Echoing Melodies (Black Butler x OC Fanfic)

Chapter 7: Murders on the Thames

The drive back to the Phantomhive Manor was dreary to say the least. The rain had begun to fall, and the sun had begun to set, making the sky darker than it was before. There was absolute silence, only the pitter patter of raindrops against the carriage as it closes in on the manor.

The carriage stops, the coachman opens the door. Valeria and Lilith step out first, Ciel and Sebastian following after. The coachman gives a curt nod before taking his leave. They open the front door, the butler expecting the manor to be in complete ruins. To his surprise, the place was clean, more perfect than it was before.

"Strange, I would expect the place to be in chaos." Ciel muttered. No one could really disagree, due to the fact that the servants were, how to put this, 'strange' in a way. Even though they were strange, they could not do their chores right for the life of them. And unfortunately, that meant Sebastian had to do absolutely everything to make sure the place didn't go to hell.

"I did too, young master. Well, it's nothing to worry about now. We have work to do." Sebastian follows Ciel as they walk up the stairs to Ciel's office, hoping to somehow come up with a plan for how they were going to deal with this case.

Sebastian opens the door to his master's office, Ciel moving past him to sit down at the chair in front of the wooden desk. Valeria and Lilith move to stand in front of the desk, the door closing behind them, Sebastian turning the lock to keep anyone else from entering and disturbing the conversation.

"So, what is our next course of action, Lord Phantomhive?" Valeria asks, placing her hand on her chin.

"Our next action is to create a list of suspects. Obviously people who were in the area at the time. They also must know human anatomy, or a doctor of some kind." Ciel messes with the ring on his thumb, the sapphire glistening in the light of the office.

"It would be best to start now, as it is getting dark, my lady." Lilith turns to her mistress, staring down at her. 

"Are you sure, Lilith? It's still storming outside, it's probably for the best that we wait until this storm is over."

"Yes, I'm sure. If we wait, there could be more victims."

"Unfortunately, Lilith is right. If we wait any longer, then the killer could commit more murders." Sebastian sighs, looking at his master. "We can't wait any longer. This could end badly if we do."

"Well, if we begin now, then we can get this case over and done with." Valeria turns to Lilith. "I want you to make a list of suspects, and find out their alibis."

"Sebastian, I want you to join her."

"Excuse me?"

"You heard what I said. I want you to go and help her with finding suspects."

Lilith looks at Sebastian. She didn't want to be in the room with him, let alone have him come with her to find suspects. She could do it just fine on her own, and she wanted to do it her way. Unfortunately, her mistress seemed to agree with Ciel's decision on letting them go together.

"Yes, my lord."

"Yes, my lady."

With that, the two leave the room, off to find suspects for the investigation.

Valeria turns away from the door, turning back to Ciel. "I must be off now. I have some of my own business to attend to."

She moves out of the chair and towards the door, opening it and stepping into the hallway. She walks towards the kitchen, where she could hear pots and pans being moved around, and could smell the sweet scent of burnt sugar. Valeria opens the door, looking inside to see Adelia calmly finishing a small serving of creme brûlée. She stops what she's doing when she sees Valeria walk in, hand hovering over the ramekin with a mint leaf and a raspberry.

"Val! I thought you wouldn't be back for a while, so I made you this creme brûlée. You came at the perfect time, I just finished it."

"Thank you, Adelia. Today has been a train wreck, I feel like setting the headquarters of Scotland Yard on fire."

"Well, let's not commit arson under our host's roof. We can do that when we get back home."

"I can't even do it until Lilith gets back."

"She left?" Adelia says as she places the finished dessert in front of her mistress. She sits down across from her, handing her a silver spoon, as said utensil seemed to be the only form of silverware in the drawers. It was strange, but it's not as uncommon to them, as the golden silverware from home would often go missing, especially after a certain demon showed up in the home.

"Yes. I sent her out to find suspects with Sebastian." Valeria cracks the top of the dish with her spoon, the burnt sugar cracking like glass. Adelia makes a face at the mention of the two going out together, after hearing that they weren't on very good terms at the moment.

"What's our course of action now? What do we do?"

"We find who's doing this. Then we can go home."