Je te Plumerai

Confabulation

"Arthur! Arthur!" Cadence shook her brother violently, shouting his name. "Wake up already!"

"You sound like a little girl trying to wake her parents," Arthur grumbled, still half asleep. He sat up, rubbing his eyes. "I thought you'd be out sleuthing by now."

"I was going to, but I wanted to make sure that you were sure you didn't want to help."

"You woke me up for that?"

"Yup!" Cadence sat back, obviously pleased with herself.

"I guess since I'm up, I might as well go with you. It's not like I have anything better to do. Except to sleep, or course, but it seems there is no chance of that."

"Are you sure about that? You're not going to go back on your word?"

"No, not really."

"Just say you'll come with me."

"Fine, I'll come with you Cadence."

"Promise?"

"Sure, whatever. I promise."

"Hooray! My plan worked! I knew I could get you on board for solving the murders!"

"You mean to tell me that this whole thing was staged?"

"Yup! And it worked out perfectly! Just like I planned it."

"I'm going to kill you."

"Oh, surely you don't mean that. Come on, get dressed. We've got work to do!"

Grumbling, Arthur roused himself and prepared for a long day of catering to Cadence's whims.

---

In less than an hour, the pair were standing outside the stately residence.

"Well, what are you waiting for? Knock on the door!" Cadence urged.

"Why me? This was your outlandish scheme."

"Yeah, but you agreed to help me. And the first step of that is to knock on this door."

Sighing, Arthur stepped up to the door and knocked three times before stepping back. In a moment shuffling was heard before the door cracked open and a tearstained face peered out. The door closed.

"Well that's it. Looks like we won't be getting any information out of them," Arthur said, a bit too eagerly. He turned to leave, but Cadence captured him by the wrist.

"Not yet. Let's wait a moment longer."

Sure enough, just as she spoke, the door opened again and another woman stepped out.

"Oh, Cadence, it's you darling. Please come in."

"Mme Bellamy! Thank you!" Cadence said, exchanging une bise with the older women. "I hope we are not intruding."

"No, no. Not at all. You are always welcome here. Well, you are always welcome at our house. I can't say the same about my sister. You see, we are staying with her, and when she came to the door she did not recognize either of you. She was afraid you might be with the police, in which case she would be reluctant to let you in. Most people in Malaise think very poorly of their police, and I can't blame them. But enough of that. What brings you here? Beyond the casual visit, that is."

"Well, I hope you don't mind, but I think I have a few ideas that could help solve these murders, and I was wondering if you had any information about them that you wouldn't mind sharing."

"Well, I don't know. It's still a raw wound, you know," she murmured, her eyes beginning to glisten.

"I understand completely. But the sooner we can get information and put the murderer behind bars, the safer we all will be."