John straightened his back as he uncomfortably sat across a welcoming, Ms. Willam. Tea laid out infront of them by Ms. Willam's maid, Susan. A simple pearl white china tea set with bitter orange tea in it. They both ignored the door close as Susan scurried away leaving the two to talk over tea. However, John had no intention on drinking tea or even staying long for that matter. His right palm laid on top of his walking stick, nervously but he was assured to get what he came for.
"Mr. Evans, to what do I owe the pleasure on seeing you again." Ms. Willams asked after she carefully picked up her cup of tea. She pursed her lips and blew ever so quietly and briefly onto it.
The question struck John Evans as he sat firmly across from Ms. Willam, a bakery worker and his old childhood friend.
John couldn't decided if there was even pleasure on seeing her again. It opened old wounds and he wasn't ready to look back on them. However, what baffled him more was that how calmly she looked. Her porcelain face with faint touch of a rosey color on her cheeks and lips put this relaxed feeling inside him when he looked at her. She wasn't worried, not one bit.
Even her curly brown hair which was put into a bun with a pale blue hat, the color of her Victorian styled dress to match, placed on her head put him into a generous mood. Lastly her yellow oval gem that laid in between her neck collar put the memories in which he gave it to her as a young child. Which they both were at the time.
As she waited for an answer she pressed her lips to the rim of the tea cup and sipped her tea slowly.
Now looking at it he wasn't "dressed to impress". His plain black suit, jacket, top hat, and walking stick was nothing special. Nothing welcoming.
"I've come on business." He said plainly but he truly meant it.
She sighed and plastered a small smile on her face as she lowered her tea cup and placed it on her silver tea tray, Susan had just polished before John's arrival. She looked as if she were about to laugh.
"Ah yes I do recall you are an ex investigator." She said and threw him a raised eyebrow and a small smile. Teasing him, like she always did as a child. John uncomfortably shifted at his true title.
Yes, indeed he had gotten fired as investigator in the police department but that hadn't stopped his love for the job. Now, with an unsolved murder case that effected his friend Benjamin Pillar, he had to do something. No matter the cost. Benjamin's parents were great friends with the Berks family.
When Benjamin came running into Johns house and announced the murder of the Berks and pleaded for John to help him catch the murder, John had to. Benjamin thought John was the only one capable of doing it. Since of course the police lack the simple quality of actually trying to solve cases that effect the city of Baltimore, Maryland.
"Are you aware of the murders-" He began, ignoring her comment. Hoping the conversation would drift to more serious for her just like John intended it to be.
"Yes I'm well aware, Mr. Evans, however how on earth does it involve me?" She said in a disapproval whisper.
John noticed she hadn't touched her tea and that it was getting cold. "Good." he thought. He had gotten her attention. However she wasn't fully interested.
"Ms. Willam, I know your passion, of looking up on your brothers old doctor files and looking at the pictures of the dead bodies he studied. I watched a young girl grow up and take curiosity in the human body and mind." John said in return.
Growing up at the age of sixteen Ms. Willam would inspect her arms and the bone structure with her older brother, Spencer. He at the time was going off to college to study on being a doctor that inspected dead bodies and looked at how the human body worked.
Years later John would find himself drift apart from Ms. Willam after her brother was seemingly dead after catching a disease while on his journey from his college in New York City to Baltimore. She suffered greatly but something made John think that she still read Spencer's old college books and files.
"Surely you know I just look at the files to remind me of him. I miss him dearly and that's all. I'm not like that." She stuttered as her eyes now placed a worried look on it.
"You can't even hear yourself say a lie. Ms. Willam, come with me, help me solve this murder case. The police fail to see the facts that lay plainly infront of them. Please for Mr. Pillar. He suffers greatly." John said, now pleading rather than asking.
And with John's words Ms. Willam was won over. She knew pain and the loss of a loved one. It burned her and it left scars. John watched as she gave him a small questionable look. Then she quickly stood up to hide her emotions of despair. The subject of Spencer was one she did not enjoy to discuss about.
She slowly walked to the window which laid directly across from where her and John sat. Her eyes sparkled as she looked out. The sun shined on her face as she let out a smile. How could she say no to his offer? It was what she deeply desired. It was what Spencer desired.
"Very well," she said as she turned her head to face John, "I will help but us alone cannot do it. We need help."
"Precisely." John said standing up and with that he got one step closer to solving the murder.
