2 Interrupted Paradise
Two-thousand sixty three miles away, Sampson Woodlark relaxed deeper into the strappy plastic chair and admired the waves rushing against the shore. The ocean always calmed him; the turquoise waves crashing, pulling back, receding. The pearly foam bubbling, disappearing and reappearing with every stroke. It was alluring and frightening, so much power in every wave. It truly is lucky that the water holds itself back, Sampson thought.
Just as the next wave crashed, Adonis Mirkwood was mixing his sugar cookie dough and attempting to sing in high alto and horribly off-key “Switching Positions” by Ariana Grande. Adonis missed Sammy while he was on his vacation, but Sam had just solved a hard case on a missing child and was taking a well deserved break in the tropics, near his hometown.
Sam and Adonis had been best friends since university, when they were in economics class together. They, by chance, had been partners on a project and found out that both of their nicknames were ‘Wood’ because of their last name. After that awkward discovery, the two had been an inseparable pair of destruction and jokes. After uni, they applied together to Private Hiring, an agency with a very pompous air that its simple name couldn’t convey. They were both accepted as entry level detectives. Together, they slowly worked up over two years to become the private detectives they were now. Despite all his talents, Adonis is still an abysmal tone-deaf singer who is completely oblivious to his own voice.
“Cookin’ in the kitch-” abruptly cut off by his violently buzzing phone, Adonis yelped in surprise. He answered breathlessly, “hello?”
“Hey, Adonis! We got a new mission for you guys,” said Selena, their manager.
“Oh? Me and who?”
“Hey bro. I’m here too,” Sam muttered, annoyed that his vacation was going to be cut short.
“Talk later. We have gotten many complaints and tips about this case, and we need you two to go in on site and stop this problem before we let it start. The site is about sixty miles north of where your apartments are, in a little mountain village called Briarcliff Valley. There are rumors of a man who is planning a bomb scare. We aren’t sure if this is a confirmed case or only many suspicions; we’re sending you just in case. The suspect in the case has complex security systems, so we are also sending a tech with you. Neither of you have worked with him, and he is relatively new, but his background check is clean and he went to an excellent school. If you accept, I need you both to be in the office in three days for the final details and preparations. And, sorry Sam, I know you’re on vacation,” Serena concluded.
“Damn- I knew something had to go wrong while I was gone,” Sam groaned, dragging his hand down his face. “But since I’ll be working with my bes fwen, I accept.”
“Aw, thanks bezphren. I accept as well. What’s the tech’s name?” cooed Adonis whilst shoving his cookies into his oven.
“Contain yourselves. His name is Jeff. I’ll send you his contact info. Good luck, boys!”
Sam clicked off his phone and slowly stood up, stretching after sitting so long in the chair. At least I can go say bye to my family before I leave. Hopefully the case is bogus and I can come back soon. Wishful thinking. So many reports piled up typically means something important that will take some time to calm down. As he walked off the beach, Sam called Adonis again:
“So why were you so out of breath when you answered the call?” bypassing introductions completely.
“I was practicing my singing-”
“Uh huh. Sure.”
“Don’t patronize me. I was getting really into it and my phone buzzed out of nowhere and scared me.”
“You get scared way too easily. Honestly, your phone’s buzzing got you so scared you’re winded?”
“Leave me alone. What were you doing? Admiring your abs on the beach?”
“…noooo”
“Hah loser! I know you too well. Anyways, I gotta go. My cookies are gonna burn.”
“Wow. You would really pick cookies over me,” Sam said sarcastically before hanging up.