Thirteen☄️
John Burrows refused to say anything more after his sudden meltdown. We had spent an extra hour trying to wiggle out more information but all he did was repeat the same story over and over again, all the while looking flustered and maniac at the same time. It almost seemed like he had a ticking time bomb that would explode if he told us everything.
"Well this is frustrating. How are we supposed to know who he was talking about?", Linda exclaimed, throwing her hands over her head as soon as we exited the detention room.
It was obviously someone he knew, someone he was close to and scared of at the same time. Who would that be? Not his sister, she was dead. Not Emily, she was missing. Not his mom, who sold at the local supermarket. Or maybe not, it could just have been the leader of it all, a top entity who could make or break anyone.
I spoke up, "We need to have a thorough look into his life and see who he's close to, females especially. Relatives, friends, acquaintances, even enemies."
"I agree, Bella. We'll get right on it, after all we have evidence." David smirked, twirling the android phone in his hands while pointing at the slightly worn-out laptop on the table.
"Good, I'm meeting up with Jack later. He's angry I snuck out this morning, seems like I have to pacify him." Sighing, I checked my wristwatch, a gift from Jack, "I'll be back in 45 minutes."
"Come on, how am I supposed to waddle through this snow?" I exhaled as soon as I got out of the station. Just like every other winter year, the road was deep in snow territory. White flakes covered nearly up to the bottom quarter of my car as well as that of David's. The top of cars and buildings were no different, all looking like the roofs had been painted a shiny white.
Shrugging, I wadded to my car and brought out the snow boots every one in town had for moments like this. I put it on and looked across the road, luckily there was already a mildly cleared path leading up until the cafe and well past it. Smiling at a bit of good luck, I made my way over and used the path. The snow was so thick that the path had already started to fill up again, it would have definitely done that before I was done with Jack.
Right across the cafe was Mrs. Walter's car, wrongly parked again. I shook my head, some people really needed driving lessons all over again. But then again, I couldn't blame her, it would be hard to park very well in all this snow.
Immediately I entered the cafe, I shook the snow off my body before taking off my boots and handing it over to the worker who was specifically hired for situations like this.
Looking around, I walked over to our spot and sat down across Jack facing the entrance, as always. I liked this spot, it made people watching very easy and part of me was going to do that today.
"Ahem", Jack cleared his throat. "How have you been?" He asked, looking me over.
"Babe, I'm fine. I'm sorry I got up early, I had to do so in order to catch Jack Burrows." I admitted, reaching across the table to touch his cheeks.
He held my hand and whispered, "I'm not mad, I was just worried about you. I totally understand, how did it go?"
Relieved, I smiled as I told him everything that had happened today. Jack, being Jack, just listened with rapt attention and gave suggestions where he could. This was one of the reasons we fitted so well, he was nearly as good as a detective as I was.
For the thousandth time that day, the cafe bell rang signifying an entry. I looked up to see an unlikely pair, Mrs. Brooke and Michael Stone. What was the mayor's wife doing with one of the most troublesome youths in Winchester town, especially when the Mayor was missing? I vaguely remembered how she denied knowing anything about the death of the mayor's ex-wife, and immediately requested for bail upon her arrest. She had also been granted a grace of two weeks for her freedom, and for us to investigate her involvement. The evidence was glaring, but without the Mayor being available to judge the case it wasn't enough.
They placed their order and sat down at the booth opposite us. I hid my face behind my hair and strained my ears all the way to their table. Jack immediately sensed this, and arched an eyebrow in question.
"I'm trying to track the Mayor and his wife is with one of the town's bad boys. I want to know why." I pointed out through gritted teeth, one couldn't tell who was listening.
He nodded and continued making small talk, while I responded half-hearted. Anyone who saw us would have seen a lovely couple whiling away time until lunch break was over, but we were detectives fishing for clues and information.
At the end of Jack's lunch break, we had gotten nothing substantial from their conversation. Jack and I had heard snippets of conversation, but it was mostly about his college work and town info, a few fond memories about the Mayor. Their suprising fondness was disturbing, I had never seen these two together and all of a sudden, they were like parent and child.
I nearly missed the Mayor's wife discreetly slip Michael a piece of paper before abruptly getting up to leave the bar. The bell rang again, Micheal made a call, stood up and left but not before throwing the same paper into a bin.
"Jack, I think our lunch break is over. We should get back to work." I said, checking my watch again, as I stood up to help him do the same. Once again, he questioned me silently but I half-ignored it as we made our way to the door. While he collected our belongings from the cafe worker, I quickly threw my coffee cup into the trash and walked out into the cold again.
"I'll see you at home, Jack." I smiled, kissing his cheek and proceeding to the opposite direction from Jack's toy company. Like I suspected, the pathway was completely blocked again thus forcing me to waddle my way through the thick ground until I got to the station.
"Ugh, I just can't wait for winter to be over. What have you guys got?" I asked, removing my external apparel and walking over to where Linda and David sat, glued to the laptop screen.
"We've got some names, Bella. We looked through calls, messages and social media. You won't believe who this guy has been in contact with." Linda remarked, handing me the opened messages on the phone.
I scrolled through it all, mostly spams, service provider messages, but one stood out. A message from Michael Stone, containing the same address I had picked up from the trash on a piece of paper.
I gasped, this meant all the Brookes' were involved in this whole situation.
"We need to get to this address, fast."
*****
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