Everything and anything RDJ

Paul Avery x Reader Part 2

Third Person POV

"It's ringing" Robert Graysmith smiled, cramped into the booth with his date for this evening, Melanie. It was certainly not going how either of them had pictured, not that it meant it was going bad. Since he left the office earlier in the day, no one had heard from Paul Avery, nor had they heard from Y/N Y/L/N and Robert was starting to get worried. "Hello? Is that, ummm... Ms. St. James. You were married to Paul, Paul Avery?" He asked, looking to Melanie with a weak smile. "Good, I have the right number. Oh, sorry, this is Robert Graysmith, from the Chronicle, I work with Paul. Is everything all right?" He paused and listened to her response, nodding.

"Well, no, of course everything should be all right. I didn't mean that it wasn't, I meant- I'm sure you're fine, everyone's fine. But, have you heard from Paul?" He took a moment to rephrase his question before he spoke once more. "I didn't mean you should have heard from him, you are divorced and- No, it's not a bad thing, I just wanted to make sure he's, you know... alive." He laughed nervously. "What with all this Zodiac talk and the threat he received." Robert winced at the response that he was given and looked to Melanie.

Hanging up the phone a short time later, Robert turned to Melanie. "She'll call when she hears from him." He sighed, running a hand through his hair. "Good." Melanie smiled, pushing her glasses back on her face securely. "I actually have to go home. To wait for the call." He said nervously, this was not how he wanted the date to end, gosh this was embarrassing. Melanie stared at him with a raised brow. "Is this some sleazy plan to get me to come back to your place?" She asked with a crooked smile. Robert started to panic. "Oh, my goodness, no, I'm sorry. That's -" he began before she giggled and put a hand on his shoulder. "I'll get the food to go." She said, leaving the phone booth.

Meanwhile, Paul looked out the window as he pulled up to a curb. Much against his better judgment, here he was following up a lead that he was informed about. He felt terrible for leaving Y/N in the middle of the night, but he did put her in bed and tucked her in so she wouldn't be too angry right? Across the street from him was a fenced off old car wash, the place had been derelict for years and was hardly the most inviting place in town. Looking back down at his hand he rechecked the address that he was given.

This is it.

He turned off the engine and got out of the car, checking his surroundings and making sure he wasn't followed. He jogged across the street and hopped over the fence that stood between him and the meeting point. He took a deep breath and began to approach the dark building, gosh this was stupid but it had to be done...  "Hello?" He shouted, hand ghosting over the gun in his pocket. The rain started to pour and Paul was foolish enough to not have brought his coat or even an umbrella. "My fucking luck." He grumbled, walking towards the door. He tries to open the glass door. It's locked, what's the point no one's going to steal anything, even if they did it was hardly in good condition he thought.

He knocks on the glass door. Nothing. He wipes some dirt off the glass and leans against it, squinting his eyes to look through to see if there's a light or any sign of this person who had his lead. Nobody seemed to be inside. "Hello? I'm supposed to meet someone?" Still no reply. Paul stepped back and took some time to collect himself. He decided to walk around the building to see if there was another way in. Perfect! There was a car entrance, he crouched through a small hole in the fence. He could hear Y/N in his head telling him not to go and to just turn around and go back home, well back to hers since his ex wife had kicked him out and all he had was his car.

"Hello? Is anyone in there?" He called out once again, hoping that this wasn't just a waste of his time. Surprise surprise, no response. Paul took a few tentative steps into the car entrance and reassured himself. "This is dumb but when that bastard gets caught they'll thank me." He started, rolling his eyes. "I got your letter?" Paul fumbled around in the dark, taking his gun out of his pocket. He began waving it around like a terrible parody of a cop, taking more steps into the building as he went. "I have a gun!" He warned. Suddenly there was a sound and then  movement behind him. Whipping around at the speed of light, Paul pointed his gun, shaking as he held the gun, his eyes focused on a man, just standing there. An awkward moment passes with Paul holding his gun, raised at the figure still until he finds his words. "H-Hi. I'm Paul Avery." He said, dropping his gun a little bit. "That's not what your button says...'' Came the response. 'Oh boy... I fucked up!' Paul thought.