Autumn of Terror || h.s. au

Chapter 10: Promise Me

     "I feel like we're going to get a lot done today," Niall says to us, sipping his tea. It's nearly noon, and we have to wait six more hours before we confront Mr. Cutbush and maybe even find out who the murderer is. We're all sitting at the table in Artie's kitchen, drinking tea to calm our nerves.

     "D-Do you h-have any s-sugar?" Harry struggles to ask Artie. Artie nods, and stands up. He heads over to the nearest cabinet, opens it, and takes out a porcelain container of sugar. He sets it on the table and sits back down. "Thanks."

     I can feel the amount of nervousness in this room. Surprisingly, though, I'm not nervous. I'm determined to find out who Jack the Ripper is today, I don't have time to be nervous. I look over to Harry, who is pouring spoonful after spoonful of sugar into his tea with a shaky hand.

     "Harry," I say. "You're not going to drink that with so much sugar in it, are you?"

     Harry seems to snap out of a trance. "Oh, I didn't realize I was pouring so much."

     I grab the cup from him and give him my cup. I know he doesn't even like sugar in his tea, so I'll drink his. He gives me a grateful smile and takes a sip. I try to drink my tea, but there's just too much sugar in it and I start to cough.

     Harry pats my back, "Are you alright?"

     "Yep," I clear my throat. "I can't drink this, though."

     "I can pour you another cup, if you want me to," Artie offers, but I shake my head.

     The room is silent again, and it's incredibly uncomfortable. I turn my attention to Niall, who is picking at his fingernails. I hadn't even realized that Artie had a few papers in front of him that he's scribbling on. He must be working on another story.

     "Artie, what's your next story about?" I ask, leaning forward to see what he's writing.

     Artie chuckles, "I can't say anything about the story itself, but I will tell you that a new character is introduced. I've only just started this one recently, so I don't think it'll be finished until a year or two from now."

     "A new character?" I repeat.

     "Yes," he nods. "The doctor falls in love with a girl named Mary."

     I smile brightly. "Really?"

     He nods again. "Though I'd give a brilliant character the name of a brilliant friend of mine."

     "I'm honored!" I exclaim, grinning. "I mean, I know you already modeled your main character after me and I'm extremely honored, although he's a man. But to have a character named after me! Thank you, Artie."

     "You're welcome, Mary," Artie responds.

     The room becomes silent once more, until I hear the twelve dings from the kitchen clock. Time isn't going by as fast as I want it to.

     "So, how exactly are we going to do this?" Niall asks. "Are we just going to go up to Mr. Cutbush and ask him if anyone hates him enough to frame him for murder? Do we even know what Mr. Cutbush looks like?"

     "We'll ask around," I say. "He's in that pub nearly every day, someone's bound to know who he is. And we won't just ask him that right away. We'll tell him we're with the police and that we need to ask him a few questions."

     "But, we're not with the police," Niall points out.

     "Yes, but he doesn't know that," I respond. "If he thinks we're with the police, there's a greater chance he'll tell us what we need to know."