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rosyredlipstick · 7 years

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somebody’s old friend (2/3)

The night began with wine and dinner, cake and champagne. It began with boring conversation, tense smiles, and eyes that should not have been lingering. A gathering, with known names and too-sweet comments. This was a party of politics, and everyone there knew it. This is where it began. But the night of October 23rd 1969, a date that would later go down in Chicago city history, truly started with a murder. But even before that - a scream. - The PJO Murder Mystery AU

Part one

Very few of us are what we seem.”

- Agatha Christie

Here’s how it happened:

Drew Hayami Tanaka bled out onto the carpet of the di Angelo tea room around 8:40 PM on the night of the annual di Angelo banquet. Her throat was slit, there were no obvious signs of struggle, and the only items on her person were a small compact mirror, a tube of lipstick, and an indecipherable scrap of paper. At the time, there were ten other people in the manor, the help having already gone home. The manor was equipped in high security and, after thorough investigation, it was determined that no one could have broken in that night. Therefore, it had been decided that it must have been one of the ten guests within the manor that night.

The question, then, was who.

Frank scrubbed at his nails, his breath heavy, his eyes wide, as his dripping, darkened hands tinted the water scarlet. His chest was still heaving from his heavy actions and, as he glanced up in the mirror, he could see sweat on his brow. He bent down to wash his face, willing the redness in his cheeks away.

There was a long beat of silence after Reyna’s proclamation, only the heaviness of breath, shifting of nerves echoing after it.

“One...of us?” Annabeth’s voice was weak, trained on the wall. Percy, at her side, wrapped his hand around her elbow in comfort, and she did not pull away.

“Someone could have broken in,” Hazel’s voice was unconvincing even to herself, “they could have…”

“The help locked up the manor before they left,” Nico reminded her, edging himself in front of her. “The security system would have gone off. We would have heard the alarm.”

She bit her lip, her agreement unvoiced. She opened her mouth to speak up again, perhaps another theory, perhaps not, when someone gasped.

“Your dress,” Annabeth’s voice was very careful, “what is that on it?”

Hazel blinked in surprise, looking down to the skirt of her dress. Along the bottom lace, the dark fabric was tinted just a shade darker, just enough to be noticeable. A stain, dark and sloppy and spattered uglily.

Jason, keeping Piper close to his side, considered the stain. “That wasn’t there before dinner. It’s new, hasn’t even fully set it.”

“Almost like it happened within the hour,” Reyna, ever the observant one, added on, keeping her space from the group.

“I didn’t do it!” Hazel was backing up into the wall, her eyes frantic and wide.

“Then why is there blood on your dress,” Annabeth’s words were said through gritted teeth, a dessert knife pointed out defensively. Behind her, Percy was silent but watching with a grave expression. “And you were the first one here, you were the one who screamed!”

“It wasn’t her,” Nico snarled, his arm coming up to shield his sister. “I saw Piper dragging Drew off after dinner.” Nico’s voice was accusing, his eyes sharp as they sliced to the other girl. “And Hazel was in the kitchen washing off the gravy stain right before, I was helping her.”

“How can we even trust you?” Piper hissed, “Everyone knows what lengths you would go to to protect your sister, di Angelo. Did you think we would forget the Octavian incident?”

His eyes flashed dangerously, and when he spoke, his voice was low and on a tone of darkness. “Careful, McLean,” He told her, making no move. He was too still, in that moment, his words holding too much promise. “Apparently princesses are dropping like flies around here.”

In a moment, Jason was in front of the girl, his teeth bared.

“Was that a threat?”

Nico didn’t hesitate to match his biting tone, “if it was, it wasn’t an empty one.”

The tension was rising too quickly, too high for a room full of scared, panicked people and a body cooling on the carpet.

“Everyone, calm down,” Percy instructed, his voice steady. He let his gaze sweep over all of them, “We need to stay calm. Unless we’re gonna be able to call for help, it seems like we’re going to be here until morning.” His gaze flickered over to Leo, standing still and dark against the wall. “Leo - you said the phone line was done, how do you know?”

There’s gazes rested on the other boy - some angry, some confused, most suspicious - and the curly haired boy swallowed against the attention. For someone usually so talkative, he’d hardly spoken all night.

And wasn’t that suspicious.

Reyna stepped forward, her eyes narrowed. “That’s true. How did you know?”

His hands went up quickly in surrender, “I was going to leave early!” He blurted, “After dessert was served I went to call my driver but the phone had no dial tone. I was going to ask Nico or Hazel about it but…”

“Drew said some awfully nasty things to you during the meal,” Reyna commented, her gaze sweeping over him. “That must have made you pretty angry.”

Piper joined Reyna’s force of suspicious, “You stormed off after dinner,” she scowled, her hands clenched at her sides. “You disappeared for nearly half an hour. Just long enough to…” she refused to look towards the other side of the room, but it was heavily implied.

Leo’s eyes were wide and panicked and, had he not been already, he would have backed up into the wall. “I didn’t do it! I was in the wire room the entire time, trying to fix the phone lines.”

Reyna’s eyebrows were perfectly manicured and lifted in disbelief, “And how convenient there’s no one to back that up.”

“Enough,” Percy’s hard voice interrupted, “now is not the time to start throwing accusations.” Percy frowned, looking over them all before pausing on someone in particular. “Let’s take a breather. Will, why don’t you go get cleaned up?”

Hazel’s previously panicked gaze became one of concern, sliding over to the other boy. He still had Drew’s blood on his hands, now drying tack on his fingertips. “Oh, Will I - I forgot. I can show you to the bathroom -”

“You’re not going anywhere by yourself,” Nico frowned, his hand coming over her shoulder. “I’ll go with you,” he cast a suspicious glance over at the other boy, “keep an eye on you.”

The doctor didn’t seem bothered by the suspicion, only dipping his head in agreement and following the two out of the room.

Left behind, Percy pulled Annabeth closer to his side, his fingers pressing into her hip, and looked to the others. Leo was still against the wall, looking as if a trapped animal, Frank looking pale and faint at the whole situation, Piper, Jason, and Reyna looking a bit too crazed. They all avoided looking to the carpet.

Percy’s gaze was heavy, too heavy. Annabeth was avoiding his eyes.

Reyna cleared his throat, watching the three disappear through the doorway, and spoke. “What now? What do we do with...her?”

Piper’s month smoothed out into a flat line, but said nothing.

“We can’t just leave her there,” Jason’s voice was soft, a stranger contrast from his previous hard tone. There was a rare remorse in his voice, an odd but noticeable lift to his words.

“What do you propose?” Percy’s voice was a neutral as if it was one of their business deals. Piper was almost disgusted.

Reyna stepped forward, smoothing her blouse, the perfect picture of composure. “Help me look, then, if we’re not going to move her.”

There was a moment of stillness - nervous swallows, flickering gazes - before they did.

Drew, flipping her hair, only sneered as she swept across the room. On her way out, possibly carelessly, most likely not, her hip checked Hazel in the side as she gathered up dishes, and Drew ignored the other girl’s startled noise as a splash of gravy darkened her skirt.

From the side, Nico di Angelo’s eyes grew dark as Drew’s figure disappeared through the doorway, and as he stepped forward to help his sister.

“This way, Will,” Hazel lead the blond man, Nico trailing behind them, watching carefully.

The boy was silent, quiet, as the siblings lead the way. Silence always bothered Hazel too much.

“This night is…” Hazel’s eyelashes fluttered as she took a much needed breath. “Not what I expected.”

Nico resisted the urge to roll his eyes, “Someone died, Hazel. Not someone anyone particularly enjoyed, but someone nonetheless. I don’t think anyone was expecting this.”

There was a beat of stillness, even as they walked together, at his words. Someone had died tonight, in their home, a few rooms over. Hazel took a steadying breath.

She grabbed onto Nico’s sleeve, “Who...who do you…”

Nico was scowling at the wall as they walked, “I don’t know. But I don’t trust any of them.”

Will sighed, nodding in agreement at the other boy’s words. “My father pushed me into coming and....definitely a mistake. I don’t think this was the sort of ‘connection making’ he had in mind.”

Nico looked like he had something to say about that, probably unpleasant knowing the boy, but Hazel cut him off with a frown as they arrived.

Hazel gestured towards the large guest bathroom, “You can get cleaned up here, Will. We’ll wait right outside, if you need a moment. Oh, let me get you some of the stronger soap -” she cut herself off as she turned to the bathroom shelves, her face taking on a turn of confusion. Will have the other boy a puzzled look, who only crossed his arms in answer. After a moment of cut-off silence from the other girl, he stepped forward.

Nico joined her side, giving the shelves a curious look. “What?”

She blinked, “The bleach. It’s opened.”

Nico gave her an impatient shrug, “And? They probably cleaned before the party.” At their conversation, Will turned to the sink, and began washing off his hands. He was no stranger to scratching blood on his hands.

She was shaking her head, her gaze still glued to the open closet. “It’s...they wouldn’t. Not before the party, and risk stinking up the place. And this one…” She trailed off, picking it up. Her hands struggled with the weight of it - it was near full. “I just bought it. I was going to use it for the bath tub after I rinsed my dyes this weekend.”

Will was wrinkling his nose, as he scrubbed at his nails. He paused, inhaling. “It smells like chemicals.”

Nico took a similar breath and gave him a short, hard nod. At that, Will flipped the handle and stepped back, his hands dripping wet.

“It would have had to been used recently,” Hazel’s eyes were wide, “someone here would have had to used it.”

Nico blinked, “Perhaps someone trying to remove the blood off a surface.” Staring at the sink - white and spotless porcelain - he leaned closer. Nothing - the surface and handles were as bright and clean as ever. Whoever had been here, doing whatever with their bleach, had been thorough.

He crouched down, his eyes running up the glass, and froze.

“There it is,” Nico blinked at the half-moon of rust, a thumb print barely noticeable through the smear. Undoubtedly, a small blotch of dried blood.

Hazel and Will point bend down to stare at the underside of the sink. Will gasped softly, his hand flying to this face.

“They were here,” Will looked vaguely sick by this realization, as if just hitting him the murderer was here , with them - one of them.

“We have to tell the others,” Hazel breathed out, her hand clenching at her brother’s.

After another moment of staring, Nico slowly nodded, his biting anger a rare absence.

They burst back into the room just as the others were settling a dark sheet over the girl, Piper standing off to the side, glaring at the wallpaper. Jason, at her side, seemed to be attempting a sort of comfort she had no interest in accepting, but they all snapped their attention to the doorway as they burst in.

They were having a bit, the run and adrenaline seducing the air from their chests. Annabeth, with her head previously in her hands as she curled up on the couch, looked up in confusion.

Nico froze in his attempt to catch his breath. Frank and Percy were bending over the body, smoothing the sheet over the girl, and in the action, Frank had stretched his arm across the space, putting his entire coat sleeve on display.

Hazel and Will were still lost in their breath, but Nico sobered up nearly immediately. He kept his eyes trained on the other boy’s sleeve for a long moment - just long enough for the silence to become heavy as the others grew impatient.

He finally spoke out, meeting the other boy’s wide, nervous eyes.

“Frank,” Nico’s voice was serious as sin, “is that a bleach stain on your sleeve?”

The other boy would have gone pale if he hadn’t already been so. “I - I….”

“It was you,” Will realized, “It - it had to have been.”

Reyna’s sharp gaze cut to them, and when she spoke, her voice was a demand. “What are you talking about? A bleach stain?”

Hazel was shaking her head, wide-eyed. “In - in the bathroom, someone opened the bleach and used it. And Nico found a smear of blood and - and we thought that meant that whoever opened it must have been trying to cover their tracks.”

“But he wasn’t careful enough,” Nico added on, his voice dark. “Sorry, Frank. But you forget to clean up after yourself.”

“It wasn’t me,” Frank tried to claim, backing up. Leo, against the wall, flew away from the other boy, joining the others beginning to huddle him in. “I swear, it - it wasn’t!”

“Then why did you have blood on your hands?” Nico’s voice was deadly, “why did you need to bleach the evidence away?”

Frank seemed to have nothing to say, as he stuttered and stumbled over his world. “I didn’t - you have no idea -”

“You killed her!” Piper’s voice was a screech, one hand dipping into her side pocket. Deep, deep into her side pocket, before emerging with a small, blacked metal lump. Her hand was shaking as it extended out, pointed directly at the boy.

A gun.

Immediately, there was an increase of tension. Nico pushed Hazel - and by association, Will - back into the wall, baring his teeth as if that would shield them against a bullet. Jason, at Piper’s side, jumped in surprise, as he realized his own empty pockets, his own gun cradled in the girl's small, shaking hands.

“You never liked her, you told me that once, and she was always so cruel to you. She must have said something that pushed you over and - and you killed her. You killed my sister,” Piper clenched her teeth, “she was bitch, and cold-hearted, and probably deserved it but she was my sister.” She scowled, a mean look coming over her face. "And no one gets away with that."

Frank's movements became more frantic, "Piper, I swear, I didn't do it, I didn't -"

"Shut up," she hissed, "and stop lying."

"Piper, I -"

He was cut off with a gunshot, screaming loud and echoing in the small space. Against his back, Hazel let out a wounded sound into Nico's ear, clenching at her brother and Will in similar fashion. They were all disturbing shades of pale as Frank fell to the antique carpet, coloring it for the second time that night. He gasped, and so did a few of them, once, twice, before choking out and falling silent.

The silence felt like hours. It felt like days.

It was, in honest, only maybe a few seconds.

"What the fuck," Leo was horrified, pressed against the wall. "What the fuck, Piper, oh my gods -"

Piper let the gun drop the ground, making them all jump back as it hit the plush ground. “It was Frank,” she breathed out, leaning into Jason’s side, shaking. "He was covered in her blood, and he killed her. I couldn't let him -" she seemed to be justifying this to them as much as herself, and her anger that fueled her moments ago had been dismissed with the boy hitting the ground. "I couldn't stay here with him."

"It was him," Percy's sure voice seemed to convince them a bit more, his steady tone near addicting in their petrified state. "It must have been."

“But…” Hazel’s eyes were wide, staring down at the body - the new one. Frank's. “But why? Frank was...he was always so…”

“You just don’t know some people.” Percy spoke up, his voice soft as his hand circled Annabeth’s elbow. She was stiff, in a state of shock.

“Yeah,” Annabeth breathed out, “you don’t.”

Here’s how it happened:

Frank Manchu Zhang, the first to discover Drew Hayami Tanaka, attempted to resuscitate the girl for several minutes to no success. Knowing how it looked, covered in her blood and heaving for breath, he washed his hands and bleached the sink to cover his tracks. Less than half an hour after discovering the body, he returned to the party, smelling of bleach and with a small splash of discolor on his dark suit jacket. Five minutes after doing so, a scream echoed from the tea room. That is how it happened.

Notes:

i literally have a 20 page paper due in twelve hours and I only have 5 pages done. hahaha so here's a new chapter. whoooops sorry frank. :( tell drew i said whats up. i want to have this story finished by halloween, so new chapter next week! any guesses? ;) quite an overreaction pipes. perhaps....that's.....for a reason??? who knoooows. and leo - gods - you're being so quiet, arent you?? time to go half ass this paper send HELP also i changed it to 3 chapters but hONESTLY i have no idea. rough estimation???

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