Brown Notebok

Chapter 1

Arthur was sitting alone in his room, his heart was pounding. What he saw earlier wasn't destined to be seen by anyone. The cold, blue eyes of a young woman stared indefinitely into the long, yellow corridor of an old hotel.

"Mister?", young voice could be heard by Arthur. "Mister, your newspaper."

A boy was standing in the entrance to the room, holding a newspaper. He was around 9 years old. He was wearing a brown vest and a small brown cap, accompanied by worn-off blue jeans.

"Thank you", Arthur retorted, taking the newspaper from the boy's hands.

He quickly glanced on the front page. Few small articles written in small font were overshadowed by a big one in the top-front.

"YOUNG WOMAN MURDERED IN LOCAL TOWN, POLICE INVESTIGATION ONGOING", the headline said.

A man took sip of the coffee. It was done in a hurry; sugar didn't melt entirely in it. The mug was stained by the previous coffees, propably also done in a rush in this mug.

Right next to newspaper, a journalist ID could be found. "Arthur Brevinsky".

"Why, that obviously belongs to me," the man named Arthur quietly said, seemingly to himself. "Only 3 years in the job, granted, but a lot of people said I have a bright future ahead in this career."

Brevinsky looked around the room. It wasn't exactly best maintained hotel room he saw, but certainly it wasn't the worst. Dark red walls complimented the yellow-tinted ceiling. There was a carpet on the ground, colored white. A bed with cream sheets could be found at the corner, with a small brown cabinet right next to it. Most of the space was occupied by a large light-brown table allocated in the center.

"This isn't exactly my idea of a vacation," he continued his monologue. "But hey, it's a job I guess."

Mr. Brevinsky looked at his dark-brown, leather organizer. It was freshly bought, so only one no could be found; right at the top of the first page:

MEETING 4/04 10AM KING. AV.

"Oh...", Arthur looked at it surprised. "I, I don't remember writing it... Maybe I just forgot? But I just bought it, I didn't even bring a pen with me..."

"Propably someone before you wrote it, sir!", boy in brown cap looked at him. "You know how it is with things bought at the plaza!"

Brevinsky looked at him with a mix of consternation and irritation.

"E, excuse me?"

"Ya know, plaza things!", the boy smiled. "Most of it propably stolen or used before. Check the amount of pages and compare it with the written amount on the back of the notebook sir."

Arthur checked. Forty eight pages in total as opposed to fifty one promised on the back of it.

"Hey, you're right kiddo!"

"Told ya!", boy's grin started to seem a bit unnatural.

"One question though: how do you know I bought it on a plaza?"

Boy immediately stopped smiling and looked at him with a serious look.

"We all make mistakes Brevinsky," he said quickly before slamming the door.

Faint footsteps could be heard, quickly followed by a silence of a cold evening.

Arthur checked the notebook again.

YOUNG WOMAN MURDERED IN LOCAL TOWN, POLICE INVESTIGATION ONGOING MEETING 4/04 10AM KING. AV.

Arthur kept staring at the note. Meeting at 4th of April at 10AM, near King. Av.

Today was 3th of April, AD 2015. Clock hanged at one of the walls made a familiriar 'tick' and sygnalised the coming of 2AM.

"This doesn't make sense", he said to himself. "King. Av. is, like, 25 miles from there. What does this have to do with the murder? Hmm, maybe the murderer? Still, that wouldn't make sense considering...

Why am I obsessing over a random note?"

Brevinsky closed the notebook and put it down on the coffee-stained table.

"What happens at 10AM there? Any meeting? Party? Opening?"

After a bit of thinking, the only conclusion Arthur came up with is that - ironically - he can't do any conclusions at this point.

Man decided to go to bed. "I'll just go there and return the notebook if this is a big deal", he thought to himself before turning off the bed lamp.