Who Framed Roger Rabbit?

chapter 3

It got very late, seeing as Cherry had no place to stay, Eddie decided to let her come to his office. Cherry saw the names Valiant & Valiant. Cherry thought Eddie must had a brother, cousin, nephew, or some sort of relative working with him, but they stayed quiet as they came inside his office. 

"You can stay here for the night," Eddie told her quietly. "I promise, that bed is a lot more comfortable than it looks."

"Thanks, Mr. Valiant." Cherry said, quietly.

"Call me Eddie." the detective said, turning on the light to show her the office.

Cherry looked all around with wonder. She saw Eddie's desk, but a desk across from him completely dusty and looked as though it hadn't been cleaned in years. Eddie put his hat up and went with her to get some rest after a long day of work. He took the photographs off the hanger as Cherry tried to get herself settled. She spotted some photographs and looked with Eddie as he put away the Jessica and Marvin pictures.

"Is that you and the waitress in Catalina?" Cherry asked, looking with him to see the new pictures.

"Yeah, that was a long time ago," Eddie told her, looking through the beach pictures. He actually seemed happy for once. "We were in Catalina. It was a great time."

"Who's that?" Cherry pointed to the new pictures of Eddie having fun with a guy without Dolores in the pictures.

Eddie's smile disappeared. "That's my brother..."

"He seems like a lot of fun," Cherry smiled. "Where is he? On vacation?"

"He's dead." Eddie said, gravely.

"Oh, I'm so sorry." Cherry said, quietly. "W-What happened?"

Eddie flipped through the pictures and looked at old framed pictures with his brother, some old newspaper articles of him and his brother saving Goofy and rescuing Donald Duck's kidnapped nephews. "I might as well tell ya... He was killed... By a Toon..."

"A toon?" Cherry's eyes widened.

"Yeah," Eddie nodded, shakily. "The same Toon who killed Bambi's mother."

Cherry winced at that.

"Teddy and I were on another case involving Toons, we always loved doing Toon business, we loved them like they were our family members entertaining us for hours like you crazy kids these days," Eddie continued. "However, there was one about 15 stories high up from us... He was a nasty Toon... He was about to drop on us with a piano. I broke my arm, Teddy never made it... It landed flat on his head."

"Oh, Eddie... I'm so sorry." Cherry frowned.

Eddie released a sharp sigh. "Whatever, I gotta move on..."

"Is that why you're so against Toons these days?" Cherry asked.

"Ya got it, kid... Now, get some sleep, I've had a long day." Eddie tucked her into his bed and went to keep looking around in his photographs.

"I wonder where Atticus is?" Cherry asked herself, then fell asleep. She had a long day too so she fell right asleep into the bed, finding it a little comfortable and cushy.

The next morning, Cherry was bright and awake while Eddie had fallen asleep at his desk with a beer bottle in his hand. Cherry came out of the bathroom after she finished grooming herself once a bottle hit a metal can, snapping Eddie awake as well. 

"Oh, Lieutenant Santino." Eddie looked sharp at the new man in the office. "Where'd you come from?"

Cherry shrugged, she hadn't seen the man come in either.