Whoodunit Pt. 4

Violet's plan was going smoothly, at least so far. She wasn't that fond of her luck, yet as the day came to an end and nobody could provide even a solid lead, she remained pleased. Her plans for extraction, were also looking good, Zen had set up rotating sentries outside of the infirmary, they were to stay in place until tomorrow morning when James swelling would finally go down, and they could interview him. Violet could not let that happen, so she moved into phase two of her plan. In between lunch breaks, and clue hunting, she had snuck into Jeck's, Tom's and Usami's room. She had taken an assortment of things: blankets, clothes, shoes, etc. for the comfort of James new home below her room. She had also left the very first page of James will in Tom's room, taped under his bed, that would prove handy.

Violet lay in bed waiting for midnight to draw near, they would be switching guards at midnight and it would provide the perfect cover. She had spent some time in the library catalogs and discovered that a series of old tunnels linked the entire academy. It had taken her some time to find the entrance but the west one leading from the dorms to the infirmary would be perfect.

Violet was perched right below the infirmary window, perhaps she had some luck after all. In order to give James some privacy they had closed his bed curtains. She heard the voices of Foxglove members chatting as they prepared to switch guards, they did a quick check on James, saw him sleeping, and switched. Violet hoisted herself up, balanced up on the window frame, opened the window noiselessly, and landed catlike on the floor. She stood over James, placed one hand over his mouth and tapped him on the shoulder. His eyes flew open in a panic, Violet knew that during his 'awake' hours he had been briefed by Alex on the task. Surprise and realization rested on his face, Violet winked and with another small motion injected a syringe into his bicep. Violet removed the hand from his mouth and placed a finger in front of her lips motioning for silence. She held his head as he fainted. Right on a cue, a smoke grenade, two corridors down from the infirmary went off with a loud bang.

The guards rushed outside, Violet her running from the opposite corridors and heard as Alex shouted, "It's a distraction you cockroaches! Check the bed!"

Someone yanked on the curtains, but James was long gone.

Back in James new sleeping quarters, Violet had laid him to rest on an elevated cot. She left a piece of paper with instructions dangling from the low ceiling above his bed, as well as food and water for in case he woke and she was hunting for the murderer. She crawled back up through the floor, set the boards, and shoes in place and laid back down in bed.

She was 'awoken' by her door almost being knocked down, Ivan and a few others stormed in. Ivan looked throughly disappointed to find Violet in bed and half 'awake.'

They spent the next several hours looking for James and other members who were unaccounted for. When Kieren refused to answer his door, Ivan spat that he looked guilty and left dissatisfied with Zen's unwillingness to make Kieren show up.

Day three arrived and foxglove had no new leads. Unless you counted Ivan's theory that it was Kieren and he was using his authority to keep them all quiet. Foxglove's distress grew once more when Nightshade found their murderer and were awarded the rest of the four days as free time. Although, by Violet's standards, Nightshade had not done anything very detective-like. Their murderer had used their ability, (clearly did not read the letter thoroughly) ice. There were only three ice users in Nightshade. Then, the murderer, Cameron, has tripped going down the stairs carrying the victim and been caught by Carissa. Truly a pathetic display.

All of foxgloves members were now to walk around in pairs to maintain their innocence unless they were in their rooms.

Violet had excused herself to her room some time ago but was really down below with James.

They had actually developed something of a friendship while he was 'kidnapped'. Violet had been unsure of how James would react, but he seemed thrilled with taking time off and just hanging out. They sat on the floor talking idly, Violet had thanked him for not having to tie and tape him while she was away. James had laughed replying that there were worse things in the world, and frankly this was a vacation, gourmet meals included. Violet was working on dinner for the second night when James called out, "So, you'll get kicked out if they catch you? The brass don't like us lower kind do they?" Violet nodded working on making red sauce for enchiladas, "I had figured they would pull a stunt like this at some point."

James was easy going, he wasn't as low in stature as Violet, but he understood the blows well enough. He pulled back his hair and pointed to a scar above his left eye. "Got this when I was newly adopted by my 'cousin' he didn't want a dirty whores bastard in his family." Violet let out a unamused chuckle, "bet they didn't punish him."

"Nahh, why would they, he was just getting used to me." James shrugged, "wasn't the first, won't be the last. Say Violet, I understand everything in this room, but what's up with the injured bird in the cage?"

Violet looked up, "oh, emergencies."

James laughed, "I have no idea what that means, but sure."

On day four, Zen, who considered himself extremely gifted, and felt personally offended by the lack of ideas or evidence, declared that they would searching all the rooms. Violet entertained the notion, discomfort evident as they searched. She was still maintaining radio silence around the ringleaders group, and they were all here. They searched everywhere and Ivan left disgruntled. Kieren who had surprisingly joined them, paused staring into Violet's bookcase. If Violet would be honest, she would admit that out of all of them, he was the one who could see through her farce. Kieren had always made her nervous. But Violet didn't feel like being honest.

They found the letter under Tom's desk and by the end of the day most everybody was convinced he was responsible for the murder, all they lacked was more proof. Kieren's response to a room search, however, left a couple suspicious as well. He had situated himself in front of his room and declared coldly that they would have to kill him before stepping a foot in his room.

Zen had stepped forward with Alex attempting to dispel the air of mistrust surrounding them with the statement that Kieren never let anybody in his room. They had never even set foot there, at any of his houses. Kieren and Violet's eyes had briefly met, that didn't really tally with her own experiences. A piano recital was proof of that. She looked away quickly when Kieren didn't.

Violet had to pat herself on the back for how well pinning the letter under Tom's bed had worked. When looking through the boys rooms for item for James, she had discovered that Tom kept his... pleasure magazines under his bed. She had chuckled, "hentai eehh..." When Alice had bent down while inspecting his room he had panicked and tried to pull her away, hence, GUILTY, tattooed on his forehead.

Violet was eating dinner with James when the unavoidable happened. The door above them, the one to her room, was opened and Alex's voice called out, "Hey Violet, can we talk?... Violet?"

James had frozen in place and looked to Violet. "What are we gonna do??" He had whispered the question so frantically that Violet almost laughed. She whispered back, "emergency bird."

Grabbing the bird, some gauze, tape, and scissors. She opened a tiny window he had not spotted before, it opened into bushes right below Violet's room. She crawled out into the bushes as Alex's voice called out once more, "....Violet? Hey, Aiko... Violet hasn't left by herself right...?"

Violet called out, "Down here Alex." Alex and Aiko's heads popped out from Violet's window. "What are you doing?" Alex began, "for a moment I though you were James... oh the poor bird, what happened."

"He fell from the tree, heard him squawking, he has a broken wing. He will have to wait until this task is over. I'll heal him properly then."

James couldn't help but snicker from his makeshift room as he heard the commotion above. He had to hand it to Violet, she really was remarkable. That woman was prepared for it all.