❦ you strangle people with a piercing stare

[stressbaking]

It was another unexciting night in Ned's newly unexciting life. He swept up the Pie Hole and waved to Olive as she retreated upstairs, a lame smile tugging at his lips. Everyone was gone and he couldn't be more grateful. Every smile takes another piece from him; each pleasant word, each attempt at pretending it was all okay. Okay is the furthest

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[askedtobe]

Well- that certainly hadn't been something Peter had expected to hear. Not that he went around expecting to hear about murders in the first place, but even so. To go from talking about silly window displays to murders was a little bit jarring, and his eyebrows rose, once again bringing his attention over to Ned.

"Seriously?" His expression fell, only slightly. Though he was undoubtedly curious, it wasn't exactly close to overpowering the sort of unpleasant look that talking about murders brings to most people. And then there was the quiet, unspoken part of Peter that still hurt at just the mention of anyone being murdered. It started by rustling up thoughts of Nathan and then it dominoed until Peter's mind was a fog of all the things connected. But for the time being, he was desperate to keep himself here, in the moment, not dragged through his past. It was easier said than done, but that's why he had left in the first place. He just wished it meant he could leave his past behind, too.

But it's not as if he had any reason to feel connected to what had happened. Staring out at the rest of the city suddenly seemed a little bit less interesting. "What happened?"

[stressbaking]

He was systematically running through the case in his head, trying to bring forth only the relevant information, and only share what had been released to the press. "It's a long story really," he began, managing to only look a little uneasy. "But it all starts with the Legend of Merle McQuoddy, the owner of the Papen County Lighthouse who was stranded at sea. He lived on a deserted island for years before being spotted by a gay cruise ship and brought back to his wife, Nora. He came back.. a little different, and the next day Nora was dead." Ned thought about leaving it at that, but it really wasn't fair to Merle so he took a breath and went on. "But it turned out to be Anabelle Vandersloop, jealous lover of the man Nora was in love with, a PCHS board member named Gus."

Realizing it wasn't the most linear story, he sighed, shooting an apologetic look at Peter. Olive had actually solved that case, in truth, using her own unrequited feelings for the pie maker to guide her way. It didn't leave the best taste in Ned's mouth.

[askedtobe]

Peter followed along easily enough for someone who knew nothing at all about the area, or the people involved. Which was to say that while the story wasn't the easiest to understand, Peter knew a thing or two about complicated lives. For something less than a second, it made Peter wonder where he'd even start if he was to end up talking about himself, because once he started, wouldn't he have to explain everything?

Back to the story at hand, Peter brushed aside the silent apology. "Kind of impressed you remembered that much about it a year later." Lifting an eyebrow, Peter chanced a searching, lopsided smile up at Ned. His suspicions had been arisen, but he had no intention of saying anything else apart from that, letting his gaze slide away and land on the street ahead.

[stressbaking]

Ned already had the answer prepared, and it was as true as it was dodging. "I'm friends with the best Private Investigator in Papen County, Emerson Cod. He's a regular."

[askedtobe]

Peter couldn't help the grin that snuck in under the wire, ducking his face down as smiled. "I love that you guys have PI's." When instead, Peter got special branches of the government. He couldn't decide if he was jealous or amused, so he settled somewhere in-between.

[stressbaking]

Peter's grin is contagious, and Ned found himself catching it fast. "I guess there wouldn't be much use for a PI in New York. Especially not for a murder." It felt like a compliment, despite the fact that Peter didn't know Ned and Emerson had often worked together in the past. If he were to look back in the papers, he could find that part out for himself, but as it was Ned didn't want to spoil the moment.

[askedtobe]

It felt only marginally odd to be grinning about this exact subject, but he couldn't help it. Somehow it was endearing, in its own way. "You'd think, but with all the stuff that goes unsolved? They could probably use a good PI or two." For the time being, Peter didn't have any intention of hunting through old newspapers, he was actually content to take things at face value.

[stressbaking]

There would probably be a lot more unsolved cases, if it weren't for Ned and his magic finger. "Unfortunately for them, I don't think Emerson is leaving any time soon."

They were already coming on a stark brick building that stretched up into the weatherless sky. The brass-embossed sign out front proclaimed it to be the Papen County Historical Society Museum.

[askedtobe]

"Probably don't deserve him, anyway," Peter's voice dwindled off as he turned his attention up onto the building instead. It wasn't much to look at, but the same could really be said for a lot of buildings. It was still enough to capture his focus, only emboldening Peter to want to go inside and actually see what the boring facade was hiding.

[stressbaking]

"I'm not even sure we do," Ned said just as idly, already heading up the grand granite steps. He supposed that it wasn't a lot to look at, from the outside, but inside held Papen's every secret. Well, every except one.

He led Peter into the building that was bigger on the inside than it even looked from the out. Pausing on the carpet, he gestured for Peter to follow, allowing the camera to automatically take their picture. He even smiled a bit for it.

[askedtobe]

Peter shrugged, his gaze bouncing over to Ned momentarily at the sound of his voice. "Hey, even small city's should get to have something." And then his focus was skittering off again, doing his own quiet investigative work in a way.

Not exactly having enough time to work himself up to a real live smile before his picture was taken, Peter wasn't overly concerned by the matter. He was far too interested in getting to look around. He had to admit, the thought of getting to find out more about this place without asking every question under the sun was appealing. Peter still couldn't stave off the desire to know more and the prospect itself was what managed to make him smile, more than anything.

[stressbaking]

He walked them to the first room, which was possibly the most boring room it possessed. It was the requisite founders room, complete with all of their portraits and the first drafting of the town's legislature. Ned skirted along the wall, taking slow deliberate steps so that Peter could take as much time as he wanted perusing the town's history. The pie maker can't help but find it endearing just how interested Peter seemed to be. It was much more than the fleeting intrigue of a tourist, and much less shallow besides. Peter wanted to get to know his city, like you get to know a person, and Ned wanted to get to know the man in just the same way.

[askedtobe]

Following along after Ned, Peter hit the room with a lazy stride, though he was already aware that it wasn't going to be the most fascinating. Peter wasn't going so far as to press his nose to the glass as he wandered along the outside wall, he wasn't that excited about political legislature, but he wasn't just glancing over it all either. He let his gaze slide over the portraits with enough measure of interest, skimming over obviously important documents and rousing up any intrigue he might have once had when it came to anything related to the government. The subject might not have been overly interesting, but the outcome of it all was: the city itself.

Even so, he glanced back towards Ned once he was ready to carry on, a slight bounce to his step as he turned and gave the room a final once over.

[stressbaking]

With a light smile, he went on to the next room, one that held particular interest for Ned. There were little scale models and portraits too of each Papen County Historical Society landmark. He pointed to the Papen County lighthouse display, though it had been edited to include bed and breakfast.

"That was the McQuoddy lighthouse," he explained, glancing around at all of the places that made Papen what it was. He wondered if some day the Pie Hole wouldn't be featured here, after all.

[askedtobe]

Following lightly a step or two behind Ned, Peter was automatically set to smile as he made his way through this room. It was admittedly whimsical, a small scale version in pieces of the city laid out before him. There was no way anything like this could ever be done for New York, and in all truth, big cities weren't meant for things like this. Big cities weren't endearing, or whimsical, and couldn't hold a candle to this kind of charm. Sure, New York had museums. But they weren't quaint. And Peter was still eating it up.

Keeping most of his thoughts to himself, Peter wasn't even sure what he was supposed to say, if there was anything. "I like it," was the best he could do, not wanting the silence to end up too overpowering. "Probably like the actual one more, but i'm good with the miniature version, too."

[stressbaking]

"We could go there today, if you wanted." Ned didn't say it was on the agenda, not wanting to look like too much of a spaz. If Peter was good with the miniature version he wouldn't push. They could go to Papen Dam and see the Dam Ruby and...go to the park, or something.

He had really been counting on the lighthouse for his plan since the ferry ride took long enough he wouldn't have to think of anything more interesting for them to do. And the hotel staff did sing show tunes. Not that he was a fan of show tunes. Much.