Spectre Detective Agency (BEING REWRITTEN)

𝕮𝖍𝖆𝖕𝖙𝖊𝖗 𝕿𝖜𝖔

"

I swear, if you don't wake up, I'm dragging your ass to the motel room," Peter's voice said as I slowly woke up from my dream.

"Did we arrive already?" I asked, yawning before I opened my eyes.

"Yes, so get out of the car," he said as I heard a door open.

Opening my eyes and glancing over, I saw Peter pick up our bags and close the door behind the drivers with his hip. I unclicked my seatbelt and opened my door. Climbing out, I stretched as Peter rounded the car.

"Welcome to Esperance, home of the world's biggest sundial," he said as he stopped in front of me.

Frowning, I wondered what he was doing until he dropped my bags by my feet. "You're not even going to carry them for me?" I asked sarcastically.

"I thought you were a feminist. Aren't you all about independence? Carry your own damn bags," Peter replied as he began to walk away.

I rolled my eyes and lifted my bags up from the gravel and followed Peter. "One or two rooms?" I asked, yawning again.

"One, apparently, the boss needs us to cut our funding down," he replied as we stepped into a cemented entryway.

"Yeah, cause you buy way too much food," I replied, glancing over at a couple who seemed to be arguing.

"Too much food isn't in my vocabulary," Peter replied.

I surveyed the surroundings, looking for escape routes and weaknesses. Peter rapped his knuckles against the thin glass, separating an older man from the world.

The man looked up and slowly got to his feet. "We have a reservation under Walkins?" Peter asked, re-adjusting the bag in his hand.

"The married couple?" The man asked.

I shot a look at Peter, but he shrugged it off. "That would be us," he replied.

I stepped away from them and turned to look at the sunset. It cast long beautiful strokes of gold, yellow, pink, and purple across the sky.

"Got the key." Peter stated, and he walked up to me.

"Married couple?" I asked as we walked towards the room that held the same number as the key.

"I didn't make the booking. The boys at the office did," he replied.

"No doubt a practical joke," I replied with a sigh.

"It's just a cover, Mariam, chill," he said as he slid the key into the doorknob and opened the door.

The hotel room was small and looked extremely dodgy, but Peter and I had travelled across the country, staying in dodgy hotel rooms and eating takeout for a while now. We'd sort of gotten used to it. We were just hitting our first anniversary of partnership, one year. One terrible, sarcasm filled year.

The SDA often wondered how we hadn't killed each other yet, and it was simple. We might argue, insult, and name call, but when it came down to it, I knew we would protect each other in the face of danger.

That point was already proven a month ago when Peter threw himself on me to protect me against shattering glass as we were thrown from a window.

We didn't have blind loyalty. We had something better.

Peter threw his bags down upon his chosen bed and stretched his arms upwards. "How long do you think we'll be here?" He asked as he fell back on to his bed.

"Hopefully not for long, I'd like to sleep in my bed for once," I said as I opened the zipper to my bag.

"Here," I said, throwing the work phone to Peter.

He caught it and sighed. "Can't you make the call?" He called with a pout.

"No, I did it last time, and besides, Anne loves it when you talk to her," I replied.

Sighing, he dialled the familiar phone number and held it to his ear.

Grabbing some comfy sweat pants and singlet from my bag, I walked towards the bathroom.

"Hey Anne, it's Peter Warwick, yes, just check -" Peter began saying before the bathroom door closed, and I turned on the light.

Looking in the mirror, I rubbed my tired eyes and pulled the hair tie from my hair, letting the brown hair fall loose.

I heard Peter laughing, and I rolled my eyes before turning on the shower and making sure the water was the right temperature. I stripped and climbed in, emerging under the water and feeling it beat softly against my forehead.

I washed, cleaned, and then dried before wrapping my hair into the towel and dressing.

"What's for dinner?" I asked as I emerged from the bathroom.

Peter was flicking through the channels on the t.v. before looking as I walked paat him.

"I don't know, I'm not really hungry."

I pushed my bag off the bed before giving him a worried look.

"You're not hungry? Are you okay?" I asked, actually concerned.

He shot me a look before turning off the t.v.

"Anne says, if we don't solve this case with efficiency, we may be benched for a while," he said, putting the remote back on the nightstand.

"What? That last case took us one day to solve, and the spirit was definitely angry," I replied.

"Yeah well apparently that's not fast enough, I swear this job is going to kill me," Peter replied as he stood up.

"Look, we just handle this case like every other case, we get in and get it done, then we can go home and finish with a win," I replied.

Grabbing his laptop, Peter sat on the edge of his bed.

"I have a bad feeling about this one, Prince, a really bad feeling."

I would've told him that he was being dramatic, but Peter's intuition had saved us on many occasions. He typed on his computer for a moment before it holding out to me.

"Read it, I'm going to have a shower," he said as I took the laptop.

It was an article on the house we were here to investigate. According to the headline, the place was used for cult practices, and they lured unsuspecting victims to their graves.

Peter disappeared to the bathroom as I read through the article. He was right. There was an odd feeling about this case, and I didn't like it either.