5. ~Miške~
A conversation about the possible killers and their motives dragged out until late afternoon. Dorian and Skye munched on mouthwatering chocolate chip cookies and green tea. They spoke of all possible suspects but one; Lucas.
Skye wasn't sure if Dorian was aware of it or not, but Lucas was one of the first suspects the police had. She remembered the day when the police questioned them pretty well. The look on old detective's face never left her mind, the look he motioned at Lucas when he displayed hardly any emotion at the news of his dad's passing. She knew that not displaying your emotions, playing the 'human' game, made others wary around you. And she knew that keeping those feelings bottled up will bite Lucas in the ass one day.
Detectives muttered the same questions over and over again, as if it were a prayer.
Where were you on that day?
What were you doing at that hour?
Did you have any arguments with the deceased?
Can anyone confirm your alibi?
They asked Skye about Lucas's fights with his dad, if the 'temper' ran in the family...Of course she got upset, demanding to know what exactly were they implying, and the detective bluntly asked if Lucas ever lost his temper around her, hit her? She recalled that moment the most of all, the scent of old man sweat, yellow teeth of that detective revealing his smoking addiction, trying to place her lover in the same box with the monster that called himself a father...Skye couldn't help but to get a bit teary of that ugly suggestion. She snapped at the detective, fiercely accusing him of being a bastard with cotton candy for a brain.
Lucas was asked the same questions, having the same answers as Skye, only he was way less bothered by detective's accusations than her. For a change, he was the quiet one. He was bothered by his dad's death, even if he had no intention of showing it. The one thing he could never understand was, how could his mom love a monster like him? But than again, he wasn't a monster a long time ago...Once upon a time. He might shed a tear for those moments, but he refused to indulge in any more pain caused by that man. No more.
Skye and Lucas were eachother's alibi. Mr. Dashwood was murdered around 2AM on a Saturday, a night which they quietly slept through. Old detective was of course unsatisfied by that statement, but it was the truth, and it was all he got.
She dwelled on telling or not telling that to Dorian. Skye thought about it long enough for it to be decided for her – Lucas finished his work, coming home early.
Like always he placed that black leather jacket on the coat hanger in the hall, and came into the kitchen, only to find a bunch of papers lying around. »What the fuck is this?« His voice became two shades darker as he picked up one of the documents.
»Oh,« Dorian quickly stood up. »it's nothing, I was just showing Skye –«
»I thought I told you to leave it alone.« Lucas interrupted him.
»I know, and I am sorry, but if you would just take a look –«
»Get out.« He closed his eyes, grimacing his face in rage.
»I didn't mean to be disrespectful...« Dorian started piling the papers, shoving them in his bag.
»Get out!« A yell of pain escaped Lucas's throat.
»Lucas!« Skye intervened. »It was just a conversation, you actually might wanna hear about this stuff.«
»You too?« His voice now almost cracked with a sense of betrayal, disappointment.
Dorian packed everything, turning around, searching for something. »I think I should go.« He spoke, looking beneath the table. »Have you seen,« He mumbled, still poking around which gave Lucas even a bigger headache.
»Would you just get the fuck out of here!«
Skye shook her head in an apologetic way. Usually she would snap at Lucas, but this truly was a delicate matter. »Dorian, I'm sorry.«
»It's okay, I get it.« His lips tucked in a smile that meant goodbye for now, and finally he left the apartment.
»Lucas,« She tried touching him, but he stepped back. Skye shyly curled the fingers back into her own embrace. »It...um, I'm sorry. I know you hate talking about him.«
He just stood there, his face still grimaced with pain, not responding.
»It was just a conversation between him and me,« Skye nervously fidgeted with her hands. »we weren't going to bother you with it, I promise. I was going to remove the papers before you –«
»It's okay. I am sorry, I'm the one that overreacted.« Lucas finally spoke calmly.
»I know he still gets you mad...«
He put his arms around her, breathing in that sweet smell of cookies, the scent that calmed him down. She was the one thing on this world that made his heart race and calm down when needed. »As long as I have you, I don't care about anything else.« Lucas mumbled in her bright hair. »How about we cook something for YouTube?« He tried to lighten the mood.
Lucas was a frequent guest on Skye's YouTube channel, he had his own segment – Cooking with Dashwood. Of course, camera loved him, and Skye did suspect she got a lot of her lady viewers, and maybe some male ones, by exposing her boyfriend's culinary talents to the internet. He mostly presented short recipes for simple dishes that everyone could make.
»What will it be today?« She lifted her head and brushed against his soft lips.
»I was thinking,« Lucas gently bit her lower lip. »fried mice.«
Skye laughed, her lip feeling all tingly from that sensual bite. »Fried mice?«
He placed his lips on the sensitive skin of her neck, delicately sucking in a bit of air, causing the tiny capillaries beneath her flesh to pop, creating a hardly noticeable bruise. Skye loved the way that feeling caused shivers all over her body, as if he wanted to drink sips of her life force.
»I'll prepare the dishes, you get the camera.« Lucas let go of her, putting on an apron.
As always, Skye was the 'helper' when it came to cooking. Lucas quickly pinched her butt, moving to the other end of the kitchen.
»Don't do that, then I have to edit the video every few seconds.« She slapped his hand away.
»You're too delicious...« Lucas grabbed her waist, pressing against her. He was awfully tempted to make a mess in the bedroom, rather than in the kitchen. But then again, the kitchen would do fine...
»Lucas!« She flicked his nose. »Be serious.«
He groaned and turned towards the camera. »Ladies,« Even his way of greeting was seductive. »today we will make fried mice. I know, a weird name, but trust me, the little puffs of joy will melt in your mouth. Lil' kitty?«
»Yes, chef?« Skye felt rather silly, replying with 'yes, chef' to almost everything he said, but that was one of his quirks developed lately, and she did find it quite amusing.
»Please, pass me the bowl.« Lucas grinned.
»Yes, chef.«
»Now,« He presented the ingredients. »take one plain yogurt and put it all in a bowl. After you've done that, you can use the yogurt cup for measuring.« After he washed all white yogurt out of the cup, he quickly dried it off. »Now you put in two yogurt cups of white flour. Add baking powder,« Lucas tore the small pink bag and put the content into the mix. »vanilla sugar,« His hands ripped apart another tiny bag. »two big spoons of plain sugar, a pinch of salt, and last but not the least, two eggs.«
He took a wooden spoon and stir everything in the blue bowl, creating a lovely, gooey, yellow mix. Skye was told to heat 5dcl of oil in a wok, where she would eventually check if the oil is hot enough by taking a drop of batter and placing it in. If the oil were heated enough, the drop would fry.
»You take a big spoon,« Lucas showed to the camera. »and a small, tablespoon. Scoop the batter with the big spoon, and then just place it in the heated oil with the help of the tablespoon. You can fry about five, or even more lovely orbs of batter, because as you see,« Little round yellow orbs were forming in the wok, flooding the air with a delicious scent of pastry. »they all fit. After they turn golden brown on one side, turn them over.«
They placed the fried mice on a big plate with floral pattern, dusting them with icing sugar.
»Bon appetite!« Lucas and Skye spoke at the same time.
He bit in one of the fried orbs and tilted towards her, demanding for a taste bite.
»You know, you could just handed me –«
Skye didn't get to finish the sentence because somebody knocked, no, banged on their door. »Police, open the door!« A loud voice demanded.
They exchanged confused looks and Lucas went to see what was all the commotion about. He opened a door and a young man with two police officers stood in the hallway. »Lucas Dashwood?« Young man roughly spoke.
»Yes.« Lucas defensively crossed his arms.
»We have a warrant to search your premises.« He handed him a document, bursting in their home.
»What? Why?« Skye quickly ran towards her boyfriend, shocked at the sudden intrusion.
»Skye Monroe?« The young man talked to her now.
»Yes, that's me.« She replied, quietly.
»I'm detective Wilde, I am in charge of this investigation now. My predecessor retired and we've noticed some holes in his investigation, including not conducting a search of your residence.«
The two police officers began rambling in the kitchen, looking into every drawer, every cabinet, even every large cooking pot. Skye knew they weren't hiding anything, but it wasn't a pleasant feeling having strangers in the house, snooping through everything you own.
Author's note: This chapter includes a recipe - you can use it if you like, I do it all the time - technically 'fried mice' are called 'miške' in my country, so that's how I translated them, but maybe you guys have your own name for them in your language, I don't know...anyway, they are delicious! <3