Previous Post The Murder of Marvellous Marv, Part 4     Jack Burns stood well away from the edge of the narrow third floor walkway around the Lair Mansion.  He kept his back against the wall, and he was bundled up against the bay wind.  And still, he was shivering, both from the chill and from a little fear.     Yuki Shiro, if she was cold, showed no sign of it.  And absolutely no sign of fear.  She sat on the edge of the walkway, her feet dangling over the edge, looking down.  Her leather jacket was her only protection from the temperature.     Ã¢â‚¬Å“Are you going to stonewall, or just be evasive?”  was Jack’s first question.     The purple haired legionnaire turned her head and gave him a tired look.  Then she put on her best fake smile.  “You know, I haven’t been sleeping well since our run-in with Marv.”     Ã¢â‚¬Å“Oh, so it’s Hannibal Lecter style.”  Jack concluded.  “Bring me somewhere frightening, and wander off into an only loosely related topic.”     She chuckled at that.  “No, nothing like that.  I just feel like I can speak more freely out here.”     Ã¢â‚¬Å“Oh?”  Jack asked.     Yuki laughed again.  “Not the way you think, Jack.  I mean because nobody interrupts me out here.”     He nodded to show he understood.  “Who do you think killed Marv?”     Ã¢â‚¬Å“Hubris.”  Yuki replied plainly.  “Though I guess that’s more a what than a who.  I think he created so many enemies, that the real question isn’t who killed him...it’s who didn’t.”     Ã¢â‚¬Å“Another cryptic response?”  he asked.     Ã¢â‚¬Å“A truth.”  Yuki looked back toward the ground.  “I believe that no one of us took that final step and took his life.  But whoever out there did, it’s some poor soul who took only the last step, and will unfairly pay for all the rest of those steps.”     Ã¢â‚¬Å“So you believe it was someone who was pushed too far?”     Ã¢â‚¬Å“Yeah.”  Yuki asked.  “See, right now I’m sitting on the edge of a pretty high ledge, right?  I’m here by choice...you only were enticed up her by me.  Would I be to blame if you fell off?”     Ã¢â‚¬Å“No, you wouldn’t.”  Jack backed up closed to the wall.     Ã¢â‚¬Å“But if I pushed you--”  she continued, “I’d be a murderer.  People would say I lured you up here to throw you off.  That’s the furthest from the truth, Jack.  The truth is, I would have thrown you off because it was a crime of opportunity.”     Ã¢â‚¬Å“You’re saying--”  Jack narrowed his eyes and shook his head.  “I’m not sure what you’re saying.”     Yuki looked at him again.  She stood, still at the edge, and dusted herself off.  “I’m saying I believe whoever killed Marv might not have been an enemy of his.  It might have just been someone with a conscience, who happened to be holding a defective hair dryer or something.  Who couldn’t stand to watch him terrorize...someone...anymore.”     Jack tapped his index finger against his chin as he listened.     Ã¢â‚¬Å“Tell me, did you search the Mayor’s Mansion to see if he might have been holding someone against their will?”     Ã¢â‚¬Å“I--”  Jack started to say.  He watched as Yuki turned around nimbly and turned to face the wind.  “Are you...going somewhere?”     She nodded.  “I have a city landmark to sneak into.”  she said.     And just when Jack though Yuki was kidding, she jumped.  He nearly reached for her, but drew his hand back as he realized he’d be pulled to the ground with her...and he wouldn’t survive.     He was relieved, yet confused, to see that she landed safely in a kneeling position, rose to her feet, and ran for the Lair Mansion garage. ---     Chiaki Bushido was dressed in a stylish diagonally divided red and black sweater, black pants, and short dark red boots as she moved from the microwave in the Lair Mansion to the table, and sat down.  She eyed her blonde guest carefully as she poured steaming hot water into a teapot.  She wordlessly offered Vicky Cameron some tea.     Vicky graciously accepted.  She asked, “Where do you get your clothes?  They’re kinda funky...but also cool.”     The Psychic Samurai smiled slightly.  “It’s kind of you to notice.”  she said.  “I like to mix styles.  Some designer, some thrift shop.  It doesn’t matter to me.”     Ã¢â‚¬Å“I see Anna adopted your style too.”  Vicky noted.     Ã¢â‚¬Å“That’s far easier to explain,”  she replied with a laugh.  “I introduced her to it.  Since she has no money, it’s far easier for her to accept gifts if she adopts the style of the person who gives them.”     Ã¢â‚¬Å“So um...about this Marv murder.”  Vicky finally asked.  “What do you think?”     The Psychic Samurai filled her teacup from the teapot, and picked it up with both hands.  She sipped it gently.  “If there is one constant among egomaniacs, it’s that they believe themselves to be fearless and invincible...but only if they have something to prove.”     Vicky sighed, and gently hit her head on the table surface once before sitting up.  “C’mon, Chiaki...please, I had a long day.  No cryptic stuff today.”     Ã¢â‚¬Å“All right.”  Chiaki reluctantly agreed.  “You know what the point of a drinking game is, yes?”     Ã¢â‚¬Å“To not pass out before the other person does?”     Ã¢â‚¬Å“Yes.”  Chiaki replied with a nod.  “Simple game, simple rules.  It’s not always with drinks, though.  There is a variation played with a revolver...Russian Roulette.  There is a variation with a taser, too.”     Ã¢â‚¬Å“A taser?”  That part got Vicky’s attention.  “You mean...someone could have challenged...and then left him after he lost?”     Ã¢â‚¬Å“You found nothing obvious he could have been electrocuted with, have you?”     Ã¢â‚¬Å“No.”  Vicky shook her head.  “But...tasers don’t kill.  You can’t really even set it to kill.  And they leave distinctive marks.”     Ã¢â‚¬Å“Then there must be something else that can.  And leaves a different mark.”  Chiaki replied.  She stared at Vicky and continued sipping tea.     Vicky nodded and smiled.  “See, this is why I love talking to you, Chiaki.  You’re a little weird, but you make me think.” ---     Ã¢â‚¬Å“So you’re the semi-famous Lara Night?”  Jack Burns asked the blonde who asked to be interviewed in the currently empty Lounge.     She was sitting on the couch, slouched down, with her feet crossed on an ottoman that had been crammed in between the couch and coffee table.  As she heard Jack speak, she looked up.     She was wearing a grey zipped-up fleece jacket, jeans, and white canvas sneakers.  She looked more like she was ready for a quiet evening than a police interview.     Ã¢â‚¬Å“I’m surprised you decided to speak to me.”  she said softly as she sat up and put her book down.  She folded her legs beneath her so she was effectively kneeling on the couch.  “I figured Hatman talked to you about me already.”     Jack shrugged.  He remained standing and paced the room, as he would have felt too conspicuous sitting right next to Lara.     Ã¢â‚¬Å“He did,”  Jack said.  “But there are some things you can learn only by talking to someone first hand.  Like when I ask you, what do you think about Marv’s murder?”     Instead of responding directly, Lara decided to tell a story.  “I spoke to the Hooded Hood once, I asked him why he says he’s an arch-villain.”     Ã¢â‚¬Å“What did he answer?”  Jack asked.  He was curious.     She leaned back and sighed.  “He said it’s because he accepts the inevitability of his death,”  she said.  “He knows he created many enemies, some of who simply dislike him, others who will not suffer another day with him alive.”     Jack smiled at the point she was making.  “So you think Marv wasn’t aware of it?”     Ã¢â‚¬Å“Obviously not.”  she replied.  “He thought he was one of the good guys.  He ran for Mayor and manipulated the system to get it.  He talked about cleaning up the city and controlling the super-humans.  He thought he was doing good.  At least the Hooded Hood, even when he did good for the world, he owned up to most of his deeds being, at their very core, evil.”     Ã¢â‚¬Å“Isn’t he alive though?  Again?”  Jack asked.     Ã¢â‚¬Å“Those are just rumors so far.”  Lara said.  “The point though, is when you see the inevitability of your death, it’s only human to plan to prevent it.  Marv never had that chance, because he didn’t see it coming.  But it was, and from all directions.”     Ã¢â‚¬Å“You think this was a conspiracy?”     Ã¢â‚¬Å“No.”  she shook her head.  “I think there will be lots of suspects because so many wanted him killed, had a motive, and opportunity.  The hard part isn’t going to be figuring out the how and why.”     Ã¢â‚¬Å“It’s going to be the who.”  Jack guessed.     Ã¢â‚¬Å“Yeah.”  Lara agreed.     Ã¢â‚¬Å“How would you have killed him?”  he asked with a smirk, well aware that she knew how tricky that question was.     Ã¢â‚¬Å“See, that’s the thing.”  Lara said, shifting her weight to sit more comfortably.  “Electrocution...yeah, I can do that.  But do that and practically ask to get caught?  No...I would have just slipped in and made him disappear, forever.  No evidence, nobody seeing a thing, he could have just vanished into thin air.”     He looked into her eyes, and could tell she was completely serious.  “You know something like that could point to you or your elementalist friend, Liu Xi Xian.”     Ã¢â‚¬Å“Or Vinnie De Soth, or Al B Harper, or Tom Black, or the Doorman.  The list is long, and with no evidence and no body, the case would go cold long before it’s even considered a murder.”     Ã¢â‚¬Å“You really thought about this?”  Jack asked suspiciously.     Lara shrugged.  “Considering what Marv has done, lots of people have.  That’s what sadly makes your job so difficult.  Have I been helpful at all?”     Jack put his hand on the back of the couch and leaned over her.  “Yeah,”  he said.  “You taught me that the Lair Legion might just be creative enough to be innocent.”     Ã¢â‚¬Å“Good, because that was my point.”  Lara said with a smile.  “So where are you going from here?”     Ã¢â‚¬Å“Looks like we’ve questioned nearly all of the Lair Mansion residents.”  he said.  “I guess next we talk to Baroness Zemo.”     Vicky Cameron and Don Graham were in the doorway when he said that.       Ã¢â‚¬Å“Yah, well, that’s going to be difficult.”  Vicky said.  “She’s on TV.”      TO BE CONTINUED -- Story written and copyrighted (C) 2009 by Jason Froikin, and may not be  --    reprinted without permission.   -- Yuki Shiro designed by Jason Froikin, based on designs by Masamune Shirow --  Liu Xi Xian and the Psychic Samurai are original design by Jason Froikin --  Lara Night is an original creation by Jason Froikin

Or that's just what they *want* us to think!

Yuki did flee the interview, after all... apparently with the intention of compromising a crime scene.  Still, I think she can be trusted... she didn't push Jack off the roof after all. 

I'm surprised Chiaki is much of a suspect... it's hardly her M.O.  Or did Vicky just visit her for her insight?

I look forward to seeing the detectives navigate the villainous circles...