Pet Shop Of Horrors Fan Fiction ❯ Your Heart's Desire ❯ Part 3 ( Chapter 3 )

Your Heart's Desire

Part 3

Weeks had passed since D had sold Leon the black cat, still he had a small nagging feeling of apprehension about the situation. This feeling just confused him even more. "Why should he be apprehensive?" he questioned himself. He had only sold a normal black cat, and what harm could a normal little housecat do? He was so preoccupied with his questions and thoughts that the tea he was pouring into a teacup had begun to overflow onto the counter. "Damn!" he exclaimed. In shock at his own cursing he clapped his hand over his mouth.

"Did you just curse?" he heard a voice question from behind him.

"Of course not," he replied automatically. Then he reached for a towel to wipe up the spilled tea and turned away from his grandfather.

"When are you going to learn you cannot lie to me," Sofu commented softly. His hand snaked out and grasped D's arm and spun him around quickly, knocking the teacup to the floor. He used his other hand to roughly grasp his grandson's cheek. "Clean this up!" he commanded sternly. "And, never lie to me again." Then he released D from his grip and walked out of the room. D sighed heavily and leaned his body backward onto the countertop.

After a few moments he had regained his composure and began to clean up the mess. As he tidied up and wiped down the counter he wondered what Leon was doing at that exact moment, though he wished he didn't give a damn.

. . .

Leon sat at his desk alternating between staring at the typewriter he was supposed to be using to type up a report form and occasionally glancing at the clock on the wall. There were just a few more lines to complete on the form and just fifteen minutes till he could clock out. However, he found himself unable to complete the report and stop glancing at the clock.

"You haven't typed anything in the past fifteen minutes," Jill commented from behind him. "Do you even intend to finish that report?"

He turned towards and glared defiantly. Then he turned back to the typewriter without saying anything to her, thoroughly ignoring her. Why did she care? He thought to himself. She still had halfway decent cases to work, and he was stuck typing up an official report on an illegal street vender bust.

"Why don't you go bug your new partner?" he bit out angrily. Then he took his hands from the typewriter to avoid making a mistake while he was angry. He would be really pissed if he had to sit and type the entire report again.

Jill was surprised at Leon's rage, mostly because of how genuine it seemed. Instead of questioning him on it she simply turned and walked away. Leon had never been truly angry with her and she was not entirely sure how to respond. Leon heard her retreating footsteps, but did not do anything or say anything. He allowed his hands to return to the typewriter and finish the last few lines of his report.

A few moments after Jill had left his bubbling anger had cooled and his report was complete. As he grabbed his jacket to leave, he decided that he should stop by Jill's desk and apologize for snapping at her. However, by the time he reached it, she had already left. Oh well, he thought. He could always apologize to her in the morning.

When he arrived home that evening he had completely forgotten about Jill and was focused on getting some real relaxation. He called out for his cat, Shadow, and was not the least bit surprised when the cat immediately responded to his call. As the cat rubbed up against his leg affectionately, he wondered if he should be worried that within just a few weeks, he was excited to come home each night and see his cat. Maybe he was just really lonely. As he was reflecting on his own loneliness, Shadow jumped up into his arms. "I guess you're lonely too," he said softly.

Suddenly, he felt his body overcome with and intense feeling of fatigue. He felt the cat fall from his arms as he began to clumsily stumble to his room. As soon as he felt his body hit the bed, he fell into a deep sleep.

. . .

When Leon awoke, he felt as if he was being watched. He rose up slowly assessing his surroundings through partially open eyes. He could clearly see that there was no one there watching him, but his uneasy feeling persisted.

Then from across the room his eyes met two slanted golden orbs, his cat Shadow's eyes. He nearly screamed at first, but managed to calm himself quickly. He laughed as he realized how stupid it would have been to scream at seeing his cat's eyes. As his laughter died down he cast his eyes aside at his alarm clock. "That's not possible!" he shrieked in reaction. The digital numbers on the clock indicated it was 4:35 a.m. It seemed that he had managed to sleep nearly twelve hours.

Suddenly, he was yanked from his thoughts and amazement by the ringing of the telephone. He quickly grabbed the receiver from the bedside table and answered, "Yeah?"

"This is Officer Andrews of the 17th precinct," a voice replied. "We are contacting you because Detective Jill Collins has you listed as her emergency contact." Oh my god, he thought. Something really bad must have happened to Jill.

"What happened?" he asked quickly.

"She is asking for you, she was injured in some sort of accident." Leon slipped into auto pilot as he quickly scrawled down the name of the hospital and the name of Jill's doctor. When the call had been disconnected he felt the phone drop from his limp hands onto the ground below. After just a few seconds of immobility, he felt a sudden surge of energy and replaced the phone receiver while quickly dressing. He did not even give thought to the fact that he had not remembered taking off his clothes before falling asleep. Within a few minutes he was in his car driving to the hospital.

The entire drive was a blur, he did not consciously remembering making any turns or stops. Jill had been the closest friend he had ever had and the last thing she would remember about him was their fight over something stupid. When he finally managed to arrive at the hospital he ran quickly through the dimly lit hallways. The only time he slowed down was to ask a receptionist where her room was located.

When he reached the hallway in which he would find Jill's room his pace slowed considerably, the complete opposite of his behavior in reaching that point. He was a little scared to see what had happened, to see her injured somehow. He entered the room slowly and saw her there sleeping and covered in a blanket. He took her hand as he sat in a nearby chair and was unsure of how to proceed. What was he supposed to do now? He had been told that Jill had been asking for him, but apparently she had fallen asleep again.

Just a few moments after he had arrived, a nurse entered the room. Leon decided to take this opportunity to ask some questions about Jill. "Excuse me Nurse, can you tell me what happened to her?"

"I'll go get the night doctor," she replied. "He should be able to explain everything." Then after checking on the other patients in the room she left. After she had gone Leon was left alone with his thoughts. This allowed his curiosity to increase about this entire situation. He and Jill had been pretty close, but he was almost 90% sure that she would have some family member closer to her that would have been contacted instead of him. What exactly was going on here?

His self questioning was interrupted by the doctor's entrance. He stood and asked, "What happened to her?" The doctor reached for her chart and examined it while checking her heart monitor and IV.

"She was attacked," he replied. "It seems she suffered a series of jagged stab wounds, that look similar to large claw marks, but there is no way any animal, other than maybe some kind of large tiger, could have done this to her. Of course that scenario is highly unlikely." If only that doctor knew how likely it really was; Leon thought to himself. "What relation are you to the victim?" asked the doctor.

"I am a close friend," he replied.

"I'm sorry," commented the doctor. "But, non-relative visitors are not allowed after hours, you will have to leave."

"Now wait just a minute," he protested firmly. "I was called and told that she had asked for me and now you are going to tell me that I have to leave? This is fucking stupid!

"Lower your voice," suggested the doctor, with a glare that reminded him of an old woman. "I will be forced to call security if you continue. Now, who claimed to have called you? Whoever it was lied to you. There is absolutely no way that she could have asked for you."

"What do you mean it's impossible? Who would call and tell me that she had woken up and asked for me, if she hadn't?"

The doctor sighed and rubbed his eyes gently. Leon could tell he was becoming frustrated, but damn he was getting pretty frustrated himself. Finally, he replied,"She has been in a shock induced coma since she was brought here, she has not even woken up yet. There is absolutely no way she could have asked for you."

. . .

D awoke in the middle of the night sensing something outside his pet shop. He quietly wandered from his room to the front of the shop. He peered through the glass doors looking for anything suspicious, eyes furtively glancing around the darkened streets of Chinatown.

He caught a flash of color out of the corner of his eyes and saw a figure fleeing in the distance. He could sense that the presence was human, but that was all he could absolutely determine. What human would be snooping around his pet shop late at night? He could think of only one person, Leon Orcot.

That Afternoon. . .

Leon awoke unsure of where he was or how he had managed to arrive home from the hospital, but surprisingly felt well rested. He grabbed the phone and quickly called in a sick day to headquarters. It wasn't like he was a real important presence around the precinct anymore, he thought to himself sourly. He then left the bed to take a shower and prepare for a day of real investigation.

When he emerged from the shower about a half hour later, he noticed that his cat was sitting in the doorway staring at him. Man, he must be crazy. A cat couldn't stare, nothing about his cat should be giving him the creeps but that was definitely what he was feeling right now. The cat remained there watching him as he dried off, shaved, brushed his teeth, combed his hair, and even as he got dressed. As stupid as it may have sounded to anyone else, the whole experience was a little unnerving.

"Get out of my way Shadow," he said the cat before exiting the apartment. He could still feel the presence of those gold cat eyes on him as he made his way downstairs and got into his car. There was definitely something weird going on and he was determined to find out what it was. There was also some residual part of him that believed Count D was behind it. If he was behind Jill's injuries, Leon knew that D would wish he had never met him.

Instead of going directly to Count D's pet shop to ask him some questions, Leon opted to return to Jill's apartment and scope out the crime scene. There were still crime scene detectives going over the crime scene but all he had to do was flash his badge and ask around to get information. No knife had been found, no sign of force entry, and though they had found a few sets of prints they had not been processed through the lab yet. He left not really having any information that removed Count D or one of his pets as a suspect. "Was that really what you were looking for?" asked a voice in his head. He shook it off and got back into his car. He didn't care about D, so why would he be looking for ways to exclude him as a suspect, he rationalized. Then he started on the road again towards Chinatown. He was almost sick with himself for knowing he was doing it more or less to see D, even if he would never admit it.

. . .

Count D began to lay out tea for two and glancing at the clock. He was more than amazed himself at how easy it really was to slip back into the habit of laying out enough for himself and Leon. Today, he was expecting Leon to come, but he was not sure what he expected his behavior to be. He fully intended to confront him about the presence lurking outside shop the night before. Would he deny it? Would he become angry? D was not really sure, he just hoped that whatever it was that had prompted it could be settled and he could finally dismiss all these nagging worries.

To Be Continued. . .