Whodunit? (Chapter 8)
Title: Whodunit?
Pairing: Santana/Brittany
Rating: R (Death/Language/Brief Sexuality)
Summary: A Brittana Murder mystery. A death shakes the lives of Brittany and Santana. Inspired by Agatha Christie.
Spoilers: None. It's AU.
Disclaimer: I do not own Glee or its characters. I do not own anything written by Agatha Christie (basic idea comes from Crooked House).
Chapter 8
Brittany Pierce had difficulty accepting the concept of death as child. When she was in the first grade she had three goldfish name Goldy, Fishy, and Ed, and within two weeks they were all floating upside down in their fishbowl. Her parents flushed them down the toilet and told her that the fish were fine, and that's how fish swim when they got homesick. When Brittany was in the fourth grade, she begged her parents for a dog. She had the puppy for three months before she decided, against the warnings of her parents, to bring the animal with her to dance camp. Upon inspecting her suitcase the morning of her departure, her parents were shocked to find the carcass of the suffocated animal. That's when they decided that this was one of life's lessons that they couldn't avoid teaching her any longer.
By Brittany's Freshman year of college she understood perfectly what death was, but those pet deaths were not adequate preparation for what she was forced to deal with. On a quiet night in March, she received a phone-call from a man she had never met before. This man told her that her parents had been involve in a fatal traffic collision. And after clarifying for her the meaning of the word "fatal" Brittany collapsed to the ground in tears. She didn't know how long she stayed like that before Santana entered her room. Brittany was supposed to meet Santana in the dining hall over an hour previous, so Santana had come looking for her. After being taken into Santana's arms, Brittany explained what the man on the phone had said. Santana told her that night that even though death was unavoidable; it still really sucks when it happens to those you love. The best way to get through it is to be with the people you love that are still alive. Brittany kissed Santana for the first time that night because it was clear to her that she would love Santana until the day she died…
…
"BRITTANY!" shouted Santana.
Brittany snapped out of her reverie and replied, "I think my life just flashed before my eyes. It was weird."
"MY GOD BRITT, YOU'RE COVERED IN BLOOD!"
Brittany looked down. She was in fact covered in blood. This confused her for moment. Then she remembered what just happened, what she had just witnessed. "This isn't my blood Santana …"
"WHAT THE FUCK IS GOING ON?"
"STOP YELLING AT ME!"
Santana stopped and looked around. There was blood everywhere, but Brittany was right, none of it was hers. All of the blood had come from one place, and that place was right below the door to Beth's room. It looked as if a marble statuette the size of a shoebox had fallen from a position above the door and crushed Brittany's cat, Charity. Santana felt like throwing up. "Britt, babe, you scared the shit out of me! Why did you scream so loud?"
"Santana, I just watched my cat explode."
There were noises from down the other end of the hallway. Quinn ran down to where Santana and Brittany were standing. Rachel and Kurt followed her quickly. They all saw what was before them. Rachel inquired, "What is all this?"
Brittany replied, "I was just going to pop over to Beth's room to talk to her, but I got distracted by Charity for a moment. Then I thought, 'Beth loves Charity too,' so I remembered why I was in the hallway in the first place. Then when I pushed in the door to Beth's room, I saw the statue thingy start fall. I jumped back out of harm's way, but my poor cat …"
"Bless your dancer agility!" chimed Kurt.
Rachel was perplexed. "I still don't get it."
"I think I basically can work out what happened," began Santana. "You know when you were a kid, and you propped a bucket of water in the door frame, so that the nest person to go through the door would have the bucket fall on them, and they'd get all wet?"
"I had that done TO me."
"Well, Charity was even unluckier."
Rachel was turning an odd shade of green. "That is messed up."
Quinn, who had been oddly silent, spoke up, "Where is Beth? I mean this is her room."
Everyone looked around perplexed. Beth's room was definitely empty.
"What are you guys standing around for?" It was Beth, from the other end of the hallway. "Gross. Is that Charity?"
Quinn grabbed Beth's tiny frame and looked her in the eyes, "Where were you? Why weren't you in you room?"
"It's only Eight Thirty. I was bored," replied the eight-year-old. She looked around some more, "Hey, Santana is wearing the ring. So you finally asked her then?"
It all the commotion, no one else had noticed the engagement ring on Santana's finger. Quinn, sporting an odd smirk, turned to Kurt and said, "Looks like you finally have a wedding to plan."
Rachel spoke up, "This is all quite nice, but perhaps we should retire to the parlor to discuss this further, so that one of the cleaning staff can come up here and clean up this mess…"
Brittany glared at her. "I mean uhh … give Charity all the proper funeral arrangements."
Early next morning, Santana dug and hole under the large maple tree on the estate. Brittany placed a box full of Charity's remains into the new tomb, and then the two said their goodbyes, and filled the hole in. Afterwards, they sat together under the tree. Santana spoke up, "I'm sorry you had to attend another funeral so soon."
"She was a good cat." Brittany replied. "San, do you think Sue's killer murdered Charity?"
"It definitely wasn't an accident, Britt-Britt."
"How could Charity be a threat to them? She's just a poor cat. Unless what they say about curiosity is true? San, why did you but me such a curious cat?"
"Britt, I don't think that Charity was the intended target. I think you were."
"Oh. That sucks."
"Which means, I'm not letting you out of my sight ever again."
"Deal." They sat like that for a few more minutes in silence until Brittany thought of something. "Santana, how would the killer know I would go into Beth's room? I mean if it was her room, wouldn't she be the logical target?"
Santana felt like a complete fool. "Brittany, remind me to never ever solve another murder without your help. Okay?"
The pair decided that it would be in their best interest to find Beth immediately to make sure she was okay. On there way back to the house, they began discussing suspects. Santana had made her mind up though. "It's Quinn."
"What?"
"Come on B, it makes sense. You took her spot in the show and were a better performer than her. So she's pissed at Sue, and then Sue gives you all the money on top of that. She killed Sue and now she's targeting you."
"What makes her different than everyone else in this house?"
"Well, she's mysterious as fuck and she keeps giving me weird looks."
"Doesn't explain Beth, though."
"Who cares about that? Quinn is hiding something. I'm sure of it."
The pair was able to locate Beth creeping around the pantry. They asked Mercedes and Kurt to look after her for a little while.
"Oh that's fine girlfriend. The three of us are tight. We'll keep an eye on the little troublemaker."
"I never needed a babysitter before."
"Well little girl, things are different now," started Kurt, "now we have a scary murderer on the loose."
"Kurt!" replied the three women in unison.
"What like she doesn't know already? This girl is smarter than you realize. Two weeks ago she beat me at Scategories."
Santana would have loved to continue this conversation, but all she cared about at this point was finding Quinn. "Whatever! Just watch her. She might be in danger."
"Fine we can have a tea party."
"I don't drink tea."
"A Cocoa party then," solved Mercedes.
Brittany and Santana left the three in the kitchen. They were able to find Quinn in the library. They entered the large room quickly. Before Quinn was able to get a word in, Brittany and Santana had set their plan in motion.
"Sit down, bitch." Santana said bluntly as Brittany closed and blocked the doorway. "You are gonna sit down and answer every last one of our questions. 'Cause Brittz and I needz to find out who's been murderin' people up in here."
"I love it when you use your ghetto voice," remarked the smiling Brittany.
"Brittany! Stoic!"
"Sorry."
"Now Quinnie, why did you kill Sue?"
"I didn't."
"Why don't I believe you?"
"Because you're insane."
"Oh, I'm just sane enough to notice all the little things. It took me awhile but I finally started paying attention. You definitely have something to hide. You see, I saw all the secret glances you've been giving; to Brittany, to me. You have every reason to hate her. She replaced you; she was better in every way."
"That's not true."
"You don't think Brittany was better than you. That's a little arrogant."
"I mean, I don't hate Brittany. She was a great asset to the show. When I got healthy, I was proud to perform alongside her."
"Then Brittany gets all the money and power. You must have hated her for that. So you try to get me to doubt her. You plant a note; tell me she's lying to me. It almost worked too, but our love is stronger than that."
"That's great, but I have no idea what you are talking about."
"You finally snap for the second time and you set a trap to kill Brittany. If my memory serves me correctly you were the first to respond to the noises. Couldn't stay far away could you? You had to make sure that you're plan worked."
"I was reading in my room, everyone else was downstairs."
"Who knows? Maybe you never meant to kill Brittany. Brittany pointed out that it would make more sense if you were trying to kill Beth. It was her room after all. What could an eight year old have possibly done to warrant your wrath? Was she close to figuring you out? Was that why you tried to kill that poor girl?"
Quinn leapt from the couch and slapped Santana hard across the face. Brittany ran from her position by the door to get in between them. Quinn shouted at Santana, "HOW DARE YOU! How dare you accuse me of that? I would never hurt Beth. I WOULD NEVER HURT MY OWN DAUGHTER!"
Santana and Brittany stopped immediately what they were doing. Quinn fell back on to the couch and looked as though she were on the verge of tears. Brittany sat down next to her and asked, "Beth is your daughter? What about Shelby?"
"Adoption. When I was in high school, I made a drunken mistake. When I found out I was pregnant, I felt like my life was over. I couldn't keep her. So I gave her away. I gave her to Shelby. I never expected to see her or Beth ever again. Then I read in the newspaper that Shelby had died. I had no idea why, but I came here to Sue's house almost immediately. I just wanted to see that my baby was okay. Sue thought I was here to audition for the show, and I didn't correct her. I thought that if I could stay and be a part of Sue's family with Beth, I could always ensure that she was okay. But then, Sue found out. She was furious for my lying to her, but she understood. Brittany, when she hired you, it wasn't because I was injured, it was because I was too ashamed of what I had done to perform. So you see, I don't care about money or power or fame. All I care about is her."
Santana was speechless. This was one of those moments that she wished she could become invisible or turn back time. Brittany gave Quinn a much-needed hug, "Quinn we're so sorry. We had no idea."
Santana was about to apologize as well, but she was interrupted by Tina bursting through the library door. "Guys, find help! In the pantry, there's been another murder!"
Quinn turned to Santana and with a look of pure anger said, "I told you it wasn't me … Bitch.
End of Chapter 8
Pairing: Santana/Brittany
Rating: R (Death/Language/Brief Sexuality)
Summary: A Brittana Murder mystery. A death shakes the lives of Brittany and Santana. Inspired by Agatha Christie.
Spoilers: None. It's AU.
Disclaimer: I do not own Glee or its characters. I do not own anything written by Agatha Christie (basic idea comes from Crooked House).
Chapter 8
Brittany Pierce had difficulty accepting the concept of death as child. When she was in the first grade she had three goldfish name Goldy, Fishy, and Ed, and within two weeks they were all floating upside down in their fishbowl. Her parents flushed them down the toilet and told her that the fish were fine, and that's how fish swim when they got homesick. When Brittany was in the fourth grade, she begged her parents for a dog. She had the puppy for three months before she decided, against the warnings of her parents, to bring the animal with her to dance camp. Upon inspecting her suitcase the morning of her departure, her parents were shocked to find the carcass of the suffocated animal. That's when they decided that this was one of life's lessons that they couldn't avoid teaching her any longer.
By Brittany's Freshman year of college she understood perfectly what death was, but those pet deaths were not adequate preparation for what she was forced to deal with. On a quiet night in March, she received a phone-call from a man she had never met before. This man told her that her parents had been involve in a fatal traffic collision. And after clarifying for her the meaning of the word "fatal" Brittany collapsed to the ground in tears. She didn't know how long she stayed like that before Santana entered her room. Brittany was supposed to meet Santana in the dining hall over an hour previous, so Santana had come looking for her. After being taken into Santana's arms, Brittany explained what the man on the phone had said. Santana told her that night that even though death was unavoidable; it still really sucks when it happens to those you love. The best way to get through it is to be with the people you love that are still alive. Brittany kissed Santana for the first time that night because it was clear to her that she would love Santana until the day she died…
…
"BRITTANY!" shouted Santana.
Brittany snapped out of her reverie and replied, "I think my life just flashed before my eyes. It was weird."
"MY GOD BRITT, YOU'RE COVERED IN BLOOD!"
Brittany looked down. She was in fact covered in blood. This confused her for moment. Then she remembered what just happened, what she had just witnessed. "This isn't my blood Santana …"
"WHAT THE FUCK IS GOING ON?"
"STOP YELLING AT ME!"
Santana stopped and looked around. There was blood everywhere, but Brittany was right, none of it was hers. All of the blood had come from one place, and that place was right below the door to Beth's room. It looked as if a marble statuette the size of a shoebox had fallen from a position above the door and crushed Brittany's cat, Charity. Santana felt like throwing up. "Britt, babe, you scared the shit out of me! Why did you scream so loud?"
"Santana, I just watched my cat explode."
There were noises from down the other end of the hallway. Quinn ran down to where Santana and Brittany were standing. Rachel and Kurt followed her quickly. They all saw what was before them. Rachel inquired, "What is all this?"
Brittany replied, "I was just going to pop over to Beth's room to talk to her, but I got distracted by Charity for a moment. Then I thought, 'Beth loves Charity too,' so I remembered why I was in the hallway in the first place. Then when I pushed in the door to Beth's room, I saw the statue thingy start fall. I jumped back out of harm's way, but my poor cat …"
"Bless your dancer agility!" chimed Kurt.
Rachel was perplexed. "I still don't get it."
"I think I basically can work out what happened," began Santana. "You know when you were a kid, and you propped a bucket of water in the door frame, so that the nest person to go through the door would have the bucket fall on them, and they'd get all wet?"
"I had that done TO me."
"Well, Charity was even unluckier."
Rachel was turning an odd shade of green. "That is messed up."
Quinn, who had been oddly silent, spoke up, "Where is Beth? I mean this is her room."
Everyone looked around perplexed. Beth's room was definitely empty.
"What are you guys standing around for?" It was Beth, from the other end of the hallway. "Gross. Is that Charity?"
Quinn grabbed Beth's tiny frame and looked her in the eyes, "Where were you? Why weren't you in you room?"
"It's only Eight Thirty. I was bored," replied the eight-year-old. She looked around some more, "Hey, Santana is wearing the ring. So you finally asked her then?"
It all the commotion, no one else had noticed the engagement ring on Santana's finger. Quinn, sporting an odd smirk, turned to Kurt and said, "Looks like you finally have a wedding to plan."
Rachel spoke up, "This is all quite nice, but perhaps we should retire to the parlor to discuss this further, so that one of the cleaning staff can come up here and clean up this mess…"
Brittany glared at her. "I mean uhh … give Charity all the proper funeral arrangements."
Early next morning, Santana dug and hole under the large maple tree on the estate. Brittany placed a box full of Charity's remains into the new tomb, and then the two said their goodbyes, and filled the hole in. Afterwards, they sat together under the tree. Santana spoke up, "I'm sorry you had to attend another funeral so soon."
"She was a good cat." Brittany replied. "San, do you think Sue's killer murdered Charity?"
"It definitely wasn't an accident, Britt-Britt."
"How could Charity be a threat to them? She's just a poor cat. Unless what they say about curiosity is true? San, why did you but me such a curious cat?"
"Britt, I don't think that Charity was the intended target. I think you were."
"Oh. That sucks."
"Which means, I'm not letting you out of my sight ever again."
"Deal." They sat like that for a few more minutes in silence until Brittany thought of something. "Santana, how would the killer know I would go into Beth's room? I mean if it was her room, wouldn't she be the logical target?"
Santana felt like a complete fool. "Brittany, remind me to never ever solve another murder without your help. Okay?"
The pair decided that it would be in their best interest to find Beth immediately to make sure she was okay. On there way back to the house, they began discussing suspects. Santana had made her mind up though. "It's Quinn."
"What?"
"Come on B, it makes sense. You took her spot in the show and were a better performer than her. So she's pissed at Sue, and then Sue gives you all the money on top of that. She killed Sue and now she's targeting you."
"What makes her different than everyone else in this house?"
"Well, she's mysterious as fuck and she keeps giving me weird looks."
"Doesn't explain Beth, though."
"Who cares about that? Quinn is hiding something. I'm sure of it."
The pair was able to locate Beth creeping around the pantry. They asked Mercedes and Kurt to look after her for a little while.
"Oh that's fine girlfriend. The three of us are tight. We'll keep an eye on the little troublemaker."
"I never needed a babysitter before."
"Well little girl, things are different now," started Kurt, "now we have a scary murderer on the loose."
"Kurt!" replied the three women in unison.
"What like she doesn't know already? This girl is smarter than you realize. Two weeks ago she beat me at Scategories."
Santana would have loved to continue this conversation, but all she cared about at this point was finding Quinn. "Whatever! Just watch her. She might be in danger."
"Fine we can have a tea party."
"I don't drink tea."
"A Cocoa party then," solved Mercedes.
Brittany and Santana left the three in the kitchen. They were able to find Quinn in the library. They entered the large room quickly. Before Quinn was able to get a word in, Brittany and Santana had set their plan in motion.
"Sit down, bitch." Santana said bluntly as Brittany closed and blocked the doorway. "You are gonna sit down and answer every last one of our questions. 'Cause Brittz and I needz to find out who's been murderin' people up in here."
"I love it when you use your ghetto voice," remarked the smiling Brittany.
"Brittany! Stoic!"
"Sorry."
"Now Quinnie, why did you kill Sue?"
"I didn't."
"Why don't I believe you?"
"Because you're insane."
"Oh, I'm just sane enough to notice all the little things. It took me awhile but I finally started paying attention. You definitely have something to hide. You see, I saw all the secret glances you've been giving; to Brittany, to me. You have every reason to hate her. She replaced you; she was better in every way."
"That's not true."
"You don't think Brittany was better than you. That's a little arrogant."
"I mean, I don't hate Brittany. She was a great asset to the show. When I got healthy, I was proud to perform alongside her."
"Then Brittany gets all the money and power. You must have hated her for that. So you try to get me to doubt her. You plant a note; tell me she's lying to me. It almost worked too, but our love is stronger than that."
"That's great, but I have no idea what you are talking about."
"You finally snap for the second time and you set a trap to kill Brittany. If my memory serves me correctly you were the first to respond to the noises. Couldn't stay far away could you? You had to make sure that you're plan worked."
"I was reading in my room, everyone else was downstairs."
"Who knows? Maybe you never meant to kill Brittany. Brittany pointed out that it would make more sense if you were trying to kill Beth. It was her room after all. What could an eight year old have possibly done to warrant your wrath? Was she close to figuring you out? Was that why you tried to kill that poor girl?"
Quinn leapt from the couch and slapped Santana hard across the face. Brittany ran from her position by the door to get in between them. Quinn shouted at Santana, "HOW DARE YOU! How dare you accuse me of that? I would never hurt Beth. I WOULD NEVER HURT MY OWN DAUGHTER!"
Santana and Brittany stopped immediately what they were doing. Quinn fell back on to the couch and looked as though she were on the verge of tears. Brittany sat down next to her and asked, "Beth is your daughter? What about Shelby?"
"Adoption. When I was in high school, I made a drunken mistake. When I found out I was pregnant, I felt like my life was over. I couldn't keep her. So I gave her away. I gave her to Shelby. I never expected to see her or Beth ever again. Then I read in the newspaper that Shelby had died. I had no idea why, but I came here to Sue's house almost immediately. I just wanted to see that my baby was okay. Sue thought I was here to audition for the show, and I didn't correct her. I thought that if I could stay and be a part of Sue's family with Beth, I could always ensure that she was okay. But then, Sue found out. She was furious for my lying to her, but she understood. Brittany, when she hired you, it wasn't because I was injured, it was because I was too ashamed of what I had done to perform. So you see, I don't care about money or power or fame. All I care about is her."
Santana was speechless. This was one of those moments that she wished she could become invisible or turn back time. Brittany gave Quinn a much-needed hug, "Quinn we're so sorry. We had no idea."
Santana was about to apologize as well, but she was interrupted by Tina bursting through the library door. "Guys, find help! In the pantry, there's been another murder!"
Quinn turned to Santana and with a look of pure anger said, "I told you it wasn't me … Bitch.
End of Chapter 8