Of Lights and Shadows (Book 4)

19) A Touch of Black-Mail

Night passes quickly when there is no one paying attention to it, and sometimes it never even seems to arrive. Early the morning after the eventful night, but not so early that you would find people asleep, a forceful thumping resounded through the quiet apartment as the water of Dastardious's shower cut off. It was followed by a great deal of swearing as he stepped out, still partially covered in the soap he hadn't been quick enough to wash off. As he began to dry himself the doorbell rang. Tying the towel around his waist, Dastardious strode through the lounge and wrenched open the door.

'Ah, Silence,' he said gloomily upon seeing who his visitor was. 'Come on through. Tell me what you got.'

Leaving Silence to close the door and find his own way, Dastardious moved to his couch, collapsed upon it, and flicked on the TV.

Without even being told, Silence could tell something was up as he followed Dastardious and took a seat. He could tell by the fact that Dastardious had switched on the TV, and he knew from experience that the detective preferred to have no distractions around so that he could concentrate on the news.

Feeling already that it would be a long day, Silence proceeded to tell him what he had found. He had stayed up all night learning about Earl and Stone, even thought there was hardly any interesting information about them. They both lived normal lives, nothing out of the ordinary. But, Dastardious was the one to decide if they held a purpose or not. He started with Sarah first.

Before I begin, this is just a quick summary of what I found out about Sarah Earl and Edward Stone. If you would like to read deeper into their history I brought it with me.

As he handed over the note he pointed to the two thin manila folders that he had placed on the coffee table.

Sarah Earl is an up and coming actress, 29 years old, American born and raised, single child to middle class parents. Her parents were both actors and that is where Mrs Earl got her love of acting from. She is also a single parent. The father, her boyfriend at the time, left as soon as he heard she was pregnant, she hasn't seen nor heard from him since. She and her son lived in an apartment in Brooklyn. The place is not expensive, but too much for her to afford. She was given the official warning last week to pay up or leave. The play, They Shot Him Twice is supposed to be her big break, if it goes well with the public she will be able to stay where she is.

He handed the note over to Dastardious before starting a new page. This was all information Dastardious could have asked Mrs Earl when he was there at the theatre, but Silence kept his pen still from inquiring why he didn't.

Edward Stone: single and currently looking. He is also American born to American parents, and was raised in New York, a single child. His mother was an actress while his father worked as a laborer. He tried and failed as an actor before taking a job as a stagehand in the theatre. The company has employed him for 8 years come August. He currently lives in Brooklyn, a few blocks down from the Earls.

Stone, from what I could gather, loves children and he and Jackson got on very well together. Mrs Earl met him when she auditioned for the role of the main characters in They Shot Him Twice and they hit it straight off. He would often babysit or check up on Jackson when he could.

After passing the note over, Silence wrote one last quick one.

That's all I have. Now I must ask before we go any further, what did I miss last night? Where is Dutch?

Rather than give a reply straight away, Dastardious placed Silence's note on top of the other ones he had been given before stretching and proceeding to flick randomly through the channels on the TV. After going through the channels once, he told Silence the facts. Being careful not to disclose the ones that told why Dutch was at the Plaza.