kirin looked upwards, eager to shout out Gregg’s name, but all to knowing the attention that would attract.

   “Kirin.” Jake said below, standing up and away from the ladder. Kirin, looking down, realized just how short the trip down was. Letting go of the ladder, Kirin dropped down onto a cement floor. Flashing lights into his eyes as soon as he dropped down, Ham ran up to Kirin.