"Did you bring us here to die?"
"Obviously."
"James, I can't tell if you're being sarcastic or not."
"Well I'd rather be dead than here with you two"
"Then I have some good news for you, Pierce."
"Can we just get over with this? Before you kill yourselves." Desiree said as she burst into the house. Before opening, the door made a loud bang. When she walked in, the floor she stepped on cracked loudly. "You think walking in without a plan is a smart idea?" James whispered next to Desiree. "Nope." She replied. "Good, I'd be concerned if you did." As all three walked into the house. They immediately saw a broken spiral staircase leading to the next floor. Part of the roof had collapsed and fell onto the ground, letting some light into the room. Other than the staircase, there was a large empty area, with only a small amount of furniture lying around, right in front of the door. On that floor, there were only two doors leading to other rooms. The wallpaper was torn up, like most furniture in the area.
"What do we have to look for exactly?" Robert asked, looking around the area they were in. "What was it, Harrison said?" James asked, turning to Desiree. "Nothing" she answered plainly, entering one of the rooms. "Let's just try to find out if what Charles said about Nickolas is true.", "What? Do you trust he's innocent?" James questioned Robbert. "Where'd you get that from?", "Your tone.", "James, can you shut up already?"
Desiree said, going up the stairs. "There are multiple floors. And the rooms seem to be large as well." Robert said, exiting a room just by the stairs.
"It's no use if we bicker about the smallest things."
~~~~~~🗡~~~~~~
"Should we -"
"Oh really?"
They heard someone's voice on the third floor. Where Desiree was.
"Can you drop the goddamn knife?"
Once they heard Desiree's voice, James rushed to the third floor. 'Oh, what now?' Robert thought as he headed up.
"Why don't you drop the attitude first, sweetheart?"
The voice they didn't recognize was coming from a girl holding a knife. She had dark short hair and chocolate-brown eyes. She was wearing a belt that held a gun and a slot for her dagger. "You're kidding.." Robbert mumbled under his breath.
"What's happening?" James asked. Looking back and forth between the girl with the bloody knife and Desiree. "That's what I'm trying to figure out," Desiree said, looking back at the girl. "Funny story…" the girl said with nervous laughter as she looked at Robbert. "...Is that blood?" He asked her. "No?" She replied. "That's not a question you're supposed to answer with another question." He said. Walking up to her and forcefully snatching her knife from her hand. "Oh don't worry, the blood isn't mine." She said as he put her knife in his bag. "That's supposed to reassure me?" He asked. "You-"
"Robbert-", "What James?" He said. Turning to him, annoyed. "Look. I'm no detective, of course," Desiree said, "but I think this dead body might not be alive anymore.", "Apart from that," James added, "Who's she? And why in the world is she in here, with a knife that was dripping in blood." He asked, pointing to the girl in front of Robbert. "He sighed and stayed silent for a second. He then asked, "Did you kill him?", referring to the dead body by the corner. "Do you blame me for it?" she asked, avoiding saying she had. "I blame you for everything." He said, turning to James and Desiree. "This is my cousin…", "Kia Valley, nice to meet you," She said. Extending her hand out past Robbert to shake hands with Desiree and James. "Hello-"
But before they could take her hand, Robbert put it down. "Unnecessary don't you think?" He asked, not looking for an answer. "I feel this is going to end in disaster. Don't you?" Desiree said to James, standing next to her. "That's very optimistic," Kia said as she got pulled away by Robbert.
"How about we ignore this and get back to work," Robbert said, walking away. "What are you guys-", "I'll tell you later. Move." He said, dragging her along.
~~~~~~🗡~~~~~~
After a while of looking, James and Desiree were looking around on the second floor. While Robbert and Kia stayed on the third floor. Until Robbert came down to them, "Anything?" He asked. "No, we should just leave already," James suggested. "We can come back as Charles said."
"Or not," Robbert said. "Turns out Nickolas knows as much as Harrison when it comes to this place."
"How do you know?" Desiree asked. "Kia was sent here by Marques for the same reasons we were." He responded. "Did you know about this?" Desiree asked James. "Somehow, no" He replied.
"We can just tell Harrison, Marques doesn't know-"
"AH!"
They heard a scream come from upstairs. Less than a second later, Robbert ran upstairs. "Kia!" Robbert shot out after heading up the stairs.
Kia was on the ground, in the corner of an old bathroom. "What happened!" Desiree asked, running in. "I'm pretty sure I just saw a ghost," She said. Staring at the room directly across from the bathroom. "I'm pretty sure it's not," James said outside the room. "What?" Robbert asked, turning around. "I'm guessing ghosts don't bleed," he said, staring at a person inside the bedroom. Lying on the floor.
Both Desiree and James went into the non-lit bedroom. "Charles said there were murders here, right?" Desiree asked. "Yeah, why?" Robbert asked from the bathroom, with Kia. "We may or may not have found a dead body," James said as he and Desiree turned to see Kia and Robbert. "Stay here," Robbert said, getting up and walking to the bedroom.
Before he even got the chance to enter the bedroom, they heard Kia scream again. But when they turned around, she wasn't in the bathroom anymore.
"Oh, please not another kidnapping!"