The truth of the matter was that Declan hated this city. He used to be a citizen here, but everyone hated him because he wasn't of noble blood.
They treated him harshly to the point that he had to run away from it all. And now that he was back, he felt out of place cause everyone was looking at him with interest in their gaze, so he couldn't help but stare back at them.
A moment later, he couldn't help but notice. Nobody seemed to care about him; all they were interested in were the coats he and Nowa were wearing and their methods of cracking a case.
"We needn't linger longer here," Declan said, wiping his nose for some unknown reason.
A second later, they were off to their next destination, leaving the mansion in suspended animation.
Later, they arrived at their next destination. It didn't take them long since they rode on vehicles provided by some of the remaining guards at the mayor's castle. With these vehicles' speed, the distance from the mansion to this new area was like a walk in the park.
"Is this the place?" Nowa asked, standing next to Declan.
"I think so?" Declan said, putting away a cigarette he was smoking a moment ago. "But we won't know for sure unless we check it out." He added with a blank tone.
Sitting in front of them was a small, beat-up building that looked like it had seen better days. But Declan and young Nowa stepped forward, following the narrow, broken footpath that led straight to its main door.
A second later, they reached the door and wasted no time knocking.
At first, there was no answer; only silence lingered in the air as the fresh stench of blood crowded the atmosphere. But the two didn't do anything rash, because they knew there were a couple of things that smelled like fresh blood in this world, in fact, in any world. So, they knocked again while looking around the area.
Still, there was no answer, only more silence.
"I don't think anyone's home," Nowa said, turning and looking at the road behind.
Declan shrugged, "I think ya right."
"What should we do now?"
"I don't know? Maybe wait a couple hours."
Silence fell between them for a moment. Then suddenly, they started hearing footsteps slowly approaching from inside the building.
Tap... Tap... Tap...
"Do you hear that?" Declan uttered, his voice barely audible, but with the distance Nowa was, he perfectly heard him.
"...Yeah. I think someone's coming?" Nowa replied, unsure.
They both swiftly turned, facing the door again, and a second later, the door clicked; slowly, it shifted inward.
"What's going on?"
Before them was a young lass with the worst case of bedhead, because her soft black hair covered her face entirely, making her look worse than a ghost. But her voice alone was enough to warn the two that she was no threat.
The two detectives looked at each other for a moment; they weren't expecting a lady to come out of the building, because, in their minds, the guard was supposed to be a gentleman.
Declan cleared his throat, turning and paying his attention to the lass before them. "Do ya happen to live here?"
He moved closer to the building as he adjusted the lapel on his coat, leaving Nowa a few steps behind.
"Uh...?" The lass murmured, her voice calm but edged with curiosity.
"Who are you?" She asked, lifting some of her hair covering her face and letting it slightly fall atop her left ear.
Declan stopped a few feet from her, then apologized. "Oh, sorry we startled ya, but my friend and I were looking for someone who happens to live in this Bangalow."
The lass stayed silent, clueless about what Declan was going on about, cause she just moved into this establishment a few weeks ago, but in Declan's point of view, he thought the silence meant for them to reveal themselves.
"I'm Declan, by the way, and my friend there is Nowa." He said, never revealing that the two were detectives looking to question the guard living in the establishment.
"Sorry, but I think you're on the wrong plot. Try asking next door, I think they might know who you're looking for." She said with a tired voice.
"Is she serious?" Nowa muttered from the back, his voice barely audible.
Declan shifted his gaze to the lass's feet, noticing some dark crimson marks on the lass's skin. Then it hit him, when they first got closer to the door, they could smell fresh blood in the air. What if there was a dead person inside the building, murdered by this innocent-sounding lady?
He shifted his gaze back to her face without saying anything, then, a second later, released a soft cough. "Ahem."
"Sorry, but I'm sure we aren't in the wrong establishment, cause the address we got from the government stated exactly this location," Declan explained, his expression unchanged from before he arrived.
Without awaiting the lady's response, he swiveled his body and addressed Nowa, "Isn't that right?"
"Yes, sir." Replied Nowa.
The lady stayed quiet for a long moment, eyeing Declan's coat as she wiggled her fingers as if preparing to do something unspeakable.
"Is that right?" She asked, the hair she had fixed earlier falling back to its messy state.
Something's wrong? Nowa exclaimed, surveying the area around them.
Declan kept his posture, never flinching at what Nowa had just said, and he kept his eye on the lass up front.
Without noticing, a lad appeared from behind Nowa.
He asked politely in a low, barely audible voice, "Can I help you, sirs?"
Both Declan and Nowa pivoted toward him.
"And you are?" Declan queried.
Just by glancing at what the two gentlemen were wearing, the lad quickly discerned that they were gumshoes.
"Oh, I'm Jack. I just moved into this establishment a few weeks back. And that's my sister Dolly." He elucidated himself. And in that last sentence, he meant the girl standing at the door of the Bungalow.
Jack. I don't recall that name from the guard list. Declan brooded, peering at Jack.
The reason he doesn't recall the name Jack from the list they were given is that Jack was just an alias, nothing more.
Declan whispered a breath, peeking at Jack. "You said you just moved into the building a few weeks back?"
Jack gestured affirmatively, at the same time rolling his gaze, looking at his sister, still standing at the door.
Suddenly, Dolly entered the building and sealed herself in by banging the door aloud, sending chills down Nowa's back.
Declan only blinked, unsure what was going on, and the crimson liquid he saw by the door, what exactly was it? And why did the lass shut herself in? He asked himself.
While everyone else was paying their minds to the lass, Jack finally broke the silence. "Forgive her, sirs, she's a little loose in the head."
Both detectives turned, facing the lad still standing before them.
"But, did you need anything with me or my sister?" He wondered.
But before the detective could answer, he gazed at Jack from top to bottom, noticing details he paid no mind to earlier.
He was carrying a jet black bag that matched his hair color exactly, but the only difference was that it was dirty and reeked of blood. Looking at Jack's face again, it was hard to tell what he was thinking, cause his hair was as messy as Dolly's, the only visible thing was a part of his left blue eye.
Declan's right eye twitched, unable to process what he was looking at.
"No… we were looking for someone else. But if you really just moved here… then that must mean the person we're looking for has either left—or… something's happened to him."
He pulled back his shoulder, staring even more at the bag in Jack's hands.
"What's in that sack?" He continued with a grave expression on his face.
Nowa followed, trying to crack what Declan was up to. He had his own suspicion about the bag, but didn't know where to start with the questioning.