Whispered Touches Part 6
Heero grit his teeth as he tried to solve the chemistry question he was rereading for the third time. Behind him, Naoko was speaking baby talk, which normally didn't bother Heero too much. But another voice was distracting him in the worse possible way.
"This is the song that never ends, for it goes on and on my friend! Some people started singing it not knowing what it was, and they'll continue singing it forever just because this is the song that never ends- [1]"
Naoko tried to imitate Duo, which added to the distraction.
"I'm trying to do my homework," Heero ground out. He was watching Naoko since Kanoko was in the shower and there was nothing he could do to remove Duo from his room. It was now the third day that Duo had commandeered Heero's room while he was doing homework, as if to make sure he wasn't doing any research about the Maxwell Murder, as Heero and his friends had come to call the unsolved crime. The first night, the Monday after Wufei and Meiran had returned home, Duo had entertained Naoko by telling her stories and in general, enjoying baby talking with the girl. That, Heero had been fine with, provided he was in the same room with Naoko when Duo chose to associate with the baby. Then, the second night, he sang 'Ninety-Nine Bottles of Beer on the Wall' [2]. Heero was sure Duo's goal was to be a nuisance. By the seventieth bottle of beer, he'd managed to block out Duo's voice, which he was misusing, Heero was sure. He knew this because he noticed that the baby talk had ceased by the fiftieth bottle of beer and the voice had changed into a much more soothing tone.
Oddly enough, that voice was much harder to dismiss.
"So? Do your homework," Duo replied rather cheerily. Heero had noticed that Duo was acting like a teenager more than a morbid ghost, especially around Naoko. But he continued to remember the night Duo had made his threats and Heero wasn't willing to trust the ghost. At the moment, Duo may seem safe around Naoko, but Heero didn't want to take any risks.
"Why is it that my mother cannot hear you?" Heero asked off handedly.
"I thought we had agreed that you stop prying about me," Duo said.
"We agreed that I stop prying about your past. We did not agree that I could not pry about your...your ghost-ness." Heero didn't know a better word to use.
"Can't have that now, can we?" Duo stretched back, pillowing his head on his hands as he lay on the ground. "Can't let you know what I can, or can't do. Where's the surprise in that? And what if you learn of what I can, or can't do, and try to eliminate the threat that I impose upon you?"
Again, Heero grit his teeth, this time in anger. Duo was taunting him, he knew it! But he would never risk his family or friends.
"Fine," Heero conceded. "But I do want to know why my mother can't hear you."
"That, I don't know. And that's the truth, because I never lie," Duo said. "What do you want to hear, Naoko?"
"Bubua!" Naoko giggled.
"You like that one too? Sure. How does it go? Right! Boom boom ain't it great to be, crazy! Boom boom ain't it great to be, crazy! Giddy and foolish all day long, boom boom ain't it great to be, crazy! A horse and a flea and three blind mice, sat on the curbstone shooting dice! The horse he slipped and fell on the flea! 'Whoops,' said the flea, 'There's a horse on me!' Boom boom- [3]"
Heero dropped his head on his textbook with a groan. Duo seemed to know many, many children's songs and it was obvious that he took great pleasure in singing them. The only up side was that was that Naoko was entertained.
/Wait a minute./ Heero pretended that he was still mourning about the noise Duo was causing. /Why would Duo know all of these kids songs? Maybe he had a baby sibling? We never found out who the 'entire family' was composed of.../ He straightened and looked back at the two on the floor. Duo seemed completely at ease with Naoko. Somehow, something told Heero that Duo knew how to handle Naoko because of experience. He made a note in the back of his head and returned once again to his chemistry question, the very last one he had to finish for the assignment due tomorrow. He sighed as Naoko squealed, once again breaking his concentration and causing him to go back to the top of the question and read it yet again.
~*~
"And I think that would be a new keyword we can use in our search." Heero finished telling Trowa and Quatre of his new idea, which was to search the term 'Maxwell baby' to broaden the spectrum of their findings. "We've never considered who was in the family. Maybe we should focus less on why the murder happened, and focus more on who was murdered, not just 'the Maxwell family'."
Trowa nodded. "That makes sense." He turned to the computer he was sitting at and typed in the new search. They were in the library once again, trying to find more information. Heero had promised Duo to stop prying, but how could he, when the ghost threatened his family? He was firm on the belief that the more he knew about Duo, the less threat the ghost was to them.
"It seems that there were four people in the family." Trowa said in a low voice. "There was a baby girl."
Heero felt his heart drop. "Who would murder a baby?" he asked quietly. He couldn't imagine anyone trying to hurt Naoko with a clear conscience.
"Seventeen-month-old baby, Danielle Maxwell, was among the murdered Maxwell family. The baby girl was found in the arms of her elder brother, Duo Maxwell, on the front porch of the house in which the Maxwells were murdered." Quatre read softly. "The initial conclusion was that the Maxwell family had been murdered for unknown reasons. The police have not commented on what may have happened; however, the fact that the murder took place in the home next to the Maxwell's home poses some confusion. An inside source revealed that several empty containers of baby food as well as other empty food containers were found at the crime scene, leading to the possibility that baby Danielle Maxwell had been kidnapped prior to the murder. No call to the local law enforcement had been made by the Maxwell family, and it is questionable whether this tragedy could have been avoided."
"In the arms of her elder brother, Duo Maxwell," Heero said. "So, if we were to assume that Duo and Danielle Maxwell were extremely close, hence Duo's affection towards Naoko, perhaps it is safe to assume that he will not harm Naoko?"
"Maybe," Trowa said thoughtfully. "We can test it out though."
"How?" Quatre asked.
"Don't you have a sister named Danielle Winner?" Trowa raised an eyebrow at Quatre.
Later that night, Trowa, Quatre and Heero sat in Heero's room, working on their biology project, which had been neglected due to the search they had been conducting on the Maxwell Murder. Duo was reading in a corner and Heero was beginning to find that the ghost was rather comfortable being in their presence. Quatre didn't seem too comfortable at first, but now, Heero could see that he had masked his discomfort rather well.
"What are you staring at?" Duo asked, turning the page without looking up. Heero had been staring at him and he hadn't even realized it.
"Thinking about this assignment," Heero replied. He was suddenly surprised at himself; it hadn't taken him long to become accustomed to carrying a decent conversation with Duo Maxwell. He shook his head mentally and decided to put their little plan to the test. "Quatre, how's Danielle?" From the corner of his eye, he could see Duo stiffen.
"She's filming her new movie." Quatre carried out the practiced lines smoothly.
"What's it about?" Trowa asked. "Wasn't she doing one with the dolphin before? It'd be cool to work with dolphins. They're closely related to humans, you know?"
"Yea, she told me." Quatre nodded. "She's finished that one. Now she's doing a short film for the film festival coming up. She tells me that she hates gory make-up though. Whenever she has to do bloody scenes, she makes a fuss."
"Bloody scenes?" Heero asked. "What's this film about? I thought they tended to keep stuff for film festivals restricted to general audience." Heero sent a quick glance towards Duo again. The ghost was staring over the top of the book at the wall opposite himself, almost as if lost in thought.
"That, I'm not sure about." Quatre shrugged. "She plays a mentally challenged young woman, who is extremely close to her older brother. But the brother is involved in illegal dealings and she is pulled into the dealings; and eventually ends up murdered. She dies in her brother's arms-"
The three teenagers jumped at the sound of something hitting the ground, looking quickly over to Duo. But the ghost had vanished and the book had fallen onto the ground. They glanced at each other. The tingling feeling was gone from the back of Heero's neck, telling him that Duo had vanished to a far enough distance. But he had been watching the ghost closely from the corner of his eye and just before Duo had disappeared, Heero saw an expression on Duo's face that pierced his heart deeply.
The amethyst eyes had shown a soulful, heartbroken emotion that sent a strange feeling through Heero.
"Well, that certainly proves that Duo was very close to Danielle," Trowa said quietly. "So I think it's safe to say that his harming Naoko is not one of your worries, Heero."
"Yea," Heero replied, walking over to pick the book up off the ground. He set it back on the window seat, next to the book he himself was currently reading. "I think it's somewhat safe to say so."
~*~
Duo huddled in a corner of the attic, his face buried in the cradle formed by his arms resting on top of his knees. /Now I've learned that ghosts can cry,/ he thought as the tears fell from his eyes, cold on his already-cold skin. He tilted his head back to stare at the dark ceiling above him. /Oh Dani baby, I'm so sorry,/ He squeezed his eyes shut, the tears squeezing out from the corners. It's all my fault," he said softly, his voice shaking as he tried to control himself. "Dani, baby, I miss you so much, sis..."
Heero couldn't sleep. Every time he closed his eyes he could envision Duo's empty expression when he had mentioned the name Danielle. Then, the expression would turn into that heartbroken one. The only time Heero had ever witnessed anything like that was on his own mother's face when they had gone to his maternal grandmother's funeral. Kanoko's face betrayed her sorrow as she clutched Naoko in her arms and said her final goodbye to her mother while she tried to remain strong in front of her family as the eldest daughter.
/Was it wrong of us to have tested Duo like that?/ Heero wondered. /But I had to know...if he would harm Naoko. I can't be around Naoko all of the time./ He turned over and tucked his elbow under his head as he closed his eyes. /It was the right thing to do. He posed...still poses a threat to us, to the family. I have to protect my family!/ he thought firmly to himself. A few minutes later, he rolled over onto his back once more and flung his arm over his eyes. Images of Duo flashed through his mind.
Duo turning, his braid whipping around, his expression one of utter surprise when Heero had seen him for the very first time.
Duo, hovering close over him that night of their first confrontation, his eyes mischievous more than sinister.
Then the hardened, glowering eyes staring into his own when he had pinned the ghost against the wall.
The cool, pleasurable feeling of Duo melting through him.
Duo's beautiful voice, the tender look he'd witnessed more than once when he watched Naoko, that beautiful laugh mingled with Naoko's.
/No,/ Heero thought firmly. /He's a ghost, Heero Yuy. You cannot.../ His thoughts trailed off as he felt the tingle at the back of his neck and he removed his arm and looked over to the windowseat, where Duo was seated once more, reading in the moonlight. Heero swallowed.
/You did,/ his mind said. /You've fallen, Yuy./
Heero tore his gaze away and stared angrily at the wall by his bed. /Don't be stupid. You were angry at him; threatened by his presence! How can you be interested in him? And he's a ghost!/ He chided his own mind. /He's a ghost!/
"Do you always grunt before you sleep?"
Heero jerked up, startled at the close proximity of Duo's voice. "What?" he asked dumbly.
"You were grunting at the wall." Duo raised an eyebrow.
"I was thinking," Heero said defensively. "And it's none of your business what I do."
"Yea, yea," Duo replied in a bored tone.
"What are you doing here so late?" Heero asked. "You never hang around when I sleep."
"Or maybe you don't know that I do," Duo said mysteriously. "Maybe I'm watching you, to see if you talk in your sleep and let me know some of your secrets. Maybe your subconscious will guiltily inform me that you've broken your promise."
Heero furrowed his eyebrows at Duo, not speaking in case he did say something stupid. Then, he decided to speak carefully. "Do I talk in my sleep? I wasn't aware that I did."
Duo shrugged and straightened. "I've heard you before," he said lightly.
"What do I say? Or rather, what did I say?" Heero asked, truly curious.
"Look, I came here tonight to tell you something. Seriously, one man to another. One teenage boy to another. Oh heck, one teenage ghost to one teenage boy," Duo rambled. He took a deep breath and fiddled with his braid. "Listen, Heero. I know you're curious about...my family and I. But...let it be. I hope you can respect my wish and just leave it. I don't know if you've broken your word and gone to research some more, nor do I know what kind of true or false research you may find. I just..." He trailed off for a moment. "Look, I promise that I made empty threats. I will not...I would never harm Naoko. You parents don't know that I exist. I'm a ghost. I can touch and move things, become solid at night. During the day, I can't. I float during the day. Okay? That's all I know. I know I'm cold all the time. I breathe because it's instinct and not because I need air. I see you guys eat and I want to eat even though I probably won't taste it. Just..." Duo sighed and looked into Heero's eyes. "I can't leave this house Heero. I've tried. And I can't. This is the only place I can be and will be. So please, stop looking if you still are. I won't even be mad that you've broken your word."
Heero stared at the ghost, who looked down at the blanket and began to fidget with a loose string.
"Duo..." Heero swallowed. "Can you tell me why you don't want anyone to know what happened? No one in this entire town knows what happened. I admit...I did break my word, only because you threatened to hurt my family, to hurt Naoko. I thought that the more I know about you, the less of a threat you'd be. But I don't understand. Why are you here? Why don't you want anyone to know your story?"
Duo looked away. I don't want anyone to know my story," he said again. "Just let the dead stay dead, okay?"
Heero studied Duo closely. "I just...I want to help, Duo," he said softly, as if suddenly inspired. "I don't want to hurt you. I won't hurt you. I just want to know why I can't know. There must be something you want done. Something I can do to help-"
"You can help by not searching for anything else." With that, Duo vanished. Heero lay back again, his mind reviewing the words that Duo had just said.
"Why won't you let us know, Duo?" he mused quietly. "I really believe...that whatever it is you're here for, I can help you."
It took a long time for him to fall asleep after Duo had left. When he did, he dreamt of a baby girl with a beautiful smile and the amethyst eyes Heero was becoming so familiar with. He reached out carefully to the baby, who was patting the floor next to where she was sitting by a couch.
Then the alarm clock woke him, and Heero suddenly knew what he wanted to do.
~*~
"Are you sure it's a good idea?" Quatre asked for the fifth time as they walked home after school.
Heero nodded. "Duo said he doesn't want us to know, but I still want to know. He says he won't hurt my family-"
"So maybe you should respect his wishes and just live in harmony in that house," Trowa said.
"I still want to know, because I want to help him, somehow. Something in me tells me that Duo's asking us not to search for any information, but it's the information that's causing him to stay here in this world as a ghost. I don't know why I think so, but I do."
"And breaking into the locked house next door will solve this problem?" Quatre swallowed.
"Wufei and Meiran are visiting. They have the day off school and they'll be here for the weekend again." Heero answered. "They'll help us look. Just a look. It'll be harmless."
Quatre sighed. "People have died in there, Heero."
"I know," Heero replied. "And something tells me that the secret to their death is in that house."
"Why are you so sure?" Trowa asked.
"Call it a hunch," Heero said as he waved at Wufei and Meiran, who were leaning against Wufei's car in Heero's driveway. "But we'll find something, I really think so."
It didn't take long for them to pick the old lock to the back door of the abandoned house; they were not so stupid as to try to enter from the front where everyone could see them. Surprisingly, it was Trowa who picked the lock open.
"The skill is useful when you own a store," he said with a shrug. "I always try to pick the lock and try to enter the store without the key. If I can, then we change it to something better," he said in a matter-of-fact tone. "I haven't managed to get into the current one, and it's been about two years."
"Right." Heero muttered in answer as Quatre chuckled at Trowa's reasoning. They entered the house quickly and closed the door behind them.
"So, where do we start?" Meiran asked in a quiet voice. "I'm a little creeped out, seriously." She leaned close to Wufei, who squeezed her hand.
"Meiran and I can start here," Wufei said.
"Quatre, Trowa, do you want to go upstairs?" Heero asked in the same low voice everyone else was using.
"Sure," Quatre said softly. "We'll just take a quick look around."
As they spread out, Heero walked down the hall to the front door, then glanced to his left as he came to the first room, the living room. He walked the perimeter of the dusty room. All he saw that was out of place in the abandoned living room was the single piece of yellow caution tape that he assumed was left behind by the police back when the house was still under investigation. The floorboards creaked as he walked slowly and he could hear the faint steps of Trowa and Quatre above his head. He focused on the couch and remembered his dream from the night before. Tugging on his pair of gloves, he knelt and knocked lightly on the floorboards.
"Anything, Heero?"
Heero started when Wufei suddenly addressed him.
"Maybe the floorboards-" Heero concentrated on knocking the floorboards. "Give me a hand with the couch? Just slide it over a bit."
Wufei nodded and they lifted the couch up to avoid scratching the floor, shifting it a foot away from it's original spot.
"You've been watching too many cop shows, or reading too many books," Meiran commented.
Heero's knuckles connected with a hollow-sounding floorboard. He glanced up at Meiran.
"You were saying?"
"Smart alec."
"Let's just check it out." Wufei interrupted. Quatre and Trowa entered the living room.
"It's really dusty upstairs." Quatre reported. "We didn't really want to touch anything. There's not much upstairs, just a single bed covered in a white sheet."
"What have you got there?" Trowa asked.
"Odd floorboard," Heero replied, tapping several floorboards to emphasize his point.
"Hey, I've one of those in one of the closets in my family home!" Quatre exclaimed softly. "Here, let me." The blond teen seemed to have forgotten his reluctance of investigating the house as he knelt to examine the floorboard. "I forgot about my floorboard for a few years. When I opened it again, I could hardly believe what I had kept in there!" He pulled out his house keys, flipping open the small swiss army knife he had attached to the keys. Working swiftly, he pried the floorboard up just a little. "The trick is not to pull too much, or it won't conceal things as well." He turned closed the knife and clicked on the small light attached to the end of the knife. "There's a piece of paper!" he exclaimed softly, handing the flashlight to Heero before he reached in carefully to extract the piece of paper. He handed the paper to Trowa, who held it carefully while Quatre checked for other things before he closed the floorboard carefully again.
Then, they stood, staring at the yellowed, crumpled paper in Trowa's hands.
"Well?" Meiran asked impatiently.
Trowa shrugged lightly and carefully unfolded the crumpled paper. Everyone gathered close and they squinted at the faded writing, trying to make out the scribbles.
"It's too old and worn!" Wufei said, frustrated.
"Wait, I can make out a word." Meiran tugged Trowa's hand a little closer, and pointed. "'Kid.'" She made out half of the word. "Maybe it says kidnap."
"There," Quatre said, pointing as they followed the smudges, trying to make out other words. "'No intention to harm.'" He read in the same sentence as 'kidnap'. "Maybe kidnapped Danielle Maxwell with no intention to harm her?"
"Then what for?" Heero squinted and tried to read. Quatre pointed again.
"'Kill Maxwell...something...because...something...'" Quatre made out.
"Revenge." Trowa pointed.
"Anything else?" Wufei asked after a few minutes. They shook their heads dejectedly. "So what have we got? Kidnap without intention of harm. You said they found empty jars of baby food, so that probably means Danielle Maxwell."
"Kill Maxwell because of revenge," Quatre said thoughtfully. "Maxwell is singular. Intention was to kill one of the Maxwells', not the entire family. Not Danielle, because the person kidnapped her, we presume, and didn't want to harm her."
"Which Maxwell? Duo? His father? His mother?" Trowa asked.
"Hard to say," Heero said thoughtfully. "All we know now, is that the intent was not to murder the whole family."
"Can we discuss this in your house, Heero?" Meiran asked. "I kinda want to get out of here."
They agreed and made their way carefully out of the house and back to Heero's. The moment they entered Heero's room, Duo was there, eyes blazing angrily.
"I asked you kindly not to interfere!" He glared at Heero, standing mere inches from the Japanese teen. "I saw Wufei and Meiran outside, then I saw you guys walk into that...that house!"
"We found-" Heero tried to cut in.
"What the hell do you want, huh Yuy?" Duo went on. "Can't a ghost get any peace?" He reached out to grasp Heero's collar, then tried again. "Just wait until it gets dark and I can get my hands on you!" he threatened. "You want to know the story? Fine! I'll tell you the story!" He glared around the group of living teenagers. "Someone kidnapped my baby sister for a ransom! They asked for my dad to pay the ransom and we got the money together. The kidnapper called and told us he was next door, and my parents hesitated. Then I didn't wait and I took the money to the kidnapper because I wanted Dani back! I rushed next door and my parents chased after me. The kidnapper was shocked that I was the one who brought the money; and then my parents were there too! I was so angry to see him holding Dani, but before we could move, he shot my father! I lost my cool, ran forward to snatch Dani back. Then he shot my mother, saying she'd seen him kill! I started to run, and he made two shots at me and hit Dani. Then he hit me, okay?"
The group stared, stunned at Duo's words. Duo glared angrily at Heero, his eyes full of unshed tears. "Happy? I killed my family! I was hotheaded! If I'd waited to see what my parents wanted, maybe they wouldn't have died! The kidnapper probably felt threatened by my father, mother and I, so he became trigger happy! I killed my family!"
"No! We found a letter!" Heero blurted frantically, somewhat excited that he'd found some different evidence. "It's not what you think, at least, I don't think so." Heero found himself suddenly unsure.
"What?" Duo's expression changed from angry to stunned. "A letter?"
"Look." Trowa offered the paper for the ghost to see, unfolding it carefully. "We couldn't make out much, but we saw that your...that someone was kidnapped." Trowa quickly amended his words, unsure if Heero had told Duo that they'd figured out that Duo had a younger sister.
Duo was squinting at the paper.
"There was a kidnap and then the murder happened. The intent, according to the letter, was to leave whoever was kidnapped unharmed."
Duo was shaking his head, his eyes wide. "What?" He asked incredulously.
"And it mentions murder of 'Maxwell'. If we conclude that the kidnapper didn't want to harm your baby sister, then who? You? Your mother, or your father?"
Duo snatched up the paper, startling the living teenagers into realizing that the sun had set. He frowned at the paper.
"There," he suddenly blurted. "Alan," he said softly. "My father," he continued in explanation. "What the hell is this?" he asked, looking at the various faces around him. "The man wanted revenge against my father? That's why he specified that he wanted Dad to hand over the ransom?" Duo slid down to his knees, still staring at the paper. "He wanted Dad? But..." He looked up at Heero. "I took the ransom. I..." Duo suddenly found himself sobbing. "I really did...murder my family. Oh God...Mom...Dani..."
The others could only stare at the shaking shoulders of the ghost.
And Heero found himself staring at the letter in disbelief. He'd been excited that he'd found something. But now it seemed like the new evidence had brought more sorrow to Duo.
What had he just done?
TBC...
[1] - This song was from an old tv-show I think. My friend sings it sometimes, and I thought it'd fit in. I don't own the song, and it's used without permission.
[2] - I don't own this song, and it is used without permission.
[3] - I don't own this song and it's used without permission. I learned it back in grade 4, and it's a miracle a still remember it. Full lyrics here: http://www.kididdles.com/lyrics/b011.html
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