12 Science II

It was two weeks later when Marco walked in the 'Jackson Detectives' office from his day job. "Mrs. Whitehall?" he called, looking for the older woman. Mrs. Whitehall was a flabby old woman with ash grey hair, she had been working for Levi for more than six years now as a maid and cook, but nowadays she had also become an unofficial caretaker of the boys, bringing them tea and snacks. The old woman lived in the unit beside Jackson Detectives with her husband, George. "In here, Marco!" Mrs. Whitehall's voice came from her kitchen. Marco entered, seeing her in an apron washing the dishes.

Marco looked around, noticing her husband didn't greet him from the parlour like usual, "Mr. Whitehall?" he asked, "He went shopping," she answered softly.

"Is Levi here?" Marco asked, concern evident on his face. "Oh, he went out a couple of hours ago." Mrs. Whitehall replied, back turned to him, then turned to face the GP wondering if something was wrong, "Why? Is something wrong?" She asked, facing him.

Marco shook his head, "No, nothing's wrong with me and the family. I'm just worried, Levi usually texts me when he's without an interesting case, basically to complain. And Davies had informed me that his last consultancy was with me weeks before. " Marco said, then he asked, "Where is he?"

Mrs. Whitehall absentmindedly nodded while drying her hands.

"Tea, dear?" she offered, "Yes, please."

Thinking over what the doctor said, she turned to him holding the kettle. "Well, he's usually out this time of day, most likely in Guy's ' doing god knows what with Sammy," she said.

Who's Sammy? Marco thought.

The older woman placed the kettle on the stove. "He hasn't thrown knives on the wall since she came a few weeks ago at Elizabeth's party." She added, putting a kettle on. Marco listened intrigued, quite familiar with Levi throwing knives on a target he had pinned on his black and yellow throwing knives Target bolted on the wall. Usually any picture of random people he'd tore off magazines. And sometimes when he's especially cross, he'd put up the picture of the person he's crossed at and throw knives at it. Marco's picture had been on that target many times, but mostly his older sister Anna.

"Sammy?" Marco asked, not familiar with the name. "That nice, red-haired woman, the Director?" Mrs. Whitehall explained. His eyes widened when it sunk in. "Really!?" he asked.

The flabby old woman nodded, "He tells me, they are researching that Program, I don't know what it is, but as long as he's happy."

"He is happy?" Marco asked. "Over the moon, Dear! Yesterday he came home, kissed me on the cheek as he went to his room. I served him tea, and he told me, 'Sam, showed me how to properly dismember a human body.' " Mrs. Whitehall shared, causing Marco to crack an odd-looking smile, torn. The notion of a woman showing Levi how to properly dismember a human body, albeit, a corpse was unsettling yet, he felt relieved that his best friend wasn't lonely as he initially thought.

"And with him always out, I had time to clean his flat top to bottom. You should run upstairs and see it yourself, smell it! It doesn't smell like something is rotting." She claimed proudly, serving him tea. "Thank you. Had he suddenly stopped storing body parts?" Marco asked, humoured at the idea, then taking a sip. "Oh, no. But it's.... manageable now. Come, I'll show you what I mean." Mrs. Whitehall said, beckoning him to follow, Marco followed adamantly to leave his tea.

"Wow. I can see and smell the difference!" Marco commented when Levi's flat was opened, revealing clean floors and belongings organized. It was a wonder to all of them, a mystery even, how someone so fussy with the way he dressed. Someone who always had his hair perfectly in place, and his suits perfectly pressed all the time, was the messiest person he had ever met.

Mrs. Whitehall went directly to the kitchen, and Marco raised his brow in intrigue, the way the old woman stood was filled with pride. Marco scanned the kitchen and took note of how noticeably clean it was.

Not only that, but it was also sectioned. The left part was where his laboratory kit was, his chemicals, Bunsen burner, Petri dish, glass cylinders and tubes, etcetera, all organized in a separate side of the kitchen. While the other half was used for, well, kitchen purposes. A mentally sound person would now be able to eat at the table and be in peace that no human parts or chemicals have contaminated the kitchen wares and food. The risk of indirect cannibalism drastically went down.

Mrs. Whitehall then stood before the refrigerator and Marco gave her a quizzical look, she opened it as though she was revealing a magic trick, and his mouth hung agape, speechless.

No, Levi didn't suddenly decide to use his refrigerator as what the fridge was generally intended for; like storing food and not his human experiments. Instead, like the kitchen, it was sectioned, organized. 'Manageable' as Mrs. Whitehall claimed. Food was on top; a few cans of coke and chocolate bars caught his attention. Below were two thumbs and an index finger, safely sealed in a clear plastic container. Two pairs of ears were in a plastic resealable bag.

Marco opened the freezer, and it was also divided in half. The left side was afoot in another resealable plastic bag; the right side was a half-eaten vanilla ice cream.

When had Levi started taking a liking to sweet things? Marco thought for a moment, after living with him during Uni, he had learned to observe, at least tries to. And he had come up with a hypothesis.

"We only have one person to thank, Sam Gray. " Mrs. Whitehall stated with conviction. "Does she come here, often?" Marco asked, "If I say so, Yes. But not as often as Lea did before." Mrs. Whitehall said, "Why?" She asked him.

"He has ice cream in the freezer, coke and chocolate bars in below, Levi doesn't like sweets," Marco stated, shutting the freezer door and giving the kitchen another glance, this time observing. There were two pairs of safety goggles on the laboratory side; he came over and reached for it. Noticing one was smaller, and can only belong to a woman, a woman with the initials S.G. Marco cracked a smile, following Mrs. Whitehall downstairs.

"You are awfully happy today," Lisa commented when her husband walked in that evening with a slight bounce in his walk. "I am!" Marco said, giving her a swift passionate kiss, Lisa giggled at his antics. "He is alright, I presume." Lisa said, "You assumed correctly." Marco said Lisa raised her brow in question. "He's been hanging out with Sam, as Mrs. Whitehall informed me. His flat was clean, the kitchen was organized, the foot! The foot in his freezer was inside a resealable plastic bag! The kitchen is divided into a lab and a kitchen! He has coke, ice cream, and chocolate bars there, Lisa." Marco exclaimed, showing Lisa a photo of the kitchen.

"Is that a foot?" Lisa asked, looking at the photo of the inside of the freezer. "Yes." "Look, the fingers, the fingers Marco --they're in a container!" Lisa said, enthused, causing Marco to laugh at her touched reaction. She too was used to Levi's eccentricity.

"Check the last photo," Marco said, and there before Lisa was two pairs of safety goggles. "Aww...they're bonding over...science," Lisa cooed, using Sam's choice of word and the two laughed.

"Janet tells me there had been gossips around Guy's that the two are dating. Since they've been seen together almost on a daily basis in the Lab." Marco gossiped. After his visit to Mrs. Whitehall, he had given Janet a call to investigate, and she confirmed that Levi was there in the morgue with Sam.