Moonlit Meetings:
Chapter 4:
The next day at work was tiring for everyone involved. Ciel hadn't slept at all due to the memory of kissing his rival. Sebastian has also experienced a sleepless night, haunted by being tricked by Black Phantom.
It took Ciel a few hours to notice that Sebastian kept looking over at him and then looking down again when their eyes met. He began to worry that Sebastian had managed to work out that he was Black Phantom after their kiss. The thought caused him to blush unwillingly and he hated himself for that. Sebastian Michaelis was simply good looking and extremely annoying so he shouldn't be blush worthy at all. He found Sebastian looking at him again.
"Do I have something on my face?" he asked.
"No, " Sebastian answered shortly and returned to writing his report.
Ciel was sure that Sebastian was never going to mention their kiss in the report and that was what was taking him so long as he was trying to create a plausible explanation for being incapacitated.
"You have been taking a long time to write a report about what happened last night. Do you need any help?"
"Yours didn't take too long to write because you didn't do anything last night," Sebastian argued. "I am the one that almost caught him."
"I've had contact with him before," Ciel snapped back.
Tanaka sensed incoming danger and took action before his master could inadvertently let something slip again. Arguments between Sebastian and Ciel were proving to be hazardous so far.
"Sebastian was chloroformed yesterday and still looks sleepy, let him write up his report in peace."
After that Ciel remained quiet for the rest of the day, still wondering why he had kissed Sebastian. The idea had worked, but he certainly was not planning on implementing it again. There was only one person that he could discuss matters like that with. His best and only friend Alois Trancy. He wasn't supposed to tell anyone else about his alter ego, however he had told Alois so he could have someone to talk about it with that was not Tanaka or Mey-Rin. He could call Alois later and air the matter with him.
***
The evidence that Ciel had found was not discussed until they all reached Tanaka's flat. The former butler pulled out the scrapbook and notebook from under the sofa cushions and made tea.
Ciel was keen to know the contents as it would determine whether or not he would have to continue with his search for his parents' murderer using different methods. He waited patiently until Tanaka had served tea and they were all seated around the table.
"Is he the murderer?" he questioned eagerly.
"The contents of the books you picked out were very intriguing. I only had time for a brief look this morning so I am not sure of the answer to that question," the older man informed him. "There is something that is clear though, his latest book was based on the Phantomhive murder."
He slid the scrapbook to Ciel who opened it and was confronted by a newspaper cutout detailing his parents' murder glued to the page. He flipped through all the pages to find they were all newspaper reports about the same thing. Some articles were annotated in rushed writing. The annotations matched details from the novel Wordsmith had written.
Misgivings about Wordsmith being the person they were looking for began to flood him. The murderer would have known how they were killed and would not have needed to read newspapers for research to write about a similar murder. A majority of the articles from the time of the case and some were from later years, mainly anniversaries of the case. The murder had remained unsolved by the Police due to the dire lack of suspects. Or rather all the likely suspects were rich or tied to the government so no one had wanted to accuse them of murder.
"What is the other notebook?" Mey-Rin asked curiously. "It looks like a diary."
"It is a diary of some sort," Tanaka told her. "I have not finished it yet, but it revealed that he is not the murderer we are looking for."
Upon hearing that Ciel's shoulders slumped in disappointment. Yet another dead end. He rested his head on the table and sulked. Wordsmith's novel was simply a coincidence and was not directly related to his parents' murder.
"Actually it appears that he was trying to solve the murder himself," the older man continued on. "His list of suspects is practically the same as ours."
Ciel perked up and he took the diary from Tanaka and read it with interest. Wordsmith has been investigating the same suspects as him and had encountered similar problems as them regarding trying to find evidence.
"He wrote the book that was obviously based on my parents' murder and sent previews to all the suspects to see how they would react," Ciel said once he had reached an important page. "That is an unique idea."
"You're the one that came up with the idea of a phantom thief," Mey-Rin pointed out. "What reactions did he get?"
Ciel turned the page to check. "Most ignored it and a few sent a reply."
He found the letters folded neatly on the next page and arranged them on the table. Tanaka and Mey-Rin crowded around him for a closer look. Tanaka picked one out at random.
"This person sent a reply to ask why he had been sent the preview. There aren't any threats here."
Mey-Rin peered closer at another one. "This one suggests that it would be a bad idea to publish it because it has not been too long since the murder. There aren't any specific threats implied either."
The one to pinpoint the one they were looking for was Ciel.
"This letter says it would be dangerous if the book was published because there could be legal action. He says he will do all he can to do to prevent the book from being published for the sake of the surviving relatives. There is even money offered; it sounds extremely like a bribe," he read through the rest of the letter and stopped when he reached the name of the sender. "Yours sincerely, Ash Landers."
"That name sounds familiar," Mey-Rin frowned.
"It does," Tanaka agreed. "It's on the list of the suspects, but it's one that Angelina added, not me."
Ciel stared at the name on the letter. Had he finally found the person he had been wanting to take revenge on?
"All we can do for the moment is investigate Ash Landers. if we assume that this evidence is the conclusive proof of his guilt, then we have found the murderer meaning we have to proceed carefully," Tanaka said. "We need to move onto the problem of Sebastian Michaelis."
Ciel turned to look at Tanaka sharply. He had a point. If they did end up doing a heist at Ash Lander's house, wherever he lived, Sebastian would be a problem. He had also sworn to himself that he would never use kissing as a diversion again for the sake of his embarrassment and because it would never work on Sebastian again. There was the additional problem of a lack of background information on him.
"We managed to get away last time somehow," the butler cast Ciel a look and he knew that Tanaka had guessed what his distraction method had been. "Next time we might not be so lucky. If he thinks hard about it, the only suspect that fits the criteria is you. I was of the opinion that we could provide him with another suspect."
"Who?" Ciel was completely confused. The criteria Sebastian had were a lack of height and a manga fan. "Wait-"
He knew one other person that matched those attributes.
"I have noticed that your friend Alois is about the same height as you without those high heeled boots he wears. If I remember correctly, he is the one that got you into manga.
Ciel could understand where Tanaka was going with that idea. Sooner or later Sebastian was going to come to the conclusion that Ciel was the only person that could be the thief. Therefore another potential suspect was needed.
"Yes, that is true," he acknowledged. "However it would mean bringing another person into this and Sebastian may end up arresting him."
"If Trancy does not agree to it we will continue as normal, if he does agree then it is his own decision. Make sure he is clear on everything first before he agrees."
***
As Ciel had suspected Alois agreed quickly the idea, saying that he was willing to do anything to prevent his best friend from being caught and arrested. Ciel suspected it was because Alois wanted to meet the person he had kissed.
The plan for having Sebastian meet Alois relied on Ciel walking out of Scotland Yard with him, meaning he had to wait for the other officer to leave. It became obvious once 5 o'clock arrived that Sebastian was intending on staying late. Tanaka and Mey-Rin left slightly after 5 like usual to give an impression of normality.
Ciel occupied himself with reading all the newspaper reports about the heist. The tabloid write ups were always the most amusing to read, especially if you knew what had really happened. Sebastian passed the time compiling a list of the common factors between all the heists and found it strange that Ciel was still there. He normally left as soon as possible.
"Have you changed your mind about your work ethic?"
He answered his own question by checking what Ciel was actually doing.
"Perhaps. I am more concerned about your well being. It's not good to constantly work overtime," internally Ciel was cringing at having to act like he cared. "You should go home and go to bed early."
Sebastian checked his watch and remembered his sleepless night. He probably should go home. He ended up walking out of the building with his superior officer who was acting out of the ordinary by showing concern for him health and complimenting him on his work.
The phantom thief breathed a sigh of relief when he spotted Alois outside. Making small talk with Sebastian was quite challenging.
"Ciel!" the blonde called out. "You're late."
Ciel watched as Sebastian looked closer at his friend who was wearing his usual outlandish clothing and footwear. Alois tended to dress in an eye catching manner meaning that Sebastian's attention was definitely on him.
"I didn't know I was supposed to be meeting you," he apologised.
"I just wanted to know if you had finished with my manga books. You said you needed them for work."
As planned Ciel produced the relevant books out of his back pack and made sure Sebastian could see the titles when he handed them over. He knew his rival had seen the significance when he smiled at Ciel and asked to be introduced to his friend.
"This is Alois Trancy," Ciel informed him. "He has been my best friend since secondary school."
"Nice to meet you," Sebastian flashed a disarming smile and his eyes travelled down to Alois' boots. "Your fashion choices are interesting."
Ciel knew that Sebastian had taken the bait. "He likes to act like he is taller than me when he is really the same height."
Sebastian checked and realised they were indeed the same height. Cogs began to turn in his mind. Alois Trancy was short in height and was a manga fan. He could potentially be the phantom thief. He could also be getting information from Ciel to help him. Had Ciel been seduced into betraying the Police?