CHAPTER 12: Sorting This Mess Out

"So," Amy said to her three employees as everyone sat down around her desk, "any ideas? We've got a murder in the house, we have no clue how people will react to it, we're not even sure if we can reopen for a while." They were meeting in the restaurant, of course, but they were in the back, in Amy's office, away from the prying eyes of customers.

"Well, we could always just try to take care of the paperwork in the meantime," suggested Graham, a dark green salamander wearing all black.

"Yeah, no joke," said Katie, a white puma with a white T-shirt and a Southern accent. "No one ever seems to pay it any attention around here."

"I took care of it already," Amy said. "I get it as it comes in. Makes the job easier."

"Oh," said Graham.

"Any thoughts, Lance?" Amy addressed a short gray rabbit with 3 teeth in his head. He was a bit retarded, but he did a good job unloading supplies. He was wearing gray sweatpants and a gray sweatshirt, despite the summer not yet being over.

"Poor lady," he mumbled. Evidently the murder was still on his mind. Everyone could see it in his eyes.

"We all feel the same way Lance," said Katie. "We're trying to sort out the aftermath of the murder, though. Could you get your mind on that please?"

"Uh..." Lance hadn't understood the word aftermath. He thought Katie had meant numbers, and his mind immediately went blank.

"Well, he does a good job lifting," Amy said, "but that's about where he stops doing a good job. I hate to say this, but I sometimes wonder how he managed to fill out the job application." Lance cocked his head to one side, not really knowing what Amy had meant.

"Oh, almost forgot!" Graham produced a sheet of paper as if from nowhere. That was one of his talents, and he always seemed to have a spoon on hand whenever a customer needed one. "Got this application the other day. Good thing you mentioned it or I would've forgotten entirely." Amy took the paper and looked it over for a second.

"Huh," she said. "Speak of the devil. I know him. Didn't know he was old enough to apply for a job. Thought you had to be 15..." The application had Tails's name at the top.

"You gonna do a favor for a friend?" Katie asked jokingly.

"I might," Amy said. "He's a good guy, but he'd be better off doing more technical work. He means well, but I really can't see him in a kitchen." Outside, some maniac in a car gunned it, including the exhaust. The shot-like sound made everyone jump. The first one to say anything was Lance.

"THAT THING SOUNDED LIKE A SHOTGUN BLAST BANG BAAAAAAAAAANG!" he yelled out randomly.

"That would be what I'd expect Tails to do, would be to fix problems like that," Amy said. "I can easily see him as a full-time mechanic."

"Tails?" Graham asked. "Is that his real name?"

"No," Amy shook her head again. "That's his nickname. Its meaning isn't exactly subtle, either." Grinning, she added, "He HATES his real name."

"Oh," Graham said.

"Two and two are four!" Lance suddenly cried out. Everyone looked at him.

"What in the?" Katie asked.

"He must've been spending this whole time thinking about math," Graham sniggered. "But we ARE a bit off the subject, aren't we?"

"Yeah, we are," Amy and Katie agreed. Lance was pretty much braindead again.

"So, did the cops ever identify the body?" Amy said, not really wanting to touch on the subject again. Katie shook her head.

"I heard they were gonna have to do some DNA tests to figure it out," Graham said. "Something about plastic surgery, I guess. HEY, Lance-!" He reached over and snatched a pen away from Lance, who apparently felt like he needed something to gnaw on. Neither Amy nor Katie had to resist laughing, as the murder was still weighing too heavily on their minds.

"So, who did it, any idea?" Katie said.

"Actually, yes," Amy said. "Wait till you hear this, it's incredible. The problem with it is, it's true."

"Whoa, hold the phone," Graham's eyes were wide. "You had a robot trying to murder you just like the woman in the booth?"

"Yeah, that's about right," Amy said, "except that it wanted to blow my head off instead of blow me in half. Like I said, if not for that rock I almost tripped over, I would probably be dead."

"Poor Amy," Lance said dully. Without warning, he jumped up, threw himself at Amy, and hugged her. She was caught off guard and very surprised, but she didn't push him off. That was just how he was. If he was glad someone was okay, he hugged them. If someone insulted him and he figured out what they meant, he slugged them. Being that he did all the lifting around the restaurant, Amy guessed he had a pretty solid swing and tried to keep him too busy to think about what people were saying.

"Graham, quick! Kodak moment!" Katie was jumping up and down and holding out her hand toward Graham, who just shook his head with a grin.

"Um, Lance?" Amy said sweetly. "I'm glad I'm okay too, but would you please let go?"

"Sorry," Lance said apologetically. A genuine apology, that was a first! It wasn't just courtesy! Up on the ceiling above them, unknown to all but Amy, Espio was lurking. He had just pulled out a kunai and had nearly thrown it through Lance's skull, because of his sudden move and throwing himself at Amy. He'd stopped when he saw it was just a hug.

"It's all right-" was all Amy had time to say before her office door opened. A cop stuck his head in. It was the same red fox who'd tried to stop Amy from seeing the body just days before.

"'Scuse me," he said, "just wanted to pass along a message. We're pretty much done in here. We've got enough pictures and things from the crime scene to go by. Once we get the place cleaned up for you, you can pretty much go back to your usual business. Who knows, maybe the publicity will help business."

"Thanks," Amy said. The cop left, closing the door behind him.

"So much for the spare time we'd have," Katie said. Graham nodded in agreement, and Lance stared right ahead, off in his own little world.

"At the moment," Amy said, "I'd suggest you all go home and get into your work clothes. Once the cops get done, we're gonna reopen. In the meantime, I'll see about setting up an interview." She motioned to the job application in case they thought she meant an interview with some bastard from the press. "That means you, Lance." Lance snapped out of his trance, nodded, and left the office. He seemed to know what Amy had said, because he immediately left the restaurant and walked off in the direction of his house. Katie and Graham did the same, except they drove instead of walking. Amy sighed when they'd left. "Espio, what's it like not knowing when you'll have something to do, and not knowing what it'll be?"

"It's very dull sometimes, but less stressful," was Espio's reply. "At least Charmy and Vector make things a bit more interesting."

Charmy scowled at Vector, who was just sitting behind the desk watching him. Charmy had a pencil in one hand and some papers on the desk in front of him: Vector had FINALLY forced him to enroll in school. Looking up to scowl again, Charmy saw Vector watching him with a shotgun in his hands. He looked down, then it hit him what he'd seen and looked up again. Vector had his feet up on the desk and was banging his head to a song on his walkman.
"But from what I've seen," Espio went on, "you've just had the same thing happen. You didn't know this would happen, but it did. Least it was a break from your usual routine. In your case, it was a blessing in disguise. From how hyped up you were about dating that guy Sonic, I would guess that you've never dated him before no matter how much you asked."

"I guess you're right," Amy said dully.

Well, slightly interesting chapter, wasn't it? A slgithly retarded guy named Lance, a salamander named Graham who could probably make a good thief, and a puma named Katie with a Southern accent and a temperament not unlike Amy's. Even better, my favorite Vector/Charmy scene so far. Enjoy. R&R please.