When The Snow Falls

"It's still said to think this was how it ended between us," Oliver lamented as they took their places on the boat that would bring them back to the mainland.

Daniel thought back to the play and remembered how he was struggling to keep up. Part of him had been surprised that Yukari's character had turned out to be the murderer. There was actually a chance that he wouldn't have solved the mystery.

Then again there would have been opportunities to ask for hints. It was likely that Ethan would have beaten him if he had simply decided to cheat.

"Oliver, I'm not even sure I would have guessed the murderer during the play," he whispered.

The Mystery Club leader's face was quite a picture of shock and horror. Felix folded his arms and smirked.

"I actually guessed it was that character. I would have won the event instead of Daniel."

Daniel stared at him skeptically and remembered two important things. Felix was just as clever as him and was much more fluent in Japanese. His boyfriend had probably been keeping up with the play better than him.

"Felix would have told Daniel the answers so he could win," Amien pointed out. "He would want him to have the satisfaction of winning."

Felix twitched guiltily.

"I would have actually done that if I felt Daniel wasn't going to get it," he admitted.

"You two are so loving," Meredith said. "I get envious sometimes."

Daniel blushed at the attention.

"Are you two going out?" one if the girls from the other school asked. "You're so cute together."

Daniel blushed even more and Felix put his arm around him.

"Thank you," he said. "Daniel's quite shy about things like this so excuse him."

The reborn detective hid his face in Felix's shoulder. He really didn't like attention like that.

"We should have a Mystery Club couple," another girl spoke up. "Then when we all come here again we can out cute them."

"That's a very odd thing to think of," Vincent commented. "Next year, you will all have to focus on winning the event honestly…"

"Not like Ethan…" one of the boys said awkwardly.

"Ethan wasn't a bad person, he was just easily influenced," Vincent answered. "It didn't go with his temper or impulsive personality. If only he ignored the whispers of the devil in his ears…"

That caught Daniel's attention. It was an odd way to word that Ethan hadn't thought the consequences of his actions through properly.

A dead silence followed his words and no one spoke until the boat came in view of the dock. Daniel zipped up his bag and got ready to leave.

"Are you going straight home after this?" Meredith asked the girls.

The blonde one shook her head. "We're going to a hotel first to unwind with gold star spa treatments for a week and then our parents will pick us up."

Daniel could tell their school was more of an exclusive one. His club was going to a normal hotel for a night as that was all their club budget could manage. After that they were all going to go their separate ways.

"We're staying at a hotel for a bit and then parting," Meredith replied. "It's probably not the same one."

"Maybe we'll see each other again," the blonde girl said as they filed off the boat.

Daniel felt that he would want to do the event again, but only with their club. They had come to do the event with no rival school and had ended up causing a death indirectly instead. It was likely to weigh on his conscience for a while.

Vincent said his goodbyes as the only member of his club left on the dock.

"You did a good job," he said with a smile. "We will meet again and you might not succeed next time.."

Something clicked in Daniel's mind as he watched Vincent step into the car. There had been a few things that were bothering him. Facts that he had discarded as being insignificant were coming back to the surface of his mind.

Could it be?

Vincent followed the rest of his club into the taxi and the taxi drove off a few seconds later. Daniel was left standing on the deck staring after it.

"What's wrong?" Felix asked. "You look like you've had a shock."

"I think I know the psychological push," Daniel said numbly. "It was Vincent and it was deliberate."

Felix gave him a long glance and he seemed to understand that he wasn't ready to talk.

"We'll talk about this when we get to our hotel room. We don't want to alarm the others yet."

***

Daniel's mind was out of it as they signed into the hotel and received their room keys. He walked up the stairs with automatic steps and followed Felix into their hotel room. Felix placed their suitcases neatly against the wall and took a seat on one of the beds.

"I think I caught your meaning earlier. You think that Vincent told Ethan to commit the crime."

Daniel sat down on the bed opposite him and tried to organise what he was going to say so it would be fully understandable. His thoughts were a mess at the moment.

"The book I brought with me on this trip is the final Hercule Poirot case. The murderer in the book is someone who never killed anyone themself, instead they manipulated others into doing it for him and he was impossible to catch because he was never involved in the murderous acts. Vincent wouldn't have told Ethan to carry out the lethal deed directly…" he said.

"He's too slimy for that," Felix summarised. "You think it was more psychological manipulation?"

"That's right," Daniel replied. "The seeds of doubt were likely to be sown by Vincent and he was probably the one to suggest sneaking into the theatre. He knew Ethan would do if he was egged on in the right way. He must have said something that would have convinced him that removing the safety guard on the knife was the best thing to do. Vincent had probably been enjoying the whole thing."

The more Daniel considered it the more he felt that he thought his theory was right. Everything was starting to add up better than it was with Ethan cast in the role of a murderer. There had been some odd facts and Vincent had hinted that he was excited by the murder when he had spoken to him on the fateful night.

"Vincent is very twisted…" Felix said slowly. "But, we can't do anything about it."

Daniel nodded sadly.

"That's the problem with that type of murderer, there's no proof they caused it. Ethan didn't realise he was being manipulated- he would have told the Police. Remember that Vincent was able to leave the island with us. There's no suspicion attached to him. Because he never did anything himself, there's no evidence to implicate him."

"We can't tell the Police our suspicions?" Felix asked tentatively.

"We can mention it, but it holds no weight. Ethan confessed to the murder, he did break the safety cover on the knife- it technically all adds up. Vincent didn't tell him directly to do it. Our suspicions don't mean anything legally. It's impossible and Vincent knows that."

Felix frowned.

"That's why he made that comment on the boat. He knew he was telling you he was the real killer and he knows he can't be caught."

"That's right," Daniel sighed. "This case is kind of a failure on our part."

Now that he knew more about the case the series of events were slightly more elaborated. Vincent was the person sharing a room with Ethan. It would have been easy for him to drop lots of comments casually, then to leave the room and spend time with other members of the club so he would have had a clear alibi.

"Remember that the play is quite similar every year," Felix reminded him. "The part with the knife could have been the same as the previous year so Vincent would have known he was causing a death."

Something came to Daniel's mind when he heard that. When he had checked out the other club during the play, Ethan had been barely paying any attention because he had known what was going to happen whereas Vincent had been smiling because he had known someone was going to die and he would get away with murder.

"Meredith was exchanging numbers with the other club on the boat. We can get her to ask them the solution to the play last year or if the murder was similar. As we know the knife is new, but it could have been any type of sharp object," Daniel mused. "We need to know if Vincent knew that he was going to end up actually killing someone."

Felix took out his phone.

"Let's get the information now," he said and started to type out a text. "...We also forgot to contact Annabelle again."

Daniel twitched and took out his own phone. He had forgotten about Annabelle again.

"You ask Meredith and I will contact Annabelle," he said quickly.

His cousin was livid at being left out again as he had been expecting and phoned him immediately.

"You solved a case without me again," Annabelle complained with a long sigh. "But you don't sound sure this time…"

Annabelle was good at picking up on his true feelings.

"I think Vincent manipulated him into doing it," Daniel admitted. "There's a few things that haven't added up and he made a very odd comment as we parted."

"He's also a smarmy posh twerp," Felix called out.

"Okay, so it's like Curtain: Poirot's final case?" Annabelle asked.

Daniel wasn't surprised that she had been able to compare the current case with the book as she loved reading mystery stories as much as he did.

"I think so," he replied. "That means it isn't possible to prove anything…"

"He's going to do it again," Annabelle said. "That's what people like that do. Do you think he can be stopped?"

Daniel hadn't wanted to think about that possibility yet. Judging from everything he knew and had observed about Vincent, he definitely had some future plans in mind.

"I don't know," he answered as he saw Felix's facial expression changed into a dark frown. "I've got to go."

Felix put his phone down and Daniel knew he had obtained the information.

"Last year the 'murder' was commited with a sword. They were all shown the sword after the play had finished and were all able to handle it. The girl she asked remembered that it had a safety guard. The director explained that the murder methods were always the same in his plays as he wanted a traditional feel."

Daniel had already guessed it was something like that.

"So Vincent knew that Ethan was going to heavily injure or kill someone."

"It turns out that the murder weapon did touch the actor in past years as the director is normally about authenticity and tends to change it in rehearsals," Felix continued. "Vincent is indeed a cold hearted murderer."

Daniel thought about Vincent's last words to him,

"He said he would definitely see me again soon. He had something planned…"

Felix put his phone away and sighed.

"In that book you and Annabelle mentioned, how does the detective catch the murderer who can't be caught?"

"Poirot kills him because he knows he can't be arrested. Poirot dies a few days later after withdrawing from his life-saving medication. That's why the book is called 'Curtain'."

A very sobering silence followed that line.

"Daniel, don't go down the route of murder. I know you have already lived before, but that's not relevant," Felix said sternly.

Daniel felt a cold feeling envelop his body.

Felix really did know this was his second life.

He decided to check just to make sure. His ears could have just deceived him in his panic.

"I haven't lived before," he replied, faking confusion.

Felix levelled him with a cool glance.

"I have known for a while who you really are. Now I would like some answers."