Gundam Wing Fan Fiction ❯ Murder and a Music Box ❯ The Man Who had it All, Part 2 ( Chapter 10 )

Author's Notes: Thanks for your review Sailor Firestar. Yes, you'll find out what Quatre was up to in this chappy. I always get Kyo or Hiro on Furuba quizzes, but I think I'm more like Shigure than anyone else on the show. I've been to theOtaku.com but I never joined. Is it worth it?

Another thank you to TKM for your review. Yeah, there will be a coupling at the end. A lot of people want it to be 1x2, but who knows? Okay, I do know, but I'm not telling. I think the coupling fits the story and the characters though. I hope you enjoy!

Disclaimer: Duh, I don't own Gundam Wing. If I did I would have a lot more money.

Warning: In this chappy there is some bad language, but only a couple times. Shonen ai, but if you're reading this fic you already know that. I guess I should mention there is a little 2x4, he wishes, 4x1, maybe a little 3x2? Man, Duo gets a lot of action. Oh, and past Rx5xR.

The Man Who Had it All, Part 2

I waited a good few minutes after Quatre drove away before I went into the shop. When I walked in the German girl looked up from the counter like she was gonna say something but stopped herself.

"Oh, welcome again," she said.

I nodded curtly and smiled. "So, who was that leaving just now?"

She glared at me. "I don't remember. What do you want this time?"

Well, that was the biggest load of crap I'd ever heard. She didn't know? Come on. "If you don't remember who he was can you tell me what he wanted?" I asked and tried not to grit my teeth.

"No, I don't remember that either," she said and held her chin up. Man, she was sure stubborn.

I fought to control my temper. "Really? You seem a little young to have such a bad memory. What's your name?" I asked. "Or did you forget that too?"

"Hilde," she said and began to rearrange stuff on the front shelf. "Now, tell me what you want because I am very busy."

"I was just wondering if you had fun last night?"

She stopped what she was doing and looked at me. "What do you mean? I do not know what you mean."

"With Akito Sohma?" I said and gave her a small smile. "So, did you have fun?"

She shook her head quickly and went back to organizing the shelf. "I don't know who you are talking about."

I let out a short laugh and pulled out a couple of the pictures I had taken the night before of Akito and her as they left The Blue Angel. "I took these last night, so I thought you knew who he was. You are the one who told me about him in the first place."

She looked at the pictures and her eyes grew wide. Then she shook her head again. "I will say nothing more to you. Leave my store now, please," she said and looked down.

"What does Akito Sohma have to do with Dorothy Catalonia?" I asked.

She kept looking down. "I cannot tell you anything. Please leave," she said, her voice slightly shaking as she pointed to the door.

I just glanced at the door but kept pushing. "That was Quatre Winner who just left here. What did he want?"

She just stood still and shook her head without looking at me. I sighed and pulled out a card. "If you remember anything give me a call," I said and walked out. How frustrating.

Well, after that I walked back to my car. She hadn't said anything, but she still gave me plenty of information. She was scared, I could tell. She had the same kind of fear in her voice that Chang had when he told me to leave. And it all lead to Cobra and Dorothy. They had something to do with Mr. Winner's death, I knew it. But at the particular moment I pushed it to the back of my mind. All I wanted was to find out why Quatre was in that shop.

I went home and pulled out the camera I had taken pictures of the kid with. I wanted to develop them immediately but the phone rang.

"Hey, what do you want?" I asked when I picked it up.

"And you expect to win over anyone with that attitude?" Trowa asked and chuckled.

I didn't know what to say to that because I didn't feel like fooling around right then. I know, it was a landmark moment. "So, how did the Chang thing go?" I asked instead.

"He was pretty cooperative. He may know something, but I don't think he had anything to do with the murder or the robberies," he said and I heard him take a sip of something.

"Yeah," I conceded and began to rewind the film, "I know."

"He told me that Mr. Winner had been working with Dorothy Catalonia. She was loaning him money to get his business back on its feet," he said and I mentally kicked myself for not realizing it sooner. "So what did you find out?" he asked.

I stayed silent for a minute and thought about it. I didn't feel like telling him about Quatre at the moment. I guess I just didn't feel like admitting how stupid I'd been. "She knows something too, but she won't talk. She was pretty scared though."

"Hmm," he said and I could just picture him nodding on the other end of the phone. "When do you wanna go back to The Blue Angel?"

"You go on without me today. I have some other stuff I wanna do. Call me tomorrow and let me know how it went, okay?" Even as I said it I felt guilty, and I didn't know why.

"Oh, that's fine," Trowa said, and I was grateful he didn't press me for information. "I'll call you tomorrow then. And Duo?"

"Yeah?"

"Be careful," he said and hung up.

I held the phone for a second and hung it up too. Then I went into the dark room and began the process of developing the film. When I had finished rolling, developing, fixing and rising, I hung the film in the dryer and went to make some food for Ignatius and myself. He got a salad, I got an Uncle Ben's teriyaki bowl.

After we ate I grabbed the film out of the dryer and the kit I keep my photography stuff in and sat back down at the table. Ignatius was still eating, but then iguana's are pretty slow. I opened the kit and pulled out a pair of scissors to cut the film into sets of five. The kit was a handy little thing I picked up when I decided I was tired of losing things. I keep my scissors and a bottle opener in the top and my extra film sheets in the false bottom. After I cut up the film, I pulled out one and began sliding it into the sheets. As I was doing that Ignatius walked over and stuck his head in the open kit. I looked over and smiled, he was trying to be funny. Then it hit me. Quatre had been looking for something in the music box the day I gave it back to him. I knew it was empty because I'd looked inside it, but what if it had a fake bottom? What if that's where Quatre was looking? Maybe that was why he went to the shop, to ask about what was missing from the false bottom. And you thought I wasn't a good detective?

Well, that was a nice little epiphany for me, and I did thank Ignatius for helping. Then I disappeared into the eery orange glow of the darkroom and began making prints. As I did I mulled the case over in my mind thinking of everything I'd head and seen. After I was finished I was reasonably pleased with my results and made about six prints. I also had a good number of questions that needed answering. Well, then I grabbed the prints, my coat and headed for the door. I had to pay someone a visit and see just how close to the truth I was.

It was around six that night when I pulled up to the Winner residence. I really hoped Quatre was home. I got out of my car and rang the bell, like usual, and waited for someone to answer. Someone did. A very disorganized looking Quatre Winner. Now, when I say disorganized I'm trying to be polite. His shirt was totally absent and the first button of his khakis were undone. His hair was also not so stylishly messy but more someone's-been-running-their-fingers-through-it messy. Not that that is a bad kinda messy, mind you.

"Bad time?" I said and couldn't help the amused smile that spread across my lips.

"D. . .detective? Umm, well no," he said and stepped back from the door. "Come on in."

I could tell he was just being polite, but I walked in anyway. "This way," he said and began to walk while running his fingers through his hair.

"Quatre," I said as I followed him, "your top button is undone."

I saw his ears turn pink as he buttoned it up. "Thanks," he murmured and lead me into a sitting room. "You can wait here, I'll be right back."

"That's fine," I said and nodded. "Where's Heero?"

He looked at me for a minute, and I looked right back at him. "Upstairs," he said finally.

"Great, why don't you tell him to come on down. I have a few questions for him too," I said and sat on the couch.

He only nodded and walked away quickly. It was ten minutes before Quatre, with a shirt on, reappeared with Heero by his side, looking equally disheveled. But then, Heero always looked a little disheveled. I suppose it was part of his charm.

He gave me a small smile. "It's good to see you again, Duo."

"Yeah," I said and nodded, "you too."

Quatre, trying his hardest to be the gracious host, smiled. "Is there anything you'd like to drink?"

"No," I simply said and looked at him. He was still as attractive as ever, but instead of this longing to touch him I had more of a longing to know the truth. Although, I suppose the longing to touch him was still present a bit. Hey, what can I say? He was one hot guy.

"Can I ask what you wanted then, Duo?"

I nodded and pointed to some empty seats. "Yeah, but why don't you guys sit down. I just have a few questions to ask."

They both complied, and I turned to Quatre. "Do you still have that music box I found for you?"

"Of course," he said slowly.

"Well, I'd like to see it," I said, "I think there might be a clue in it that I missed." Not a total lie, by the way.

He nodded and got up. "I'll be right back then."

After he left I looked at Heero who was still smiling gently at me. "Were you having a good time?"

"Yes," he said and leaned back, his pale yellow silk shirt was down a couple of buttons and untucked from his snug jeans. He looked good, like usual. "You know, if you came onto him I don't think he'd say no."

I tried to shoot daggers out of my eyes at him, unfortunately, it didn't work. "What makes you think I'd want to have sex with the kid?" I spat instead. Not that he was wrong, but I wasn't going to admit it.

Heero just shrugged. "I thought you might want to is all. And I couldn't blame you, he looks like a little angel sometimes."

I just nodded absently and looked at Heero again, his silk shirt and designer jeans. He was always dressed like that. Even his apartment was a little too nice for The Blue Angel. "How much does he pay you," I asked.

Heero didn't say anything at first. He just studied me slowly, but he didn't really seem that shocked. Then he smiled sadly. "He pays me very well."

I just nodded and watched him for a moment before Quatre came back into the room with the music box. He handed it to me and smiled. If he noticed anything odd about the way Heero was acting he didn't mention it.

"Thanks," I said and took it from him. I was very close now. I kinda felt like Indian Jones, only not so cool.

"No, thank you, Duo," Quatre said and gave a winning smile. "I'm so grateful that you got it back. I was even thinking about something while I was fetching it. You see, I know this case is really hard to solve, and I think the police are already pretty close. I got a call from Detective Barton the other day saying they had a number of really great leads that looked promising."

I looked up and nodded at him while he took a breath. "So, I was thinking since you already got the music box back you don't have to bother with the other. I mean, the cops will find them soon anyway. I'll even give you a nice bonus for working so hard. What do you say?"

"You hired me so you can tell me to quit whenever you want," I said and looked from Quatre to Heero. He didn't seem surprised at all by the offer. And it was pretty sweet. Especially when Quatre showed me all those extra zeros. I mean, that could buy a whole lotta conditioner. So, I thought about the amount of money I would be receiving and looked at the music box. This was gonna be a tough decision.

* * *

More Author's Notes: Okay, so what did you guys think? The next chapter is gonna be the last one, and it is getting pretty long. Well, longer than all the other chapters anyway. I'll post it once it's finished and beta read, in a couple of days. I hope everyone enjoys it!