CLOVER

An old little friend

"Here is your ticket, sir!"-the lady handed it to him. "May I ask? What is the reason for your traveling?" He looked down to the ticket and smiled at her. "I am meeting an old little friend."

The train was getting ready to leave. It had been 1 day and a half since they closed the Clover case. He was supposed to be cheering and celebrating now and turning back to his normal life, but instead, he was turning back to London. If Jennifer refused to answer his questions, he still had to find their answers himself. Clover or not, she worked with someone and apparently only Sir. Chiswik knew who this man was. He didn't show up to the agency earlier that day. He decided to rest and then book a ticket to the first train he could find to London. No one knew about this. He didn't even tell Scarlett about it. As soon as he got off the train, he saw the streets filled with people walking with flowers on their hands. They were going to express their condolences for the king. Realizing that, he was sure that, Sir. Chiswik was at Apsley's. Apsley's Tailors were known to design the costumes for the royal family, and that meant that he was working for the costume of the new king. Apsley's wasn't far from the train station. He continued walking until he finally reached the place. He swore to never step here again, but under these circumstances, he knew that he would have to forgive Sir. Chiswik anyway. He opened the door.
*ring*ding*ring*
"Welcome! Welcome! Welcome to Apsley's, where with a needle and a thread, your costume makes itself!"-he sang his signature song while sewing a large deep blue coat. He placed the coat down, and his gaze softened, and his smile dropped. "You are... Alive?-his face glowed in relief. He tried to reach the ground with his feet and ran towards William and hugged him tightly. William laughed a little and hugged him back. "She kill you, but the king. You got her, right?"-Chiswik asked curiously. "I did."-William confirmed. "But the case isn't close until I find out everything." Chiswik let go of the hug and started fiddling with his hands. "I want to help, but-"-he tried to speak. "Don't worry! She can't harm you now. I assure you that."- William comforted him. "Well. How can I help you?"-Chiswik asked excitingly. "The lady that came to take the lavender dress. That was Clover. She confessed that she came here after a man told him to do so. Do you remember any man coming here and placing that order?" Chiswik scratched his head back and forth, trying to remember the day. "Ah yes! The woman she works with. He was a tall young man around the same age as you. He was wearing a brown costume going perfectly with his coffee brown eyes and hair. Hmm, I do not remember his name clearly. I think it was something rhyming with Burnaby! As in Burnaby of Canada! " -"Burnaby?"- William questioned him again and took some time to think. "God. Was it Fernsby? Tyler Fernsby?" -"Yes! You are absolutely correct!" -"But that doesn't make any sense! Tyler? Working with Jennifer? That is how she knew our every move! Tyler pretended to help us, but he informed Jenn about everything we did." William looked around every corner of the room, feeling dizzy and nauseous. "Thank you, my friend!" -he greeted Chiswik and left the shop immediately and rushed to find a telephone cabin. He dialed the agency's number and waited for someone to pick up. "Good afternoon! Agency of crime and justice, Cambridge. How can we help you?" -"Scarlett? It's me. William." -"What?"-she asked shockingly. "Where are you? Why haven't you come to the agency? Beddington has been looking all around for you!" -"Listen, that doesn't matter now."-he held the phone closer and started to speak. "I learned from Chiswik who the man that was helping Jennifer was and -" -"Chiswik?"-she interrupted him. "Are you in London right now?" -"Stop with the useless questions and listen carefully!"-he yelled. "It was Tyler. He was actually an infiltrator and spied on us. That is how Jennifer got to know about our every single move." -"Trenor. Are you sure about what you are saying." -"Most definitely!"-he waited for her response. "I will talk to Sir. Beddington about this, and we will have Tyler arrested by dusk. Come as soon as you can, though! Tomorrow's noon, we will have both of them executed."-she informed him and ended the call. William left the cabin and wanted to turn back at the station to book a ticket back to Cambridge but all the trains were out of use for at least the whole day until the funeral ceremony of the king had finished. Not knowing what to do, he decided to pay a visit to the clock tower. That night, they immediately turned back to Cambridge as soon as they arrested Jennifer so they didn't have the chance to investigate the place. The tower was sort of in a lockdown. Any possible way to get near it was blocked, and there were guards around it everywhere. "It hasn't chimed since that night."-a man who happened to walk by informed him. "Do you know if they did any sort of investigation inside the tower?"-William asked him. "I don't think they did. The king's death caused a lot of other events to happen, so they left everything as it was aside from the corpses." -the man explained everything he knew. William thanked him as the man walked away. He approached the guards, showing his detective badge and asking for permission to get inside the Big Ben. The guards made an approving sound while stepping hardly on the ground, allowing William to get inside. He was climbing the stairs slowly trying to see if there was anything that could be used as a clue but unfortunately for him, the only thing that could be found in them was the splattered blood of the guards. Seeing blood everywhere, he recalled that the guards had been stabbed. It was the first time Clover used an actual weapon instead of her poisoning lipstick. She had put the poison on the knife and later on stabbed everyone. He then remembers the scene once again. Not only that, Jennifer was standing in front of the king's poisoned body, but she was also holding a shiny, pointy knife with her shaky hands. If what the man he had he met earlier was right, then the knife would still be on the last floor of the tower. He climbed faster and faster until he reached the top. The place seemed exactly the same as it was that night. He looked over to the floor, and the knife finally caught the attention of his eyes. He didn't pick it up right away. He made sure to wear a pair of gloves and examined the knife carefully. The blood had dried around the blades, but the poison was still dropping slowly as he moved the knife side to side. Close to the blades, there were strings of hair wrapped around. He then remembered the feather he got that night from her hat. The hair color matched. The only odd thing about it was that Jennifer wasn't wearing any disguise the night of the ceremony and her natural hair were a shade of black while the strings of hair on the knife and the feather were a different color. Ginger. Suddenly, the clock started working and chiming again as he finally realized everything. He finally discovered the whole truth, and every day's flashbacks started flying around his head. She had told him herself to think inside the box. The morse code, the music box, and the fortune biscuit. William would die exactly at the place where he was currently standing but not that day. The early bird gets the worm, but the second mouse gets the cheese. The meaning of the quote was completely different from what he thought it was. The first mouse was Jennifer, who took the blame for everything while the second one is Scarlett, and her prize will be the death of William and his title. Tyler was not actually infiltrated. They had planned this all along. Jennifer was saying the truth. While she was trying to investigate for Clover, Tyler had planted all the clues in her house and made her look like she was Clover by telling her to go wherever they wanted her to look most suspicious. The night on the tavern, it was Scarlett following him and the night of the ceremony. What Jennifer was trying to say was true. No wonder Scarlett had disappeared the whole time and showed up seconds later after William caught Jennifer on the scene. It was her. The whole time, it was her. Like Clover she is, she has also accomplished all her steps without him noticing. She found her, made her fall in love with him so much so that he was blinded by her fake love and lust. Now, what was left to do was for her to kill him. The only thing that he had to figure out was when that was going to happen. How would they meet in London again? There was no way she would come today because of the blocked ways, so he took the opportunity to wait for the very first train to Cambridge to report everyone about everything. He felt like he was going insane which would be no surprise. All the negative emotions going from Jennifer to Scarlett were the same as experiencing a heart attack while a grenade exploded inside your body. Once again, another sudden change. All these sudden changes happening one after another were going to be the end of him. Everything that had happened was a lie. Every feeling, every action, every word that was sweetly spoken between them. William had never thought of the day his heart would be broken. He hadn't even thought about it pumping for someone else. Not a single day she actually cared for him. Not even a single moment. Whatever he thought they had was all burning away, along with the hopes of him ever being okay after this.  She had only agreed to work with him just so he could get distracted from finding out who the real Clover was. If they arrested Jennifer, she would be able to kill William without him realizing. All she had to do was kiss him. He wouldn't suspect a thing after all. He wasn't just impressed by her. He was in love with her. You have to wake up from this dream, William. She is Clover, she won't be affected by this anyway. It was always just a game for her. "Oh, Jennifer..."-he whispered quietly the name he swore to never call again.