Chapter 4

The bell above the door rang, allowing the woman and police inspector to walk in. The rain had begun to rain down much harder, but only one of them was soaked, and that was the young inspector.

The woman ignored the young gentleman and made her way to the usual table in the back, right in view of the door.

“How is it that’s I’m dripping wet and you aren’t?” Nicolas asked, sitting in the chair across from Sherleen.

“You insisted that I was under the umbrella,” Sherleen said as the two cups of usual coffee got se down in front of them. “Thank you, Miss Mary.”

“Oh, it’s a pleasure, Miss Holmes,” said the young waitress , sticking a loose blonde hair behind her ear. Mary looked to Nicolas, frowning. “Should I get you a towel, Inspector Dullingham?”

Nicolas looked up with a smile. “I’d be delighted, Miss Mary.”

Mary giggled and walked away with a blush.

Nicolas continued to eye the woman as she scurried away from sight. Once she was gone from view, he looked back to the woman in front of him only to find Sherleen questioning his actions.

“I think she might finally get to asking me out today,” Nicolas said, smirking.

“I understand that you men have your ‘urges’,” Sherleen said, taking a sip of her coffee, “but please keep those ideas to yourself.”

Before Nicolas could comment on Sherleen’s reply, Mary came up with his towel.

“Here’s you towel, Inspector Dullingham,” Mary said cheerfully.

“Thank you, Miss Mary,” Nicolas said, taking the towel from the waitress’s hands. “And might I say you look rather lavishing today, as usual.”

Mary blushed. “And you’re just as charming as usual, Inspector Dullingham.”

“Oh, please.” Nicolas and Mary looked to Sherleen, seeing her looking through her iPhone. “Save me the sob story. Inspector Dullingham is not charming, he’s a flirt. And right now”-Sherleen looked up-”he’s hoping you’ll ask him on a date for this evening. He’s just too self-confident to actually say so. And you, Miss Mary”-Sherleen looked up to the young woman-”you’ve put on more makeup from the time we stepped through the door to you bringing the towel. I also noticed that you have recently cut your hair and have stopped wearing your usual heart shaped necklace. Broke up with your boyfriend yesterday?”

Mary opened her mouth, but nothing came out. Instead, Sherleen continued.

“Of course you did,” she said. “My guess was because you told him you didn’t want him anymore and were only getting Inspector Dullingham jealous. And might I say, you did a fantastic job.” Sherleen looked back to the cellular device in her hands, beginning to scroll through it again. “But if you wished to sleep with Inspector Dullingham, I would advise you ask him out already and get on with it. We all know it will happen at one point or another, and it’s not like you’re getting any younger, Miss Mary.”

Mary had turned scarlet from embarrassment and partially from anger that Sherleen had to be so blunt. But no matter how much she denied it, Sherleen had hit the mark yet again.

Nicolas, on the other hand, was furious, not even the slightest bit embarrassed by what Sherleen said. He knew it just as well as she that he wasn’t going to continue dating her. That was just how he was. A player, and he was quite proud to admit it.

“Holmes,” Nicolas said, trying to keep his temper in check, “I don’t think-”

“Oh, Inspector Dullingham,” Mary said, holding up her hands, “there’s no need to tell Miss Holmes she was wrong to say what she did. She’s right after all.” Mary’s face flushed a deeper shade of crimson. “About the date part anyway…” Mary smiled with a small giggle. “I was going to ask you if you wanted to go out to dinner with me this evening, but I wasn’t so confident in myself to ask yet.”

Nicolas peered to Sherleen to see her paying no attention to the conversation the two adults were having. He smirked and looked to Mary once again, smiling politely. “I’d love to, Miss Mary.”

Mary smiled in return. “That’s great. Then I’ll see you at 8 o’clock.” Mary was about to walk away, but she soon stopped, remembering what she wanted to ask Sherleen. “Uh, Miss Holmes.”

Sherleen looked up from her cell phone to the young waitress that had called her attention.

“Is Miss Watson going to be joining you this morning?” Mary asked, placing her hands in front of her. “Should I prepare a cup of the usual brew for her?”

Sherleen looked to her watch and smirked. “That’s be wonderful, Miss Mary. Watson should be arriving any minute now.”

As soon as Mary left the table to go brew some of Watson’s favorite blend, the door to the establishment opened, revealing a very drenched woman. This woman was no other then Joycelynn Watson herself.

Joycelynn’s medium brown hair was dripping down to her shoulders; her gray trench goat was dripping also. Her black boots were muddy, no doubt from walking down the street in this weather. The weather had given an unexpected turn around, becoming much worse then what it was when Nicolas and Sherleen were walking outside.

“Ah, speak of the devil,” Nicolas said, giving a small laugh.

Joycelynn took off her jacket and hung in next to the door, revealing the clothes underneath to be perfectly dry. She wore a red blouse with black jeans tucked into her boots.

“It’s amazing that she didn’t get blown away with this weather,” Sherleen said, smirking as Joycelynn came towards their table.

“You know,” Joycelynn said, sitting next to Nicolas, “it’s bad enough that my apartment is across town. Why did you have to say we were meeting here in this kind of weather? You know I‘m without a car, Holmes.”

“Oh, that’s right…” Sherleen said, putting her phone away.

Joycelynn glared at her companion, knowing that Sherleen knew this information but failed to take it into consideration. Or Sherleen did take it into consideration and just did not care for it.

“If coming here is such a problem,” Nicolas said, “why don’t you move back into the apartment with Holmes?”

“No,” Joycelynn stated as Mary set the usual cup of coffee in front of her and walked away. “I will not move back into that cursed apartment.” Joycelynn narrowed her eyes at the woman across from her, who was paying no attention yet again. “I can’t stand hearing the violin in the morning; experimentation on my cat; reading my mail-”

“That was once,” Sherleen said. “And I might add, it did notify you of your car getting totaled after I specifically told you that it had been stolen.”

Joycelynn sighed and continued. “Correcting me in the most absurd ways; having the strange fascination with daggers; the gun shots heard in the other room at 3 A.M.; and most of all, the dirty living space that Holmes decided to reside in.”

“Well,” Nicolas said, giving a small smile, “I do have to say, at the time that was true. But, she’s gotten better if I do say so.”

“I still will not move back in,” Joycelynn replied. “She’s lucky enough that I’m still her partner in solving mysteries.”

Sherleen laughed. “The only reason you’re still helping is because you can’t get anyway from the crime.” Sherleen looked to Joycelynn, smiling. “You love the mysteries.”

Joycelynn rolled her eyes and took a drink of her coffee. “Other then pressing me to move back in, why am I here?”

Sherleen looked to her watch. “The reason I called you was because we got ourselves a case.”

“A case?” Nicolas repeated as Joycelynn chocked on her coffee.

“Yes,” Sherleen said, straightening out her collar. “Nathaniel Young had contacted me the other day.”

“You mean the man that has been in the paper recently?” Nicolas said, raising an eyebrow.

“Precisely,” Sherleen said standing to her feet.

“Wait, Holmes!” Joycelynn shouted, standing to her feet as her companion broke for the door. “You haven’t explain anything about the case!”

“No time to waste, Watson!” Sherleen said, grabbing a umbrella from the stand and opening it. “Everything will be explain once we’re there.”

Joycelynn sighed and shook her head. But she comply, finding herself rather interested in this case Sherleen failed to explain. But she also found herself in compensation to the Inspector next to her to keep an eye on Sherleen.

Joycelynn soon found herself following Sherleen out the door into the pouring rain again, leaving Inspector Nicolas Dullingham alone at the table.

“Great catching up…” Nicolas muttered, not even realizing the attractive private detective had taken his umbrella.