| Fan Fiction |
by x.shuang.dao.x
“So you’re John Tan? The worker who found the body?”
The man nodded. He was quite a tall and lanky person, and he didn’t look a day above thirty.
“You work in Wolf’s Tooth as a..?” Ashley asked.
“Cleaner. Every morning I come around to clear the rubbish and clean up the place to prepare it for business in the evening.”
Owodog frowned. “And you need to go so early?”
John Tan nodded. “Yes. I work for quite a few places, some of them are on the same street as Wolf’s Tooth but others are further away. And I have to finish my work everyday by ten in the morning. That’s my job requirement.”
Owodog nodded. “Okay, so what time did you reach Wolf’s Tooth today?”
“Five-thirty, as usual. I finished cleaning up inside, and I took the rubbish out at six. That was when I saw the dead woman there.”
Ashley was thinking if the man’s story was feasible. It seemed to be. Chad had estimated the time of death to be around three to five in the wee hours of the morning. It was still worth a try to see if the guy knew anything. “Okay, so did you hear or see anything when you reached Wolf’s Tooth today?”
“Nope, nothing out of the ordinary.”
“Okay, thanks a lot for your cooperation, Mr Tan. We’ll contact you again if we need to ask you more questions.”
John Tan smiled gratefully, as if glad to be done with the questioning.
Ashley and Owodog left the room after John Tan. Then both of them sat in Owodog’s office.
“The lollipop killer’s back!”
“I know.” Owodog sighed. “I don’t know whether to be happy or sad or angry.”
“Wow. You’re a very simple man; happy, sad or angry.”
“Ash.” Owodog shot her a look.
“Okay, okay, relax. Well, now we need to talk to… Wolf’s Tooth’s boss.”
“I know him. He’s my friend.”
“Even better. Call him up now.”
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Fabien awoke with a start to the shrill ringing of his alarm clock. He hit the ‘off’ button and sat up in bed. He stretched a bit and started getting ready to go to work.
In ten minutes he was almost done. Grabbing a slice of bread and his suitcase, he went towards the door. Then he passed the pink parcel he had received the previous night.
It was the second one he had received in the past week. And when he opened it, there was nothing but a pack of sweets. No card, nothing to show whom it was from. And it didn’t help that the postman wouldn’t know either, so Fabien didn’t ask the postman the second time round.
But seeing that it was just sweets and nothing else, Fabien reckoned the sender was harmless, probably some shy girl from work nursing a crush on him, so he didn’t care less about it.
He didn’t even cast the present a second look as he left his house.
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Brian yawned. “God, Ao Quan, it’s only eight-thirty! I usually don’t get up till 1PM.”
“Sorry bud, this is serious. It involves a death. I have to get you here.”
Brian nodded. “Okay. Shoot.”
“Hello Mr Brian Liao, I’m Detective Ashley Wu. I’m sure you already know my partner here, so I will skip the introduction. Okay, firstly, we’d like to know if you have any security cameras that are pointed to the alley.”
Brian shook his head. “Nope. There’re only three cameras in Wolf’s Tooth. One of them is pointed at the main door, another one at the cashier and one at the entrance of the toilet. I have none facing the back door.”
“Okay…” Ashley’s voice trailed off as she turned to Owodog.
But Owodog didn’t seem like he had any questions for Brian.
Ashley was lost in thought for a while and the interrogation room was silent except for the sound of Ashley’s pen tapping against the table.
Brian was starting to look impatient.
Ashley nudged Owodog. Owodog shook his head to indicate he didn’t have any questions. Ashley shot him a quizzical look, meaning ‘that’s it?’ Owodog nodded.
“Okay then, thanks for your cooperation, Mr Liao. We’ll contact you if we need your help again.”
Brian waved bye to Owodog and left. Ashley glanced at him. Owodog was deep in thought.
“What’s wrong with you, Quan?”
“No… I’m just thinking why the killer chose Corner Alley of all places and why outside Wolf’s Tooth. Perhaps the victim frequented Wolf’s Tooth—though I don’t recall seeing her before. We need to go there to check out their tapes.” Owodog said then he quickly ran after Brian.
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The previous day’s tape didn’t show them anything of use. Firstly, they couldn’t see the people’s faces properly. Secondly, nothing seemed suspicious. There wasn’t anybody acting strangely and they didn’t even get a glimpse of the woman.
Nothing of the tapes for two days before turned out helpful either.
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Fabien was leaving Sugar Factory when a voice called him back. He half-turned and saw Alicia running towards him.
“Hey Fabien.” She said as she stood in front of him.
“Hi Al. What’s up?”
Alicia secretly noted that Fabien still called her Al. Maybe there was hope after all.
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The autopsy Chad had done showed results almost the same as that of Eleanor Chan. The lollipop was still Strawberries & Cream, still the one from the Sugar Factory. And as before, the killer didn’t leave any bit of evidence.
Owodog stepped into Wolf’s Tooth feeling a bit apprehensive that night. Fabien was already waiting for him.
“You’re late.” Fabien stated.
“Sorry, got caught up with that murder case.”
“The one you’ve been working in since three months ago. There’ve been new developments?”
Owodog nodded as the waiter gave him a beer. “Yeah. It’s a serial murder now. Unless this person is a copycat, which is very unlikely.”
“Okay, good luck on that then.”
“Why do you look so gloomy today?”
“Do I? Well. Alicia just bugged me for half an hour after work today. Irritating.” Fabien winced in disgust.
“She wanted to get back with you, eh?”
“YEAH. Like, eew. I don’t take back things I threw away before. I prefer the excitement of having new stuff.”
Owodog laughed. “Right.”
“Ooh hot stuff. I’ll talk to you another day, Quan.” Fabien said as he started toward the dance floor.
“Hey Yu, I asked Ash here today!”
Fabien waved him off. “It’s okay, next time!”
Owodog made a face as Fabien disappeared into the crowd. But he was used to it. It was Fabien’s way of de-stressing, and putting the day’s unhappy stuff behind him.
Twenty minutes later, Ashley got off her bike and plucked the helmet off her head, and her long wavy hair fell into place on her shoulders.
Fabien was leaving Wolf’s Tooth with a woman looking positively seductive and hot.
Ashley and Fabien brushed shoulders as they entered and left Wolf’s Tooth respectively through the double doors. Ashley took a brief glance at the distasteful couple then continued to make her way to the counter where Owodog was.
“Are you here to look out for suspicious behaviour? Or are you just here to chill again?”
“A bit of both. Plus I wanted to introduce you to Fabien.”
“Your best friend?”
“Yeap.”
“That’s my word.” Ashley protested. Then she said, “Anyway, save the trouble. I’m not planning to go into another relationship anytime soon.”
Owodog shot her a pitiful look.
Ashley pushed his face away. “I know you’re a very adorable puppy but this doesn’t work on me.” She gestured to the dance floor. “There, find your Miss Right there.”
“Tsk. Aren’t you evil.”
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Alicia was tearing soundlessly as she sat on the sofa, staring into space. Sarah had given up on her half an hour ago when nothing Sarah said or did could get her attention or distract her a bit.
“Alicia, for the last time, I’m telling you, that piece of shit isn’t worth your tears. You need to be strong, and show him that your life’s even better without him.” Sarah sighed, wishing her friend would recover from her loss soon. She hadn’t expected that breaking up with Fabien after just a mere three months would have such a big impact on Alicia. She didn’t understand why Alicia loved him so much either.
“I am strong.” Alicia suddenly said, taking Sarah by surprise. “But I’m not going to let him go just like this. If I can’t have him, no one else can.”
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ok done. chapter 4. (:
i think my story's gonna end in a few more chapters. :X
->shuang.dao