Chapter 23 - First Tale XXIII

Without wasting time to explain anymore after dropping that bomb like new, Miss Highlander said we had to go at once. Looking at her anxious expression I decided to save my questions for later and followed her. Can't help but complain about the sudden of this situation. Not sure what exactly happened but from the serious expression she had while on the phone, I doubt it was some sort of joke or exaggeration.

The biggest questions is the 'who', considering that they work for the whole family... it is normal that the Miss got called. But that does not help me to guess who went missing. If you just look at the numbers then you have five possible victims. One of them is missing, but depending on who that is... things could get tricky.

So far I have learned how 'united' this family is, going as far as to fight for the inheritance of the previous Mr. Kingwood's position over all their properties and money. The worst thing is how they are keen on roping other people into this mess. Greed is amazing I must say. But I wonder if money is the only that move this people. Putting aside the children of the late Mr. Kingwood, his brother should be a different case.

If he wanted that position that much then there were plenty of chances to take it in the past before the current people fighting for it were even born. But he is just acting now, which makes me doubt whether or not he is just simply after the money. If that is the case... then, what is he after?.

From the way he talks, there is no much family love for the rest of the Kingwoods. Although, I recall he said a rather positive introduction about one of the siblings, if my memory is correct then he was called Edward K., the thin guy arguing with his brother Eric K. because of the car crash. That thin guy was referred by the old man Leonard as a good kid or something. The important part is that in comparison to the other siblings, he seemed nice in the eyes of the old man. To be honest, I have not heard any bad rumors... or any rumor at all about it. Not sure if in this case that is a good thing, I have not way of knowing nothing about him this way. There is also the doubt about he and the old man working together, that would make him go from a 'nice guy' (the old man point of view) to a scheming guy. I mean, if all his actions so far is to make him look harmless in the eye of other then he must be one hell of a schemer. Those kind of people always bring trouble. But thinking about it... Aren't all the Kingwoods fighting for the head position like that?.

Hmmm, I can't deny it is like that. Ah, ah, those people bring me headaches. I wonder if I could look for my way out through the same way I came here. But leaving without being seen sounds difficult, not to mention that they most likely are finishing fixing my escape route through the fence. Well, if I try I could probably climb my way out... but I am not sure if my car will be there when I leave. I kinda forgot if I informed the people here about it. If they already went to look for it, then I won't be able to go too far. Not mention... with the amount of money these people have they can easily find me. Urgh, I guess I have to settle this without making enemies here. The level of difficulty just keeps rising.

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Once again I arrived at the guards HQ along with Miss Highlander, or rather... she drove me here.

This had to do with the fact that she could not be my guide anymore so I will have some else driving me around. Although knowing my luck lately, and judging by the fact that she decided to tell me the contents of her phone call that easily. I don't think I will be having easy to continue what I was doing. That just means I am going to be somehow forced to participate in this. Yeah, yeah, there is no way that is going to happen right? I am technnically still a guest (sort of) which means I should be treated nicely. It is bad enough to be put to work (although they did ask me before for my opinion) like is the normal thing to do. I wonder if this is all Mr. White's arrangement. If he is so interested in asking me to this sort of thing because of my rather suspicious status... then why is he doing it? I mean, considering only the safety issue then taking care of possible threats should be his priority. But instead he has me going around doing stuff for him? Is he confident in my lack of threat thanks to the people following me? I am not sure if they are working for him.

That guy sure is difficult to understand.

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I was taken to the same room from before when I was looking at the information about the theft victims. Apparently, most of the personnel were in a meeting about the missing Kingwood (which I still don't know who that is) and I was not suppose to attend the meeting. Oh well, not like I wanted though.

To be honest, I thought that they were going to bring me too. But I was instead lead here and left alone. Not like I want to complain but... I am technically a guest, I think they are being quite rude with me rather often. If this is how they treat guests... then when thinks go south I will be handled pretty roughly.

Wait, Isn't this my chance? There are few people around here. Mr. White should be in the meeting right now... meaning I could take a look (sneak) around his office. Not to mention, get a map from this place while I am at it.

Now that I have decided my course of actions I should get to it.

I start heading to the door with that intention in mind but as I do so I hear voices outside. If I caressly leave the room and the people outside start questioning me... No, I better wait for them to pass.

I stay near the door so I can hear when they are gone. Since I did that I could hear better what they were talking about. They were talking louder when I was about to leave but now they lowered their tone. Judging by the number of steps and the voices... two people.

"Hey, about this meeting... What's this about?"

"Did they not tell you?"

"Come on man, I heard it was something serious but I did not pay attention to anything else"

"You... Hah. Ok, ok. You will be hearing about it later but let me tell you in case you say something stupid. Listen, not long a go there was a huge racked in the recidence of that woman, apperently she said that her son is missing"

"Wait, that woman... You don't mean Miss Beatrice!?"

"That's what picked your interest? Hah... Whatever, yes. As I was saying, her son is missing. But for the details, I am not to sure. I only hear about it from a friend working in the recidence"

"Of course I would pay attention to her, she is such a beautiful woman so I will be interested in her"

"Hah... I don't know why I bothered to explain to you"

"Yeah yeah, her son is missing right? We just gotta find him and... if I make a good impression.. hehe, maybe I could get close to her"

"Dream on. Besides, I don't think she will be in the mood of making new acquantices since her son is gone. She treats him like gold, to the point of spoiling him rotten. Right now, she must be pretty anxious and worried to pay attention to you"

"Man, don't get angry. I know you are try to informed about what happened so I don't get in trouble, next time dri..."

The guards (?) continued walk while chatting making hard to continue hearing what they were saying. But I already heard enough.

Putting that sloppy guy, the other one said some useful things.

The missing person is that plumb guy from this earlier in the morning. You wouldn't think that someone familiar with this place would be getting lost so this ruckus should be because they suspect that someone took him against his wishes.

Until there, I am not sure how to react. I would need to learn more about the situation to give a good explaination about what happened. But from what I heard, he is greatly loved by his mother who was married to the late Mr. Kingwood when he was alive. She will probably do whatever she can to find him so I don't think this situation will last long if they act fast enough. Although if this is kidnapping then it could get tricky since you never know what might happen. The question would be whether this is kidnapping or not. Depending on the reason that he is missing... this will be solved in a jiffy.

For me, I don't care. He seemed like a troublesome person so I did not wish to meet him before. So this whole problem seems unimportant since he is mostly a stranger. Not to mention, I doubt my help would be more reliable than all these people together. Yeah, that is why I better keep my distance. This is their job.

Well, saying 'this is their job' makes it look like they are tasked to find their employers when they disappear and they should kinda prevent that it happens.

Putting that nonsense aside... that woman name is Beatrice huh.

Sadly, I have not heard from her in the news at all, I think it was once mentioned about how the marriage within her and the late mister happened suddenly... but the article was severely lacking in information. I am not even sure how that lame article made it into the newspaper. Kinda wish it contained more info on her, it would come in handy right now.

Well, I actually lacking information on basically all of the Kingwoods here. What I know is what I learned during the small window of time I had to prepare to start this job. I guess my 'kind employer' gave such little time before I started the job so I would not be able to learn anything that could trouble his porpoise of sending me here.

Damn that guy. Whatever, I should go to Mr. White's office and use this chance to look (sneak) around some more.

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Arriving at his office did not took that long and thankfully there were no people on the way. It kinda feels uncanny that it is going so smoothly but I am already here, may as well follow this through the end.

The office looked the same way as before, the only difference would be the lack of the person sitting inside. Thankfully (again) Mr. White is indeed not here so I can rest assured in that regard.

Now then, first things first. There is one think I have been pretty curious about since the last time I came here. Let's see, the pictures were around..?. Oh, there they are.

Last time I came here was with the intention of looking for the key for that special library. So I used the opportunity I had about helping with the theft case to come here.

Sadly, I could only look, I did not have then chance to... with my own hands move the stuff here to find the place where it could be, in case Mr. White is not carrying with him. But, despite my opportunity, I only found few places that were worth mention from the place I was standing and then later seated. Although... I did find certain objects that made me really curious. A number of pictures neatly arranged in their frames, three to be precise. What picked my interest was the people inside and the fact I did not get to clearly see the third frame before I had to talk with Mr. White. He also did not let my eyes wander my eyes around after that so... I did not get to figure out all the people in those pictures.

Let's here, the middle aged man from before is gone from this picture. I can see certain resemble from the young graduates from the young adults dressed in uniforms. They are standing behind what it looks like the teen version of the children from before. Both teens are wearing high quality suits or so I think. They do look expensive. Not sure what the occasion is but everyone in the picture has a somber look. I wonder if it is related to the missing middle aged man. Now looking at those aged faces... I can recognize two people here. One uniformed one and one wearing a suit. The one with suit is most likely that crazy old man, Mr. Leonard. I did not spend much time with him to be completely certain, but that somber look resembles the one he had when we talked. As for the one in uniform, well, pretty much the same. In this case his somber face is really alike his emotionless usual look. Also, considering he has these framed pictures here, then there is a good chance to find him among the pictures. Well, not everyone will have pictures of themselves in their offices but he is truly alike to the one inside the frame.

Hmmm, that makes me wonder about the other people in the picture... but I guess I think about that later. I don't know how long do I have to wander around.

Now, where would I find a map...? No, I better don't mess up and take things from here. I should look for a map somewhere else, instead I may as well try to find where that key is.

Starting from the desk is the norm in this kind of situations right?.

I head to the desk and start moving things left and right. From the top of the desk... which nothing files that I no time calmly read. To inside the drawers, there were four drawers, two from each side. There was not drawer in the middle like I have seen in other desks. The problem here is with the four drawers which two were locked and needed a key. Damn it, that would be quite a sight, a key to open a place with a key inside. I leave those drawers for later and focus on the two that I 'can' open.

Coincidentally both drawers were the upper ones from each side. I tried opening the right one... then I closed again. Hmmm?. I opened it again... then closed it. Yeah, there is a gun laying neatly inside. I did not mistake the contents. I already had seen a number of guards with weapons so Mr. White owning a gun is not that strange since he is the boss. Still surprised me a little though, I did not expect that since he is not here... he would leave his gun. Is he currently without one? Or maybe this is another one aside from the one he carries with him?. I should take note of this. I tried checking once more but I only found the gun here, not even signs of spare ammo. It feels strange, but I don't have time to have nonsensical thought right now, I should search, search and search.

The left drawer had normal contents, like office supplies, blank pages, sccisors. Nothing important.

I decided to focus on something else, I recall seeing certain box that picket my interest. Where was it? Oh, there it is.

Near the desk, there is a black, rather small box. Since it is lying there alone on top that table... it really gives the feeling of having something important inside. Luckily it did not a lock or anything that blocked me from opening it... although when I looked inside, it was empty. Not sure if the key was here or not, but right now it lacks whatever it was supposed to hold. The disappointment after getting excited is deep as always, but I had not time for it. I decided to take a look at the locked drawers once again. The locks are rather simple... maybe I can open them. Having at hand a good number of office supplies in one of drawers, I tried to look for something make a lock picking tool. Well, I said that but it is not like office supplies are all powerful. Also, I doubt I will find all kind of stuff just in this drawer.

I did find clips of different sizes after search for while. The contents were messier than I thought, but for such a simple lock this should be enough. Luckily I am good at this, my job sometimes required this kind of skills so learning was a must for me. Now, twisting them a bit here and there... I guess this is enough.

Without wasting time after preparing the tool, I started picking the lock which as I expected was unlocked after a few tries. Leaving it locked after I finish looking is something that only occured to me after I unlocked it, but I can't do anything about it. I hope that the old man thinks he forgot to lock it later.

After opening the drawer what I saw... were not office supplies, that would've made me angry. What I found there instead was a small old book, the title was completely faded so I can't guess what it's inside. But considering the state of the book, you can see how although old, it was in conditions. So I can only guess how this book is either holding a sentimental or material value to be kept like this.

Of course, the answer to that question is going to be answered after I open it right?.