Come For Me With Green Apples And Honey (MXM)

Chapter 4

As Declan walked up the long driveway of Doug's newly-completed house, he spotted two figures lounging in outdoor seats. Doug sat on the well-lit wrap-around porch with Sophie and they watched him walking up. Declan said porch, but it was really more of a living room annex. It was huge. Just like the rest of Doug's 4-bedroom house. It was a two-story farmhouse in a modern design. An eco home which was so efficient they actually had to sell electricity back to the grid. The house was surrounded by open landscape towards the front and woods behind.

Doug's wife, Brianna, had dreamed of a home like this pretty much all her life. She wanted to grow produce and keep livestock and just live a simple existence. Fortunately, she married an architect and Doug was willing to rehang the moon for the woman. He brought on Declan, who was his college roommate turned business partner, to help.

The dream home was to be a surprise for Brianna. She was a Marine and was currently somewhere overseas, Declan found it hard to keep track of her exact location. The house had been completed over 4 months ago and now they all patiently waited for Brianna to come home and see it. In the meantime, Doug, his sister-in-law Sophie and Declan often hung out there with other more transient friends.

"Finally. I was freezing my ass off out here" Sophie said as Declan walked up the porch steps.

"Huh. Why didn't you just go inside?" Declan asked as Sophie and Doug's stood and walked towards the front door.

"Huh. Why don't you try parking a little farther away? Maybe half a mile down next time, you weirdo." Sophie countered

"I told you. I like to know I can't be parked in." Declan replied jokingly to the rhetorical question, knowing the reaction that would get.

Doug rose an eyebrow at that then pointedly looked at the wide open space that surrounded the house. "We just got here." Doug said, choosing to end it there. "We saw you drive up so we waited for you. No elaborate designs on turning ourselves into ice statues." he unlocked the door and held it open for Sophie to pass before walking in himself, with Declan bringing up the rear and shutting the door.
"So who was the peeping tom?" Declan asked as he walked into the kitchen behind the pair.

"No idea." Sophie replied while looking through the fridge "ran off into the woods before I got there. Doug would have given chase, but he's scared of bears."

"The fuck?!" Doug exclaimed, momentarily distracted from looking through a cupboard containing snacks, "That is NOT why I didn't follow. Dec said to be sneaky-"

"Not exactly-" Declan chipped in.

"And just what kind of cop are you?" Doug continued, ignoring Declan "You're not supposed to encourage vigilantism."

"Uh huh." Sophie said sounding bored. Doug just shook his head and went back to the cupboard. The fridge search had apparently yielded nothing. She closed the door and went to take a seat beside Declan at the breakfast bar. "Whatever. Bottom line is someone sneaking around that house so soon is bad news. I already let Monroe know. Technically it's not a police case right now but still."

Declan was unimpressed. "That's it? You're not gonna start a search or something?" he asked, "Post a unit outside the house or some such thing? That's what you guys do right?"

Sophie turned emerald green eyes on him. "Declan. Stop watching crime dramas. Life isn't as perfect as CSI. Step one is actually telling the person living there. Not secretly searching vast woods and posting unauthorized units without so much as a heads-up. Besides, if there was foul play with Julian and Natalie, then the sick freak responsible got what he wanted by killing them." Sophie's voice was really stern as she spoke and Declan decided it was wise to lose the attitude. She was so small and cute but her spitfire personality really didn't match the exterior.