He watched Waxler walk to the middle of the drawing room and survey the scene with a stern expression.
“Hello, all. I’ll be keeping this very brief,” Waxler began, his arms folded,his tone sharp. He was clearly troubled by something. He looked almost as troubled as his audience. “My team is upstairs and nearly done reviewing transcripts. I can now tell you that we are close and intend on making an arrest within the hour,” he finished, with a final strained glance over to where Octavius was standing, leaning against the wall.
There was something about the way Chief Waxler looked at him… like he wasdisappointedin him or something, and it made Octavius want to hide.
And so, at his first opportunity, he did just that.
The other officers were thankfully no longer positioned all over the place, the majority of them upstairs planning their arrest for his father’s killer. Only one other officer remained down here with Waxler. This meant there were fewer eyes on them. There was less concern about losing suspects now; after all, it was much easier to cage and trap a handful of mice than a whole nest of them.
When Waxler and his officer had their backs turned to him, Octavius slunk into the foyer, maneuvered himself past the blockade of furniture, and made his way quietly to the end of the dark hallway before creeping into the Manor’s library, making sure to open and close the doors as quietly as he could. When he entered, the lights were off, and he thought it would be safest to keep them that way. There was some illumination from the large windows as remnants of moonlight filtered into the library. But that wasn’t the only source of light. Somewhere in the room, one of the standing lights was on.
He tracked his eyes over to the source, where he could see the faintly lit outline of tall bookshelves looming over the room in the dark, along with two shadowy figures next to the shelves, having a whispered conversation.
He froze for a moment, scared that he might be found. But then he lowered his guard when he realized he recognized who the voices belonged to.
“… I mean, sheissuspicious, but that doesn’t mean anything,” the unmistakable sound of Romeo’s voice came from around the corner.
“I’d say her being suspiciousdefinitelymeans something,” Fola’s voice followed in a hushed tone. “I know we’re grasping at straws here at this point, but I think it’sher. It has to be her.”
Romeo seemed to sigh heavily. “I don’t know…”
Octavius moved closer, following the line of their shadowy figures as Fola continued arguing her case. He finally saw the back of her head and the pale, unsettled face of Romeo.
“I know you’re not a fan of it. I’m not either, but we have no other choice,” she continued.
“Shouldn’t we consider—” Romeo began, but he was cut off by the singsong voice of his brother.
“O Romeo… Romeo! Wherefore art thou, Romeo,” Octavius sang in a low voice, popping his head around the corner and startling them both.
They were huddled under the warm glow of a standing lamp that looked like a spotlight that had caught them in a conspiratorial position.
“Hi,” he whispered with a small wave and a smile, which they did not return.
“What the hell are you doing in here, Tavi?” Fola said in a tone that told him she did not want him here.
“I was hiding,” he replied with a shrug.
“Right…,” Fola said, narrowing her gaze as she looked down at him.
“So… what were you guys doing in here?” Octavius asked.
They stared at him, unblinking.
“Hey, I answered your question, why aren’t you answering mine?”
“Nothing, we were doing nothing,” Fola replied.
Romeo gave Octavius a pained look, before quickly turning away to face Fola again.
Octavius raised an eyebrow. “I heard you say someone was suspicious… Did you figure out how to get your inheritance back from Perdita, or did you crack some otherDad-related code or something?” he asked.
“No… yes… it’s complicated,” Romeo said, shifting uncomfortably.
“And you’re not going to tell me what thiscomplicationis?”
The pair exchanged another weirdly conspiratorial look.
“Come on! I can be trusted, I swear… In fact, I pinkie swear.” He held up his pinkie finger just to prove it.
