RUFUS
It’s been fifteen minutes since we got here. I hate that I packed Old man’s impatience up here. “Where is your office mate? Come on.” I sighed.
She just shush-ed me.
“There you are! Good morning.” Jess celebrates. A woman wearing an office attire brought her annoyed face down with her.
Annoyingly, she pulled something out of her bag. “A key, and a five hundred thousand dollar check, really?”
“You looked!” Jess looks very disappointed.
“Well, couldn’t help myself. Don’t worry, I’m not going to tell anyone, okay? I don’t want them to think that we are best friends.” How he talks to Jess made me laugh. Looks like Jess got another enemy, but a harmless one. All bark, no bite.
Denise is her enemy ‘no bark, all bite’.
“Thank you so much for this, Relm.”
“Just tell boss our deal, okay? Bye.” Then she walks away.
She waved me a key. “This is where we are going.” She excitedly hopped inside the car, like she doesn’t have any problem at all.
“Where is that, exactly? And can you please elaborate about the five hundred dollar check that girl said?” I asked.
“Relm. Her name is Relm.” She said. She’s examining a document up close. “This is the address.
The address is from inside the City’s most fancy village. I want to ask her how she got a key for a house inside the Village, but I don’t want her to think that I want to be deeply involved in her stuff.
On our way to the Village, she didn’t tell me anything about the Check. I’m too tired to speak anyways.
“Turn left, turn left.” She pointed at the street where big houses gather.
“I know. You gave me the address.” I slowly turn left. She rolled her eyes on me.
There is a old lady and a teenager boy standing in front of a big black gate. Is this the house? Well, Old man’s mansion is bigger but just take a few rooms and this is the size of it. This house is modernized with it’s big windows, and minimalist style.
“Is it you, Jess?” The old lady ask. Jess nods, but I can see that she’s curious about this lady, she’s not expecting them. “You look a lot like Jenna.”
“Oh, you know my mom?” She ask. The boy taps my shoulder and went to open the compartment to take the bags inside.
“You must be her Detective boyfriend. Salute to your service, sir.” The boy said formally. It is obvious that this boy was raised with a better attitude as his body language and way of communication shows.
I take the last bag out. “No. I’m working for her.”
“Ah, a driver.” He smiles, apologizing for his mistake. Driver is a good guess, but bodyguard is way better. “She looks a lot like ma’am Jenna. I just hope that she’s kind like her.”
“You don’t need to worry about that. She’s very kind.” I made sure to look genuine while I compliment Jess. I look at her, they are still talking.
“Jenna told me many things about you. When she went here to look for a house, she said she want this for her daughter.” They slowly walk towards the house. It is like a prosisyon, but I’m not complaining. I’m interested to know about her mom.
The inside of the house looks even better than the old mansion in West. Everything’s modernized, from the furniture up to the walls.
Can they just finish the conversation already? I want to close my eyes. I’ll take an hour.
“Okay. Everything you need is already here, okay?” She handed Jess a piece of paper. “Call me if you need anything.” The old lady look at me to wave good bye. I did the same. I don’t know what’s with Old people, but most of them are the sweetest.
Before they leave, I called the boy. “Hey! If anyone ask information about my boss.” I referred to Jess. “Don’t tell anything, okay?” I secretly handed him a cash.
He tries to give it back to me. “No, sir. It’s all right.”
“Come on, take it. Buy something for yourself.” I said. He just smiled at me at me and waved good bye.
I ask Jess if it’s okay for me to sleep for an hour. She said that it’s fine if I take longer. It took me time to find her after I close the gate, this house is bigger than I thought. Then I found her in a library already full of books. She’s scrolling through cook books to find a cookie recipe.
She said that the Internet says that cooking is one of the best thing to relax. I don’t know about that, the amount of dishes she’s using makes the cleaning process stressful.
“What are you still doing here? I thought you want to sleep?” She’s stirring the bowl aggressively.
“I don’t know. I just think you’re killing the dough. The recipe says to combine the ingredients carefully and do not over mix.” I’m reading the cook book.
She looks at me with her annoyed eyes. I thought this was supposed to relax her. “What do you think I’m doing?”
I closed the cook book. “You’re stirring the dough aggressively and you over mixed it.”
She goes back to working the dough. “Whatever, no ones going to eat this anyways.”
“I will. I’m starving.” Before she answer, I left the kitchen.
What in the world is happening to me? I need to get some sleep long as possible, but now I can’t.
Jaxton Archer is who I’m thinking now. If he dies, no one will be there for Jess. I know she’s annoying, but she doesn’t deserve to lose every important people in her life. I don’t want Jess to be like me. No real family present.
When mama Ruby and papa Anthony adopted me, they said that I’m the best thing that happened to them. They raised me in a beautiful house by the lake before moving in the mansion when I was 7. Papa launched his business when I was 8.
When I was 9, he introduced me to William East. Papa’s business partner, best friend, also known now as Mr. Bartley.
I remember the time when Mama vanished for a year, then Papa took me to east. He said that we’re all just having a big vacation, but Mama can’t be with us. Then one day, I woke up to William and Papa arguing in the living room. When Papa saw me, he told me to go back to sleep. After that, I never saw him again. William took me back to the Mansion, and I saw mama there. They restricted me into asking about Papa. The only thing they said to me about Papa was Papa ran away somewhere far.
I remember playing with a kid who’s nine years younger than me. Mama will let me take care of him and said that he is my younger brother.
Then one day, William woke me up. He said that mama left, and he handed me a note. The note said that mama ran away with my little brother to find Papa and if she found Papa, she will come back and get me. She also said that I should stay in the Mansion so she’ll know where to go to get me.
I believed in the note and waited for her to comeback until I was 16 when I found a box of letters mama wrote to Papa when papa served. It’s very different from the note William gave me the day he said mama ran away. It’s not her penmanship.
I just know that William did something to Papa, mama, and my little brother. He just proved points of my theory when he took Mama’s last name and used it as his. She’s obsessed with Mama, and it is possible that it is the reason Papa vanished.
“I thought you were sleeping.” Jess called my attention.
I sit. “Can’t sleep. I remember that I need something down the station.” I put my socks on, then shoes.
“Woah, what’s the hurry? I thought you want cookies. And what are you going to do down the station? Bust old man’s ass?” She chuckles.
“I just need to talk to that Detective.” I rushed down the stairs. Jess follows me.
“Detective Sanchez?” Before I open the door, she pulled me towards the Kitchen. “Will you please give this to Jax, but don’t say anything about me?” She put a lot of cookies inside a container.
“Fine.” I rolled my eyes. I don’t want to give her boyfriend her cookies. It’s just weird to go down to the station to handle him a container full of cookies. “Don’t do something stupid.” I slammed the door in her face.
The station is stuffed with a lot of people. There’s the media, and Detective Sanchez speaking in front. Detective Archer is standing beside him looking all though. He nods when he saw me.
After fifteen minutes, they ended the discussion about Kathy’s investigation.
“What’s up? You’re Mr. Bartley’s guard. Am I right?” Jaxton asks. He’s eyeing for the container so I gave it to him. “This is for me? Thanks bro.” He gave me a bump. “What do you need?”
“I actually need to talk to Detective Sanchez in private.” I said. Instead of speaking, he pointed me at the office then gave me another bump as a thank you for the cookies. He looks terrible. It’s obvious that he’s trying to cover up his true feelings about Jess running away.
I knock. “Detective?” I knock again, no answer. I think he can’t hear me since everyone’s having their own conversation while eating a donut. I let myself in.
He’s busy, signing papers. “What do you need? You can talk to my partner. His name’s Archer.” He didn’t even look at me.
I cleared my throat, enough to get his attention. “Hello, Detective.”
He put his pen down. “Oh, you. How’s old man?” Instead of answering him, I handed him a file. “What’s this?” He ask. Then he flip the file open.
“Evidence you need to bust a big Illegal business operated by William East, also known as Mr. Bartley.”
He scrolled through the file while shaking his head. “Unbelievable.” He looks at me. “This is big, and this is your job. Why are you doing this?”
“I’m keeping my reason to myself. The real question here is how fast can you arrange everything?”
“What— why? What’s with the hurry? I mean, with all this, we got all the time we need.”
I stand up to close the curtains and lock the door. “He knows something about Kathy’s case that you guys don’t.”
“And how is that relevant to all this?” He pointed at the file.
“We’re not discussing that right now. Just hurry, Detective. He’s going to kill someone in here.” He tilted his head, he wants more. “I don’t know how to tell you this, but he’s planning to eliminate Ja—“
A knock cuts me off. “Detective?” He turned the knob many times. “Why is this locked? Detective!”
Detective Sanchez went to open the door slightly. “What do you need, Archer? I’m talking to someone important.” He sounds annoyed.
“The media wants to talk to you.”
I hear Sanchez scoff annoyed. “I’ll be out in five. Handle them.” He slammed the door, then looks at me. “Continue, please.” He circled back to his chair.
I didn’t speak. I stared him right in his eye. If he is a good detective, he’ll know what I mean. He’s examining me, and I’m giving him his time to read me. Realization hits, his eyes widened in shock.