Ruby Redfort Fanfiction: Look Into His Eyes And Take Your Last Breath

A Send Off For Blacker and Froghorn Has A Plan

A send off. So that's what they were calling it. Ruby didn't like it, it was like Blacker was going some place away from their memories, never to be seen or heard from again. Maybe Ruby didn't like it because it was accurate. Ruby and Hitch were at the Department of Agents and Their Records in the saddest room Ruby had ever been in. It was tiny, Ruby's claustrophobia was acting up, and the wallpaper was peeling and the room smelt of damp. Blacker's body lay on a plain surgical table, eyes staring upwards at nothingness. Hitch and Ruby would and shouldn't have been in there if it wasn't for Ruby's special request to examine the body. But now, looking at Blacker's small, limp body, Ruby wasn't so sure. She realised she didn't want to see Blacker, and almost felt like she no longer cared about this stupid case which see, to grow more and more confusing as it went on. But there was that small, instinctive part of Ruby's brain that told her that if she didn't work this out, there could possibly be more dead bodies on the surgical table, maybe even Clancy. Clancy. Ruby banished him out of her head for the millionth time that day. There wasn't time to think about Clancy right now. The truth, as it was and Ruby knew it, was that she really didn't want to think about him right now. After that episode in front of the TV, Ruby had told him in a choked voice that when she was working for Spectrum there was no time for that, she might put him in danger and well... Ruby had instantly regretted saying those last few words.
"I don't like you Clancy." It was completely the wrong phrasing, and Clancy had just stared at her sadly for a few seconds, then stood up and left the room. She didn't see him again till Monday morning, and the only time she had mildly interacted with him was saying goodbye and good morning. Ruby's thoughts wondered off, she was lost in her own world. Hitch sighed and placed a hand on Ruby's shoulder.
"How was your day?" He asked as he steered Ruby closer to the surgical table. Ruby didn't look him in the eye.
"Awful." Hitch sighed again.
"Not that we didn't expect it." Ruby nodded, and forced her self to bend down and look Blacker full in the face.
"Shot in the heart?"
"Not quite. Just under, took about five seconds to die. He didn't suffer too much." Ruby was suddenly angry,
"Five seconds of complete agony Hitch, you wanna try that sometime?" Hitch knew he had hit a sore spot and shook his head. Ruby though, had her mind whizz into top gear. "Five seconds Hitch. What could you do in five seconds?" Hitch frowned, as if to say, a lot. "Lemme rephrase that. How many words could you say in five seconds?" Hitch pondered.
"A rapper can rap up to fifteen words in five seconds-"
"Blacker wasn't a rapper." Said Ruby impatiently.
"Yes, and he was dying. Depending on how many syllables the words had, probably only one to two." Ruby went into deep thought. The room was suddenly silent.
"Based on the examination, run me though the death." Hitch took a second to recall the information,
"Shot just under the heart, at very close range, probably with the gun against his heart. Blacker first fell to his knees, then face first into the ground."
"No fingerprints?"
"None."
"When Froghorn was interviewed he said he found Blacker face up at the ceiling." Hitch immediately saw where Ruby was getting at.
"Ruby, let the Froghorn thing drop. He found the body, he was horrified, he called Spectrum, we discover the body had been dead a little over a week. Froghorn was drunk, there's no way he could have killed him, even if he was in a fit of drunken rage."
"Ever heard of making yourself an unlikely suspect Hitch? Isn't it a coincidence that Froghorn was walking past the old Spectrum entrance, suddenly decided through his drunken haze to go down there, followed all these signs and by complete chance stumbled upon Blacker? Maybe Froghorn was drunk, maybe the body had been dead a week, but just because the suspect is crying and says it wasn't them, it doesn't mean it wasn't them." Hitch looked reluctant,
"But Froghorn was in Spectrum on the day Blacker went on leave. All the agents were. It was the biggest thing that had happened since Bradley Baker died."
"Look Hitch, I saw Froghorn in Blacker's office the day he went on leave, you do t mean to say that isn't suspicious? Besides, how could anyone else predict Froghorn going down to the old Spectrum entrance? He was drunk!"
"The Count could do it."
"The Count is in jail Hitch. Remember how the Count was working for someone? It could be Froghorn." Ruby had the uncanny ability to make things she was arguing about seem like the most realistic option. Hitch didn't argue. Ruby was incredibly biased, but Blacker had just died, and her explain action was a good one, worthy to be looked into. "So Hitch, are we gonna shadow this Froghorn guy or not?" Hitch looked up,
"I'll get someone onto him. C'mon kid, we're going home."