Magnus gets out of the shower. "Well, love, it's Friday night," he says, a smile playing at his lips as he dries his face. "It is," you grin back.
"And I think," he continues as he wraps his arms around your chest from behind, "That we should celebrate the evening with copious amounts of film watching, pudding consuming, and love making."
You smile dreamily as you let his hands trail down your shoulders. "That sounds perfect, Magnus." He kisses you, and takes you to the living room. But your mind snaps back to what you had to tell him. "Before we start… there's something I need to talk to you about."
He sits down next to you in the window bed rest. "Anything, darling. What is it?" You look past him out the window, and he immediately knows what you're talking about. "Is it that serious?" You nod, thankful that he understands. "Would it make you feel better if we had a stake out tonight, like in the movies?"
You laugh, and lean forward to kiss him. You really do have the best husband ever.
"Okay, we're going to have the best stakeout ever," he says, getting some things together, "with this fantastic pudding I picked up at the bakery on my way home! That was the surprise." You kiss him in thanks, and he sets a camera and a pair of binoculars down by the window, with some pillows. You raise your eyebrow. "You're prepared."
He smiles. "I figured we'd be doing this sometime soon." "Thank you." "Oh, love. No need to thank me. I love you, and if it makes you feel safer, I'm all for it."
You smile mischievously back at him, and check the time. It's just getting dark. "I think we have a little time first for some of the other things on that list," you say promiscuously, and he growls playfully as he takes you to the bedroom.
A little bit later, it's time to start the watch. "Okay, so what are we watching for?" Magnus asks, picking up the binoculars and opening the curtains. "Frank Werther is up to something, and I think it has something to do with the disappearance of his wife." "She's missing?" "I haven't seen her a few days!"
He looks at you for a long time. "You know, this is very important we get all the facts before we report anything." "Of course." He grins. "Good. Now, let's break out the pudding."
You two watch the apartment of your neigbors, and eventually you both start to doze off in each other's arms. The light is out in the apartment you're watching.
Suddenly, a light flicks on, and Frank Werther walks out of his place. You open one eye, and notice this. "Magnus!" you whisper, and he arouses. "Look, he's up." Magnus sits himself up and looks.
Frank was walking down the stairs holding the bag from earlier, with a hat covering his eyes. "What's he doing?" Magnus wonders aloud, watching him closely as he moves, oblivious to their watchful eye.
"He's going down to the garden," you say as Frank exits the building to the little flower beds. He pulls out the small bag he was holding with the object you saw, and begins digging slowly, careful not to attract any attention.
"What's in the bag?" Magnus asks. "I think it's something long and sharp," you say, recalling the mental image of what you had seen. "Ah. So he's burying the evidence…" You look over at Magnus. "So you actually believe me?" He meets your gaze. "Yes. I'm a detective, and we've been taught to only make accusations when we have all the facts. But I agree that something's happening with this man. And his wife. I mean, we don't know what happened to her yet, but we need to find out. I've seen many murders, and we might be the only hope to solving this crime, as we just might be the only witnesses."
"Well, Mr. Let's Not Jump To Conclusions, you seem to have a pretty good theory going on," you joke. "Gang, it looks like we have a mystery on our hands!" he jokes back, and you giggle into his shoulder as he pulls you close.
Frank starts to bury the bag, and covers it with dirt. He's wearing gloves, so no one can link him with the bag if anyone ever found it.
He then hurries upstairs, back to his apartment, where he turns off the light. After the light is out, you and Magnus can faintly see his shadow moving around, probably putting things away, but you can't tell. After a while, it looks like he went to bed.
"Well, darling, should we turn in like our killer neighbour?" he asks, taking a deep breath. "Magnus," you say nervously, hugging him tighter, "I'm scared." He looks down at you.
"As long as I am living, I will never let any harm come to you. I will protect you with everything I have, my love, don't be afraid. I've got you. We're going to figure this out and get some solid evidence to present before the end of the weekend, if it's the last thing we do."
The last part made you uneasy. The last thing you do…..
What if Frank Werther knew you were watching? And was waiting until the perfect moment to get rid of the witnesses?
But that doesn't make sense, you tell yourself, how could he have seen you? You bite your lip, and Magnus strokes your cheek. "No more worrying. We're in this together."
You decide to be optimistic, to go to bed determined and strong. But you glance quickly one more time out the window, to the garden, to the neighbour's place.
There was a dangerous man living right across from you, and if he ever found out who was watching, the dangers could be closer than you think…