Books and Murder
The bar was filled with people. A group of girls on the dance floor. One of the girls was slowly being pushed away from the group by the crowd. Like a zebra being split from its herd. And there were the lions. A group of young blokes who sat at the bar, one of them pushing out of his chair, making his way over to her. The girl was still ignorant to the fact that she’d been split from her group. The bloke had almost reached her, when one of the other girls manifested besides her friend and pulled her back to the rest of the group. The bloke stopped and trotted back to his friends, who greeted him with a sympathetic clap on the shoulder.
On the other end of the bar, a woman was flirting with a guy, who obviously wasn’t interested. The woman was beautiful, so that couldn’t be the problem. Was the bloke gay? Already in a relationship perhaps? I made my way over to them. “Good evening. May I join you two?” Oh, the guy was definitely gay, the way he checked me out was saying even more than his one earring. Honestly, some people can’t read obvious signs, it is embarrassing. Good for the bloke, that the bartender tonight was a girl. “You are very welcome to, this one isn’t very talkative.” Oh, he will be. Later. For now I had plans with her though-
“Look, Evan, I found this really cool app. You just connect it to your search history and then they match you with people with the same or a similar search history.” Pandora explains while holding her phone way too close to Evan’s face.
“Why are you trying so hard to set me up anyways? It doesn’t affect you, if I am single or not." The blonde man takes his glasses off to rub the bridge of his nose. He doesn’t need glasses, but his lovely twin sister bought them for him. They had some kind of blue filter?
“A: our 9 year younger brother already has a boyfriend. B: I even have a daughter, who’d be delighted to have another uncle and even more if you and your future partner would adopt a cousin for her. But most importantly C: you really need to get out and socialise.” Pandora walks over to the window and opens it to let in some fresh air.
Evan Rosier is 32. He graduated from university after studying psychology and literature and used both for writing his murder mystery novels. He already published his first book while still in uni and he is now writing his 3rd one. His twin Pandora started her career as an artist way earlier and is well known by now. Sadly, she still has time to come over every other week and nag Evan for anything really. Her latest obsession is his non-existent love life. He has his little brother Felix to thank for that. Ever since he brought over his red haired boyfriend, Pandora started hinting on Evan getting a partner as well.
“What is your new book about anyway?” His sister asks as she puts the kettle on the stove. That’s her thing. Whenever she is about to have a serious conversation with someone, she makes tea, the flavour depends on how serious the conversation.
“I started a series about a serial killer and a detective, but I wanna write it from the murderer's point of view. It’s gonna be hard, but I think it could be a great switch of perspectives.” Evan explains while closely watching Pandora. She takes out the container for the tea bags she had stored away in Evans kitchen cabinet. He barely drinks tea. As an author his choice of hot beverage is coffee. Black.
Pandora takes out black tea. Shit.
“You know, I found this new recipe. It’s from Tibet. Butter tea.” She explains as she brews the tea and mixes milk in. Then she adds butter, which almost immediately melts and then puts it all in the blender.
That’s better?
“Sounds interesting…” Evan answers while eyeing the thick brew in front of him suspiciously. He takes a sip. It is okay. He still isn’t a tea person.
“Some of our friends are going out tonight. You should come.”
There it is. “Who is coming? Are you trying to set me up again?” The last time ‘some of their friends went out’ Evan found himself paired with some bloke.
“No, not this time. It’s Dorcas and her girlfriend Marlene. Mary and Lily are coming too and Remus might join later.” Pandora counts all of their close friends on one hand.
Dorcas was their best friend since their school days. She met her girlfriend Marlene at university, as they both studied art. Evan met Lily through his psychology studies and she introduced him to Remus, who coincidentally was studying literature a year above Evan. Mary joined the group through Pandora, as a fellow artist.
“Fine.” Evan complies. It had been a while since he last saw his friends and he does miss them, but he could never admit that to Pandora. If he does, she could (and would) use it against him sooner or later.
❁ ✒ ☠︎︎
Barty stomped out the rest of his zig. It was dark this evening, as the moon was only a crescent in the sky above. The perfect night. He walks back into the club. It was a bit more filled than before he had left, so he made his way over to the bar.
“One vodka.” He orders and then turns to the bloke standing beside him. His blonde, almost white hair is mostly put in a pun. His eyes are the kind of bright grey that seem to look directly into your soul. But there was something else about that bloke. “Oi. Do I know you from somewhere?”
“That’s one of the worst lines I heard today.” The other one answers. He then takes the drinks he is handed and, without lending Barty another glance, he walks away.
Now that was hot.
Barty follows him with his eyes, as the man makes his way over to a group of mostly girls and another bloke. One of the girls looks like the female version of the man. Twins? At Least siblings. Barty takes out his phone to look at his new dating app. He had 3 matches already. And there he was. ‘Evan’ and a picture featuring the grey eyes. Interesting.
❁ ✒ ☠︎︎
“-turns out; he is a cop.” Remus says, when Evan makes his way back to their booth.
“Oi Evan, did you know that Remus got himself a boyfriend?” Lily asks enthusiastically as she takes one of the drinks from him.
“Even better.” Pandora chimes in. “The bloke’s got a younger brother apparently.”
Evan rolls his eyes and shoves one of the drinks in her hand, then gives out the rest of them. “What’s your man’s name?”
“Sirius. As I just told the others; we dated for a month or so, before he mentioned he was a cop. The amount of times I could have used advice and insight as a cop for my articles.” Remus groans. “Well, I now have his brother’s number, nice guy, also a cop. He helps me every now and then and we also meet up just to chat every other week. I should bring him with me at some point.”
“You definitely should. By any chance, does he have a partner?” Pandora asks delightedly and glances indicatively at Evan.
“Not that I know of but- Oh wait, he’s calling.” Remus shows his display and then gestures to let them know he’d be back in a few minutes.
“So, Evan. I see Pandora is at it again?” Lily has settled into the booth on Evans' side and throws him a meaningful look. She has been part of this for a while. The first few years Pandora had her introduce bloke after bloke to Evan.
There was Peter, her boyfriend's friend. A nice guy, so not Evan’s type. Some bloke named Severus. Not so nice, and not in a good way. That one luckily is a former friend of Lily’s by now. Remus was also one of them. Out of everyone Lily had introduced him to, Remus would be the closest to someone Evan could see as a potential partner. But they both decided to rather stay friends, who occasionally shag, which also became less and less often, until they fully stopped.
In short, Lily knows what Pandora is trying to do right now and she enjoys every second of it.
“Yep. I might just hook up with the next bloke that talks to me. Maybe that’ll keep her off my back.” Evan groans.
“Good thing I haven’t made any plans for tonight then.” Says a voice from behind.
Evan and Lily turn simultaneously to the black and green haired bloke leaning on the back of their booth. Evan immediately recognizes him as the one from the bar. “You again.” He states, annoyed.
Lily gives him a look that says “You know that one?”
Evan nods in response. “He tried to flirt with me, when I got our drinks. Tried and failed .”
“Now, now, pretty boy. I did not flirt with you. I did actually recognize you from somewhere.” With that the bloke shows them his phone screen. On the top it reads ‘MATCHES’ and beneath is a list with three profiles. One of them shows a picture of Evan. But Evan never uploaded this picture, especially not on a-
“Pandora.” Evan stared daggers at his twin. “Did you put me on this dating website without asking?”
His sister looks over to them from her conversation with the other girls. She concentrates on the phone then grins up at the other man. “Oh? Did you match with my brother? What a coincidence that you two meet here. What’s your name?”
“Barty.” says Barty.
“Pandora? Are you bloody kidding me?” Evan complains.
“What an interesting name. I am Pandora, Evans' twin sister.” Pandora continues ignoring Evan. “Do you perhaps like to sit with us?”
Barty grins back at her, which gave Evan a perfect sight of rather sharp canines. That of course leads his thoughts to some former mentioned activities. When Evan looks back up he meets Barty’s mischievous eyes.
“I appreciate the offer, sadly, I have some stuff to do right now. But this one already seems to have some plans with me later.” Barty says, without breaking their eye contact.
“ Really ?” Evan can’t see his sister's face, but he hears the surprise in her voice.
To hell with it. Evan hasn’t shagged for months and Barty wasn’t unattractive. If he is in for it and it keeps Pandora off of him for a while... “Yeah, I do in fact. That’s what you wanted, isn’t it?”
Pandora smiles content and Barty nods them all a goodbye before vanishing in the crowd.
“You are so weird. No other sibling wants to know about their twin hooking up with someone or is even happy about it.” Evan mutters.
“Yeah well, I’m just looking after you. If you had a love life or anything remarkably close, then I wouldn’t feel the need to put my nose into your business.” Pandora remarks.
❁ ✒ ☠︎︎
Later Remus came back and gave them all the short version of his longer than planned conversation with Regulus. Apparently a serial killer had killed their third victim a week ago and the police were finally issuing a statement regarding this tomorrow. Regulus promised to give Remus, who worked as a journalist, an exclusive interview regarding the matter.
The news of a murderer running around London did not kill the good mood for long though. After all, how likely would it be for the murderer to be in the same room with them?
“Are you sure you don’t want me to bring you home?” Evan asks Pandora concerned, as they all step out the bar, way past midnight.
“Yeah. I’m fine. I’ll go with Dorcas and Marlene, Cassy will drive. But could you give Felix a call regarding the you know what? Just in case.” Pandora adds.
Evan nods and gives her a hug and a kiss on the cheek. Then proceeds with the same farewell for everyone.
When he turns around after seeing the others off in their car or a cab, he stands face to face with Barty.
“You took your sweet time, pretty boy.” The other one greets him, leaning on the wall of the bar.
Evan looks Barty over from head to toe. He was nice to look at, that he could not deny. He also doesn’t seem like someone who looks for a longer relationship. All in all, exactly what Evan was looking for.
He takes a step closer to Barty, so now they are almost touching, and takes his chin between his thumb and pointer finger.
“You seem to be in a hurry.” Evan teases. He feels Barty’s hands around his hips and the next second their positions are switched with Barty pressing him against the wall, face buried in his neck.
“It’s been a while.” Barty growls against his neck before sinking his teeth in the soft skin. He bites down only hard enough to elicit a moan from Evan and then licks over the spot.
“I’d prefer to do that kind of thing inside.” Evan growls as he shoves Barty away and walks to the cab which he had ordered for the two of them. He doesn’t look back, to see if the other one follows him, but just when he finishes confirming the address with the driver, Barty closes the car door behind him.
“I need to make a call real quick.” Evan informs Barty, as he presses call on his brother's contact. Barty just shrugs.
The phone rings 5 times before a tired voice answers.
“What is it?”
“Charlie?”
“Mhm.”
“Sorry, but can you pass the phone to my brother?”
“It’s bloody 3am. What the hell, Evan?”
“Lovely talking to you as well, Felix. Listen, Remus informed us that apparently there is a serial killer running around London and Pandora told me to call you as soon as possible. You know how she gets.”
“You mean like Jack the Ripper?”
“I don’t know. Yeah, I guess you could say they are similar. Not the point though. Just be safe when you go out, okay?”
“Sure. Can we go back to sleep now?”
“Yeah, you can-”
The call is cut before Evan can finish his sentence and he mutters about his ungrateful little brat of a brother, before turning to Barty.
“A murderer? Is this Remus friend of yours a cop?” Barty asks, interested.
“No, but his new boyfriend is apparently. But the police will publish an official statement tomorrow. Why? Did you change your mind about coming back to my place?” Evan adds with a teasing smirk.
“Why would I?” Barty answers, mirroring Evans teasing look.
“We just met. I could be a murderer, you know.” Evan arches one eyebrow.
“How do you know that I’m not the murderer?” Barty asks.
“Touché.”