One Of Us Did It - part 2

Prince Dominic

Time stood still as he noticed a knife on the floor dripping with blood next to a body that was on a sitting position with his back against the wall. It didn't take a genius level intellect or an amazing ability to deduce, for him to know that it was the body of Edward, and from the behaviour of the four witnesses in the room, he knew that one of them did it. He didn't have the time to begin to analyse who could have killed Edward, and frankly it didn't matter. It did not matter whether it was his sister, Elswyth, Derek or Curtis that had killed the son of a bitch, because in the end, the dick-head was dead, and he was glad nevertheless, there was now the problem of what would happen when this news came out.

Who would the Chief Inquisitor believe actually murdered the boy, his sweet sister? That was not possible not even in any alternate time-line, his father would rather blame it on Dominic than have his daughter tried as a murderer.

Then there was Derek, the poster boy for every desirable bachelor, no one would even entertain the thought that he could be the culprit, neither would they suspect Elswyth or worse Curtis who knew the laws of the land. Frankly if anyone walked into the room and found them all there, questions wouldn't be asked, eyebrows wouldn't be raised because one glance in and they would know who did it; Dominic, the Prince of the nation who had not even been there when the crime had been committed, simply because he had had an altercation with Edward in the the party.

As the gravity of the situation struck him, he fully entered the room and quietly closed the door behind him to think. He knew one thing for sure, Edward should not be found, it would be better if they suspected he was dead than to actually find him dead; better for him and his sister, who would never forgive herself and her father should he be blamed for a crime she possibly committed or knew who committed. So first things first they had to get rid of the body.

"Dominic, it was an accident." Dominica said to him while her fellow suspects looked at her and him with the guiltiest of looks.

"Obviously it was an accident." Well he was not sure it was, the stab wound was in multiple places for this to be considered an accident.

"Yes it was an accident, but what do we do now? I think we should report this, turn ourselves in and face the punishment for our crimes." Derek said in his usual righteous tone.

"Yeah and have me hang for this, no thank you." Dominic said in a precise voice. "What happened here would live and die with with us."

"What do you mean?" Curtis asked.

"I mean we are going to get rid of his body and make it seem like he went away on a much needed vacation." Dominic said as he approached the body with the calm that was not in him or any of the suspected murderers in the room.

Edward being dead at this time was not a good thing in any alternate time-line or universe, he had just after all had a very public fight with the boy and had won, then watched him storm off the room before following him thereafter only for the Saint to wind up dead. Any Inquisitor in the nation would just call it an open and closed case and have him arrested, and of course the joy it would bring his father should he be found guilty; the old man would finally have a legitimate reason to be rid of him without any political consequence.

On a normal day when he was so depressed that he wished to be dead so as to be in peace, he would have taken the blame for this, anything to ensure his sister was never seen as a killer as well as allowing him to leave this world peacefully; however this was not a normal day. This was the day his father turned 40 and he would be damned before he gave his father the greatest gift he could ever hope for; his death.

Other than him not wanting to wish his father a happy birthday in style, he knew without an iota of doubt that his sister would rather have herself tried and executed for this crime than have anything happen to him especially since he did not commit this crime.

"We could say that it was the three of us that did it." Elswyth said nervously, obviously not willing to mention his sister among their gang lest he flare up and does something they would rather he didn't.

"Well congratulations to the three of you then, I will ensure we are not exposed for this, I will make sure none of us get to die for this, or worse." Dominic said as he tore a part of Edwards clothes and used it to wrap the knife that was laying by the corpses side.

"Why would you help us?" Derek asked in confusion. "We are not friends and have hardly exchanged two words with you other than 'Prince Dominic' so why the helping hand?"

"Don't flatter yourselves, I am doing this more for me and my sister than for you". He said as he looked at Dominica who had not said a word since she had claimed it was an accident. To say that he was worried would be an understatement, he was shit scared.

Any one of them could have done this, but it wouldn't matter in the eyes of the law, their pristine reputations would protect them which would make him the best suspect, his sister who loved him as much as he loved her would rather die than have him take the fall for something he didn't do, which meant that she would turn herself in before he woke up in the morning if he ever decided that he should be the fall man. Her dying while he lived was not in his cards, vies-versa, which meant that he had to come up with a solution as soon as possible.

"There are three ways to get rid of the body, by fire, by water and in the forbidden forest. We can't burn his body tonight, the smoke would attract attention which would lead to me getting arrested and killed, which my sister would not want happening so get the thought of framing me for this out of your minds." He said with steel in his voice as he looked them all in the eyes. "If that is not enough to discourage you from being dimwits, then know that I have information on all three of you that could ruin your families' life."

"We would never..." Derek began.

"Oh shut the fuck up Lord Righteousness, we are not friends to begin with so I get it if you are having any of those nonsense thoughts in your heads, I am simply discouraging you from acting on them." Dominic said as he once more looked at his sister who was still in shock. "The next way to get rid of the body is by water. We could drown him in the rivers that run around our school but that would be discouraged." He said as he kept watching his sister in concern, perhaps seeing on of her friends do this had given her a trauma.

"We would not want to put a corpse in our only source of water in the Tower." Elswyth said in understanding as she hugged herself tighter with Curtis' arms not leaving body. "So we put him in the forbidden forest?"

"Yes." Dominic said with a nod. "The wild animals would do all the work for us, all we have to do is just sit back and let them rip the body of Edward into pieces. If his body is then eventually found in anyway, well, no one would ever think he was murdered by a human, thereby protecting us." He finished before once more looking at his sister who was still very quiet, almost as if dreading the consequences of what had just happened in the room.

Moving closer to his sister he grabbed her shoulders tenderly while looking at her face in concern. This was not a good sight on his usually strong sister who had challenged his father when his father had entertained the thoughts of sending Dominic to the army while sending his precious daughter to get an education. This girl looked freaked out albeit in a controlled manner, like she had just seen a ghost or had just done something so wrong on so many levels that she was scared to come to terms with that.

The thought made him turn around and look at the three Saints who looked more worried than freaked out, it was almost as if they had watched her do something and were far more interested in protecting her than judging her. No.

"No, you didn't do this right?"

"I ... I am s... sorry. I saw him start a fight with you after calling you an abomination and I just could not stand the sight of someone beneath you daring to publicly humiliate you." She confessed with tears running down her cheeks so fast and freely that he had to pull her into a hug as she wept so hard he could feel it. "I'm sorry I was just s... so angry that I followed him here and stabbed him multiple times." She finished with more tears running down her cheeks and soaking his shirt.

He knew his sister loved and was protective of him, but for her to kill for him... well that was new. He would never hurt her or turn her in for something like this, frankly he would say good riddance and kiss her in joy, but he couldn't say or do any of that, not when there was a body rotting on the floor beside them. A body they had to get rid of.

With her confession came a realization, six students left the party for some air however only five of them would return, an Inquisitor would be sent by his father to find out why and this Inquisitor would do everything within their power to find out what happened. One of them did it while the others were a witness, making them accessory to murder should they not report it as Derek had suggested they do. Dominic now had a very serious job to do, he had to protect his sister from the Inquisitor while also ensuring the witnesses who neither he nor his sister had had the pleasure of exchanging anything more than two words at any given time prior to this incident, didn't turn her in in fear of what the Inquisitor could do to them should the truth come out.

One thing was certain right now; one of them did it, good luck to whoever wanted to find out who.