The Edinburgh Files: Edinburgh

Me and Aaron walk out from my mother's home. He is chuckling and gets into the driver's side of his blue four-door sedan. I get into the passenger seat. I think I can start prying into asking about some things.

"So Aaron, why is there no radio station here?" I ask.

"Well, the funding got pulled a few years ago." Aaron says. "Mr. Edinburgh said there were better ways of spending the local funding." He adds.

"I see." I say. "So, no radio?" I ask.

"Exactly." Aaron reassures me.

It seems off, everywhere gets news and music over the radio waves, so why not Edinburgh? It doesn't add up. Even with this town being as small as it is.

"No news?" I ask.

"We read it in the paper." He replies.

His piercing blue eyes focus on the mirror as we back up and then pull away from my mom's house. It feels weird not driving myself around, let alone from my mom's house.

"That's awfully strange." I say.

"I wouldn't overthink it, Drew. You always get carried away by small things." Aaron laughs. "I suppose that makes for a good detective though, right?" He adds.

"I suppose." I sigh.

"So, you came back just to visit your mom before vanishing again?" Aaron asks me.

He has every right to ask me about it. We were friends in school. He always had a way of bonding with me. His ginger way with people just feels soothing.

"I think I'm going to stay for a while. There's some things I think this town can still teach me." I admit, however indirectly.

"So, gonna need a job?" He gets down to business.

"I'm thinking I'll start taking on P.I. jobs for a bit. That's about all I have on my mind as of late." I explain.

"Well, why not talk to Mr. Edinburgh and see if he's got anything interesting to direct you to?" He suggests.

Aaron's known me for a while. I tend to forget just how long we've been friends. I am not a spring chicken anymore. Though, thinking about it, Mr. Edinburgh is a descendant of the founder of this town, so Aaron may be onto something.

"Yeah, you've got an idea there. Everyone has their secrets and he probably would know where to start looking." I say.

"Everyone has secrets?" Aaron asks.

"Everyone." I emphasize.

"Even you?" Aaron asks me.

"Well, of course. Everyone has secrets, wether they be big ones or small ones." I say.

He turns the vehicle to get us towards the police station. I look at the white brick building and sigh. I spent more time there as a child, for stirring up trouble with pranks. It never gotten me into any serious trouble, thankfully.  We pass the station, only five cars are parked there. They all are the old crown Victoria cruisers from when I was a kid, just with a fresh coat of paint.

"Spent enough time there, didn't ya Drew?" He nudges me joking. "Good thing we're only passing huh?" He chuckles.

"Don't be a dick about it Aaron." I smirk.

"Alright, alright." He sighs. "We aren't far from my place now. Wait until you see what I've gathered up. I think you'll appreciate it more than our old gang." He chuckles.

He may be right. The gang never had inquisitive minds like us. I am honestly surprised that he kept it and never pursued an education in policing.

"Yeah, you've got a point." I admit.

He glances over my seat and turns to   the right. Eden street, I suppose this is where he lives now. I take a deep breath.  He looks at me and then brings his focus back to the road ahead. He pulls into a red brick driveway and parks the car. I look up to the faded brown exterior with a deep gray rooftop. It looks as if the roof was freshly done.

"Nice place." I say.

The three story building looks old, I presume it's because it is the old quarters of the town. If I hadn't known any better, I'd think this was once a hospital. Though, we didn't have hospitals here until about seventy years ago.

"It was a church, but now it's an apartment building." Aaron says.

I stare for a moment. I didn't know we even had churches here in Edinburgh. I'm fascinated.

"I guess we better make our way up to your place?" I ask.

"Yeah."

We get out of the car and he locks the doors. We make the approach to the porch that wraps it's way around the entire building. As I take steps onto the porch, they creak as if they are screaming in pain.

"Yeah, it sounds like the porch could use an update." I laugh.

"You are right there." He chuckles.

We walk up to the navy blue door and Aaron unlocks it. He gestures for me to enter the building. I walk in and he locks the door behind us. Talk about taking precautions.

"Gotta lock up every time?" I ask.

"Landlord asks us to keep the building secured." He answers.

"Is this section bad for criminal activity?" I ask.

"Not particularly, but there have been reports of people entering even with the doors secured." He explains.

"Now that's odd." I say, following him up the first flight of deep oak steps.

"Yeah, some think the place is haunted. I can't say for sure, I've been here a year now and I have yet to experience anything off." He laughs lightly.

He's always had a way of keeping light hearted. The walls have crosses hanging on each of them and on each floor. I find this to be rather unsettling. It makes me feel like I just walked into a scene from the exorcist movies. My heart sinks at the thought of it.

"What's with all the crosses?" I have to ask.

"The landlord thinks it helps with the hauntings here. I can't tell though." He sighs.

We go up the second flight and the stairs groan with each step. He shudders at the sound. I can't blame him, it sounds like groaning men as we climb up.

"Just up this way." He says, pointing at the door at the very end of the hallway.

"So you're at the end of the hall?" I ask.

"Yeah." He replies.

We walk along the hall, pictures of nuns decorate the side walls and crosses above them. There are two crosses at his door, one on each side of it. The pale brown wood stares back at us. Aaron slides his key into the door and goes to unlock it.

"Uh, that's odd." Aaron says.

"What?" I ask.

"The door is unlocked already..." He says, I can see it's creeping him out a fair bit.

"Open it and I'll go in first. Be prepared to dial the cops." I say.

He pushes the creaky door open. I walk into the apartment. Pale beige walls are all around and papers are scattered. I take a deep breath as I walk through the kitchen. The stainless steel appliances glisten. The kitchen looks as if it hardly ever has been touched. I assume he eats takeout more than anything. I scout around his bedroom and see no one is here.

"Looks like it's all clear!" I shout to him.

I can hear the door close as I walk to the living room. His face is completely in disbelief. He stares at an empty corkboard mounted to the wall.

"It's all gone." He utters.

"What's all gone?" I have to ask.

"The work I was going to show you. It's all gone." He sighs deeply.

"I suppose someone didn't want you to share the discovery." I say.

"Yeah, I guess so." He says as he scours the floor for documents.

"You've been raided, huh?" I exasperate.

"The question is who would do this?" He asks to himself.

"That's a good one to be asking." I sigh.

"Would ya mind helping me pick up the mess?" He asks.

"Sure, let's get this all sorted out." I say.

We get to picking up all kinds of different documents and placing them into piles on the coffee table. I can't imagine the reason for someone to do this to Aaron of all people. It dawns on me, they must be a resident here, the front door was locked.

"Why..." He mumbles.

"I don't know, but our suspect list is going to be fairly short." I say.

"How so?" He asks.

"The front door was locked. So it's someone who has access to the building." I explain.

"How would they get in here then?" He asks.

"Without a key, there are a few ways to pick a lock." I say.

Aaron looks more concerned than before. Now, we have a case. I will be doing this probono for him, of course. Though now, it seems my job is needed here more than I thought.

This is my foot in the door to finding out about Edinburgh. Thank you Aaron. I have to get started.