The Curious Case of the Two Dirk Gentlys

8: Victoria

The trio of four piled into Svald's small blue car and made hast to Victoria's little semi-detached house. They pulled up outside at around three in the afternoon. It was a perfectly regular home, a three bed room deal where very little strange activity should have been taking place. Then again normality and nonsense had a nasty tendency of mixing together like milk and honey, at least when the Dirks were involved.

"I'll knock." Said Richard. "Please try to be nice. I know you can get a little irritable sometimes-"

"Nonsense. I shall be completely neutral. This is a professional situation." Svald replied firmly.

"And we'll be here too. Just shout when you need us." Dirk smiled.

"I will. Don't you worry." Svald nodded, though what exactly he was going to with his namesake he didn't know.

Richard knocked hard on the plastic door. Multiple locks scratched and scrapped from the inside. Victoria, a golden haired, blue haired woman a little younger than Dirk, sheepishly poked her head around the corner, unsure of the strangers. That was until her eyes landed on Dirk who was stood near the back of the group alongside Todd. As soon as she saw him she flung the door open, chipping the white plastic, and pounced forward for a joyfilled hug. Svald, Richard, and Todd moved aside to allow the woman through. Dirk flinched but had almost no time to react. He simply screwed his eyes shut and let it all happen.

"Icarus." Exclaimed Victoria as she wrapped her arms around him. Having failed to brace himself the sudden push came as shock to Dirk's system. Both toppled to the ground.

"Um hello." Dirk replied with  confusion. He looked up and reopened his eyes, getting his first clear look at her face, and the puzzle pieces clicked into place. "Athos." He shouted.

"What are you doing here?" She asked as she pulled herself and him up.

"I'm solving your case." Dirk shrugged happily.

"Richard, when you said you had a detective friend I didn't think you meant Dirk." Victoria smiled.

"Neither did I." Richard muttered. Svald cleared his throat, winning back the group's attention, and stepped forward.

"Who's this?" Asked Victoria.

"He's-"

"For simplicity's sake call me Svald." Said Svald, shaking his new client's hand. "I'm the actual detective on this case."

"Right. Of course, he's Svald." Richard nodded awkwardly.

"Alright...I guess you should come in." Victoria ushered the four inside and quickly closed the door behind her. She once again locked the house up with chains, five to be exact.

"What's that for?" Asked Svald.

"I thought it might slow the thieves down." Victoria explained.

"It won't help. If Richard is right the threat is already inside the house." Svald told her.

"Neutral." Grumbled Richard.

"Right, neutral and professional." Svald waved off he drifted towards the front room. In there he found a man around the same age as Victoria flipping through a newspaper as his usual television entertainment was gone. On the floor played an infant boy, around two years old, with little tufts of blonde hair. He played with his toys without a care in the world. The supernatural going ons didn't seem to be bothering him one bit.

"Robert, these men are here to see what's happening with our house." Victoria called from a hallway.

"Are they with the police?" Asked Robert without looking up from his paper.

"No." Answered Victoria.

"Of course they're not." He mumbled to himself.

"They're just going to take a look around okay?" She asked.

"Sure. Go nuts." Robert grumbled.

Svald scanned the room, taking in as much as he could without moving from his comfortable doorway spot. Again there was nothing particularly wrong with it. There was an oddly open area at the side which he presumed had once been occupied by another sofa or some sort of table. That to was completely gone. Other than that everything was completely fine. No forced entry, no suspicious stains, nothing.

Meanwhile, as Svald was trying to make the investigation as normal as possible, Dirk wasn't holding back one bit with his little hunches. He was still hooked on the sofa idea and was more than willing to prove it. He headed to the side, trying to get the thing to budge. It wouldn't move far. It was surprisingly heavy.

"What are you doing?" Asked Robert.

"Searching behind the sofa. Just keep reading your paper." Dirk huffed as he tried to force the sofa across.

"Is this guy with you?" Robert asked to Svald who was paying very little attention to his new group.

"What? Oh yes, he's my assistant." Said Svald without looking over.

"Assistant?" Asked Richard.

"Or stalker. Who knows?" Commented Svald. "Dirk, please stop that."

"But-" Dirk protested.

"No." Svald scowled. Dirk relucantly dropped the sofa and sulked back to Todd's side.

"Maybe we should interview them. I mean if we can't see anything out right." Suggested Todd. He considered himself to be quite a sluth as of late. He was hardly an expert (though neither was anyone else he knew) but he'd solved plenty by himself. Well not entirely by himself. Plenty with Farah and Mona (and the stream of creation of course).

"Excellent idea." Announced Svald.

"R-really." Stuttered Todd.

"Of course, we better get what information we can before one of them disappears." Svald explained bluntly.

"I'm sorry what?" Asked Robert, finally looking sharply up from his paper.