Chapter 1 || Quoth the Raven “Nevermind” (3)

“Sorry,” muttered the raven girl, trying to move past him, but in the process she almost stumbled and fell.

“Hey wait.” Zeke felt his headache coming back. After the hard day, this girl was the last person he wanted to see. He wondered if she even remembered him. “You are very drunk,” he said.

“I’m not, just a bit dizzy.”

“You’re staggering. You almost fell right over.” He got a sense of déjà vu. The girl obviously didn’t want help, but once again she seemed to need it. He could just be repeating his past mistakes, but, if he were to be true to himself and his conscience, there were mistakes he would repeat over and over again. “Look, let me call you an taxi,” he said.

“I told you, I’m fine.”

“Then can I call someone who can come pick you up?” Surely she had someone that wasn’t the raven.

“No, I only live a few minutes away,” she said, but she swayed on her feet like a branch in the breeze.

Zeke felt the familiar frustration rise but he tried one last time. “Alright then, can I at least walk you home?” Part of him wished she would refuse. He would have done enough to not feel guilty without having to spend more time looking out for a hostile stranger. She shouldn’t let random people on the street walk her home anyway.

But to his surprise she sighed and said, “Fine.”

They began to walk in an awkward silence. She seemed steadier on her feet at least.

She led him into a back alley and stopped in front of a rear entrance to a shop. Zeke felt a twinge of apprehension, but it was eased by the glow of the neon sign and the fact that the main road and its nightly patrons was only a sprint away.

“I live here,” the girl said.

“Wait, here?”

“Yes,” she said, patiently. “Would you like to come inside for a while?”

Before he could answer, she stepped inside, leaving the door ajar. Much to his horror, what he saw through the open doorway was undoubtedly a bar. Was she going straight back to drinking? Zeke pushed his way inside.

“You can sit down anywhere,” the girl said, leaning back into a corner chair and closing her eyes.

“Oh hey, who’s this?” said a second voice. Zeke turned back to face the bar. Someone had appeared behind it, along with a cat.

“Oh hi,” said Zeke. “Your friend was a little unsteady on the street so I walked her home.”

The girl behind the bar smiled pleasantly. “Oh, I see,” she said. “Hi, I’m Alyssa.”

“Zeke. Nice to meet you.”

“So what’s the story with you?”

“Uh, like I said, I-”

The raven girl sat up. “Alyssa, he’s not-”

The sound of the news interrupted the conversation.

“…a break-in at Lexi Lilly’s residence. The faces of the intruders have been caught on surveillance footage.”

Zeke saw the raven girl tense in his periphery.

“Oh hey, this looks a lot like you,” he said to her, chuckling as he pointed to one of the grainy faces on the tiny TV screen.

“No,” she replied quickly. Far too quickly.

At that moment the door opened and in came two other people, laughing and talking.

They stopped as soon as they saw him. They looked awfully familiar.

“It is you,” said Zeke, his mouth falling open as realisation dawned that he was in a house of sins and crime and vice. Also, he was surrounded.

“Well damn,” said one of the newcomers.

With the last, unfortunate timing that night, the door opened once more. In stepped a person far more familiar than the people who had come in before.

“Is that Lexi Lilly?” asked Zeke incredulously, and that was the last thing he remembered.

—

“Captain,” said Elowen icily, “he was my alibi.”

“Well what would you have had him do? Run to the cops?” retorted Cap. “Let’s deal with that later. We have a deal to finish off.”

“I’m sorry, who is he?” asked Lexi Lilly.

“Someone from another case,” Cap lied smoothly. “No one you need to worry about. Shall we?”

Warily, Lexi Lilly sat down at the bar. The TV, forgotten in the commotion, was still on. The newscaster’s voice could be heard as they all fell silent.

“…the man arrested during the break-in…”

“Where did I put that damn…” muttered Alyssa in a futile search for the ever-elusive remote.

“We have your package,” said Cap. He hurriedly pushed the paper bag they found over the bar.

But Lexi Lilly did not even spare it a glance. “Is that my manager?” she asked. Her hands began to shake and she clasped them together.

Cap blinked. “I don’t know, is it?”

“…was revealed to be Lexi Lilly’s manager.”

“It is,” said Lexi Lilly, and she began to tremble in earnest.

“…he has testified that he was only in her house to look for her cat that has been missing since the stabbing.”

Cap tried to push the package towards Lexi Lilly once more. “Cool, I think we’re done here.”

“Wait!” cried Lexi Lilly, standing up. “I’m not done here. I’d like you to find out why my manager was sneaking around my house.” She looked at all their faces in turn, her eyes beseeching.

“…Didn’t the anchor just say why?”

“No, his testimony is bull. My cat… my cat died two months ago. Was he trying to steal things? Find my secrets?”

“Alright, firstly,” said Cap, “we have already done what you paid us for so anything extra will also cost you extra. Secondly, if the police find the reason after us, you can’t get a refund.  Lastly, please note that once you wake up from your coma, you won’t remember anything from this state.”

“That’s okay,” said Lexi Lilly. “There’s no point of me putting this off. Because… we all know I might never wake up.”

They all exchanged glances. Wordless agreement passed between them.

“Great,” said Cap. “Remember we take payment up front.”

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