Just when everything was making sense.

You took away all my self-confidence.

Now all that I’ve been hearing must be true.

I guess I’m not the only boy for you.

Why does it come as a surprise.

To think that I was so naive.

Maybe didn’t mean so much.

But it meant everything to me.

NIN – that’s what I get.

8. That’s what I get.

Reno had gotten in his own car and driven to the apartment that Rufus had lent him, or given him, he didn’t really know, or care. He wanted his old place back, crummy as it was, it held the only thing he really had, memories. This place was cold, Reno didn’t want to sound ungrateful, it was a brilliant apartment and all, but it was not his. He pulled the plastic off the sofa and sat down with a sigh, this building was brand new, and all the furniture was straight from the factory as well, for a second Reno wondered if any of the lamps had light bulbs, he reached across the sofa and tried the lamp on the side, but nothing happened, he’d have to go shop for some really soon, he didn’t even bother to check the ceiling lights, but just laid down on the sofa. This sucked, how was he to find Marlene? There was no clue what so ever, all he knew was that this sick fuck who had said his name was Thyr, was possibly the same as the offended jerk in the shanty town, and also the killer. Now that he came to think about it, Tifa had said that Thyr was dark-haired, that bloke in the shanty town had been red-haired, maybe it didn’t mean anything, hair could be dyed, wigs could be bought, but it was still something to keep in mind. But it had to be the killer, he had known about Leo Trotskji, even if he had died while this guy hung around Tifa’s.

And the fact that Elena wasn’t doing Rude, but Rufus.. that was interesting, why would she tell him that Tseng had told her to be there, when it was a lie? Maybe it was not a lie she ever thought she would be caught in? Nah that was stupid, she was not that sloppy, Elena was a magnificent turk, very intelligent and capable, she wouldn't do something that idiotic, then who? It had to be Rufus Shinra then, he would have been able to boss her around, and he would be able to get his photo from the personnel files. But anyone with a high clearance at Shinra could have done that, the only thing Reno was sure of, was that the killer was not himself, nor Cloud, but someone inside Shinra. Now there remained only two questions, who and why?

Reno was woken by his phone ringing, and for one dreadful moment he thought that it was Tseng calling to tell him that they had found Marlene, dismembered and raped. But as he reached for the phone he could see the incoming call was from Cloud. Reno picked up, and for some strange reason he found himself whispering, “Cloud?”

“Ren...” Clouds voice said, but there was a massive amount of static noise and Reno couldn't hear half of what he said. “Whe.. you”

“Cloud?” Reno said again, this time louder, “I cant hear you man, too much fucking static on the line.” and then the line died. Reno kicked the neatly plastic wrapped coffee table in anger. “Fuck! Fuck! Fuck!” he growled.

Reno tried to dial Cloud again, and to his surprise it was picked up, now the static was not as bad, but wind howled in the receiver. “Cloud?” Reno said, sounding a little bit too desperate for his own taste.

“Reno!” Cloud said with a warm voice, evidence of a smile in the other end. But then the static returned, and drowned out Cloud’s voice.

“What?” Reno yelled “I cant hear you baby.”

“Way home” Cloud’s voice said through the static.

“Bollocks! I can’t hear you, fuck! Shit!” Reno looked at the phone and he had full net, he took the phone up to his hear again, but the line was gone. “Dammit!” he hissed, slumping down on the sofa he could have cried, if he had been one of those men who wept, because he wasn’t. At least that was what he tried to tell himself, rubbing his face with his palm, he could feel treacherous tears sting in the corners of his eyes. He nearly didn’t react to his phone buzzing again, vibrating against his thigh. He wiped his eyes and looked at the caller id, and picked up, “Hey Tseng,” he said with a woollen voice.

“Did I call at a bad time?” Tseng said in the other end.

“No, no its alright,” Reno said trying to sound perky.

“Something just occurred to me, I have to see you.” Tseng said, sounding clipped and strange.

“Sure,” Reno said with a half smile. “I was waiting for an excuse to get out of this fucking place anyways.”

“Fine, hurry,” Tseng said. “And Reno?”

“Yeah?” Reno said as he stood up from the sofa and walked towards the door.

“Be careful.”

“Always.”

“In ten?”

“Yup”

_______________________

As he got out of his car in front of Tseng’s house he wondered what could have made Tseng sound so strange, he didn’t need to ring the doorbell, Tseng had apparently already heard his car, and stood in the door. “Hey there partner,” Reno said, with a wave of his hand.

Tseng didn’t answer he just dragged him inside the house, and placed him on a stool at the kitchen Island. “Coffee?” Tseng said.

“Sure,” Reno said, completely puzzled by Tseng’s strange behaviour.

Tseng placed a cup in front of Reno, and unscrewed a bottle of liquor of unknown origin, and poured a generous amount in Reno’s cup, and then did the same in his own.

Reno grinned, “Plan on getting me drunk here?” he joked, but as he looked up at Tseng and saw his serious pale expression, he clamped his lips. “Apparently not,” he mumbled to himself.

Tseng turned around and took two plastic folders, laying them in front of Reno, one was where it said ‘Kitty, kitty, kitty’ and ‘Don’t worry Reno, I will be home soon.’

“I saw those before” Reno said with a grumpy tone. “But I thought I told you that..”

“I know,” Tseng said “You told me that.” He took a deep breath, “you would call Cloud a kitten, in bed.”

Reno swallowed his coffee before he spurted it all over the plastic folders and Tseng’s kitchen island, “Yeah that or daddy,” he laughed.

Tseng wasn’t amused in the least. “Funny Reno, but you did that, when there were only the two of you right?”

Reno stifled his laugh and nodded. “Yeah, I don’t think its something Cloud would want the world to know, really.”

“Do you save your voice mail on your phone?” Tseng said, laying a hand with sprayed fingers on the missing posters.

“Sometimes,” Reno said, looking a little uncomfortable. “That depends, if its something I would bother hearing again.”

“Right, as I thought,” Tseng said mostly to himself. “Like a steamy phone call?”

“Yeah..” Reno said slowly, taking a sip of his coffee, “I might have saved one or two of those.”

“Did you by any chance call Cloud, kitty in one of those?” Tseng said, looking at Reno, waiting for him to connect the dots.

“I don’t know..” Reno said, as he looked at Tseng, “Its highly possible.”

Tseng sighed, as Reno didn’t really get it, “Ok listen, that night you came here and I wasn’t here, but Elena was, did you do as you normally do when you come here? You leave your shoes in the hall, and hang up your jacket.”

“Yeah, I guess I did,” Reno said, gnawing on a nail.

“And your phone was in your jacket pocket?” Tseng said. As Reno nodded, he continued, “So it’s possible that someone could retrieve your voice mail?”

Now Reno got it! “Hooooooooooly shit” he whistled, “She was still here when I went to bed,” Reno looked down at the missing posters as his world seemed to come crashing down, the words KITTY, KITTY, KITTY seemed to stand out, mocking him. Elena! She would have been able to get his phone and download his voicemail while he was sleeping, putting the phone back nicely, so he would never notice. She would have access to his personnel file, she would know where he lived.. “But.. something is not making sense with your theory,” he said with a tiny voice. “Elena could not have done this.”

Tseng just raised a brow and looked at Reno.

“Have you forgotten that she is our friend, and trusted? She’s a goddamn turk you idiot! Do you really think she is capable of murdering all these kids? And besides the sightings have been men, not a skinny blond female.”

“She is also Rufus Shinra’s right hand, don’t forget that.” Tseng said harshly. “You think that we are, I know that.. but you don’t go about giving blowjobs to Rufus, do you?”

Reno frowned and looked up at Tseng. “You fucking asshole,” he spat.

Tseng slammed his fist down on the table so the cups jumped. “You just don’t fucking get it, do you? Rufus wants to get rid of Cloud, he has served his purpose, and he wont risk that Cloud and his mako powered little buds come back and decides that he’s the bad guy again.” Reno opened his mouth to object, but Tseng cut him off. “You happen to be the closest link to Cloud.”

“but..” Reno said with a croaking, broken voice, “Why all those kids?”

“Because when Cloud is captured, Shinra wants to be sure he’s either strapped down in a cell for five hundred years or just shot on sight.” Tseng hissed.

Reno closed his eyes and took a deep shuddering breath, “What the fuck am I gonna do, I will be forced to arrest Cloud?” he looked up at Tseng with a silent plea in his eyes. “I can’t do that man, I just cant do that.”

“You do realise what you are saying, don’t you?” Tseng said with a tired tone, running a hand through his hair. “I should arrest you on the spot and hand you over to Shinra just for saying that.”

Reno sighed, it was not like he failed to see the irony in the situation, but it felt most of all like his heart was breaking. “I know,” he said flatly. “So, are you?”

Tseng shook his head. “No,” he said softly, “Because I believe you, I don’t think Cloud is the culprit.”

Reno held out his cup in a silent request for a refill, and got it without a word. “So,” he sighed. “We have to find out who Shinra paid to do these fucked up murders, arrest him leaving no doubt about his guilt, and then the boss will have to swallow that one.”

“In the rough yes,” Tseng said. “But to leave no doubt about this mystery murders guilt, then we must catch him in the act.”

“And before Cloud gets to Midgar,” Reno added. “He called me, he is on his way home.”

Tseng sighed, “That’s not good.”

Reno smiled a little tired smile. “They tried to throw us false leads, I thought of this tonight actually, I should have seen it.” He took a deep breath and a sip of his coffee before he continued “The guy at the shanty town was red haired, and the man Tifa told us of was dark haired, wigs and hair dye can be bought, but a face is a little harder to come by, so if this is the same man, then maybe... “

Tseng looked thoughtful for a moment. “She said he was a family friend, maybe she took a photo of him.”

“Do you really think we’re that lucky?” Reno said dryly.

“Don’t know, call her and ask.” Tseng said.

______________________________________________________

Reno got out of the car in front of Tifa’s tavern, he had half expected to see Cloud here, but there was only Tifa. “Hey Reno,” she said as she opened the door.

“Tifa,” Reno said with a nod. “Is Denzil alright?” he asked, completely out of the blue, he didn’t even know why the hell he asked that himself, he never gave a shit about those kids.

“He’s sleeping,” she said. And walked up the stairs to the upstairs apartment. Reno went with her, and Tseng stayed at the front door. They went into a room that looked like an office. “Welcome to Strife enterprises,” Tifa said flatly before she opened the top drawer in the desk, searching for something.

“Wow,” Reno said with an equally flat tone.

Tifa turned around and placed an object in his hand, it was an undeveloped roll of film. “If there is a picture of him, its here,” she said.

Reno nodded, and put it in his jacket pocket. “Thanks,” he said. He wondered if he should tell her that Cloud had called. “Tifa,” he said, wondering when the hell he had become such a fucking boy scout. “Cloud called me and said he was on his way home, but there was too much static on the line, I couldn't hear anything else he said, he must still be far away where the net doesn’t cover.”

“You are not fucking around with me?” Tifa said, crossing her arms over her chest.

Reno shook his head. “No,” he said, biting his lip he put his hands in his pants pockets. “If he comes here, tell him to stay put, I cant tell you why, but trust me for this one time, if Shinra get their hands on him you won’t see him again.”

Tifa looked shocked. “You are Shinra you dipshit.” she said.

“Like I didn’t know that, bitch,” Reno hissed. “Just do it ok? It cant be that hard for you, to lock Cloud in your basement.” Tifa looked like she was fuming with anger, and Reno seriously measured his chances of getting his e-mag out before she threw the first punch. They stood like that and stared at each other long enough for Tseng to call up the stairs if everything was all right. “Yea, I’m on my way.” Reno called back without moving his eyes from Tifa’s.

“Reno,” Tifa said, “you just find Marlene, alive. And I will shackle up Cloud when he gets here, if he even comes here.”

Reno nodded and then started to walk to the stairs down, turning around on the landing, he looked at Tifa, “I love him too, and I wouldn't say this unless I was sure that he was in danger, believe me or not, I am not your friend. But can you really afford to be wrong?” and then he went down the stairs whistling a merry tune. “Do you guys have a photo room at the lab?” he asked Tseng as they walked outside to the car.

“Yes, of course,” Tseng said.

“Then that is where we’re going next.”

TBC