[Chapter Two]
"Who the hell are-?!" I cut myself off, realizing that shouting at the dial tone wasn't getting me anywhere. With a slight snarl, I let the phone drop heavily back into the cradle. I turned to face my co-workers, leaning back on Sally's desk with my arms crossed across my chest and a sardonic smile on my face. "Well. This case is coming along quite nicely. We've not had it for fifteen minutes and I'm already receiving quasi-death threats!"
"Who was it and what did they say?" Sally asked from behind me.
"Some guy who said, quote, Detective Chang Wufei, if any harm comes to Relena Darlian, I shall hold you personally responsible. It might be wisest for you to drop the case now, while you still have the chance, unquote."
"No one you recognized?"
"If I recognized them, then this would be a whole lot easier, wouldn't it?"
"Just checking."
I sighed tiredly. I was having a very bad day and my temper was even shorter than usual. If things kept going as they were, I was likely to burst a blood vessel or ten- or, more likely, burst someone else’s blood vessels. With my bare hands. And the blood would go all over the place. And I would laugh. And-
“How much sleep did you get last night?”
“Huh?” It took me a moment to realize that a question was being directed toward me by Barton. I thought a moment. “About three hours.”
“That would explain why you nearly dozed off. It was either that or that you’re a narcoleptic. I wasn't quite sure which was the more plausible explanation.”
With a slight growl, I walked resolutely over to the door. I did not need Barton’s humor at that moment. What I needed was to get out. I needed to get some work done. I needed-
“Hey, Heero!”
The door burst open. I dodged out of the way quickly enough to avoid having my skull smashed open, but not quickly enough to keep my forehead from receiving another nasty bruise.
I did not need Duo Maxwell bursting into my office.
"Duo, what the hell are you doing here?" Heero demanded, Death Glare fully active. Unfortunately, the Death Glare seemed to have little effect on the Perfect Detective's grinning roomie.
"Aw, c'mon, Hee-man, what kind of greeting was tha-"
"What the hell are you doing here?"
"Jeez, man," Duo griped, "I just came in to say hello. No harm in a fellow being friendly, now is there? And look at the abuse I get."
"Maxwell, we're on a case right now. We don't need any distractions," I growled, making another attempt to walk out the door.
"A case?"
My heart sank at the curiousity apparent in Maxwell's voice.
"Yes. A case. Goodbye."
"Wait a sec, Wu-man, you didn't ev-"
"My name is not 'Wu-man.'"
Next thing I knew, I had a braided idiot hanging off me like I was his best friend.
"Fine, fine, Wu-bear, but what's this I hear about a case?"
"You heard nothing," I replied irritably, shoving him away. "Now go away."
With that, Maxwell began pouting. "I was going to offer my assistance. But am I good enough for the great Chang Wufei? No, of course not. I'd like to help out, you know, anything for my buddies. Apparently, though, my help is not wanted." With that, he launched into a melodramatic performance as only Maxwell can. "I'm not wanted. They look at me and think, 'Oh, it's only that Duo Maxwell. We don't want him.' You don't know, you can't know how that makes a man feel. To walk down the street, knowing that your best friend thinks you're an idiot and all of his friends think that you're even worse. To go on, day after day, and-"
I rolled my eyes. "For God's sake, Maxwell, put a sock in it!" And I attempted to walk out the door again. In a second, though, Maxwell was between me and my escape route.
"Fine. I'll shut-up. If you let me help."
"Let you help?" I huffed with disgust. "What makes you think that you-"
"Wufei, let him help."
If my jaw was not properly hinged into my skull, it would have hit the floor at that point. I swung around to face Maxwell's advocate.
"What?" I asked, dumbfounded.
"Let him help," Yuy repeated. He cast a sidelong glance at the braided idiot. "He's not as stupid as he acts."
"Heeeeeero! I always knew you loved me!"
"Shut-up."
Another Death Glare. Another cheeky grin in return.
I shook my head, still in shock. "Yuy, you'd better get going after Miss Darlian. You've been delayed too long already," I said, casting a glare at Maxwell.
Yuy nodded and was out the door and on the case.
"Barton," I continued, "you and I-"
"And me," Maxwell chimed in.
"-need to get a bit of research done."
Barton nodded. He was giving me Look #2 (interpretation: Admit it. You're stuck now, Chang. I am amused). My shoulders sagged as I resigned myself to my fate. "Maxwell comes, too."
"Aw, thanks, Wu-man..." Maxwell winked at me as he meandered out the door, Barton following behind.
"You gonna be all right, Boss?"
I turned around. "Ms. Po, I have been given a case for an annoying, simpering slip of a rich girl, I am receiving death threats, and I have a braided idiot in tow. Do you think that I'm going to be all right?"
She smiled. "Yeah, I think you are."
Despite myself, I smiled back. And with that, I turned around and walked into the door.
"Just try getting a little more sleep tonight, Boss."
Scowling once more, I yanked the door open and shut it with a savage bang.
You know that you're having a bad day when walking out the door is considered a major triumph.
The other two were waiting outside. By default, we were taking Maxwell's car, seeing that my piece of crap wasn't working and Barton didn't have a car at all. It was good that we had a car between the three of us, I suppose. The bad part was that Maxwell and Maxwell alone drove Maxwell's car. Part of being a private detective is learning to take danger in stride, to confront risk without batting an eye, and to look death in the eye and laugh.
Death has a new name: Maxwell at the wheel. Only recently have I begun laughing.
I'll admit, we missed our first clue as to the style of our driver. When we piled in, Barton with Maxwell in the front and me in the back,Maxwell turned around with a grin and asked, "Okay, fellas, where d'ya wanna go?" in a manner scarily reminiscent of a New York taxi driver.
"Apartment 15, 9 South Windsor Boulevard," said Barton. "Near the big Darlian mansion, which you can't miss."
"All right, I can handle that... Who lives there?"
"Why do you want to know?"
"Hey, I have a right to know. I am helping out and I deserve to know what's going on."
Realizing that the obnoxious braided idiot has no intention of taking us anywhere until we told him (and it was clear that this case would require keeping a low profile, ruling out walking or taking the bus), I rolled my eyes and sighed, giving Detective Barton the green light to partially relent. "It's the residence of a person with close ties to the Darlian family. Especially Relena Darlian."
"Now drive," I ordered. "Wake me up when we get there, Barton."
He nodded. "Sure thing."
"So we're off!" Maxwell stepped on the gas and we were out on the road and immediately through a red light.
"Christ!" I exclaimed as I was thrown halfway off my seat. "Maxwell! We're sort of trying to get there unnoticed and in one piece. We don't need you getting pulled over or getting us all killed!"
"Aw, don't worry, Wu-man. Those cops can't catch me." He turned around and winked. "I thought you detective folk liked efficiency."
"Just keep your eyes on the road," I growled, settling back in my seat, attempting to cat nap.
"I don't think they'd be of much use there... likely to get run over, ya know..."
His joking was met with silence as I closed my eyes and leaned back to the din of sounding horns and screeching tires. "What the-?! Well, then get out of the way, you son of a bitch! I'm comin' through!" crowed our driver. Several variations of the given elements were repeated continuously as we made our way to 9 South Windsor Boulevard.
I'm not exactly sure how long the ride lasted, but suddenly I was thrown forward, landing in between Maxwell and Barton.
"Wake up, we're here," my partner-in-crime-solving remarked dryly before opening the door and getting out of the car.
Somehow I managed to unwedge myself from between the two front seats and get out of the damn car. Straightening my considerably rumpled coat and hat, I strode up to the door of Apartment 15 and knocked.
The door was plain and white, but much cleaner than anything you'd find in my end of town. In fact, the entire apartment complex was ten times cleaner than anything you'd find near my place. I approved of its simple elegance; it wasn't garishly showy or grossly ostentatious like a lot of the other things you find in the ritzy section of town. Everything from the neatly trimmed shrubbery to the brick walks leading up to the doors seemed to be in perfect order, nothing catching the eye and raising immediate suspicion. That meant nothing.
Frowning, I impatiently knocked again, less politely this time. Still no answer. I banged on the door a couple of times, but still no one came.
"I don't think your witness guy or whoever is home," Maxwell suggested.
Barton shook his head. "They are. My friend called me earlier and told me that they are."
"Your friend?" I raised an eyebrow. "And who would that be?"
"A friend of mine who lives in this area, " Barton responded, turning to level his gaze with mine, daring me to persue the subject. I took the dare.
"Once more, who exactly is this person? And how would they know we would be coming here?"
Barton narrowed his eyes. "He knew because I told him."
"You are not leaving until I get a straight answer. Who. Is. He."
There was a tense silence as Barton and I glared, both of us refusing to back down.
"Hey, hey, hey, hold it, you guys... Now, there's no need to be gettin' all tight in the ass because of this. Just-"
"Maxwell, butt out."
"Fine, fine..." he responded, backing away. "Christ, you'd think I was trying to.. to... I dunno, do somethin' unpleasant to you guys-"
"Butt out and shut up, " I repeated before turning my full attention back to my co-worker. "We'll work this out later, Barton. Have Maxwell take you up to the Darlian place. I'm staying here to do some questioning."
The tall detective nodded and he and Maxwell got into the car and drove off. I turned my attention back to the door, which was being decidedly uncooperative.
"Is anyone in there?" I called, banging some more. There was a light on inside and I could hear water running and someone talking on the phone. I could hear them talking and they hadn't responded in the slightest to my shouting and banging on the door. That was the limit.
I was about to break down the door in frustration when I had a sudden flash of insight. I tried turning the doorknob. Miraculously, it was unlocked. Opening the door, I walked inside.
The interior of the apartment was much like the exterior. The hall in which I now stood was simply and pleasantly decorated, with everything in perfect order. Almost. An oak picture frame on the stand to my right had been knocked over. Straightening it up, I saw that it was a picture of a man and a woman. The man was your classically handsome fellow- tall, blond, blah blah blah- and the woman with him was a decent-looking thing. Her raven black hair was pulled back sharply into a tight bun, but her eyes were soft and she was smiling. That man... Hnph. Not very proper to rummage through people's photos when there was work to do.
Standing the picture frame upright, I began walking in the direction of the voice, my shoes soflty clacking on the hardwood floors. The voice becoming more distinct, I strained my ears to hear what was being said.
"-realize what you're trying to do and I stand by your decision, but don't you think that you should tell-" said the woman's voice.
Wait. Woman?! This was a lead that'd been given to me by Barton. He hadn't mentioned that I'd be dealing with a woman. I frowned. So this could be either easy or hard. You see, the problem with women is that if they're not cooperative, you can't rough 'em up like you can do to men. It's against my code of honor. I continued to move forward. Rounding the bend in the hallway into the kitchen, I could see the woman talking on the phone. As I suspected, it was the woman in the photograph.
"If you feel that is best, then. Oh, and another thing! You should be careful of-"
All of she must have felt that someone else was there. She slammed the phone into the cradle and whirled around around to face me, violet eyes definitely not soft and sure as hell not smiling.
"You left your door open."
"What the hell are you doing here?" she demanded.
"I'm here to question you and you'd do best to cooperate, lady."
"First I'd like to know who you are."
Time for the drill. I drew my card from the pocket inside my trenchcoat. "My name is Chang. Chang Wufei. Private detective. And I'm here the question you concerning the murder of Mr. Darlian."
Apparently, she was unimpressed. "And just who put you on the case, Mr. Private Detective?"
"I am not at liberty to say."
"Then I'm not saying anything. The door is that way. Goodb-"
"All right, just wait a second!" I interrupted. "Now, I'm not saying that you did it or anything, but you are definitely not being very cooperative, which doesn't reflect very well on you. I came here to question you to try and get some help, not to arrest you. Though I might end up doing that if you aren't any nicer."
Her mouth twisted into a thin smile. "I'm not required to be nice." In a moment, I had a gun pointed at my chest. "Now, leave my house. Or I'll call the police and have you arrested for breaking and entering."
"I am not leaving and I have a feeling that you don't really want to call the police."
"In that case, I'll have to shoot you."
Crossing my arms, I stood there, meeting her challenge. "Go ahead. I'd like to see you try."
There was a click as she cocked the pistol.