A Touch of Memory and Revenge

7. The offer

Johan entered the café thirty minutes after leaving the house, the only reason was that he had driven the Porsche instead of the other car. He looked around the café  and saw Lucas already seated in his favorite position with a cup of coffee in his hands. The man drank coffee like he couldn’t function without it.

 Johan shook his head as Lucas waved him over when he saw him standing by the door. 

Johan noticed that the café was unusually crowded that morning so he would have to be careful so as not to touch anything. He slipped his hands into the pockets of his leather jacket and walked towards Lucas. That way, he was going to restrain himself from touching anything.

He reached Lucas, “Hey Lu…”, he greeted taking the seat on the opposite side facing the man.

Lucas eyed him suspiciously, his eyes moving from his face to the hands in his pockets. He lifted his eyebrows, “what?”, he asked.

Johan shrugged looking around the shop. Lucas followed his gaze and then understood what was going on.

“Oh!...” he exclaimed.

Lucas sighed, “sorry I forgot to check before texting you. I thought it would be empty this morning”, he apologized.

Johan waved a hand dismissing him. Things like this didn’t affect him anymore. He took a tissue from the box and wiped  the surface of the table in front of him before placing his elbows in the table. If he bothered about people and crowds, he wouldn’t step out of his house.

People who didn’t know about his abilities thought that he had OCD (obsessive control disorder) because he was always cleaning surfaces before coming in contact with them. Even the maids at home made sure not to touch things in his room without wearing hand gloves.

“its not a problem. By the way you called Erik yesterday when I told you not to…”, he accused glaring at Lucas.

Lucas chuckled nervously scratching his back, “You know how scared I get when you’re having one of your episodes. I can’t control you and I can’t touch you. I wouldn’t want to hurt you”, he explained.

Johan found it difficult to let people near him and so he understood why Lucas was always calling Erik, but man, it was tiring and the rate was becoming alarming.

Johan pursed his lip, “ that’s by the way, I think someone had intentionally set the house on fire.” He told Lucas.

Lucas nodded at the information, “ I suspected that much. The house wouldn’t have burnt down like that if it was just an accident.” He said.

“They must have pissed off the wrong kind of person”, Lucas whistled.

Who had they offended to have received that form of punishment. Normally, arsonist held long grudges and wouldn’t burn down a house just like that. They needed to connect the dots here. The why and the who.

He rubbed his arm with his other hand, “Did you guys check the cabinet behind the mirror?”, Johan asked remembering the memory of the woman he saw.

“Yes they did. Lab is running through the pills to see what the content is.” Lucas informed him.

Johan nodded, if he was to take a wide guess at what those pills were, he would say they were anxiety pills and sleeping pills. He could recognize those anywhere he saw them, he had taken them for years. Nothing special to find there.

Lucas cleared his throat, “so, did you see his face?, Tell me what you saw, anything to help us”. He asked moving forward in his seat.

Johan shifted in his seat too, “bad news Lucas, I didn't see his face. It was half covered with a nose mask and the man was wearing a face mask, I think I saw a scar, not sure though...” He answered thinking back at the man he saw.

“ You already know that the fire was caused by a leaking cylinder. The arsonist had turned on the gas and all the burners in the kitchen , hence the huge explosion. The woman whose room the mirror was found in saw something. I'm guessing it’s the arsonist. She looked scared and was panicking as she reached for the pills. I think she knew whoever was behind this and was scared of him”, he finished.

Lucas took a long breath picking up his cup and drinking from it. “This is getting more complicated. I was half hoping that it was just a mere accident, now it’s arson.” He shook his head.

“…and you know what’s suspicious?, It’s almost the same with the fire incident case of last month that we are still investigating”, Lucas whispered.

Johan huffed, they could have a serial arsonist on their hands if this person was not caught. He remembered something, “did you see a circle shaped object on the floor next to where I collapsed?”, he asked Lucas.

Lucas frowned shaking his head, “no I didn’t. I’ll check the list of evidence later. Is it important?”, he asked.

Johan couldn’t tell if it was important or not. It possibly might be the signature of the arsonist or an object that he dropped. Either way, checking it again was needful.

“Just check it out for me” , he said instead.

“Alright…”.

Lucas checked his watch seeming to be in a hurry, “ there’s a meeting this evening at the headquarters, we are forming an investigative team for the case. I want you to be there”, he told him.

Johan scoffed, the last thing he wanted was for him to join a team that was investigating a fire case. He would rather join a homicide team.

Deciding to voice his thoughts, “I would rather join a homicide team Lucas…”, he muttered.

Lucas smiled, “Well, you are in luck, this is also a homicide case. The victims were killed before the house was burnt down”, Lucas informed him.

“Shit”, Johan cursed.

That would explain why their prints and memories were not scattered all over the house but remained in a place. They were already dead before the fire began.

Johan sighed, “Even if I want to join in, I can’t. Erik has made it clear that I need to stop working or have a partner and my dad is already asking questions that he shouldn’t find the answers to.” He stated.

Lucas laughed shaking his head, “Does Erik ever gets tired of worrying about you?” he asked.

Johan snorted at the irony. No was the answer, Erik never gets tired. One time when he had shouted at Erik for caring too much and being over protective. Erik had distanced himself from Johan for days, he would nod when he saw Johan and when he was asked a question, he would give a single word answer.

Johan was never going to admit it again but he had missed his brother, his heart had yearned for that attention from Erik. The nagging and worry was all part of who Erik was and he had learnt a long time that it was better to adapt to it than complain.

“Erik is a big brother, and an overprotective one at that. He’s never going to stop worrying about me until he gets married and that’s why I’m pushing him to find someone so he could channel his affection.” Johan reasoned.

Lucas bursted out in laughter, apologizing to the people who had turned towards them at his laugh giving him disgusted looks.

Lucas raised his brow, “wow, I wish my elder brother was half as caring as Erik”, he said in  a low voice.

Johan wanted to ask what he meant by that statement but decided to mind his own business. If Lucas wanted him to know, he would tell him.

 Their friendship was a strange one. They only knew little details about their personal lives and Lucas only found out about Erik because they somehow knew each other.

Lucas sighed rubbing his forehead, “ I hope you think about it and change your mind Johan. It would really help if you were on the team. About Erik, I could talk to him and get him to agree on something”, he told Johan.

Erik could listen to someone else’s reason but wouldn’t listen to his. If Lucas could talk to him, then fine.

Lucas stood up from his seat, he grabbed his coat from behind the chair and began to wear it. “Your opinion and what you want to do  matters the most Johan and Erik knows that. You know what to do when you’re ready”, he said reaching to tap Johan’s shoulder before he remembered himself and retracted his hand.

Johan laughed as Lucas walked out of the café. 

He remained seated even when the waiter came to clear the table.

Should he do this or not. Doing it would mean stretching his limits. He has always wondered why he reacted badly to any case that had to do with fire, but it was only during those break downs that he got to see those memories he seems to have but doesn’t know how.

Johan pulled his phone out and sent a quick text to Lucas. ‘ count me in…'.

It was now left for Lucas to talk to Erik.