Hey guys. Sorry it's been so long. I have all honors classes and it's bogged me down.
The car purred as Arthur pulled up to the concrete curb and parked. Stepping out, he felt his jaw drop at the masses of people milling around in front of the apartment complex. Emily Johnson, his next-door apartment neighbor, was off to the side of the parking lot in front. People were getting into their cars as he walked over to her, but she paced around her car. He tapped her shoulder and as she turned around, he took note of her worried look.
"Hey, Emily, what's going on? Why are we all out here?" Arthur could spot a few friends in the crowd. Emily pulled him off to the side, behind her compact blue car.
"The landlord, you know, Jacob, has said that there has been a gas leak and we'll have to stay away for an indeterminate amount of time." She nodded her head as she talked, blond hair swishing along her shoulders. Before she opened her car door, she tapped her chin as if considering something.
Pulling a large, cream-furred cat from her car, she smiled blindingly at Arthur. "Do ya think you could watch Hero for me? He's my baby, and I don't want him in a kennel, because the hotel I'm in doesn't accept pets." The fluffy cat meowed and snuggled into Emily's embrace.
Arthur nodded his conformation, taking the large cat from Emily, who meowed in protest and lashed his paw. Arthur nearly dropped the cat, and he held up as Emily smiled delightfully. She went over to her car to get Hero's food and as she dragged the food, she began to list things. By the time she had dragged everything the cat needed, Arthur practically had the cat's biography.
Gently putting the meowing cat in the backseat, Arthur pulled out his phone and called Francis, the first person who came to mind of where they could stay. When Francis answered, their conversation went like this.
"Hello, Francis." Arthur said calmly.
"Hello, Arthur? How are you doing? Did you need something?" Francis called.
"Yes, actually. I was wondering if I could stay at your place. My apartment complex had a gas leak, and so I'm out of a place, but my neighbor, Emily, gave me her cat to take care of. Plus, once Alfred's out of the hospital, he'll need to stay too."
Francis laughed. "It's OK, Arthur, I don't mind. I love cats." With relief, Arthur sighed.
"Thanks Francis. See you soon."
"Bye."
Once the call was over, Arthur started the car and began the drive to Francis's place. He turned up the music playing and hummed along to it as the cat slept in the backseat of the car. Once he had pulled up into the parking lot of Francis's apartment, he slowly pulled the cat from the backseat. It didn't even twitch in it's sleep as he closed the door and started towards Francis, who stood at his apartment door.
"Here's the cat." Arthur told Francis, handing the fluffy cream cat over to him, before going to his car and dragging the cat's stuff into the apartment. Once everything was in Francis's apartment, including Arthur's laptop, he opened it and waved Francis over.
"So we need to figure out why they attacked Alfred and kidnapped Matthew, Francis." Arthur said as his laptop booted up. Most of my notes on are this laptop, so it should be easy to figure out..." He trailed off as he noticed the screen changing between blue and black, and the smoke coming off the bottom. "No! How could this happen!" Arthur groaned.
Francis pat his back. "It'll be fine, we'll just need to use my notes. I guess before they kidnapped Matthew, they messed up your laptop so that we couldn't figure out how to get him back before they, well killed him." Arthur flinched at Francis's blatant blurt-out, before grabbing the notebook from his hands.
"Okay, so we have had Feliciano Vargas, Laura and Lars, Eduard, Natalya, Gilbert, and maybe someone else get killed by this murderer. We have to catch them before this turns into an even bigger bloodbath." Francis nodded in agreement, then reached down and pet the cat that had walked up close to his leg. It began to purr and Arthur also reached down and pet it's back.
"I'm going to go feed it." Arthur told Francis, who nodded. Later that night, after dinner and a night full of notes, Arthur drowsily settled on the couch and said goodnight to Francis, who was heading down to his room.
"Yes, goodnight, Arthur." Before Arthur fell asleep, he found himself wondering what would happen when they found the killer. If they found the killer, that was. The search was, so far, not going very well at all.
When he woke up in the morning, he opened his sleepy eyes and spotted, and heard, Francis humming in the kitchen. He could smell eggs and toast. As he went down to the bathroom, he mumbled a hello to his partner. Francis said, "You just woke in time, Arthur! The hospital called you and said Alfred would be ready to come home in about two days!"
Suddenly wide awake, Arthur nodded his head happily and then went to the bathroom to dress. When he got out, Francis was placing two plates at the table. Before he sat down, the cat pawed at his leg. He pat it on the head and then emptied some food into it's bowl.
Sitting down finally, Arthur began to eat slowly, looking around the room. He hadn't really looked around last night, and now he had the opportunity to. The crisp white kitchen tiles gleamed below him and the dark walls had pictures hung on them that showed Francis's family as he grew up. He recognized his mother from when she had showed up at Francis's office one day while they were discussing a case. With a final smile, Arthur finished his food and motioned at France. It was time to work.
But really guys, I'm so so sorry! It probably won't be as long for the seventh chapter, but it might be, so don't hold your breath.
8/29/2015
11:44 am
