A/N: Hey guys, sorry this is a day late. I was in the States and if you didn't know yesterday was the Fourth of July, I was super busy and had trouble posting this chapter so I just postponed it a day. I wanted to write a fic for the Fourth but since I was so busy it doesn't look like that's going to happen, maybe next year. I really like Canada and I'm terribly sorry if he's out of character, I got a bit carried away.
The next day Arthur stood at the door of an apartment he was happy to find was far away from Mazzetto and any McDonalds'. It was still in town, of course, but as far as small towns go, this apartment building was far. Arthur was surprised to find he hadn't had passed into the next county by accident.
But, having grown up on an island with only so much space, it was inevitable for Arthur to think everywhere that was more than a drive up the street was far.
His knock on the door rang out down the empty hall, and Arthur cleared his throat as discreetly as possible.
It took a while for someone to answer the door, but it creaked open slightly and a face appeared. "Yes?" A soft voice asked, the person surveyed Arthur.
For a moment, Arthur was taken aback. The face was Matthew, he knew this, but it took an odd amount of willpower to convince himself of that. The resemblance to Alfred was uncanny, and aside from their eye color and hair styles, they were practically the same person.
"Oh, uh, hello. Matthew Williams?" The man nodded slowly, and Arthur smiled slightly, pawing one of his pockets to find his badge. He showed it to Matthew, who began nodding. "I'm Detective Kirkland, I'm from the-"
"Yeah." Matthew said with another nod of acknowledgement. He opened his door further "You can come in."
Arthur stepped into the apartment, realizing that Alfred's had probably been the one in the picture on Facebook. This apartment was very neat, with very white walls and homely furniture, it was a long way away from the messy one that was shown in that picture.
"You picked a lucky day." Matthew was saying regretfully, striding through the apartment and putting away dishes on the counter. "My roommate isn't here and I'm out of work for now." Matthew turned around, leaning against the counter, he crossed his arms. "I've been expecting someone from the station for a while."
Arthur raised his eyebrows at Matthew, even if he was questioning him he didn't believe he had anything to do with the murder, it was an odd thing to say.
Matthew seemed to read his mind, and his eyes widened at his own poor choice of words. "Not that I have anything to do with-" He paused. "You don't think I-?"
"Of course not. I'm just here to ask a few questions." Arthur reassured him.
Matthew relaxed visibly. "Oh, you can sit." He indicated towards a tan couch that actually did look quite comfortable. Matthew started near a chair close to it, stopping and turning "Oh, do you want some coffee or something?"
Without intention, Arthur wrinkled his nose. He held up his tea in a travel mug. Matthew nodded and stood next to the chair, settling in it when Arthur sat on the couch.
"I believe your brother lives in the apartment building of Mr. Beilschmidt?" Arthur started. It felt refreshing to talk about Alfred so formally as opposed to what he had become used to in the last day.
"My brother?" Matthew seemed confused for a moment. "Oh, yeah. Al? Did he send you?"
Arthur was quiet for a moment, Matthew and Alfred didn't know he had been undercover, it might come up if he said he had gotten the information from the McDonalds manager. "I can't say." He said.
Matthew, luckily, fell for it. His expression was understanding. "Yeah. Al really didn't know Gil all that well so..." He paused. "I assumed he'd tell someone that I did." Matthew cleared his throat and looked away from Arthur.
"How did you know him?" Arthur asked, trying not to be annoyed by the weightless words Matthew was saying.
"I used to live with Alfred, along with my roommate now, Carlos. Gilbert was our neighbor, as you know. He lived a few doors down."
Arthur nodded, wondering if he should mark any of this down. He decided against it quickly when Matthew started talking again.
"He had these parties that were kind of crazy. Alfred, Carlos, and I all went to one together and coincidentally, Gilbert was a really good friend of my cousin." Matthew pushed his glasses back up his nose. "Al doesn't have much of a temper for my cousin anyways, so he wasn't really interested in pursuing a friendship, but Gilbert and I kind of bonded through Francis."
Arthur was still thinking about how strange it seemed that Alfred didn't want to pursue a friendship, but he stiffened at the name Francis. Matthew noticed and wrinkled his eyebrows in slight confusion.
"I-is something wrong?" Matthew practically whispered.
"Sorry, I just recognized the name. Is your cousin Mr. Francis Bonnefoy?" Francis had been someone Detective Héderváry had tried to set him up with, it hadn't gone well at all and as it turned out the two ended up despising each other. She liked to say there was a thin line between love and hate, but fuck that.
Matthew spoke again, not sounding surprised. "Yeah, it seems a lot of people in this town seems to know him," He laughed a bit warily and rubbed an eye. "Almost as many acquaintances as Al."
Arthur was quiet, Matthew studied him, reminding Arthur that he needed to go back to the job. He sighed, continuing. "So, how did you get to know Gilbert further?"
"Well, I attended some more parties." Matthew shrugged. "We talked, things like that." He pushed at his glasses and looked past Arthur, to his kitchen. "Are you sure you don't want coffee? I kind of want coffee."
"You're welcome to make some, I just don't want any." Arthur sneered unintentionally, Matthew wasn't very good at hiding avoidance.
Matthew gulped, nodding slowly and standing up, Arthur followed him to the kitchen.
"Did you ever have romantic relations with Mr. Beilschmidt?" He asked quickly.
Matthew turned his head, he studied Arthur a moment before laughing. His laugh was quiet, and made his shoulders shake slightly. "Romantic relations is a first," He inquired, his face flushing red. "I guess you could call it that."
Arthur was quiet, not sure if Matthew needed comfort or a subject change. Quite frankly, he was unwilling to give either at the moment.
"I wasn't trying to hide it from you," Matthew affirmed. He held up a hand "I swear. It's just-" He sighed, turning back towards the counter.
"You were withholding information." Arthur countered, slightly annoyed.
"Yeah?" Matthew messes with his coffee machine for a second, pausing before speaking again. "I think at this point it's more common sense that tells you that information. Looking back, it wasn't a very smart decision. Nothing I did was a very smart decision." Matthew laughed wryly and glanced at Arthur, his expression a bit sad. He shrugged at him.
Arthur sighed, this subject wasn't even important information, he ran a hand through his hair. "Would you know anybody who might have some kind of grudge against Gilbert?"
Matthew thought for a weighted moment. He looked conflicted. "A lot of people got annoyed at Gilbert. He was one of those guys you either liked or hated. I'm sorry, I'd have to think about that question." Matthew was quiet for a long moment.
Arthur gave Matthew a questioning look, and he returned it with a similar expression. "Do you just want to sit down again?" Matthew said softly, seemingly saddened again.
When, again, Arthur was sitting on the comfortable couch he spoke again. "Have you thought of anyone? It doesn't matter who, just anyone."
Matthew bit his lip. "I honestly don't know. I don't know why anyone would've wanted him dead. I didn't know him or any of his friends well enough," He cleared his throat. "Could you wait a second?"
Arthur observed the turmoil within the man, and he nodded sympathetically. Matthew seemed to disappear, and Arthur let him have some time, checking his phone quickly for the possible text from Detective Héderváry, there was nothing. Typical of her.
Arthur rubbed an eye, he was going to have to meet up with her tonight. Just the thought was tiring.
Matthew returned, his eyes just red enough to indicate he had been crying. He was completely composed now, straightening and smiling. "Do you have any more questions?"
Arthur laughed ruefully, "This is a required question, but I must ask where you were the night of the-" He faltered. "The crime."
Matthew laughed, near silent. From what Arthur heard, it was a bit mocking. "I was up in the city with Al as his designated driver. I'm sure I can dig a receipt or something up." He looked at Arthur questioningly.
"I don't think that's necessary." Arthur reassured, feeling as if he was expected to say that.
Matthew nodded stiffly at him. "Y-yeah," He paused. "But seriously-?"
"We'd need more information and a certain type of warrant before taking your things." Arthur said matter of factly. He didn't want to upset anybody, which only further convinced him him he wasn't cut out for murder investigations at all.
Matthew sniffed slightly. To be honest, the man seemed too soft spoken and under the radar to even be considered as someone who knew something, and to be blunt, Arthur was surprised Gilbert, who sounded like an outgoing asshat who was quite the party animal, had even noticed Matthew in the first place.
Arthur was heavily comparing Matthew to his brother, though, which was probably not so fair to him or the case. "You said you had a roommate, who is he?"
"Carlos? I haven't seen him talk to Gilbert more than once." Matthew shrugged helplessly.
"You used to live with Mr. Jones, correct?" Arthur cleared his throat, though it was only a name, he feared Matthew would see right through him.
"Yeah, so did Carlos," Matthew seemed to weigh something in his head for a long moment before speaking again. "We moved here because he got into this huge fight with Alfred over the rent."
"You chose to live with Carlos?" Arthur felt embarrassed for asking, but he was curious.
"No one ever even asked my opinion," Matthew said, a hint of disdain falling into my tone. "I don't think Al cared who I went with, though Carlos would've made an even larger scene if I didn't move with him."
"What do you mean larger scene?" Arthur questioned, his curiosity falling back towards the case rather than the drama in the Jones/Williams apartment.
"Al and Carlos got to the point where they were shouting pretty loudly, we had some complaints from the neighbors. The fighting got a bit physical and someone actually called the police," Matthew laughed ruefully. "We-They probably sounded like bums or druggies."
Possibly violent roommate? Arthur didn't want to make things obvious, but he continued the questions about Carlos. "Can you give me Carlos' full name?" He asked casually.
Matthew's eyes widened with realization, "Of course, but I said earlier that I've never seen him talk to Gilbert more than once."
"We just need to look into every possible option, sir." Arthur's tone was stiff.
Matthew nodded. "Yeah, yeah. I'll write his information down for you." Arthur was glad he was compliant, at the very least.
Matthew disappeared into his apartment yet again, reappearing with a Post-it. He looked at Arthur sheepishly. "There's his full name and his phone number."
Arthur nodded in appreciation. He would have Kiku look into Carlos further once he got back to the station. He remembered how he was supposed to compare notes with Detective Héderváry, unfortunately, he had next to none information other than a possibly violent roommate. Maybe he should cancel until he did further research.
If things were the same in murder as they were in theft, Detective Héderváry had probably already solved the case. Arthur sighed, Matthew glanced at the clock. "I'm expecting someone soon, I'll just be a moment." For the third time, Matthew was gone.
Arthur stood in the kitchen for a moment, and things were uneventful for that moment, until there was a sound of a lock turning and someone opened the door.
For a second, Arthur debated looking up, assuming it was Carlos and not really wanting to explain why he was there. He did look up though, and was confused when he did.
"Mattie, I have some food, bro!" The person set a grocery bag of something on the counter, oblivious to Arthur.
Arthur made a noise that resembled the sound of choking. Alfred F. Jones still didn't look up. In fact, he walked right past Arthur, looking around.
Matthew rushed into the room, "I'm sorry, Al," He paused, pushing up his glasses. "I've been busy." He pulled something out of his back pocket, Arthur realized it was a wallet. "How much do you want for the food?"
Alfred waved a hand. "Consider it a gift from your hero," He smiled charmingly, Matthew rolled his eyes at his brother. "How were you bus-?" That was the moment Alfred turned towards Arthur.
Everyone was silent for a moment, Alfred's face formed an expression of confusion. Matthew's gaze trailed from one to the other, he looked as if he felt out of place.
Alfred was the one to break the silence. He blinked once and cleared his throat, attempting to make his expression less shocked "Artie?"
Footnote: Yay! Alfred's back! I tried to make some stuff actually happen in this chapter, but I'm not really sure how much came of it. *nervous laughter* It did pick up a bit, right? I'd really feel awful if I was boring anyone. I'm sorry for the bit of PruCan that has come of this, I'm actually not a fan of the ship at all. I think it was more of a spur of the moment thing that I thought made sense for this fic. I'm sorry if you don't like the pairing either, and I promise I'm not going to make it a huge thing.
Thanks for reading/reviewing/following! That's what really motivates me to continue this, and I greatly greatly appreciate it. I hope you enjoyed this chapter and believe it or not I have a plan of where this is going to go that I'm quite happy about!
-Caroline
P.S. I'll be updating early next week (yay)! Probably on Thursday or Wednesday because I'll be going to Klaipėda for the next week. I assumed my schedule would be more open this summer but it turns out to be just as busy .. I'll try to update as soon as I can so like Sunday/Monday-ish is when the chap will come out two weeks from now? Whatever, for now just be excited for the earlier chapter!
