D A Y 9

[founds]

CHAPTER 2

NOV 08TH | 47℉☂

▸ --*CHSKSSS--*-Breaking News! In the light of yesterday's hunt on Black Rock Lake, a body has been found. It has not ye--*CHSKSSS--*-n identified, but has been confirmed to not be either of the missing children.

▸ Another fall storm is roaming through today,--*CHSKSSS--*ed to pick up after dark so stay safe or stay insi--*CHSKSSS--*-

▸ Blackwell's First Methodist Church is holding its annual Thanksgiving food drive from now until Thanksgiving. Donate now! Anything but turkey,--*CHSKSSS--*-pped over on the interstate the other day and donated hundred--*CHSKSSS--*-urkeys to feed people for the holidays. What luck!

▸ Back to our regular--*CHSKSSS--*-uled programming

HIGH WIND WARNING IN EFFECT

Comments

[espish]

[you have got to be the worst detective i've ever heard of.]

The body, Detective Vaughn?

[this was the worst idea i've ever had. i already regret moving in here completely.]

[eternalboy]

[ and it only took 5 minutes. ]

Yeah, we don't know who it is.

[ so he's gonna have to go through so many missing cases. So many. ]

[ god he doesn't want to go to work he wants to go back to Izzy. looks up at the ceiling. ]

[espish]

Okay.

[probably best not to pry, since technically ben telling him anything constructive would be illegal. at least ben seems to have the professionalism of, well, sam, so he's got that working in his favor.

he'll ask again after ben's been to the station. or whatever passes for a station in this backwater.]

This wasn't the Australian, was it? I thought she was Nicole. No, Nicola.

[eternalboy]

She's a firefighter. Izzy has got curly hair.

[ keep up. ]

Do you remember where I put my clothes?

[ he just dumped whatever boxes he had in his room and closed the door. ]

[espish]

I dunno, in the closet?

[freezes for a few seconds, then sloowly sets his coffee down on the table.]

Wait, Izzy? Short for Isabella? Long, curly blond hair? Likes excitement and martinis?

[ace detective.]

[eternalboy]

[ gets up and stretches his arms, he better find something quick. ]

I can't remember opening the closet.

[ starts unbuttoning his shirt on his way to his room. ]

Yeah, that's her. It wasn't just martinis yesterday though. [ anything went. ] Now you know who I'm talking about?

[ now you know just how hot we're talking about here. ]

[espish]

Uh-huh.

[distractedly watches ben walk off, frowning at his back. looks back into his coffee when ben disappears and shakes his head, then snorts.]

Yeah, do you? [too quietly to be clearly heard from the next room. probably. then, louder:] I think she and I have an acquaintance in common, actually. Believe it or not.

[eternalboy]

[ box opening noises. clothes are being thrown around. ]

Yeah, me.

[ ace detective. ]

[ manages to get rid of his shoes and pants too. ]

[espish]

Aside from you.

[rubs at a smudge on the rim of the mug with the pad of his thumb. scratches at something on the surface of the table with a fingernail.]

D'you know Noah Salvi?

[since she seems kind of infamous out here, especially with the law enforcement, he figures ben might, then again, ben had said he was only sort of local, and whatever noah did probably wasn't his demesne.]

[eternalboy]

[ finds the right box finally and pulls out clean clothes. ]

No... Wait, that one from the trial? [ he does remember this. ] How do you know her?

[ peeks out of his room. this sounds like a Story. ]

Did she cheat the money off one of your clients?

[espish]

What?

[looks up, a little surprised. stalls for a moment, blinking, then picks up again as though he hadn't interrupted himself with a few seconds of dead silence.]

No, she used to live in my building, right when she moved to New York. She's the reason I'm here, I guess—she gave my number to the Samsons.

[eternalboy]

[ pulls back in and puts on work clothes. it was just a normal story. ]

Oh New York friends.

[ ... oh. oh. New York. pauses. ]

Did you say New York?

[ New York? ]

[espish]

Yeah, New York. Where I'm from? Noah lived there for a while... Might still live there, actually, though sure as hell not my building anymore.

[his building is a real starter apartment building, for people who can barely afford more than a refrigerator box in an alley. nobody stays there more than a year if they can help it.

he's been there for ten.]

Anyway, I guess Izzy knows Noah.

[in a purely biblical sense.]

[eternalboy]

Yeah, she used to live there too. Guess they met there. Small world.

[ finishes making himself representable and pushes the box back to the other boxes. checks his phone and walks back to the kitchen. ]

Noah told you about her?

[espish]

Small world.

[looks back up when ben comes out of his room and hesitates, making a face that's going to make it difficult to pretend he's got nothing to say.]

Not exactly. More like she showed up at the bar I went to night before last, yelled at Noah, broke a glass and left.

[ben you're dating a hysterical lesbian. and not in a fun, ellen sense.]

[eternalboy]

[ going through the cupboards while Sam talks. finds only ramen. hm. ]

Really? No fistfight?

[ laughs to himself when he imagines it. that Izzy is certainly something. ]

She's got a temper.

[espish]

Uh.

[a little sidetracked by what he feels is an underreaction. well kid, it's your funeral.]

Not right then and there, no.

[eternalboy]

[ she can run around punching people and breaking glasses, it's pretty hot. ]

You think something happened between them?

[ takes one of the ramen packages and opens it. cracks a piece off it over the sink and puts it in his mouth. breakfast. ]

That's her business.

[ chews. ]

[espish]

Noah introduced Isabella as her ex, there was yelling, Izzy stormed out. Yeah, I'm pretty sure something happened between them.

[as dry as the noodles ben is currently crunching. takes a sip of his terrible instant coffee and still feels he has room to judge ben's horrifying breakfast choice. ]

How on Earth did you live to... However the hell old you are.

[gestures at the ramen.]

[eternalboy]

[ he's eating over the sink give him some credit. ]

This is yours. 29.

[ points the ramen at him. besides, he's in a hurry. "hurry". ]

An ex, huh? Sounds like she better stay out of Izzy's way.

[ he hopes there's gonna be a brutal catfight where he gets to hold Izzy back. ]

[espish]

Oh, so you did notice. It's mine, but I usually cook it.

[sam likes to say he's made it to 34 because alcohol is a preservative. well, he used to say he'd made it as far as he had because cigarettes were full of preservatives, but since he stopped smoking that joke doesn't work as well.

"joke."]

So you're not... Concerned, at all?

[eternalboy]

Don't worry, I'll hit the store after work today.

[ waves the subject away. he's definitely going to buy something healthy and fresh and. yeah. if he ever remembers to go to the store. ]

It's in the past and from what I heard they don't get along. I don't see any reason for concerned. [ shrugs a little. yesterday was so amazing he doesn't even care. BUT MAYBE HE SHOULD. ] Or is it because her ex is a girl?

[espish]

[tries to imagine someone calling salvi a girl to her face.]

Little of column a, little of column b.

[shrugs and chews at his coffee a little more. mostly he meant column b, actually. the. woman thing. whatever, maybe ben's okay with it. good. great.

also there's no way in hell you break glasses in a bar and storm out crying over an ex you don't still have feelings about.

he would assume.]

[eternalboy]

So she likes both. It's not a problem.

[ assumes it was a bad break-up. those happen. maybe she took her money. it's not really his business so he'd rather not think about it at all. also not think about Izzy dating anyone else but him. nope. impossible. ]

[ leans against the sink and puts the ramen away. ]

Hey.

What are you not telling me?

[ he's not as bad at this detective thing as everyone likes to think. really, he can tell Sam's onto something here. he knows Salvi and witnessed the scene. ]

[espish]

It's– What?

[looks up from his coffee and for a second he actually does look alarmed, but then he thinks back on what actually made it out of his mouth and his expression sort of fades back into puzzled.

no, he's pretty sure he covered all the salient points of the story. ben apparently doesn't actually care, or convincingly pretends it.]

Nothing? It wasn't a long conversation. There was introductions, a little yelling, and then leaving. That was it.