Deep Dive Private Eye( Original Story)

The Library Run-In.

Arthur POV

Arthur stood outside the Netherweb Internet Café waiting for Seamus to show up. Robert wasn't in his office, according to the café employees. Now Arthur was just waiting for Seamus to show up, there was a public library nearby, perhaps they could do some research over there.

Arthur felt the bitter cold wind blow up in his face, he quickly moved his red scarf up higher, now only his eyes were exposed to the air. The scenery was dreary with the bleak grey and dark red colors of the buildings, and the painfully cold air.

For today Arthur picked a light grey jacket, black pants, his blue sneakers, and his blood red scarf. As Arthur stared onto the depressing street, someone got in his view.

"Hey there, Arthur." The man spoke.

Arthur looked up, it was Seamus. Seamus had a puffy black coat, black winter pants, and a black and white pair of sneakers. Arthur climbed up the grey concrete stairs to get onto the same level as Seamus. "Do you know why Robert isn't here?" Arthur inquired, "The cashier told me he wasn't here." "I actually attempted to call, text, and email him. Robert never responded." Seamus replied, "Perhaps his internet is out, or he went to see some relatives. Anyway what exactly should we do now."

While Seamus brought up excellent points, Arthur personally felt something was off. However Robert wasn't the kind of man to have enemies, so Arthur just ignored his gut feeling.

"We could use the books and archives at the library to understand this mystery." Arthur said, "They are also serving free hot chocolate."

So Arthur and Seamus walked to a nearby bus stop, and got on a bus, the bus soon stopped at the library. The bus ride was a blur, with the fog, dull colored buildings, and the occasional poster reminding them to vote for Liberal Mayoral candidate John Bricksburn. Arthur and Seamus, with chattering teeth, and runny noses entered the library.

The atmosphere changed from freezing cold, to toasty warm. Arthur and Seamus kicked the snow off their boots. They walked up towards the front desk. At the front desk was a woman in a green vest, black bowtie, black hair, green eyes, and a green hairpin. Seamus approached the woman, Arthur meanwhile looked over at the absurd amount of wooden tables and chair, people were sitting there reading. As Arthur was trying to observe and examine the different variety of people at the tables, Seamus tapped on his shoulder. "I suggest we go to the reference section, we can look at archives of information, and maybe find what we need." Seamus said.

Arthur and Seamus walked towards the reference section, which was up on the second floor, so Arthur and Seamus proceeded to walk upstairs and found themselves in the reference section.

Arthur turned towards Seamus and said, "I believe it would be far more efficient if we split up, you take the left side and I take the right side."

Arthur began searching through for anything relating to this elusive CSA organization. Yet he couldn't seem to find anything. Arthur constantly scanned the light brown shelves, yet no answer could be found. After what felt like hours, analyzing the old leather-bound books with shimmering lettering, he was surprised when he heard a new voice. Arthur turned to find someone behind him, their face was covered by a book, "Secret Societies: Inside the World's Most Notorious Organizations" by John Lawrence Reynolds. The woman seemed to be wearing a red shirt and jeans. Arthur was quite confused on why the woman felt the urge to hide her face with a book, he looked around to ensure if anyone else was in the area. Arthur spoke softly, "Can I help you?"

The woman did not speak, she just stood there, trembling as if she was hiding from something. Arthur slowly swiveled his head back towards the shelves, just as he did he heard the clatter of a book hitting the ground, and the hurrying footsteps of someone sprinting away. Arthur nearly cracked his neck from how fast he turned back, on the ground was a book, and on the stairway he saw a woman quickly descending. The woman had black hair, and Arthur got a feeling that he has seen this woman before, but she was gone now.

Arthur picked up the book, "Secret Societies: Inside the World's Most Notorious Organizations", it didn't seem like much but it may have what he was looking for. So Arthur began flipping through the pages skimming the content to see any mention of the mysterious CLA. Arthur wasn't finding much, but his little reading session was interrupted when he heard someone speed-walking up the stairs. Arthur peaked over his book to see it was the same girl from before, he could see her face and finally recognize her, it was Rosaline except her hair was black now.

From Arthur's perspective Rosaline seemed afraid of something, she quickly ran into an area of shelves and hid behind them, pulling up her hoodie for extra measure. Arthur heard another person ascending the staircase. When he saw who it was, his jaw dropped. It was Pete, the Pete Sweet, and he was looking around. As if trying to locate something, Pete saw Arthur and started approaching him. Arthur panicked, "What is he doing here? Did he figure us out? Does he want us to stop following him?". Arthur maintained a calm demeanor on the outside.

"Hi there" Pete said awkwardly, "Did you by chance see a girl with black hair, grey hoodie, red shirt, and blue jeans."

Arthur quickly deflected his inquiry, "Unfortunately I don't think I did. I have just been reading this interesting book.", Arthur showed him the book. Pete seemed quite upset, and began searching around. Arthur turned towards the area where he saw Rosaline last. However Rosaline was just gone, she wasn't there. Arthur checked to see if Pete was still around, and saw him downstairs, and approached Seamus who was flipping through a history book on Libertarianism.

"Woah, you startled me fella." Seamus said, "What's the issue? Also what's that book in your hand?"

Arthur looked down and realized he still had Rosaline's book in his hand. He didn't dwell on that too long though, Arthur said, "Its a book on secret societies, but that doesn't matter. I just saw Rosaline but she disappeared when Pete showed up."

"Wait, Pete Daniel Sweet? The lawyer fella? The man we were investigating?"

Arthur didn't give Seamus a chance to say anything more. "Yes, the lawyer. I dont know how to say it, but something isn't right. Is Pete abusing Rosaline and she hired us hoping someone could get evidence to seperate her from him? Maybe she-"

It was now Seamus's time to cut off Arthur. He said, "Look fella, you cant just jump to conclusions. We'll figure this out, I swear. I don't question everything about a case, even though I should, I just assumed it was mistrust in her relationship that brought Rosaline to me."

"Your right, I was overthinking, I should calm down. Thanks Seamus, I should put this book-"

As Arthur was going to put the book on a random shelf, 2 pieces of paper slipped out. Curiously Arthur skimmed through the book and found a collection of papers in one of the pages. After collecting the papers together Arthur and Seamus analyzed them. The biggest paper was a letter, and the others contained miscellaneous bits of information.

Authors note:
Sorry for leaving you guys on a cliffhanger but due to reasons I wont be able to continue writing for a bit. So hopefully you enjoy.