Give me a J! Give me an O! Give me a H! Give me an N! Give me an S! Give me — Oh you know where, I'm going with this!

Go Johnson! Another chapter fully dedicated to him and PavlovaDeMon 💯

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            “HELLO?” JOHNSON ANSWERED, slightly suspicious and on the edge.

            “Frank!” The voice on the other end said, thrilled to hear the investigator's voice. “ Frank, how are you? ”

              Johnson blinked, realising that he had no idea who was talking to him. In a fraction of a second, he pulled the phone from his ear to look at the caller ID, before opening his mouth to speak once more.

             “Joe! Hey, buddy!” His voice mirrored his former workmate's. Joe had been working alongside Johnson for the FBI before Joe moved on to 'bigger things'. “I'm great! How are you? How've you been?”

            To say that Johnson couldn't tolerate him was an understatement.

            “I'm good! I've been doing well, actually!” Joe chirped. “It's been a really long time!”

            Not long enough. “Yes, it has been some time,”

            “Are you still single?” Joe asked and before Johnson could reply, he said, “Of course you are! Why did I even ask?”

             Laughter soon followed after this little comment. Johnson laughed, too, but it was halfheartedly.

           “Hey, listen. I was thinking that you and I should grab some coffee or something,” Joe suggested. “We can catch up and invite two ladies with us—”

            “That sounds great, but I'm in the middle of a case right now,”

           “You always did seem to jump from one case to another,” Joe chuckled. “But if you do find some time, you can always call me so that we can make plans,”

              “Thanks, Joe. I'll keep that in mind,” Johnson said, before they exchanged their goodbyes and Johnson hung up.

              Letting out a groan, Johnson dragged his feet out of his car as he went to take a second shower for the day.

•

             Johnson took more time in the shower than usual due to the fact that he needed to recover from Joe's phone call.

              Joe was maddening to say the least. His over-the-top optimistic personality always rained down on Johnson's pessimistic parade. Joe's mouth never had an ‘off’ button or a filter, which ticked off Johnson even more.

             However, what took the cake in infuriating Johnson the most was when he would tease Johnson about his relationship issues.

              Joe would always point out on how Johnson would have time to do a case in less than forty-eight hours, but never have time for a blind date or double date.

           “I go on dates all the time!” Johnson would always claim, annoyed that he had to defend himself to Joe, of all people.

          “Yes, with case files. Not with women,” Joe would retort.

           It wasn't Johnson's fault for his lack of interest in women anymore. The females he would show any form of attraction - even the slightest -  would consistently leave him subdued, devastated and dejected.

          The last and most recent wench being Madison Meyer, an alluring temptress at first, however, she morphed into a vile and revolting hustler.

           Perhaps he wasn't intended for relationships. At least that was what he convinced himself. Therefore, Joe's call had put him in a grim and horrid mood, if not parlous.

          As Johnson came out of the bathroom with a towel wrapped around his hips, he pushed all his thoughts about Joe aside and went to where he placed the note in the bottle.

           It was seated on his bedside table, underneath the lamp. After several seconds passed by of staring at the note, he grumbled.

          His feet marched back to his wardrobe where he changed into casual attire that consisted of a plain blue V-neck shirt and navy blue jeans.

           Johnson returned back to his bedside table, only to retrieve his phone that was plugged into the charger besides the note.

            Using his fingers, the investigator shoved his drenched hair from his eyes and forehead. He dialed a number and put the call on speaker mode. He didn't realise that he was pacing around the room until the caller picked up the call and he stopped walking all together.

             “Hello?” The female voice answered.

             “Perez, it's me,” Hillary, or as Johnson would often call her - Perez, was not only a colleague, but as close acquaintance to Johnson. More than often, the two would be paired together for various investigations.

              Whenever Johnson had trouble with anything, she would be the first person he would call. She was witty and intelligent, her brain a force not to be reckoned with.

             Her quick thinking and extremely intuitive mind worked to her advantage, especially since she was vertically challenged and whenever it would come down to physical fights, she would often be disadvantaged.

            “Hey Johnson. What's up?”

            Johnson went to sit on his bed. “I have a riddle that I need you to help me figure out,”

             “Good. I am in desperate need for a brain teaser,”

            The investigator craned his head to the note on the table. “The numbers thirteen, one, twelve and twelve hold the hint to your next destination. Where all one can smell mozarella, look out for Melrose Academy's modern Cinderella,”

            “Interesting,” Perez finally said, after some moments of silence.

            “I thought so, too,” 

            “Repeat the first part of the riddle,”

            “The numbers thirteen, one, twelve and twelve hold the hint to your next location,”

            “The numbers thirteen, one, twelve and twelve...is that an avenue or street or house right here in town?”

             “I doubt it,”

             “Yes, it does sound unusual,” The female investigator said, before she was silent again. Around ten seconds later, she spoke up again. “So the numbers must be letters then,”

             “Do you suppose they correspond with the alphabet? With the letter 'a' being one, the letter 'b' being two and so on?”

             “That is possible. The thirteenth letter of the alphabet is 'm', the first one is 'a' and the twelfth one is 'l'. Put it all together and that is m-a-l-l, due to the two twelves that were mentioned in the riddle,”

            “That spells out the mall!”

            “Congratulations, investigator. You've successfully solved the first half of the riddle. After you are done with marveling over your great discovery, would you mind telling me the second half of the riddle again?”

              “Now was that really necessary?”

              “Just tell me the second half of the riddle, Johnson,”

              The investigator rolled his eyes. Unfortunately, Perez's clever and cunning mind also came with derision and sarcasm, and a hint of insolence. “Where all one can smell mozarella, look out for Melrose Academy's modern Cinderella,”

           “Isn't Melrose Academy the town's public school?”

           “No, it's where I go to do my hair,” He drawled. “Yes, it's the town's public school. What was your first clue — the name of the school which coincidentally happens to be the name of the town?”

          “Excuse me, but I didn't know that you called me to show me sass. I thought you needed my help, but it's clear that you've figured this out. If that's the case, then I should hang up—”

           “I dare you to hang up on me,” 

            Some shuffling followed before Perez spoke again. “Mozarella is the cheese used on pizza, so you probably should go to the pizza palace at the food court in the mall,”

            “Okay. Which mall?”

            “Go to the one along Anderson's Drive. It's the most popular one in Melrose,”

            “Got it. What about the Melrose Academy's modern Cinderella?”

            “My hunch is the Melrose Academy's modern Cinderella is probably the most popular girl in the school. So you just have to watch out for a teenage girl who looks popular,”

           “And how do I know that she is popular?”

           “Come on, Johnson. Don't tell me you didn't go through high school. The walk, the talk, the clothes, the flock of friends. I'm sure you'll know it's her once you see her,”

            “Aren't teenagers always at the mall? How would I know that she is from Melrose? Asking people would make it awkward,”

            “That's the difficult part. You have to keep an eye on any teenage girl that's in the pizza palace. I could help you. Four eyes are better than two,”

            “That would be great. I'll pick you up at say, nine-thirty?”

            “Sounds like a plan,”

            “Fantastic. See you then, Perez,”

           “Wait, before you hang up Johnson, I have a question. Where exactly did you get the riddle from?”

           “You won't believe me if I told you,”

           “Try me,”

            “I got it from a bottle,”

            Perez was silent for a very long time that Johnson was sure she had hung up on him, until she spoke again. “Right. You're working on a new case?”

             “Yes. The one on D.A.B,”

             “And I'm assuming this isn't the first riddle you've gotten?”

           “That would be accurate,”

           “Who is tipping you off? Who's leaving you these clues?”

          “That's just it. I have no idea who this is,”

          “So it's an anonymous tipster?”

          “I think so,”

          “Whom you are going to follow their every instruction to the letter?”

          “I have no choice. There are barely any leads on this case,”

          “Oh dear Johnson, what have you gotten yourself into? I don't know why, but I can feel knots in my stomach, thinking about this,”

           “I have no idea. I just hope I'm not chasing the wind. I'm sure it's nothing,”

           It was nothing alright. Nothing but turmoil and havoc which was soon to follow.

A/N • Hello, fellow Wattpadians (Is that even a word? Haha XD)

• I'm feeling much, much better than I was feeling on Monday, thank God. My next update will be on Friday, by the way.

• I don't really have a question for today, so I would like to wish you all a wonderful day! ❤