Bonding Time

(Carlsbad - Czech Republic)

Marek drove them to his apartment. He could offer her a room while she was in town until the case was closed. He hoped that she would not stay with him for too long. Marek expected that Patricia would get bored and leave disappointed. He had a hunch that this case was definitely not going to move and be solved anytime soon.

Although Patricia wasn't keen on living with a stranger detective, she trusted her teacher and she wouldn't want to live at the police station anyway, and the hotel was too expensive. Marek parked in front of his apartment building. It looked pretty nice from the outside. The walls were painted in a candy atmosphere. Typical Eastern European style of buildings.

He picked up her luggage and they both entered the apartment building. They used the elevator and went up to the third floor and he opened the apartment door. Patricia looked inside. There was a horrible mess. Patricia was right; Marek was an old, lonely bachelor. She turned her head towards him. With a neutral expression on her face, she entered with her body facing forward.

There was an unpleasant smell inside as if he had not opened the windows for a few years. Marek's apartment was a small three-room apartment with a balcony. After entering, Patricia stood in the combined kitchen-living space. To the right rose a window with a balcony covered with a white translucent curtain. A dark brown leather couch that stood across from a plasma TV set on the wall.
Underneath was a small bookcase, probably cherry wood, nice and dark. A small glass table buried under a pile of newspapers and papers. A nice, shaggy, brown carpet spread under the furniture. Behind the couch was a chest of drawers with pictures and a thick book on criminal cases. Between the two doors of the rooms stood a pot with a half-dead plant. It looked like Codiaeum Variengatum, or also known as Croton.
On the left was a small kitchen in a white modern style. A corner line with a sink in that place. The microwave oven was placed in the opposite corner to the right of the cooker. A short bar with stools divided the room into a kitchen and a living room. There was access to both rooms and the bathroom from the living room. It was small and simple with blue tiles. Washbasin with a large mirror on the left side. The toilet, washing machine on the right. A bathtub with a shower head lay opposite the door.
The rooms were very small. The right room had two windows with red curtains on the walls, a double bed with black satin sheets. To the left of the door was a closet, and on the opposite side was another half-dead palm tree. The second room was more or less empty. One small bed on one side, a cabinet and a desk with a computer on the other side. The guitar was hiding in the corner of the room.

When Patricia went into the kitchen, a lot of stench got into her nose, probably from the dirty dishes fermenting in the sink. The couch was covered with a pile of unwashed clothes. Marek sat down on those dirty clothes on the couch and turned on the TV. Patricia couldn't believe what she just saw. "Could you at least try to clean your apartment? Please?!" He lay down across the entire couch and just pointed with his finger to the door where Patricia would sleep.

He suddenly changed from a decent gentleman to a nasty old guy. Patricia got mad. She slammed the door without a word. She needed to calm down so she wouldn't bang his head against the nearest wall. She could finally picture what she had gotten herself into, just because she wanted to help him.

Twenty minutes passed and the door to her room opened. She flew right out of them like a fury and stood in Marek's way. He couldn't see through her to the TV, even if he tried, she was blocking his view. "Could you move to the side?" Patricia shook her head and growled. She grabbed a handful of newspapers from the pile on the table and threw them at him. “I came here to help you with your case, so you should start appreciating it. The least you could do is to clean up this dump! How can you even exist in this mess? I'm not surprised you're alone!” Those words hurt.

Ever since his heart was broken by his last girlfriend a few years back, he hadn't tried to find someone at all. He became sad. Without saying a word, he stood up and walked into the bathroom to get the dirty laundry basket and start collecting it. Patricia knew that she probably blew it a bit. She preferred not to say anything more and went back to her room to unpack the rest of her things.

The next day she woke up as usual. It could have been like that, maybe around six in the morning. She still felt tired after yesterday. She opened the door on her new room. He really arranged the whole apartment as she told him. She disappeared into the bathroom to go through her morning routine. She put some makeup on herself and got ready.

Patricia ran to the store to buy food to eat. She wanted to surprise Marek with a delicious breakfast as an apology for being so mean to him on the first day. The town was small and very quickly she found the store she was looking for to buy groceries. Even though she had been gone for fifteen minutes, she found Marek still sleeping.

Patricia prepared breakfast carefully and quietly. Three toasts with butter and sunny side up, ham, tomatoes, and fruit salad. The whole meal was arranged on the bar ready to be eaten. She knocked cautiously on his bedroom door. After a minute, Marek opened the door. He was completely naked, with only a pillow covering his "lower parts."

Terrified, Patricia just turned on her heel ran into her bedroom, and locked herself there. From behind them, she only communicated by shouting. "Are you Normal?! You are a total pervert! Are you sure you're not the rapist and murderer? How could you leave your room without clothes when you have a lady visiting the apartment?!” Still half sleepy Marek only now realized in what condition he had climbed out of his room.

He slammed the door behind him and quickly threw something on. Only then did he finally come out of his room again and his eyes caught the breakfast prepared on the bar. He was touched by the gesture and accepted the apology in such a delicious form. Marek knocked on her bedroom door. He leaned his torso against the door. "I really regret what happened. You know, I'm not used to having a visitor who stays the night. I promise it will never happen again. Please come out!”

The door slowly opened. Patricia came out with a serious look. Marek wasn't sure what to say now. She smiled. "Okay, okay, let's have breakfast then!" She claps her hands together and he just grins. Together they moved to the bar. After eating, he looked at Patricia, took the dishes, and even washed them. Great Mr. It was a surprising gesture. Patricia finally felt better at his home. Their friendship seemed to improve. She started cracking jokes and talking in a funny voice to lighten the mood. "Good boy! Who is a good boy?! Well? Who is he?"

Marek became serious. "Stop it, I'm not a dog!" He continued washing. Patricia just giggled. Suddenly someone rang the doorbell. Marek stopped the water and dried his hands and immediately went to the peephole. He opened it. An unknown man entered the apartment. Patricia twisted on the bar stool and leaned her back and hands on the bar. The guy was clutching a huge briefcase in his right hand. They hugged brotherly. The stranger sat down on the couch and placed the briefcase on the glass table.

Marek introduced him to Patricia. She just nodded to him. Patricia watched him carefully. The blonde guy with blue eyes finally opened what he had been holding close to him. Inside were a couple of wigs and things to disguise her. She jumped down from the high chair. She stepped closer. The guy handed her a hairnet to put her real one back together.

She looked ridiculous after putting it on. Both men began to laugh. She growled at them. "Shut up and you'd better hand me the wig, or you two won't stop." He first handed her a black wig with straight hair. She took it and put it on. Marek grinned from ear to ear and handed her round mirrors. They both started laughing even more. "When you start singing, it's going to be hot!"

The blonde showed her the reflection in the small mirror. She immediately took the mirror off her head at the same time as the glasses. She couldn't get on the same page with those two yet. Another wig looked like it was from the fifties. Short, blonde, and mostly curly. She didn't want to be an outsider, so she joked to herself. She took black eyeliner and made a faux mark on her left cheek. She blew a kiss to them. "You idiots! Hahaha!”

The guys started laughing even more. Now she was officially one of them. Marek chose another wig. It was a black bob. They could easily disguise her with this. Patricia dug out a pair of thick-framed glasses from her suitcase. She turned to them. "How do I look? Okay?” They both grinned. “Just don't set it on fire here.” She stuck her tongue out at them like a little kid showing her disapproval. At least she could walk outside with Marek and reinterview witnesses at previous crime scenes.

The police station, where Marek worked was located in the center of the town in one of the candy buildings. Little space, narrow corridors, iron bars inside the building to ensure extra security. At least Marek's office was big enough and shaped a little differently.