His Conundrums

Chapter 7

Who's George?

It was cold in the morning, and there's about an hour before he swaps shift with Sirius, but Joe decided to visit the old man and bought them some breakfast to eat. He was around the corner when he saw a woman in a white uniform came from the old man's room carrying a pair of pillows and blankets.

"Hey, wait!" he shouted from afar. It was early in the morning, and everyone looked at him with furious eyes. He never bothered to look around and ran towards the woman.

"Where's the patient here?" he asked, trying to take a peek inside the room.

"He got discharged about an hour ago," She said, leaving him swallowed by his thoughts.

He was taken aback. Mr. Lauve still has a day to stay in the hospital, and he never mentioned having an early dismissal.

"They left me?" he asked himself in disbelief.

-0-0-0-

Mr. Lauve decided to stay in a hotel for 3 days since his shop is still under construction from the explosion that happened a week ago.

"Are you sure you want to stay here?" Sirius asked him.

"I have no relatives to go, and I don't want to crash in someone's place. I'm good alone." The old man put his bag on a couch.

Sirius examined the whole room. A smell of fully varnished furniture surrounded the place with brown carpets on the floor and red printed wallpaper on the thick wooden wall. The bed seems to be fine and comfortable, and the temperature seems okay for an old man.

"I'll tell Joe you're staying here. Don't open the door unless it was us," Sirius reminded him.

"What do you take me for? As you said before, I'm a man who lived my life on a battlefield for 47 years. I'm not easy," he said to make Sirius feel assured, leaving him alone.

Sirius let out a heavy sigh and took one last look inside the room before he left the old man to find Joe. He's guessing that guy will be a little lost just to find them.

-0-0-0-

Sirius walked at the sidewalk of Hallowwoods Street just around the corner of Greenville Street. He saw five suspicious men looking around the area. Sometimes he caught them looking but chose to stay low. He was about to go near the home depot shop Mr. Lauve talked to when he saw a crime scene tape surrounding it. 'What happened?' he asked himself. He scanned the whole area and walked straight into the closed store. He saw not five but eight suspicious men. He didn't plan to walk into that store, knowing it was dangerous but chose to make a detour into an apartment where Joe lives. As soon as he reached Joe's door, he saw him opened the door, which looks like he knew someone's coming, but as soon as Joe saw him, he hurriedly closed the door leaving Sirius outside. He was about to knock on the door when Joe opened it again, saying... "Don't talk to me and leave." Then shut the door.

Sirius felt a bit embarrassed when he saw an old lady beside Joe's room watching them.

"What a pair," she said, laughing while going inside her apartment.

He scratched the back of his head, trying to figure out how could he say that Mr. Lauve was staying at a hotel alone, Mario Jagneer was after him, and he needs to find that mug Mr. Lauve was talking about. How could he know about what happened at Mrs. Porter's Home Depot Shop and the mug Sirius was looking to was already at Joe's hands?

-0-0-0-

He felt bad shutting Sirius down, but every time he remembers what happened that morning he got annoyed by it. They didn't even message him. Now he has no clue of where to find Mr. Lauve and his birthday is in 2 days.

He never had a friend before. He remembered he was being mocked way back in his grade school years for having so much in his head. He was also being tossed aside by his mother, a gambler, and only went home when she used up all of their money. He ended up being a thief just to survive the cold and hungry night.

"It's been a week," he said, alone in his room watching from his window pane. He saw him leaving his apartment without having an effort to look back—a cold man, as cold as the isolated part of the North Pole.

"I thought we were friends." He dramatically faced the women-like figure that he has given a name.

"Can I ask you, Jazel? Are we not friends?" He patiently waited for her to answer his question, but he knew that it was impossible for Jazel because she's just a mannequin.

"Yeah! I look like some crazy i***t talking to you. F*ck! I'm going out to buy a gift wrap," he said.

"SH*T! I DON'T KNOW WHERE MR. LAUVE IS STAYING!" he shouted out.

-0-0-0-

"Have you lost your mind?!" His boss shouted at him.

"I'm sorry, sir." He apologized.

"Sorry? This is not the first time you did this. How can you ruin the dead body?" His boss never knew what to do with him.

"I'm sorry, sir. But I found out..." He apologized again, but he was interrupted.

"You're so done. Pack your things. You're on a week vacation," he said, stopping himself from firing this newbie.

"Yes, sir." He packed his things, knowing if he fights back, he may end up firing himself.

He's George Climpton, he's a new detective, and it's not been a month since he got hired. And it seems like it's only been a month. He'll get fired. He packed his things and took one last look at a picture of a man he admired in that profession for how many years, which got him where he is today, a picture of Mr. Sirius Welsch.