Sparkle Sunrise

Chapter Three

Harold and Edgar are watching over Vincent as he regains consciousness.

"What do you guys want!?" Vincent shouted. "I did nothing wrong!"

"Really?" Harold said. "You don't know anything about a missing person?"

"Man! I know nothing about a dead journalist!"

Harold and Edgar both look at each other in surprise.

Harold smirks at Vincent. "I didn't say anything about a dead journalist. You did!"

Vincent just realizes his mistake. "Still! I don't know what you're talking about!"

Harold punches Vincent in the face three times.

"What the heck!?" Vincent cried out. "You can't hit me! You're the police. You can't do that!"

Edgar walks up and whispers to Harold. "He's right. We can't be attacking civilians like this."

"He just said the journalist was dead. He knows something. And what's the point in doing things by the book? Our superiors won't care as long as we accomplish our task." Harold explained.

"Still, I don't think it's a good idea to attack him like that. He'll file a complaint to our superiors."

Harold looks at Vincent. "Then I'll make sure he doesn't." He turns back to Edgar. "Why don't you go search the rooms for anything? I'll deal with this guy here."

With that said, Edgar goes to each of the rooms to conduct his search. Meanwhile, Harold resumes the interrogation of Vincent.

"Now," Harold said. "Where were we?" He transforms his right hand into his Wolf paw and sharpens the claws.

Vincent looks at the sharp claws and swallows very hard. "What are you gonna do? Make me bleed?"

Harold kicks Vincent several times to weaken him. He then uses his left hand to cover Vincent's mouth. With his transformed right hand, he uses his Wolf claw to slowly scratch the chest of Vincent. With every scratch, the claws dig deeper into Vincent's flesh.

As he is being scratched and his mouth covered, Vincent jerks around in pain and tries to scream for help, but is not able to. He struggles and struggles until Harold finally stops.

"Ahhhhh! Stop! Stop!" Vincent shouted out.

Edgar hears the scream and comes running back to the living to see Harold standing over a bloodied Vincent.

"Harold!" Edgar called out. "What did you do?"

Harold ignores his partner and looks at Vincent. "Ready to talk now?"

Vincent breathes heavily and struggles to catch his breath. "So- Sol- Soleil! P-p P-paint store!"

"Soleil and paint store?" Harold asked. "I should go find this Soleil person at a paint store?"

Vincent nods quickly and finally catches his breath. "Yeah!"

With that said, Harold and Edgar leave Vincent alone in his house.

Stella and Cecilia went back to the inn with the fluorescent red paint bucket from Soleil. They went to their room and put down the paint bucket next to one of the corners. The mother-daughter duo both lay down on the bed afterwards to rest. After a while, there is a knock on the door.

"Who could that be?" Stella wondered as she stood up from the bed. "Do you think it's Soleil coming after us?"

Cecilia stands up from her side of the bed. "I don't think he would be that dumb to follow us. I mean he was stupid enough to try to get us to sleep with him." She goes to the door and slowly opens it.

The person standing outside the inn is none other than Harold. Behind him is his partner Edgar.

"Oh, Harold?" Cecilia said.

"Harold?" Stella said out loud from the inside of the room. She runs to the door. "Oh, it is Harold!" She gives him a hug which he returns. "How did you find us?"

Harold shrugs. "I have my ways." He turns to his partner. "This is my partner Edgar."

Stella and Cecilia step backwards a few steps to allow Harold and Edgar to come inside.

Cecilia extends her hand. "Hi, I'm Cecilia and this is my daughter Stella."

Stella waves hello to Edgar. "Nice to finally meet you. Harold was talking about you earlier when we met up."

Edgar laughs softly. "Ah, so you're the girl that Harold is always talking about. For some reason, he always smiles whenever your name comes up."

Harold jabs Edgar in his hip to signal him to stop talking. "So! How goes the paint thing?"

Cecilia gives a half smile. "Would you believe that I'm a milf?"

"A what?" Edgar asked.

"Mom! Stop!" Stella exclaimed.

"Hehe! I kid! Anyways, Lily, why don't tell Harold and Edgar what just happened."

Stella nods towards the paint bucket in the corner. "We got the bucket, but they only had one color. And you won't believe how we got it." She looks at Harold with a smile.

Harold smiles back and waits for an explanation. A few seconds passed. "Well..? Are you going to explain?"

"Oh, yeah! The guy who owns the store wanted to give us the paint for free, but wanted to sleep with Mom and me!"

Harold immediately stops smiling and looks at Stella. "Who is this guy and what is his name?"

Stella turns to Cecilia. "Mom, do you remember his name? I can't remember it well. He has a weird name that I haven't heard of. Something like So-lay or So-lee."

Harold and Edgar give each a look of suspicion.

"Soleil!" Cecilia said. "I believe that's his name."

"And he owns the paint store?" Harold asked.

"Yeah," Stella answered. "He said it was his store."

Harold looks at Edgar and then back to Stella and Cecilia. "The suspect in the missing journalist told us to go look for Soleil at the paint store. Edgar and I will have to go see him now."

Edgar looks worried. "I'm afraid you're going to enjoy this visit!"