Hello again! Another kind of a "short" chapter, but things will start picking up again as soon as I get through this busy time and can get back on track!
As always, I do not own Fairy Tail, it belongs to Hiro Mashima and I thank him for it's use in my own creative expressions. *bows*
Laxus made it back to the office in record time; he had a lot of phone calls to make and things to get sorted out before everyone went off for the long weekend. He was especially dreading the phone call to his wife explaining why he wouldn't be able to join them and his grandfather at the cabin for the weekend like originally planned, but he knew that Mira would understand once he explained the situation. He had beaten Cobra back but Kinana was sitting in the waiting room with Wendy, the two of them were chatting contently.
"Hello ladies," he greeted them as he walked into the room from the back way. "Are there any messages for me?"
"No, I still haven't been able to find any information out about that warehouse but I have Warren and Max on it."
"Good, maybe we will start getting some answers soon. When Cobra gets here send him into my office immediately, I've got some calls to make."
He shut the office door behind firmly behind him and sat behind the big desk. The first call went better than he expected, he didn't get hung up on and a potential maybe, so he took that as a good sign. Before he could make the next call his phone rang.
"Seven Dragons," he greeted the caller solemnly, he rarely got calls directly to his personal line.
"I have it." The voice on the other end was a man, he spoke quietly and softly. "7 pm, bench in the park." Laxus heard the click as the caller disconnected and he let out a sigh of relief, he had been waiting for that phone call all afternoon.
A knock came at the door right before it opened a crack; Cobra stuck his head in the room. "You wanted to see me sir?"
"Come in," Laxus answered as he set the phone back into the cradle. He waited until Cobra was seated in one of the guest chairs before starting.
"It seems like your assumption that the apartment had been broken into was right, when Gajeel and Natsu searched the place things were moved but nothing was missing. They also left a window unlocked so it looks like they plan on coming back."
"Are we watching the apartment then?"
Laxus shook his head. "No, we don't know if they are going to come back for sure, it might be a ruse, or when they would do it. I'm not going to put Levy in any more danger than I have to so I've moved her into Gramp's place until we can figure out who is after her and what they want. I need around the clock eyes and ears on that house, two man teams until further notice. Gajeel and Natsu are there right now but I want you and I to do the night shift and I'll get the twins to come in the morning. Now tell me more about the warehouse that you were watching after the break-in."
He listened as Cobra recounted his afternoon from following the car and then watching the storage facility to no avail. "They never moved, no one else came or went during that time, it was completely dead."
Laxus thought about that for a second. "It sounds too clean, did they know you where tailing them?"
Cobra shrugged. "Maybe? I don't know… I stayed as far back as I could and it's not like they would have recognized me or the jeep. I didn't get a good look at either of them."
"Unless they anticipated being followed…"
Cobra raised his eyebrows. "You think that they set us up to catch them at the apartment? That would mean that they knew we would find Levy first."
"No, I don't think they were planning on Levy at all, but Gajeel was set up to be in that alley. Somebody meant for him to see Zoldeo's murder and get us involved, so what if they knew we would be looking for them afterward? Levy might be just a different end to the same means, making sure that we are involved and invested in finding out the killer."
"If that is true then what are their plans for the girl? Or is searching the apartment and leaving the window open a distraction?"
"A distraction from what though? If anything it keeps us more interested."
"I don't know, maybe the real purpose of Zoldeo's death? Nothing in this case makes any sense."
"I have Wendy and the boys looking into everything they can, all we can do is wait and see what the search turns up and hopefully that will give us some answers. Take your girlfriend home and meet me at Gramp's place around 7:30 tonight, be prepared to stay all night. We might know what they are after or who they are but we can make sure that they don't get what they want."
When Gray pulled into the loading zone in front of Magnolia South Elementary it was 3:08pm. A few children were still loitering on the front lawn waiting for their parents to come and pick them up, including Gray's 5 but soon to be 6 year old twins. When he saw his dad's car, Uri nudged his sister Josie and they waved goodbye to their friends as they ran down the cement walkway.
"Where's Mom?" Josie asked as she and her brother climbed into the back seat.
"She had to take Gage to the doctor," Gray answered, he turned in his seat to check and make sure that they were buckled into their seat belts.
"You're late," Uri chided. Even though he was the older twin by about ten minutes he was almost a half inch shorter than his sister, a fact that had made him very grouchy the last few months. He had the sullen glare that Gray knew came from him and it would probably stay until puberty or at least his next growth spurt.
"I know, I'm sorry I got stuck at work. How was practice?" Satisfied that everyone was strapped in, Gray signaled to the left and shifted the gear to drive, waiting for an opening to pull out. Uri shrugged in his seat, staring out his window moodily but Josie leaned forward to peer at Gray over the console. "It was ok, did you catch any bad guys today Daddy?" She asked in her usual bubbly demenor.
She had the same big blue eyes and heart shaped chin as her mother, but both twins had unruly curly hair that was few shades darker blue than Juvia's but not as dark as the baby's which was close to being black like Gray's.
"Not yet Sweetie," he answered, watching his rear and side mirrors closely. He felt his phone vibrate in his pocket and the ringtone beep. He frowned, curious of who it could be but he decided to answer it in case it was Juvia with another errand. He put the car back into park and shut the signal light off before pulling his out his phone, he glanced at the call display was surprised when it was Mest.
"Hello?" He answered curiously.
"Hey Gray, I hope that I didn't catch you at a bad time but I have something here that I think you would be interested in." Gray glanced up at his rear view mirror again and saw that his children were both watching in expectantly, Josie with big eyed curiosity and Uri with a sullen glare.
"What is it?" If it had to do with the case he was working on then he couldn't let it go without asking.
"I'm at one of the fancy hair places downtown, the Golden Key?" He asked like Gray would possible know what he was talking about. "A younger looking pink-haired guy came into the place looking for someone, assaulted one of the stylists and then tore the place apart. He also may have kidnapped the shampoo girl on his way out via motorcycle. The stylist is convinced that his name was N-something or another but he can't quite remember the specifics, does it sound like someone you know?"
Gray inwardly groaned and closed his eyes, it wasn't the Zoldeo case but someone else that had once been a big part of his life. Then another thought occurred to him.
"This girl doesn't have blue hair does she?" He hoped that he could still find some kind of connection to Gajeel and the shooting.
"Nope, she's blonde."
"Why is it only a potential kidnapping?" Gray asked to hide his disappointment.
"Well, the receptionist says that when he came in he didn't even have the right name for the girl, but she went with him anyway. Everyone here says that they were too busy trying to take cover to notice how willingly it was though, but no one heard her scream or call for help. You should really come down here and see the number he did on this place, it's almost impressive."
"Yeah, I'll be right there." Gray ended the call just as a car behind him honked their horn. "Alright, alright." He muttered. putting it in gear and turning on the signal light again. He didn't have to wait this time and was able to pull right out onto the street.
"Where are we going?" Josie asked.
"Daddy has to make a quick stop," Gray answered.
"Does Mommy know where we are going?"
"Ahh," Gray knew that telling Juvia that he took the kids to a crime scene, even one as harmless as this one sounded, was not a good idea. "No, but Mommy is ok with it." The kids both settled back in their seats and watched out the window in silence as he drove towards the downtown area, hopefully this wouldn't take very long.
When Cobra left the office Laxus sat back in his chair and looked at his phone. He couldn't put it off any longer; he reached over and dialed his wife's cellphone number.
"Hello?" Mira answered with her usual peppy enthusiasm.
"Hi Honey, about the weekend, something has come up."
"Oh?"
Laxus explained everything, from Gajeel's late night text about the murder to finding Levy and her apartment being broken into. Laxus knew that some men wouldn't go into so much detail about their work with their wives, but he never kept anything from Mira. Well almost never. She grew up the same way he did and was not one to shy away from bad circumstances; he wouldn't have anyone else watching his back when things got hairy like they were now.
"So I won't be able to go to the cabin this weekend with you and the kids, but there is no reason that you still can't go without me. Take everyone and catch the last ferry out tonight like we planned and I will keep you updated on the case here."
He could almost hear the thoughts going through Mira's mind as she processed the information. "No," she said finally. "We will stay home too. In fact, tell everyone that we will have family supper here tomorrow like usual, long weekend themed with hotdogs and hamburgers."
Laxus did an inward sigh. "But honey, the guys will be busy watching the safe house and everyone else probably has plans already." This wasn't what he was expecting at all.
"Bring the girls too, poor things are probably scared out of their minds and homesick, they could use some family time."
"I don't know if bringing them home is safe, what about the kids?"
"It will be fine, you said it yourself that no one will be looking for them with us and even if they do, everyone will already be there, they couldn't be more protected. Plus I have all of this food for the weekend and I don't want it to go bad."
Laxus sighed; he knew that he was going to lose this debate. "Alright, but I can't guarantee that everyone will be there."
"They will," Mira replied, the happy tone returning. "It's too bad that Gramps isn't here but I think he is enjoying his vacation."
"Gramps is retired, his life is nothing but vacation," Laxus muttered into the phone absently. "I should go though; I still have lots to do before I can leave."
"Alright, I'll see you when you get home then. Love you!"
"Love you too honey, bye." He hung up his phone, well, that could have gone worse, he thought to himself. He should have known that Mira would want take the girls in like Gramps would have, she had inherited his caring and loving heart after all. If it was just for an afternoon he could deal with that. He mentally made a list of all the things he still had to do before calling it a night, along with this case he had 3 more he needed progress reports on and the final report from the Twins' out of town trip. First though, he needed some coffee, or a shot of whisky, whichever he could get his hands on first.
Hopefully I can update again in the next few days and catch up the chapters! Happy reading!