13. Roger and the Ghost woman

"What do you think you are doing?" Caleb asked, still covering her mouth. He could feel warm water at the brink of his hands. Crystal was crying. 

"Hey, everything all right?" Caleb asked as he freed her face. 

By the time Crystal reached the ground floor, she was miserable. She looked into the mirror and realized her eyes were puffy. She was shivering. Crystal was not ready to marry Max but she felt and knew, eventually, if she would marry anyone, it would be him. 

Something doesn't sit right. She looked one last glance at herself in the mirror. And I won't settle for anything less than right. She thought to herself and stormed out of the room.

She returned to the chair where Caleb was sitting with Elmore. She was scolding her about how long it took to come back. 

"Oh, Slow white, you are good right?" Elmore asked Crystal with a twinkle in her eyes. She was happy to see her back. "You look prettier."

Caleb's cell phone rang and he looked at Crystal before picking it up. He walked out and Crystal found it strange for him to leave. Ignoring that she sat down with Elmore who was eating her chocolate choco chip. 

#

"Caleb, I am at the Cave Cliff." a man said. 

"The delivery is today?" Caleb said, slightly confused. 

"I was informed by Albert. Usually, William would do it." the man told Caleb. 

"Hm-hmm" Caleb replied, he looked at Caleb and Crystal sitting together, eating their ice cream and sharing a laugh. Caleb smiled to himself. 

"Let me check," Caleb scrolled through his cell phone. "Okay so I don't see any delivery tonight, but since you say that you were alerted, then walk in and check inside the cave."

"Of course sure." the replied. "Caleb, one more thing."

"Hm?" Caleb replied. 

"Thank you," the man replied. 

"Good Luck Roger." Caleb felt happy about it.

#

Roger smiled to himself and looked at the sky. He smiled. It was exactly eight years ago when Caleb found him at the entrance of his school. He was eliminated because everyone thought he was incompetent. 

Caleb helped him through his education. A month ago when he completed his five years of practice, he was celebrated by Caleb and Edward as family. It was that day he was sworn in as the family of Caleb and joined the Obsidian Order, that Fitzgerald secretly ran under the name of their multiple business line. 

He was their important doctor on call from day one and he felt welcomed. That day he was assigned the task to collect the Obsidian weapons and gunpowder for the day. 

He walked into the cave and continued to search for weapons at the assigned location. He continued to search for everything along the black mark that was precisely decided by William. 

He looked around in the dark when he heard a soft moan. He jumped, scared of the wild animals in the vicinity. 

He moved his torch around but found nothing. He continued to search, undeterred. He looked under every specific point and once confirmed that nothing was wrong, he started retreating. He looked one last time through the cave and started walking towards the exit. 

He was about to step out when his key slipped out of his hand. He lit up the torch and picked it up. 

He felt the keys were extra soft and wet. He looked at his hand with a torch. It was red and covered in blood. He looked around with a torch, a woman was standing before him, her hair open, eyes dark and smudged. Her hands were bleeding. 

"Aghhhhhhhh" Roger's scream echoed in the room.

#

Caleb was back at the table, as he listened to both the women chatter about how their Princess land was too good to be true and they were exiled from there to do greater good in the world. 

He occasionally laughed constantly observing Crystal. He liked the aura around her and felt very calming.

Crystal on the other hand was perplexed. She had never expected the betrayal to come from Max. To top it all, it was also somewhere looped in with her mystery killer and conspiracy of her family. She looked around waiting for one last glimpse pof Max to confirm it was him. 

"Ready it to hit the Cart, Princess Madam Elmore?" Caleb asked Elmore. Elmore was asleep, drooling on the table, unaware of the internal miseries of her slow white or Caleb. 

Crystal picked up Elmore and laughed at Caleb's comment. "The one time you tried to say the right thing, lol" She smiled. 

They were heading out. 

Outside, someone had tipped the paparazzi about Abigail, with her new boyfriend in the Hotel. They were hiding in the black out locations. As Caleb walked out of the Bluewich Ice Cream Parlour and Food Spree, certain cameras flashed their way, secretly.

Caleb understood and protectively hid Elmore and Crystal. Crystal jolted by his touch felt aggression pile up within her. Once they were in the car, she looked at him threateningly. 

"What was that about?" Crystal asked. 

"What was what about?" Caleb asked as he reversed the car. Crystal was shocked at the nonchalant response of the man before her. She missed Max all of a sudden. It has been a wild night, seeing him here with Abigail. She was not only sad but also worried for him. 

The drive was quiet, with Crystal silently looking outside the window and Elmore fast asleep. 

Crystal looked at her screen. Her phone was ringing. Nobody besides, William and a few members of Caleb's team had her contact. It was strange she received a call. 

She picked it up and placed the speaker along her ringing ears. She felt a strange feeling grip her stomach. 

"Crystal, hello, it is about time, the problem is piling up again. We need you soon."

#

Norman was walking silently with his head low. The large cabins of the mildly lit compounds of Cohlbridge Jail. The compound officer stopped before the large compound and called out William. He woke up and walked to the conversation compound. 

"How's is it going?" William asked. 

"So far we have rooted the expected suspects to be Alexander. We are looking at it through the angle of the Pharmaceutical crime recently acknowledged in the newspaper, it's Crystal's idea and Albert told us about you and Ayesha." Norman chatted on and on.

"That dog," William smirked under his breath. 

"You dog" Norman added 

"How rude!" William pouted.

"It's funny honestly, I never thought Ayesha would say yes to a man like you," Norman said, joking.

"Why aren't I pretty adorable myself?" William pouted playing.

"How is Crystal coping up?" William asked, without skipping a beat.

"She's not good at all. Last night I saw her crying over her boyfriend." Norman told.

"That Lockhart?" William asked, scratching his chin.

"You know him?" Norman not only looked surprised but expressed disagreement.