Flickering street lamps lit the young French investigator's way as he hurried through a sordid alley, the vile odors of piss and garbage stinging his nostrils. Rats stared at him from between the building, red eyes gleaming maliciously. Unsure of his fate if he were to linger, he quickened his pace, exiting the alley onto an ominous, empty street. He gripped his coat tighter around his body, glancing around as he crossed the street, a particular building in mind as he made his way down the narrow sidewalk. While he had lived in New York for a few years already, he was unfamiliar with this part of the area, this filthy, grimy-
A low wolf whistle startled him from his thoughts. "Hey, baby! Lookin' good!" The Frenchman turned, and glowered at a group of young men behind him. As soon as they made eye contact with him, they backed off. "Woah, sorry, didn't know you were a dude!" they said, nearly tripping over each other as they tried to leave, clearly embarrassed. Getting mistaken for a girl wasn't uncommon for the investigator, though. He had wavy, shoulder length blonde hair that he washed and conditioned every morning, and was always wearing the most fashionable clothes. Currently, he donned a scarf, grey pea coat, and comfortable slacks; a rather androgynous outfit. But that was fine by him; there was no shame in being either a man or a woman.
He, who went by the name of Francis Bonnefoy, was a private investigator who helped solve simple cases, which ranged from finding someone's lost cat to assisting the police in solving a murder case. On this particular eerie evening, he had been hired by a young woman who had come rushing into his office, a mix of tears and mascara running down her cheeks as he begged for him to find her missing husband as soon as possible. She insisted that he had been kidnapped, though when Francis pressed her for details, she admitted that she hadn't actually witnessed him being taken away; it was just a hunch that she had when he disappeared. The story went that the woman had gone into a friend's house for a minute yesterday evening, leaving her husband in the car on the street Francis was walking on this very moment. But when she returned, the car door was wide open and the man had been missing ever since. Francis immediately took the case, intrigued after reading about kidnappings on that street before.
Francis was eager to poke around and gather any potentially useful information, going up to the first house on the street he came to. After knocking on the door and waiting, he greeted the person who answered with a cheerful smile. "Hello! Sorry to disturb you at this hour, but I don't suppose you know anything about recent kidna-"
"Fuck off," said the rude person, slamming the door on his face.
That went well.
Persistent, Francis went to the next house, again knocking and waiting patiently. Though no lights were on, the door opened slowly, and a thin man about Francis' height poked his head out. "Yes?" he murmured, sounding a bit fatigued. He looked it, too; behind his glasses, dark circles were visible under his olivine eyes. Sand colored hair that didn't match his thick, dark eyebrows was messy and looked as though it hadn't been groomed in days.
"Hello! Sorry to disturb you, I'm sure you'd much rather be sleeping at this time, but I'm Francis Bonnefoy, here to investigate the case of a man who was reportedly kidnapped."
"Kidnapped?" The stranger blinked and stood up straighter. "Goodness, I heard about that… It's terrifying that it happened right here in this neighborhood. I don't know much about it, though, I'm sorry." He had a British accent, and Francis assumed he was new to New York, like him.
The Frenchman nodded. "That's all right, but if you could tell me if you've seen any suspicious activity around here, that would be marvelous."
"Please, come in," said the man suddenly, opening the door wider and turning on a light. The house wasn't very big, and stacks of papers and boxes lined the walls. "I was just going to make some tea, and if you'd join me, that would be just lovely. I'll see if I can recall anything, too."
Francis accepted, stepping inside and removing his coat. "Thank you, that's very kind of you."
"Of course, it's polite to do so." The man cleared his throat, straightened his white lab coat, and held out his hand. "My name's Arthur Kirkland. I'm sorry; I look like a mess today. I've been working for the past two days with hardly any sleep." After Francis shook his hand, he went to the kitchen, filling a kettle with water and taking out two quaint-looking teacups. "I'm a scientist… I research topics and send my theses to different organizations. It's exhausting work and doesn't pay nearly enough."
Francis took a seat on the couch in the room across from the kitchen, looking at the few photos that decorated the off-white walls. One was of a younger, brighter-looking Arthur on a college campus with a small smile. Another, taken in the same place, was Arthur and another man, with dirty blonde hair and a dazzling smile. "Who's this?" Francis asked curiously. "Is it your friend from college?"
Arthur poked his head into the room and smiled. "Ah, yes! That's my old mate from college! We graduated high school together and studied medical science in college." His smile began to fade. "Unfortunately, I dropped out of college before I could graduate. But Alfred did. He's always been smarter than me." A hint of malice entered Arthur's voice, and his eyes narrowed ever-so-slightly. "It wasn't fair."
Slightly alarmed by Arthur's sudden anger, Francis tried to calm him down. "Now, I'm sure you still have plenty of opportunities to return to college! You seem like a very capable young man!"
Arthur returned to the kitchen, muttering, "I can't go back to college. They won't take me back."
The silence was rather awkward for Francis as Arthur poured the tea and served it to him, then sat down in a chair opposite to the investigator, sipping his warm drink.
Francis spoke softly, "So, I don't suppose you can think of anything useful about the recent kidnappings, can you?"
Arthur looked up at him and blinked, suddenly a different person. "Oh, yes!" he said, no longer dark and angry. "What was it now… I believe I've seen a group of teenagers hanging out around the abandoned building a few blocks away. They always make me nervous when I pass by them! Perhaps they could be the culprits?"
"Perhaps," Francis agreed, sipping his own tea. It had been sweetened with sugar, but something seemed a bit off about the taste. "…What's in this?"
"The tea? Lavender, a bit of mint…"
"No, no," Francis said, sipping it again. "It's something else. There's sugar, of course, but what's that other ingredient?" He licked his lips.
Arthur cocked his head. "I'm not quite sure what you mean. It's just lavender tea and sugar."
Francis sighed. "I'm sorry. I think I might be a bit tired, too. I must be imagining it." After a few more sips, he added, "Investigating can be stressful work as well. I've stayed up all night trying to decode a secret message. Of course, that just turned out to be a love letter from one teenager to another."
The scientist chuckled. "What a disappointment that must have been. Disappointing… like knowing you'll never solve the case of the kidnappings." He stood up, setting his tea on the coffee table.
Francis blinked, trying to register what Arthur had just said. "Sorry?"
"You'll never solve it," Arthur repeated, taking Francis' teacup from his hands. "I'm sorry to do this to you. You seem like such a nice fellow." He ran his hand over Francis' cheek, eyes glowing. "But you're perfect for my experiments, see? Such a gorgeous specimen… I'll be extra careful not to damage your lovely face."
Francis stared at him, his vision starting to go fuzzy. "What are you…?" He couldn't finish his sentence, though, eyes involuntarily closing as he drifted off, seeing Arthur's smirk before passing out, and his last thought about what sort of drugs this man had put in his tea.
Hello! It's been a while since I've posted anything new! Please enjoy this story, but please also be warned that it will be very graphic! I'm including lots of blood, violence, human experimentation death, etc. If you're uncomfortable with that sort of thing, please don't keep reading!
