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"You and I are used to dealing with mysteries that live on the page."
"There are no bad guys. There are just complicated people who did bad things."
"I've got enough crime fact in my life. I don't need to read about it."
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When c...
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I rushed to catch up to Detective Burns, who was speeding down the hallway with a forensics team to get back to Allegra's dorm room. Mason was walking beside me. We needed him to let us in again. It's hardly worth mentioning, but if Tyler had listened to me, then we could have spared Mason the trouble.
Hardly worth mentioning though, like I said.
I had updated Mason on everything that was going on, so once he let us in, he was sure to get out of the way of the forensics team. They did their work - dusting and gathering samples - in about twenty minutes. After that, the room belonged to two people; the detective and I.
He put on some blue latex gloves and went to work, looking around the room. Feeling awkward just standing there, I sat on the bed. Tyler sighed, reaching under a desk and running his gloved hand along the underside. "What are you looking for?" I asked meekly.
"Not sure. I'll know when I find it," came his terse reply.
I nodded, turning my lips in towards my mouth and raising my eyebrows. "Okay. Well, if I can help you in any way-" "You're a liaison, Alex."
I sighed, dropping my outstretched hand on my knee. Moving back to get more comfortable, I was immediately struck with an idea. A bartering chip, if you will.
I chuckled dryly. "You know, I'm assuming you've never read Who's Body by Dorothy L. Sayers so..." I trailed off, clearing my throat quickly. "You haven't, have you?"
Tyler was listening, that much I could tell. His posture had straightened, and he turned to look at me curiously. "No," he replied, his tone a little softer.
"No, I didn't think so. Anyways, there's this great example of the trope of this really disgruntled policeman who's so upset with this amatuer sleuth for invading his turf, and it was kind of relatable," I chuckled, looking up to see how I was doing. Receiving no protest from him, I cleared my throat. "But it's great and I think you should read it. I think you would like it."
Tyler's eyebrows furrowed, and he removed one of his gloves. "Yeah?" he hummed, removing the other and walking towards the bed.
"Yeah."
He smiled, coming to a stop."How's it end?"
I had been waiting for this question. "Well, it ends with the amatuer sleuth solving all the crimes and giving the cop the credit," I drawled, grinning back at him.
Tyler gave in and laughed. I began to chuckle along with him as he sat on the bed and tossed his gloves to the side. He turned to me and raised his eyebrows as our laughter died down.
"Look, I'm not trying to step on anybody's toes here, I promise. I just feel like there's this questionable character who's connected to Nate and Allegra that I think you should take a look at," I entreated, using my words as a peace offering.
