The Innocent (A 'Finder' Fanfiction)

Shadow of Pluto - 12 - Alex

"Meet me at the Panorama Restaurant and Bar, tomorrow, 11am. Early lunch. Bring those pictures now, you're here anyway.", he had typed into his mobile phone the evening before. It had of course just been a suspicion, and he had never received an answer ..., nevertheless, he was very sure that the other would turn up, though he had no right to be even in the same country.

He leaned onto the silver railing, beneath which the slope down the hill was very steep. The old town of Dubrovnik with its yellowish gray fortifications and red roofs lay in the deep just below him, burned by the early summer sun, though it was still an hour until noon. Behind all that: nothing but the blue of the sky and the Adriatic Sea.

In the shade provided by a white umbrella, he sat up, disturbed by a family who had settled nearby. Americans, Australians, something like that. Their English sounded broad and unrefined, and the youngest of the children, a blonde boy of maybe eight years, suddenly started to shout for 'Apple juice!'. They had just ordered, and the waiter nearly stumbled in surprise on his way back to the building in which the kitchen and service area were housed. But the father of the group just shooed him away with a patronizing wave of the hand.

"Apple juice! Apple juice!", the boy cried again and again with a high, grinding voice, while his parents had an unperturbed chat and the other two children stared into their mobile phones.

For a while, Alex mused about pulling out his gun and just shoot the kid. That would make his day for certain! He could even imagine himself getting up, walking over, showing his prettiest smile. The mother as well as the eldest child who was a girl of about fourteen years would both look up, and some rosy tint would show on their cheeks because that good-looking guy had noticed them. The husband would likely feel a sting of jealousy right away, ... yet that blonde, smiling person? He could just not be somebody unpleasant? No, this gentleman was very likely extraordinarily wealthy and might invite them for lunch or even onto his Yacht.

At the table Alex would stop, blink down at the boy smilingly, and then he would ...

Aaron dragged his chair across the stony terrace-floor to take a seat.

With a sigh, his twin sat up, and his sweet daydreams ended. A waiter was there quickly, yet Aaron only ordered a black coffee. Nothing else.

"No lunch? No late breakfast?", Alex grinned at him benevolently. His sparkly eyes were met by pale ones that glowered at him across the table.

"No", the other snarled.

"Apple juice!", finally the kid got what he wanted, then exclaimed that he needed a straw. When he got that as well, he sucked in the filling of his glass in one long draw.

Alex was hoping he would just burst.

Sadly, he didn't.

"I'm not gonna ask you what you're doing here because I can imagine. I think you've fallen a bit hard for that kid when I think about the fact that he's not gonna live ..."

"There's no reason to harm him."

Aaron still glowered at him and even kept a straight face when he sipped on the far too hot coffee he was handed soon. That was the way his brother was: Always keeping a straight face. It would not even affect him if Alex pulled his fucking brain out to dissect it here on the table. Never ever would Aaron admit any kind of feelings to him.

Nonetheless, Alex knew himself to be spot-on with his assessment.

"I don't think that's gonna be my decision in the end. Presently, he's in a bedroom with a pink fluffy handcuff around his ankle and a really nasty mood. You did a decent job there, Roro."