"Gotcha..." replied The Valentine... He headed to the mansion with them.... He was somehow suspicious of David... But something inside him told him... that man wasn't the murderer of Richard.... That left two choices on his mind.... An innocent... or an accomplice.... He smiled and the said... "I propose to check the whole room of Richard... after that any other... If you feel like privacy being violated.. remember, I'm somehow like a detective, but more specialized...." He didn't lie In fact, he had all the certificates of a detective right inside his long coat... That was a part of his shady past... A past he was looking to forget...
I sighed quietly and walked out to the room where the funeral was held, I began to scan the floor, for any signs of the killer, if he fired a semi-automatic pistol then the casings from the pistol would have been ejected from the gun, around where the culprit was standing, if I could find the culprit's point of origin then I might be able to figure out his movements from there, even if he could have made it through the crowd, over to the trophy case, smash the case, take the locket, and then escaped, or if he had an accomplice or if he made a stop on the way out... Hopefully Stella would find something helpful in the guest register.
Eddie Cartwright and Lester Stanfield "So, where does he live?" Eddie asked while turning down the volume on the radio by the wave of a hand. Lester gripped the seat hard, his fingers digging into the leather. It was a wonder they hadn't wrecked with Eddie's insane driving, or distracting singing. How long had the kid had his license? Not long enough. "Eugene lives in the last house on this street," Lester said, glaring at Eddie. "Just a word of advice Ed, but speeding will eat up your mileage and then you'll be straight back to the dealer. You planning to buy a new car?" Eddie listened to what Lester was saying, and understood that as a business man, he was probably right. Eddie just tapped his fingers on the top of his wheel, and then turned to Lester. "I guess that is just the plain truth, but you know, gotta enjoy your life. Being a student in college and just coming back for a break really has me excited to do something, then this situation happened and caught me off guard. I am just trying to be quick to help." He said, as he started to drive towards the last house on the street. He pulled up in front of it slowly. Lester chuckled. College life, he remembered those naive days. "No, leave it. We're not here as a threat, better not to look like it," he said as he unbuckled his seat belt, his eyes settling on the home. "And play it cool, Ed. Getting arrested isn't on my to-do list." Eddie looked at the windows, and stared at the house. He unbuckled his seat belt quickly and opened his door. "We outta find out something from his house." Eddie said to Lester in a playful tone. "Play it cool though, Ed. Getting arrested isn't on my to-do list," Lester said and started for the opposite side of the street.
Ruthie and Stella "I believe that you should be the one to look through the register, there are tons of people there and we wouldn't know who would belong and who wouldn't." the detective said. Stella pursed her lips, her brow furrowing in thought. After a few moments she declared, "I suppose you're right. But you must remember darling, I arrived late myself. And being away for a year, I don't know all new acquaintances, that's my mother's job." Ruthie's ears perked at the mention and walking away from the others, she glided over to her sister. "Can I be any help?" Stella nodded. "If you could go get the guest book Ruthie, that would be absolutely wonderful!" "Sure thing," Ruthie said and made her way to the library. Her steps echoed in the vacant hallway, sending shivers through her. Though she'd lived in the mansion all her life, being alone was never fun. As she turned the corner, she opened the door to the library and stepped inside. The smell of musty books hit her nose and automatically reminded her of lessons with her tutor. How she hated schoolwork. But it was not the time to dwell on such things, she had a task to accomplish. Walking over to the desk, Ruthie grabbed the small book in her hands and took the time to flip through the ivory pages. As she started back to the living room, she glanced over the many names scrawled in beautiful handwriting and some nearly illegible. There were so many names, some familiar, but most certainly were strange. Ruthie quickened her pace and rushed to Stella's side, almost falling into her. "Back so soon?" Stella teased. Ruthie payed no attention and cut to the chase."The detective was right! There's some names in here that don't look familiar at all. Take a look at these." Ruthie flipped open a page and read some of them off. "Will Sharp, Tina Belberus, Travis Eudo, Camille Gerad, Tess Bartholomew, and Leon Woodrow..." She continued to read more names, but Stella soon held up a hand for her to stop. Ruthie looked at her sister. She'd never seen her anything but happy, but now she appeared slightly disturbed. "Those people do sound...interesting." Stella said as she shifted her eyes towards all in the room. "Possible suspects, perhaps?"
As The Valentine, David and Piper made there way back to the mansion they had to walk near Broker street. It was a silent walk as David wasn't much of a talker but he did pause once he saw Eugene's home from up the street.....well that wasn't why he paused. He paused because Eddie and Lester were both looking around it. David glanced at The Valentine. He, Lester, Eddie, The Valentine, Roland and Kubi had been put in charge of looking into the murder.....much to his discontent. "Hey look its Lester and Eddie." He finally spoke pointing the way of Eugene's house to The Valentine. "Damn they didn't waste time that's Eugene's house." ......................................................................................... As Lester and Eddie looked around. They found that of course Eugene's doors and windows were locked. But his windows were clean enough to see through. It wasn't a big place but certainly nice looking with fluffy looking white carpets, fresh lime painted walls and various other clashing colors. Though like everyone else in this world Eugene had expensive looking things like furniture from other countries. Of course then again only his living room was visible from the front window.
Eddie Cartwright Eddie looked around and saw to Eugene's living room. Having a window that shows this much is dangerous, they're should really be come curtains. Eddie thought to himself. "Well looks like no one is home." Eddie said to Lester. Eddie was curious for reasons why Eugene might have sent the police away, but he wanted the chance to actually interrogate Eugene. Eddie sighed at his own dismay of the situation. Eddie put his hat on tight, digging it down onto his head, and buttoned up his coat as much as possible so no one would be able to recognize him after he noticed that David realized who the two are. Eddie quickly turned his head and waved his hand to David with spontaneous joy. Then turned his face serious and concentrated his eyes on the glass, after staring at his reflection, he flicked the glass a few times, and accidentally caused a crack in the window. He turned to Lester with a smirk. "Want me to punch through the glass so we can get it?"
As Joe searched around the area where the shooting and funeral had taken place. Some bullet casings lay just under where the chandelier had been. Well not just under but near. The bullets themselves seemed to belong to that of a more modern large handgun then anything else. Though that could vary depending on the type of gun in general.
I saw the casings and knelt down. "So the shooter was here..." I mumbled, I got up and pulled out my handgun, having it on safety, I began aiming it at the shot out lights and the remains of the chandelier chain. "I shoot out the lights..." I mumbled, I looked over at the trophy case, I walked over to the case and swung the gun at the broken case, envisioning that I was smashing it. "Me or an accomplice broke the case, took the locket, and then... I would have most likely ran out with the crowd... but... could I have gotten injured in the process when I broke the case?" I mumbled, I looked at the glass around the case for any signs of blood that shouldn't have been there, I knew that Stella had gotten wounded so... could she have injured herself on the glass from the case and not from the crystals from the chandelier?
Lester, Stella, Ruthie "Want me to punch through the glass so we can get in?" Lester coughed to stifle his laughter. Was the kid serious? Punch through glass? Well, he had offered...it was only polite to accept. "Go for it, Ed." But, I'm not cleaning up the blood. Lester thought. He looked over his shoulder to take notice of his brother with The Valentine, and the interesting Miss Rhodes. How did she come into the picture? After another quick glance her way, he turned again to the window with no curtains. Seemed odd. If Eugene had anything to hide, he sure wasn't doing a very good job of it. --- Stella continued to study the names, her blue eyes glazing over in thought. After a few moments, she raised her head to the face of Lincoln. "Excuse me Mr. Anderson, but being a business man, do you recognize any of these names? Do you know any of them?" she asked, holding out the book to him. "Do they sound familiar to any of you?" Stella asked the others, hoping her desperation was not shown. --- On her way back from the library, Ruthie had noticed Mr. Joe the detective had been in the room where they'd held the funeral. Maybe he would have an idea of what to do about the names. Making a silent exit, Ruthie retraced her steps and walked into the room. Despite her hesitance of talking with others, she managed to move past it. After all, Stella was depending on her to find that locket. "Hello, Mister. Sorry to disturb you, but we...um, may need your assistance with the guest book. You were right, there are some names that look peculiar." Ruthie said to Joe as she nervously twirled a lock of her hair.
Lincoln "Do they sound familiar to any of you?" Stella asked the others, hoping her desperation was not shown. Lincoln, still a little hung over, took the book. "No, I don't think that I recognize any..." he said, but then read them over again. "Wait, no... Will Sharp. He's a client of mine, owns a shipping company based over in the docks. Import export type I think," Lincoln tried to remember through his still clouded brain. "But I don't think he'd be involved in anything like this... I also didn't think that he knew your father either." He tried to remember anything else about the man. "He just diversified his portfolio though, sold off a lot of Stanfield Robotics stock in favor of a smaller start-up out of California. Apple or something like that... I thought it was a little odd at the time though, he's usually very conservative with his buying and selling habits. He might be worth talking to. I could get us in to see him pretty easily."
I stood up and looked at Ruthie, I'd look at the glass case later... not like any blood that was there was going to suddenly disappear. "I see... let's take a look at these names then, they may be connected with the robbery... were there any names that seemed fake, strange, or people that despised Mr. Stanfield, have wronged your family in the past or even possibly a known or suspected criminal?" I asked as I walked toward the room.
Eddie Cartwright "Go for it, Ed." Eddie gave Lester a wide smile, reaching from one side of his face to the other. Eddie then let his index finger point towards the window. He pulled his arm back and then pushed it forward with great speed and force. Only his pointer finger went through the glass, but the entire window shattered, and no blood was shed. "I am durable enough to not let my own blood shed." Eddie said reassuringly thinking that the police would be able to scan his blood.
The Lady in Red “You know there are easier ways to open a door, honey.” She had appeared like a rabbit out of a hat, her side gently brushing past Eddie's. With a crimson gloved hand she turned the doorknob and pressed it away, wincing at the creak of rusty hinges. Daylight swam through the entrance of the doorway, to spot the numerous particles floating in the room. They were like tiny stars, once floating in the dullness of space, now awoken and bright. Without a second thought she passed through the arch and into the room. The aroma of lavender kissed her senses, clinging to her like a sweet perfume. Though she enjoyed it Red was slightly perplexed; such a womanly scent did not fit with a man’s apartment. But then again, the place was an ugly mismatch of style and decoration. Lime painted walls, white shag carpets and furniture of deeply rich mahogany. Only a blinding drunk could have mixed this together and considering Red’s state the previous evening, it was not beyond her handiwork. She made her way to the liquor cabinet on the far side of the room and helped herself to some age old brandy. Within moments a glass sat in her gloved hand, filled with a thin veil of auburn. They were all no doubt here to search for murder clues, but she had an ulterior motive. “Come on in, I won’t bite.” She teased, playfully nibbling on a finger. One by one they edged into the room, quietly judging the decorum, as she’d done, inspecting anything out of the ordinary, as she’d done, and maybe, just maybe they would find Eugene here, comfy at home, ready for a chat.
"Done!!!" exclaimed The Valentine, as soon as he opened the lock of the door with some kind of small wire. He focused on that task while ignoring the others To his surprise the glass shattered at the same moment... "Oh well... at least I won't have to worry about leaving any suspicious evidence of our intromision..... as it's now clearly obvious...."
Eddie Cartwright Eddie looked at the Madam in Red and smiled. "Thank you darling!" said Eddie as she walked through the door. Once Lester had realized there was now another way in, Eddie looked back to him and then heard what the Valentine had said. "Umm, Mr.Valentine I have an idea. The door can be closed again so the only thing is the window but there is an easy way to explain this." Eddie reassured the information broker. Eddie put on a glove he had in his pocket to cover his fingerprints and picked up a baseball out of the bushes he had spotted. Eddie picked up the ball and put it in the house, in a spot it would have landed if it went through a window. "Now if one of the alcohol bottles were missing, that would be hard to explain." He said turning his head towards the Red Damsel.
David blinked a few times his face going pale and his eyes narrowing to slits. He licked his lips. A ball in the bushes? Convenient, in fact it was to convenient. Ruthie must of been getting to her.....dammit. David sighed and walked in behind The Valentine. To everyone's surprised Eugene didn't have any sort of alarms or way of warning that intruders had broken in his home. Which would be surprise as you'd think the son of a police chief would at least be on guard but then again this was Eugene. Of course this was dangerous territory they were getting into to. The sun was just starting to go down so they weren't breaking into a house at the best time. "Hey lets not spend to much time in here. None of us can afford breaking and entering on our records." He paused. "Well at least I can't." Oddly David didn't protest to this idea like had looking for the murderer.
Stella, Ruthie, Lester "He just diversified his portfolio though, sold off a lot of Stanfield Robotics stock in favor of a smaller start-up out of California. Apple or something like that... I thought it was a little odd at the time though, he's usually very conservative with his buying and selling habits. He might be worth talking to. I could get us in to see him pretty easily." Lincoln said. Stella tilted her head at an angle as thoughts played in her mind. It was no coincidence that Mr. Anderson knew of Will Sharp; she had firm belief that everything in her nearly perfect world happened for a reason. This was an opportunity they couldn't afford to waste. "Perfect," Stella said as she made her way to the coat closet, heels clicking in unison. "We will visit Mr. Sharp and see what he knows. I'm sure you can direct us to him Lincoln, or we can find his address." She grabbed her coat of black velvet, wrapping it about her shoulders. "Maybe by questioning him, we will have further understanding of the locket's location..." At that moment, Ruthie walked in with the detective, ears alert. "Who are you questioning?" Ruthie asked, studying her sister's attire. "And, where are you going?" "To speak with Will Sharp, Ruth. Grab your coat, in fact everyone do so. We must be off before it gets too dark!" Stella said and swung open the door. A brisk wind flew into the room, throwing back her curls. Ruthie's brow furrowed, but finally she nodded. "Of course, Stella. That's a great idea!" She turned towards the detective. "I guess Will Sharp is our suspect then? That name does seem...quite mysterious..." "Come on, darlings!" Stella said in a sing-song voice, stepping out the door. -------- Lester Lester's thoughts echoed David's words. Breaking into a home was against everything he stood for as a businessman. But, they were here for a purpose...to get something out of that blasted Eugene. Though, the superb Lady in Red seemed to have a different purpose in mind. Lester's face darkened at the sight of the liquor, women drinking...what was their world coming to? Clearing his throat, Lester walked to stand in the middle of the room. "Well, if Eugene was around, he would've heard the breaking glass. Therefore, he isn't here. Whatever we need, clues or whatnot, this is our chance to find. No more standing around, talking...drinking. What rooms should we search? What are we looking for?"
Eddie Cartwright He thought to himself, what the hell were they looking for, really anything that attached him to the crime scene or the event at the funeral. "Well, we are honestly looking for any doodad that could attach Eugene to the case. A bloody weapon, maybe his phone records if he didn't take his bot with him, a piece of broken glass, though we will have to check if it is to the Chandelier. Also any documents that seem out of the ordinary, and if anyone knows how to check guns, maybe find a gun that had been shot in the last two days. Possibly an out of place muzzle, maybe an animal of some sort, or something that could pierce teeth like holes." Eddie handed off his instructions. He hoped they would be able to come up with something, Eugene would be back any minute, and they have only a limited amount of time. He looked at everyone. "Try not to touch anything. Cause' you know. Just in case, he might check for fingerprints. So, that includes alcoholic bottles. Though if you have gloves, put them on. But if not and you find something, call me." he stated.
"...Are we sure that we should waste our time questioning this Will Sharp? What do we really know about this man? How do we know if this is the Will Sharp that you believe that we know and not an alias? If I were the thief I wouldn't in my right mind use my real name, we may be wasting our time going after a man that didn't attend the funeral... although... if he didn't go to the funeral the thief would have to stick to his 'Will Sharp' alias, meaning we'd have to speak to other guests to see if one of them talked to a 'Will Sharp', if we can get a description from one of them then you may be able to recognize the thief if it's someone that was not supposed to be there, like an enemy of the victim or someone that he fired." I said, I sighed quietly. "Can I just get a list of the strange names before we leave?" I asked, knowing that it would probably just be best to go with them and know the names, just in case that the strange names are connected somehow.
The Lady in Red “Try not to touch anything. Cause’ you know. Just in case, he might check for fingerprints. So, that includes alcoholic bottles. Though if you have gloves, put them on…” She lazily pointed to her gloved hand. “I know I’m just a silly little woman to you – but I’m not that stupid.” Her tone was dry and the whole situation was beginning to bore her. It would have been so entertaining to catch the Chief of Police’s son unawares, but alas he had not shown… yet. Why had Eugene shown up at the funeral in the first place? He didn’t seem to have any real connection to Richard. If he was the killer then why risk being there? Perhaps he got a kick out of seeing his own handy work… no Eugene only played the fool, nothing more. Red had enjoyed his antics at the mansion before he flew quickly up the stairs: a classic bait and switch. No one even had time to question him and heaven knows the police weren’t going to. He had been searching for something and Red wondered if he had found it. Hundreds of questions, yet not one single answer – Eugene had to be a piece of the puzzle. “What does Eugene actually do for a living? I always assumed Daddy’s golden pockets kept him busy.” She asked.
Eddie Cartwright “I know I’m just a silly little woman to you – but I’m not that stupid.” Eddie frowned immediately. He had not meant to demean the woman's feelings or make it seem like he found her of low intelligence. "I am sorry. I didn't mean to make it seem like I was giving you disrespect. I am sure that you are highly intelligent." Eddie said in a innocent tone. "I was just trying to be informative." he said feeling bad since around adults he feels he needs to act like one. “What does Eugene actually do for a living? I always assumed Daddy’s golden pockets kept him busy." "I have no idea, by the way." he said to the Red woman. He then looked at Lester and David. "What does he do?" he asked them.
"What does he do?" David shrugged truly not knowing the answer. His eyes started moving back and forth as he examined the living room. It felt a lot bigger once you entered it but even so nothing seemed out of place. No papers laying around, no stickies pinned on fridge and no sign that Eugene had anything to hide as everything seemed easily accessible. "Alright I think we should go." He said looking around. "Someone could call the cops at any time most of all with this many people visible."
Darkness lingered as the group piled into their cars, some with Lincoln and the rest with Stella. She drove one of the many Stanfield vehicles, though with having a chauffeur, her driving skills were a bit rusty. The unfortunate souls in the backseat were forced to tolerate her frantic swerving. "I'm sorry, darlings, really I am!" she called over her shoulder, several times before their journey was done. Somehow she managed to not get pulled over. Lincoln had the knowledge of Will Sharp's whereabouts and luckily his office building hadn't been far. With a final swerve, Stella parallel parked the car on the side of the city street and her passengers got out within the second. Ruthie stood shakily on the sidewalk, catching her breath as she looked up at the building before them. Even at dusk, the windows shone with light, somebody was hard at work. "Are you sure this is the place?" Ruthie finally asked. The streetlamps cast eerie shadows on the pavement as she took a step forward. "Yes, I believe so." Stella replied as the group gathered. "Mr. Anderson, you said that you could get us in easily? But, I wonder, who will question this Will Sharp and what should we ask him? We can't let him think we suspect him, we must have good reason. Any suggestions?" -------- "Alright I think we should go." David said looking around. "Someone could call the cops at any time most of all with this many people visible." "I'm not leaving until we get some damn evidence, anything to make this trip be not for nothing!" Lester said, his glare hard on David. "We're here, we should look around at least. It's hard to believe you're giving up because you're scared." He took a bold step toward the flight of stairs on the opposite side of the room. "Well, I'm not giving up, not yet."
Lincoln "Yes, I believe so." Stella replied as the group gathered. "Mr. Anderson, you said that you could get us in easily? But, I wonder, who will question this Will Sharp and what should we ask him? We can't let him think we suspect him, we must have good reason. Any suggestions?" "Hmm, well, I don't think it's a good idea if we all try and get in at once. I can take one, maybe two people, with to see him. I can get in on a claim that I'm here to speak to him about his investment portfolio. Whoever comes with me, I could say that they're from my insurance investigations department, and are interviewing witnesses of the theft at the Stanfield mansion looking for clues as to who did it. As long as we aren't too directly confrontational, things should run smoothly," Lincoln explained. "So, who's going in with me?"
I had sighed as everyone had ignored my request, I grabbed the guest registry and chased after everyone, I squeezed into the back with everyone else and began reading through the registry, rather quickly, I was a bit of a speed reader, looking for any names that seemed strange, or that I knew that shouldn't be there, I merely waved Stella off for every time that she apologized, it didn't really bother me, I didn't really seem to care one way or another how she was driving, I was actually pleasantly surprised when I saw that we had reached our location unscathed and without a ticket, I looked at Stella as she asked her question and then listened to Lincoln's explanation. "I'll go, I can probably sneak off saying that I need to use the restroom and peek through his belongings." I said.
