Day 8
Garden
Night - Post Sunset of the Wolfie happennings
"Nothing in this world is harder than speaking the truth, nothing easier than flattery."
~ Fyodor Dostoevski
A figure streaked across the street that lay in front of the Doctor's house. The figure was in dark clothing to match the night.
The sun had set already, another beautiful sunset in the City of Garden. Some of the lamps were lit, not all of them yet though, and on this street, most of it lay in pools of deep shadow.
The Doctor's manor was dark as was most of the street, but there was a faint orange slant of light towards the back that suggested the Doctor was home, just not receiving patients at this time of the night.
The visitor ignored all these signs, skirted the short drive and went through the bushes, angling towards the back where the light emanated from.
The figure in black did not look as if they were trying to sneak into the manor unannounced; rather it looked like they were trying to avoid being seen entering from the street outside.
Halfway down the short drive, hidden safely in the bushes, the figure stopped for a moment and cocked their head as if to listen for pursuit of any kind.
The street was silent, still dark and devoid of obvious pursuit.
The figure resumed their silent and stealthy sojurn into the back of the Doctor's manor. They passed from sight of the street into the darkness of the small alleyway that divided the carriage house and the Manor.
Just after that, a figure detached itself from the dark orbit of a lampost nearby and walked quietly forward. The street still sounded empty as the footfalls of the new figure muffled themselves expertly on the cobbled and usually noise-inducing streets.
This figure was again, like the spectre before them, was all dressed in black, and the surrounding darkness did a good job at obscuring their face.
They peered up at the manor for a minute or so, silently staring, then they walked on up the street towards the center of the City.
The silence was complete the whole time; at least until the lamplighter made her way down the street slowly dispelling the darkness with her creation.
Another figure watched all of this from the front window that overlooked the street in the Manor without moving a muscle or making a sound.
This is what he was good at, Robinson thought to himself. Making sure everyone plays an fair game.
He watched the last figure disappear up the road, and that's when he left the privacy of the drapes. He had hidden there a little while ago; he had a suspicion that something would happen tonight here. He made his way through the dark hallway towards the Doctor's study. He passed this and went through the pantry. He stopped at the outside door and held himself tightly under strain as he touched the knob to turn it.
It did not creak as he had hoped, due this recent oiling that afternoon. I'm glad I still cover all the bases.
He thought to himself as he opened the door very slowly. The pantry light was off so as to not reveal any new shaft of light as it opened.
The Doctor worked quietly at his desk. It was later than he had planned, but had stopped growing weary around this time a long time ago.
His deft hands moved swiftly still with no regard for the lateness of the evening. He made a sweeping motion with one hand and then another with the other hand. He then leaned back a little in his chair to study his his work.
A figure crept through the darkness outside the walls of the study where the Doctor presided over his work. The figure slowly and quietly made their way up to the window outside. The Doctor, framed in the window perfectly, was working with his back to the window.
The figure stared at the Doctor for a moment, the blackness of outside the window perfectly hiding them, then it moved slowly forward.
A hand rummaged in the coat pocket slowly while the Doctor leaned back and stretched.
A gnarled and scarred hand reached out of the darkness beside and grasped the rummaging hand.
"I don't think so Sonny Jim. Drop it!" Robinson barked, his body and muscles tensed for anything.
He was next to the dark figure, a mere fixture of the darkness himself by the look of it, one hand grasping the interloper's wrist in a grip of iron, the other hand in his own coat pocket.
"Robinson! Let me go!" The figure cried in a higher pitched, but plainly irritated voice.
"Yes, Robinson, please let her go." Said the Doctor drily from the now slightly open window. "I rather think she is here to see me and not to harm me."
Although we'll see how much she wants to harm me after Robinson emberrassed her like that, the Doctor thought to himself as he gestured them both to come inside.
"Thank you very much Robinson for watching over Evatt so well; I don't think I will ever be able to repay you." Evelyn managed to say without opening her mouth.
"Thank you miss, I'm glad I had the chance to test out how well I guard him." He grinned back at her pursed lips.
They met the Doctor inside, where he gestured Evelyn to go ahead, while he murmered to Robinson in and undertone. "I did not wish for you to emberrass anyone, let alone Evelyn, Tom. Now I will have to make it up to a clearly irritated Eve."
"It was an honest mistake Doctor," Robinson stopped grinning and only a small smirk remained for a moment until it too had disappeared. "I'll be more careful next time."
"See that you do!" Eve spoke sharply from the next room.
Robinson grinned again and left to resume his duties.
"What are you doing here Eve at this time of night? It is dangerous now to be out like this." The Doctor said a little anxiously.
"Hear yourself Doctor," She retorted. "This is Garden. We have had two.....murders happen in half a century. The odds are in my favor you know."
"That's ridiculous Evelyn." He smiled nevertheless. "What are you doing here though if I might ask?"
"I think that Inspector is in for a bit of trouble and I think he could do with some local help."
"You have been hinting at something like that since yesterday. What are you trying to tell me?" He replied stubbornly, but smiling a little all the while.
"I think that...I think that our Inspector Mondieu needs help." She started to say hurriedly. She ended slowly as if to sound more entreating.
"He is a professional Police Inspector Evelyn. What could you say about it?" He did not hurry his words; instead, he sounded like he was trying to convince a much younger person of a universal truth.
"He's new to Garden. I think that we could help him solve these murders!" She cried heatedly. Her face a little flushed, she continued. "I think that we could help him, I think that we could find out information before he does."
I will wager you do. Thought the Doctor before continuing aloud. "I rather think that you believe something else Eve." He looked at her a moment before continuing. "Is it that....You think you can do better? That you could show up our esteemed Inspector by solving everything before he does?"
"It is....perhaps a shade of that." She admitted freely, with a small private smile.
"What are we to do? Your instinct is to make Mondieu look a fool; not the noblest of instincts my Dear." She started to interrupt him but he waved her off.
"My role is to save the fools." He finished to quiet her.
To save them from themselves more often then not, I wager, she said softly to herself.
He ignored her this and offered her tea. She declined.
"I will just work it out myself you know," She said quietly. "I don't necessarily need your help."
"You mean you don't need my help to put your nose where it doesn't belong? And to have it broken for you?" The Doctor replied. "I do not doubt it."
"Evatt, I am going to try Doctor's work: your work. I want to cure Garden before more people get hurt." She said pensievely, after a few moments of silence.
"You mean you will poke around whether I help or not?" He grimaced.
"That sounds uglier than it will most likely be." She laughed her sophisticated laugh again quietly.
"You mean you expect me to help you." He didn't really have to ask it as a question; it was more a statement.
"I do." She replied gravely, all laughter gone.
"If you are going to do some investigating by yourself, whether I help or not, I guess I will have to be there just to call for help if you need it." He didn't smile or laugh when he said this.
"You're a doctor, you can help me in most of those situations," She said, not matching his somber mood.
"Eve," The Doctor said quite seriously this time. "Do you realize what you are.....what you are trying to convince us to do?"
There was silence in response to his questions. Eve just looked at the Doctor.
"This is dangerous, very dangerous!" The Doctor said seriously. "This is not someone comitting theivery of the lowest sort; this is different."
"Which is why we need to stop them as fast as possible." She replied a little huskily meeting his serious eyes.
"I will help you....." He said quietly then after a moment's deliberation. "On two conditions. One: you must share all of your information with me at all times. Two: That I work with the Inspector first, and you second and that you actually understand and support that."
She paused, but only for a second after he finished.
"Doctor, I would not have it any other way." She said seriously but with a small twitch of her mouth.
"Right. Where should we begin?" He asked briskly of her, sitting down and lighting his pipe.
"I think we should invite Robinson to be a part of this; since he is listening to us anyway." She pointed after finishing towards the doorframe.
"My Lady Eve, you are wonderous. Even the great Sherlock, nay, not even the great Mondieu could have known I was there listening." Tom Robinson said walking into the room in his quiet way.
"I don't have to be a great detective Robinson to know skulkers like you, or know your character." She didn't bother meeting his eyes as she spoke. "Where shall we begin then if we are agreed?"
It was later that evening, quite late into the night when Seth left the Police Yard. He was tired; he had never had to do anything like this before. He didn't realize how much it took out of you to do this work all the time. For a moment he wondered how the Mondieu did it, then he shook his head out of his reverie. "He's not a regular man, is he?" He asked himself quietly as he walked. The sound helped him; it reassured him in these dark hours, in these moments when he did not know what to do.
His walking took him South of Redress, he didn't like to walk through it now, so he avoided it. He walked by the IT tower, a hive of steel and internal switches that lay in darkness at this time of night.
Quite suddenly,he had a fantastic sight that paralleled what lay in his sight now.
The dark landscape around him flared in the flickering light of a match and the shadows created were not based in reality.
Off to his left was a tall switch, it pulsated slightly with the electric potential it contained. The switch flipped slowly, the fall of the contacts seemed to be suspended it time as they swung down, and then they made contact. Yellow lights burst everywhere around him, revealing for a fraction of a second before he was blinded, the chaotic landscape that surrounded him.
A maze of circuits and electronic gates lay before him. They suggested a universe of possibilities if opened or switched, a world of unknown potential.
He staggared in real life, facing all these images in front of his eyes.
He was on the highest point now, he could see forever. The whole scope of the city and surrounding country was a jumble of wires and circuits. He didn't know anymore what he was seeing.
He fell over and rolled onto his back, gasping for breath. The sky was dark, and though none of what he had just seen was real, he still felt like he had been blinded by the light.
The world around him just got darker. A dark patch had moved from one spot to another, closer to his prone body.
Seth rolled again and scrambled to his feet.
"Who is that?" He cried, his voice not shrill in the least. It was perfectly modulated and in control.
"It is I," The figure spoke softly and it was a counterpoint to Seth's commanding voice. "Temple..... I just came over to see if you were all right. You seemed to have a fit and fall over all funny."
The relief was evident in Seth's voice when he replied a moment later. "Temple, ah good."
They stood there for another moment before Seth spoke again, more quickly this time. "What are you doing outside the IT Tower at this time of night?"
Simon just looked at Seth and it looked like he was gathering his thoughts.
"I should ask you the very same question," he finally said in return. "I find you out here, having all sorts of funny turns all over the place at this time of night. What am I to think of that when I know there's a crazy murderer walking around free at this very moment?"
Seth for a moment, was speechless and merely gaped at Temple in the darkness.
"Temple!" He started to thunder when he heard Simon's quiet chuckle.
"Oh....well it was a rum sort of joke to say you know." He explained a little more softly.
"You are probably right, Seth, but the deeds done. I can't take it back now." Was the cheeful reply.
"What are you doing out here Temple?" Seth asked more quizzically this time and less commandingly.
Simon hesitated, but only for a moment before replying. "That's better. I was......doing your job Seth. I was chasing a murderer."
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