His Soul

Need Assistance?

You were tempted to take Curioso’s advice and go searching nearby utility poles for any posted papers. You still needed to make money, after all. Your smaller jobs paid you for a week or two’s worth of groceries, but you could use a better telephone. One that didn’t require an emblem to work and wouldn’t fall apart after you used it. Your old office chair was also starting to hurt your back, so a new one would be nice…

Detective pay was great when you solved a major case. It made you fortunate enough to afford an apartment with a downstairs office. Other people didn’t have that luxury and you didn’t want to lose yours. So you were always on the search for available work. You put yourself out there as much as you could, leaving business cards with people and posting advertisements of Dark Light Detective Agency around town. You even had an arrangement for a regular ad space in the newspaper. If fate was kind to you, it was someone else who approached your agency for help. 

Luckily, you didn’t have to wait much longer until such a thing happened. 

A young woman entered your office one afternoon after your lunch break. She was wearing an excessive amount of clothing, including a coat and a pair of dark sunglasses. You figured she was trying to hide her identity as she traversed outside. You were quick to rise to your feet once she appeared and offered your help with removing her excess apparel. She thanked you as you hung her coat on the rack by your door. 

“Good afternoon, miss. What can I help you with?” You asked as you both sat down. 

She folded her hands and sighed. “Hello, Detective. I’m Brianna, and I’m afraid I have a pretty common case for you. My wife has been acting strange this past month and I have a great suspicion that she's hiding something from me. But I can’t figure out what it is.”

You removed your gloves and cleared some space on your desk. This was not only an ordinary case, but a known time-waster as well. But you’ve been wanting *something* to do, so you weren’t going to deny her plea, no matter how trivial it might be. It was always good to get out of the office as it was. 

“Do you have any more information?” You asked. Brianna nodded and pulled out a folder she was carrying with her. She carefully set it in front of you. You opened it and briefly read through what she had. 

Her wife was disappearing for several hours throughout the night and would return sometime in the morning. Brianna recorded her as having an odd smell, like she was trying to conceal something with some type of cleaner. She also appeared to be in a different mood when she came back, somewhat sluggish and reserved. She always returned in a different pair of clothing, which added to her suspicion. 

“-And before you ask, I don’t believe it’s an affair. Sophie would never do that to me.” She shook her head. “I’m just a little worried. She’s usually so energetic, but not so much anymore. It’s like something else has been taking up all her time in the night.”

“..I see. And you want me to track her for the night, to see where she’s going? Bring you some pictures?” 

“If it isn’t too much trouble, Detective. I know you probably have more important things going on…”

You slouched in your chair as you eyed your office that had been cleaned several times over. You had absolutely nothing going on right now, but she didn’t need to know that. Because of this, you happily accepted the case and received some more information from Brianna. She was thrilled with your cooperation and even paid you in advance for your trouble. 

You planned on leaving tomorrow evening to start your investigation. It wouldn’t be anything more than tailing this woman and sitting in your car for hours while waiting for any interesting sights. You’d been on cases like this before, and most of the time, they ended without much hassle - one of the parties was simply overreacting, or the other was just trying to hide a surprise or bad habit. Nothing necessarily extreme enough to get the authorities involved.