Grim Realities :Part 6

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Smoothing the surface of the deep purple cushion face Bradley starts "I was upstairs getting ready for work; I work at the Voodoo Bar in on the edge of the historic district." he glances at Chess, the explanation for her more than me.

"The otherworld bar? I didn't think they employed humans." Chess asks surprised, leaning forward to rest her elbows on her knees.

"Yeah that's the one," Brad confirms, nodding quickly. "There are a couple of us, all with ties to your world so the supes don't mind so much; especially when we help keep up appearances when another human stumbles in." He pauses to take another deep shuddering breath, and clutches the cushion he has been petting close. "Once a month I have to do a morning day shift; there's a local business group, that's all human except for the group president who's Fae. They have a monthly business meeting in the bar and we get paid double time to work it for inconvenience. The humans know something is off about the place but not quite what. It's kinda funny in a way, but I guess that's the point. The Fae will do anything to mess with the humans." Chess and I roll our eyes at this before turning our attention back to Bradley. "Anyway when I have to do these shifts I sleep through the night and in the morning just before the sun comes up Clive makes me breakfast. He'd sit and watch me eat before seeing me off to work and going to bed himself."

There is a smell of burning herbs coming form the kitchen now, indicating the Nico is starting to work his magic. After a second Nico can be heard faintly casting his spell in an unnaturally deep resonating voice; the sounds too low and too quiet to make out the actual words.

"Was there anything that seemed different today?" I ask in an attempt to distract Bradley from what is happening in the next room.
He looks down at the sheepskin rug beneath his feet, no doubt taking a moment to go over the morning in his head. After a long moment he looks back at me tears shining in his eyes.

"No, it was just like any other." his fingers dig into the cushion.

"Did you see or hear anything? What made you come downstairs?" Chess asks.

"I didn't see anything. I was in the master bathroom shaving, when I heard what sounded like the clattering of pans falling onto the floor. I didn't think much of it though. Clive could be a bit of a klutz at times." A small sad smile makes a brief appearance, only to disappear as Bradley looks away to wipe the tears from his face. "He used to joke that of all the traits to keep once being turned it had to be that one." Bradley's brows pinch together as he says "I'm sure I heard the flick of a lighter, but that could have been Clive too. The cooker has been causing problems lately, a repair company was coming in at the end to the week to fix it."

Over Bradley's shoulder I notice a thick purple fog creeping out from under the kitchen door. Chess sees it to and gets up taking a heavy throw with her, that she lays in front of the door confining the fog to the kitchen and Nico. Absorbed in his thoughts Bradley doesn't see Chess retake her seat and carries on recalling the morning.

"I called down to Clive to see if he wanted me to have a go at lighting it, and that's when I noticed something was wrong. Clive didn't answer, and I heard the french doors open. That couldn't have been Clive. The sun was about to come up, he wouldn't open them that late for anything.  I ran down as fast as I could, b-b-but it was to late." His voice starts to crack at the end and he takes deep shaking breathes in an attempt to calm himself.

I edge closer to Bradley, as if that will somehow made my next question easier to ask.
"I hate to have to ask, but, did you touch the body?"

Wide eyed, Bradley quickly shakes his head "No, I just ran back round the island and shut the doors then came in here to call you guys."

I nod thoughtfully and glace over at Chess who fields the next question.
"Can you think of anyone that would want to hurt Clive?"

Bradley thinks for a moment before shaking his head again "No. No-one." He turns to me, eyes wide and wet with even more tears, "You know how he was Tayla; no matter what job you have, how much money you have, no matter the kind of person you are, Clive would treat you as an equal, always ask how your day had been, take an interest, get to know you and genuinely care." I nod my agreement, as I give his hand a light squeeze with one of my own.

He's not lying. Clive was the one to convince me that this new life wasn't so bad, and that Death wasn't the monster to be feared as most humans make out in the religion and fairy tales. Although seeing Clive lying in his kitchen floor has made me question that.

Chess has become thoughtful and follows up with another question.
"Hmmm. Okay. What about this last week? Have you noticed anyone new hanging around, have you been anywhere different or new?"

"Err, nothing that springs to mind right now." Brad answers, his voice hoarse. Chess and I share a look, a silent agreement to go on and ask the next question. Bradley looks back and forth between us, waiting. I nod at Chess, letting her do the honors.

"Does the name Micheal Blake mean anything to you?"

Bradley looks from Chess to me and back again. "No. Should it? Who is he?"

I take a deep breath before breaking the news. "Clive isn't the first victim." Brad's jaw drops and the colour drains from his face, so I pause a second to let that sink in. "Micheal Blake was a werewolf who's body was found a few nights ago. I hope you don't mind, but John Oakland-"

"The alpha!?" Brad interjects.

"Yes." I continue, "He is on his way over here now to see if he can track the killers scent. With any luck we'll find something, and put a stop to all this. I hope you don't mind."

"Sure anything to catch who did this."

With that there are three heavy knocks at the door.