Chapter 28
I woke with a start when I heard heavy shuffling beside me. I looked up and saw Javert towering over me, dusting off the dead grass and dirt from his uniform with his large brown hands. I rose to help him, but he brushed me off. Irked, I slapped the dust off his back. He glared at me, but I glared back, and muttered that I had effectively cleaned his back off, so all he did was growl, stretch and walk up to the dirt road.
"There is so much dirt in this town," he muttered.
"We aren't in a city, sir. We're practically in the countryside. It's not like they can help it, you know."
Javert scoffed, rolled and cracked his neck and began walking to the market. I followed silently for a while, sighing to myself. It was getting harder to talk to him, as though he just shut me out, more so than even before. It wasn't fair to me, but more importantly it wasn't fair to him. I could tell he needed someone to talk to, and it upset me that he didn't believe he had that luxury.
The entire day was horribly uneventful, and the awkward silence between me and Javert was hardly ever broken. It was becoming nauseatingly difficult keeping around him. Finally the evening came and we found the mayor's house. Javert knocked on the door.
"Please try and be courteous and remember your table etiquette, Lieutenant," said my superior. I gave him a look.
"Yes, sir," I muttered, not in the mood to defy him tonight. He raised his eyebrow at me but we both looked ahead when the footsteps of the heavyset mayor were heard and we only had to wait a moment longer before he opened the door, a large grin on his face.
"Welcome, welcome!" he said jovially, ushering us inside. We smiled dutifully as he led us to the dinner table, chatting on about nothing in particular, showing us his house, which I must say was huge. They had a living room, a dining room, a kitchen. He pointed to the bathroom and told us the bedrooms were down the hall, one for him and his wife, one for his son, and a guest room. It was amazing. A mansion.
We were quickly seated and the wife presented us with our meal. Javert and I were quiet while the mayor said Grace, knowing that however they operated in their house was what we would follow and we would be respectful. We were halfway through our supper, the mayor and Javert speaking about the jail and the mayor's wife trying to start me into a very strange conversation about weddings and babies, which I tried very hard to stealthily get out of, when all of a sudden a loud slam came from the front door.
"Mother, Father, I'm home!" called a distinctly male voice. We all turned as a young man entered, and gasped when his eyes fell on the scene. "Do excuse me, I was running late and completely forgot about our guests! Do forgive me," he implored, looking at Javert, who was obviously trying to hide the fact he was quite unimpressed.
"Not at all," he said. The young man smiled and introduced himself as Eric. He had dazzling green eyes and pitch black hair. His father told him to sit and join the table, which he did. He sat closest to me, and gave me a pearly-toothed smile, which I returned.
"Oh, Inspector!" The mayor's exclamation made us all look at him, and then Javert. "You were injured, weren't you? In the bar fight?"
Javert's ears pinkened. "I really wasn't―"
"Nonsense, this isn't a matter of pride. The man really got you. Not your fault, you were caught by surprise."
Javert cleared his throat, frowning.
"My son's a doctor, see? He can help you out."
Javert raised an eyebrow at Eric, who nodded and smiled.
Hey this is a short chapter because I want to get it out now. Sorry for the extended hiatus. Everything's looking up right now.
