Chapter Two
The next day things had changes to a lighter note of sorts. The sun was up and shining brightly, so much that both agents had sunglasses on and the air conditioning cooled the summer heat.
"Ok, how about some road games? I spy with my little eye something…" Hobbes suggested as they drove towards Nevada in the brown van used on agency cases. It wasn't exactly the most comfortable vehicle in the world, but it worked for their purposes of travelling to various states and crime scenes.
Darien turned slightly towards his friend sitting in the driver's seat and shot him a skeptical look, interrupting the game. "Have you lost your mind, Hobbes?"
"Come on, Fawkes. Don't you ever like to have fun?"
"Yeah, but playing car games isn't exactly my idea of fun." He turned back towards the road and let his eyes follow the yellow line in the middle, running a hand through his spiky hair.
Hobbes shook his head. "You are no fun, my friend."
"We're not here to have fun."
"Good point," Hobbes agreed. "However, just because we're investigating the murder of a woman does not mean we have to be grouchy."
After Darien raised an eyebrow at his friend's unintentionally comical comment, there was a moment of silence. Finally unable to take it, he reached forward and turned on some music. All of a sudden the junky brown van was filled with the sound of drums and guitars, and then Metallica's blazing lyrics. Satisfied, he leaned back and silently bobbed his head to the music.
Hobbes gave him a look of disgust. "You listen to this crap?"
Darien turned to him, and asked, "Why? What do you listen to? Or do I even want to know?"
Instead of answering him, Bobby leaned forward and turned the dial until the sounds of Metallica were completely gone and Barry Manilow filled the van. A pleased look covered his face, and the opposite reaction occurred on Darien.
"You've got to be kidding."
"What? This is great stuff- the classics!"
"This is going to be a long trip," Fawkes groaned, covering his face with his hand.
~*~*~
After another hour, the duo arrived in Nevada, and soon afterwards the small town of Hafen. The Official had been right- the town was incredibly small. As the van slowed and finally stopped, Darien hopped out and took a quick look around. The whole place was filled with green scenery- grass everywhere, trees, bushes, and anything else green. Added to the perfectly blue sky, Darien felt as though he was in an old television show of sorts. They had parked on the outskirts of town, and ahead of the duo lay a clump of houses, maybe ten or eleven at most, the others were a little further back. Between two houses was a small Catholic Church with a cross at the peak of the roof, and that was basically all the town consisted of.
"Wow. Talk about your eccentric places," a voice pointed out behind him.
"You're telling me, Bobby. There's like three stores here, a handful of houses, and that's it. And how come no one's around?" The whole place seemed strange to him, and apparently Bobby as well. He felt a shiver run up his spine, and he eyed the place warily. He pushed his sunglasses a little further up the bridge of his nose as the sun began to seep into his eye sight.
"I have no idea. Let's go find some locals and find out."
They walked about twenty steps before arriving at a brown, brick building with a sign out front, 'General Store'. It was a small building, maybe twice Bobby's size in height, and a little longer than the height. Hobbes grinned to himself and walked in, amazed at how small the place was.
They both stopped short when they saw the tiny store was completely void of people. The entire store was about the size of two 7-11's combined, forcing the pair to wonder how many people had to live in the town for the only store to be so small. The store only had a few shelves worth of food, but it was apparently sufficient because there was enough food left over, instead of a shortage as one might have expected.
Hobbes pulled off his sunglasses and walked around a little bit before coming behind the counter to take a quick look.
"Nothing out of the ordinary," he observed aloud. He stood still for a minutes, trying to figure out what exactly was going on, rubbing his forehead in confusion. Then he heard some voices from behind the wall.
"Hey, Fawkes- you hear that?"
Darien looked up from the Funyons he had been eyeing in distraction and his sight shifted to his bald-headed partner. "Hear what?"
"Shh…" He stood next to the wall as voices became clearer.
"…crazy, okay?" The voice belonged to a young woman, or so it sounded to Bobby. He scooted his ear closer to the white wall and motioned for Darien to join him.
"I don't care. If we say something, he'll probably kill us." This time it was a deep-voiced man speaking. He was much calmer than the hysterical woman that spoke previously. "I know you wouldn't want Chelsea to get hurt. Right?"
"No, but…" she sounded defeated.
"Good. Then he stays in town until he gets whatever it is he's waiting for."
Then a crowd of people began talking at once and Darien and Bobby could hear the squeal of chairs moving against the obvious tiled floor.
"They're coming back," Darien muttered, and pulled his partner away from the wall. "Come on."
They stood up and hurried towards the front of the store, each picking up a small bag of chips and trying to look inconspicuous.
"So, what do you think? Fritos or Doritos?" Darien held up a 25-cent bag of each in his hands.
"Uh… I think… Doritos. Yeah. Is that ok with you?" Bobby turned his eyes to the left a little and with his peripheral vision he saw the owner walk in. He was a relatively old man with a full head of gray hair and was about as short as Hobbes, if not shorter. He was dressed in khaki pants, a black t-shirt and a red apron over the ensemble with the store name on the front, and a name tag pinned to the apron. Fred.
"Hi, there, boys. Can I get you anything?" Fred had a grin on his face as he walked behind the counter.
"We're, uh, just deciding now." Fawkes said and turned back towards the chips, pretending to decide between to bags. He turned to Hobbes and whispered, "Ok, you want to try the direct approach, or the less visible one?"
"I vote for the invisible one," Bobby decided in an equally hushed whisper. "We don't want anyone to get suspicious of our asking questions."
"Ok then, let's get some snacks and find somewhere to stay, alright?" Darien scratched his forehead and grabbed some chips.
As he threw the food on the counter, Fred rang them up. "So you boys are new here. What in the world would bring you here? The murder? I mean, it has to be- nobody else comes to Hafen for the heck of it."
"Well, actually… me and my friend here are just.. on a road trip," Darien lied fairly casually.
"Oh, that's fun." He bagged the food and and took the cash from Darien's outstretched hand. After he gave him the change, his voice lowered. "Just be careful. You don't want to get too involved in Hafen's affairs. It may get you in some trouble."
"Thanks for the warning, we'll remember that," Darien said and dismissed the sentence, moving on. "Actually, I was wondering if there's any place we can stay overnight in town?"
"Well… There's not really a hotel- like I said, this isn't exactly a popular vacation spot." Fred paused before continuing. "However, Miss Lucy down the street will probably be glad for the company." He picked up the phone in front of him. "I'll just call and make the arrangements."