An Arsoncliff Mystery

Sophie Craft

I step out of the taxi, grabbing my notes, then the bags.
"Thanks for the ride" we both say to the driver.
"Gonna pay first?"
"Ah yes" Jake says, pulling out two $20 dollar notes. He drives off, mumbling words under his breath.
"We'll stay with my sister, Jacks at work and is not kind to newcomers" he says. We walk deeper, as he explains the places here.
"Arsoncliff Hospital is near the hotel your staying at, Jack works near the beach, and the hotels in the middle of the town, so you'll never get lost"
"Got it"
As time goes by, the sound of talking gets louder.
"Small town, normally quiet, sometimes it's like this" he says as we keep walking.
Soon enough we get to the hotel. It looked old, then again, the rest of the town looked old, but in a new way. We step inside, as Jake begins talking to the receptionist.
"Jake Craft, here to visit Sophie Craft, room 215"
"How do I know your not a murderer?"
Jake have a laugh.
"Trust me, if you don't let me in the body count will go to 4" he says in an all serious tone, with the receptionist nervously giving him access to the stairs.
"Come on Curtis, floor 6, room 205" he says. As we walk up the stairs a question pops into my head, did he mean all of that?
"Hey, Jake, were you joking when you said that to the receptionist?"
"Of course, he asks that everytime, I give him the same answer, decided to shake things up a bit. Anyway, you did agree to stay with a total stranger in a strange town with murderous people"

He grabs his set of keys then opens the door.
"Sophie, are you here?" There was no answer, then a girl, around my age, walks into the room.
"Yeah, well if I'm not working or shopping, I'm here." She replied. She had long brown hair, sorta curly, like Jakes hair. She was wearing a singlet and short shorts.
"Sorry," she says in a soft but harsh voice. "I'm not like the people here"
I put down the bags, pulling all the weight off me.
"I'm gonna leave, introduce yourself to her while you can, after all, you'll be here for a while" Jake says, closing the door.
I walk up to her, "I'm Curtis, Curtis Joals of Sydney" I say holding out my hand,
"Sophie, Sophie Craft of this apartment your gonna be staying in" she smiles.
"Do you like it here?" I ask her.
"Arsoncliff no, but the apartments fine" I give her a nod,
"Where will I be sleeping?" I ask.
"There's a bed, but that's mine, however there's a couch, pretty comfy, said by the guy who stayed here before you"
"What happened to him?"
"Died during surgery, got attacked by a shark on the beach, nice fellow, Jake brought him here, but apparently he never went to the beech. Checked through his bag, nothing, like there was nothing in there."
"Do you think Jake killed him?" I ask nervously.
"No, Jake was working while it happened, no one knows what happened to the body, some say the doctors fed it to the shark, others say it was.. LLL"
"LLL? Does that stand for the Lou guy?"
She loudly shushes me, putting her hand to my mouth, as a knock on the door stops the conversation, as the knob slowly turns.