EP 24: HER NAME WAS DARLING BLUE

EPISODE TWENTY FOUR

'her name was darling blue'

YOU COULD SAY a lot about Aoi Nakamura, but she was a girl who did as she wanted. And she was punctual about it. Hours before dinner, I was transferred out. There was no more eye cover, no more gag. All because I was going home.

At the walk back, Kei merely walked close, both of us practically stumbling against the roots. Kei was more stable than I am, and the fact that I couldn't even walk without tripping on something, being caught by his quick reflexes when I nearly face-plant against jagged rocks meant that I couldn't run even if I wanted to.

The van was waiting at the bottom of the trenches, a clearer path in front of it. Once we all piled in, it was packed to the brim. I could feel their eyes and I exhaled, scooting closer to Kei. Several times, I did this on the ride back. I exhaled roughly, closing my eyes and turning again—

"Oh dear god, woman." Kei clenched the side of my waist with both hands on either side and hitched me, bringing me close, over his lap, then move me so we could exchange spots. Now I was pressed against the window and he was in the middle.

The man that I was squished next to, the one the made me feel wholly uncomfortable, said, "Are you sure it's okay that she's sitting against the—"

"— I mean if you stopped trying to feel her up, we'll all be okay about our shit but evidently you just had to be an asshole." Then he leaned back, crossed arms as if that settled everything. "Now if you can all just shut the fuck up so I could close my eyes, that'd be brilliant."

And he did, and that was that.

Another few hours later, the countryside slowly slinked back to urban. The van strolled along unfamiliar streets, people crowding shops and restaurants. The sun is coming close to a sunset; a difference in the air. We rolled into an underground parking lot, going down several floors until we stopped right in front of Aoi, still in her pearly pink outfit.

Only Kei and I got out, and when we did, the van sped off.

Aoi smiled thinly. "You're late."

Kei shrugged. "I wasn't driving."

Aoi's eyes narrowed and Kei stiffened. Then bowed and became a statue. "慎重に." Then she sighed. "But it's a good day today, so we should go. A team is ready to prep the both of us upstairs, as well as a late lunch. Are you ready?"

This was directed to me. "I don't even know what's really happening, but sure."

"Your sister-in-law has the ball in her court," was her cryptic reply. "All we have to do is show up. And you need to look pretty for tonight's events. Reunions and all. Well. I guess there's no harm since we're closed to the end?" She produced a red envelope, the colour of kissed burgundy, and offered it up to me. "Please."

So I pulled it open, taking out a short creamy paper. The message in it was equally as short, the print in shiny gold and red.

You are cordially invited to join the special memorial dinner for one—

DOMINIC PRINCE

The dinner will place in the castle on the building.

We hope to see you soon,

MISS WENDY CAIN.

You will be—

DARLING BLUE.

(you are the lover of the host, MR. MAROON and a friend of the deceased. The outfit will be provided. You will arrive with LADY PINK and BLACK KNIGHT. You are a kind soul, naught a fault. You adore Mr. Maroon and is his voice of reason and resolute).

My head spun. "Darling Blue?"

"It's your role," Aoi answered. "You really didn't expect a dinner at Tommy's would be a normal one, did you? I'm Lady Pink and Kei will be Black Knight. My Black Knight. As per my conditions, I'm not going in there with my head between my arse and a rock. Now, shall we go? Prep team's been here since an hour ago and I really like my gown."

"Gown?"

"All part of the play. Dramatis Personae. Shall we?"

— — —

I was draped in blue silk, a gown that was form-fitted. It didn't have a lot of embellishments, just a silk that covers my collarbone but exposes much of my back. It waves like water each movement. It's topped with heels that are made in a matching blue silk, tied in simple ribbons behind my ankles, while another blue silk is wove through the curled braids that was done up on my hair with rhinestones weaved around it, to match the wink of stars on my head.

The prep team stepped back, exhaling with a carefulness as I examined myself on the vanity mirror.

"A breathing galaxy," said one of them. She was the one who glittered my eyelids, set startling shimmers across the tops of my cheekbones and painted out some of the roundness on my cheek.

"You look absolutely darling, Miss Darling Blue." Aoi smiled as she stepped forward beside me. She was in a thicker gown, short on the front with a longer trail on the back. It was a pearly pink, actually doted with pearls on the top hem along the collarbone and pearls along the trail. Her hair was pins-straight and left pushed back behind her ears to reveal large pearls, with a pink gauzy veil just stopped before it reached her top lip.

"Isn't this a little too...?" But the word was gone from my tongue.

Kei stepped forward, looking the least comfortable out of all of us in a black three-piece suit. The vest is striped with grey, and the tie is silk black. His hair was fixed— cropped shorter at the back with the front puffed and pulled back. "Extravaganza Supreme? Irrevocably Dumb?"

Aoi shot him a look. For the first time, he met her stare. "It itches."

She sighed. "Neither of you are going to ruin this dinner for me. Let's go."

The three of us piled into a sleeker car— a matte black, no plates — with Kei taking the wheel. The sun had dipped and we were moving closer and closer to the hearth of the city, turned, and dipped into a familiar parking space. My heart was slowly rising, the anticipation, the relief, felt like waving ribbons in my head.

We got out and into the elevator. My fingers twitched.

The elevator pinged and here we were. Dominic Prince's Penthouse.

When the doors opened, the players were all set. Our people— my friends and seven suspects of Dominic Prince all turned to us. Each wore colourful garb strict with one colour; most of them looked like they'd rather be anywhere else but here.

The room held their breath, I held mine. Before I could find Leon Song among it all, a thunderous saunter had stopped it, engulfing my every sight.

Cordelia Song was in a deep, silky red; a one shoulder topped with a wide brimmed hat and a longer slit than I do. Each click of her heel was purposeful and once she reached us, Aoi stepped forward, a smile a slow inch on her face.

"Cor—"

Cordelia slapped her.

Kei was too slow to react, and I was frozen by the intensity waving off both of them, especially when Aoi raised her head. Kei went for the gun on the back of his pants.

"Don't, mate, not today." I looked up and James Brackham stepped forward in a yellow suit so sunny it didn't match the thunderous expression on his face. Or the gun that was in his hand.

The room tensed. Cordelia smiled thinly. "Better listen, boy. The slap was the lesser of the two evils. This way, you won't bruise." Then Cordelia took my arm, my eyes wide, and pulled me to her side protectively. Kei's fingers twitched. "Welcome to the dinner party, Ms. Nakamura. Find the bathroom while you're at it. And I do duly hope that this never happens again."

"Aoi—" Enzo Moretti stood up, from the sofa, pissed and scowling in a brown suit, before his grandfather in a three piece emerald suit held him down with a finality and a shake of his head.

Matteo Moretti whispered something in his grandson's ear that made him grit his teeth but kept him down. He met my eye, I looked away with my heard thudding.

"あなたはこれを後悔します," Aoi hummed like a prayer, holding her cheek where the red imprint was burning.

Cordelia tilted her head, eyes glimmering. "あなたの最悪をします. I like you and I pity you, dear. But if you do anything like this again, I will become your worst nightmare." Cordelia's grip on my arm loosened and looped her elbow around mine. She spun as around before Aoi could say anything. "Shall we? He's in Dom's room. Had to lock him in so he wouldn't do anything reckless. He's been on edge since... well, he'll be fine now. Once he sees you."

James stopped us before we could move further. His gun was lowered now, with Kei and Aoi disappearing off. He smiled grimly, a relief that swept through all the hard lines he had procured since my absence.

"Hi."

"You look like a fluffy daffodil," I said, slowly smiling. "An angry little daffodil."

Cordelia burst out a surprised giggle. James smile deepened. "Yeah? Well you don't look half bad yourself."

Cordelia turned to the rest. "We'll have a twenty minute break, then we can follow through with dinner. You all know what's at stake here, so I do hope you all play nice. Any foul movements shall be reprimanded with equal foulness. I'm too tired to play nice so...잘 플레이." She patted James' shoulder. "Watch the children, will you?"

"Kei has a gun," I reminded him.

"Don't worry about it, he'll behave. Go see him now. He needs to see you before all of this. Just to give him some peace of mind, yeah?"

I nodded. Cordelia steered us across from all of their eyes and into the familiar hallway turning to the corner of the master's. A bolt of a scream. Before I could react, I was engulfed, nearly thrown off my feet if it wasn't for Cordelia balancing my back.

"Dear God, Miss Fong!" Cordelia reprimanded but she was smiling.

Quinn tightened her arms around me, nearly putting me in a chokehold. "You smell nice."

Tears welled up in my eyes. "You smell nicer. I missed you."

"Don't cry, ya crazy cow." Quinn pulled back with shiny eyes, her smile wide and sharp. "I'm manning the door with Mr. Grey over there, just in case you want to know."

"It's Dr. Grey." I peered over her shoulder and spotted Dr. Hamel in a grey silk robe over different shades of a dark grey suit. "Hello, Miss Cain. Don't worry, after this we'll have you checked. If they did anything, they'll be responsible on my end of the scalpel."

"Oooh." Quinn smirked, her arm looped around my shoulders. "That depends on how big that scalpel is."

I burst out laughing. "Please stop."

"Alright, alright." Quinn fanned her hands, then twirled as she showed me her dress. "Don't I look ravishing? Dr. Grey's just mad because he looks like a rich prince from a foreign country from the days of bloody old and I look super hot." Quinn twirled again, her gown the colour of lavender and made of fluffed chiffon like an upside down flower. Her black hair is twisted into a bun, held together by a bouquet of actual flowers, lace and chiffon.

"You do look super gorgeous," I admitted. "And you look nice, Dr. Hamel."

"I don't feel like myself," he muttered, sliding his hands down the silk robe. Each finger was studded with rings and stones.

"Sometimes that's a good thing," Cordelia answered. "Let's leave them to it. We'll wait back there, okay?"

She kissed my cheek, a surprise, before offering her arm for Quinn. Quinn hugged me one last time, a tight little squeeze, and she took Cordelia's arm. Dr. Hamel moved after them.

"I'll see you later, Miss Cain. I'm glad you're back."

"Thank you, doctor."

He smiled gently. "Faris is fine."

I smiled and he was gone. What was left for me was a door. So I walked. I knocked. And I swung the door. The room was dark, the lights were set low. The man at the centre is sat, hunched over the bed. When the door opened, he stood up. I couldn't see his face, his expression.

Then he was running and I couldn't move, the tears were down, and he pulled me into his arms and crushed me. I was kissing him and he was saying 'I love you', again and again and again. We fell back into place. Into safety.

— — —

After maybe hours, maybe a day— we sat on the bed. Leon's arm was around me, the other playing with the fingers on my lap. He rested his head on my shoulder and I rested mine on the side of his head.

"Are you ready?" I asked, eyes closed, breathing him in.

"Five more minutes," he murmured. "Then I'll rip her jaw in half."

I shook my head. "That's nice."

"What's not nice is her drugging the champagnes we were drinking from that party, then drugging all of us again in that elevator that wasn't even moving, and taking you because you were the most vulnerable piece. What they sorely misread was how much of an important piece you were to me. What's not nice is while we were panicking because you were gone, my sister was sent a photo of you with your neck bleeding out. What's not nice is that for a second, I thought you were dead."

I leaned back, watching the thunderous expression of darkness on his face. "Leon..."

He gingerly slid a finger across my throat, across the cut that still needed a plaster. His expression was pained and it hurt my heart. Then he looked away. "I know they sent in blood samples, but..."

I took his hand and kissed his fingers. He shuddered and kissed my forehead. "I'm fine. Aoi and the man he's with took care of me."

"They also took you and that's never fine." Then he sighed and straightened himself. "The dinner was my idea, but it was Aoi's to do names and have those background stories."

I smiled. "I figured. I don't remember you being as dramatic as that. Leon, wait. There was something she said, just this morning. I asked her who were the people she wanted punished. She said a Cavendish, a wicked mother, a Rothschild, a grandfather and a grandson. She said Dominic got to one of them and she referred to him as a he. But that's only four, sans the one he got to. We have seven people here."

"That makes sense." Under the guise of the dim lights, he was in a loose maroon shirt tucked under pants of the same colour. He was bespectacled, his hair in messy waves. On his hands were numerous gold rings. "Quinn looked into the files you asked. Aoi and Cassandra. Aoi is a victim. Like Dominic."

"I know, she told me. She told me the truth about everything."

He narrowed his eyes. "In exchange for what?"

"The truth about me."

"About you?"

"About my mum, but we don't have to focus on that now. What is this dinner about? Have you cracked the case?"

"Things have made sense, but I'll still need your insight. Aoi gave you a list. All you have to do is go through it. Eliminate until you get to the truth at its core." He took my hands and he stood us up. His eyes glimmered against the glasses. "With the dinner, you could discern their truths from their lies. You can see much more than I can. Then we'll know the whole story."

A Cavendish,

A wicked mother,

A Rothschild,

a grandfather and a grandson.

There were plain ones and ones hidden deep. The last two were easy. So is the second one. A wicked mother.

"She's here, isn't she? Cassandra's mother."

He offered his elbow and nodded. We started walking, closing the door and into the hallway. Our steps were unhurried and languid. There was no need to rush. We had time. "Her name is Mathilde Bernault. She's a socialite who has a lot of connections. Her husband, Cassie's father, died several years back."

"The wicked mother. What have you found on Cassandra's file?"

"The truth," he said simply. "Cassie found out the truth."

I nodded. I had a good hand. I knew most of the facts and Dominic laid it all out for us to do everything else; the foundation is set, all leading up to this dinner. All leading up to the web he had spun and left behind for us to find and make sense.

We stopped in front of the double doors, the ones that led to his private dinning room. You couldn't hear anything from inside or out; the black wood against the gold inlays of the door shown like a vault. The tropical plants on each side still fairly warm and wet, hold like soldiers in attention.

"This is where he died, didn't he?" I whispered, nerves frayed but anticipation thrilled. "This is where they all killed him."

"And this is where it ends." He looked at me, kissed the side of my head and squeezed my hand for the last time, before he pushed open the doors. The table shushed, the room dark, and Leon Song took on a smile that was imploring you to dare. "Welcome, ladies and gentlemen, to the memorial dinner of an old friend. We're at the end. Shall we start?"

- - -

NEXT

EPISODE TWENTY FIVE

PAST TRUTHS ARE STILL TRUTHS

- - -

google translate-

latin -

dramatis personae - characters

japanese -

慎重に. - careful

あなたはこれを後悔します- you will regret this

あなたの最悪をします- do your worst

korean -

잘 플레이 - play well

- - -

Can you list your suspects down below and reasons for? I'd like to see the accuracy of your hunches :-) One last chapter to go, plus an epilogue... maybe two. I hope you had an enjoyable time with our little mystery :-)