Chapter #26An Unlikely Association by: Nostrum   “It’s what he suspects,” Merry tells you. “It seems the green and white pens came with a note cluing whoever got them to the next ones. He tells me it all points out to be a library.”
“Why?”
“Because it says they were hidden as part of a book collection.”
You resume your drive, pondering the possibility. “It could be the City Library. If that’s the case, then I wouldn’t be of any help.”
“That’s what he says.” She looks at you with her partner’s dark glare. “You’re not telling me you’re planning to help him, right?”
“If I can convince him with this to leave my... my old family alone? Besides – if he truly loves you, he won’t leave you alone. You’ll end up marrying him.”
“And?”
“He said he’d be out of that career once he reached half a billion dollars in assets. The quicker he gets there, the quicker you’ll be able to retire.”
“I can’t believe you...”
“It’s a solid idea,” Luke opines. “If we do nothing, he’ll pester Claudia anyways. Especially if the pens are there.”
“But you could convince him they’re not there! Make him stop that obsession with running heists!”
“Merry, I agree. But think about it. Once he wakes up – if you decide to wake him up – and if he doesn’t screw us up--”
“I’ll make sure he doesn’t.”
“He’ll still ask us for that favor. Whether we like it or not, we’re into this. What we can do is turn it into our favor – Luke's, yours and mine.”
Merry lowers her head in frustration. “Yeah, I see it now.”
“For now, let’s focus on the important stuff. You got everything you needed to know. We’ll have to restore him, but while he’s knocked out, we could make our move. Form a plan.”
“And we need your help tweaking out that plan,” Luke points out. “You literally have his brain. You can convince him better than we could.”
“We’ll need you as a partner, Merry. Will you help us?”
--
You’re back behind that alley, ready to wake Leslie up. He’s back inside your father, his clothes hanging loose upon his skin. Merry, dressed as Tina, points the black pen at him; Luke keeps the white pen in his hand in case you need to try again.
With a click, you see the man beside you reflate. Soon enough, he jitters awake and looks at you. “What the hell was that!?” he howls.
“Whoa,” Luke exclaims. “Deja vu. Like in The Matrix.”
“Les, if you do something to her, you’re gonna regret it. And by the way, I was the one that did it.”
You see the look of betrayal in his eyes. The same look Merry had moments before. “Why?”
“We need to have a serious talk. Claudia’s taking us to Starky’s Diner, but we can talk on our way.”
“Weren’t we supposed to be going there anyways?”
“Yeah, but this time for real. And you better be honest. If you lie to me, I’ll know.”
As you make your way, Leslie glares at all of you. “You put on me, didn’t you?”
“I did. Something’s been off with you these past few days, Les. When you told me about your plans to own Tyneside--”
“Mer, I know you won’t get it.”
“That’s the problem, Les. I do. I know you love that lifestyle. But I also know you love me. Why not be honest to me!?”
He sighs, and you can see just how well Merry acted like him. “Sorry, babe. But I’m doing this for our future. Our hit won’t help us stay floating for long.”
“I said I’d make up for it once Tina graduates! Why couldn’t you trust my plan?”
“You said you know why, don’t you? I think you don’t need me to answer it.”
“I wanna hear it from your own mouth, Les. I want to hear why you can’t trust my plan.”
He grunts, shaking his head. “What if your plan fails? What’s the backup?”
“I’ll be a Business major, babe. I can always get a job.”
“A job?” He snorts. “You’ll hate that life. In a year or two, you’ll be yearning to get back into busting safes. I know you, Mer.”
“You could’ve told her that before,” you tell him. “Just like you could’ve told me you were planning to stay inside them for longer. And also that you don’t want to screw them up.”
“I thought you weren’t interested in your old life.”
“Doesn’t mean I have to stop caring.”
He cocks his head, grinning. “That’s admirable. And dangerous. I’d say more of the former than the latter, but in our line of work, that’d be dangerous.”
“Speaking of work and danger,” Luke interrupts. “Claudia and your girl told me about your interest in knowing how I got the other set of pens.”
“Yeah,” Leslie says, feeling more confident. “That was our primary business.”
“We’re going to have a long talk about that,” Merry warned. “Might as well start now.”
--
You’re sharing a discreet table at the end of Starky’s, but your dress is bringing a lot of looks to your table. This doesn’t sit well with Leslie, who’s brooding hard – something very out of place when he appears as a man on his forties, rather than the menacing crook he really is.
You wait until the waitress – a short, stacked woman in her forties with cherry-red curly hair – brings your food before he continues his conversation where it ended on the car. “Alright, so we agreed that we’d talk about what to do with the sets.”
“I don’t want you anywhere near them,” Merry demands, sounding less like a daughter and more like a wife.
“It’s still a threat,” Luke posits. “For all of us. If we’re to deal with them, we’ll have to play smarter.”
“We can’t take all the sets out of the streets, but we could cozy up with whoever’s pushing them. See what they want.”
“Les, it only matters if we’re affected. You think someone’s going to go to Edgefield and turn every one of us?”
“That’s unlikely,” you hear Leslie say in a tone much like your father’s own, “but we can’t ignore it. The risk will only grow if we become wealthier. And if some other band of crooks gets ahold of the sets, they’ll be--”
“Les, I agree it’s a threat, but think about it. If they know how dangerous they are, why would they sell them? They must’ve thought of a way to protect themselves.”
“I’d be more worried about why they’re pushing them in the first place. Just two of these in the wrong hands could cause a lot of havoc. And once they realize there are more around, there’ll be a huge fight.”
“Which is why we should leave,” she states. “Or at least, you should. I’ll stay as Marie, then wait until Tina’s graduated. If something’s wrong, I could call you guys and warn you.”
“We got an advantage they don’t,” Leslie reminds everyone. “And if we could find those other pens--”
“Les, all you have is that note! What if it’s a trap? O-or someone got them before you?”
As you munch on your cranberry, praline pecan and mixed greens salad with roasted chicken strips, you recall what Leslie told you about the note. From what he said, whoever owned them hid those two inside a fake book and donated them, as well as a personal collection of rare books, to a library in Tyneside.
“I agree on the last one. Unless given to the library for custody, the general procedure is to assess its worth and enter it into the system.”
“Which is why I think you could help us, kid.” (Despite being sealed inside, Leslie still refuses to admit you’re Claudia now.) “You know how that system works. If you could help us track it down while we figure how to get more info about the pens--”
“Again, the most likely possibility is that someone took them. They look like pens – they might be part of any of the employees’ collections, possibly as a curio. All I can say is that I don’t recall dealing with a collection like that.”
“Still - any help would be appreciated.”
“There’s still the discussion of what I get from this.” You set the salad bowl aside, fiddling with your fingers. “You can’t expect me to help you from the bottom of my heart.”
“You owe me one.”
“We’re letting you know what we did. As far as I know, that debt was settled. And if you mean how my life has changed, let me remind you that it was because you wanted me out, and also as a reward for helping you.”
“And we also deceived him – er, her. She’s not exactly trusting us that we’ll comply with her desire to free cousin Marie and her family.”
“Like I told him – we still need them. I can promise Merry’ll remind me of that, probably pressure me about it.”
“I’d prefer you swore you’ll release them instead.” You thought very carefully about the terms of your assistance since you woke Leslie from his forced slumber – since you had to admit that, whether you like it or not, you’ll have to deal with him. “Willing to hear my proposal?”
“Not like I have a choice.”
“I’ll try to make it fair.’ You lean forward, careful to avoid any suspicion. “First, I want you away from my family. The only exception I agreed is letting Merry become Tina.”
“Yeah, I can deal with that.”
“Second, we’re gonna share the pens. The black and brown ones can be yours, since Luke can always find us more – but the green and white belong to no one. And if we find the other ones, same thing.”
That doesn’t bode well for Leslie, but Merry agrees for him. “Yeah. That sounds good. What else?”
“Third, you’ll owe me a favor, whenever I want it to.”
That bodes even worse for him. “Sounds like extortion.”
“It’ll be a way to earn my trust. What say you to that?”
Leslie thinks about it, giving you enough time for two big gulps of food. “Alright,” he finally agrees. “We still need your vote. What do you think we should do?”  indicates the next chapter needs to be written. |
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