"My good man, I do advise you let me take your hat. We are indoors after all." The door man suggested, holding a hand out to receive said article of clothing.
Alfendi sighed, defeated. "I suppose. But do be careful with it. It has some important items in it." He said, pulling off the navy blue hat and brushing off some dust on top. When he handed it over, he held tight for a second, glaring at the doorman, but letting go.
The doorman suddenly felt like he was carrying the heaviest luggage in his life. What on earth was in this hat?
Alfendi quickly went down the few stairs and took the hand of his young love.
"Sir, why were we even invited to this banquet? We don't know anyone 'ere. Do we?" Lucy hopped out of her chair and allowed herself to be lead across the foyer.
A soft chuckle was his first response. His second was twirling his darling angel to meet eyes with her. "Oh, but we do. I have an acquaintance by the name of Hilda Pertinax, who invited us because she suspects her banquet will be ruined by one of the ruder guests. I'd suggest keeping an eye out. We might be greeted by-"
"Alfendi Layton!" A woman screeched, hurriedly pacing towards them. "You'd better have a good reason for showing up late!"
"'ave we missed the feast?" Lucy inquired.
"No."
"Then how are we late then, if no one has even sat down to eat?"
Hilda stared at the wild red eyes of the brunette, before shifting her gaze to golden ones. "So this is your assistant then? I figured you'd find someone as crazed as you."
"Of course. Hilda, this is Lucy Baker. Say hello, love."
Lucy curtseyed and sweetly greeted, "'ello!"
"Alright. I figure you've already explained the situation to her. The banquet starts in an hour. Right now people are just having some conversation, so you two have enough time to investigate and find out who plans to ruin the event. When you do, report back to me or talk to Justin." Hilda ordered, ready to walk away.
"Justin? You mean Justin Lawson? That man is here?" Alfendi asked, a nervous twitch in his left eye.
"Yes. I need all the eyes I can get to find this trickster. You'll just have to ignore Justin if you don't want to talk to him." She spoke those final words with a bit of irritation.
It made Lucy think, though. What was wrong with this Justin fellow? And why did Lucy just learn about these two?
"Oh, I'll avoid him like cancer. And find this party wrecker before he can even blink." Alfendi hissed, tightening his grip around Lucy's hand.
Lucy winced in pain, but said nothing about that. Instead, she pulled him into the next room, already losing feeling in the tips of her fingers. "If t' banquet starts in an hour, why is she complaining that we're late?" While she didn't get much of a response, she knew very well why. Any murders had to be avoided for this job to be considered perfect. Though, someone dying would be one step closer to figuring out the saboteur. "Are we gonna find them, sir?" She put her head on his shoulder and watched his frustration fade.
"Yes." He kissed her forehead and let go of her hand. "If my thoughts are correct, then there should be some inconsistencies with the specified seats at the tables."
"Or someone spiking the drinks?" Lucy pointed out a few loud men near the drinks, some with far away eyes.
"Well, unless someone dies of alcohol poisoning, that isn't exactly the problem. Who however, we can find out when we figure out what's wrong here." Alfendi opened the doors to the banquet hall.
Multiple people were hanging around the area, even the hostess herself.
Lucy sniffed at the air suddenly. "There's a smoking area around 'ere."
"It would seem." He put a hand on his chin as others conversations entered his ears. "How about you head into the ladies room and investigate there? I'll find this smoking area and see if I can find anything of interest."
While Lucy wasn't all that keen about leaving Alfendi's side, she figured his instinct was never one to doubt.
The ladies room was empty when Lucy walked in. The women must be in the other rooms gossiping. It was usually what Lucy saw them doing, talking about what their husbands told them, whispering about what the other girls did, judging Lucy for her personality, the way she dressed, the things she loved to do. Making fun of how ugly she was and how she would never find a real man the way she acted.
That's probably why she had met Alfendi. A mad gentleman who cared deeply for the one he loved. He had a personality that complimented her and told her how beautiful she was, and then another to keep those horrible women who emotionally hurt her away from them. She was grateful for having a man like that, because apparently others would never love her for her many faults.
Shaking away those negative thoughts, Lucy focused on her task. "Find anything sus in 'ere. Summat not like t' rest." First, she checked the sink. Nothing there. The soap wasn't tampered with or mixed with anything. When she looked through the mirror, nothing changed or came out to get her. No strange things appeared in the refection that weren't in the room. Nothing out of place, except maybe herself.
Finally, the toilet itself, alone in a corner. Clean. Practically untouched.
Lucy wondered why Alfendi even thought to bring her in here. Did he feel like there was danger nearby and wanted her out of the way? No. He knew she could handle herself.
Maybe something hidden in plain sight then? Or in the air vent? Lucy peered up at the lone metal grate on the wall. Sniffing the air brought no strange smells to her senses. The light hints of perfume from a time ago, but that was old. "Wot a waste of time!" She declared, admittedly a little hurt that her partner would make her do so.
She walked out in a huff and her ear wiggled.
"Oh yes. I saw that investigator put liquor in the drinks. A lot too. Mayamel even went into a coughing fit because of one he offered to her!"
Investigator? Was she talking about that Justin man? What could that mean?
"Never been a fan of cigars, have you? Just try one, man!"
Alfendi pushed away the offer without a second thought, walking away from the drugged up group. "I feel a sense of apathy for everyone here. It's like they've given up." He muttered, passing through the clouds of smoke.
Of course, he had once given up too. A throbbing in the back of his skull reminded him of that. He was a self-absorbed man when he once was alone. He never really got along with others. For his negativity towards imperfections, and his own especially, for his more positive side had become his greatest weakness at one point. His other side wasn't one to fight for himself and was extremely gullible in some cases. He hated himself and the fact that people enjoyed his calmer personality didn't help.
He couldn't socialize because he wasn't like that, talkative or cheery natured. Just a man that had given up on those kinds of things when he was young.
Alfendi would dwell on his weakness, himself and despise both his pessimistic views and the kindness of his other self.
Eventually though, he came to meet Lucy. And when he met her, he knew he had met an equal. They weren't alone when they met. She had shaken off a murderer and together they had the criminal beaten and arrested.
Lucy was quite the fighter, easily getting anyone down on their knees. She could handle herself in those types of situations. But as well did she understand being imperfect and accepted who she was instead of hating it all. She could even handle his faults, his anger and weakness, disposition of hate for himself. Lucy loved his madness, and understood that he wasn't stable.
That's why he loved her.
Enough to protect her from the insults, something he did to others himself. He told her what she wanted to hear whether or not she did.
She was his treasure, and he did well to let her know that.
"Layton. I figured Hilda would call you in as well. How are you, old pal?"
His eyes widened as the smoke cleared and there was Justin Lawson.
He couldn't help but smirk. "No offense, but I don't consider someone who tried to make me sick and run me over a pal. In fact, I'd take that as the signs of a killer."
"Oh, not this again. Al, it was four years ago. You were just in the-"
"Wrong place at the wrong time? Maybe. Or maybe you're our saboteur?" Lucy suggested, appearing through the wisps of smoke.
"Ah! You're here, dear! I thought I said-"
"I didn't find anything in t' room. But I did overhear summat. And Justin Lawson, you are the trickster!" Lucy pointed an accusing finger at the man.
"Who is this girl, Al? A friend of yours?"
"Well I-"
"That's none of your business! But what you can know is that you're going to be arrested for attempted murder." Lucy declared.
"Now you listen here, you-"
"Enough!" Alfendi shut him up. "This girl is my lover, if you must know. And I won't have you harming her, you oaf. So I'd suggest swallowing that insult before you're gulping down enough cigars to start a fire."
Justin flinched back, a hardened expression on his face. "I almost forgot that dark side of you, Al. Guess you haven't changed much at all."
"Neither have you. And your habits have gotten worse, I see."
Justin let out a puff and grinned. "What? Didn't you do the same? Or did you quit?"
"I did. For more than just my health, mind you."
"Aw! Well, what can one do to you? I'm sure you can't die from it." Justin said holding out an unlit cigar.
Lucy wrapped the handcuff around his wrist. "There! Perfect fit!" She pulled his other arm over as well, and when met with resistance, socked him once in the groin.
"Layton! What's the meaning of this? Get these cuffs off me this instant!"
Alfendi took the offered cigar and examined it. "Nitroglycerin? Now why would that be on this of all things? Why, if I lit this right now, I'd be killed by the explosion." He smiled. "But that was your original intent, wasn't it? To kill me and Hilda off before the end of the night by any means? Shameful, Lawson. You really haven't changed since the incident. But please, never do. It's fun to see you try to murder me every time we meet."
Lucy coughed as they escorted the man out of the smoking area.
"Five minutes until the banquet and your assistant decides it's funny to cuff the inspector? You two really are mad!" Hilda said as she scowled at Alfendi.
"This isn't a joke, Hilda. It was Justin all along." Handing over the cigar, Alfendi fixed his top hat and sneered.
The scowl worsened. "Alright. Maybe you're right."
"Maybe? Hilda, the man's been trying to kill the two of us since we knew each other! If that isn't a piece of undeniable proof then shoot me now!"
Just as Alfendi said that, a gun shot rang through the room.
"Look wot I found in 'is pocket, sir!" Lucy hollered, holding up the silver gun for them to see.
"See? Now why would a man need a gun to investigate? Especially someone of his build." Alfendi stated matter-of-factly.
"Fine! I'll call up the police and we can be done with this. Then I'll never have to see your bad attitude anywhere near me ever again!" Hilda stomped off in a huff.
"I enjoyed our time together too, Hilda!" He joked as she left.
"Sir?" Came Lucy's voice, a ring of curiosity in her tone. He turned his head to see her. "Wot was t' incident that 'appened four years ago? I remember Justin saying summat about that when we were cuffing 'im."
His hand moved to her cheek, feeling the softness of it. "Love, how about we forget this ever got personal, alright? We can go home after the banquet and maybe get a more enjoyable excitement."
Lucy giggled and went to hug him. "I'd like that. A lot."