HELLO, EVERYONE! Merry Christmas and Welcome to Chapter One of Captivated! I apologize for the late late post, however, you'll all be happy to know that you'll probably be getting one or two more chapters during Christmas break! :D
Enjoy!
The soft tap of her tall heels on the hard floors gave her confidence. Last night had been absolutely miserable. When she found out Orion had been killed… She shivered, thinking about it. Too many people had died already. Too many people, and now Orion. Orion had been her friend, her confidant, and he had been murdered, just like the rest. She had decided, in that moment, that the police needed help. So she had set off, back to Ebott. Back home.
I haven't been here in seventeen years… She smiled, but her hands were shaking in anticipation. I haven't seen him in seventeen years. She was nervous, for sure. It had been so long. What was he like now? They had fallen out of touch so long ago, she barely remembered the last letter she had received from him. She barely remembered the sound of his voice, though it was likely it had changed. She could hardly picture what he had looked like. When she had stumbled across his name on the internet, she could hardly believe it. He had certainly made something for himself. He was, after all, in the Ebott Times! The man who put away plenty of the remaining members of RED X, and the man who had helped the police solve several murder cases; the best lawyer in the whole state, and the best consultant in the county.
You've grown up... though, I suppose we all have. She frowned, studying the plaque on the door in front of her, hesitating. She had to talk to him, to see him. Her hands still shook, however. She was still nervous. It had been seventeen years. It will be good to see him again. She smiled a little, and reached out, grasping the doorknob, she turned it, stepping into the room.
It was a hot day in July and he was sprawled across his desk in absolute boredom. It had been a long time since any monster-related crimes had popped up in Ebott, and an even longer time since someone had hired him as a lawyer. So he was just laying there, trying to beat the heat. His coat hung off his chair, his tie was a mess. His sleeves were rolled up. The tiny desk fan was blowing right in his face. It was hot. He hated it.
It was just then that his phone rang and he jumped, grabbing for it clumsily, sitting up straight. He tapped the green button to answer.
"Hello?"
"Hey! Big dork." He almost groaned.
"Little dork."
"Yes, huzzah, this is your sister speaking." There was a snicker and he knew Zuko was there too.
"What?" He sighed, "I'm working."
"Mom wants to know if you could possibly pull yourself away from your fictional mountains of work to come to dinner tonight." She took as long as possible to answer.
"I'll have you know-..." He frowned, "...I…. got a client today!"
"Is that so?"
"It is. And… I'm very busy. However, since family is important. I will make time to come to dinner."
"Good to hear." She coughed. "Liar."
"Don't be a snitch." He groaned. "Mom and Dad worry."
"Please, your business is just slow. I bet a new client will walk in any second. I'll tell mom you're coming for dinner. Love ya!" She hung up before he could answer. He groaned and was about to drop his skull onto the desk again when his secretary/assistant, June, came in with a big smile.
"Hello, Mr. Franklin, I hate to interrupt, if I am, but there's a nice young lady in the hall who would like to meet with you."
"Oh!" He looked down at his messy clothes and groaned. "Uh, give me a couple minutes, June and then send her right in. Thank you."
"Oh of course!" She hurried out and Frankie immediately got to work fixing his tie, and pulling on his coat. He had to look professional after all, despite the heat. It seemed like a long moment before the door actually opened and a young face appeared. She was beautiful, with long light brown hair, and big gray eyes. She wore a pretty, light blue dress, and stood tall (though much shorter than he) in black heels. He stood up quickly to greet her, holding out his hand.
"Ah… Come in. My name's Franklin-"
"I know." She smiled, her voice was so soft, and melodious. She was so familiar… something about the way she spoke, softly and gently? He wasn't sure. Maybe he'd seen her around town before? "I saw you in the papers. You've gotten quite famous, huh?" She bites her lip and looks down at her hands for a moment before grinning up at him. "I knew you wouldn't recognize me, Frankie." Her gray eyes sparkled and she laughed a little, but the moment she said his name, he knew exactly who she was.
"W-wren?!" He choked.
"The same." She smiles brightly. God, she was absolutely beautiful. He had never imagined he'd be meeting her again! Wren Tailor?! After all these years?! He could hardly believe it!
"Wren! God! How- how- how- I mean, sit down!" He gestured to the chair in front of his desk. "Uh! Wow! I mean, how long has it been?!" He gasped. She smiled a little, brushing her long light hair out of her eyes.
"Seventeen years." She whispered. "It's been a long time."
"Wow." He can hardly speak. The last time he had thought about Wren… he had been packing up his stuff for college and found all the letters she had sent them. He had looked through them fondly, thinking that maybe sometime he'd look her up on facebook or something. He never did. University had been an insane time for him, and Wren had disappeared to the back of his mind. Until now. Now, she was very real. Very beautiful. Very. Here…
"I… I suppose I should say… I'm sorry I never wrote back."
"We were preteens." He sighed. "We had a lot on our minds. We hadn't seen each other in years. It's okay… I...I'm just glad to see you now!" He hadn't realized how much he missed her smile. Maybe she had always been in his thoughts and he hadn't noticed.
"It's good to see you too." She laughed a little, a beautiful laugh. It was so familiar.
"So… what brings you here?" He grinned.
"My Dad actually… he retired and he's moving back here."
"You're moving back!" He gasped, excited.
"Ah…. No. My dad is." She repeated, looking down at her hands with a sigh. "I… I'm moving to Boston."
"Boston…" He whispered.
"My… My Fiance…" She smiled brightly, holding up her hand to show him the enormous diamond on her ring finger which he had somehow not noticed before. "He's moving to Boston, so… we're both going." Fiance. The word made Frankie's soul drop. He frowned. What? You think Wren Tailor's life has been on hold since you stopped communicating when you were twelve? He had been silent for too long.
"C-congratulations!" He gasped, breaking the silence. "Wow! Ah…. When did you get engaged?"
"Couple months ago." She smiled. "We've known each other for two years now. Scott worked with my dad's business, you know. He's taking it over now that Daddy's retiring. And… we're opening a new branch in Boston, hence the move." She grinned. "We're hoping to get married though before we finish moving. We want to have the wedding closer to my Dad. He won't be able to come out to Boston for a little while."
"Oh!"
"What about you?" She asked suddenly, and Frankie was taken a little off guard.
"Uh… what?"
"What about you, Frankie? Do you…. Have someone?"
"Some-? Oh, no!" He laughed a little, though it sounded lonelier than he wanted it to. "No… I was too busy in college to ever have a girlfriend. Law school isn't the easiest… of… I mean! Not to brag! It was just very busy! And then after I graduated I started working with the police…. And…. things just were all too busy for that." She laughed, and he couldn't help but smile. Her laugh was beautiful.
"Yeah, that makes sense. But you know… you're doing a lot of great things, I hear. You've solved lots of cases with the police, huh?" He shrugged his shoulders with a grin. "Girls are going to be all over you in no time." A couple of months ago that might have sounded nice, but looking at Wren… something was different now. Wren. It's Wren. Was he just remembering the childish crush he had had when he was in third grade? "Anyways!" Wren smiled brightly. "I did come here for a purpose besides seeing you. I suppose I should get it out."
He frowned, looking over at her with concern. "What is it?"
"Well… ah… I need your help Frankie. The truth is… there are innocent people dying and the police…. The FBI… they…. They won't admit it but I think that these deaths… they're related to…."
"To what?"
"Monster haters…." There was a long silence. She couldn't even say the words, and it made Frankie feel sick. Red X? It had been so long since he had thought about them. His dad had destroyed the head of Red X years ago, when they hurt mom badly. Of course there were stragglers who still attacked monsters or monster supporters every now and then, but mostly the hate remained on the low side of the spectrum: nasty internet comments, angry name-calling, and denial of service to monsters. There hadn't been a large group like Red X in a long time.
"How… how many people are dead?" Frankie whispered.
"Five." Wren swallowed, clasping her hands together until her knuckles were white. She looked scared, and Frankie was worried.
"Five…" He grabbed his notebook out of his desk drawer to take notes. "All monsters?"
"N-no." She shook her head slowly. "Two of them were humans. Avid… avid monster supporters."
"How did…. They die?" He whispered. She shut her eyes tightly and frowned.
"The humans… had slit throats…with a jagged knife of sorts." She whispered. "They assume that if the monsters were killed by the same person than the same weapon was used. It's sort of hard to tell, but they say you're an expert."
"I might be able to help if I could get a look at the crime scenes." He frowned. She looked nervous.
"I… Frankie, look. I was told by the FBI to not tell anyone I was coming to see you. They want you to consult, but they don't want anyone to know that you are. You're very connected to Red X through your Dad. If this does have to do with them, even if it's just some sort of Red X fanatic, it could get dangerous if they find out you're involved."
"So… no crime scene?"
"I could have the FBI send over pictures." She said.
"It would be good if I could have the case files." He nodded.
"I'll talk to them tonight." Wren tried to smile, but Frankie could see the worry in her gray eyes. "You know this isn't a game. This can't go outside of your family."
"I know." He nodded. It was just like that for his other cases, but this, for some reason, seemed so much more worse.
"Thank you, so much!" She gasped. "Some of those people were my friends. I want to find the bastard… bastards…. Who did this." The word sounded strange on her soft voice. Frankie nodded.
"I'll do everything I can." Wren stood up to leave.
"We can meet tomorrow for coffee, if you'd like. I passed by a little coffee shop on the way here."
"Oh yeah! It's a nice place." Frankie smiled. "I can meet you there at nine tomorrow morning if you'd like." She hesitated and then nodded with a small smile.
"Alright... " She stood to go. "Thank you again, so much, Frankie. I'm sorry we can't just catch up!"
"It's alright, I understand. I'm glad I can help." He stood to lead her to the door. "Er… Thank you for coming, Wren." He frowned, unsure if he should hug her or shake her hand. The last time they had seen each other it had been hugging one another goodbye. She reached out and took his hand, but didn't shake it, really. She just held it.
"Thank you. So much. I'll see you tomorrow." She turned to leave, her black heels clicking softly on the floor. He smiled, trying to imagine how much shorter she'd be without them. Even with the heels she was way shorter than he was. He had grown to enormous heights in his teenager years. He surpassed Sans, at 5'3 and then even Papyrus at 6'1, finally completing his journey at 6'6- an unbelievable height. His mother, who was 5'4, often commented on it in an exasperated sort of way- "Frankie, you can shrink back to 6' again, now." His cell phone rang and he nearly jumped, he rushed over to his desk, grabbing it out of his pocket and tapping "Answer" without even looking to see who it was.
"Hello?"
"There he is. At last." Mom.
"Ah. uh. I told Anya I could come."
"I know, sweetie, I just wondering if you could pick something up as a side. Maybe some chips or something."
"Chips on Spaghetti night?"
"It's not Tuesday." She laughed a little. "I'm making hamburgers."
"Sounds great." Frankie grinned. "Sure, I can grab something on the way over."
"So. Frankie, you got a client then?" Anya was pretending her hamburger bun was a drum by tapping her fork on the top of it.
"Yeah, actually." He nodded proudly. She hadn't been expecting such a firm answer, she looked up, surprised.
"Really?" Frankie's mom beamed, sitting across from him with a glass of water and her plate. She had her red curls up in a ponytail, and one of her hands was held in one of Sans' hands.
"Yeah. She's nice-"
"She?!" Anya was desperate to get back to teasing her brother, her big green eyes widened. "Is she pretty?" Frankie rolled his eyes, though the answer was definitely yes.
"She's nice, I guess."
"Well, I'm glad you've got work now." Riley smiled.
"What's her name?" Anya demanded.
"Actually," Frankie chuckled. "Mom, dad… uh… you remember Wren, right?"
"Wren?! Of course!" She laughed.
"Uh…" Sans scratched the back of his skull. "Oh yeah! The girl from third grade. She's your client?"
"Yeah." Frankie nodded.
"Wait." Anya frowned. "I don't remember a girl named Wren…?"
"You weren't born when Frankie was in third grade, blueberry." Sans chuckled.
"Is she-?"
"HAMBURGERS?! WHY ARE WE HAVING HAMBURGERS?!" Papyrus burst in through the door from work, his eyes widened in horror when he saw their dinner.
"Mom made them." Frankie shrugged. "They're pretty amazing."
"THIS IS HORRIBLE! I KNEW I SHOULD HAVE BROUGHT HOME ALL THAT LEFTOVER SPAGHETTI."
"Papyrus, calm down, bro." Sans laughed. "This stuff is great, you should try it."
"IT'S FULL OF GREASE, SANS!"
"Uncle Paps. Its really good." Frankie chuckled.
"I'll just have leftover spaghetti, thank you." He marched into the kitchen to retrieve it.
"Anyways…. Is she pretty?!" Anya asked.
"If what you mean by that is 'engaged' then yes. She is."
"Oh…."
"Aw… I'm sorry, Frank." Riley smiled. "You would have been so cute together!"
"Mom." Frankie rolled his eyes.
"She's-" Anya began, but that's when Frankie's phone rang.
"Er…. I'm sorry. I do have to get this… It's work related."
"Go ahead, kid." Sans chuckled. "I guess I'll take your dishes duty tonight."
"I owe ya one, dad." He hurried out to the front porch, tapping the answer button on his phone. "Detective Howard!"
"Don't play games with me, Frank." Frankie could almost see the detective rolling his eyes.
"What's going on, Adam?" He grinned.
"I'll tell you what's going on, lawyer." Adam sighed. "Chief Lawson just got faxed case files that were addressed to you. She wants to know why the hell you're involved in an FBI-sanctioned case. This is homicide, dude. And I don't mean straightforward sunshine-and-flowers sort of homicide. I mean serial."
"I was enlisted by a concerned citizen." He's not sure how to explain it.
"A concerned-! Frankie, are you fucking nuts?! This is an FBI case for a reason. This dude who's killing these poor bastards… He knows what he's doing! He's killed both humans and monsters. You're getting mixed up in some serious shit."
"That's why I'm going to need your help, Adam."
"Are you out of your fucking mind. I can't help you. Not if I don't want to lose my job. I can't interfere in an FBI case. I have to do everything they tell me to do-"
"You know as well as I do that the FBI won't be able to catch this guy without me. I'm the leading expert in Monster homicide."
"Yeah, yeah. No need to brag. Fine. You know what? I'll talk to SSA Grant. See if she would like a monster consultant. But that's all I can do. I can't promise you'll get in."
"You're a good friend, Adam."
"Yeah, whatever, smart ass. You owe me breakfast and a coffee."
"You got it. I'll see you tomorrow morning"
"Pfft. We'll see what Agent Grant has to say about that."