Two Detectives Talking

'No!!' Ashton got up and stood on his legs.

'No!' Nathan immediately turned around and held out his hand to try and get hold of James from escaping. There, he saw James stop at the end of the wooden elevation, holding out his hand. He also saw another manly- figure in a jacket.

The man stepped on to the wood with the help of James's hand.

Madhav and Gustavus also stood partially as a defense reflex. Ashton fell back into his seat, looking at them who looked back at him, to let him know that he was very suspicious.

James thought in his mind 'Wow. And I just played police before the real one'. He looked at Nathan's strange behaviour.  

"What's wrong, Nathan?"

"Nothing, I… I was just asking you for help" Nathan replied, rather nervously.

The stranger stopped panting and looked at James and Nathan. 'Okay… Two people here. Let's hope I get the sufficient time to find which one of them is the prisoner' he thought, 'and also, there's detective Snow among these. He might be waiting for me. I need to find him too'.

'Whaat!?' James thought, and suddenly looked at the man.

"Whaat!? Ashton thought, with his eyes raised.

'So this guy is the other detective?' James thought.

'I can convince him that I am the detective… uh… Snow. Then I'll find a way'.

"Hello, I am James" he said.

"Hi. Daktar" the man replied and shook his hand with James's.

"Hi Daktar, I am Nathan" said Nathan from the generator, "James, I said I need your help here!"

James reluctantly stepped on the snow towards Nathan.

'Nathan? It's very close to 'Nathaniel'. Hmm… but a prisoner might not choose such a name if he wants himself in disguise. I also need to know if there are only two of these here to come to a conclusion. First, is this the shelter that I am told?'

"Daktar, it's the break of the blizzard. How are you able to reach here?" Nathan asked cautiously, thinking, 'Surely, the prisoner was among us? Or were all of us innocent and this guy is the actual prisoner!?'

"Oh, I came in my car. It's over there" Daktar talked cautiously, "It broke down and I thought I could take shelter here"

Nathan looked to find a car far away.

"Daktar, I know the look in your face. This is the shelter you need at the time of the blizzard" James said, looking at him from the generator.

"I sure do hope I reached in time, I mean, before the blizzard continues" Daktar spoke cautiously, standing on the wood elevation.

"You have" James replied.

'Okay… this guy wants to talk. Could he be the detective?'

'No!!' Ashton could not hold his anxiety.

"Are only you two here?"

"Uh… no. There are three others. We've come here to fix the generator. It's been disturbed in the transition of the storm"

"Oh, really?" Daktar said.

Nathan grunted at the generator.

"Is it clear in the darkness? Or can I come and help?" Daktar asked.

"No, it's almost… over…uh…" Nathan grunted again. The generator grunted and hissed.

"There it starts" Nathan said with half contentment.

"Now let's go in"

The flickering lights in the room became stiff and bright all of a sudden. 'Nathan might've fixed the generator' thought Gustavus.

Nathan and James jumped back on the wood.

"Follow us, Daktar" said Nathan and walked inside, followed by James and Daktar. Nathan closed the door behind them.

'Ah, I could've used Daktar's car! However, I've got another good opportunity with him' James thought.

"They are late, don't you think, Madhav?" Gustavus asked.

"They are" Madhav replied with a low tone. Both of them looked at Ashton, who sat in a sofa, silent to himself.

"So, Daktar" James wanted to talk to Daktar very badly.

"Yes?"

"It looked like you were coming from the Snowfields"

"Yes… yes I was"

"Then I do think you've heard of a prisoner on the run, haven't you?" James asked.

'Alright. James really wants to talk about this. He could either be the prisoner or the detective. I need to pin him and find out' Daktar thought.

"Yes, I have" he replied.

Nathan was carefully listening 'James's got to be the prisoner'.

'James might even succeed in convincing Daktar that he is the detective. I should not let him do that' Ashton thought.

"Hey, they really are being late. What if I go check out on them, huh?" he asked.

Madhav and Gustavus looked at Ashton. They did not find any difficulty with that decision of his. Gustavus nodded. "Okay. But be back" Madhav said 'Ashton's got to be the prisoner'

James was loading a conversation with Daktar in his mind.

Ashton stood and walked quickly towards the hallway, and stopped when he could see three manly-figures walking towards him. Nathan entered the room first, and then James, followed by Daktar.

Ashton and James caught each other's eye and fixed it. They eyed each other until Gustavus broke the silence in the room. Then Ashton saw Daktar. He felt supported all of a sudden.

"Woah, who's this?" Gustavus asked and stood up.

"Hi, I am Daktar" Daktar said, "I've come to take shelter here…". Ashton interrupted, "Well that's what we've all come here for, Daktar. I am Ashton"

"Madhav"

"Gustavus"

They shook hands.

They took their seats again, Nathan away from James and Madhav away from Ashton.

"From where do you come, Daktar?" Madhav asked.

"I…" Daktar was interrupted by James.

"He is from the Snowfields, am I right? We talked" James said, partially looking at Ashton and Daktar, "And, Daktar, you know, as per the news at the Snowfields, the escaped prisoner came this way and he might even be here".

Madhav and Gustavus looked at James uncomfortably.

'James looks more interested in this all of a sudden?'

"Yes, I heard the police say that", Daktar replied carefully.

"You were one of the villagers who saw the crime scene?" Ashton asked, acting if he was really interested.

"I was. I actually came here to visit a friend"

"I wasn't directly at the crime scene, but I got to know of it by one of the villagers who saw it. I got to know the detailed situation at the crime scene" James winked at Daktar.

"Oh, their head officer was so angry of the prisoner escape, that he banged and destroyed the siren lights of the police jeep, you know!" Daktar cautiously spoke with a low tone.

"Yes… yes, I was told of that. He might be really upset" James replied, slowly.

"Oh, James, you knew the details of the crime scene, but you hadn't told us any of this before?" Ashton interrupted, mockingly.

Nathan, Gustavus and Madhav saw the conversation quietly. They all detected that something was happening and did not want to interfere, but were ready to face any consequence.

'Okay, Ashton and James are fighting each other to gain my attention. One of them must be the prisoner and the other the detective' Daktar thought, 'Let's set things right'.

"However, James, the prisoner might not have come here in the blizzard" he said.

"I don't know, but I am sure that he might be powerful, as he was able to break out from police" James replied.

"Oh, truly, does this place always have such heavy SNOW here?" Daktar said, stressing at 'snow'.

A moment of silence.

"Yeah, it's been snowing today since DUSK" Ashton told Daktar with a smirk, "James, here, knows more about it"

James hesitantly gave away an awkward smile.

Ashton and Daktar eyed one another for a second or two. Everyone was quiet and still. All of a sudden, Ashton and Daktar put their hands on the back of their waists. Both of them pulled a gun out and with their arms stiff, stood up and pointed it to the head of James.

Everyone gasped and stood up in awe.

"Hands where I can see them, James… or should I say… Nathaniel" Daktar said loudly and sternly.

"Step back, Madhav. We are detective Snow and detective Dusk. We have the scene under our control" Ashton shouted, moving around James.

Nathan, Gustavus and Madhav were baffled.

'It was James all along!?'

James had his hands in the air, with a face full of confusion and anger.

"How did you know?"

"You said so yourself dummy . You played police before the real one" Ashton smiled.

James did not dare to move with two guns pointed at him.

Daktar took out his walkie-talkie from nowhere.

"Arena log eight. Come in. We've got the prisoner captured. I repeat— we've got Nathaniel captured. Waiting for reinforcements"

9th December, 2:07am, Ice Lake Basin.

The prisoner was held with his hands tied back. The winds calmed down in the aftermath of the snowstorm.

Madhav, Nathan and Gustavus stood along with the detectives and the police officer. The three officers carrying the prisoner, stopped at the back of the police jeep.

The prisoner grunted.

"James" Detective Snow called. The prisoner, after a moment, with his head hung down, smiled lightly. He looked at the detective only with the eyes.

The detectives looked at the prisoner. "Anything to say?"

He raised his head and looked at the twinkling red and blue over the jeep.

"The siren lights aren't broken" he said.

Detective Dusk grinned.

The officers hurried the prisoner into the jeep, and the door was closed. The engine of the jeep rumbled coldly, as it set off with a cloud of fog.

"We thank you for your help in capturing the prisoner, detective" the officer said, "I just wonder how you came to know that he is detective Dusk"

Detective Snow smiled, "That's the spell in two detectives talking"