The Foreign Murders (Part II)
By Rachelle David
The man looked at
him a little funny. He said, “You remind
me of myself when I first came to this house.
I am a worker and a guest of the house.
Please, call me Colin. I am sorry
Luke, but even the people who have lived here all their lives cannot and do not
photograph the entrances or any other part of the house. But, sir, just to clarify, what exactly do
you think happens here?” The man seemed
slightly friendlier, but then again, Aracelli also seemed very kind at the
beginning and she turned sour very quickly.
Dr. Brapvy was
still not sure that he trusted Sebastian’s memory enough to convince Colin that
he knew all about the purpose of the Organization. It was time for a quick exit. After a very short moment, the Doctor said as
innocently as he could, “Do you know the time?
I have a very important meeting with an acquaintance of mine at fourteen
hundred hours.” The Doctor cursed at
himself for using military time. After
his service in the army, he never lost a few habits. He still had the posture, the honor, and the
24-hour days. Maybe it was normal for
people at the house to speak like he did, the Doctor thought. Maybe he should just tell the truth and tell
then that he served in the military for a very long time. That could get him accepted. He can fight for what he believes in and may
be a good resource to have.
Colin held a
thoughtful expression for far too long and Dr. Brapvy became impatient. He felt like yelling at the man for keeping
him in suspense, but he had a character to keep. He said as calmly as he could, “Do you know
what time it is, Mr. Colin?” Once again,
Dr. Brapvy tried to look like an innocent child. It seemed not to have any affect on the man.
After another long
pause the man named Colin said very sternly, “Leave. I do not know whom you are or what you are
trying to do, but I do not like military personnel and right now I am
personally asking you to leave the House property immediately.” The man turned and began to walk away. He then suddenly turned around and said, “Oh,
and your very important meeting
begins in twenty minutes. Please see
yourself out.” The man left the room and
did not look back at the Doctor.
Dr. Brapvy hated
when people treated him with attitude.
He found it annoying and unproductive to mock people. This may have something to do wit his awful
childhood. He was the youngest of six
brothers. His five older brothers would
team up on him and he would be forced to play with the twin girls next
door. They played what he thought of as
very feminine games. Young Brapvy hated
playing with the girls but it was his only choice. He could not play with his brothers because
they would just beat him up. Since he
would play with the girls, his brothers would mock him. They would call him names and laugh at him. He was
a lot smaller and weaker than his brothers and therefore he was an easy
target. Mockery was a touchy subject for
Dr. Brapvy. He took one more look and
left before anyone could see his tears.
Mr. Cameroon hated
working in the office. He would have
rather worked outside in a park or forest but he could not. He was under strict orders not to leave the
office. He could not even find this
mysterious organization. This Noble
Knights Organization seemed to not exist.
The Internet was huge, but not big enough to find the NKO. There was something very strange
happening. Mr. Cameroon
decided to look somewhere else. He had
an idea that might work.
Dr. Brapvy left
the house and thought of a place that might give him some more information
about the organization. He would need to
ask Mr. Cameroon
about what he found at the office. He
ran to the nearest public transportation stop.
He made it just in time for the trolley.
He found a seat, pulled out his note pad, and continued drawing. He looked at the person next to him and it
was Mr. Cameroon. At first, Dr. Brapvy was startled. Mr. Cameroon was napping against the
window and did not notice that his boss was sitting next to him. Dr. Brapvy knew that it was time for a new
assistant but before he fired Mr. Cameroon, he needed to find someone
else. He made a mental note to advertise
his new job opening. But before that, he
had to handle this guy. The Doctor poked
Mr. Brapvy very hard in the ribs and Mr. Cameroon nudged his hand away. Unfortunately for Mr. Cameroon, he
did not wake up. Dr. Brapvy looked
around and most of the people on the bus seemed to be awake so the Doctor took
a deep breath and yelled right in Mr. Brapvy’s ear, “WAKE UP!!! YOU ARE SUPPOSED TO BE IN THE OFFICE AND
NEVER DISOBEY ME. WHY ARE YOU HERE? AND
WHERE ARE YOU GOING?”
Mr. Cameroon
practically jumped out of his seat. He
looked at the Doctor and said, “How did you find me? And what happened at the house?”
“That is not the
point at the moment. I asked you a
question and it remains unanswered.
Please answer it.” The Doctor did
not have time for Mr. Cameroon’s
stupidity. He needed answers and he
needed them faster than they were coming to him.
“I-I- I could not
find anything so I decided to go someplace to find information,” Mr. Cameroon
stuttered. He always got nervous when
someone yelled at him. He thought that
he did nothing wrong. He was doing his job.
“And where are you
going, Mr. Cameroon?” Dr. Brapvy was frustrated with this guy.
“I am going to
city hall to find any records that I can about the Noble Knights Organization
or the Noble Knights House. Now I just
feel silly for doing this without your permission.
Dr. Brapvy
smiled. “I am, uh, proud, uh, of
you. I like your commitment and the way
you think because I was thinking the same thing. I am going to City Hall right now too.” His thoughts changed. Maybe this guy could take over the
business. Dr. Brapvy would have to
retire of die eventually and if Mr. Cameroon thought the same way, he could
be perfect for the job. Dr. Brapvy had
no kids of his own. He only had a very
long-term girlfriend. Neither of them
believed in marriage and neither wanted children, so they were only
dating. They had been dating for
thirty-two years at the time of this story.
Regardless, Dr. Brapvy was still unsure about the mental stability of
Mr. Cameroon. He seemed to have gaps in his memory of a
very specific witness named Sebastian.
“I guess great
minds think alike,” Mr. Cameroon
said quietly. Dr. Brapvy looked at him
as if he said that he hates the Doctor.
He had this look often. Mr. Cameroon
realized his mistake and turned to look out of the window, abruptly. Dr. Brapvy smiled and turned to look at the
other people on the bus. There were many
people. The bus was completely
filled. Dr. Brapvy realized how lucky he
was that not only did he find a seat, but he also found the seat next to the
only person he knew on the bus. There
were old women and big, middle aged, men.
There also was a little grade-school-age child or two. Dr. Brapvy scanned the whole area
quickly. He looked at the many people
walking on the street but out of the corner of his eye, he thought that he saw Sebastian,
the witness. Then when he looked back,
there were just regular people walking.
Dr. Brapvy was slightly disturbed.
First, Mr. Cameroon
did not see the man when Sebastian was standing right in front of him, and
second, he thinks that he is seeing Sebastian everywhere. The Doctor was slightly unsettled, so he sat
back in his chair and pulled his belongings closer to him. He then pulled out his note pad and wrote
down something. He could not get the
image of Sebastian out of his head. In
the image, Sebastian was holding a gun in his hand, having his craziness show
through his grey, wild eyes, and yelling the same word over and over again:
Ted.
Aracelli entered
the office and made three quick memos.
She needed to report the occurrences of the day with the strange Doctor
to The Heads.
On her way out,
she physically ran right into Colin.
“Oh. Hi, Colin,” she said as soft and feminine as
she could, “What are you doing here?”
“Um, I work
here. I thought you knew that,
Arci.” Colin was getting tired of the
act. He knew how much Aracelli liked him
but this was ridiculous. She was too
absorbed in getting him to like her, that she did not see how much he really
did like her. He did. Not anymore. Not that she agreed to work with them
willingly. He, on the other hand, had no
choice. He did rebel as much as he
could. He did think that the Roxanne
incident was too far for him to accept.
Something had to be done soon. He
needed to convince Arci to work wit him on a mutiny. He had to be careful what he said to
her. She was a fragile woman who put up
a very good tough, not-caring attitude act.
Aracelli really
liked Colin. He was by far the best
looking man in the whole house. She
loved how he had his own nickname for her and the way his handsome face lit up
a little when she looked his way. She
hoped that it was not him disliking her that caused the light to ignite in his
face. ‘Oh no’, she thought, ‘I am
obsessing over everything that he does, again’.
Just because of the stupid rule that couples could only form from within
the House, Aracelli should not settle for a man that does not deserve her. She should have the best man available to
her. She realized that Colin was waiting
for her to respond to his comment and noticed that his eyes searched her face
for something. She did not know what he
was looking for but she quickly forgot about it. She said, “I mean, what are you doing in this
area of the house? Your office is on the
West Wing not the North Fortress,” Aracelli thought about what she just said
and quickly added, “right?” She hated
sounding like she stalks him, even though she did.
Colin loved all
the names for the different areas to the house.
It was something different for him.
He had never heard of naming the parts of the house. Where he came from, houses were houses and
rooms were rooms. He replied, “Yes I do
work in the West Wing but I came here to speak with you. Please let us go somewhere more
private.” Aracelli smiled and followed
him out of the room, followed by exiting the building. She was getting very excited. She loved surprises.
Dr. Brapvy and Mr.
Cameroon
entered the City Hall building. They had
been there plenty of times before. The
security guards already knew them by first name. The only problem was that the receptionists
changed every other week. There was a
new receptionist sitting at the desk. He
seemed to be just out of school and on his first job. He was quite good looking, except for the
not-yet-grown-in-fully beard. The real
adult man and the man who pretended to be adult in important environments to
gain respect walked confidently over to the main desk. The younger man did not notice that they were
there. The guards were chuckling and
giggling. Right before the men reached
the desk, the receptionist heard the laughs and looked up.
Dr. Brapvy said
with his stern voice, “Hello. We are
here to see the records of 479
Brakestraut Road.
Please show us the direction.”
This was the address of the Noble Knights House.
“Uh, I am sorry
but pedestrians cannot stroll right in here and look at the records of
buildings. The door out is right
there.” He pointed to where the guards
were standing, now as stiff and mean looking as could be.
Both men turned around and Dr.
Brapvy said, “Hey Kyle. How is your wife
Akasha? Is she still working at the bank?”
“No. Actually, she got appointed as the head of
investments at a major corporation. I am
forbidden from telling you which one.
How great is that?” Kyle was
grinning and clearly excited. He loved
the annoying new receptionists bothering the regular visitors. He had the best job.
“Alright, you know who
the security people are and where the door is, but I still cannot let you
in. Now it is time for you to
leave. Please see yourself out of the
door, with your friend.”
“Thank you for so much
help, but I think you are forgetting something very important,” Dr. Brapvy said
sarcastically.
“Oh, and what is that
something?” the receptionist said skeptically.
“This.” Dr. Brapvy pulled out his investigative
license.
The receptionist
rolled his eyes. “What is that?” he said, uninterested.
Dr. Brapvy
smiled. He said, “I knew that you would
not know what this is. It is very
important to me. It is,” he paused for
dramatic effect, “my license to be an investigator. Have you herd of it?” Both Kyle and Mr. Cameroon were laughing by now.
The confused
receptionist said, “Um…what is that?” slowly and rather timidly.
“Do you seriously not
know what this is?” The young boy shook
his head. The Doctor looked pleased and
said, “Well it is this magical talisman that allows me to go and see anything I
want.” He said this as if he was
speaking to a small child.
“I am not a little
youngster. Now, tell me what it is!” The
young man looked like he was going to throw a tantrum just like a little
youngster. This only caused the older
men to laugh even harder.
Dr. Brapvy decided to
have a little more fun with the man. He
said, “What is you name, boy.”
The
receptionist answered, “My mane is Aidan.
And you are Dr. Brapvy, correct?”
“Yes, very good. Now,
Aidan, how old are you?” Dr. Brapvy’s
smile grew.
“I am 23 years old.”
“And how many jobs have you had before this?” Information collecting was part of his job.
“Look, this is not a game of 20 questions. I do not have to put up with this. Please leave this instant.” The annoying receptionist was obviously
annoyed.
“Kid, answer the man,” Kyle spoke with his soothing deep
voice.
Aidan sighed and said, “This is my second job. My first was back when I was in college and I
worked at the gross Markthalle Restaurant in Bern.
Have you heard of it? The tables
are made of plastic. It is really gross
there. I am not proud of that, but you
asked. Is there anything else that you
would like to know about me? Perhaps you
would like to know my mother’s maiden name?
Or maybe how much food I eat per day?”
“No, No. That is not
necessary. Now if you would, please let
us in and direct us to where we need to be.”
The Doctor said this as sweetly as he could.
“Where do you want to be, again?” Aidan said, baffled.
“Of course. We would
like to be directed to the records of 479
Brakestaut Road.”
Dr. Brapvy tried to sound smooth when saying this, and he succeeded.
“Um…I believe that it is through that door over there,” he
pointed to his left, “but it might be through this door,” he pointed at the
door behind him. “Check the first one
and if it is not there, then you can check this one. I will let you in on a little secret. This door, behind me, leads to the special
files which are mot supposed to be seen by anyone.”
“Thank you for that little piece of information, Aidan. See you soon.” Dr. Brapvy and Mr. Cameroon went through the first
door.
Once they were securely in the room, Mr. Cameroon said,
“Why was he so nice so suddenly? And did
we not already know that ‘secret’? And why did he tell us that secret? It is supposed to be a secret.”
“Mr. Cameroon,
you still have a lot to learn. You ask
too many questions, but I am in a good mood, so I will answer them. That was a little trick that I learned in
college in some Psychology class. I
cannot remember which one. After a
person is very aggravated and you act very, very calm to that person, if
correctly done, the person will feed off of your positive energy and be kind
and quite loose with his mouth. That
should have answered all you questions.
Oh, and yes, we did already know that little secret. Now, let us take a look around.”
Aracelli really
liked Colin. She would have done
anything that he told her to do. He led
her out of the front door and out of the entrance. She thought that he was taking her on a short
walk around the block, but then he brought her to the center of the city. Her confusion grew as he led her to a very
busy coffee shop. This shocked her, but
she thought of it as a special meal together.
Colin was really
nervous. He did not know how Aracelli would react to his proposition. He was prepared for all the outcomes that he
thought of. He had his knife in his
pocket and his small box of chocolates in the hidden pocket in his cloak. He found for them a small table surrounded by
noisy groups of people. Colin took a
deep breath and in an undertone said, “Please let us sit here and do not speak
too loudly. We never know if anyone is
watching us.”
“Of course,
Colin. I will do whatever you say,
within reason. Your wish is my command,”
Aracelli said as pleasantly as she could while still whispering. Somehow, she could hear him in the noise and
he could hear her.
“Arci, I do not
mean to be blunt, but there is no point in waiting any longer. I have a proposition for you, but before I
reveal it to you, I need to know that you will not tell anyone about this
meeting. I cannot stress that
enough. Now, can I trust you?” Colin hoped that this did not scare her
off. He tried to be as serious as he
could buth his stern voice but he did need her for his mission and that
required her acceptance and full approval without pressure.
Aracelli giggled a
little. She said, “Colin, I will not
tell anyone about this meeting and I will probably agree to what ever you are
proposing. I thought that you understood
that. If I did not, then I would not
have followed you half way across the city, at least. By the way, where are we?”
Colin smiled. It was the first time that he did so all
day. He was always so gloomy. It was obligated of him to keep up his side
of the conversation. “That is for me to
know and you to find out. I hope you are
ready for this. I am starting a revolt.”
“A what?
“You heard. A revolt.”
“Against
what? Or whom?”
“The Noble Knights
Organization.”
“I do not believe
my ears. Just give me a moment to take
all of this in.“ She was having
difficulties understanding everything that he was saying. The waitress made her way over to their
table. She had perfect timing, Aracelli
thought.
“What would you
two like?” the waitress said with her nasal voice. She was older and a little nasty.
Colin looked at
Aracelli and she nodded back at him. He
said, “We both would like a hot cup of coffee, black preferably.”
“Coming right up,
sir.” The waitress said glumly as she
left the table.
“Take your time,
Arci. I can answer all of your
questions.” Colin sat back in his chair and looked at Aracelli. He tried to seem not creepy, but failed. Arci was a little disturbed by Colin and the
way he looked at her, but she loved him so she took it as a compliment that he
could not stop looking at her.
Aracelli thought
about it. She had never questioned the
ways of the NKO. Now that it was brought
to her attention, she began to think about all the problems that she
experienced at the House. She had rights
and she should keep them. Still confused
by what he was revolting against exactly, she asked him, “What are your
problems with the system as it is?”
“I am glad that
you asked that question. In fact, I have
a whole list of things that are wrong with our honor code.” Colin reached into his pocket and took out a
scroll tied with a bow. He untied the
bow and unrolled the scroll. He began to
read out loud, “Number 1: It is prohibited to have any interaction with
non-members unless that is specified in the job description by penalty of
death. Number2: It is mandatory for all
members to marry and connect physically with, and only with, members of the organization. Number 3: All members-“
“Colin, you are
reading the house rules,” Aracelli interrupted rudely.
Colin looked up at
her and said, “Yes, these are the house rules, but I have added many more
problems. Shall I continue?”
Aracelli
smiled. “No, that is not necessary. I understand your reasoning. I know how crazy it is that we have a rule
that we cannot ski while reciting poetry.
Colin, you know that I will back you up on anything that you say but is
it really that ridiculous to force these unreasonable rules upon us?”
Colin stared at
her in shock. He almost yelled, “Do you
hear yourself? The unreasonable rules
should not be rules at all. We
immigrated here to escape the unreasonable rules and now you would settle for
more rules. We can overthrow the
ridiculous hierarchy of power and explore this new world around us.”
“I don’t know,
Colin. This might be too much for me to
handle at one time. How about we take a
short walk around the city, okay?”
Aracelli was overwhelmed by all the information she was just given. Wouldn’t you be if you were in her
place? She understood what he was saying
but did not know if she had the confidence to go along with him.
“Alright,
Arci. But we need to be very
careful. I do not want to die today and
I hope you do not want to either. Let us
get our coffee and go.”
Just at that
moment, the waitress returned with their coffee. She was holding two of the foam cups used for
‘to go’ orders. She said, “I am awfully
sorry, sir, but we have run out of clean mugs.
We had to use these instead. I
hope you do not mind,” with mock concern.
“Actually, can I
please have the check? We are taking the
coffee to go,” Colin answered with his large smile.
“Oh, funny how
things work out like that. I will be
right back.” She turned around, clearly
defeated and disappointed. It seemed
that she wanted to upset the guests by bringing them disposable cups. The couple sat in silence, both lost in
thought, until she brought the receipt and Colin paid. He left her a very good tip and together they
exited the crowded shop with their coffee.
Once they were out
of the shop, Colin turned to Aracelli and said, “Arci, you do know that skiing
while reciting poetry is illegal in the country of Switzerland and not just a silly
house rule, right?”
“No, I did not
know that. I did think that it was odd
that we had a rule about skiing when we are forbidden from interacting with
strangers. That explains a lot.”
“Well, it just
shows you how little you know of our new country.” Aracelli smiled at Colin and linked her arm
through Colin’s, resting it in the crook of his elbow. They walked side by side down the road while
sipping their coffee.
To Be Continued…
