Ch.43: Espio's Suspicions
Early the next day, Espio snored in the office at his desk. He still had his head on the newspaper, considering that he couldn't stop reading it all night. So he must've dozed off sometime ago. As the door opened slowly, Vector and Mighty tip-toed in quietly as they snickered. Successfully, they reached up to Espio's desk. Lucia and Charmy giggled as they watched. Then Vector shushed them. Anxiously, Might reached to tap on Espio's shoulder. Closer and closer, he was reaching to the chameleon's right shoulder. But before that could've happened…
"KIYA!" Espio suddenly woke up and tackled Mighty down to the floor.
"Holy crap, it's only me!" Mighty yelled, who was about to freak out.
"Huh?" Espio opened his sleepy eyes. "Sorry", he got off of Mighty and brushed the dust off of his clothes. "What time is it?"
"It's 9:55 a.m., my friend", Vector looked at his watch.
"Are you ok?" Lucia asked as she walked to Espio.
"Yeah, I am", the chameleon rubbed his eyes. "Must've dozed off last night while I was reading the newspaper."
"What did it say?"
"Here", Espio ran back to the desk, took the paper, and handed it to Lucia.
Everyone got quiet as Lucia scanned the two pages that Espio read last night. A sudden gasp came out of her mouth. She saw a picture of Grim. She had a feeling that he was still on the loose. Then again, she hasn't left the house at all after she left the hospital. Now, she was worried. What if he comes back to kill her and Ana? After she had that question in thought, she gulped.
"It's ok", Espio said calmly. "Besides, I gotta take this to Amy", he took the paper away from Lucia politely.
"You wanna go to Emerald Hotel?" Vector asked as he held up his car keys.
"Yeah", Espio nodded. "Mighty, watch Lucia, Ana, and Charmy for us."
"Ok", the armadillo saluted.
"Hey, wait a minute!" the bumble bee pouted impatiently. "Why can't I go!?"
"Because you're Mighty's back up", Espio explained. "Don't worry, I'll tell Amy that you said hi."
"Hmph", Charmy muffled as he crossed his arms and looked away.
"We'll be back later, ok?" Vector waved.
"Come back safely", Lucia nodded.
"We will", Espio folded the newspaper into a sort of small square. "Let's go", he dashed out of the room.
"Right behind ya!" Vector followed excitedly.
Inside Amy's hotel room, Cream woke up. She yawned as she sat up from the couch. Through the whole night, she has been alone watching TV and doing her homework. But she hasn't heard from Amy since last night. She began to get a little worried. Where did Amy and Shadow go after their date? Before she could've asked around, she decided to check inside of Amy's 'secret room' that only Amy was allowed in. Slowly, she opened the door. At that moment, she gasped. She actually saw Shadow and Amy in bed together! However, they were still in their clothes and shoes on, so they probably didn't 'do it' last night. Shadow had his arms around Amy's waist as she had her head on his chest. Due to the cuteness, Cream began to giggle. After that, she started laughing hardly. By the sound of her laughter, the two hedgehogs awaken. They rubbed their eyes and then looked at the laughing rabbit.
"Had a good time last night?" Cream winked slyly.
"Oh, my god!" Shadow gasped embarrassingly and accidentally fell off of the bed roughly. "Oww", he groaned in pain.
"Um, Cream, hey", Amy swift her eyes side to side, with a VERY red blush on her face. "You didn't think that we…you know…right?"
"Right, right", Cream winked again, crossing her arms.
"So um…Want some breakfast?" Amy asked just to change the subject.
"Ok", Cream nodded with joy. "Besides, the hotel always gives us free breakfast on the weekends anyway."
"Cool", Amy nodded. "You wanna come, Shad?" she looked at the black hedgehog, who was rubbing his back in pain.
"Yeah, yeah, ok", Shadow hissed a little, since he kind of fell on his back too hardly. "Oww…"
Minutes later, Espio and Vector reached up to the front of Emerald Hotel. The chameleon got out of the car and rushed inside. Since Vector didn't feel like getting up, he decides to turn on the radio so he could find something good to listen to. After Espio came inside, he looked around. He was about to go to the elevator until he noticed something. He saw Amy, Cream, and Shadow sitting at a table further away from everyone else eating some breakfast. Decidedly, he walks to the table quietly.
"I'm so sorry about you're friend", Shadow said to Cream after she told her sad story. "And about your mom."
"It's ok", Cream sighed and smiled a little. "At least they'll rest in peace."
"Yeah", Amy agreed and took a sip of her orange juice.
Suddenly, someone tap on her left shoulder. Amy looked back and saw Espio with his arms crossed. She knew what was going to happen. Yet again, he was going to ruin a sweet moment between her and Shadow. Before that could've happened Amy got out of her seat and turned to him.
"What's up?"
"Well, I thought that we would start focusing a little more", Espio said under his breath so Shadow wouldn't hear.
"Huh?" Amy blinked.
"Come here right quick", Espio took her hand and led her away form the table.
"I'll be back!" Amy called out for Shadow as she looked back.
"Ok…" Shadow blinked confusingly.
"That's Espio for ya", Cream giggled a little. "He's always guppy and gullible."
Seconds later, Espio led him and Amy to a buffet where Shadow and Cream could barely see them. Luckily, there wasn't a long line going on right now. Amy crossed her arms and tapped her foot, since she was getting impatient with Espio.
"Ok, what do you want?" she asked rudely.
"I got yesterday's paper", Espio unfolded it, ignoring her rudeness. "Look through pages 3 and 4." He handed Amy the wide and long newspaper.
Quickly, Amy scanned through page 3. She looked over at page 4 and saw a snapshot of Grim. She gasped in shock. Alas, there was a witness! Now they were getting into business. But however, did she have to leave Shadow and Cream alone so soon? She handed the paper back to Espio as he folded it back into a small square and tucked it back in his left pants pocket.
"Oh, my god", Amy said in awe.
"It said that the picture was taken by some guy named Jack Nickerson", Espio explained. "We might have to find out where he is and talk to him."
"You serious?" Amy asked.
"How about…tomorrow afternoon", Espio suggested.
"Um…we'll see", Amy crossed her arms.
"What?" Espio asked to see if Amy's ok.
"Don't chu wanna say goodbye to Cream first?" Amy scowled. "I mean, you barely have time to say hi to her."
"Alright, alright", the purple chameleon sighed.
Amy stomped back to the table as Espio followed by walking. Cream and Shadow were just finishing discussing about school. Before Cream continued, she stopped and looked at Amy and Espio. Shadow looked back to see that Amy was ok. The pink hedgehog nudged Espio so he could say goodbye to both of them.
"You doing ok, Cream?" Espio asked nicely.
"Yeah", Cream smiled. "Are you about to leave?"
"Yeah", Espio smiled a little. "But I'll talk to ya later, ok? Stay in school and stay away from drugs."
"Yes sir!" Cream saluted.
"Hmm", Shadow looked at his watch. "Oh, shoot, I gotta go", he quickly got out of his chair in a hurry.
"What's wrong?" Amy asked kindly.
"I forgot that I had to be at work today", Shadow explained. "It's the only way to get some bonus for my next paycheck."
"I understand", Amy smiled.
Just then, Shadow gave her a short cute kiss on her cheek. A red blush appeared on her cheeks as she smiled at him. Espio rolled his eyes; since he was 'still' thinking that she was wasting her time. After Shadow waved at Cream and she waved back, he turned to Espio. The chameleon looked at him oddly with a risen eyebrow.
"See you later", Shadow offered a hand.
"Yeah, whatever", Espio took it.
A small gasp came out of Espio's mouth. He began to feel something from Shadow. On the outside, he seemed like a nice guy, but on the inside…Something was different about him. He was surprised that Amy didn't see that. Behind Shadow's kind smile, he saw an evil smirk. Besides that, he saw some pure darkness circling around him imaginably. It looked like he was up to something. Espio began to have suspicions. Although, he did recall that look on Shadow's face when they were at the big football game when he explained that he chased Grim and found his gun. Suddenly, Espio felt a tight squeeze from Shadow's right palm. Before Shadow could've crabbed his hand tighter, Espio snatched his hand back to him. At that moment, Shadow walked away from everyone. Amy watched with worry. What was up with Shadow?
Espio took a good look at his left palm. He saw a blue bruise that reached up to his fingers. That wasn't a friendly handshake. Actually, that hurt like hell! Now Espio didn't like him more than ever. Thereafter, he began to wonder about Amy. Can he really believe that she was going to be ok with that guy? What if he turns around and does something horrible to her? For now, he had to stay focus on the investigation. On the hand, he had to set his thoughts straight. He hid his bruised hand in his pocket and cleared his throat. Amy turned her attention to him.
"What's wrong?"
"Nothing", Espio sort of lied. "I'll see you later", he walked away from her.
"Huh", Amy blinked twice. "What's up with him?"
Back with Vector, he was surfing through the radio so he could listen to some music. Nothing was on right now. He barely listened to a couple of his favorite songs, but soon every radio station went onto commercials. Except…for the country channel. He didn't want to listen to that kind of music, but he was getting really tired of commercials. Plus, he forgot to bring his CD's with him. Espio got in the passenger's seat as Vector turned to him. He took a look at his face. All he saw in Espio's eyes were suspicions, worried ness, and confusion, all together. Boringly, Vector tapped Espio on the shoulder. The chameleon woke up from his thoughts and turned to his comrade. Then he looked straight ahead.
"You alright?" Vector asked.
"…I have this feeling", Espio spoke softly. "However, I need to know if I'm thinking straight."
"So what do you wanna do?"
"I want you to take me somewhere. Just for a little while."
"Where at?" Vector turned on the ignition.
"…", Espio began to ponder for a moment. Then he snapped his fingers. He knew exactly where he wanted to go.
To be continued…
