Break: The Beginning

[Arabella Porter]

  

     In her large pink hat with cream colored roses and grey lace ribbon, she sobbed into the chief inspector's handkerchief. A feather on the hat seemed to bounce as each tear dropped with the bobbing of her head and the bouncing of her voice as she retold her tale of horror to him. He stared all the while with an awkward look on his face. she was really working at it though. Every time Eudora looked up, she couldn't seem to take her puffy red eyes off that man's goddamn mustache. It was as though his golden retriever, the one he kept a photo of on his desk, had dragged a dead white kitten home one day and he had decided to pin it to his upper lip as a token of affection. Lord knows no one else will ever love that man other than Mopsey. Which brings us to the question; who on earth names their golden retriever Mopsey? Anyways, she sobbed. She balled through her tales of how the treacherous Arabella Porter had held a gun to her head, demanding necklaces of sapphire, emerald, and ruby. She told him how the young woman tied her up and yelled nasty swears at her. Chief inspector Dorms nodded a bit, that awkward man, until clearing his throat. She gave him a look so terrifying that he wanted to hide under his desk. 

     "Are you interrupting me?" she croaked with a sniffle and a stink eye. He shook his head quickly and she continued to cry on. It wasn't until he stopped that he asked her if she needed anything. 

      "Madame, this is quite unprofessional and I do apologize for that, but, would you care for a hug? Nothing sexual, I don't have any hidden intentions. I only mean to comfort and hugs are very good for such." He proposed. She nodded slowly with a frown. 

      "Yes please," She flashed her eyelashes. 

      "Now, nothing sexual, nothing by it. I just mean to-"

       "Oh hug me! You ridiculous man!" she snapped and he bolted out of his chair like a soldier following orders. As he released her from the quick and uncomfortable hug, she asked, 

      "Please, sir, is there any more tea?" He nodded and told her he would bring her back his favorite cup from the kitchen. she smiled sweetly but as he left, the gleam in her eye made it mischievous with a tinge of malicious intent. The key was on an obvious hook under the desk. Any criminal could find it. No wonder they made her son a captain but they should have made him chief inspector if you don't need brains for the job. When the man came back, she continued her innocent act, only leaving when her cup was finished. She insisted on leaving alone (not wanting to make a scene) and on the way out, she was polite, apologizing to the policeman who had rudely bumped her even though it was not her fault. She made it safely to her carriage. 

     "Morgan, take me to the club two blocks down from here. The girls are having tea. I shall join them until it's time to hit the road." Mrs. Dunning said, feeling tired of acting and not in the mood to smile while the other women told her boring stories of their day and wedding plans for their sons and daughters and grandchildren and any other little inbred brats with plans. 

     Back at Scotland Yard, a sky pirate was shouting nasty things at a policeman who hit the bars, dropping all of seven of his keys to the building and only picking up four. The sky pirate, with her two cell mates, then sat quietly at the back of the cell, waiting for night to fall.