Chapter 10

Paintings and Police

Claire was ecstatic that I was getting a new apartment.

"Your old apartment always freaked me out," she said.

"Me too!" I said.

"If you don't want to stay at Dan's place, you're more than welcome to stay at mine."

"Thanks, but we're moving all my things into Dan's place today, so then I can just move my stuff across the hall. And I really get the feeling that Dan wants me to stay there."

She grinned. "And do yooouuu want to stay there?" she asked.

I blushed and nodded.

"I just feel so safe there," I admitted. "With Dan and Phil looking out for me."

"Have you been in a video yet?"

"No. They're actually filming one right now, but I wanted to come see you."

"Awww, well I hope the police find your paintings. I know how much you love them!"

"Thanks Claire! I guess I'll go back to the guys' place now."

"Okay, I'll see you whenever, then!" she said, hugging me.

Back at the apartment, Dan and Phil were quiet. They were probably editing the video.

That dance game was still on the T.V.

I took of my shoes and stepped on the mat curiously.

I scrolled through songs and found "Keep on Moving."

I had never played this before, but I had watched Dan do it over and over again on Youtube.

It came on and I bounced up and down, waiting for it to show me what tiles to step on.

It started, and I was jumping around ridiculously on the tiles. The song was awesome, and I was laughing and dancing around, missing a lot of steps, but having so much fun.

I heard laughing behind me, and I jumped up and landed backwards, seeing Dan and Phil standing in the doorway of Phil's bedroom.

I decided to just repeatedly step as fast as I could on all of the tiles. I bounced around like a Pikachu on red bull while Dan ran and jumped onto the sofa, laughing.

I tried to do it normally, and miserably failed.

The music stopped. Seeing Dan doubled over on the sofa, I went into a fit of giggles and fell on top of him playfully.

"You did it all wrong!" he said. "Allow me to show you how it's done!"

"Yaaaay!" Phil said, jumping onto the sofa next to us.

Dan got up and restarted the song. Of course, he did it perfectly, hitting every tile at the right time, while I cheered.

I got up and danced next to him, laughing.

"See, that's how it's done!" he said.

"Mine was more entertaining!" I objected, flopping back onto the sofa. Dan came over and laid on top of me, trapping me on the sofa.

"Dannnnnn!" I protested, pushing at his chest. "Get off me, you twat!"

My phone rang. Dan jumped up and skated over to it.

I ran after him.

"Dan!" I said, grabbing for it.

He jumped onto the cabinet and answered it.

"Hellooooo?"

He listened, then handed me the phone.

"It's for you."

"No kidding," I said.

He laughed.

"Hello?"

"Ms. Thomas, it's the police. We're calling to let you know that we got your things back that were taken from your apartment."

"NO WAY! REALLY!?"

"Yes, the man who took your things had a past partner in Liverpool, so we suspected that he might head that way, which he did. We caught up with him and were able to retrieve your belongings. They are here at the station for you to pick up."

"THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU! I'm on my way!"

I hung up and beamed up at Dan.

"What!? What happened!?"

"THEY FOUND MY PAINTINGS!"

"That's great, Evelyn!"

"Yaay!" said Phil, doing a gleeful hand dance.

Dan hugged me. "Let's go get them then!" he said.

"Come with us, Phil!" I said

He got up and tagged along with us.

"Whose car are we taking?" I asked.

"We can take mine," Dan said.

So we did.

The police chief led us to a stack of my paintings and a box of my mom's china.

"My paintings!" I said, grabbed the top one and hugging it to my chest.

"Thank you so much!" I said to the police chief.

"No problem, miss."

We picked up armfuls of the paintings and started to go to the car.

"Wait, Mr. Howell, I need to have a word with you,…privately."

Phil and I stopped and turned to Dan.

"Uhhhh, okay..." he said, handing Phil the paintings he was holding.

He followed the police chief to his office. I just stood there watching.

"Evelyn." I turned to Phil. "Let's bring your things to the flat and then we'll come back and get Dan."

"Umm…okay."

****************Dan's point of view***************

"Are you miss Thomas' boyfriend?"

"Yeah, yeah I guess so."

"Do you own a gun or any kind of weaponry?"

"Well…no. Why?"

"We got back miss Thomas' things, but the burglar, whose real name is Bill Jeeves, escaped into a forest. Our officers searched all night, but they couldn't find him."

"Oh no…oh, no…"

"He's robbed people before, and then he leaves and finds a new job under a false identity. He always threatens that if the victim tells the police, he will go back and kill them."

"Yeah, Evelyn told me that he told her that."

"Well, unfortunately, he does go back for them, but so far he's been unable to actually kill anyone. But he did threaten miss Thomas, so we are loaning you this…"

He pulled out a briefcase from under the desk and put it in front of me. He opened it, revealing a small handgun.

I leaped up, stunned.

"Seriously?" I asked. "You want me to…?"

"It's just a precaution, just in case he comes back for her. Now, where is she staying at the moment?"

"With me, until she moves into her new apartment."

"Okay, that's good, so I'm presuming he doesn't know where she is, but keep the gun handy until we catch him."

"I don't…I've never had a gun before."

"Okay, here's how you use it."

He showed me how to shoot and gave me some aiming advice.

"It has quite a bit of kickback, so be careful. Don't hold it too close to you when you fire."

"Are you going to tell her he escaped?"

"Yes, as soon as she comes back here to get you, I'm going to tell her."

"Do you have to?"

"Yes, I do. Last night she was very distraught, so I wanted to tell you first so can help calm her down."

"Can you…not tell her about the gun? I'm not sure how she'd take it. I think it would make it all too real for her. And she might want me to get rid of it."

He thought about it for a long time.

"I'll keep it with me always, and I'll stay by her side until you catch him! Please?"

"I guess so…" he said.

I sighed, relieved. I closed the suitcase and put it on the side of the desk so Evelyn wouldn't see it when she came in.