Unknown L (Book 1)

~~ And So It Begins ~~

As soon as he locked eyes with L, something changed in his expression, and L realised he was smiling at her as though they were friends. But instead of greeting her like a friend would, he turned and walked in the opposite direction.

He moved like he was suddenly in a rush and quickly disappeared around the corner. It was like nothing had happened. L blinked back her surprise. What was that all about? Who was that guy, and why hadn't Eileen been out to interrogate him for standing outside her house?

It was all very strange, and L walked into the garden still looking down the street where the guy had disappeared. Nothing strange or unusual happened in that town, not unless she or Robbie caused it. Strangers didn't just turn up for no reason, not in the middle of the night and not unnoticed. L wandered into the house and found Eileen in the kitchen, loading the dishwasher. A single plate was still on the side with food that had long gone cold.

"Who was that guy standing outside the house?"

Eileen looked around extra slowly and gave L a disbelieving look.

"You sneak out this morning, stay out all day, don't even call, and the first thing you say when you get home is garbled nonsense? That's your dinner sat over there stone cold, you could have called to say you weren't coming in."

She stood up to face L and crossed her arms.

"I suppose you were with your friend. I heard he got into some trouble in town today, and you were there... I don't like you hanging around with him."

L rolled her eyes and shouldered the bag of clothes. How could one person go through that many topics so quickly?

"Robbie is the best thing that's ever happened to me. And it wasn't nonsense. There was a man standing by the gate and must have been for the last ten minutes, at least. How could you not see him?"

L didn't bother to mask the disbelief on her face, Eileen saw everything that happened in the street. And if she did miss something, for whatever reason, then she heard about it immediately from the neighbours.

"I was busy, I did look out there a few moments ago when the Henderson's dog was barking, but there was nobody out there. Now stop trying to distract me and don't even think about disappearing again, I want to measure you for your dress."

She went back to loading the dishwasher, quicker this time, and L made a beeline for the stairs. She wasn't in the mood for Eileen's ridiculousness.

How could she not have seen the guy standing outside? It's possible he could have ducked when she got there, but he wasn't even facing the right way to see the window. L was trying to both shake it off and  ignore Eileen calling her when she reached the landing. She saw Lewis playing alone in his room and couldn't help feeling sorry for the kid.

She leaned in through his doorway, opened the foil, and took out a cookie. Lewis looked up at the sweet treat being held out to him, and his smile lit up his face. L knew he'd be covered in chocolate by the time he finished. She smirked, knowing it would frustrate Eileen to no end and give her something else to do instead of harassing L, and she liked the sound of that. Lewis thanked her for the cookie, and L ruffled his hair.

She dropped her things onto her bed, but this time, she left the light off and moved over to the window to peek out. Her room faced the back of the house, and she could also see the side street. She half expected to see the guy from earlier out there, but it was as empty as it should have been for the time. She'd caught a glimpse of the clock downstairs and saw that it was only seven thirty; that may as well have been midnight for Mullfield.

She moved away from the window and turned the light on. She didn't feel sleepy now, and as she sat down on her bed to eat a cookie, she realised she could feel adrenaline pumping through her veins. There was no reason for her to feel that way, though that didn't stop the feelings she had. It made her restless. She needed to do something, and going back downstairs wasn't an option.