“Oh yeah! Yeah yeah! Julian, you’re so smart!” She beamed. Charlie waited outside for a solid five minutes before giving up. “Uuuuugh... theres no one here! Lets go somewhere else for a taxi!” Before she could move, her stomach started to grumble.

“Julian, I’m hungry... this day is going awful!” She said as it had been no more than a few minutes since they left the cafe. Charlie was hopeless. And very very impatient. Of course, her personality traits could be quite useful in sticky situations. This was not one of them.

"Hungry?! We just ate!" Julian worried about the state of the universe if the black hole in her stomach wasn't satisfied. "Either way, it does us no good to stand around. We might as well begin walking, and catch a cab on the way."

Regrettably, no taxis seemed willing to stop for them for quite some time as they walked, causing Julian to grumble. "We have the brightest minds in the world here, and no one thought to have maybe a few more taxis?!"

“Julian, we might as well just walk there, it'll be shorter than to wait for a cab that will never come.” Charlie sighed and kept walking down the street. She should file a complaint to the town about the lack of public transportation. Though getting a cab job could make some extra money.

As the two were walking down the street, Charlie slipped her out of her pocket. She slowly but surely and sneakily locked her fingers with Julian. She felt so proud of her handiwork and making things a bit more romantic as they walked.

When Charlie entertwined her fingers with his, Julian's initial instinct was to pull away, but he fought back the reaction. She might be his boss, but that didn't mean he couldn't care about her. She was probably the only person in the city who he did care about, after all. Not that he was completely incapable of compassion or empathy; Julian simply preferred to not have many close connections with others. He was better company for his thoughts than most, and very few people actually looked up to his position as assistant to a washed-up investigator.

But Julian could have taken one of several jobs. He chose this one over a spot in the police force, simply because of Charlie. He never mentioned it to her, but she might have wondered at some point how she got an applicant as overqualified as Julian.

They walked hand-in-hand for miles. At one point, it seemed like they probably could have hailed a cab, but Julian's hand gripped Charlie's slightly tighter as it passed. They finally arrived on the street where the woman lived-- er, died, only to see cops searming the building. "So, what now?" Julian asked.

“I... guess we ask around. Um...” Charlie tapped on the shoulder of the cop, nervously. He turned around and she nearly jumped. She had a secret fear of cops. It wasnt very rational but she certainly had one. She ran behind Julian and tugged on his shirt.

“H-H-How about you talk to him? Youre words... you uh, you can speak better to them.” She said. Her voice was shakey.

The cop towered over them and looked down at the intrusion into his morning with a look of disdain. A woman hiding behind her man? Definitely furthering the cause for equality there. He raised an eyebrow as if to ask what they were doing. Julian, being forced into this position by his employer, quickly gathered his thoughts and cleared his throat.

"Good morning, Officer! Erm... afternoon now, I guess. Anyways! We were passing by and heard some rumors about an interesting mystery unraveling itself here. I am... erm, we are... I should probably get my card. I am Julian Cagle, and this is Charlie Bell of Bell & Cagle Investigators. We were wondering if you wouldn't mind an extra pair of eyes... or two, I suppose?"

The policeman looked down on what appeared to be a pair of third-rate bumbling investigators looking to muck up the crime scene, but at this point, the evidence had been catalogued, and they were stumped. Mostly. "Fine. Go on ahead, but if I see you touch anything, I'll toss you in jail for tampering with evidence, got it?"

Julian nodded gratefully and nearly dragged Charlie forward under the police tape. "Thank you, sir! You won't regret it!" They headed for the door under the cop's watchful eye, and Julian muttered to Charlie, "Lovely fellow. Shall we go inside, then?"

Charlie chuckled nervously and went jnside the house with Julian. A majority of the place was outlined or covered in police tape. Some was covered in a plastic wrap. The doors to the rest of the rooms were locked. The police must have been investigating inside.

Charlie looked around and took a left into the kitchen. Markers marking blood and cake were all over the table.

“Julian, you remembered what happened right? Do you remember seeing what she looked like?” Before Julian could answer, the police brought out a stretcher with a not so human lump underneath. It must have been her husband. Charlie turned away in disgust.

“L-like I was saying...” she gagged.

Julian nodded at Charlie's question as he checked the sink for where they had both puked in it yesterday. He hoped they didn't have to go through DNA testing, and grimaced at what he saw. "Yeah, I remember her. She was wearing a wedding gown, but I didn't spend a lot of time looking at her face. I mean... she was stuffing it with cake and also had a dead guy she was carrying around..."

Julian glanced through the fridge and freezer as well, seeing what was left there. Apparently, the woman was eating nothing but cake... but was she really there? There had to be fingerprints, right? Some sort of proof she had been actually here. If it wasn't the actual bride... "I never went upstairs," Julian noted. "Did you see anyone besides her and her husband?"

“I never went up stairs either...” Charlie gulped, looking at the stirs leading up to the dark hallway. Charlie didnt want to imagine what horrors would lie upstairs. The woman could easily be hiding something gruesome that would probide evidence as to why she murdered her husband.

She grabbed Julian’s hand and walked towards the stair case. Charlie took a deep breath and went up the stairs. Each step made poor Charlie’s heart pound more. Finally, she had made it to the top. There were three more rooms upstairs. The door looked damaged on one side while the other two rooms were perfectly clean, like they were just made.

In some cases, Julian might withdraw his hand from being held. On a crime scene with the professional police squad all around usually would be one of those times, but this place was damned creepy. Julian took the offered hand, grasping tightly as they ascended.

Julian examined the damage on the door with interest. "I wonder... was this the scene were the husband was originally killed? Was there a struggle? Did he see it coming? How long before the wife felt enough remorse to kill herself in return?" He murmured questiom after question under his breath as he examined the door, then opened it to see what lay in the room beyond.

The hall way leading to the rooms was covered in trash. Bags full of papers and noodle cups stacked in mountains littered the halls. Charlie gulped as an awful smell wafted out of one of the rooms. Charlie plugged her nose and entered in the first room.

The bathroom looked like it hadn’t been touched in days. But everything was spotless. It was a nuce bathroom with a beach theme. It was covered in sea shells and paintings of the beach. But there were no towels. All of towels and washcloths were no where to be seen. Charlie closed the bathroom and made her way to the second room.

Julian held Charlie's hand tightly as they looked around the bathroom. The lack of towels was quite odd; he couldn't think of any reason they might be missing. One positive thing to note was that the room was clean. An uncleaned bathroom that had sat for days would have been foul to say the least.

As they left the bathroom, Julian spoke up. "Why do you think there are so many noodle cups in the hall, and yet the bathroom is spotless? If someone had been eating out here, you would expect the bathroom to be used heavily. Someone as careless about clutter as this likely would not have spent time cleaning a bathroom either." The mystery was definitely getting more confusing. Perhaps the next room would shed some light.

Charlie thought for a bit. He was right. Nothing was making sense. “I… I have no idea. But why keep the bathroom clean and the rest of the house a mess. Did the murder take place here? I dont understand...”

Charlie closed the door and walked into the room next to it. Well, she couldnt walk into it, it was full of boxes and boxes of who knows what. They were stacked right against the door, ready to fall. They seemed extremely heavy and full. Charlie slammed the door closed and sighed.

Charlie walked up to the final door, scared for what was to come. Her hand was shaky. She could barely bring herself to hold the handle.