Serendipity Chapter 68: Foul Play

The officer nodded and he picked it out for you then sat it down a little away from the others so you could copy it- which you did so easily.

“There’s a mix of counterfeit money and real money here,” you said.

Deku grinned with pride- which went unnoticed by you as you looked over the money, then you looked up at him.

His soft look took you by surprise and you stopped for a second before asking him your question.

“D-Deku… uh… may I have a word?” you asked bashfully. 

He nodded and you both stepped away as the police continued to collect evidence.

“I don’t think this was an accident,” you whispered to him. “I am suspicious of a few things but the counterfeit money in this room, that was used during the party, has me even more suspicious. I wanted to wait till we were done here to talk but I need to discuss some things with you.” 

As you were wrapping up your chat with him the manager came back into the room.

“Deku,” he said as he approached you both, “I am so sorry to have interrupted your stay like this. If you have checked everything over would you please sign this report to state that this was a very unfortunate accident and then I will have everything else seen to, that the dear girl is taken away, and the room tidied up.”

“But I haven’t checked stories with the other party guests,” Deku replied with surprise, “it is routine that I talk to the others who were present at the party.”

“It is obvious that she was drunk and hit her head when she fell into the pool and drowned,” the manager said, looking uneasy, “I cannot afford for this to end up in the press.”

“Sir. I am aware that bad publicity is something you want to avoid, but I cannot cut corners for my job,” Deku replied honestly, “I will check information provided by other party-goers and then, when I am satisfied with the conclusion, I will sign off on the report. Until then you just keep the public knowledge to a minimum.”

The manager didn’t seem to happy about this but understood that Deku was just doing his job and so conceded.

“I understand,” he replied with a head nod.

You and Deku said goodbye to the crew and headed back upstairs to your room to discuss what it was that was making you feel like something wasn’t right.

“What makes you think it’s not an accident?” Deku asked once you were behind closed doors.

“Oh! First of all…. The blunt trauma was to the back of her head. The BACK. If she slipped and fell into the pool wouldn’t she have hit the front or the side? How did she hit the back? Unless she was pushed…”

Deku nodded thoughtfully.

“And then her boyfriend … supposed boyfriend… was acting very strange? He asked what time it had happened? Not what happened? That’s a bit strange, isn’t it?”

“Mmmm… maybe? People do say odd things when they’re in shock?” Deku replied.

“And then the money?” you added.

Deku frowned in concentration, his fingers curled around his mouth and chin as he thought. 

Just then the phone rang by the beside and he walked over and picked it up.

“Oh! Todoroki!” he said brightly, “hello…”

He paused as he listened to Todoroki on the other end of the line and then nodded.

“I see… well, it can’t be helped then. Please do call us when the weather clears up.”

He said a few more pleasantries then hung up and turned back to you.

“It looks like we’ll be staying here a little longer. The weather on the island is still very bad so they will notify us when it has cleared up.”

“I’m kinda happy to be honest, because we have a case to solve!” you said excitedly.

Deku smiled. “I’m very impressed with your detective skills Y/N. You make a wonderful hero!”

“Oh gosh,” you gushed, “no I don’t.”

“You do! And I’m excited to solve this case with you,” he said, walking over to pick you up for a hug, “now, detective Y/N. What is the first thing we should do?”

You giggled.

“I don’t know what to do next?” you said, “all I know is that I smell foul play and I don’t want to write it off as an accident if it’s not!”

“I agree,” Deku said as he put you down again, “well the first thing we need to do, is check the guest list with security footage to make sure everyone is accounted for.”

“Let’s go then!” you said excitedly, turning and walking to the door.

Deku grinned as he watched you lead him out. You were focused on solving this mystery and you looked the cutest to him when you were concentrating on something.

“Let’s go to reception,” Deku called from behind you, “we can ask where security is from there.”

“Oh. Right,” you replied, walking to the elevator, “I was on a mission there, but had no idea where I was going,” you giggled, holding the doors open for him to hop in before pressing the ground level button.

With a quick passionate kiss in the elevator, you were then down and out on the bottom level and walking to reception.

Deku took over from there and asked for directions to the security room then off you went again.

The security guards were most helpful and let you review the tape from last night. 

“I don’t know who everyone is but if the count of people on the list matches the count of people entering the room then that’s a good start,” Deku said, sitting down with you to review those who entered the party room around 11pm.

Nothing seemed amiss and everyone was accounted for so Deku was about to leave when you stopped him.

“Wait. Her boyfriend said he left early… let’s see if he did,” you said, taking control of the fast forward and rewind button.

People started to leave the party around 3:30am and around 4am the boyfriend could be seen leaving and he stopped in the hallway and looked at his watch, then continued on.

You kept watching and fast forwarded to 5am, when Maya had died, but the footage cut out around then and nothing else was recorded.

“What happened here?” you asked the guard, “why is there a dead spot in the footage?”

“I… I’m not sure?” he replied, “that’s strange.”

“Yes it is…” You looked at Deku.

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