Chelsea Smile.

"Ahhh," Calla sighed, plopping down on the Hotel Bed, "Finally, a nice warm bed to sleep in."
Oli crawled in and snuggled into his girlfriend's frame. They laced their fingers together and Calla kissed it lightly.

"Darling, do you think that Richards will figure out who's really doing it?" Oli asked curiously. Calla let out a small sigh.

"I don't know Oli," She replied simply. Oli furrowed a little.

"Well, do you think that he'll start questioning people?"

"I don't know Oli,"

"Well what do you know? I need some insight here, he could be hot on our trail for all we kno-"

Calla turned over and started to kiss him. Oli was taken back a little by this, but happily obliged. He held her face closely to his and opened her mouth with is tongue. She slowly broke the kiss and looked at him with a smile.

"Don't worry about it, okay Love?" She assured, “I promise, everything’s gonna be alright. Richards has no idea who we are, or where we’re going, I can tell you that.”

&&

“They’re heading towards London,” Richards replied, taking a gulp of coffee. Tammy and the Chief turned to face him.

“What makes you think that?” The chief asked.

“The killer doesn’t strike in small towns,” He explained, “Everyone knows everybody’s business there, he’d be caught in a second. And even if he had killed someone in a small town, he would leave that very same day, maybe even within the hour. In large cities like London, you can stay there and strike for days at a time. Millions of people flow through there. They can disguise themselves as Americans, as tourists, they can pass off as a homeless man, the possibilities are endless.”

“Well what do you suppose we do? We can’t hold every human in London in custody,” Tammy stated.

“We need to pinpoint the scummiest areas in London,” Richards replied, “Look in all the slums, The skid rows, the red-light districts, any place you can find. If I know this killer, he’s not gonna stay in a fancy high rate hotel with cameras.”

Tammy nodded and went straight to work on her computer. The chief stepped over and gave Richards a pat on the back.

“I knew I could count on you Richards,” The chief spoke heartily, “You’ve got the mind of a fox. With your wit, we’ll have this case closed in no time.”

Richards gave a grin and nodded, though it wasn’t really genuine. Sure, he could track the killer’s whereabouts, but that still didn’t narrow it down to who exactly the killer was. For all he knew, it could be two or three people in on it. Who knows…?

Richards looked at his coffee cup and noticed it was empty. He reached inside his desk and pulled out his coffee tin. More than 3/4ths were already gone. He would have to go to Mrs. Barkley soon for more grounds…

&&&

“I rented us a guest room for the night,” Oli announced, pulling up to a stop light, “This woman and her husband are offering a part of their flat for an overnight stay.”

“Why can’t we stay at a hotel?” Calla asked.

“It’s too dangerous, word has it that Richards is snooping his grimy nose ‘round here,”

Calla stretched her arms out and grunted, a small sigh following suit. Oli pulled up and parallel parked against the sidewalk. Calla looked through the window and sighed. A rather tall looking house was wedged between two apartment buildings. The lights were on upstairs. The lamps standing tall on each side of the stairs had just turned on. Oli slipped out of the car and opened the door for his girlfriend. The two of them grabbed their bags and headed up the stairs. Oli knocked on the door, and a woman answered the door. She was definitely older, not grandma older, but late 40’s early 50’s. Her brown locks were streaked with flecks of grey. She smiled warmly and opened the door slightly wider.

”You must be Steven Roarks,” She spoke softly. Oli gave a warm smile and stepped in.

”Yeah, I called yesterday, this is Karen, my fiancée,”

”Nice to meet you,” The woman replied, “I’m Jenny Barkley. Please, come on in. We just put a fresh pot of tea on the table.”

The couple stepped inside and the woman shut the door behind them. She helped with their bags (they only had two, and they were surprisingly light) and showed them to their room. It was very neat and very cozy looking. The walls had wallpaper with little flowers and rabbits printed all over them. Little glass saucers with hand painted rabbits were hung in various spots on the wall. The lamp (sitting nicely on a night desk) with the pale pink lampshade had a light bulb shining very dim light. There were two beds with crocheted blankets and comforters. The woman smiled lightly and set their bags down.

“We have a curfew of 10:30 pm. So, if you’re not in by 11:00, we lock the doors,” She replied, “Troy doesn’t like it when people are coming in and out in the middle of the night.”

”Who’s Troy?” Calla asked.

”He’s my husband,” She replied, “So, if you all could please come in at 10:30 – 11:00, that’d be…greatly appreciated.”

Calla sensed a hint of desperation in her voice. Something was wrong. Very wrong.

Dinner time rolled around. Calla and Oli were sitting quietly at the table, sipping on the soup that they had brought with them. Mrs. Barkley was grounding up something in a stone bowl. Calla sniffed the air. It smelled like Coffee.

“You make your own coffee grinds?” Calla asked. Mrs. Barkley turned her head and smiled at them.

”You bet. This coffee is some of the best you’ll ever taste in all of England,” She spoke out proudly, “I’m making a special blend for a wonderful friend of mine.”

”What friend?” Oli asked.

”Edward Richards,”

Calla looked up from her bowl. Oli’s eye twitched a little. Mrs. Barkley looked at the two.

”You both alright? You look like you’ve just seen the living dead,” She replied.

”I’m fine, Mrs. Barkley,” Calla assured, “Do you think you could possibly make some grinds for us? We’d pay you of course.”

“Of course dear, it’d be my pleasure.” She replied happily. Oli looked over at Calla curiously. She smiled at her boyfriend lovingly and winked. She had a plan up her sleeve, one that would take out the menacing detective for good.