Neneh walked down the stairs back to her apartment, once she got in she lit a cigarette.

She looked around, her apartment was a mess by the account she was not a very tidy person. She started looking around in a drawer of the TV cabinet. It was the drawer where she put all the stuff her mom gave her that she never used and wasn't really planning on using but also not planning on throwing away. Not because she herself was really fond of the stuff but because she knew her mom found it important that she'd have these things. After rummaging around for a bit she found the compass under the Qur'an that she had opened once, only to find out it was written in Arabic.

With the compass in hand she looked around her room for a stick. "Not really a lot of stick shaped objects here." she thought. She could break one of the legs of her table but that would maybe be going a bit too far this early in the morning.

"Well, then no stick, maybe Henry could find that one from someone else."

She decided to go back up the stairs with the compass and rang the door at missus Frost.

"Hello missus Pathak, did you find the compass?" Missus Frost opened the door with a smile.

"Ah, yes I have it. No stick unfortunately, well maybe if I break one of the legs of my table but hopefully that won't be necessary."

"Well come in, I was just about to put on a fresh pot of tea."

Neneh walked back into the room to be greeted mostly with silence, apart from the quiet sobbing of Anna.

"Got your compass Henry." Neneh threw the compass in a slight arch towards Henry's lap who caught it.

"Great." He answered. "You don't happen to also own an Atlas do you? Or something else that has a world map with the timezones on there?"

"Sorry, maybe we should try Robbert again. He is big into sailing and stuff right, he might have some maps." Neneh responded.

"Does anybody have his key? We could just go into his apartment to look." Kenelm said.

"Isn't that kind of a violation of privacy?" Linette stated more than actually asking. "I mean I wouldn't think of somebody I trusted with my keys just entering my home and starting to snoop around."

"Well there is maybe a bigger problem than what we are going to think about his dirty dishes in the sink." Garry snapped at Linette. "Also we could try knocking again, maybe he'll answer this time."

"Well I could try, but I think I was quite loud earlier this morning." Neneh said.

"I mean you did manage to wake us up without even trying to." Jacob said with a slight smile.

"And in turn you woke the rest of the building." Fiona responded.

This narrative has been purloined without the author's approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.

"So does anybody have a key of Robbert's apartment?" Henry asked, wanting to quickly end the who woke who talk and get back to the sandy topic at hand.

"I have a spare key of Robbert's." Fiona said.

"Well he should be home." Said missus Frost, shuffling back into the room with a fresh pot of tea.

"Maybe he went out yesterday and wasn't here when the building was misplaced." Henry said.

"Really, we should call it something other than misplaced." Jacob immediately responded.

"Well that may be the case but if mister Winkler is not at home, what could have been the cause of that loud thud this morning?. It came from his apartment." Missus Frost said.

"So he fell out of bed and kept on sleeping?" Linette asked. "I did not know mister Winkler was such a deep sleeper."

"He isn't, I got Robbert at my door one time a few weeks ago complaining about me watching television." Fiona answered. "He used to be but the last few weeks he has been complaining about everything."

"You wouldn't think anything happens to him right?" Garry asked, shocked.

Anna started sniffing harder.

"So I suggest some will check up on Robbert and some will do the time thing." Neneh said. "If we know the time we can kind of figure out where we are right?"

"Well, yes but only kind of. We could possibly narrow down what dessert we are in." Kenelm answered.

"So you and Harry do the time thing and the rest goes upstairs? Does anybody happen to have a stick by the way since I don't really have one without breaking my table."

"Would a fishing rod work?" Jacob asked.

"I would imagine so." Harry said.

"Then I'll go with you and grab you one of my fishing rods."

"I am going to stay here if nobody minds." Missus Frost said. My hips are not that fond of stairs anymore."

"I'll go with you to look for Robbert." Fiona said, looking at Neneh.

"I'll come upstairs to Robbert's apartment, knowing he might have a problem. I am awfully worried about him." Linette said. Nobody really believed she was worried since she was known as the biggest gossip queen in the neighborhood.

"Garry, Anne?" Kenelm asked.

"If you all don't mind then I will try to put Jasper back to bed." He said standing up, holding his son. "And I think Anne needs some time to process. As soon as Jasper is in bed I will come upstairs to see if I can help there." He walked out the apartment, followed closely by Anna.

"Well then let's go upstairs" Neneh said kind of nervously standing up. "Should we stop by your apartment or do you have the key on you?"

"Oh, it's at my apartment but it's across the hallway from Robbert so it's not really a problem."

"Well what are we waiting for, let's go." Linette said and started walking like she was in a hurry.

Neneh and Fiona followed Linette upstairs and Fiona grabbed the key from her apartment.

Slowly Fiona opened the door to Robbert's apartment. The door creaked a little.

"Robbert, you home?" Neneh called out. "We tried ringing at your door earlier but we are kind of in a situation."

"Yes, we need your atlas. I'm coming in." Linette said walking into the apartment disappeared around the corner of the hallway toward the living room.

Fiona and Neneh started following her only to stop almost directly in their tracks when they heard a high pitched scream coming from the living room. After a split second they started rushing in after Linette and also turned the corner and saw Linette staring at the kitchen.

Neneh's eyes immediately followed Linette to see what she was looking at. There she saw a ginger man laying face down in a puddle of blood and a kitchen knife stuck in the back of his neck.