Spectacle of Death
Chapter 14

by Scarlet Eve

Wednesday

9:30 PM

Catherine, Trowa, and the ringmaster has been brought into the nearby police precinct for questioning. It was standard for a police officer to be near the circus whenever it was open, to keep the peace in case anyone should become too drunk and disorderly. It had hardly occurred to the young, green officer that he'd have to deal with an attempted murder. Heero watched the officer follow his superior around the office like a puppy, all wide eyed and jumpy.

Heero had already given his statement to the police, along with Relena and the others. He then sent everyone home, or at least to Duo's apartment, which was closer, to wait for him. It was obvious the police didn't like so many people hanging around. They let Heero stay out of courtesy. Before Relena left with the others, she'd kissed his cheek and told him to be careful.

Even while watching another officer question Catherine, Heer could still feel the kiss. It was just a little distracting.

The ringmaster had quickly admitted that he had no idea why Catherine would intentionally throw her knife at someone. She and Trowa had been part of circuses and other shows for their entire lives, and rarely ever made mistakes. He admitted to knowing Heero and helping him with the murders of Bartok and Dorothy Bocharov, but he hadn't known that Heero was in the audience that night. Even to Heero, it was clear the ringmaster was clueless and innocent.

As for the other two, they stonewalled as long as possible, until the officers changed their tactics, providing information that even Heero hadn't known.

Through the one-way glass, Heero watched the office inside pulled a plastic bag from his pocket and unfurl it. He held the bag up to the light, which revealed a few strands of hair that were the same red-brown as Catherine's.

"These were found on the body of Dorothy Catalonia-Bocharov," the officer said. Heero's mouth fell open, and he quickly pulled his notebook from his pocket and flipped back to the page he'd written after Dorothy's body had been found. Heero had… assumed that the police were going to botch the entire investigation.

"There's no proof those are mine," she said, crossing her arms over her chest. The officer shook his head.

"I'm fairly certain that we can match the hairs from one taken from your head right now," the officer said. "Our forensic officer is quite good." He paused, staring her down. "Not to mention the stab wounds that I believe will be consistent with those fancy daggers you like tossing around so much."

Heero saw Catherine's face pale slightly. But Heero didn't think she was scared. Catherine knew she'd been caught, but Heero also knew that she had been hired for these jobs. And he suspected that Une had seen him in the big top, and ordered Catherine to kill him. Even Heero had been surprised at his own reflexes in dodging the flying knife. Heero watched Catherine stare at the officer, her expression changing between stubbornness, guilt, and defeat.

In the next interrogation room over, Trowa was still sitting silently in his chair, arms crossed, while the officer asked question after question, and each went unanswered. It was clear the officer was getting frustrated, but all his attempts at intimidation failed.

But luckily for the police and unlucky for Trowa, Catherine was the talkative sibling.

With her arms crossed over her chest, Catherine told their tale.

"Trowa and I joined Bocharov's several years ago. For the first few years, everything was normal. It's not a great show, but shows that pay well are scarce these days. It was about a year ago that we were approached by Lady Aria-Une sent us a message after a show one evening to meet her at a nearby restaurant. We had already heard the name before, so we knew she was part of that family. She asked us outright if we'd be willing to take on some special assignments. Honestly, we couldn't pass up the money she offered." Here, Catherine paused and averted her eyes, as if trying to make up her mind about something. She sighed. "We killed three people. The first one was a man that Aria-Une had been having an affair with - he threatened to tell her husband unless she paid him a lot of money, so she asked us to kill him. The other two - well you know. We were supposed to kill Relena Peacecraft, but I missed. And Quatre Winner - he was killed by Aria-Une herself."

Heero lifted his eyebrows. A bad feeling began to crawl over his skin. He glanced away from Catherine at the other gathered officers. No one was paying much attention to him. Heero stepped away from the one-way glass and walked through the hall of the police station towards the front door. In the lobby, Heero veered towards the bank of payphones He dialed the number for Duo's apartment and waited.

Duo answered.

"How's it going?" Duo asked.

"We know for sure Une is behind all this," Heero said. "Is everyone still there?"

"Yeah."

"Is Relena's car still hanging around? I think her and I need to pay Une and Treize a visit," Heero said. He heard Duo call to Relena and ask, and in the background, Relena answered in the affirmative. "I'll be there soon."

Heero hung up the phone and the coins he'd pushed into the machine clattered into the deposit box. The officer at the front desk barely acknowledged him as he walked out the front door of the police station.

Wednesday

11:45 pm

Relena was on the sidewalk outside of Duo's apartment building when Heero arrived on foot. Her black Cadillac was idling in the road, pulled up alongside the curb. She looked as nervous as Heero felt.

"I suppose I shouldn't be surprised," she commented when Heero approached. He nodded his head once. "But all those people?" She opened the door to the backseat of the car and slipped inside. Heero followed behind. After he closed the door and the car pulled from the curb, Heero glanced at Relena.

"She was the one who killed Quatre," he said, his voice low, making an attempt to be comforting. As he expected, her face fell slightly, but there was a flash of anger in her gaze. "And she asked them to go after you, as well. It's like she's trying to get rid of anyone who might know anything."

"Anything about what?" Relena asked, half distracted.

"She was having an affair, according to Catherine." Relena looked surprised. So she hadn't know about it, after all.

"Who was it?" Heero shrugged.

"Catherine didn't say, but she did admit to killing the man Une was sleeping with."

"What is Une doing?" Relena asked, turning to look out the window. "These people - they're not related at all! What would Dorothy and Bartok have to do with her own affair?"

"I can't figure that out either," Heero said. "That's why we're confronting her." Relena glanced out the window of the car, her fingers twisting in her lap. Heero laid his hand over hers, to stop the nervous energy.

"You don't have to come along, if you don't want to," he said. When she looked back at him, there was fire in her eyes.

"I want to be there. I have to be there," she said.

As soon as Relena's Cadillac pulled into the circular drive of the compound, Relena had her hands on the handle, trying to get out of the car before it came to a complete stop. "What's wrong?" Heero asked, trying to stop her.

"I have a bad feeling. Something is wrong," she said, forcing the door open and stumbling onto the drive. Heero crawled after her, and the driver glanced out the window, concern written on his face. Heero rushed to keep up with Relena as she ran around the car and up the steps to the front door. She burst her way in, not waiting for the two burly guards to open the door for her. Heero slowed for just a moment, then hurried past them to keep up with Relena.

"Relena, wait!" Heero cried. "Don't just rush in anywhere!" Relena either didn't hear him or was choosing to ignore him. Her blonde hair flashed around a corner and through a doorway. Heero collided into her back when he slid around the corner on the wood floors.

"No."

Over her shoulder, Heero saw Une standing behind Treize's desk in the room he'd been several times before. Une's hair was wild, the look in her eye something inhuman and animalistic, a bloody knife clenched tightly in her hand. At the sound of Relena's voice, her head snapped up. A sinister grin spread over her face.

"He's dead, just as he deserves," she said. Relena moved to rush into the room, but Heero held her back, pushing her body behind his. "And I'll kill you, too."

Une ran around the desk, her knife drawn back to strike. Heero stepped forward, his police training kicking in, and knocked the knife from her hand, grabbed her wrist and twisted her arm behind her back. He grabbed her other free arm and pushed her against a wall. She fought him, trying to free herself, to scratch him, to bite him. Relena was shouting over Une's screeches, the sounds melding in Heero's mind, nearly making him lose his concentration.

Another door to the room opened and the tall frame of Milliardo stepped inside. The expression on his face changed from business to terror when he saw the scene happening before his eyes.

"Milliardo! Help us!" Relena screamed. Millardo froze for a moment before he crossed the room in a few strides and took hold of Une, restraining her. Relena twisted out of the room, flying back towards the front of the house. Heero took a step back, his breath heaving in his chest. Somewhere outside of the house, the police sirens wailed.

Thursday

9:00 p,

"So what happened?"

Heero drank his double whiskey, pushed the glass to the edge of the table, and signaled for another. Duo and Wufei sat at their usual table in the back of the bar, their own drinks in front of them.

"After the cops arrived, they took Une into custody. She'd stabbed Treize ten times in the neck and chest." Wufei and Duo grimaced. "They let me listen to the confession, which wasn't too hard to get out of her, but it was the craziest thing I've ever seen." Duo and Wufei leaned forward.

"Really? What'd she say?" Wufei asked. Heero thought he was trying to seem less interested than he really was.

"They brought in some doctor to examine her, and he discovered that she has multiple personalities," Heero said.

"What?!" Duo and Wufei both cried. "That's crazy talk," Wufei added. Heero shrugged his shoulders.

"The doctor said she has two personalities. One is Lady Une, who is a kind, gentle person, and a personality that calls herself Colonel Une, who is evil and manipulative. Colonel Une planned to have those people killed," Heero said. "Apparently Lady Une is appalled by what her other personality has done."

"Sounds like a load of shit," Wufei said.

"I gotta agree with Wufei this time," Duo said.

"I'm just telling you what they told me. Doesn't mean I believe it. Anyway, Colonel Une refused to tell the police anything, but then Lady Une appeared and told them everything. Apparently… the personalities can have conversations with each other….?" Heero was skeptical about this. He didn't bother asking the doctor for clarification. "But this was her story: Treize, Une, and the rest of the Dioli high-ranking family members crossed paths with Mr. Bocharov all the time. He was always flaunting his money and making other people in their social circles angry. When Bocharov brought Dorothy Catalonia back from Europe, she started taking up with Treize. That made Une mad. She kept trying to tell Bocharov to control his wife, but he wouldn't do anything about it. Eventually, Une caught Treize and Dorothy having an affair."

Wufei and Duo snorted into their drinks.

"Une couldn't do anything about Treize - she was suspicious that her father cared more for him than her - so she decided to take revenge on everyone else. She hired those circus performers after seeing Catherine's knife throwing act. Like Catherine said, they weren't going to pass on the money Une was offering."

"But what about Quatre Winner? What did he have to do with anything?" Wufei asked.

"She admitted to killing him herself, but she didn't say why. He'd also had an affair with Dorothy. Just speculation, but I'd guess she killed him on principal," Heero said.

"Poor guy," Duo lamented.

"The police are still investigating, but I gave them my statement. They'll just have to collect enough evidence to put her away for a while," Heero said.

"Somehow, none of this is very surprising," Duo said, and Heero and Wufei bobbed their heads in agreement. "Except for the multiple personalities."

"It's probably just a ploy to get an insanity plea or something," Wufei suggested.

"When Relena heard about it, she claimed it made sense," Heero said. "Une had always behaved strangely, and sometimes completely different from day to day." Wufei grunted, a sign he wasn't convinced.

Duo threw back the rest of his drink, rose from his chair, and tossed a few bucks on the table. "Well, I'll see you squares around. I have a date with Hilde," he said, winking. Wufei and Heero waved goodbye and Duo strode from the bar.

"I'm gone, too," Wufei said, also tossing a few bills on the table. Heero mumbled a goodbye as Wufei left the bar. Heero leaned onto the table, holding his whiskey glass, his mind replaying the events of the past few weeks.

Sunday

12:00 pm

Heero locked the door to his office and trotted up the steps to the sidewalk. He had a pint in his pocket and was planning on buying a sandwich from a deli and consuming the two for lunch. He was lost in thought walking down the sidewalk when he heard his name.

"Heero! Wait!"

He paused and looked up. He heard footsteps behind him, and a moment later, Relena appeared. She wore a large sunhat to block the rays of the sun and was dressed in a blazer and long skirt.

"Relena." Heero said. "I haven't seen you around." She sighed and tilted her head.

"I know. We have been trying to clean up Une's mess. Milliardo is temporarily taking over while we figure out what to do next," she said. "All activities are on hold. Nothing like this has never happened in the Dioli family."

"So nothing happened with the policing coming into the house?" Heero asked. A sly grin formed on Relena's lips.

"The chief of police is one of ours," she said. Heero smiled and shook his head. Of course. "That's actually want I wanted to talk to you about."

"Huh?"

"We think you could be useful within the Dioli family," she said, her hands and fingers nervously twisting around each other. "But… there's one problem that they're fairly strict about." Heero raised an eyebrow, but said nothing. He had a feeling he knew what it was. "If you did want to join us, and the offer is there, you'd have to get clean."

"Get clean?"

"They don't tolerate any behavior that impairs judgement," she said. "But this could be a good opportunity for you, if you wanted to take it. We could get you back in the police force, or you could do some other work. Milliardo likes you."

Heero stared at her, knowing that she meant well, but she didn't understand his inner turmoil that led him to become so dependant on his whiskey. Though, a small part of his mind did nudge him, suggesting that maybe it was time to crawl out of that dependency hole. Even Duo and Wufei only drank for fun.

"I don't know, Relena," he finally said. "I don't know if I can do it."

Her face fell, and Heero's chest tightened.

"Oh, alright," she said. Heero seriously hoped those weren't tears in her eyes. "Well, you know how to contact me, if you ever change your mind." She stepped around him and walked away, her shoes clicking on the sidewalk in a hurried tempo. Heero glanced over his shoulder and saw the black Cadillac sidle up to the curb. Relena threw open the door and slipped side, and a moment later, she was gone.

Heero sighed. He turned back around and continued walking to the deli to pick up lunch.

END

Don't hate me, hate the genre.

-SE, with love