Sadly I don't own it, it's just written for fun and completely unbetaed.
Without further ado: Enjoy!
Chapter 1
Grey mixed with red sprinkles mixed with black, to become grey once more.
It was raining.
Not like if the angels were crying, but as if all hell was breaking lose.
Water was washing away the bloodstains on his clothes, floating away in that huge puddle, surrounding him.
Most, what could have been used as evidence was washed away, soaked up by the thirsty ground. There were no more footprints to be seen or any other hint, that someone has been with him, the moment he took his last breath.
Then there was thunder and after that a lightning bolt, that hit the tree next to him. The tree broke down, burning.
And the corpse was buried underneath it.
Despite the raging rain, the tree kept burning, and red flames fought against grey rain, erasing almost every remains of Walter Falk from earth.
~~~M~~~
Detective Chief Inspector John Barnaby was on his way to the local pub, when the first drops of rain had almost silently hit the ground.
When the weather had shown its worst side, Barnaby was still waiting in the pub for his Sergeant, Ben Jones, to meet him.
He sighed, as he stared into his beer, thoughtfully.
"Erm... excuse me, Sir, but is this seat taken?", a shy voice suddenly reminded him of where he was.
"Not yet. Please, do have a seat.", he said, before he looked up and stared into a face, that was half hidden behind sunglasses.
The young man stared back.
"O.M.G. Are you really, who I think you are?", he asked in a high-pitched voice.
"Who do you think I am?", Barnaby asked, already searching an excuse to leave the pub.
"You are DCI John Barnaby from Causton CID! Am I right?"
"I'm sorry, but do I know you?"
"Nah. Probably not.", the young man said, as he looked him up and down. "Oh! How rude of me! I am Elyas Sanchez."
"Nice to meet you, Mr. Sanchez. So where do you know me from?" When he got a closer look on the person in front of him, he noticed, that his hair was dyed in a pale blond.
They shook hands and the younger man nodded excitedly. "I've read a few articles about you in the newspapers. You did some quite impressive things, Mr. Barnaby. So I went to search for you and now I found you!" Elyas said, beaming brightly.
Barnaby had thought about escaping, but the young man, despite his strange outward appearance, seemed to be surprisingly harmless. And just now, Barnaby got interested in the conversation.
"So you are a fan of mine? I feel honoured. Why did you want to find me? Are you in trouble?", he asked.
"Oh! Nononoho! I'm a Blogger. I sometimes write about interesting people. And you are very interesting, Mr. Barnaby.", he whispered excitedly.
"Well, thank you. But why are you wearing sunglasses at this dark and dusty place, if you aren't hiding something?", he asked sceptical.
"Oh. I am hiding something. It's because I'm famous. I don't want anyone to disturb us, by asking for a selfie or an autograph. Which people often do, when they see me."
His voice sounded selfcontious. Barnaby found it hilarious how the man looked so out of place in this room and no one seemed to notice.
So he smiled mildy. "You are an interesting young man, Elyas. What can I help you with?", Barnaby asked, and just after the words had left his mouth, he wondered, why he was still talking to that strange little person.
"It would be just wonderful, if you'd allow me to interview you!", he answered, moving closer to him. Elyas took his glasses down and looked at him with big brown puppy-eyes. "Please?"
Suddenly Barnaby felt a familiar hand on his shoulder from behind. "Sir, I'm so sorry, that I am late. Parts of the streets are flooded." Jones grabbed an empty chair that stood at another table, without asking, and sat next to the DCI.
Water dripped from his hair as he searched for a tissue in his pockets.
"So you must be DS Benjamin Jones! How nice to meet you!"
Ben just then noticed the person sitting across the table. "Hey! You are that guy from the internet! My exgirlfriend Jessica was obsessed with your blog.", Jones said.
"There you have it, Mr Barnaby. I am famous.", Elyas said, gesturing in Bens direction. He put his sunglasses back on.
"Yes, I see. But I am affraid, I have to disappoint you, Elyas. I know how this works. And I'm not a huge fan of interviews and someone twisting every word I say to my disadvantage. I have to decline your offer."
The young blogger looked dramatically shocked "But-"
"I would do an interview.", Ben said and raised his hand like a bored schoolboy.
The other men stared at him and he just shrugged. "Jessica has to see, what she is missing."
Barnaby shook his head. "You are still not over her? Jones, she is getting married."
"She's marrying someone else, because I spend all my time with you, instead of her."
"You spend time with me, because I need your help with all those cases."
"And who's fault is that?"
"Society, Jones."
"It's like you never do anything without my help. In every dangerous situation you send in me first."
"I'm sorry. I didn't know you were that upset with me."
"Well, I am."
After a minute of silence, Barnaby sighed and said: "But you do know, that I secretely really apreciate you."
Jones shrugged and looked down. "Maybe."
"Well, I do. And I sincerely hope, that you do not just see me as a boss, who only utilises you."
"No, you are more than that."
Then Elyas couldn't hold himself back anymore: "Uhhhh! You are sooo cute together. Would you allow me to write about that little conversation of yours? My readers would totaly love it."
"Yes.", Jones said.
"No!", Barnaby said.
"Pretty, pretty please?", Elyas asked.
"No and it's about time, we should leave.", Barnaby said, looking at the clock on the wall, "We have to get up early tomorrow. Maybe I have to send Jones to kick in some doors and get him into dangerous situations, so I can watch him from a safe distance." He got up.
"I'm sorry, I said that, Sir."
"Let's just go home. The rain is gone. It was nice to meet you, Elyas and I have to apologise, that we can't help you." He walked a few steps, then turned around once more. "-And don't you dare publish our conversation."
Elyas nodded and watched Barnaby and Jones leave together. He waited for a little while and then he followed them.
~~~M~~~
"Sir, he is following us. Isn't he?", Ben whispered, walking closer to Barnaby.
"I know, Jones.", the DCI whispered back.
They walked a little faster through the dark streets.
"I would really like to do something silly, just to irritate him."
"What do you have in mind, Jones?"
He giggled, stepped closer and answered as quietly as he could: "What about acting like we got an important call to a crime scene? You say, that it's somewhere on the other end of midsomer. He would probably drive there to write his blog about it. But we go somewhere else to have dinner together. Maybe Chinese? Then we go home and act like nothing happened.", Ben whispered in between chuckles.
"Sounds like a plan." Barnaby nodded.
Jones put his hand into his pocket without ostentation and dialed Barnabys number, while looking to the sky.
The phone beeped.
"Hello? ... What? ... there was a murder?...", Barnaby said loudly.
~~~M~~~
Later that evening, Elyas was back at his house, after a long drive to the middle of nowhere and back.
"So, did you find out anything interesting?", a woman in a violet jogging suit asked. It was that kind of clothing you wear, when you sit on the couch all day long.
"Of course I did.", Elyas answered in a bored tone and played with his mobile phone. He sat on the breakfast table, in the small cottage, he had rented for the length of their stay in Causton.
"Will you tell me?", the woman asked, as she looked out of one of the windows, before she closed it. She flicked her brown hair out of her eyes, which looked like she hadn't washed it in days.
If you didn't know, you wouldn't recognize them as brother and sister.
"You'll see, when everyone else sees, Honey." He sighed, like they had had this conversation a thousand times before.
"Stupid little brother.", the woman muttered, as she went over to the table and opened another bottle of wine.
"I heard that, Aud, you fat cow.", Elyas said.
"Just shut up. What did you do with your hair? You look like a Chihuahua with diarrhea.", Audrey told him.
A moment of stairing, then they laughed.
Elyas climbed down from the table. "Honey, I go to sleep, before Grace and Claudia come back. I don't have the nerve to listen to them complaining about Jeffrey again. Good night.", he said and gave her a hug.
"Sure. I'll go hide myself as well. Don't let the bedbugs bite, sweetheart.", she said and went to her bedroom quickly, as she heard the voices of their roommates from outside.
Jones got a small stomachache, after they had eaten a whole lot of chinese food in front of the TV.
Because of that, he had no problem with joining Barnaby for a walk with Sykes.
"Do you feel better, Jones?", Barnaby asked after a while.
"I'm fine, now. Thank you, Sir. I just had a little too much. Going for a walk always makes me feel better after that."
"Do I have to take care of you the next time when we eat together, so you don't get sick, like a small child?"
"Well, you screwed up this time, taking care of me. Didn't you?", Jones chuckled.
"I'm just saying, that even the dog knew when to stop."
"You don't know, if the dog's stomach hurts. He couldn't tell you."
"He tells me everything. ...Hey! Sykes, stop that!", Barnaby said, as the dog barked at a burnt tree about ten metres into the field next to them.
"Bad boy! Stop it! Come back -NOW!", Barnaby yelled, while the dog barked more angrily, running around the wet grey ashes of the tree and whatever laid underneath it.
"HEY! STOP IT!"
Sykes stopped and came back, looking at them with his big dog-eyes, like he wanted to tell them something important.
"No treats for you before bedtime.", Barnaby scolded.
"Are you still telling me, that the dog is smarter than me, Sir?", Jones asked, smiling.
The DCI shrugged and they walked a bit faster towards home, because they suddenly started to feel cold.
~~~M~~~
Author's note:
Feel free to tell me, what you think.
And have a nice day/night! :)