Disclaimer: Characters don't belong to me.

Author's Notes: Sorry it's taken so long;) Thanks for all the feedback and for caring:)

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Close Your Eyes
by Kristen Elizabeth

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Guest list for Relena Dorlian's 21st birthday party

-Ante, Theodore (Minster of Defense) and Mrs. Ante

-Atwood, James (President of the Earth-Space Alliance) and Mrs. Atwood

-Barton, Trowa (Preventer Officer)

-Chang, Wufei (Preventer Officer) and Sally Po-Chang (Chief Preventer Physician)

-Daniels, William (Interspatial Supreme Court judge) and Mrs. Daniels

-Fujitsu, Aiko (Asian Prime Minister) and Mr. Fujitsu

-Gunter, Adolph (European Prime Minster) and Mrs. Gunter

-Hackett, Joseph (Foreign Minister) and Mrs. Hackett

-Laos, Salvador (South American Prime Minister) and Mrs. Laos

-Kingsley, Samuel (Interspatial Supreme Court judge) and date, Samantha Shaw

-Maxwell, Duo (Private citizen)

-Openheimer, Christine (Minister of Internal Affairs)

-Rhys, Alexander (Vice President of the Earth-Space Alliance) and Mrs. Rhys

-Richards, Sarah (Secretary to Relena Dorlian)

-Schbeiker, Hilde (Private citizen)

-Trerice, Colin (Secretary of the Treasury) and Mrs. Trerice

-Turner, William (North American Prime Minister) and Mrs. Turner

-Une, Anne (Executive Chief of the Preventers) and daughter, Mariemaia Kushrenada

-Winner, Quatre (CEO, Winner Industries)

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"What do you have there?" the older detective asked his partner as he reached across the desk for a doughnut.

The younger man squinted at the paper in his hand. "The guest list for the party." He frowned. "Something's bugging me about it."

"What do you mean?"

"Well...for one thing, Yuy's not even on it."

The older man swallowed and brushed powdered sugar off his tie. "That's because he wasn't invited, remember? He just showed up."

"I understand that. But there's something else." He shoved the paper into his partner's hands. "Take a look at the occupations column. Tell me if something is missing."

After a moment, his partner looked up. "What am I looking for?"

"They're all politicians."

The older man shrugged. "Relena Dorlian *is* a politician. I think it stands to reason that at her party, there would be a lot of..."

"No, look. Look at the transcription of the interview with Quatre Winner." His partner shoved a thick ream of photocopied sheets towards him.

"Why don't you just tell me what you're getting at? Save me the trouble of going through this thing."

The younger man snatched back the transcription and flipped through it until he found the right spot. "When we asked Winner where he was when the murder took place, he said, and I quote, 'I was discussing textile imports with the CEO of my company's major rival', end quote."

His partner sat up straighter. "Wait..."

"Exactly." The younger detective waved the guest list. "Quatre Winner was the *only* CEO of any company to be invited to the party."

"Maybe it wasn't a CEO. Maybe he was just confused...he could have been talking to anyone."

"But he was so specific, man! And when we asked if he could prove it, he said that he could." The younger man leaned forward. "How much do you want to bet that if we re-interviewed every single party guest, none of them will be able to remember talking to Quatre Winner around the time of the murder?"

The older man shook his head. "I'm not a betting man. And when did you have this turnabout? You were ready to convict Relena Dorlian of first degree murder a couple hours ago."

"Hey...I can't argue with the facts. And I'm not saying she's innocent. I'm just saying..." He pulled on his coat. "She *might* not be *as* responsible for Yuy's death as I thought she was."

His partner chuckled and reached for his own jacket. "Or maybe you just realized how pretty she is."

His comment went ignored. "Come on. We can catch Winner in his office if we hurry."

"Hey, hold up. Why are we going straight to Winner?"

"Um..."

"Let's ask around. Talk to some of his friends. See if he had anything to gain from killing Heero Yuy."

"You don't think that his being in love with Relena Dorlian is a pretty big indicator that he might want a rival for her affection out of the way?"

"I'm not saying anything more than this. We can't just waltz into the corporate offices of Winner Industries and accuse their CEO of murder. Let's do our jobs and gather some more facts first, okay?"

The younger man sighed in agreement. "So...who do we start with?"

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To Be Continued