"Hey. You done in there yet?" Noir's voice calls from the other side of the bathroom door.

"Almost got it..." I inhale deeply in an attempt to suck in my gut as I put on my binder. "There." I exhale, pushing all of the air out of me quickly once I finished tightening it to my liking.

"Hey! Did you hear me?" She calls again, this time with a bit of annoyance lingering in her tone. I roll my eyes and grimace a little.

"I heard you," I call back. "I'll be out in twenty or so more minutes."

I could hear her surprisingly loud grumble from the other side of the door as I slipped on my pale blue buttoned up top.

I carefully button up my shirt, making sure every button goes through it's own hole and not another button's hole. Once I am done, I slip on my nice black dress pants and then move onto my wig.

"Hey, Ryan." Noir's voice chimes through the door again, just as I pull out the short cut wig of burnt umber hair from my closet of wigs.

"Yeah?" I bring the wig down gently and place it on the counter beside the sink.

"You have a new text from the chief of the police, do you want me read it out to you?"

The police chief? What does he want now?

"Yes please," I call as I gently tuck my scarlet hair into a hairnet. And then, with the utmost caution, I lift the wig of short hair off of the styrofoam mannequin head and begin to move it towards my head.

"Alright." I can hear her exaggeratedly clear her throat before reading the text. "Miss Dayton, I doo-" she pauses and I can hear her struggling to pronounce the word. "I dubt- I doo-bull-ee." I smile shortly as she works to get the word right. "I doubly apologize for this late notice, but..." she pauses and I stop adjusting my wig as the silence lingers for more than a simple pause.

I look at myself in the mirror before looking to the door as her reading continues.

"I am informing you that you only have twenty four hours to solve this case before I am forced to hand it over to the higher ups and arrest you for interfering with an investigation." Her voice seems lower and a lot more softer than before as each word dithers a little before the next is uttered.

"What? Why?" I interrupt her with a gasp as I grip the edge of the counter rather tightly.

"It says it's because they have found some evidence that leads you to being the suspect." My heart sinks at her words, I thought he trusted me.

"Well then," I look back at myself through the mirror and add the finishing touches to my look. "I suppose we'll just have to solve this case in twenty three hours!"

I turn to the door once again, this time I reach my hand out and grasp the handle firmly. I twist the knob and swing the door open with passion.

"Are you ready to rock and roll, my dear Watson?" I let a chuckle loose in my mind, if I were Sherlock Holmes and she were my Watson, we'd probably already have this case solved.

A blank expression grew upon her face and I knew that she did not understand the reference.

"Have you not read the adventures of Sherlock Holmes before?" I question and cross my arms. "They're one of- if not the best mystery solving duos ever to have existed!"

She slowly moves her head from one side to the other and back, and I arch mine back in reply.

"After we solve this, I'm going to make you read one of the books. Then you'll understand." She blinks before her mouth hesitantly forms the word.

"O-okay."

"Okay!" I grab her hand and rush out of the house.

Only 23.5 hours left. We gotta hurry!

***

"Stop Requested." The automated woman's voice rings out before the bus slows to a stop.

...Tsh-sk...

The doors of the bus hesitantly open and I graciously leap off of the public transit death trap. I take a few steps forward before spinning around to see how Noir is doing.

Her hands are tightly gripping the bars of the door as she cautiously reaches for the ground with her left foot. I can see her foot shaking and my feet start moving me towards her before I even have time to think about what I should do.

"Need a hand, partner?" I extend my right arm out to her, in hopes that she would grab it so that I can help her out of the vehicle.

"T-thanks." A tiny smile creeps onto her face as she relunctantly removes her left hand from the bar that she held, and shakily moves it towards my outstretched hand. Noir might have been a little older than me, but she was a little shorter than me, about a foot shorter than I was; no taller than four foot nine.

Our hands meet and her warm, soft, petite hand slips into my slightly larger, not as soft, not as warm hand. I can feel her weight lean against my hand before she somewhat less gracefully leaps from the bus' platform, she lands next to me and I smile softly down upon her.

"That wasn't so hard, now was it?" I make a goofy grinned face and she makes a face that tells me that she's unimpressed with my comment.

"You've had practice!" She removes her hand from mine and starts marching angrily away.

"Are you seriously telling me that you've never rode on a bus before?" I turn around and jog to try to catch up with her.

"That is correct, I usually just walk everywhere." She stops and crosses her arms.

"Oh. I'm sorry." I stop next to her and look down at cement sidewalk.

"It's okay, it's not your fault." I look up at her as a faint smile crosses her face. "Besides, why waste time arguing about nonsense when we have a case to solve." Her smile grows more confident as she looks to me. "So, where exactly are we going?" She gives me a me a puzzling look and tilts her head.

"We're going undercover to interrogate our first suspect." I say proudly, yet I can see confusion in her eyes. "Paul is our first suspect. He was very suspicious when he told me not to get involved, so that means he must be hiding something!" I raise my hand in the air before lowering it at the same pace.

"That was pretty suspicious." She rubs her chin as though she were pondering on something.

"Now you be the distraction so I can slip in." I point my finger at the building where Paul works - or rather owns. I grin defiantly, I knew reading all those boring waiting room magazines would pay off. Thank you 'Top Ten Auto-shops rumoured to go bankrupt in 2025'

"Ye Old Auto-Shop," Noir reads aloud a wooden sign, that is hanging onto the old brick wall of the establishment.

The grey, dreary bricks decorate the exterior, a burnt umber roof sits upon the building, curling inwards threatening to cave in with every passing storm. Abandoned nests and fallen leaves of nearby trees litter the roofs and hangings of the shop.

Crows caw and circle as dull grey clouds form above us.

"Let's do this!" I cheer and raise my hand up for a high-five.

A clap rings out as our hands meet, smiles fill our faces, and the plan is set into motion.

——

"Hey there big fella~" Noir walks up to the security guard station and leans her arm against the drive-thru window. "You come here often?"

"Huh?" The man sitting in the tiny toll booth turns to face her, allowing me to sneak by undetected.

"I said, do you come here often~ big fella~" I smirk at Noir's distraction, their conversation fading as I scurry farther away.

I come up to a door and reach my right hand towards the knob, I can tell that it has been well used for the white paint on it is peeling away and appears with a dull yellow tone to it.

My hand grasps the rusted knob and turns it slowly to the right, inside I'm praying that the door is open. Alas, the door opens smoothly as I pull it towards myself. It creaks and squeaks, and I cringe at the sound. I peek my head around the door to take a look.

"Looks like no one's here." I whisper to myself before sneaking into the room and closing the door behind me. Everything was dark and it definitely didn't help that the door shut closed behind me, making it pitch black.

"That wasn't too bright of ya ta do."