After having established the identity of the newly presented man as 'Jeremy Rathborne' and 'a trusted priest from the local church', this man proved his innocent with a ticket that could only be purchased yesterday at a theater in London, which was confirmed by Irene.
We updated him on the happenings of the manor, to which he wanted to further investigate on. He had the three dead bodies move to separate rooms before inspecting them.
"Well then," Sebatia- I mean Jeremy clapped his hand together, "Why don't you show me the victims in the order they were killed?" He said after having changed into Sebastian's clothes.
"Then we should start with Lord Siemens," Arthur said.
"I'm going too!" Charles volunteered.
"If you don't mind, I will come along," I said.
"Inspecting dead corpses are not for the faint-hearted," Arthur said, "Especially for a lady like you..."
"Don't worry, I can take care of myself. I think I will be of help since I have a keener eye for details than most men." I said.
In the end they let me follow them to investigate each of the bodies.
We first went to see the body of Gerog von Siemens . Jeremy was able to deduct several things about him, such as that he was a heavy drinker, and that the body carried a faint scent of the ocean. I saw Charles' eyes narrow slightly as indeed, we did first poison Gerog von Siemens with the toxin of pufferfish, hence the nautical smell.
Jeremy requested to take a look at the room Phelps was killed in after inspecting his body. As we were walking up the stairs to Ciel's master bedroom, Charles noticed that Jeremy was't folllowing us.
"Huh?" Charles turned around and leaned on the rail, "That old guy's not following us."
"Ah, my apologies,"Jeremy appeared from the lower flight of stairs, wiping his sweat with a handkerchief, "Let's keep moving."
"That's why I can't stand old guys." Charles muttered.
Jeremy deducted that in this case, this was done by another killer, which was also correct as me and Charles was not the cause of Phelps' death. Jeremy requested the cooperation of Ciel in order to catch the killer. I sensed a deeper meaning behind that.
We finally reached the room Sebastian's corpse was placed in. This time, Jeremy did the inspection so quickly that we did't even have a chance to look at it ourselves.
"Oh... It's almost time for dinner." Charles said. "I'm going back up then."
We walked out of the room, and Jeremy said, "I have to prepare for this evening, so you three should return without me."
We nodded and started walking away. I purposefully walked in a slow pace as I knew what was about to happen.
Charles, who had been heading away, suddenly turned around and ran full speed towards the room that we just came out of.
He bursted open the door and ran in. I also hurried in after him. I caught him swiftly pulling away the white cloth the covered the corpse...
To which it revealed the cold body of Sebastian still lying in that bloodied butler clothing.
"What's wrong, Charles?" I asked.
"It's just... I had this feeling..." He shook his head, "Of course, that's impossible." ...Or is it?
He started walking towards the head of the corpse. He raised one foot and was about to kick its face when I laid a hand on his arm to stopped him.
"Don't." I said.
"Why?"
"It's just... unnecessary." And you wouldn't want to kick a demon on the face.
He sighed, and chucked the sheet back on. He walked out of the room while I lingered behind.
"Thank me later." I said complacently to the motionless demon on the ground.
After having super, which Charles had quite a few servings of, Jeremy explained his plans to us. The plan that he devised consisted of Ciel having to strip and get into Sebastian's clothes, and Ran-Mao wearing his clothes instead and getting into his bed in the master chamber.
All of the people uninvolved and Ciel gathered in Woodley's room as requested by Jeremy, which was the closest to the master chamber. We waited in there for quite a while until the rest and Jeremy came into the room... holding a live snake.
Jeremy explain that the reason the snake targeted Ciel's scent is because it had been trained to do so, and that Phelps happened to be sleeping in the master chamber that night so he was mistakenly targeted by this snake and killed.
However, that turned the attention to who this snake was trained by and how the person got his hand on it. Lau suggested that it was smuggled in, and Ciel agreed, saying that the culprit would have to have connections with Africa. At the mention of that, all eyes turned on the diamond importer, Woodley.
"Y-You're wrong!" He shook his head violently, "It's not me! Kong-Ring is in the trading business too!" He said pointing his finger at Lau.
"Unfortunately for you, we don't have any business in Africa." Lau said with a pitiful smile.
Charles spoke up, "Either way, concluding it's him just because he does business in Africa seems kind of unreasonable?" I was slightly confused as to why Charles was defending him, but I'm sure he has his reason.
"E-Exactly! What about Lord Siemen's murder?" Woodley desperately grabbed onto the string of hope, "I have an alibi for that!"
"There maybe little meaning to the alibi, I'm afraid," Jeremy said. "What if the corpse the servants discovered....wasn't actually a corpse?"
That earned gasps and gulps from the audience. He went on to explain about the poison in pufferfish, called tetrodotoxin, and how it could fake death. Now that I recall, it might be what the Undertaker used to fake Madame Red's death and save her while I was away to find an angel to heal her. Ah, the memories. I wonder how she is doing in China.
They worked out that the killer was trying to frame the Earl Phantomhive by setting up this ruse, and the silenced Siemens by actually killing him. Whoops, our plan's out. They got it exactly right.
I knew that Charles was wondering about the same thing, so I asked it, "But if Lord Siemens drank poison, then where is the container?"
"He could just toss it somewhere we wouldn't look right away," Ciel said, "In a fire, for example."
From that, they detected that Sebastian could very well have been killed by the killer while cleaning out he fireplace. I subtly threw Charles a glance, and could see that he was trying very hard to hold back his annoyance at having all his action figured out so easily by this Jeremy person.
Woodley continued to fight for his innocence even after this. Grimsby got annoyed and said, "Then show us! Prove it's not here!" he ran over to the fireplace, grabbed the iron, and poked around in it pushing away all the ashes and burnt wood. It revealed some shiny things.
"Glass shards...?" Arthur whispered, "But we can't tell what it is..."
Jeremy walked over to the fireplace, picked up the pieces, and in no time they were put back together... revealing a glass vial.
"So you really are the culprit!" Grimsby shouted at Woodley furiously, "You murderer!"
"I-I've never seen that thing before!" Woodley fearfully denied.
"Why on earth would you try to frame a child?" Arthur said with pure disappointment in his voice.
"I-I wasn't-"
"Diamond." Ciel spoke up. He explained about his confidential contract with the Rose company, which is a rival to Woodley's. And how their plan could potentially damaged the sales of Woodley's diamonds, so he devised the plan to kill both Rose and Ciel.
"You've got to believe me! I was set up!" Woodley hopelessly fought. He jabbed a shaky finger towards Ciel, "The Queen's Watc-"
In a swift movement, Charles had maneuvered his way from my side to behind Woodley, securing him in place with a rapier to the neck.
"Shut your mouth," Charles said dangerously, "I don't need your excuses. We'll have plenty of time to talk while you're in prison."
"I didn't do it! I really didn't!"
Charles angled his rapier higher into his chin, "Whatever. Just shut up. I'm in a really bad mood right now."
"Earl Grey," Ciel said, "I have just the thing you need." He held up the chains that was given by Charles which previously was used to chain Ciel and Arthur together. Yep, Ciel was definitely teasing Charles and flaunting his victory right now.
Charles huffed under his breath, and tied Woodley with it. He escorted Woodley out, leaving me with the rest of the manor occupants.
For most of them, it reached a happy ending. We even toasted with some red perilla drink.
"Ah, I'm so glad we can finally sleep without worry tonight." Irene said as we walked back to our rooms
I nodded to her words, but my mind was on Charles. He must be so mad right now after having failed Her Majesty's plan of framing Ciel. I haven't seen him since after he escorted Woodley out.
"My room is here. Goodnight, Clare." Irene said.
I muttered goodnight back but instead of going into my own room, I went to knock on Charles'. I waited for a bit but got no response. He wasn't in there.
I wondered around the manor and into the cellar when I heard slight cries coming from there. I poked my head in to see a tied up Woodley still struggling relentlessly in his chains.
He froze abruptly when I walked in, staring at me with wide eyes. I undid the cloth that was tied around his mouth.
"Did Earl Grey tie your mouth up? You must have been very noisy. It isn't very pleasant of him choosing to retain you right next to the dead bodies is it?" I said.
"It wasn't me!" He blurted out.
I smiled and put a finger to my mouth, "Shh... Of course I know it wasn't you. I know who the actual culprit is."
His eyes widened, "You know!? Then tell Earl Phantomhive! I wasn't the one to frame him!"
I lightly shook my head, "Of course Earl Phantomhive knows as well, isn't it obvious?"
I could see his eyebrows furrowed as a moment of disbelief washed over him, "What?"
"He was the one that set you up." I said.
His breathing became ragged as shock slowly turned into rage, "I knew it! I knew it all along! That damned Queen's Dog! Well if you know then help me prove to the others I didn't do it!"
"Do you know why he framed you?" I asked ignoring his demand.
"...Diamond? I don't know just get me out of here!"
"Think about what you've done recently that might have caused this..."
He looked confused, "What I've done? I.... Rose..."
"There you go, you have it. You were the one who ordered for the death of Rose correct?"
"No I don't know wh-"
"Oh, quit that blatant act." I said, "As if it isn't obvious enough that the owner of your rival company conveniently died right before a deal that could impair your company's sales."
He didn't have anything to say this time.
"So you deserve to be arrested. Your way of managing business is truly pitiable, willing to murder the opposing company's president. Anyway, lesson learned, don't get in the way of Earl Phantomhive, especially not with such shortsighted gimmicks."
As I stood up and was about to leave, he spoke up.
"Do you work for Ciel Phantomhive?"
"No. I only work for Her Majesty."
Well, enough of the detour. I should go find Charles now.
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Me: I really like the new thingy that allows you to add picture or videos into your story :D