Chapter 3 Fairy tales and servants
Francis found himself in an awkward situation. Awkward, but to him highly enjoyable. He and Arthur where presently locked in a small closet located just inside the briefing room of Scotland yard. Arthur was on his knees listening through the crack in the door, while Francis was huddled close to him pretending to be trying to listen at the door as well. Pretending was the key word in that sentence, because he kept using this as an opportunity to grope Arthur. Arthur on his part was getting slightly annoyed, but kept ignoring the attacks on his bottom to hear what was going on in the room. This was until Francis crossed the line and he snapped at him.
"Whose fault iz zis? Et iz yours! You managed to ban yourself from the meeting in a matter of minutes! Not even your brother could defend you from ze other policemen. Et iz your fault we are in 'ere. " sulked Francis in retaliation
"My dear doctor would you please shut up. It is not my fault that this place is run by idiots." Complained Arthur quietly
It was true, in only a few minutes of entering Scotland yard Arthur had managed to make all the policeman angry at him with insults or annoying observations. As such they demanded him not to come anywhere near them; leaving Iain no choice but to fill them in later on the case. Of course Arthur didn't like this at all and hid in the closet so that he could hear about the murders.
"Where iz Tristain? I thought he might be elping us non?" Francis asked
"Don't be ridiculous, Tristain isn't that type of man at all. More like the kind of man to sit in a stuffy arm chair and read papers in his gentleman's club. And not that kind of gentleman's club (Arthur saw Francis's face light up )." Hissed Arthur
The two of them stopped their useless argument as they could hear the murmuring of a crowd and seats being scraped across the floor. As they both pressed up against the door to hear, and unnoticeably against each other, Iain's voice silenced the crowd.
"Yer all here because there is a serial killer on the loose. His latest victim was someone tha we had ken well. Now it is personal." Iain announced to get the crowds attention
"If it is personal then that is your first mistake." A snobby voice that sounded like Tristain said
"Now where is Arthur? You are going to need his help, I am merely here to make sure he had turned up." Tristain continued
"He got kicked oot. " Iain replied
"Tcht do you even want to solve this case? " Tristain sneered
"Sit yer arse down Cymru or sae help me god." Warned an angry Iain
Arthur took the opportunity that Tristains disturbance had caused to open the door so they could just see through into the room. It was only open a slither, but when Tristain came towards them to sit in the chair infront of the door Arthur jumped back causing himself and Francis to fall back taking a few jackets with them in the process. Arthur found himself in Francis's lap and due to the jackets being tangled around them he wouldn't be able to free himself without bringing attention to them. So he motioned to Francis to be quiet. Arthur noticed Tristain glance at the closet and cursed the fact that he probably knew they were in here. He would just have to ignore him for now. He turned back to the room where an officer with curly brown hair was speaking.
"What is odd about this killer is that they seem to be setting a theme for the murders. They have chosen a fairy tale theme and seem to be acting it out. The latest murder was Snow white." The officer told the room.
"Noo only tha, but we have noticed tha all the victims have been men." Iain continued
Arthur sat silent and tilted his head in thought. That was interesting, now if only he could see the crime scene. The fact that the murder was setting these scenes showed that it was suppose to be some kind of message. Well that was obvious, and the fact that the murderer had left it probably meant that they had been careful with it so not to be caught. No, it was the little things that the police felt where unimportant that solved the crimes.
"Hmm I hope there is another murder. It sounds like this murderer puts on quite a show!" Arthur whispered
"Azzur! People are being killed!" Francis said aghast
"Oh honestly Francis! Everyone is going to die, it's just a question of how." Arthur responded a little amazed that Francis had missed such a big picture of life.
" 'Ow depressing you are Azzur." Francis said in a tone Arthur found unreadable
"It is only the truth."
The rest of the meeting went by uneventfully. It was soon apparent that Arthur found the meeting uninteresting as he fell asleep in Francis's lap. Francis squirmed under the weight, wishing desperately for some way to bring his sleeping legs back to life. He cursed Arthur under his breath for playing his violin all night. If he hadn't played that stupid instrument he would probably have stayed awake.
Francis's thoughts and complainants where interrupted as the door of the closet opened causing him to blink and look up at two shocked and slightly amused Kirkland brothers. Arthur lazily opened one eye in response to the light that now flooded in.
"Having fun are we?" Sneered Tristain
Arthur sighed and opened both eyes. He untangled himself from the jackets, knocking more jackets off in the process, and scrambled to his feet.
"No the meeting was terribly dull and unhelpful. I would like to see the next crime scene and there will be another, the murderer wants us to get his message." Arthur grumbled while stepping out of the closet and dusting himself off.
"Sae ah take it yer be tankin this case then?" Asked Iain
"Yes, now how about we have some tea? Bonnefoy will put the kettle on won't you? There's a good chap." Arthur said while leaving with his brothers
Francis sighed and grit his teeth. As his legs where slowly getting their feeling back he couldn't help but wonder bitterly why Arthur treated him like a servant. If Arthur needed something to rest his head upon while he took a nap he would use Francis, if he needed someone to carry his shopping Francis was sure he'd use him. Still as soon as he could walk he found himself staggering off to the staff room, just why did he listen to and put up with Arthur?