Sacramento, California

It was a sunny Monday morning. A young man, in his late twenties, walked into Horatio's Café. That tiny café huddled despondent among the huge city buildings. The interior of the café was warm and cheery, with bright lights and colorful walls. The man that had just entered was tall, with dark skin and dark eyes. He was handsome, slim, muscular, with an almost perfectly symmetrical face and shaved hair. He was wearing a white shirt and blue jeans.

"Hello, Horatio," he said with a smile on his face. "Bring me some coffee, please. The usual."

"Good morning, Dandre," Horatio replied. Horatio was in his early thirties. He was slim, with blue eyes and a light beard. He was wearing a green shirt and red trousers. He had opened this Café only a month ago, thus he did not have many costumers yet. Aside from Dandre Marshall, a web novelist writing a sci-fi web series, there was only a couple and a lone guy at the Café. "As you can see, I've got a lot of work here..." Horatio said. His self-depreciating humor helped him cope with the problems of running the Café.

"I am sure that things will get better," Dandre said. "Last week you had almost no costumers at all. Now you have a few."

"So, you are leaving tonight for London?"

Dandre nodded in affirmation. "Yup. I am going to London. I will be working at the London Herald. My section will be about reviewing web novels."

"Angela will your supervisor, eh?"

Dandre smiled. "Yes. Do you think I would be willing to go work in London if it wasn't for her?"

Angela was Dandre's girlfriend at his college. Although they broke up, they remained on good terms and Dandre was missing her. He hoped for another chance with her. So, when he got a surprise phone call from her a week ago offering him a job at the London Herald, he immediately accepted the offer.

"And... where exactly will you be staying in London?"

"I am going to be staying at an apartment with a roommate. Some professor of criminology and private investigator named John... can't remember his surname. Apparently, he got kicked out of the last apartment he was renting."

"So you will be staying with a real-life Sherlock Holmes?" Horatio chuckled.

"I sure hope not. I am not one for action. I am a man of the pen."

"How did you meet this guy?"

"Oh, I haven't met him yet. All this arrangement was set up by Mike. You remember him right? That friend of mine who was flirting with Mary at that party we went a few months ago."

Horatio scratched his head. "I think I may remember him."

"He is an acquaintance of that professor John. So he made the arrangement."

Horatio handed Dandre his coffee. "Here you go."

Dandre sipped his coffee and gave a thumbs up. "You make the best coffee! Anyway, got to go now. I need prepare for the flight. Tomorrow morning I shall be in London. Wish me luck."

Unauthorized content usage: if you discover this narrative on Amazon, report the violation.

"Good luck dude. Remember to text me and tell me how things are going."

"I will. Bye."

----------------------------------------

The next day in London

The professor stood in front of the blackboard. He had just finished writing the words 'Summary of the History of Criminology'. All the students were waiting quietly in their seats. A few were bored and were yawning, but most of them were interested in the lesson. John was a good narrator and his lectures were never dry. His experiences as a private investigator and his solving of tens of cases had made him a local celebrity. Although he had become a professor only recently, he was already popular with students, especially female ones. His handsome looks certainly helped in that regard. John was lean and tall. He had shaggy brown hair, light beard, and green eyes. He was wearing a brown tweed suit and black glasses.

"To summarize today's lesson", John said, "we traced criminology back to the Middle Ages when superstition and fear of devil dominated thinking, then we talked about the classical criminology of the 18th century when rational thought prevailed and about positivism in the 19th century, which was the first scientific approach to crime. In the next lesson, I shall talk about the history of criminology in the 20th century. If you have any questions, email them to me. You all know my email address. If you do not, ask around. I will have to leave earlier today because I've got an important meeting. Have a nice day."

As soon as he finished talking, he quickly packed his staff into his black leather case and left the classroom. He had to go to the apartment where he would stay and meet his new roommate, a fellow named Dandre Marshall. 'Hope I am not late.'

----------------------------------------

Dandre entered the third apartment on the second floor. The apartment seemed fine to Dandre, although it did lack much furniture. The floor was polished concrete and the walls white. There was a bookshelf, a brown couch, and a small, wooden table. As he was inspecting the apartment, another man walked into the room.

"Hello," that man said. "I am John Ford. You must be Dandre Marshall?"

"Indeed," Dandre said as he inspected the man standing in front of him. He sized him up. His last roommate wasn't exactly the most pleasant person to be around, so he hoped that this John would be different. "I am glad to meet you."

"Don't worry, I surely will not be as bad as your last roommate!" John said, leaving Dandre astounded. He hadn't told anyone aside from Horatio and a few other close friends about his last roommate.

"How did you know that?"

"I was able to deduce all that from inspecting you and your reactions. For a start, you inspected me thoroughly. The most likely reason for that was that your last roommate wasn't a pleasant fellow and thus you are somewhat suspicious of roommates. That suspicion of mine was confirmed by the fact that you had a worrying look on your face."

"Well, you really are a real-life Sherlock Holmes..."

"Holmes is fiction, my friend. I am the real thing. So, what do you say? Shall you be my roommate?"

Dandre thought about it for a moment. The apartment was fine and though this John seemed somewhat eccentric, he couldn't be as bad as his last roommate was. "We have a deal, I suppose. So... we are roommates now."

"Excellent!"

Beeb!

A notification alarm ringed. John checked his mobile phone. It was an email sent by someone named Alexander Morningstar. It concerned the murder of his sister and her husband ten years ago and asked John to meet him at Glendarcolm, Scotland. It had been some time since he had last solved a case and John had grown somewhat bored of giving lectures at the university. It was a fine job but it could not compare to the excitement of solving crimes. He decided to accept the challenge; for a few days, his assistant at the university could deliver the lessons while he was away, so he had no problem.

"Dandre, I will be going to a small town in Scotland to solve a murder. Do you want to come with me? It will be fun."

"Why would I want to go investigate a murder in some godforsaken rural town?"

"For the fun of it. Don't tell me you have anything better to do?"

Dandre had to admit that for a week or so when he would finally begin his new job, he would not have anything better to do. Being alone in a foreign city wouldn't be much fun, so he decided to follow John. "Whatever... I will be coming with you. At the very least, it may give me some inspiration for my web novel."