. . .
Date: January 2001
Location: (redacted)
. . .
The local library always had a warm, cozy vibe in it as for as long as I could remember. It was a perfect spot to hang around in a rainy day or during the winters when they’ll have the fireplace set up.
I remember when I was way younger–maybe somewhere around five or six years old–I would often laze around this place during some particularly chilly Saturday afternoons in winter breaks, comfortably warm and bundled up in hand-knit scarves and mittens mom would make for me while my dad would be sitting right next to me, book in hand, already lost to another world thanks to a good story.
Ah, the memories of my youth…
(Looking back on it now, no wonder I grew up with a love for books, writing for a living to boot as well… I guess I really had my Dad to thank for that.
Well, thanks Dad.)
The local library has always been one of my favorite places in here too, most memories I had associated with my old man had been here, after all.
Not to mention, it doesn’t always have many visitors (except during hectic school days) especially with school break, so it wasn’t too out of place to find that it looks like a ghost town or something… and that’s also why I was quick to notice two, familiar faces huddled side by side right when I walked in.
Or maybe it’s because the two of them were situated in a table that was literally placed near the front door.
They had a stack of old newspapers piled in front of them, some they were still holding, and they seemed to be discussing something very important, judging by the intense looks on their faces. Are they having a having a debate?
I immediately recognized the first person as Lorelei, the librarian (also known as Wallace’s ex-girlfriend) and… wait a minute, is that Bobby?
I blinked.
Pinch me if I’m dreaming.
No?
Okay, is the world ending then? Since when did Bobby turn into a bookworm? He hummed, “Bobby mentioned you’re in town,”
The voice was deeper, stronger.
No tattoos on his face.
Oh.
Oh wait, no… so I was wrong.
It’s Bobby 2.0.
“Hello to you too, Junior,” I greeted.
Meet the future mayor of our good ole seaside town: Roberto Mortimer Jr. AKA–Bobby’s perfectionist of an older brother.
“Hey, just now, I was walking around the area…” I continued, approaching the two of them after making sure to close the door properly behind me lest the librarian throws a fit (and a paper weight) on me, “And I think you should really know –”
“Spit it out already. It sounds scary if you drag it out like that,” Junior warned, but there was already a hint of a smile tugging at the corner of his lips as he fixed his glasses properly as he turned to look at me, “Just got home and already causing trouble around. What are you up to now, saint?”
“Nothing,” I huffed, suddenly feeling a bit defensive at his usual question as I plopped down on his other side. Junior raised an eyebrow, looking particularly unconvinced so I immediately relented, “Just so you know… I’m only here to look up some useless, boring research for work you don’t really have to know. Anyway, as I was saying, while I was on the way here, I saw this real weird lady–”
“Don’t judge a book by its cover,” Lorelei reiterated.
I rolled my eyes, “Excuse you, I wasn’t judging okay? Well, on another note, I guess she’s a foreigner or something. Chinese, probably–looks kind of hot… if only she wasn’t so creepy,”
Junior’s face suddenly turned serious.
“You are getting married right?”
“Huh? What does that have to do with anything?” he only stared at me, raising a pointed eyebrow, his gaze a touch disapproving. Catching on real quick, I immediately blanched, waving my hands frantically, “Oh my god shut the fuck up, Junior. Shut up before word gets to my girl! It’s not like that!”
Lorelei snorted out a laugh at my expense but didn’t bother to look up from the newspaper she’s reading. And well, would you look at that… it was dated way back; year 1940, to be exact.
“She was looking for your old man, you know!”
“Wait, what? Are you serious?” Junior suddenly straightened up in his seat almost immediately, eyes widening as he dropped his newspaper, “Did she say why? Did you get a name?!”
“Nah, just–” I sobered up real quick at the urgency that practically dripped in his tone. I shrugged my shoulder, “…she just said she knows him is all.”
Junior’s brows furrowed but to my surprise, he didn’t ask any more questions or even bothered to pursue the matter any further despite his (not-so-subtle) panicking because he chose to focus more on the stacks of dusty newspapers articles neatly strewn about in front of him instead.
That’s the glaring difference between Junior and Bobby; the older one has always been all about prim and proper while the latter’s…
Okay, you know what, never mind.
“What’re you guys reading anyway?” I asked, immediately holding up a hand before any of them could give me a proper answer, “Wait no let me guess. Please let me guess because I wanna guess… it’s about the serial killings recorded way back in the early 90s or some weird shit that went down in or anywhere near the good ole seaside. Am I right or am I right?”
“What a pretty wild guess,” Junior remarked, dryly.
“Well, he’s not wrong,” Lorelei shrugged, “And I’m guessing that you’re either interested in researching for your story or you’re here because Wall’s too chicken to show his face to me?”
I smiled innocently at her.
“Lady, I have no idea what you’re talking about,” then I deliberately turned my head away to look at what Junior had been reading now–an article about a lot of missing people dated way back in the late 80s.
Lorelei scoffed behind me.
Oh wow.
What a depressing story.
“…with that out of the way, what is a golden boy like you doing here, lowering himself to mingle with us commoners?” I joked, nudging his shoulder.
“Shut up,” he muttered.
“No for real man, I mean, I get why Lorelei’s here–she practically lives in the library for a living but not you.”
“Junior’s a wanna-be detective now apparently,” Lorelei piped in.
As if on cue, Junior’s ears immediately colored brightly as he looked up to glare at me and then to the librarian, huffing, “Look, it’s not like that, okay? I just think I’m on to something here is all… but it would really, really help if I have some actual access to the scene of the murders.”
I blinked, bewildered.
“Wait, you were going on about that?”
“Well, aren’t you?” he retorted.
I awkwardly laughed at that, internally wincing at Lorelei’s very pointed stare drilling on the side of my face, caught.
…Hahahahah, oops.
“Okay, cool. That’s cool, I guess but… but why? I mean, you’re running for mayor, right? You’re supposed to be the boss of everyone in this place. And you’re supposed to be busy with, I dunno, staring at other kinds of boring paperwork that doesn’t have to involve a crime. You know you really didn’t have to sit your ass around here like a leprechaun poring over at papers older than our grandfathers.”
“I don’t have to…” he says, carefully, “But I want to.”
“No shit,” I remarked, dryly, “For real, why?”
Junior rolled his eyes at the thinly veiled jab, “I just told you: I think I’m on to something here. But seriously, can’t Wallace help us sneak in on the scene?”
I snorted, “Yeah, sure, hell no.”
“I heard that they locked up the crime scene really good too.” Lorelei commented, idly picking up another newspaper to browse through.
Junior raised an eyebrow, “Even until after dark?”
I and Lorelei startled at that.
Did he…?
Did he seriously just –?
“Robert,” I began, my tone turning quiet and deadly serious, “…did you just seriously fucking insinuated that you have been planning to break in on a crime scene and–and for what–for shit and kicks?”
“To help, of course,”
We both stared at him, incredulous.
“But… yes, fine, basically,” he amended, sighing.
I feigned a theatrical gasp, “Holy shit man, who the fuck are you and what did you do to our Mr. Goody two shoes–?”
The telephone Lorelei had always kept hanging by next to her desk suddenly rang very loudly like a blaring silence, making the three of us flinch at the out of nowhere racket. Curious and still a bit rattled at the sudden noise, we both turned our heads to watch as Lorelei stood up and hurried over to answer it.
For a moment, Lorelei looked confused as she listened in to what they were saying. Then, her eyes widened.
“V-Valiant…?” she called, lowering the phone for a bit.
I stood up, “What? What did I do now?”
“It’s… it’s your fiancé,” she gulped.
What?
Pearl?
What about her?
My heart felt like it practically dropped when I saw that her face had gone pale, horrified, “T-the police, they… they just retrieved her body from the shore.”