ℂ𝕃𝕆𝕊𝔼ℝ 𝕋ℍ𝔸ℕ 𝕐𝕆𝕌 𝕋ℍ𝕀ℕ𝕂

║SEVEN║

     WRAPPING HERSELF with a towel, Nicole came out of the bathroom with her wet hair tied up in a towel.
Her phone rang, she plodded into her bedroom picking it from the nightstand as she sat on bed. She looked at her phone, the number calling was unknown. She picked it anyway, answering.
“Hello.” she said.
“Hello, good evening. I am so sorry for calling you at this late hour of the night.” a male's voice said from the other end.
“Please, who am I speaking with?” she asked furrowing her eyebrow.
“Guess…I'm calling all the way from Bristol.”
“Bristol? Is it Mr Blake?” she bit her lips as she crossed her leg over the other.
“Wrong, it's me Alfred…Alfred Blaylock.” he chuckled.
“My goodness, Alfred!” her jaw dropped in surprised.
“How are you, Nicole?”
“I am good, you?”
“Fine.”
“How did you get my number, I don't remember giving it to you.”
“Yeah that's right, I asked the sales lady  at Adonai grocery store to give me.”
“Oh, Eunice.” she laughed.
“I just called to greet you. Happy New year!”
“Happy New year too!”
“How was your Christmas?”
“It was awesome, thank you and yours?”
“Fabulous! When will you be coming to Bristol?”
“I don't know. Only my weekends are free… probably, when I am going to visit my mum.”
“I can't wait to see you. Good night, sleep well and have sweet dreams.”
“Good night and you too.” she hung up and didn't know when she started smiling.

       ☬           ☬             ☬

“What do you think happened at the McBride's home?” Nicole asked Neil as they discussed the the murder of the couple.
    Standing up from his seat, Neil walked to the door, shutting it. “This is what I think happened…the door of their house wasn't locked, that gave the murderer easy access into their home. The killer walked into the house and climbed the stairs to the McBride's bedroom, he opened the door frightening Sally, he threatened her not to scream so he told her to go to the bathroom, he strangled her and removed her cloth making it look like she was raped, then he filled the bath tub with water probably to wash off finger prints.” he said gesticulating.
“And what happened to James?” Nicole watched him as he acted what happened.
“James came into the room to find a intruder, he was too shocked that he couldn't scream, he wanted to run away but the killer forced him down to the basement at gun point and that's where he got shot, the bullet, a 2.34 rimfire.”
“From the surveillance camera, we saw the killer enter their house around 2:15pm and left the house exactly 4:00pm and the killer is a male approximately six feet tall. He was wearing a hood, that's why we can't see the face.” Nicole said as she replayed the video of the killer entering and leaving the McBride's home that was caught in the surveillance camera on her computer.
“And the bullet found at the crime scene isn't a match to Clyde's bullet in his gun. That removes him from our suspect list.” Neil said as he sat.
“But why didn't he allow us to search his house?”
“I don't know but both of us are going to his house this afternoon with a search warrant whether he likes it or not.”

          ☬         ☬         ☬

   Looking around the restaurant for Alfred, Nicole heard him call her.
“Nicole, over here!” he waved to her. He was seated at a table, a empty chair opposite him.
“Good evening.” she smiled at him.
“I am glad you made it.” he stood up  smiling, dragging the empty seat opposits himfor her to sit.
“It took me time to find out this place.” she sat placing her handbag on her lap.
“It's a new restaurant.”
“What can I offer you?” a waitress came to take their orders.
“Pepperoni pizza and egg flip.” Nicole said.
“Okay. You?” she pointed the pen she used to write at Alfred.
“The same please.” he smiled broadly at the waitress.
“Alright.” she said before walking away.
“You are more beautiful than I last saw you.” Alfred told Nicole.
“Thank you.” Nicole smiled blushing.
“What do you do for a living?”
Alfred asked her the question she wasn't expecting.
“I…um…I am an editor in a newspaper company in London.” she lied, she hated to tell people she was a detective, the last time she told someone her occupation, the person had a reaction she disliked and since then she has vowed not to tell anyone. Only few people in London knew her real occupation and her parent.
“Wow! I am a mechanic, I'm sure you would have seen it in the business card I gave you?”
“Yeah.”
“London is a beautiful city.” Alfred said when their food arrived.
“So true… You've been there?”
“Yes, that's where I grew up. I  lived there for over ten years.”
“Why did you leave London?”
“I left for a better life.”
“Thank you.” Nicole smiled to the waitress as she placed her food on the table.
“You're welcome. You two, have a great time.” she smiled at them and left.
“My parents died so I had to move to Bristol with my sister.”
“Accept my condolence… Why Bristol?”
Alfred chuckled softly as he cut his pizza on his plate into smaller sizes with a table knife.
“Why not Liverpool or maybe outside the country?”
“I had no other place to go to because Bristol is like my home town, this is where my mother came from.”
“Oh, I see.”  Nicole laughed.
“How about you, how long have you lived in Bristol?”
“Four years and I have already fallen in love with London and it's people.”
Alfred nodded his head eating.
“How about your sister?”
“She’s married, she married last year and relocated to Rome with her husband. She married an Italian and that's why I am alone now.” he smiled.
“But you do call her from time to time right?”
“Yeah, I do… she's even learning how to speak their language.”
“She has no choice.”
“You haven't touched your food.” Alfred said when he noticed she has not been eating.
“Oh,” Nicole smiled shyly “I don't really eat out and besides I don't eat late, because I want to maintain a healthy weight.”
“And don't want to have a belly fat.” Alfred chipped in with a smile.
Nicole laughed hard, almost spilling her egg flip on the table.
“Be careful.” Alfred said.
“Maybe I will take the Pizza home… it's getting late already and my mom will be worried.”shesaidas she checked the time on her cellphone.
“Okay, I really, really enjoyed your company tonight.” Neil said as she drank her egg flip.
“Me too.”
“I don't know if we can fix another time to meet again.”
“My schedule really tight, I only have Sunday as my free day and that's when I do visit my dad in the hospital.” she put the pizza in a nylon and put it in her bag.
“So what do we do now?”
“Sunday next week then, we will meet at the same road we first met.” she stood up to leave.
“That means I won't be coming with my car, so I can see your father too.” he said following her out of the restaurant. “You made my day, Nicole.” he said as they stopped by her car.
“You did too,” she grinned as he helped her open her car door to the driver seat. “It was fun being with you.”
“Really?! I thought I was a saddist.”
“Not at all. Look at the countless times you made me laugh.” she slid into her car, shutting the door.
“Aw,” he held his chest “The next time you come, I show you where I work.” he said, stepping back as she ignited the engine of her car.
“I'd love to know your house too.”
“Okay, bye sunflower!” he waved at her as she pulled out of the parking lot.
“Sunflower.” she muttered to herself, smiling as she drove all the way to London which was two hours twenty minutes drive.