Journey to the Limemere

Admiral sat on his chair in his cabin, working on a murder case of a councilman, Baronet Hutch.

"Animal attack," he mumbled. The worry lines on his forehead showed how stressed he was. He slumped back in his chair, wondering "Strange. It was a cold-blooded murder by the human, yet postmortem reports say animal attack. How can it be both at the same time?"

He tried to make sense of both situations. Birds chirping near his window drew his attention. He got up and walked up to it. As he stared out the window, something struck him. In terror, his eyes expanded slightly.

He whispered, "I hope it's not what I'm thinking."

"Can we talk, Mr Wilkin?" 

He heard someone addressing him. He turned around to meet the brown eyes. 

"Mr Frithswith, yes sure," he replied. 

Elric took a seat and glanced at the file on the table. "Is there any progress?" He asked.

Shaking his head in a no, Admiral replied, "he left no clue behind him." He let out a deep sigh. 

Elric nodded. 

"What brings you here?" Admiral asked. 

"Something is going on. I couldn't point out what," Elric said. Looking at the puzzled face of Admiral he continued, "They want me and your niece to go for investigation in Limemere village. It felt like they planned." 

"I heard Hall's body was stolen."

Elric nodded, "Still need to find out how many people are involved in this and what they are planning. Somehow, Mr Aldrich seems happy these days." 

"Time to keep an eye on him," 

"Well, you were already keeping since the council tier two missing bodies report. It's strange how the bodies of candidates disappeared from the forest."

"I wonder how that happened. It's suspicious for an imposter to kill the candidates all alone and destroy their bodies without being noticed by a single person." 

"The manipulated reports," 

Admiral nodded at his remark and added, "Work of Simon. Might have threatened the imposter to accept that." 

"Indeed," Elric nodded, agreeing to his words. 

After a brief silence where both of them sat contemplating about the things, Elric said, "Alright, I will go on work on something before leaving for Limemere. Just came to inform you about the journey." 

He saw Admiral nod. Standing up from the seat, he walked towards the door.

"Elric," Admiral called him. 

He turned back and waited for him to continue. 

"Take care of my niece. Renaud agreed to send her only because he knows who is going with her." His voice held concern for her as he said. Elric nodded once, smiling reassuring him and strolled out of the room. 

*****

The day of the journey arrived. Evelyn got herself ready to travel to the council office and then to Limemere, the village. This was the first time she was going to stay out, away from her father. She was glad her father agreed as she had already assumed.

Limemere was six days away, she had discovered. Just thinking about the journey made her exhausted mentally. In any case, she had to go because her employer had requested it.

A small metal trunk was carried out of her room towards the carriage stand by a servant. Earl was already waiting for her. Her face broke into a big grin as she looked at him.

"All trousers," she said, pointing at the trunk.

"Comfortable," Earl added, winking at her. 

Evelyn nodded at him, smiling widely and hopped into the carriage leaving for the council office. 

Outside the council office, she waited for Elric to arrive with the council's order. Earl stood leaning on the carriage as always. 

"Is he the man?" Earl asked her, looking in the direction where a tall man with brown eyes approached them. 

Evelyn looked in that direction and nodded. 

"Well, Eve" She heard him call her. 

"Take care of yourself," he said with concerned eyes. 

Since childhood, he had never been expressive. Evelyn knew he cared for her more than himself. She smiled reassuringly at him and replied, "you too." 

Soon Evelyn hopped into the carriage followed by Elric and left for the six days journey. Earl waited there looking at the carriage till it was out of his sight. 

Inside the carriage, the two people sat opposite each other, silently. Evelyn enjoyed the view outside the window. 

"Will this small trunk be enough for your clothes?" Elric asked her. 

She frowned at his question as she was confused as to why he asked that. 

Looking at her perplexed face, Elric cleared, "Usually women like to travel with all the unnecessary things, stuffed inside a huge trunk."

"I am not like the women you mentioned," she said sternly. 

"Indeed," Elric replied and turned his gaze outside the window. 

Evelyn frowned at him wondering what he meant. She too turned her gaze outside the window with a slight frown on her face, contemplating what he agreed to, passing her time in the carriage, hoping for the journey to end soon. A few hours of the journey made her eyes slowly close themselves and doze her off. 

A sudden jerk woke up Evelyn from her sleep. She looked outside and saw it was night already. Turning her gaze to Elric, she saw him sleep deeply, under the soft light, falling on his face through the window. She remembered the time from the department where she was close to his face. 

A soft smile appeared on her face as she thought about it. Rest all the journey, she spent by admiring his features and fell asleep eventually.