The Bear House

Act 3. Chapter 6: The case of the white-stoned cliffs

Act 3. Chapter 6: The case of the white-stoned cliffs

After a week, Powley was released from the hospital. The whole Scotland Yard made it a protocol not to mention Powley's investigation, and Powley made it a protocol not to mention that Jacques will be coming with him. He could not convince the young man to stay away from trouble if he wanted to take care of those kids, but he reasoned that he bet everything will end in three days and it will end sooner if he's helping. Besides, Powley is a rookie in Sussex, Jacques is a well-informed local with homeless people network.

"So I haven't been at the edge of the Cliff Forest, but one mate of mine said the cliff has a hole under it like this..." Jacques gestured with his hands the same way his mate did, "...and then it would most of the time suck foreign matters to it because the current from the English Channel is strong, right? He said it was like a circular tube of stone, vertical but narrow. If it was low tide, man you would have been dead."

Powley flinched. "Honestly, I could not imagine what you're talking about. I think my head tried to forget about it."

"I understand." Jacques punched his shoulder lightly. "It was traumatic, mate. Maybe it was super high tide. You are lucky. Thank god."

"Thanks to the fairies, I guess."

They are careful maneuvering themselves around the cliffs, and just to be extra safe, the decided not to use the forest route. They used the coastline route which is way far from the Bear House.

The coastline route is situated at the foot of the cliffs. With the low tide, they should be able to see the turbulent hole Jacques' mate was talking about. Jacques had asked why they needed to check the foot of the cliff, and Powley only answered: "It was dark so I can't see anything. I do remember being forced into a hole by the current, and there's something soft in there that saved my life."

"Another dead body?" Jacques suggested.

"I thought that, too."

Walking along the coastline, Jacques suddenly chuckled to himself, garnering Powley's puzzled attention. "I hope you're not laughing because there are possible dead bodies."

"Ack. No." The boy replied, revolted. "I was laughing because Arthur, a mysterious, sophisticated, educated, kidnapper with police connections, has a Tiktok." He chuckled again.

Powley faced him now, walking backwards as he does so. "Yeah! After watching a lot of videos, I realized Arthur is just a pretentious, stereotypical attention-seeking fuckboy... But the Arthur we met at the hospital is not this man."

Jacques nodded. "So we will separate them by saying Tiktok Arthur and Classy Arthur."

"Killer Arthur. Fuck him, he tried to kill me."

"Tiktok Arthur and Killer Arthur. They're separate beings now. Do you think it's split personality? What makes you think they're not the same man?"

The officer's eyes hooded with seriousness. He halted walking and faced Jacques completely. "Trust me. I'm good at making criminal profiles. I'm known in London for this."

"You?" Jacques faced him too but gave him a judgmental look. "You're just a rookie."

"Not trusting me now? After how concrete evidence against Arthur is?"

"No. All these shit... the Bear House... the legends... Arthur having split personality or, or, a doppelganger. Just that... everything seems... unreal."