Outside, Fraser called them a taxi. Geoffrey blinked when he stepped out into the bright sunshine of late morning. It was a wonderful day here in Chicago. A yellow cab stopped and Fraser opened the car's door. But instead of getting inside, he held the door open for a young couple that was also waiting for a taxi. Geoffrey glanced at the crowd of people around them waiting for one as well. This would take forever. He sighed, rushed over to the mountie and held back the couple.
"Oh no no no no Fraser", he said. "Stop that, would you?"
---
Benny looked at Geoffrey for a moment. This man was a closed book to him. But he nodded and apologized to the couple for not being able to let them have his taxi. The couple, that had been wondering why he did it in the first place anyway, shrugged it off and stepped back. Fraser carefully placed Geoffrey's suitcase and his backpack into the trunk. Then they both got in and the taxi drove off.
Inside Geoffrey began rummaging through his pockets. Fraser observed him patiently.
"Good lord, Fraser", Tennant then addressed him. "What's wrong with you. I mean you are so…"
The mountie listened attentively.
"Ah, very well. There it is", his client announced suddenly without finishing his previous sentence and got out a piece of paper. "I knew I had it somewhere."
He handed his finding to the driver and told him that this would be the address of the hotel they wanted to go to.
The hotel had already looked very nice from the outside and inside even more so. But Fraser didn't regret his plan to stay at the consulate. Actually he was even looking forward to it.
"Very nice hotel", he said to Geoffrey as they entered his room.
"That's what I thought."
Tennant threw his suitcase on the bed, opened it and began to unpack his clothes while Fraser looked around in the room. Immediately the balcony attracted his attention and he regarded it with critical interest for a while.
"What?!", Geoffrey said when he noticed the critical look on the other man's face. "Afraid I could jump?"
The director laughed.
Benny stepped closer to the balcony door.
"Do you mind?", he asked pointing at the balcony.
"Not at all."
So Fraser opened the door, stepped outside and closed it behind him. The warm sunlight fell on his face when he turned around, leaned over the balustrade and peered down.
"Beautiful isn't it?", he heard Vecchio, say. His friend was standing next to him, looking across the urban landscape of skyscrapers. "It's good to be back Benny", he continued. "This is just wow. This is home, man. I mean, can you smell it? It smells like home."
Ray cheerfully took a deep breath.
Fraser looked down at the busy streets and frowned. "It smells like exhaust fumes and fast food", he said puzzled.
Ray was enthusiastic. "Exactly! That's what I mean."
"How can you smell anyway? I thought you were dead", Fraser remarked.
"Well yes Benny. I'm dead, not disabled."
---
Geoffrey was just taking out a folded shirt from his suitcase when his look fell on Fraser standing on the balcony. The man seemed to be indulged in reminiscences. Or was he? Geoffrey watched him for a while. Was he talking to someone? It looked almost like he was talking to someone but there was nobody else on the balcony. Could it be that this guys….no, impossible...or maybe not...
The phone rang and interrupted his thoughts. Geoffrey shook his head as if to clear it from some weird ideas, quickly put the shirt into the closet and answered the phone.
He was in the middle of a conversation when Fraser came back in. When the mountie saw that Geoffrey was on the phone, he quietly closed the door and walked over to a chair where he sat down and waited till he was done.
A few minutes later, Geoffrey hang up and Fraser jumped up to depart.
"Well", he said. "I guess I'll leave you alone for now, let you settle in. And I'll head off to the consulate to let them know I'm here."
"Right", Geoffrey replied hesitantly. "Well, the guy who just called says I don't have to be at the theater before four. So I think I'll come with you if you don't mind."
Fraser smiled and shook his head. "Not at all. Off we go!"
Fraser had decided for them to walk to the consulate since, as he said, it wasn't very far. Geoffrey had agreed, it was a nice day anyway, so why not? It was lunchtime by now and Geoffrey had gotten really hungry a while back, so he decided to address that topic.
"Hey Fraser, aren't you hungry?", he asked by the way. "You haven't had anything except those peanuts."
"Actually no. That's more than enough. I had nothing to eat for weeks once. I was way up north. I tried to hunt. But there was nothing to hunt. For days I ate nothing but bark. Terribly dry stuff." He paused, then, as if it was a convincing counter-argument, added: "Anyway, you haven't had anything either. Even less, because you didn't want peanuts."
Geoffrey didn't say anything.
"Oh!", Fraser said. "I am terribly sorry, sir. I didn't realize….well there's this place where I used to go. It's on our way anyway. We can go there if you want."
Geoffrey nodded enthusiastically. He didn't care, as long as he'd get something to eat.
Fraser was right, it really was on their way, 30 minutes ahead. They only had to cross seven more streets, walk through two parks, and pass three banks. Geoffrey felt like he was starving when they eventually reached it. They sat down in a corner by a window.
"So what do you recommend?", the director asked Fraser when the waiter came over to take their orders.
"Well, the seafood special is delicious", the mountie replied.
"Really?"
"Yes."
"Are you going to eat that?"
"No."
Fraser briefly looked at the menu, then added: "I think I'm going to take the Kung Pao Chicken."
Geoffrey nodded. "Sounds great. Me too."
The waiter wrote something down and left.
"So", Geoffrey said while they where waiting. "Do you have a wife or so waiting for you at home?"
Fraser, who had been literally reading the menu, looked up at him in surprise.
"I noticed you're not wearing a ring", Geoffrey added quickly.
Fraser smiled. "Oh, no that's right. Very perceptive, sir."
Geoffrey wasn't sure whether this was supposed to be a compliment or not.
"I used to have a wolf though", Fraser said as if to make up for the missing but obligatory woman in his life.
"Ah!", Geoffrey responded puzzled.
"He died two years ago", the mountie explained.
"I'm sorry."
They didn't talk any more while waiting on their meals nor while they were eating and
exchanged only a few words on their way to the consulate.
The consulate was a pretty small, yet somehow impressive looking brick building. If it hadn't been for the huge Canadian flag, Geoffrey wouldn't have recognized it as the Canadian Consulate. In front of the consulate stood a motionless mountie. Geoffrey went up to him until he was only a few centimetres away and eyed him closely. The man didn't react at all.
"Good day Constable", Geoffrey greeted the guy in red serge. No answer.
"Why doesn't he answer?", the diector addressed no one in particular.
"I believe he's standing guard, sir.", Fraser explained.
"But he doesn't even blink."
"No, well probably makes it more likely to detect anything suspicious early enough."
Geoffrey stepped back next to his mountie.
"That's nuts!", he noted. "Who the hell would do something like that?!"
Silence.
It took a while until Geoffrey noticed Fraser's strange look.
"Oh did you…"
"Yes", Fraser said quickly.
"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to…"
"Well, let's go inside, shall we?"
"Sure."
Fraser seemed kind of hurt. Geoffrey felt somewhat bad about this. He stayed way back when following Fraser up the stairs.
---
From the outside the consulate still looked exactly the way he remembered it. Fraser had just knocked when a church bell rang in the distance, announcing a full hour. As if he had just come out of a coma, the guard standing mountie suddenly moved and came up the stairs.
"Constable Benton Fraser, I suppose", he said.
"That's right", Fraser replied and, with his ever friendly smile, offered him a hand. The other man however didn't smile and instead of taking Fraser's hand, turned to Geoffrey.
"And who are you if I may ask?"
"Geoffrey Tennant", the director introduced himself.
"Ah well, pleased to meet you. I didn't think you'd come to the consulate."
"Yeah," Geoffrey said. "But I still have some time left before I have to be at the theatre. So I thought I could go with Fraser."
The consulate mountie nodded.
"I see, okay I'll open up."
So he did and the three of them went inside. Fraser looked around. Lots of memories suddenly flooded back. He could see Turnbull with an apron and his ratatouille coming out of the kitchen as if it had just happened yesterday. He smiled.
"I'm afraid the inspector isn't here at the moment. He should be back anytime now though", the other mountie's voice interrupted Benny's thoughts, who now tried to recall who was in charge here now. He couldn't remember having heard anything about that though and thus concluded that it was nobody he knew. It did make him a little sad that it wasn't Thatcher anymore.
"I was advised to prepare your old office for you", the young man said harshly. "I'm sure you'll be able to find it on your own. So if you'll excuse me, I have to go do some…well, consulate stuff."
That being said, he quickly vanished into the kitchen.
Fraser just raised an eyebrow while Geoffrey said: "Wow, he seems to be pissed off."
Fraser nodded thoughtfully. "I sensed that too, although I wouldn't put it that way."
"No, of course you wouldn't."
Standing in the hall like that, the two men looked a little lost.
"I'm sure he doesn't mean it. Maybe he is extremely busy or particularly stressed at the moment", Fraser desperately tried to excuse the man's behaviour.
"Yeah, or maybe he hates us."
Fraser didn't object. Instead, he turned around and began to walk down the hall to his old office.
The office hadn't changed much. In fact it looked pretty much the way it had looked when he had left. It didn't seem to be used anymore. He immediately concentrated his attention on the closet. Slowly he moved towards it. He wasn't sure why he expected to find something inside and he knew that it was absurd. Yet, he opened the closet and stared inside for a seemingly endless moment. It was just a closet; stuffed with blankets, some clothes and a lamp.
"What is it?", he heard Tennant say, who had obviously stayed in the hall a little longer.
Fraser looked at him hoping Tennant would not see the disappointment in his eyes.
"Just a closet", he answered not entirely convinced himself. "Nothing more, just a closet."
---
The room was small and dusty. Geoffrey stepped inside to stand next to Fraser.
"And you lived in here?", he said in disbelief.
"That's right, sir. Right here in this room."
Fraser closed the closet door.
"But there's not even a bed in here", Geoffrey went on.
"No, I slept on the floor most of the time."
Slowly but surely Geoffrey began to feel perfectly sane next to this man. While Fraser was busy finding a nice place for his backpack, Geoffrey curiously looked into the closet. He frowned. It was really just a stupid closet.
A moment later, Fraser was ready to go and they left the office. On their way out they came upon the consulate mountie again.
"I'm done, so we're leaving now", Fraser said smiling.
"Good, good, very good", replied the other man.
Fraser kept smiling. "I'll be back in the evening I guess."
The not so busy looking young man nodded. "I will inform the inpector when he returns."
"Thank you kindly."
Geoffrey shook his head when he heard Fraser say that again. Unlike him, he just raised a hand as they left.
---
This time they did take a taxi. Traffic was insane though. Benny had almost forgotton how many cars there were in Chicago. Knowing that he'd be back home and surrounded by the familiar silence soon however, he could actually enjoy the experience. They were taken to the theater first where Geoffrey got out. He'd be on time. Fraser told him he'd pick him up in the evening. Not that he thought Geoffrey could get himself in trouble, but this wasn't New Burbage, or Toronto for that matter. This was Chicago, a little security wouldn't hurt. And the RCMP would certainly be in trouble if the New Burbage Theater lost another artistic director because of one of their officers. Too much caution was probably better than too little.
When Geoffrey went off into the theatre, the taxi continued its way to the police station where Fraser had spent so much time during his time here in Chicago. A huge truck stood in front of the station. The taxi driver couldn't park the car anywhere, so Fraser paid him in Canadian dollars and got out. The driver complaint when he noticed the money wasn't American and Fraser wanted to explain it, but the people in the cars behind them already got impatient and so his taxi driver accepted the money and drove off. Fraser apologized to the waiting cars by waving, then disappeared into the station with the hat in his hand.
The station was just as crowded as the streets and Fraser almost had to cut his way through in the narrow corridors. He couldn't wait to see Ray. They wrote each other letters every now and then and even talked on the phone sometimes when Fraser was close enough to a phone at home. But they hadn't seen each other for years and he hadn't told Ray that he would be coming down to Chicago. This was supposed to be a surprise. Reaching the familiar room with all the police men's desks in it, he wasn't so sure anymore if that really was such a good idea. What if Ray wasn't glad to see him? He didn't even know what his friend was up to. It had been almost 6 months that he had received the last letter from Ray. It had been the letter in which Ray, or rather Stan, had told him about Ray and Stella Vecchio's sudden death. He meant to reply soon, but got stuck in his cabin for 2 weeks because of a snow storm and after that he had spent most of his time outside chasing a group of criminals.
Fraser stood in the door and scanned the squad room. Busy people were running around, carrying file folders or a cup of coffee. He spotted Huey who was sitting at his desk. But there was no sign of Ray, he couldn't see his desk from here though. Absorbed in thought, he entered the room and, in passing, put his hat on a vacant desk nearby. He stopped pretty much in the middle of the room and could finally see Ray's desk. His friend wasn't there, so he headed for the desk to sit down on the visitor's side and observed two officers arguing over a donut. Dief certainly would have loved to clear the situation. Benny lowered his head. Once again he realized how much he missed the wolf.
---
Francesca Vecchio was stressed out. When would they stop sending her for coffee? She was certainly able to handle more serious things. Unmotivated she walked down the corridor to the squad room. She really needed some time off. Today was one of these days where she regretted that she hadn't gone to the Academy. But when she had heard that, when firing a weapon, gunshot residue settles on the shooter's hand, she had decided to rather keep her current position here at the station and had also made an appointment to get her fingernails done the very same day.
Frannie stepped into the squad room, walked around her desk and sat down. Only then she noticed that hat on her desk. She raised an eyebrow. She knew this kind of hat, she had seen it before, lots of times. And of course she would never forget where she knew it from. Francesca took the hat and turned it in her hands. A certain tingly feeling rushed through her. Could it be possible? Excitedly, she turned around looking out for a red uniform. She saw two officers fighting over a donut, Huey getting up from his desk and walking out of the room and….oh my god. A huge smile appeared on Francesca Vecchio's face.
---
"Fraser?"
Benny raised his head and looked directly at Francesca Vecchio's tummy. Quickly, he jumped up to face her.
„Francesca!", he said in surprise.
"Oh my god, is that really you, Frase?"
"I'm afraid so."
Fraser stood perfectly still, his hands behind his back. Frannie looked at him as if he was a ghost.
"I am so sorry about Ray", the mountie finally broke the silence.
Frannie looked down. "Yes we were all very shocked. But I'm sure he's in a better place now."
"I'm not so sure about that", Fraser mumbled.
"What?"
"Oh, oh nothing."
Frannie looked up again. "You know, we expected you to come to the funeral."
Benny began scratching his forehead and explained how he had wanted to but couldn't since Kowalski's letter had arrived too late, due to that horrible snow storm. When he was done, Francesca smiled and said: "Oh, I'm glad. We thought you didn't want to, or that you had forgotton about us."
"No, I could never forget my friends, Francesca."
Frannie squeaked. Her eyes sparkled.
"So, how have you been? Girlfriend? Married?"
Fraser uneasily shifted his weight from one leg to the other. Just not a topic he felt comfortable talking about. Just then, he saw Kowalski approaching behind Francesca Vecchio.
"Frannie did you…", Ray began, then realized who she was talking to. "…Fraser!?"
He stopped next to Frannie and pushed her aside.
Benny grinned like an idiot. "Hi Ray!"
"Fraser! Partner!"
Ray stepped forward and hugged the Canadian.
"What are you doing here and why didn't you tell me you were coming?"
Finally, Fraser relaxed a bit.
"It was supposed to be a surprise", he explained.
Ray laughed. "Oh well, I am surprised. And I'm glad. So, you're on vacation? Then why the uniform?"
"I'm on duty."
Ray raised an eyebrow. "Sooooo, you're back and working at the consulate?"
Fraser shook his head. "I'm escorting a Canadian director."
"Sounds like fun", Ray responded. "So he's into movies?"
Fraser chuckled which made Frannie smile that fan girl smile.
"No no", Fraser explained. "Theater. He's here to help a little with a play that will be shown at the Shakespeare festival."
Suddenly Ray's expression changed and he looked somewhat disturbed.
"The Shakespeare festival?", he repeated.
"Yes Ray. Why? Is there anything..."
"Kowalski! Get in here! Right now!", a familiar voice interrupted them. It was Lieutenant Welsh who obviously wanted to see Ray in his office.
Ray turned to the office, then to the mountie again.
"Alright, we can talk about this later. I have to go talk to the Lieutenant now. You can come with me if you want. Won't take long."
Something seemed to occur to him suddenly and he added: "Actually, you should come with me."
Fraser nodded and followed his friend into Welsh's office.
„Detective!", Welsh addressed Ray. "How come you have been working this case for two weeks and we still don't have anything?"
"Well sir", Ray replied confident. "Actually I probably just got a lot closer to solving this case", Ray announced and pointed at Fraser.
Welsh looked surprised. "Constable? Haven't seen you in a while. Thought you went back to Canada."
"That's right sir. I did. I'm in Chicago for a while only."
The Lieutenant got up from his chair and walked around his desk to shake hands with Fraser.
"Well, that's great I guess. Welcome to Chicago…again."
