Paris couldn't help but stare wide eyed at his surroundings, the house was huge and he had only seen the foyer and the hallway leading towards the kitchen.
Mr. Cramer, being the guidance councilor he was, knew something was bothering Paris and Grant's death was only part of the whole picture, so he had gone back into the station after buying Paris a coke, to let some of the other cops who had stayed behind that he was taking Paris home.
Being one of Eric's best friends and their friendship known by all, Paris knew it would be no problem for Mr. Cramer to get permission.
He had wanted to call Eric though but Mr. Cramer had done so, beating him to it and according to Mr. Cramer, Eric had thought it was the best idea he had heard.
Paris figured it was because it meant he wouldn't be in the way, but through Mr. Cramer, Eric apparently just thought Paris spending all his time in the station, was going to earn the both of them a lecture from Lori, on top of Paris getting underfoot and distracting the FBI, even if he didn't mean to.
Though, Paris was still surprised that Eric had given his permission…after all, Paris figured he was in groundedville forever, instead, Eric was letting him go to a place he knew was the next best thing to GGD or the Game Works.
"Xander?" Paris grinned, Mr. Cramer was one of the very few adults who had always called him by his nickname, despite knowing his real name and admiring it. "X you like pizza right?" Mr. Cramer called from the kitchen, far from the foyer, where Paris still stood, gaping at the exquisite mansion.
"Yes sir." Paris answered swiftly
"Any particular topping?"
Paris followed the voice towards the kitchen
"Actually I prefer it plain, y'know just cheese," he replied walking past a number of closed doors.
One however caught his attention, it was open slightly he started to peek inside, curiosity getting the better of him, when Cramer appeared in the hall.
"Plain? Who would've thought, I would've pegged you for a pepperoni kinda guy." Paris made a face, "or not," Cramer reached over and gently shut the door, he noticed Paris's curiosity, but brushed off the oddness "this house belonged to my late uncle, he's been gone a year and I'm still trying to sort out the mess he left, rooms full of paperwork, paintings, antiques, books, you name it so I'm taking it one room at a time, trying to keep all the doors closed until I sort out everything."
The reasoning seemed logical enough, but it still made Paris curious, something was behind that door that Mr. Cramer obviously didn't want him to see.
After dinner, Cramer took Paris to what he called the entertainment room, inside was a literally a home theater, an in focus machine was set up with a DVD player, Xbox 360, Playstation 1 and 2, Game Cube, N64, Super Nintendo and Nintendo, and more games and movies than Paris had ever seen in his life.
"Wooow." He breathed staring intently at the systems "this is amazing!" Cramer grinned and nodded
"If you get bored with the games and movies, the library is right next door, with a decent collection if I do say so myself."
Paris laughed, he loved to read sure…but this…he could go to a library anytime and read any day how many opportunities would there be to have access to so many video games on a huge projector screen no less.
"I cant believe this."
"Grant said the same thing when he saw it, blew him away." Cramer said "well, I have some paperwork to go over for the school, will you be ok here by yourself for a while?" Paris nodded, his biggest worry was going to be which system to attack first. "Have fun, I'll be back to check on you in a bit." And with that Cramer left the room.
Quickly, Paris closed his eyes and simply pointed to the system he would conquer first, which turned out to be the Game Cube, looking at the games he found his favorite game cube game, Geist. Without wasting a second he put the small disc into the system and with the provided wave-bird wireless controller began playing.
He had been playing his favorite game for only five minutes, when a thought crossed his mind, what Mr. Cramer had said about Grant being impressed by the game room too.
That didn't make any sense, a few days before he went missing, Grant had been hanging out at Paris's after school and they were comparing teachers. Grant had mentioned a rumor he had heard about Mr. Cramer being loaded and having a mansion that was more like a funhouse then a home. Grant, knowing that Eric and Cramer were long time friends, had asked Paris if he had ever been to Mr. Cramer's mansion and had been surprised when Paris admitted that he hadn't.
Paris felt his stomach drop. That conversation had taken place three days before Grant went missing.
The boys had seen each other multiple times between that day and the last day Paris would see his best friend, if Grant had been to Mr. Cramer's house during that time, he would have told Paris, he wouldn't have held anything back. And besides…why would Grant be at Mr. Cramer's house to begin with, it didn't make any sense.
Paris being there was logical. Mr. Cramer was Eric's best friend and had grown up with Eric and Leslie as the three lived in the same neighborhood.
Paris paused the game and quietly climbed out of the movie theater like seat that lined the room. He wasn't an FBI profiler at least not yet but Paris knew to trust his instincts, something didn't feel right about any of this, why would Cramer say Grant had been in the house? When Paris knew for a fact that he couldn't have been prior to his disappearance, it didn't make any sense.
He wandered down the hall towards the kitchen, hoping to find a glass of milk to calm his nerves down, hoping he wasn't jumping to conclusions here.
On his way to the kitchen, Paris noticed Mr. Cramer's cell phone sitting on a hall table. Taking a reassuring deep breath, Paris opened the flip phone and checked the last number that had been called, none of the numbers he recognized, none were Eric's other cell, the station, or even Eric's desk phone. If Cramer had called Eric, he had not used his cell to do so.
It made Paris suspicious, but he couldn't grasp why Cramer would tell him that he had called Eric when he probably hadn't. Mr. Cramer had been really hospitality, but Paris knew he had to listen to his gut something wasn't right with this.
"I'll just call Uncle Eric…if he asks if I'm having fun, then I'll know I'm just being paranoid."
Paris reached into his pocket and tried to call Eric's phone, but…but it there was no signal, which struck him as really odd there was at least two towers nearby and the nokia had the best service of all the cell phones in the family.
Paris let out a wide yawn…suddenly he felt very tired, he could barely keep his eyes open. His instincts were screaming at him, reminding him that the situation he was in is not right nothing about this situation is safe and if he couldn't get in touch with his uncle, via calling him, he have to get Eric's attention another way. But how, that was the question?
Drowsiness was taking over him quickly, Paris could barely see, let alone think, but he had to figure something out, Paris hated to believe it but…but what if Mr. Cramer was the one, the one who had sent five kids, including Paris's best friend to an early death.
If this was all just a misunderstanding, Paris was fully prepared to get in trouble over it, but if he was right and didn't do something.
Quickly Paris turned the GPS application in Eric's phone on. Despite the lack of a signal the GPS would still send out a beacon and if the FBI's tech person was paying attention, he or she would zero in on it.
By now Eric had to have remembered that Paris had his phone and if there was really cause to be alarmed, they would be watching for a sign of the phone's signal.
It had enough battery life, so he didn't have that to worry about, Paris's only worry was where to hide the device so Mr. Cramer did not find it. A potted plant, just outside of the kitchen worked, it's thick ferns would hide the phone perfectly and protect it from the dirt as well.
Barely able to stand at this point, Paris made his way to the game room, reaching the chair seconds before passing out.