Chapter 12 - First Tale XII

Knowing my ability to act as someone else have been seen through earlier, the first thing I can think of is that someone else found out about my identity. But no matter how I think about, the only person I met that I had significant conversation with was that young lady. She... does not look the type to do thing in such a round way. Other than her I was already found out by the old man. Now, the important point here is the timing. My phone was stolen yesterday night. Could it be that they planed the theft before hand in hopes of finding something then act like they knew nothing about when they met me? With that old man is possible since he seems to be good at playing the fool. But that young lady can break under pressure, I am not sure if she capable of that. No, I doubt this is her style. Anyways, I should focus in finding out what exactly is know by that person. So my answer is basically act like this has nothing to do with me.

"I am afraid that I don't know what this means"

"Oh, Are you sure? There is also

something that I noticed. You did not say anything about the phone so I can assume it is yours. There is basically no data in there. Please excuse my... suspicious, but you got your belongings stolen so I assumed that they erased your data. But it looks like it was like that from the begining, and now written on the invitation letter there is message with 'I KNOW'. That clearly is not something that normally occurs"

Well, that is truth too. If I were in his shoes I would find it suspicious. But, I am afraid I don't have the answer for that.

"I had a rather old phone and decide to buy a new one before coming here. It was also kinda malfunctioning too. It hardly received signal, so I thought that it would be useless if outside the city. That is why I brought a new one, there is no deeper reason"

I feel like giving an explanation is a bit too much since I am the victim here, but I doubt he will just let the matters go unless I say something. I am not sure how much would be enough to convince him. But, I also can not just spill the beans.

"What you say sounds quite convenient, don't you think so?"

"You can take as you please, but I could say the same to you. I am the victim this time yet now the story comes like I am the bad one? My stuff was stolen, and then it appeared. I am not sure what happened during that time so I really have no idea what that message could mean. I only arrived yesterday night, it has not been even 24 hours and look and what happens. Look at where I am and what position do I find myself in. Don't you think I also find it strange? To me it looks like something weird is happening. Not to mention that it also looks like you are focusing a little too much in me"

"What do you mean with that?"

"I think you coming too strong in this matter right now. There are certainly factor that make hard to feel suspicious, but that's it. There is really no concrete evidence that you could use to start pointing fingers"

"You are saying that we have no rights to question you then?"

"Indeed, well.. more like. You can not. But I think you are not doing this for that reason. If I were to say, this feels more like you are trying to see how I react. Even so, you took the bother to bring me here. Do you think that I would not get angry? No matter what you are try to do, if I just leave this problem would still remain but you would've angered your master. It would also make others guests lower their evaluations of you and making them wary. The next time you try something like this, no one would try to even cooperate. So, Why don't you go straight to the point?"

If he continues playing dumb then there is nothing I can do. But staying here while being unable to do my job but we useless. A little provocation will most likely ended as nothing in front of him, but maybe a sign of annoyment from my part would make him at least say something about the reason he prepared this farce. Depending how planed was this, he could actually be the one that prepared the 'evidence'. But I don't think that the answer would be that simple.

"Hmmm, perhaps you are suspicious that we are the ones that prepared that 'message', since we insist in talking to you now. But you are wrong, we are not 'focusing' on you. To be honest, what you said has its merits... a lot of things happened to you in a short amount of time for some reason. Now, Why would that be? We don't know. But, it still happens to point at something. There is an interesting aspect about you, something that made someone interested enough"

Wait, I don't recall doing something like that, nor I own anything that might interest someone. No, that is not main point. He said something that bothers me a bit. He said 'a lot' of things happened to me but... to know that many things happened would mean I was under watch, or someone simply told him about it. That leaves someone watching me from somewhere I am not sure of, which it's kind of creepy I must point out. There is also the possibility that one of people who kept calling me are actually connected to this old man some way or another and let him know. Well, I certainly find the latter quite possible and normal, after all this old man works for that family. They informing him about it to have the old man keep an eye on me sounds about right. Still... I would not know if there is really or not a pair of eyes on me where I can find them. Hmmm, that remains me of that little girl. I wonder what kind of role does she have in this mess.

"Then there is nothing I can tell you, how would I know why someone is interested in me just from what you told me? To be honest I am quite helpless as well. It is not like that person introduced him/herself before. Now, they do this? Please, I don't know what to say about it"

"So you find yourself troubled too at that?"

Hmm? Something is wrong wh-

"Then, we should work together"

No, no, no, no. How did it come to that? Damn it. My intuition kicked too late. Is this what he was after? No, no matter what... my answer was not set in stone. Did he prepare for it?. I guess he would've had several ideas for several situations then. In my case I happened to fall on one his earlier plans. Maybe just being wary is not enough, but I'm still not sure how to prepare myself against someone like this. I wonder if I could turn him down.

"I would rather not to get involved"

"Aren't you already involved enough to say that? This message should be related at the reason why that person is interest in you"

"But to actively seek that person, when I know nothing about him/her. It does not feel like a good idea"

"Since that person is already seeking you, it would be better to approach them with our support rather than having them approach you alone. I believe your safety could be guaranteed like this and this issue could be finally solved"

It is not I don't know what he is trying to say. But I still don't like how this is going. At the end, they will probably recieve more than I'm in this deal, this is their job and they have to solve it anyways. But I am not forced to do it, you could say I am working for free. Although they will help me 'deal' with it, it is not known whether I need to go to such a lengths to deal with that person. I guess that as long as I stay here the situation will come to the point where we get involved with each other.

"Maybe we came a little forceful, How about I give you sometime to think about it? You can also save my phone number so that we can talk from there instead of having to meet in person. It will really save us time. So, How about it?"

Now he is pulling back, acting like he feels like he over did it. Without the pressure he leaves me alone to make me feel like I have more choices. But even so, the choices are the same as before, at least for me nothing change other than the time I have to give him an answer.

"Then I will take my time to think about it"

With that I just stood up and went out without waiting for his answer. I feel like if I stay longer I will fall into more of his mind games and ended up doing more stuff.

Every time I come here I just end up more tired than how I came. The funny thing is that I usually do not take that long in here. Maybe that old man has some kind of talent... not to mention his awful driving skills. Mostly the fact that he likes to speed up is tiresome enough.

As I got to the reception hall, there is something I remembered. I kinda forgot about Miss Maid. Should I go back? Wait, why do I have to go back?. I mean, why was she there in the first place? Not to mention that she remained during the whole conversation. Is he not afraid that she start gossiping about it when she arrives at the manor? No, there is something more to it. It was for a moment but I happened to take a look of her while talking, she was paying attention to the flow of the conversation but when she noticed my look she continued doing... whatever she was suppose to do, I never knew what she was up to. Everyone is this manor are people to be wary about I guess. No maid is to be trusted either. Better be careful around her. For now, I should wait here. I need a ride to get to the manor after all.

Now that I think about it. I kinda forgot asking about my car. Well, at the moment is not necessary to focus on that. Rather, right now I could check my phone carefully.

There are a few messages here, the number is not one I can recognize though. This is a good news I guess. If she called and someone else picked up the phone then it would complicate the situation a lot.

Let's see... the first message says.

'Mr. White, I know you will read this message first. I would appreciate if you could deliver the phone with the contents intact.

Now, as for the real message.

Sid Grayworth, you should not have come here. I know about your doings since you used to have dealings with the late Mr. Kingwood in the past. Although I can not be certain about the exact reason you came here. It is already too late. Leave. Don't interfere. Your promise should've been compleated already with the death of the late Mr. Kingwood.'

Well, this is something else... where should I start retorting here. First, I guess it is that they expected Mr. White to take a look at the phone already, although I am not sure how it ended up in his hand. They said the contents intact, but there is no way I can tell how much content was originally here. Next in the list.. would be the 'real' message. This whole message basically screams that I should leave this manor. The intent is pretty clear, now then, I could link this message with my job quite easily. The reason I came here seems legit with psychal evidence, there are not 'suspects' though. At least no one I 'know'.Hmmm, there quite a few interesting point when I read 'I KNOW' in the letter I thought they knew I was not the real Sid, but looking at this message, what they know may be different. I am really interested in the promise they mentioned. Whatever it is, surely is the reason why Mr. Grayworth is still trying to get involved... and why he fears for his life. He surely tried to act from the outside and got a warning. I doubt that whoever is behind this was bored enough to go mess with my employer without a reason. So, I can only conclude that this promise fueled Mr. Grayworth to act but made the other side wary and hostile. The last point for now, the one I find myself stumped with is that they said 'It's already too late', but for the looks of it, they asked 'me' to leave and to not interfere. I can take that as a sign that there is a room to change whatever they prepared and I am the one that can do it... or the real Did Geayworth. This could be a bigger mess than I thought. The worst part is that I am not sure in whom should I trust. No matter what, every person that has appeared to be harmless might be lying so that I let my guard down.

There are other messages, but I am not sure if I want to read the content right now. If they contain more stuff like before I will feel even more helpless.

Hmmm, let's take a look for now. Not sure if it is something good or bad... most likely bad. But it is better to know in this kind of situation than remaining ignorant.

'Dear Customer, We invite y....'

That is just a damn message that the phone company sent. Ok, at least is nothing bad. Let's just be happy with it.

There are still more messages, may as well read what this is about.

'Everything was a mistake from the begining. The game was already set. I was hasty, too hasty. Now, we lost. Game Master is cunning. Our pieces were meant to lose.

My advise is that we should not play anymore with that cheater.

I have to go, I will review the whole game again. Maybe we can find a clue to victory. I never lost before, my pride will not allow me to have the game end like this'

Hmmm, well. I have to say that we were played it seems. This message that looks a bunch of nonsense is something you would not understand unless you knew the person herself. I do not recognize the number, but this content can only mean one thing. As the message said 'we lost' meaning, this job is not going to bring us benefits. Before coming here we discussed a way to communicate that makes hard for others to get. Although I can't deny that someone could pick up the meaning of the message, it is still better than plainly saying the message. You never know who may be looking. A rough translation would be that we got cheated. The job is not a simple job anymore. Our employees hired our services with other thoughts in mind than the ones he told us. Hiding information is quite normal, but... for her to call him cunning. That means what he hid is really important. Mentioning that she is going to review should means she will do a background check once more with the fact that he has a hidden agenda in mind. As for losing... it means something bad could happen, sadly I don't know the specific.

Now, now... what to do. Since I was told that much by her, that means that whatever he did not inform us back then was quite important. I must also consider whether the risks are worth staying here. She advises not to play so it is not that bad. Otherwise immediately retreat should've been the word to be used. Stoping half way will make us recieve a miserable pay considering how much we completed his demands. But, we still are not sure what his aim is. I can only tell that is probably that something I was told not to interfere. Since they are wary of 'Sid' then they will pay close attention to me and maybe that is what my employer wants. I doubt that it would be all... so what is next? Play their tune and leave... or stay and play my employer's tune. I... think I should stay. Since I won't focus on my 'job', I may as well just follow my curiosity and find out about the things that kept bothering me earlier. It would be a good way to get to make enemies of whoever sent a thief in the middle of the night. As for Mr. Grayworth, it shouldn't be long before he appears. I think that he knows how much time he has left to do whatever he is set to do.

Whatever happens will be soon, so I have no time to waste. First thing I should not forget is that I have no allies here, since I was brought here as a mere distraction. That makes my position no better than a pawn. Whether disposable or not, I guess that will depend on how useful I make myself to be or at least as long as I don't become peeble on his way. Second thing I should not forget is that they easily entered my room at night, whether they picked the lock or they had the keys remains a mystery. Extreme caution is a must at night.

There is one thing that I do not understand, if the one behind the thief knows about Mr. Grayworth, why do they act like I am the real one? Could it be that they believe that I can contact him? That sounds plausible, although too bad for them or me in this case, I can not contact him since he never gave us a number to contact him.

Could there be another possibility? Like... what if they only know about the person? They have an idea just from the name. Would someone as cautious as my employer allow someone with obvious hostile intentions gather information on him that easily? Maybe they never got to find out his looks. This is tricky... which one is it?.

My thoughts had come to a stop since Miss Maid arrived to take to my ride.I have to say... I almost forgot about what they asked me to do.