The Informant:

Ludwig comes two days after her call. In that time, Elizaveta hadn't left Gilbert's apartment. Her mother called several times. Her father left countless messages on her cell and filled her voicemail box. She ignored it all. Gilbert didn't call again, much to her disappoint. And from the window that overlooks the street by the kitchen sink, she noticed an unmarked car has been parked in the same spot within the last two days.

Elizaveta peeks out of the blinds while waiting for her and Ludwig's coffee.

"They've been there for two days." She informs him as he approaches her in the kitchen.

"Who?" Ludwig inquires and she moves over so that he can see.

"There, black car." Elizaveta points as best she could give the sink is limiting her reach. "I haven't seen anybody get out of it but it's always running, see the exhaust?"

She glances at her boyfriend's brother who nods and grunts in the affirmative but keeps his blue eyes locked on the window. "They've been watching you," Ludwig says, "No doubt wondering why I'm visiting."

"Cops?" she asks and he nods again, this time fixing his gaze on her. Elizaveta exhales and goes to the coffeemaker. Ludwig moves from the window to the table as she brings the drinks to him.

"One spoon of sugar, please." Ludwig informs and Elizaveta complies before fixing her own and taking a seat at Gilbert's two-seater wooden table.

They remain silent for a long while, sipping coffee in the mid winter afternoon. Ludwig isn't much of a social butterfly Elizaveta knows this. The German is more inclined to sit in silence than try holding a conversation. For her, it is a welcomed silence as she hasn't been very talkative these couple of days. So they stay quiet until the absence of conversation becomes awkward and Ludwig clears his throat.

"Have you heard from your family?" he drums his fingers on the table for a moment then stops.

Elizaveta shakes her head in the negative and pulls at the sleeves of her grey sweater. "They called, my parents, put I don't want to talk to them now." She admits and turns her gaze toward the kitchen sink. "I talked to Daniel for a few minutes. He told me they want me to come home, that they want to help."

Ludwig sips his coffee. "Help you or my brother?"

She looks at him despairingly and toys with the empty sugar wrapper. "Who do you think? They never liked Gil. But he told me to call you, so…"

The blond shifts in his chair and is suddenly more interested in his coffee than her face. "I don't know why he told you to call me. I can't help you, Elizaveta. Gilbert and I talked regularly but never about what he does. He always asked about me."

She grunts and cradles her face in her palms, then pushes her brown hair away from her face. "I don't know what I'm supposed to do." Elizaveta tells him. "There's a reason he told me to call you, Ludwig. You have to have something, anything?"

They're in silence again. Ludwig swirls his coffee and clears his throat apologetically. "Liz, I," he pauses and she looks at him hopefully when he starts to search his pockets.

Ludwig takes out his wallet and searches until he finds a piece of paper. "Call this number," he slides it to her across the table. "The man's name is Francis Bonnefoy. He and Gilbert were friends since high school. The last I heard, they lost contact about a year or two ago but he might know more than me."

Elizaveta eyes the crumpled piece of paper, "Gil never told me much about his friends." She brushes a thumb of the nearly smudge blue ink.

"They aren't on such friendly terms at the moment." Ludwig states matter-of-factly and she nods.

"Why did you still have this, Francis' number?" Elizaveta looks at him now with tired green eyes.

He clears his throat again and grips the empty mug handle. "They went out drinking a lot, him, Gilbert and another man by the name of Antonio. It was more of an emergency contact if I hadn't heard from my brother in a while. Francis was usually the one to bring him home."

Confused, Elizaveta furrows her brow. "I thought you said they weren't on friendly terms?"

"He's a last resort," Ludwig amends. "If all else failed, I knew at least one of them, Antonio or Francis, would know something of his whereabouts."

"And Antonio? Do you have a number where I can reach him?"

Ludwig shakes his head. "I'm afraid not. I lost it while moving into my new apartment."

Elizaveta nods and places the paper on the table. "Is it nice?"

"The neighborhood is quiet."

"I may have to come visit one day."

Ludwig sits up a bit straighter. "I have a spare room, should you need to get away."

She doesn't answer verbally, but stands and takes both mugs. "More coffee?"

"Yes, thank you."


A/N: Short chapter but I'm still playing around with this story! Hope you enjoyed and had an awesome Labor Day! Much love,

-CeCe ^_^