The Detectives' Story

IX

November 8, 2016

1554 Hours

James was halfway to the motel, which was a few more miles, before he realized he had his phone on his person. He stopped moving, his feet aching from the tired walk, and closed his eyes in disbelief.

"You have to be..." James took out his phone, and looked up how to get an Uber. Suddenly the phone rang, scaring James half to death. The number started with a 210, and he didn't identify it with any area code around here.

"Hello, Detective James here from the Brotective Agency, how may I help you?" James answered. A slight breathing came from the other end. The mysterious call gave James the creeps. His feet moved around a little, trying to distribute the aching feeling, and because he was nervous.

"Hello? Anyone there?" James asked to make sure he wasn't crazy. The line went dead and James pulled the phone away from his ear in confusion. He shook his head to make sure no other crazy thoughts popped in there.

"About one mile from your destination, good sir," The Uber driver said. He had a heavy German accent, but it was understandable.

"Thank you," James replied. He looked in his hand and stared at the bugged putty resting in his palm. He didn't know why, but James had a hunch that he shouldn't tell Dan about the discovery of the bug. That James should lie and tell Dan that he didn't find it in the rubble. James winced at that thought. Lying to his brother when he didn't need to wasn't the ideal action for him. This time though, he felt like he needed to. At the time, it was the right thing to do. Stuffing the putty into his pocket, James looked up to find the motel coming into view.

"Here we are." The driver said as he pulled into the parking lot. James paid him the amount that was demanded, and walked to the section of the motel that had his room.

On the way to his door, James noticed a strange man giving him a weird look out of the corner of his eye. James turned his head to glance at the man. He seemed old and fragile with a long gray beard. The black baseball cap helped with the "creepy" factor. James steered his head forward, but wanted to look at the old man once more. James dropped his keys on purpose, and exclaimed out of "surprise". As he bent down, James looked around trying to act nervously to see if anyone saw him drop the keys. His eyes focused on the old man, and gave him a sheepish smile. The old man nodded slightly, then walked away. James noticed that the man's face didn't have any wrinkles. His face didn't match the beard. James stood there for a few seconds, debating on whether or not to follow him. He then remembered his brother, and quickly went to the door to see if he was in there.

Opening the door, he found Dan sitting there on his bed. He was sitting there, breathing heavy, knuckles clenching and unclenching, forever staring at the blank TV in front of him lost in his own world. He most likely didn't even notice James come in.

James stood in the doorway for a second looking at his brother. James honestly didn't know what to expect when he walked through the door. He would be surprised if Dan wasn't there. That would cause James to run to suburban neighborhoods to find some policemen arresting Dan for murder, or possibly attempted manslaughter. Finding Dan like this was also surprising; even though James subconsciously knew this would be the more probable scenario. He shut the door and then took off his shoes. Making his way to the bed that was closest to the door, he flopped onto it, and sighed with relief. His feet were killing him.

Dan changed to a lying position on his bed, and stared at the ceiling wistfully. He looked absolutely pitiful. James looked over at Dan's clothes to see if there were any blood marks, just in case he somehow did kill her before he came here. No signs of any blood on the clothes. James looked at Dan's hands, and noticed his knuckles were bloody. He was going to say something about it, but noticed the wall behind Dan was beaten in. James sighed as he knew they would have to pay extra for that.