*OLD*Phantom Detectives*OLD*

Ch.33 What I Realize

Violet D.

My jaw dropped... I was so sure... now Elizabeth was dead... and that meant...

I turned to find I wasn't the only one with my eyes on Connor. He took a stumbling step back in shock. No... it couldn't be him... there's no way it was Connor... he would never have done this...

"I-I swear, it wasn't me!" Connor stutters.

"Connor," Grey hisses.

"I believe you!" I blurt.

"Violet?" Ace looks at me sideways.

"I don't care what any of you think!" I shout. "You can say what you want about me or him, but I know Connor isn't the murderer!"

"I'm with Violet!" Rodrich admits.

"As am I."

"Eloise?!" Everyone gasps at my sister's confession.

"Think about it for a second," Eloise says, "Connor was with James the entire time we were down there yes? Then, after we came back upstairs, Connor bathed in the same room he had been sleeping in, Arthur being directly across from him. There for-"

"I would have seen him if he had left before." Arthur finishes.

"Not exactly," Grey adds.

"Now what are you babbling about?" Eloise asks.

"I suggest rather than fight here, we should talk about this downstairs. Possibly in the lounge." James suggests, his gaze flickering to Connor.

Connor looks pale, but nods and answers, "I can arrange that."

"Before we move the body," Rodrich speaks up, "Tex, do you think you could-"

"Already on it." Tex huffed.

He was examining Eliza's body. For my taste, Tex seemed a little too comfortable handling Eliza's body for this to be normal... Could Tex be the murderer?

"My god..." Tex mumbled.

"What is it Tex?" Ace asked.

Tex's face was as pale as a ghost. "It seems that... however the killer did it... most likely by poison... Eliza had been throwing up blood until she died of blood loss."

"Good god!" James gasped.

"If that's the way Eliza was killed... it would mean she suffered a lot of pain before she died." Arthur thinks aloud.

"So in other words, whoever killed Elizabeth wanted her to suffer, possibly as revenge." Eloise concludes.

"What if the killer just simply did this out of spite?" I ask.

"Violet," Eloise shakes her head, "if whoever killed Eliza did this out of spite, pure or not, they should live out their days in a mental hospital."

"I'll call the others to help take out the body," Adrien says.

"Hang on a minute Adrien," Arthur hisses, "I want you and the other four servants all in the lounge with us after you pick up the body."

"And why is that, Detective Wester?" Adrien asks.

My eyes widen in shock realizing something. "Wait a damned minute, I see what you're on about Arthur."

"As do I," Connor growls, "Adrien, every time we come together to suspect who the killer could be, we have come to notice none of you servants are there."

"My lord," Adrien looks shocked, "are you saying you accuse me of being the killer?"

"I didn't say that," Connor hisses, "I was just-"

"How untasteful," Grey shakes his head, "the lord, accused of the crime wants to put the blame on his butler."

Connor goes a deathly white. He looks as though he might faint but calmly says, "I am doing no such thing..."

"It sure seems that way to-"

Eloise puts a hand on Connor's shoulder, cutting Grey off by sneering, "No one asked for your negative input Grey."

The whole room goes silent. My gaze is stuck on Eloise, Connor, and Grey for a while... then it rips away from them and goes to James. It's an effort not to gasp or let my jaw drop as I realize that James-

"Well, sticking up for him Eloise?" Grey taunts. "If I didn't know any better, I would say you might be interested in Connor."

Connor's face goes bright red, even the top of his ears are painted red. Though Eloise stands there with a face of fury as she shouts, "I have never looked at any man in that manner and I hardly think now is the time to start Grey!"

The only sounds to be heard were our breathing inside, and the storm blowing outside. Even though we are a good distance away, I can feel James tense up. I glance at Rodrich... he sees it too. Then I look to Tex... he's known for a while. Then I glance at Ace... he sees what I see.

"Grey," Eloise's voice is low and lethal, "I told you once when we were younger and my feelings still stand. It is my strongest conviction that love is only a waste of time, something that distracts me from my work. Right now, two people have been murdered inside of the same manor we are currently trapped in.

"And if you think," Eloise hisses, "for a damned moment that I will let something as stupid as my emotions, get in the way of solving this case, then you're no smarter than a box of rocks."

The room once again becomes silent. Connor locks eyes with me... he knows... he can see it... Grey knows... and that's why he said what he said... Then I lock eyes with Arthur... it's plain to see he's known for a long while.

When I lock eyes with James again, I give him a long sympathetic look. My sister is the smartest female in London... yet she's so blind...

She can't see what's right in front of her.