Tuesday, December 19, 2006

   Cream Filling & Nougat: Half-Julkalender (Chapter VII)
[I feel like I need to rush this one since it's getting late and I have a 6am work shift . . . we'll see where the story takes me like always, though.
And yes, Nougat's old partner was named Henry. Like the chocolate bar.]


Nougat was rocketing through the streets as Cream worked his phone; the pieces were finally starting to fall into place.
"Alright, thanks again," Cream said, writing down the last bits of notes into the notepad. "I'll keep ya posted if we need anything else, bye." Nougat looked over briefly to see his elated partner's eyes beaming.
"We happy?" Nougat asked.
"Oh, we very happy, yes," Cream replied. "You just keep hauling ass to Hiopat Station and we'll stay happy . . ."

Nougat did not need much help to understand what Cream was thinking. Once the younger detective mentioned buses, most of the theories sprang immediately to the front of his mind. Once again, Nougat kept a careful eye out for any radar traps their fellow officers might have been waiting for anyone else driving through the city at almost twice the speed limit when they could. After finally getting this lead, they could not afford to stop anymore.

"Hello," Cream said into his cell phone after dialing the city transit department, "My name is Detective Cream Filling of the city police department. I wanted to ask you . . ." Cream paused when Nougat hit a patch of black ice, having to control his sliding. ". . . I wanted to ask you who was driving the one-fifty-four bus line from about five-fifteen 'til . . . well, 'til the end of the trip?"

Nougat listened as carefully as he could while Cream asserted his police influence to get the information they needed. To him, clearly the person on the other side of the conversation was not completely sold on the validity of Cream's position, so the detective had to assert badge numbers and references they could check then or later. Nevertheless, Nougat was impressed with how quickly his partner made progress in the call; by the third red light, he had the driver's name and a number through which he could contact him.

"Hey Noug'," Cream said, keying the new number into his phone, "you wonder if we're maybe hauling ass to Hiopat Station a little prematurely?"
"Every minute, Whip'," Nougat replied. Cream grinned.
"But we're still gonna keep hauling ass to there, aren't we?"
"You bet, Whip'."
"Awesome."

With that, Cream pressed "send" and put the phone up to his ear.
"Hello, Mr. Frank Foethe?" Cream asked. "Hi, this is Detective Cream Filling, and I wanted to ask you a few questions . . . no, don't worry, it's nothing bad . . . well it is, but it's not your fault . . ." Nougat chopped Cream in the chest again. "Never mind that . . ." Nougat shook his head slowly - all the respect he had from Cream's ability to talk his way through the transit people had immediately evaporated.

Nougat braked hard when he saw a patrol car just around a corner and then began cursing at it, boasting his ability to evade detection with taunts that went unheard.
"So Frank," began Cream, "do you recall seeing a little girl board your bus at maybe about five-forty, five-fifty tonight? Seven years old, red hair . . . purple coat . . ."

As Cream continued his description, Nougat slowly crossed his fingers across the top of his steering wheel. For better or worse, this answer controlled how the rest of the night went. The two of them would have a much longer and potentially unresolved night ahead of them if Vezel was not on that bus . . .

"She was?" Cream said, simultaneously shooting his fist up into the air and into the roof of Nougat's car. Nougat pumped his fist as well, mouthing silent shouts of 'yes' to himself. "When did she get off the bus, do you remember?" As Cream listened, Nougat started slowing down. It fully dawned on him then that even if she was on the bus, it was possible she disembarked at any one of the stops before Hiopat Station. Luckily for them, he saw Cream punch a silent fist out and then forward, pointing emphatically for him to drive on. With a nod, Nougat started speeding up.

"Okay, thank you," Cream said before hanging up. Right afterwards, he hollered joyously and pumped his fist into the air again. "Hiopat Station it is!"
"Yea-hah!" Nougat shouted back. "We friggin' finally have a friggin' trail to friggin' follow!"
"Well then drive, old man! Dri-" Cream stopped himself as they both saw another patrol car in their vicinity. Nougat slammed back to well under the speed limit - still, the elation the two men had at the moment crept past their barely contained faces.

"Do seven year olds have the attention span to stick around a train station at night for two hours?" Cream wondered out loud.
"I doubt it," Nougat answered back, "but I really hope to all luck she did . . . . ."


Once they were a few blocks away from Hiopat Station, Cream's phone played a ringtone. Checking the display, he answered quickly.
"'Mel?" he said. "Yeah, we're okay . . . actually, really okay . . ."
"That's 'Mel?" Nougat asked. Cream answered him by motioning with his hand for the other detective to be quiet and to watch the road.
"Did Selleri come over? We felt that'd be . . . oh good, she did . . . alright, well you can tell her that we're currently following a really good lead right now . . . yeah! She took a bus . . ." Cream smiled and laughed quietly as 'Mel spoke. ". . . yeah, we didn't know if seven year olds knew how to do that either . . . . ."


[I have the final arc of the story in my head now! It's gonna require more days than I have, so starting from Thursday onwards I'm gonna post a new chapter every day/night so I can have a bit of a day's breather before Christmas. I mean, the chapter pacing'll just work better this way, so it must be done. Still, speeding up a story rather than slowing it down is new to this series, so yay!
Cream Filling & Nougat Trivia: another easy-ish one . . . at the end of "World's Finest", Nougat had a concussion as they rode in the ambulance; what did Cream have?]
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