The Savior of Oxford Street
Chapter 2: Lonely Times
Chief Inspector Ludwig Beilschmidt hadn't slept properly in two months. And when he did finally get a few winks of shut eye his sleep was disturbed by visions of Feliciano being dragged away from him by a masked figure head to toe in black. The Italian would be screaming and crying out Ludwig's name over and over, while Ludwig would run to his aid but his legs would not let him move any faster. Next he would wake up, whether he slept face down on his desk or in the comforts of his bed he always awoke with that cold heavy feeling in his heart and feeling of not having slept at all.
Today was February 12th, two months since Inspector Kirkland and Sergeant Vargas were taken and the Chief Inspector had worked none-stop chasing down every lead he could or any case past or present that might give him the slightest clue to finding his two missing colleagues but every time he hit a dead end.
"You're going to kill yourself by the amount of work you do" His brother Gilbert always told him whenever Ludwig came home from the office. "One of my ol' buddies, Kiku was telling me that in Japan they have a word called 'karoshi' which meaning dying of overwork, that could be you one day"
Ludwig appreciated his older brothers concerns however he ignored him, he had to work or he would be driven mad by guilt and worry. He was beating himself over it enough, it was him who sent Feli and Arthur on that case, and maybe if he had been there they wouldn't be in this situation.
No one blamed the Chief Inspector however, Sergeant Toris Laurinaitis had been the most helpful making sure he drank his water and coffee and staying by his side on every case and it was a shame that Jia Long and Yi Ling had been transferred after the incident so the office felt strangely quiet but the German was quite sure that was going to change at some point.
He was going to get a newly graduated officer on his team, and that man was the adopted brother Arthur Kirkland, Alfred F Jones.
Ludwig wanted to get to office earlier that day, he wanted to make a good first impression for their newest edition and the fact that Jones was joining today was perfect timing because Ludwig already had a new lead on Kirkland's disappearance. Hard work always pays off after all.
After a quick shower and breakfast he wondered what this Alfred F Jones was like. Arthur had spoken a lot about his brother but Ludwig was not the best at listening however going by Jones report he was only 22 and graduated at the top of his class. He had been transferred from America to England ten years ago with his twin brother Matthew Williams, and had been raised by Arthur and his three older brothers ever since.
After a 10 minute walk in the cold but refreshing morning air Ludwig got to New Scotland Yard and took the lift up to his office only passing a few friends along the way. Once he got to his office he was surprised to see Toris already there smiling and laughing leaning on one of the desks with a man that Ludwig had never seen before. The stranger was tall and buff but defiantly not fat; he had short blond hair and was wearing a brown bomber jacket over his police uniform. It was only when the door swung shut behind Ludwig did the tall man turn to face him in surprise, the laughter already drained from his face and it was only then did Ludwig recognize him.
"Alfred F Jones?" Ludwig asked, he recognized his face from the profile picture but the American was better looking in person and did not have the face of whose beloved brother had not long been kidnaped.
"Yes sir!" Jones straightened up and saluted to his new boss "Officer Alfred F Jones but Alfred will do!"
"I will call you by what is appropriate Officer Jones" Ludwig answered, not really impressed so far. He knew that he shouldn't be so quick to make assumptions but already the German could see that Alfred was going to be very different from his brother.
"No problem Chief Inspector Beilschmidt!" Alfred laughed, loudly and Ludwig meant loudly, his laugh seemed to be forced if not exaggerated and it rang in the Chief Inspectors ears like broken stereo.
"Ok ok" Ludwig waved him off, maybe the boy was just nervous and that why he was being so loud. "I can see you are already familiar with Sergeant Laurinaitis"
The sergeant smiled shyly an answered with a shrug. "I have met Officer Jones a few times when Inspector Kirkland used to invite me for dinner" Alfred laughed loudly and clapped the Lithuanian on the back before responding.
"If you keep using our full titles in sentences an innocent victim could get shot before you make your point!" Ludwig and neither did Toris find this funny however they held their tongues for now.
"You will be working under me for now, if you need help or if you have questions you only need to ask me or any of the other members in this squad" Ludwig said, Alfred nodded eagerly but then blinked in confusion.
"A bit short staff aren't you?" Alfred asked taking note on how empty it was.
"I like to keep my groups as small as possible" Ludwig answered "there is only five of us me, Sergeant Laurinaitis, Yao Wang, Roderich Edelstein and now you, there would normally be seven of us but with the disappearance of your brother and Vargas it's been difficult"
Alfred's face grew solemn at the mention of his brother and nodded in understanding "Don't worry sir, my brother was great investigator though we are not related blood and learnt a lot from him over the years and if anyone is going to find him it will be me!"
"You really looked up to your brother didn't you Alfred" Toris smiled,
"Well I wouldn't say that" Alfred shrugged sulkily "He was a grumpy old stick in the mud most of the time"
"Then you don't mind joining me on your first investigation?" Ludwig asked and Alfred grew excited by the offer, the German could see the boy's face brighten up as fast as a lightbulb.
"Don't mind? I would love to! What's our first case, have you got a lead on my brothers kidnapers?" It was like seeing a child getting an early Christmas present.
"We keep losing the trail of your brother's kidnapers however there was man, possibly a drug dealer hanging around the shop where your brother was taken"
"That's nothing strange" Alfred interrupted, the expression on his face was one of disappointment "Maybe he likes that sport's shop or that area, it's Oxford Street so a lot of people hang around there"
"True" Ludwig nodded "However we have CTV evidence making himself a business by selling illegal drugs around London however when he goes to that that stop he just sits by the back door smocking, going on his phone or sitting there bored. He is causing a disturbance for the shop owners and the employees, it's a long straw but maybe he has a connection to what happened that night on December 10th".
"Understood sir" Alfred saluted again. They were to meant to see the dealer, whose name was Francis Bonnefoy, at 12 o clock in the afternoon so Ludwig had plenty of time to show Alfred around the building and give him the list (more like book) of rules to follow.
Soon enough Sergeants Yao Wang and Roderich Edelstein entered and Alfred was able to introduce himself and make friends with the rest of the squad. Ludwig was happy, the boy had a very easy going and had a friendly nature that made him likable, even the stuck up Roderich was able to crack a smile.
Soon enough everyone was settled getting on with work while they left Alfred to try and read Ludwig's books of rules, 'try' being the key word here.
Alfred already knew some of these rules by what he learnt from the police academy and others just sounded like that it was just the Chief Inspector being paranoid. Alfred didn't care about any of this, he wanted to get out and interview Bonnefoy. Though he had to admit he liked having his own desk, Toris said that it belonged to Arthur and that made Alfred even happier though it was little saddening to see this desk empty when it should have been clustered by papers and photos of his brothers cases.
However Alfred was not someone to be put down easily, even Ludwig's imitating book of rules could not put a damper on his mood
Finally, after two hours later Ludwig came over to Alfred who had finished skimming the book. It was already half eleven and Alfred knew that it now time to pay a visit to Francis Bonnefoy.
Xxx
Francis Bonnefoy only lived twenty minutes from the station by car, by the time they parked outside the scruffy block of apartments they were ten minutes early but Ludwig said that didn't matter, it was better to be too early than at least a minute late.
The apartment block was small, only five floors high with a small garden at the front which was only a small patch of grass and dead flowers. The garbage bins that sat outside the fence were due to be emptied and there was the lingering smell of weed and decay that made Ludwig's nose twitch.
"Let's get this over with" The German sighed leading the way towards block of flats with the excitable American at his heals.
The pair made their way inside and were welcomed by a small plain reception room where they saw the landlord, however Ludwig thought that he looked a bit too young for the job. The young man behind the desk could be no older than twenty, he had choppy blond chin-length hair and green eyes but they were no near as bright as Arthurs were.
The young man looked up from his phone at the police officers with cold eyes and a deep frown on his face.
"Look I have threatened my residence that I would kick them out if they cause more disturbance and so far it been quite, there is no reason for you to be here!" The landlord sounded foreign but neither officer could put a figure to which accent it was, however it was no doubt that the kid was used to dealing with police and was probably pretty sick of it by now.
"Apologies sir, I suppose Francis Bonnefoy hasn't told you that he expecting us" the Chief Inspector announced before taking out his ID, Alfred did the same however the landlord looked puzzled as his eyebrows narrowed further.
"What would a Chief Inspector be doing here?" the blonde asked looking at the pair and their ID's with even more suspicion "don't you normally leave the leg work to your lackeys?"
The two police officers put their badges away and instead of answering the German demanded that the Landlord show them Bonnefoys room and to warn the Frenchman that they were here. The Landlord's name was Basch Zwingli and came from Switzerland and was only here helping out at the flats until his Grandfather got better.
Basch was obviously bitter and not at all pleased about working in the flats, or living in the country in general and as the lead them up the stairs he continued to complain about how much his little sister must miss him and how bad he felt about leaving her. Not even Alfred's sense of humor and cheerful nature could make the Swiss crack a smile, in fact it only made Basch even more bitter and hot-tempered than before.
The Frenchman lived on the third floor in room 3.01, Basch knocked on the door loudly and shouted.
"Hey French bastard, open up!" he shouted "the police are here to see you!"
There was a sound of glass mashing and then slow footsteps coming from behind the door "Oi, oi be patient my angry friend" A smooth French accent shouted from behind the door and suddenly it was open.
"Bonjour, what a fine afternoon this is…"
Wow I didn't think this story would reach 1 follower let alone 9! And thank you so much for the reviews, they have been very helpful and I hope people continue to enjoy it. Sorry that this chapter was late out though but I will try to update more regularly.