The room was silent for a long time before Noah could say a word.
"Dead?" He whispered. He had an extremely shocked expression on his face as he repeated the word endlessly in his mind.
"Is this a sick joke?" His face twisted in anger at their words.
"Mr.Noah, I understa-..." Queen tried to say but Noah wasn't having any of it.
"No! No! You don't understand Miss Meilleure!" Noah said agitatedly. He started crumpling his hair and his pupils began dilating.
Queen and Quince were shocked at the sight in front of them. The poor guy basically became a mess!
"Slow down and explain." Quince said with a calm and cool tone. It was oddly soothing for Noah that he could gather the wits scattered a while ago.
"If Mr.Bernard is dead....doesn't that mean that someone is a murderer in my organization?!" Noah half yelled the sentence.
"Meaning?" Quince immediately narrowed his eyes at Noah's words. After all if someone told you that your business partner died, you wouldn't immediately jump to the conclusion of murder.
Normally people would ask what happened but he didn't. He assumed it was a murder right away and he even seemed so certain that the murderer is one of his business partners!
"It's the project with Ply." Noah said succinctly. He was still clearly anxious about the news.
He began telling them about the Ply company and its offer to them. Queen and Quince already knew about this but they didn't interrupt him.
"That's all." Noah finally finished his narration.
There was a solemn silence in the room before Quince asked,"Is there a culprit in your mind?"
"That...I think it's Albert." Noah said.
Queen and Quince were surprised once more by the news. Why would he say it's Albert when that guy voted for the same thing as him?! Shouldn't he say it's Mr.Dake or Stuart assuming he doesn't know they are the same person?!
"Why would you say that Mr.Noah?" Queen asked suspiciously.
"While it's true that Albert is on the same side as me for this case, but it's not because he is against working for the Ply company.He probably wants to use them as an excuse to frame Stuart." Noah paused before continuing,"The truth is Albert hates Bernard."
Noah then began telling them the story of how Albert would often fight with Bernard when it came to various matters.
"But is that really enough to motivate him to kill Mr.Bernard? Wouldn't he have done this a long time ago?" Queen asked.
"This time, their argument was the most intense. It's never been as bad." Noah shook his head before saying.
"What is it about?" Queen asked.
"To understand it, you must know the story from the very beginning. There have always been 5 of us as partners for the firm. However during the 2nd year,there was a time when it almost became 6 as we planned to add Tom into the partnership. Bernard,Tom and Albert were long time friends and they were the one that introduced Tom to the company. Those 3 were the best of friends...until Tom died." Noah said, his eyes dazed due to the images in his head.
"How did he die?" Queen asked. All the reports they got from One had no mention of Tom. This was completely new information.
"It was a disease. A heart disease....at least that was what we thought. Until recently." Here, Noah swallowed a bit before continuing,"It is the reason why I think Albert murdered Bernard."
"What reason?" Quince asked in his deep voice.
"I...I really can't say." Noah replied as he hung his head down.
Quince and Queen exchanged a brief glance at that action of his.
"Mr.Noah, please rest assure that we will not break your confidence. A murder has been found on the cruise and we would like to end this peacefully before we reach the shore. So please, tell us." Queen said imploringly.
"I..that.." Noah hesitated.
"Surely you would want to seek justice for Mr.Bernard. Do tell us." Quince started persuading Noah.
"Very well then. But you must promise not to let this out. Because if you do, the engineers' association would suffer much damage and you would be in danger." Noah said with a sharp look in his eyes.
"We promise." Quince promised and relief instantly shone on Noah's face. Quince was a man of his word so he had nothing to worry about.
"Have you heard of Airon?" Noah asked.
Queen and Quince both nodded. 'Finally we're getting somewhere!' Queen thought excitedly.
"Years ago, when Bernard reached 11 years of engineering experience, he went to the training held by the engineers' associate. It was his second time going as the associate was pleased with his first time performance. Tom was invited too as it was his 10th year experience. Both Bernard and Tom went together. Albert only had 9 years of experience at that time and wasn't invited." Noah said.
"This was after we talked to Tom about wanting him to be our 6th partner. After he came back from training, he just had to sign a few documents to make it official. But alas...." Noah couldn't continue his speech for quite some time.
"Forgive me for being distracted. When Bernard came back, he got a big promotion from the engineers' associate. They granted him the title Executive Engineer which was 3 levels higher than normal engineers. It was such an honor and we were truly happy for him."
"But he brought news that broke our hearts too. He told us Tom died due to heart stoppage. We always assumed it was so....until the letter from the association came."
"What does the letter say?" Queen asked, trying her best to tamper down her excitement. This was getting good!
"The letter thanked him for his cooperation regarding the 'Tom Huston' case years ago. Due to that they had another breakthrough regarding Airon. Albert saw that letter on his desk and confronted Bernard about it. That was when he learned the truth." Noah eyes shook as he thought of that moment.
"First Bernard refused to talk about it. But Albert kept pestering him and threatened him with words and physical violence until he broke under pressure. He confessed that he persuaded Tom to be the volunteer for the Airon test. He lied to Tom that it was alright because he did it before as well. Tom trusted his friend and signed the papers with the association. He died within 30 seconds after consuming 2 drops of Airon." Noah finished the story with a bland expression on his face.
Queen and Quince were stunned at the truth they learned.
"But didn't anyone else try to stop him?" Quince asked doubtfully.
"It was all done behind closed doors. Bernard knew it was going to kill Tom yet he did it." Noah said.
"Why would Mr.Bernard do that to his friend?" Queen asked horrified at the story.
"For fame. Money. Connections. I'm not sure either but that was what happened. He claimed that he was threatened by the association but everyone knew how greedy he was. So no one believed him." Noah said passionately.
"And you didn't report this to the police?" Queen asked incredulously.
"No. Engineers association had its eyes on us and they are backed by the government. If we did...." Noah shuddered at the thought.
"So why would you tell us now with how dangerous it is?" Quince asked straight to the point.
"Because, the murder occurred on the cruise. At this point it could be anyone and any other reason." Noah said seriously.
Queen and Quince nodded before asking Noah to go back to his room. They were basically confining him but he understood their reason and did as he was told.
"Ugh this is confusing me!" Queen complained as she slumped down on the table.
Quince on the other hand didn't say a thing as he continued to contemplate in silence.
Queen turned her face towards his side before asking,"Whatcha think Mister Cat?"
"I won't conclude anything yet. It is too soon." Quince said as he got up. At this point he wasn't even bothered by her nickname for him anymore and was able to answer her with ease.
Queen immediately sat up straight before asking,"Where are you going?"
"To the office. Our next suspect would be there." Quince said before walking to the door. He stopped and looked over his shoulder before asking,"What are you waiting for Miss Vancroft? We have a culprit to catch."
Queen bounced out of her chair with a wide grin on her face before skipping over to his side. She used both her arms to hold his before saying,"Let's go!"