Chapter 9: Darkness

Arnold sat in the living room chair that faced the door to their apartment. His eyes were halfway closed and he didn't know how much longer he could stay awake. But everytime he thought of drifting off to sleep, he thought of Helga still being out.

No, I've got to stay awake. Helga has a lot of questions to answer and I'm sick of her running away from me.

Lila's right, Helga has been acting very weird. Well, it's time Helga confronts her own behaviour.

The clock's hands had nearly struck one in the morning when Helga tumbled through the door.

Arnold narrowed his blue eyes at Helga. He stood up from the chair.

"Where have you been Helga?" he raked his eyes over her outfit and the light makeup on her face.

"Ugh! Are you still awake? I thought you'd be with Lila or something," she shrugged as she took off her coat and threw her purse on a chair.

"No, Helga! I couldn't go out with Lila, because I was worried about you."

Helga laughed bitterly, "Well, sooooorry to be a major cock block to you Arnoldo." She walked off to the kitchen to get herself a glass of water, Arnold followed behind her shaking his head.

"This isn't a joke Helga! There's been two major crimes in the past week, hostages were held at gunpoint downtown barely a few hours ago! It's not safe for you to be going out alone without telling anyone where you're going!"

"As if you never go out, Arnoldo!" she spat and took a sip of her water.

He crossed his arms. "I'm not a female, Helga. You know it's more dangerous for women. Quit being childish."

Helga slammed down her cup of water on the counter, nearly spilling it.

She was nearly shaking with anger, "Listen here Bucko! I go where I want to go, when I want to go and not you or Sid or anyone can tell me otherwise!"

Helga was so angry that she hadn't realized what she'd said though Arnold had not missed it.

"Did you just say Sid?"

Helga shrugged her shoulders and looked side to side. Her words slowly dawning on her. "Yeah? So what? He's around town isn't he..." Oh shit..

Arnold stared at her incredulously, "You were at Sid's weren't you?"

Helga shifted uncomfortably under his gaze, she wasn't used to Arnold staring at her for so long and so intently. "Yeah so what? Sid's around town, he's a police officer, why wouldn't I run into him? Geez make a big deal out of nothing!"

"It's one o'clock in the morning Helga! Why the hell would you be at Sid's place at this hour?" Arnold shook his head, he almost didn't want to believe he answer.

"It's not what you think Arnold!" she crossed her arms.

"Yeah, then what was it? Were you and Sid just reading bedtime stories together?! Do I look like an idiot, Helga!"

What does it even matter to him?! she thought desperately, He's with Lila! He never wanted me and I well I got over him a long time ago...though why do I care so much that he's looking at me with hurt and betrayal in his eyes.

"Sid and I were talking about the case!" she screeched but Arnold walked right past her and into the hallway.

"Of course! How could I forget? Sid's a police officer now and you're a fanatic about solving murders, of course you would be together! How stupid of me!"

"It's the truth, Arnold," Helga said numbly, "and I'm not sure why you even care!" She felt like crying but buried the tears deep inside her where no one, not even Arnold, could see them.

"Whatever, Helga. You're right about one thing, it is none of my business. Sorry I asked," he went to his room before slamming the door behind him.

Helga crumpled her face into her hands, pulling at her hair. 'How the hell did my life get so f***up so quickly when I haven't even done anything wrong?!'

~/~

In another part of town, in a remote alleyway, two shadowy figures met each other late at night. One was a rough looking man in a leather jacket and jeans, who wore his greasy black hair slicked back from his forehead. He had a stubby cigarette in his mouth which was slowly burning down into nothingness.

He sidled up to a large parked car that had its window rolled down only by a few centimetres.

Inside, unseen behind the dark tinted glass of the car, a voice spoke softly, "Did you get what I asked for?"

The man leaned closer into the window and tried to peer inside the car but couldn't see anything, which made him slightly uneasy, "Did you bring me my money?"

"Of course," the voice in the car replied, "But first hand over the documents."

The man smiled grimly and opened the lapel of his jacket to reveal a gun hidden in his pocket, "Uh-uh. I want my money first."

The person in the car did not sound frightened but replied steadily, "Fine, take your cash, it's in the trunk. Hurry."

The car's trunk popped open and the man stepped around to take out a large blue duffle bag. He opened the bag to peer in and his eyes widened at the sight of the fat bundles of 100 dollars bills. The bag weighed nearly 10 pounds in only paper cash.

"Leave the documents in the trunk," the voice spat.

The man took his time to stamp out the butt of his cigarette on the pavement before he lifted several filled black briefcases into the trunk.

The silence of the night was temporarily disturbed as he slammed the trunk shut with a grunt.

The person in the car rolled their window down by ever a sliver more before slipping their gloved hand out with a note in it.

"Consider this a thank you note for your services."

The man peered uncertainly before grabbing the piece of paper from their hand and nodding. As the car drove away into the thick night, he opened the note and shuddered a little.

It was a picture of his pet chihuahua "Pinky" with a message scribbled on top of it, 'If you say so much as one word about this, we won't' hesitate to snap little Pinky's neck and then yours. Thanks for doing business with us. -W"

The man's pulse increased and he felt cold dread run through his veins. Whoever was in that car certainly didn't mess about. How they even knew about Pinky was a feat in itself. He kept his homelife and address well hidden, and few people would have guessed a tough guy like him spent his spare time pampering his pet chihuahua. He crumpled up the note in his hand and scuffled off with the bag of money, fulling intending to keep as silent as the grave.