Chapter 2

Bang, bang, bang!

The knocking on the door continued, and proceeded to get louder with every minute that passed by.

"Shut up!" Sherleen screamed as she stood to her feet. "Don't you have any respect for the lazy?"

Sherleen grabbed the knob and opened the door angrily. There she met eyes with a brown hair, blue eyed, and gray suited man that she knew all too well. Nicolas Dullingham, a Police Inspector for Scotland Yard.

"What do you want?" Sherleen groaned, allowing him to come into the apartment reluctantly.

"Why do you ask me that when you already know the reason?" Nicolas said, a mischievous grin showing.

 Nicolas looked back at the woman he seemed to had intruded on. She looked like she was just getting dress; wearing only a bra and black jeans. 

"Busy night?" Nicolas asked.

"Why are you asking?" Sherleen sneered.

Nicolas stuck his hands in his pockets and smiled at the young woman. "Well, usually you're up by six. But it's almost eight in the morning. So you must have had a busy night in order to over sleep."

Sherleen grinned. "You know me too well, Jay."

Nicolas shrugged. "I am your handler, I should know you to the best of my ability."

Sherleen crossed her arms and grinned once again. "What about you?" Nicolas raised an eyebrow. "Busy night?"

Nicolas stepped forward and smiled down at Sherleen. "Why do you think that?" Sherleen smiled, a playful smile in which Nicolas knew she was mocking him. Which was something she did far too often.

"Well," she said, "the bottom of your slacks are covered in mud, meaning you walked through the deep puddles of downtown, which is under construction. Now, why would a Police Inspector be down there so early? There haven't been any cases dealing with the downtown area.

"Second; your shirt has the same stain that you got yesterday from your coffee, meaning you weren't able to change your clothes for over 24 hours. Which in turn means you never made it home.

"Third"-Sherleen picked up a hair on Nicolas's suit-"you have a blonde hair on your jacket. Most likely female, since I don't believe you're gay."

Nicolas clapped. "Bravo! Wouldn't expect anything less from the 'Miss Holmes' of this generation."

Sherleen smiled mischievously. "What's her name?"

Nicolas hummed for a moment and smiled. "I'll tell you, if you tell me his name."

"Why would you-"

"Why else?"  Nicolas walked over to the living room and reached into the couch, pulling out a pair of underwear. "I don't remember you being so messy." Nicolas smirked and waved the item in the air, showing his true flamboyant and evasive nature. 

Sherleen rolled her eyes and snatched the item from Nicolas's hand. "My sister was here and she spent the night. She then left for China this morning. No man was here, and even if there was nothing would have happened." Sherleen looked up to Nicolas as he looked down on her once again. "So, I'm sorry to say, Inspector, but your deduction was off."

Nicolas frowned. "I suppose it was..."

"Now," Sherleen said, "what was her name?"

"Caitlin," Nicolas grinned. "Caitlin Young."

Sherleen walked past Nicolas and into her bedroom. The white sheets on the bed were messy, showing she had just woken up. She walked over to the closet, which was right across from her bed.

"Is she your new girlfriend?" Sherleen questioned as she opened her closet. She grabbed a black tank top and threw the underwear Nicolas had found in a box. She then shut the closet after grabbing a pair of socks.

"No," Nicolas said with another smirk. "Actually, she called saying something about a letter." Nicolas pouted. “Too bad she was already married… She would have made a perfect new addition…” Nicolas was always in-between relationships with women (sometimes multiple). It wasn’t very uncommon for him to think in such ways.

"Letter?" Sherleen repeated, ignoring Nicolas’s last line, as she pulled her shirt on over her head, pulling it down to cover her slim figure.

"Yes," Nicolas said. "It seemed she received a letter, one with no return address. When she opened the letter she found a picture of herself."

Sherleen sat down on her bed and slipped on her socks, slowly. "Can you hand my boots?"

Nicolas walked over to the closet and opened it. He looked around for the boots he knew too well. In the last five years, her boots and appearance never changed. She still had the raven black hair reaching to her shoulders; black cross earrings dangling from her ears; clear skinned; soft, pale lips; and an ice cold stare from her blue eyes.

"Are you thinking she might have a stalker?" Nicolas heard Sherleen say.

"Maybe," Nicolas said. He reached into the closet, grabbing Sherleen's boots. He then turned around and handed them to her. "The picture isn't what disturbed her though... It was what was written on it."

Sherleen glanced up from slipping on her left boot, with a raised eyebrow. "A threat?"

Nicolas nodded. "'The game has started'. Caitlin wondered what it meant, but I told her not to worry much."

"But," Sherleen said, standing to her feet with a smile, "you're worried about it. That's why you're here." Sherleen walked past Nicolas. “You always get concerned when a beautiful woman is involved.

Nicolas stiffened and cleared his throat. It wasn't the only reason he came. He could have said he came for numerous reason; his boss telling him to check on her, a new case coming up, or something else that might interest her. It just so happened the letter was his major concern.

"You read me like an open book, Sherleen..." he said, smiling.

Sherleen opened the peach colored dresser with a smile. She then pulled out a small, brown, jewelry box. She set it down and continued to open it.

"I wouldn't worry," Sherleen said, taking out a black cross necklace with earrings to match. "Caitlin Young contacted me this morning, a little bit before you arrived. She asked me to find the sender for her, and find out why there was a picture."

"And?" Nicolas said, walking up behind her. Sherleen looked at him through the mirror, seeing his expression serious. His usual expression when he was dealing with a case. True, Nicolas was flirtatious and very ostentatious. But when he was dealing with a case that might concern someone’s well being, or might become a threat, he took it very seriously. Even if the case was small, he never failed to take it whole heartedly.

"I didn't take the case," she said. "I told her not to look to much into it. Then you showed up, practically asking me the same thing."

Sherleen turned around and found Nicolas a lot closer then she originally expected.

"I'll trust your judgment," he said, stuffing his hands in his pockets. "But I can't help thinking about it.”

Sherleen gently patted Nicolas's cheek with a lighthearted smile. "That doesn't sound very trustworthy, Inspector Dullingham."

Nicolas smirked as he watched her walk back to the living room. Sherleen was always serious about things and never seemed bothered by Nicolas’s playful nature. When she said there was nothing to worry about, there usually was nothing to worry about. But, Nicolas does seem to over complicate things unlike her. At times he does wish that she wouldn’t be so self-asserted. But it was just something he came to face.

“Why would someone send her something like that if there was no meaning behind it?"

Sherleen looked over her shoulder, seeing Nicolas leaning against the door frame to her room. His arms now crossed and an eyebrow raised.

"Judging from Mrs. Young's personality," Sherleen said, returning to cleaning up her living room, "she wouldn't make anyone angry easily; she's too agreeable to hurt anyone's feelings. She's not wealthy, showing the motive wouldn't be for money. She seemed to be one of those people that doesn't get much attention."

"So, what you're saying," Nicolas said, noticing something in the corner of his eye, "she made up the letter just to get attention?"

"Precisely," Sherleen said, picking up plates and glasses. She walked over to the kitchen and set them in the sink. Sherleen leaned against the counter, thinking. "But why would she call you when calling me would be sufficient enough? That‘s the part that makes me wonder."

"This is really perplexing..." Nicolas muttered.

Sherleen walked back into the living room with her arms crossed. She soon froze when she laid eyes on Nicolas and what he had picked up.

"I never knew you read Romance novels," Nicolas said, waving the book in the air. A small grin on his face, making Sherleen feel even more embarrassed. "Can I hear a few words of this?"

Sherleen snatched the book from Nicolas and glared at him. She then walked over to her bookshelf, near the TV, and placed it among the others just like it. "Just because I have a fancy for mysteries, doesn't mean every book I own is one."

Nicolas walked up behind Sherleen and rested his chin on her shoulder, looking at the books on the shelf. "But most of them are mysteries. Which just makes it even stranger that you would enjoy reading Romance novels." He turned his head and smiled at Sherleen. "So, what made Miss Holmes want to read such tantalizing things?"

Sherleen shoved Nicolas's head off of her shoulder and walked away from him, toward the coat rack. "It was for research, nothing more."

Nicolas knew there was no way of getting more out of her, so he let the subject drop. He walked over to her, grabbing her coat before she could. This earned him another one of her infamous glares, the ones he got so used to.

"Breakfast at the usual place?" Nicolas asked, watching the girl grab her leather bag.

"I guess..." Sherleen muttered. She walked out the door Nicolas was holding open and walked down the hall to the elevator standing at the end. The two then walked the rest of the way together, making their way slowly to the gray car in the underground parking lot.

Reviews

[I.N.Kelly]

//"No," Nicolas said with another smirk. "Actually, she called saying something about a letter." Nicolas pouted. “Too bad she was already married… She would have made a perfect new addition…” Nicolas was always in-between relationships with women (sometimes multiple). It wasn’t very uncommon for him to think in such ways.//

I really like this paragraph, especially; "Nicolas was always in-between relationships with women (sometimes multiple)." I could see him more clearly with this bit of information.

Your characters witty conversation is very entertaining, however as a reader I would have preferred this chapter be 3 person from one of the characters point of view.
You have an excellent pen and I'm interested to read the rest. Please keep writing.