By Hanford Inn,

Forenoon. Same Day.

From the east, Basil Lovecraft ambled toward the inn a loner. He didn’t want to set off any alarms or raise any suspicions towards himself. He could hear the rumour-mongering business of the human pests about him just as well as he could hear their unsettling whispers as he strutted toward the inn. Strangely enough, Basil could relate with them – he would react the same way if he hadn’t come across someone as weird as himself too. His frizzy hairstyle and his complexion seemed to be off, considering the area he was in is a place where everyone else was white. It seemed to them he was trespassing. He hated their guts for the way they stared at him.

“What the hell is your problem?!” What fucking imbeciles!” he thought as he glared at a few who wished they could kill him with their eyes. He had no time for their racial slurs and jeers. All he wanted was some refreshment. He found his way to the door of the inn, where a fairly large man barricaded the entrance. Basil would give it to the man: he did look the part for being intimidating. Not that he cared anyway. With his hands in his pockets, he stood before him.

“Take your hand out of your pockets, boy,” barked, the large man, insulted. He was one of the town’s top guards and saw it as his duty to put Basil in his place.

“Get out of my way” Basil replied.

A crowd soon gathered, wondering what had gone wrong with this stranger.

“Get him, Freud!” yelled a young, female voice to Basil’s right. The guard’s name was Freud. And he was famed for putting everyone in their place, deservedly or otherwise. This time around though, he was surely going to get tucked in line.

“How rude of you, you will regret that!”

Before they lunged at each other’s throats, Felicity rushed in to keep everyone calm. She recalled a trio of noblemen that had informed her of the likely visit of a man with grizzly hair which fit the description of Basil. He would be monitoring the efficiency of the business because these nobles were now the new joint shareholders of the bar.

“What’s going on?” said Croid, following her lead.

“Hold it!” shrieked Felicity.

Freud had a lot of respect for Felicity, she was well-known in the community.

“Do you know who that is?” Felicity asked Freud.

She is quite disappointed due to the animal like tendencies that seem to occur towards minority ethnic groups. People liked to act without thinking and Freud turns around confused by her interference.

“He’s one of our new shareholders…” Felicity concluded.

Freud was shocked. “What?!”

Basil looked at the crowd with a threatening stare.

“Yeah that’s right” he thought.

“Sorry sir, I thought you were here to cause trouble,” Freud apologised; he was already shaking in his boots. He knew Basil could just axe him. Without being told, Freud stepped away from the door, giving Basil free passage into the inn. Disappointed there wasn’t going to be any show, the rest of the crowd dispersed. They could take comfort in the fact that there was a new rumour to be spread about the inn’s new owners among the locals.

“My apologies,” Felicity said as she welcomed Basil to the bar. She seemed to have been tidying it up for inspection. She was partly kind of worried due to an earlier encounter with the Lovecrafts informing her of their family inspector. However, from what she could recall; they were very tolerant, generous, charming even. They liked the bar albeit it was still averagely sordid. It turns out Felicity hadn’t had time to clean it thoroughly after the customers left last night. Although she knew the new shareholders were coming, it turns out they had arrived earlier than she expected.

With his hands still tucked in his pockets, Basil strutted inward, inspecting everything casually. The type of treatment he received was not one to make him critical. Although he was misjudged too easily to fly off the handle more often than not or necessary, he did his best to appear polite.

“It’s a nice place, this bar…” Basil complimented. “You’ll be seeing me here a lot” he continued.

Felicity beamed, relieved he could compliment her efforts.

“Can I get you a drink, hun?” her mistake, she quickly added a sir, leaving out the hun.

“You don’t have to be so formal around me ma’am, and yes some scotch should do the trick” replied Basil. He withdrew his hands from his pockets and ambled toward a seat.

“Croid, there are some things that need moving in the cellar,” Felicity whispered to her handy man.

“Yeah, sure thing,” replied Croid who sussed out that his presence seemed unwanted around her new boss. Ignoring Croid, she quickly fixed Basil a drink.

As an alcoholic, Basil could barely go a day without drinking. He was fidgety. His pupils were dilating as he readied himself for a drink. He was tapping the table before him, restlessly as his lap shook.

At the cellar, Croid wondered whether the man was one of the Himuras Felicity had promised to speak to on his behalf about his desire to work at the mines.

“Nah…” he murmured to himself realising that this person and his family had only recently invested money into shares of this local bar. He gathered some heavy boxes and shifted them aside, neatly arranging them to be easily opened.

Meanwhile, Felicity handed Basil his glass of scotch. She had a lot to tell him about the daily schedules that took place. There were times suggested when the bar was likely to be at its busiest and there were also the incessant contributions the bar made toward community carnivals. Felicity was surprised to see Basil down the whole beverage at once.

“Could I have a bottle instead?” asked Basil.

“Err…yeah sure thing” Felicity replied.

She handed him a bottle for his pint glass. She reached below the counter to get him a drink opener. However, by the time she’d grabbed it, Basil had already opened the bottle with his fingers.

“Eerrr…” Felicity was confused by the whole demeanour. She was even more puzzled as she watched him down the bottle in one attempt.

Basil caught her speechless.

“Wow, you should really slow down sir…” Felicity suggested.

“It’s like I said, you’ll be seeing me more often at this bar” replied Basil.

She had never seen anything like that before. They continued to discuss the way the bar was being run albeit Felicity was the talkative of the two.

Little did Basil know that Hans was lurking in the shadows. From the alleyway beside Hanford Inn, Basil was being watched through the window. Hans had been waiting for the right moment to strike. He knew he might have to take a new approach especially since he saw him engaging the barmaid.

“We’ve been having some trouble recently though” said Felicity.

“I’m sure you have heard about the mysterious deaths in town” she continued.

“Yes, we’ve sent one of our family members to investigate. He’s a curious one” Basil replied.

“You and your family are with the Union, right?” enquired Felicity.

“That’s right, although politics doesn’t really concern us all that much. We just picked the better side” Basil replied.

“That’s funny, it reminds me of what someone said to me earlier” revealed Felicity.

“Is that so? I heard that most of the people that died were political leaders associated with the Confederates after a possible argument with Union members” claimed Basil.

“Yeah, it seems that way” replied Felicity.

She realised that the Lovecraft’s are more aware than she imagined.

“So, you’re going to find out who is responsible for the murders?” Felicity asked.

“A crime is a crime, Confederate or Union” Basil replied.

“Besides Brock has got this thing about knowing everything that is happening in the area. Even though we’ve just moved in, he’s a bit of a narc. He’s always got to monitor something. I suppose he keeps us safe that way though” explained Basil.

“Brock, is that the name of the investigator?” Felicity asked.

“Yeah, you sure ask a lot of questions lady” replied Basil.

“Ummm…I’m just curious. All of your family seem to have different roles to play. I met the other three earlier and they seemed so formal. It’s kind of like the Himura Family in a way, they practically own the other half of the shares of this place” Felicity explained.

“The Himuras?” coughed Basil.

“Yeah, your families are alike in many ways” said Felicity.

“They’ve been living here as long as I can remember and everyone knows them. I’m sure you’ll get acquainted soon enough” she continued.

“We already have, and believe me it wasn’t pretty” Basil replied.

“Oh? What do you mean by that?” Felicity curiously asked.

“Never mind, that’s personal matters” replied Basil.

As soon as Basil’s forehead creased, Felicity didn’t have to be told she was asking too much of a question. She had to backtrack a bit.

“Oh sorry, I didn’t mean to be too nosey. It’s a bad habit of mine” she explained.

“No worries, I think I’ll leave you to it” suggested Basil.

“It seems you’ve got this place operating effectively” he summarised.

Basil stood up and put his hands back in his pockets. He gave Felicity a nod as a sign of acknowledgement right before he headed out of the bar. Hans believed he could easily catch Basil off-guard and finish him off at any time. However, he decided he was going to save him for later as he had detected a a much more isolated presence lurking in the outskirts of the town. Hans made the alternate decision to head toward that direction to specifically pick off another victim. The conversation he had just heard kept replaying in his head like a niggling earworm. Hans had concluded that Brock came to monitor his family. Although he had decided that for himself, he was certain the rest of the Lovecrafts were aware of the send off. However, it didn’t seem that he was sent to eliminate them with the information gathered from Basil. Also, the three Lovecraft family members he had seen at the town square were acting unusually normal. With all these factors in hand, Hans began to question his judgement.

*****