Author's Note and Disclaimer: First fanfiction... Please try not to be too harsh. The story title is based on the Jack's Mannequin song called "Hey Hey Hey (We're All Going to Die)". I own nothing, Basil and all Great Mouse Detective characters belong to Walt Disney and co.
Villette LePetit came home from a long day of shopping in Mousedom. She sighed as she put her bags filled with food down onto the wood floor. She and her husband, Huet LePetit, had just moved from Paris to a new house in England; Mr. LePetit was a wealthy politician and had been offered a high paying job if he accepted to be relocated. Villette was not happy about the move; she missed her friends, the artworks, the Arche de Triomphe and the Parisian lifestyle that had once she lead. Yet, she couldn't complain: she lived in a house with more space than any mouse could ever need and windows that overlooked Big Ben. She sighed again as she walked over to the spacious kitchen and placed a loaf of bread on the counter.
"Cheri, I'm 'ome!" she called out to her husband as she continued to remove a wheel of cheese from a paper bag. Huet did not reply.
"Strange,"she thought, "he should be home by now". The house was strangely quiet for a Friday afternoon. Villette stopped taking her groceries out of her bags and stayed completely still. There was no sound at all. Mrs. LePetit's white fur stood on edge.
"Mon amour, pleeze zees ees not fah-nee." she called out again from the bottom of her staircase in her thick French accent. No reply.
Villette ran up the stairs on all fours as fast as she could in fear that something had happened to her husband. Using all of her strength she slammed the bedroom door wide open.
She screamed.
Basil of Baker street was smoking his pipe and reading the newspaper when the phone rang. He didn't bother to glance at the contraption and barely noticed when it rang again. The detective was engrossed in today's newspaper where headlines read "HUET LEPETIT, NEXT ADVISOR TO THE QUEEN?" with a photo of a grey furred mouse, with a black moustache that slightly turned up at the ends, standing at a podium with many other mice around him. Basil put down his pipe and took a sip of tea as he continued to read the article about the French mouse. Basil's partner, Doctor Dawson, had gotten married to a client who had her prized indoor oyster farm stolen and they were on a honeymoon in Venice. Mrs. Dawson was a lovely mouse, but Basil thought that his partner's relationship often distracted him and Basil silently vowed never to let himself be distracted from a case. Basil was still considered one of the best detectives in London and was still as sharp as a whip although it had been nearly ten years since he defeated his arch nemesis, Ratigan. The phone rang again.
Mrs. Judson swung the kitchen door open with a huff of annoyance. She glared at Basil as she stomped towards him. The maid was visibly angered that Basil hadn't answered the phone: the receiver was right next to his pipe and teacup. She continued to glare. The detective felt he was being watched and moved his eyes from the paper to Mrs. Judson.
"Well, I suppose you were going to answer that?" Basil asked, smirking. Mrs. Judson growled.
"Good afternoon," she spoke into the receiver, "Yes, this is Basil's residence. Yes. Please, slow down Miss." Basil, suddenly interested in the phone, grabbed the device from his maid as she scowled.
"This is detective Basil of Baker Street…" The mouse listened intently to the fast and neurotic speech of a female French mouse on the other end of the line; his eyes widened.
"You were away while this happened? Did you touch anything when you arrived? Have you called the police?" Basil quizzed the mouse on the line and nodded accordingly.
"Well, then there's not a moment to lose!" The mouse threw the phone into the maid's hands as he grabbed his vest from inside a grandfather clock and left his robe on the floor. Basil took his hat from atop the cloak hanger as all the coats fell to the floor. He didn't notice all the mess he left behind as he ran out and slammed the door shut with a "BANG".
Mrs Judson groaned as she heard Basil whistle for Toby.
"Toby, sit." Basil slid down the dog's tail and landed on the cobblestone street. The dog was panting and licked the mouse with his slimy tongue. The detective was drenched. Basil made a face of disgust and tried to flatten his fur with his paws.
Simply by hearing the address that the French mouse had given him over the phone, Basil knew that his client was well-off. Yet, he was still shocked at the size of the house: it was more space than a whole family of mice would need. Regardless, Basil dashed towards his client's front door. He turned to the dog, "Toby, stay. Good boy", before ringing the doorbell.
A white, slender mouse opened the front door. She was wearing a light blue dress that went down to her ankles and white high heeled shoes so she stood a bit taller than the detective. Her eyes were as blue as her dress however they were red and puffy, undoubtably from crying, Basil assumed.
"Good day, Miss. I'm detective Basil of..." He was interrupted by the sound of sobbing that came from the white mouse that stood in front of him. Basil was then enveloped in a bone crushing hug.
" Oh Monsieur Bah-zile!" she said between sobs, "I am so 'appy zat you were able to – to – to..." She burst into tears and blew her nose into her handkerchief while keeping Basil in an embrace. The detective hated the physical contact, he snarled and kept his arms down by his sides as she continued to hold him.
"My 'usband," she continued to cry, " 'e is, 'e is..." Basil didn't need an explanation as much as he needed to be released from what was probably the worst sign of affection he ever had to endure. He sniffed the air.
"Murdered." He mumbled. The white mouse pulled her arms away from the detective. She blew her nose in her tissue once more. She said nothing.
"Judging by your French accent, the area and home in which you live, the pungent scent of blood in the air, recent news and the tears rolling down your face, I would say that your husband, Mr Huet LePetit was murdered. I would say," he sniffed the air again, "less than an hour ago." Mrs LePetit nodded, obviously stunned by how precise Basil was. She opened the door a little bit wider and moved out of the way to let Basil through and into her home. The detective continued to sniff the air and looked around the entrance for any possible clues. All he could smell was the pungency of the blood and... strawberries? Basil followed the scent up the staircase, leaving the sobbing Mrs LePetit on the couch on the main floor foyer, until he came to a bedroom.
The bedroom floor was covered in a light beige carpet; Basil noticed the shoe marks that were visible on the rug and could tell that quite a few people had come and gone before he had arrived. The carpeting was stained a burgundy colour: obviously where the blood smell was coming from. A light breeze along with the smell of strawberries was coming in through an open window from the opposite end of the room. Basil looked toward opening and noticed her: a mouse with dark brown fur and hair equally as dark tied back into a low ponytail. The mouse wore yellow plastic gloves that reached her elbows, brown lace-up boots, black pants, a form fitting white blouse and had a surgical mask covering her entire nose and mouth. In her hands, she was holding what seemed to be tape and a white powder. She put her tape into a small black notebook and scribbled a note in next to it. She looked up at Basil and he suddenly felt as though he should not be watching. Her yellow plastic clad paw pulled the mask down and away from her mouth.
"Who are you? What are you doing here? Don't you know it's rude to stare?" She barked. Basil smirked.
"I don't suppose you're working on this case?" She nodded. "Well, I can tell that you're not from around here, you're from America. I can tell by your accent and by the way you don't seem to know who I am. You look like a detective, such as I, but clearly not as renowned or as clever as you cannot deduct that I am a detective, clearly coming to work on the case of a murdered mouse..."
The dark brown mouse was seething. Not clever? Not renowned?
"I could say the same about you," she spat "I can tell that you're British because of your not-so-perfect teeth and your hoity-toity accent. As for being a detective, well, I couldn't tell as you reek of dog..." Now, it was her turn to smirk. Basil turned a dark shade of scarlet and grit his teeth. "Besides," she continued, "I would expect a detective of any sort of grandeur to arrive on time. I was here fifteen minutes ago and you missed some crucial evidence."
Basil hadn't been this angered since he sat on his own violin. He opened his mouth to retort but was interrupted by the sobs of Mrs LePetit, who had come up to the bedroom when she had heard the two detectives arguing.
"Monsieur Bah-zile, Mademoiselle Sinclair," She stopped to wipe her eyes, "I deed not call you both 'ere to fight," Tears continued to stream down her face, "I asked you both because you are ze best investigators in all ze Mousedom."
The detectives looked at each other. Basil gulped; he suddenly felt guilty for provoking the girl. "Peer-'aps, you could – 'ow you say – collaborate?" Work together? Basil hadn't worked with anyone other than Doctor Dawson and was not sure that the doctor could be replaced. The dark brown mouse, on the other hand, nodded in agreement. Mrs LePetit tried to smile through her sobs and wiped her nose with her tissue before nodding and going back down the stairs.
"I guess we'll be working together then," the brown mouse said, "I'm sorry I insulted you earlier. My name is Calysta Sinclair." Calysta held out her paw for Basil to shake and put on her best sincere smile.
"Basil of Baker Street," he paused, "Apology accepted." Calysta frowned, lowered her paw clenched it into a fist. Basil sighed and rolled his eyes. "Fine, I apologize as well." The mice shook paws. Basil smiled.
"I was in need of a new assistant."
Author's note: Well that's it for chapter uno. Hope you readers all enjoyed and I should have chapter two within the next 2 days. Stay tuned!