Back on the train in the early hours of the morning. By early hours in the morning, I mean the usual time logan wakes up and two hours before Roman's' alarm. And that was even counting the time they woke up.

Let's just say, it took Roman five minutes to wake up, two to get out of bed, forty minutes to get dressed in his tired state, they both had a shower -Logan only took up ten minutes, Roman took up fifteen- and they brushed their teeth at the same time, talking up two minutes. They waited for half an hour for the train and they only left the station at 5:05. In the morning.

Roman did not look good. His hair was still wet and it hung in front of his face, damp and dripping, clamping up together no matter how many times he brushed it. His eyes were drooping, he kept collapsing onto the table and he wasn't even listening to Hamilton. Dressed in a pale yellow v-neck, blue jeans and a red letterman jacket, Roman's' outfit wasn't nearly as formal as he expected it to be.

Logan, on the other hand, looked fine. His hair was brushed and tamed, swept across his head, he was attentive and alert and he was dressed in formal greeting clothes. He'd usually wear his uniform for first inspection but that had a lot of bad memories tied to it. So he just wore a dark polo, with a navy tie, and black trousers.

Logan raised an eyebrow at Roman as the younger started making a high-pitched noise. "Are you okay?"

"No."

"Could you elaborate?" Sighed the detective.

Roman looked Logan dead in the eye as he said, "You woke me up at, like, the middle of the night, of course I'm not okay."

"Okay, now you're sounding quite petulant."

"It's too early for you to use fancy words, specs, shush..."

Logan was quiet for a bit and then said, "How old are you, Roman?"

"Twenty-five."

"As young as I was, then," Logan nodded, keeping his eyes as Roman looked up curiously.

"What d'you mean?"

Logan replied, "I mean, you're as young as I was when I solved my first case. Be careful you don't get sucked into this like I did." He finally looked up and locked eyes with Roman. "It's not worth it."

Roman hesitated, biting his bottom lip. "Why... Why did you quit?" Logan stiffened and Roman continued to talk about it. "Your career was going so well, you were becoming the most famous detective in the whole world and then you walked into the police station, go up to Archie and then say you quit. Why?"

The older kept his eyes firmly on his phone, hands beginning to shake. "I don't like to talk about it."

"It's just, there isn't a single interview about it alone, nothing in the papers. Every news channel was talking about the great Logan Croft quitting and going elsewhere and there was no explanation." Roman continued, seeming not to have heard Logan. "Like, you had the world at your feet and-"

"I don't like to talk about it!" Snapped Logan loudly into the empty carriage, making Roman jolt back, eyes wide. Logan took in a deep breath. "I... I'm sorry. My last case wasn't as... seamless as they usually were."

Roman bowed his head. "No, I'm sorry. I shouldn't have pressed it..."

Logan sighed slowly. "Let's talk about something else." He pondered for a moment, leaving the empty carriage awkwardly silent. An idea formed in his head and he smiled. "So, Roman," he began, "You seem like a nice, young, slightly too romantic man."

"Uh, thank you?"

"And there must be some fools who are into that."

"I feel insulted while you're trying to compliment me, and I'm not entirely sure how to respond."

"What I'm trying to say," Logan huffed, "Is do you have any romantic partner in your life? Any lucky girl?"

Roman stared at him and then burst out laughing. "Oh my god!" He cackled. "And you're being serious!"

Instantly, Logan grew defensive. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"You thought- You thought I was straight!" Roman burst, clutching his sides.

Logan's' confusion melted away. "Oh... You're not?"

"I am- the gayest bitch- you - will ever meet!" Roman struggled to say between bouts of laughter, looking on the verge of tears. "Jesus, you- you should- you are- holy christ, that was funny."

"It was an honest mistake!" Flushed Logan, crossing his arms.

Roman rubbed his eye with the palm of his hand. "Jesus, nerd, you are great."

Logan failed to hide a small smile and he instead turned to stare out of the window to the slowly lightening sky. Maybe this wasn't too bad...

~'^'~

"Why aren't we going straight to the scene of the crime?" Groaned Roman as Logan walked stubbornly towards a village market.

"Because we need to get outside opinions of the suspects before anything else," Logan answered. "Honestly, I struggle to understand how you solved the Portsmouth kidnappings sometimes..."

Roman gasped, offended, but took the time to shut up so Logan could observe the village.

Well, 'village' was an overstatement. It was shaped like a horseshoe, just one individual row of houses, shops and school all on one lane. The houses had a Tudor or Georgian style to them, painted beams along the walls and several older buildings had thatched roofs. In fact, Logan would say it was more of a hamlet than a village. The market was happening on a huge stretch of land in the centre of the horse-shoe shaped hamlet. Stalls were set up, children were screaming happily and Logan felt a sense of security wash over him in this place. It was all just so calming and safe, there wasn't any danger at all.

Then people noticed him. Groups stood still as Logan and Roman approached them, conversations dwindling. Logan hesitated and walked up to a currently empty stall.

The woman who stood behind was portly, with rosy cheeks and short, stubby pigtails. "Hello, you two seem new," She commented before her face paled in realisation. "You're here for the Blacksky murder, aren't you?"

Logan nodded his head sharply. "I am." He pulled out a small recording, turning it on and holding it up to the woman. "What can you tell me about Ali Blacksky?"

"W-Well, he was an interesting character, to say the least," She stammered. It was obvious she didn't want to disrespect to dead and Logan wasn't the most comforting person to be around, because of the reasons for his fame.

So, Roman stepped forwards. He smiled calmingly at the woman. "It's okay, we won't repeat any of this to anyone," He gently worked the recorder out of Logan's' grasp, holding it a little lower to give the woman more room. "What did you mean by interesting?"

"Well, he had sudden mood switches. One moment, he's laughing and then he's yelling at you the next. It put his poor brother through a lot of emotional things, the poor boy never deserved a man like that to be related to him-"

Logan interrupted. "It sounds like you favour the brother over Ali."

"Of course, I do," The woman narrowed her eyes and leaned in close. "Ali was not a good person. His little brother is a sweetheart, I've had Virgil visit me plenty. Ask anyone else, they'll tell you that Ali was a bad, bad man."

Roman tilted his head. "Is there anything else you can tell us?"

She nodded. "Yeah. Rumour was going around a few weeks ago, that Ali was gonna fire two of the people who worked for him. I'm not sure who they were, but it definitely upset the village."

"Why did it upset the village?" Logan pressed, feeling the rush that had once been so familiar to him but now felt foreign in his veins.

"Because all his workers were so nice to us," The woman mused. "Far nicer than him, anyway. Now, you're keeping me from serving customers, so if you could move onto the next person?"

Roman glanced behind them to see a shy-looking family and he pulled Logan away, saving and switching off the recorder. He started to walk around the large market, looking about for more people. "Curious interview. Are they always like that?"

Logan shrugged. "They vary. Those reactions are common. People don't want to get pulled into things and they always have a bias. Other reactions are sobbing and blabbering, collected but nervus, shy but useful and closed off."

"Seems reasonable," Roman replied, sticking his hands in his jean pockets. "Who next?"

The detective swung his eyes across the hamlet and smiled when he saw the next station. "The church."

"The..." Roman hesitated. "The church? You know that I'm gay, right? What if they're the homophobic type of church?"

"Unless you announce it, no one's gonna think you're gay, Roman," Logan pointed out as he started to walk over to a slightly shabby, classic church. "Besides, the woman at the stall wore a Christian cross around her neck but we've passed several Hindus in this hamlet."

"So?" Frowned Roman. "What does any of that have to do with a church?"

Logan sighed loudly. "So, what it means is that either the practising Hindus go out of town for prayer or this isn't a church and it's just a repurposed, multi-religion building."

Roman blinked slowly. "Oh, that makes so much more sense. And if we've already seen groups of people publically showing their faith, we can assume that they do practise their religions somewhere. This church is our best bet to get a rough image of this community and see what the prominent faiths are. We can then ask whoever is in charge if Ali Blacksky ever came to pray and then we'll be able to think more like him!"

"Exactly." Logan turned back to Roman with a subtle smile. "We'll make a nearly decent detective out of you yet."

"Well, I am-" He paused and pulled back in offence. "Hey, what do you mean by 'nearly decent'?!"

"I mean exactly what I said."

You could practically hear the pain Roman's' ego was in and Logan tried hard not to laugh.