Chapter 39: Whodunit.

Chapter 39: Chapter 39: Whodunit.

As I reached the front door of the house, I knocked on the door exactly three times before I stopped and waited. Then, Alex opened the door after waiting for exactly 5 seconds.

She scrunched her brows in confusion as she looked at me top to bottom. "Why are you in the suit?...and the hat?"

Wearing a dark blue, old school suit that was tailor made to fit my body – using my own efforts, I walked inside the house without answering Alex's questions.

"May I please meet with Mr. Dunphy and his son, Luke Dunphy?" I asked politely.

"Are you role playing?" Alex said in disbelief. Turning toward her, who was standing at my side, I said, "Yes."

Stunned, Alex rolled her eyes as she pointed to the kitchen, "They are over there."

"Thank you Milady." I replied as I tipped my hat slightly at her before walking toward the kitchen.

Alex followed me from behind to see what I had schemed. Passing the kitchen, I saw Phil standing behind a brand new bike with a Luke's sticker on it.

With an excited, but mixed with some worries on his face, Phil was explaining to Claire about his endeavour in getting the bike back from a 7 foot tall, tattooed man who could kill a bear with his bare hands. But, Claire didn't believe Phil's story. Not even one bit.

"So. You walked up to the guy in the bar, demanded he give the bike back, and even then he left your body intact so that you can still return home?" Claire asked sarcastically.

"Yes. Turns out, I just needed to talk to him...man to man...Even a tough guy needs someone to share with sometimes." Phil said braggingly. As I walked into the room, my attire quickly caught Phil and Claire's attention.

"Sherlock?" Phil muttered with widened eyes.

"Yes. Edward Sherlock Newgate, at your service. I came here to solve the mystery of the missing bike." I replied.

Claire turned her face away from Phil as she couldn't hold back her laugh. Only after collecting herself did she dare to turn back towards me wearing a serious face.

"Oh Mr Sherlock, I was waiting for you to arrive." Claire said as she got into character. We shook hands as if we had never met with each other before, making Phil wary and Alex's jaw drop in disbelief.

"You're on it too?" Alex asked Claire, flabbergasted by the entire situation. "Can anyone tell me what is going on?"

Turning toward Alex for the second time, I smirked at her timing and said, "What else? I came here to solve the case, and reveal to you the true culprit who stole Luke's bike."

[Phil's commentary.]

Kitchen counter interview.

"Deep down. I know that something is wrong." Phil muttered in concern as he thought about the entire situation. He leaned forward and put both of his arms on the kitchen counter.

"However, I am both...scared and excited to see where this is going to go." Phil confessed.

He looked right into the camera and said challengingly, "For every Sherlock. There is a Moriarity. I had cleaned up ALL the traces.. Let's see if you can catch me."

[Commentary ends.]

"Before we get started, let's wait for the main character of the story first shall we?" I said.

"Main character? Who?" Alex asked.

Turning to Alex, I said in a fake British accent, "My dear Watson, of course the main character is the bike owner. Are you feeling unwell today?"

Phil laughed and said, "Hahaha..Watson...By the way, your accent is great. You sound like a real Londoner..."

Claire narrowed her eyes at Phil and said, "It's not great at all..."

"Tch. Non-believer." I clicked my tongue at Claire and took off my hat. "Anyway, where is Luke?" I asked as I looked around.

"He's upstairs. I will call him." Claire said and walked to the stairs before shouting from below. "LUUUUKEEE!"

"Why did she even have to go over there? She could just shout from here." Alex said in dissatisfaction.

"Maybe she wants to protect our ears." I replied as I sat on the sofa. "Watson, a cup of tea please."

Alex rolled her eyes, but then she said, "Earl grey or Chamomile? We only have those two."

"I was only joking, but if you were fine with it...Earl grey please." I requested politely from Alex. She nodded and went to the kitchen to make the tea without saying much.

"Hey Edward..." Phil leaned toward me, trying to say something to me in private, but Claire had already returned by that time and caught him in the act.

Shaking her finger at Phil as she walked into the living room, Claire said, "No-No. Wait for everyone to be here."

Phil sighed and pulled his pants upwards. "I wasn't going to say anything."

"Sure you don't." Claire said in distrust.

"Why are you calling me?" The main character, Luke, finally appeared holding his BB gun on one hand and a walkie talkie on his other hand.

"Why are you carrying that gun again?" Claire shook her head in frustration and snatched the gun from Luke's hand.

"Hey. Give me back! I need it if I want to go and search for my bike."

Alex interjected from afar, "You mean the bike beside Dad?"

Luke turned to where Alex directed him to, and widened his eyes as he saw the bike near Phil. He ran quickly towards his dad, where Phil was crouching down and readied himself for an embrace as he thought Luke was going to hug him. But I stood up and stopped him before he managed to do it.

"Not so fast Luke." I said as I caught Luke from behind.

"Hey. That's my hard earned respect! Why did you stop him?" Phil asked with a lowered spirit.

He expected justification for his actions. And if Luke did hug him, then he could skip past his ruse of buying a new bike for Luke, and whatever 'crime' he committed, Claire would still turn a blind eye at him.

"Does Hard Earned mean going back to the store and buying a new bike to replace the one you lost? 'cause if that's the meaning, then I have really done you wrong." I said calmly.

"Wha-? No. I got the bike back." Phil lied with an anxious voice.

Channelling my inner Sherlock, I said, "Phil. The sticker is the wrong size. I printed it in A3. The one stuck on the bike is in A4 size. Not to mention you stuck it upside down."

Turning his eyes to the bike, Phil finally realised what he had done wrong. "I-I mean." Stuttering, he tried to explain himself.

"God Phil. I really hope that you can return that bike." Claire interjected.

[Phil's commentary]

"Soo...Moriarty is exposed..." Phil confessed.

"No Phil. This wasn't at the level of a simple lie. He knowingly manipulated us. There needs to be a fair repercussion for it." Claire said sternly.

Although Claire was playing the role of a stern mother right now, I knew that in 2 or 3 days her heart would soften and she would try to get the bike for Luke. Therefore, I needed to be the one who would make sure Luke learned from this matter.

"Luke. I am not your parents. I won't be like your mom that will coddle you, or your simple dad that will forget about this whole matter as soon as he wakes up tomorrow. I will check if you did your chores..." I said and stressed the next part, "...on your own...You need to learn some accountability. I won't give you back the bike, nor will I continue revamping it. Am I being clear?"

"But...that's my bike!" Luke said.

While smirking, I wore my hat back and said mischievously, "No. The bike...was stolen right?"

Luke was stunned and Alex laughed at Luke's misery.

[Phil and Claire's commentary]

Claire started by saying, "Edward had to sit Phil down to explain to him what he was doing. Well...I love my son. But Edward was right, Luke needs to learn to take some accountability."

Phil sighed and said, "Not only did Edward expose me, he also took away my role as a dad."

Claire turned to Phil and whispered, "That's because you never punish Luke."

[Commentary ends]

"Alex will be my eyes and ears in this house. She will report to me what you do, and what you don't do. In this room, I know that she will be the fairest out of all of you in her reports to me." I said and patted Alex's shoulder.

"What's in it for me?" Alex asked.

"Err...The chance to be a good big sister?" I answered.

She narrowed her eyes at me and before she could say anything, I replied, "A custom made frame for your glasses, by my own design?"

With her mouth half opened, Alex paused to think before she said, "No. I want to take part in your invention."

"You really want to ask for something that already has your name inside of it?" I asked in confusion.

"Wait- You're considering me?"

"You don't want to?"

"Of course...I want to. But, I don't want to make you feel pressured to get me into it..." Alex confessed.

Although she had been badgering me to start the invention, her actions didn't stem from her interest in getting the credit. However, it was because academic validation was all she had. She wasn't pretty or likeable as her sister – that was what she thought.

"No. Not at all." I answered simply while smiling at her. "It'll be fun to do it together."

"Okay... the glasses then." Alex replied with a bright smile. Her rectangular glasses made her seem really nerdy, and I wanted to change her glasses frame since the day I met her. Now, I finally have a chance to do so.

Turning to the family, I said, "Now that the case is settled, and the culprit is punished, I will be going back home now."

"Wait, Ed, do you want to have dinner with us?" Claire asked.

Shaking my head slightly, I said, "It's okay Claire. I already have plans for dinner with my girlfriend. I need to go home now to cook. Maybe some other time."

"A date?" Alex teased.

"Yeah." I replied casually and waved goodbye to the family. Luke exploded once I passed through the front door. "That's my bike!!!!!!!!!!!!"

...

After finishing the episode which had greatly diverted from its original route, I changed my clothes to a simple grey cotton tee shirt. Putting my apron on, I took out 2 New York cut steaks that weigh one pound each, and have a thickness of 1 and a quarter inch.

"You know, you could come after I have finished cooking." I muttered to the girl who's sitting on the kitchen island while batting her eyes at me.

Abby said, "I love watching you cook. Can't I just enjoy my dinner show in peace?"

"Okay then." With a smile on, I put on a show for Abby. After I pat dry the steak and season it with pepper and salt, I preheat the pan using medium heat and brush the pan with half a tablespoon of oil.

While waiting for the pan to heat up, I took out the appetisers – bacon wrapped jalapeno poppers from the oven. After arranging them neatly on the plate, I served it in front of Abby.

"Here. You can get started on the appetisers first while waiting for the steaks. Be careful, it's still hot."

Her eyes brightened in anticipation and she grabbed one popper with her fingers without thinking. "Ouch." She exclaimed in pain and put the popper down again. "Told you." I said and grabbed her hurting finger before I gently blew on it.

"S-Stop seducing me and get back to cooking already." Abby said while blushing.

When the pan heat had reached the optimum temperature, I started searing the steaks. As I proceed to sear each side 3-4 minutes until a brown crust has formed, then I used tongs to turn steaks on their sides and sear the edges for 1 minutes each.

Once I did that, I added butter and aromatics – melted in butter with quartered garlic cloves and rosemary sprigs. Tilted pan to spoon garlic butter over steaks and cook.

"How do you like your steaks?" I asked while still spooning the garlic butter over steaks.

"Medium rare." Abby replied. "We like the same level then." I said and took the meat temperature before I stabbed the tip into the steak.

As the temperature of the meat would still rise while it rested, I waited for the internal temperature of the meat to reach 145 Fahrenheit before removing the steak. It would rise around 5 to 10 degrees more while it rested, and the meat would be medium rare then.

"How's the poppers?" I asked Abby as I saw she had been eating the appetisers while she waited.

"It's really great. I can't stop eating it." Abby replied.

Flattered by her compliments and reactions, I said, "Wait a minute. I will set the table."

We had a romantic dinner by the candlelight table and paired the meat with some red wine I had snatched from my dad's liquor cabinet.

"How's your day?" I asked while I helped Abby cut her steak. She could do it herself, but I wanted to do it for her.

"Well...Haley talks a lot... We went to the mall and then..."

After dinner, we went to my room and locked the door. While we were making out and me getting to second base, my phone suddenly vibrated. Abby stopped and I took out my phone to check the notification.

"Oh, it's from Taylor." I muttered as I read the text. Abby got jealous and snatched the phone from my hand. "Do you want to reply to a text from another girl, or do you want to continue making out with me?"

"Don't be jealous. She only wanted to ask when I will be free to get together. We need to prepare for the concert after all."

Abby blushed in embarrassment and said, "You-you can text her then."

I threw the phone to the side and said, "No. I want to focus on you now." Then, we continued making out before Abby had to get home.