Rini's Murder Mystery by Maj-sama Well, the victim was there, a little pink and red bundle crumpled on the floor with a knife sticking out of her back. Rini was dead all right, and no one seemed to know what happened. We knew the weapon, a knife, and the location, the study. Now all I needed to do was figure out *who could have done it.* (Dun, dun, dun!) Everyone was a suspect. Ami, Rei, Lita, Mina, Serena - no, too dumb, scratch her - and Darien. The night was stormy, like all nights with a *murder mystery*. (Duuuuuun!) Everyone was standing around talking excitedly - none seemed too upset, especially Serena whose sorrow had vanished at the growling of her stomach. But Serena was too dumb. She could never kill anyone, unless perhaps this was an accident. However, this was no accident, I knew. It was planned. "What do we do now?" asked Ami. "What *can* we do" asked Lita. "I know what to do," I said. "Me too," said Rei. "Figure out who killed her." She glared at Serena, but I knew Serena couldn't have killed her, so the glare was wasted. "But how do we do that?" Artemis asked. He was curled in a chair in the corner, his little kitty eyes glittering at everyone. I'd forgotten about him. "Simple," said I. "When was the last time anyone saw Rini before she died?" "I saw her," said Mina. "About an hour ago." "Where was that"? I asked. "In the hall," she answered. "I was in the billiard room with Darien and Serena." "I see..." I murmured. "Has anyone else seen her alive since then?" Everyone shook their heads. I nodded. "We'll start there," I told them. "She was last seen at 8:00. It's 9:00 now. Ami, Rei, Lita, where were you at 8:00?" "Rei and I were in the library," said Ami. Rei nodded. "We were looking at all the kinds of books they have here." "Mmm.." I said. "And you, Lita?" "I was in the ballroom," she told me. "A-ha!" said Serena, pointing a finger at Lita. "You did it! You killed Rini!" Lita waved her hands in front of her. "I did not!" "Oh yeah?" demanded Serena. "You have no alibi!" Serena seemed quite pleased with herself. Ditz. She would *never* figure it out by herself. "Yes I do," said Lita. "Luna and Artemis were with me." "That's right," said Artemis, jumping to the floor. "I remember quite distinctly. We were wandering around and I slipped on a rag left on the floor." "Hm," I said. "We'll have to go later. Did anyone leave these rooms?" "I did," said Ami. "I left Rei in the library and went to the kitchen for food." "Then one of you did it," accused Serena. "I don't think so," said Rei. "Luna came in like 2 seconds after Ami left." "Oh yes, I remember," said Ami. "I passed her in the hallway right outside the door." "Is that right, Luna?" Darien asked. "Luna?" Everyone looked around. Luna wasn't in the room. "Hey, where's Luna?" asked Darien. "Oh, no!" wailed Serena. "She can't be dead too!" "I'm sure she's fine," I said. "She's probably just poking around the house and doesn't know that Rini's dead." "Yeah," said Darien, patting Serena's shoulder. "I'm sure she's fine." "If she doesn't come here, we'll go look for her," Mina said. "Ami, what time did you go to the kitchen?" I asked. "I don't know," Ami replied. "It was 8:15 when Luna left the ballroom," said Lita. "Yeah," said Artemis. "I heard the clock in the hall." Ah, that annoying clock that goes off every fifteen minutes. I'd really have to silence it some day. It gets annoying as hell. "Artemis and I went into the billiard room a couple minutes later," said Lita. "Did you see Ami on her way to the kitchen?" I asked. Lita shook her head. "But I did see Serena." Here was something. "Where was she going?" "The library, I think," answered Lita. "Serena?" I asked. "Serena? Serena!" "Huh?" Serena looked up from scarfing the fruit I'd set out on the table. "Did you go to the library at around 8:20?" I was getting impatient. "Um, yeah," she said. " 'Cause *someone* was being mean!" She stuck her tongue out at Darien, who looked away, I *think* annoyed. "Ami, how long were you in the kitchen?" I asked. "Oh, I don't know. I found Darien in the lounge at around 8:45, though," she told me. That was a large jump in time. And I guessed Rini died at around 8:30. "Interesting..." I murmured. "Darien, what time did you leave the billiard room?" "A few minutes after Serena left," he said. "Did you go straight to the lounge?" I asked. "Yes," he said. "So there's two suspects," said Lita. "Ami and Darien." "Oh come on, guys!" said Ami. "Do you really believe *I* am capable of murder?" "It's always the quiet ones," said Darien. "Hey, you're a suspect too, y'know," Rei told him. "And what about Luna?" "What about her?" asked Ami. "She left the library just before 8:30," said Rei, pointing her finger at Ami. "Are you accusing my poor cat?" asked Serena, a dirty look on her face. "I'm just pointing it out," Rei replied defensively. "Has anyone seen Luna since?" I asked. Everybody stared blankly. "I'll take that as a no," I said. "Did anyone else move?" Everyone shook their heads, except Ami, who raised her hand. "All right then," said I. "The next thing that happened was Ami coming to get everyone because she'd found Rini." I pointed to the dead body on the floor. "So who did it?" asked Ami. "We have three suspects," I said. "Darien, Ami, and Luna." Everyone nodded. It was too easy. "Ami was the one alone for the longest, so she could have easily killed Rini," I continued. "Wait a minute, I-" started Ami. Darien took one of Ami's arms, Lita took the other, and they led her toward the door. The others followed, Serena mentioning something about finding Luna. I had a feeling they'd find her soon. As Ami was being dragged toward the door, she asked me, "Where were you in all of this?" Then they dragged her out the door, I knew not where. She had asked a good question. But a better one would have been where *hadn't* I been. I was everywhere. Spying on them, checking location, looking for the best opportunity... It was a good thing the Scouts were so stupid. Only Ami could have figured it out, so it was a good thing she'd been gone so long. I was positive Luna hadn't seen that it was me, I was careful about that, though I had had to move quickly. The bonds I'd tied weren't very good. I sat down in a chair and stared at Rini's body lying in that pool of blood. It had been something I'd wanted to do for a *long* time. Stupid pink hairball. Now my job was done and I could move on to bigger, better things. The End Finally