Solve Me

(2), In Which She Meets He

It was the sound of sirens wailing that awoke Lily from her slumber. Lighting the oil lamps, Lily glanced around for the clock. To her dismay, she had only been asleep for a total of three hours. Now slightly annoyed, the girl wondered what could possibly be happening that was this exciting at this ungodly hour. Suddenly, someone was pounding on her door. Glancing down, Lily realized she had fallen asleep in her clothes from the day before. Deciding they weren't too wrinkly, Lily opened the door, rubbing the sleep from her eyes.

She was met by about five police officers outside her room, and the one outside her door looked like the most important, dressed more like a detective than anything else. She stared at him for a few moments, before stepping to the side, and gesturing for him to come into her poorly lit room.

"I'm very sorry for the intrusion, Miss, but it seems that something of a tragedy has occurred on your floor," the man said. Lily's shoulders slumped, and her stomach twisted.

"What happened..?" She asked, now fully awake and alert. He looked surprised.

"Did you not hear her?" Lily's heart filled with dread. Hear her? Was she supposed to have heard something?

"H-Hear her?" Lily stuttered, her hazel eyes widening. The man's surprise only grew. He opened his mouth to reply, before seemingly deciding to take a different approach.

"Let me try again. I am Chief Inspector Harvey. What is your name?" Lily shook her head, shocked and afraid.

"U-Um, my name is Lillian Valdez, but most people call me Lily. I'm 21 years old, and I'm recently from England. I just got here yesterday, and I'm searching for a job. I had just enough money to spend the night in this establishment. That's all I know.." She informed him, and he nodded, his face grim. "Please, Mr. Harvey, what's going on? What was I supposed to hear?" Lily looked upon him with fear in her eyes, and he hesitated.

"I'm sorry, Miss Valdez, but that information is not something I can share with you. I'm afraid that all I can tell you is that.." He broke off, taking a deep breath, as if to prepare himself for something. Probably her reaction, Lily thought bitterly. "I'm afraid that all I can tell you is that a woman in your floor has been murdered tonight."

Lily's jaw dropped, and she got to her feet slowly. He followed suit, signaling for an officer to come into the room.

"Please relax, Miss, you're perfectly safe. The entire premises are surrounded by officers, nobody is getting in here. You need to remain calm. We might send in another officer to question you. I know you only got here yesterday, but we need to make sure we know the whole story." Lily took a deep breath, struggling to remain calm. She managed to nod, and he bid her farewell, leaving her alone in her dark little room.

She pulled her case up onto her bed after he had shut the door, and dug around, before pulling out her pad of paper and pencils. She settled on her bed, and flipped through her drawings, finding her unfinished pencil drawing of a mocking bird. Lily closed her eyes, summoning the mental image she had made of the bird at the time, and smiled to herself. It was such a pretty little bird. And then she began. The sound of her pencil against the paper, the swirls of grays and shading on her paper soothed her, and drowned out everything else.

Lily was so immersed in her drawing that she almost didn't hear the knock on her door, hours later. It wasn't until the second knock, much more gentle than the first one, that she looked up from her drawing and at the door. She put down her pencil and paper, drawing facing up, and walked slowly over to the door. It was 3:00 in the morning now, and she was exhausted. Opening the door, she was greeted by just a single man this time. He was much taller than her, her head barely reached his chin. She invited him inside quietly, then took a better look at him in the poorly lit room.