“You know?”
“Of course I know, which is why you won’t be telling the police that I was here, lest your little secret gets out.”
“So you’ve come to blackmail me, is that it?”
He leaned back in the chair, almost to the point that he’d fall backwards.
“No, quite the opposite, I want to help you.”
“Yet you broke into my house and don’t want the police to know you were here.”
He sighed, then leaned back even farther, but surprisingly didn’t fall.
“A majority of the anonymous tips you and the police get are from me.”
“So you just a concerned citizen trying to help out a wronged man is that it.”
He seemed to smile at my sarcasm, though it was hard to tell with the mask on.
“I do partake in my own illegal activities, though none that would cause any harm, physical or otherwise. I simply believe that both of our ‘jobs’ would be a lot easier if the Automaton wasn’t around.”
“The enemy of my enemy is my friend?”
“In a way.” He grabbed one of the papers off of my desk to look at it. “As far I can tell, you’ve been looking for a hidden database, one that’s housing a fake ID.”
“Yeah, and you know where it is I assume.”
“I do, but obviously I’m going to want something in return.”
Here it is, I thought, “What is it?”
“I want you to get me something from the evidence locker, a knife in particular, the connection to the case isn’t important to me, I just want the knife.”
“Why? What's so important about the knife, but not the case it’s attached to?”
“It belongs to someone I know, they want it back, but I’m not exactly comfortable with sneaking into a police station.”
“Neither am I.”
He stood up from the chair, finally causing it to fall over, and walked over to me. He stopped after a couple steps, upon noticing me preparing to attack if needed.
“Then maybe you can convince your grandfather, I know he knows your secret.”
Before I could respond he walked over to the doorway to leave.
“Until next time.”
He tipped his hat, and then left.
---------------
I let out a breath I didn’t know I had been holding as I clenched and unclenched my fist. I clenched my jaw, fighting the urge to follow after this mysterious stranger.
Chasing after him will only cause more trouble, I reminded myself as I began pacing back and forth in front of my desk. I glanced at the documents that the figure had left lying across my desk and quickly collected them, sliding them into the hidden compartment in the bottom of my desk.
Hopefully that will help hide them from anymore prying eyes, I thought as I collapsed back in my seat. I couldn’t be sure if they had or hadn’t discovered the extra drawer during the time they were left unattended here, but I had to hope not. There was some information within, documents and the like, that I should never have brought into the light of day in the first place.
I sat at my desk for a few moments, eyeing the room around me for anything that had been disturbed, or any dust that had mysteriously been wiped away. Since this was the only room the house maids weren’t allowed to clean, there was a lot of dust, and none of it seemed to have been stirred from its resting place.
After a moment, I stood again and made my way to the main hall where I found my butler cleaning the muddied carpets.
“You’re… guest left out the back.” He informed me as he frowned at a particularly muddy print.
“Did you see where he went?”
“No, I assumed it was best to keep a distance from him.”
“That’s probably for the best.” I told him, as I sighed and ran a hand through my hair. “Tread with caution when it comes to this new… acquaintance. And let me know if you or any of the staff see him around here again.”
“As you wish.”
~~~~~
It was late at night when Keith came, and I didn’t realize it right away as I was deep in research trying to figure out where the fake database could be.
“Figure out where it is?”
I nearly jumped out of my seat, having not realized that Keith was leaning over my shoulder.
“Geez, you scared me.”
“What, didn’t realize I was here? I’d have thought that you’d have heard every step I made since I entered the house.”
“Which was when exactly?” I asked, trying to get past the fact that I had let my guard down so much.
“Just a couple minutes ago.” He pointed at the screen, “You going to tell me what you found or just make me read it."
I turned back to the screen, confused as to what he was talking about, then remembered what I was doing before he had interrupted me.
“Right,” I mumbled, trying to get myself back on the task at hand. It didn’t matter that Keith had snuck up on me brain.
“Um, so, I’ve narrowed it down to the places that have the resources necessary to make a fake database, and are close enough to the real one to get access to it. We’ve got three tech companies, SITS, Blackout, Darwin Devices, of course, and a small app company called NetWorkz.”
“Why’d you put them on there? They don’t even have a proper headquarters, they’re literally renting out multiple apartments as their workspace.”
“Well, yes, which is why I found it a little suspicious that they have six high end machines, each worth close to a million dollars, especially since their income is only around thirteen thousand dollars a year.”
“Hmmm, we’ll have to take a closer look at what exactly they’re doing in those apartments.”
I nodded in agreement, before frowning.
“Do you mean during the day or after hours?” I asked, swiveling in my chair to fully face him.
“After hours. If this company turns out to be the legitimate source of the fake database we don’t want to tip them off with the police showing up at the door.” He said, before shooting me a look. “Don’t get the wrong idea, though. I don’t want you pulling on your suit every time there’s something that needs investigating in this case.”
“I know.” I sighed, as I ran a hand through my hair. “As much as I don’t like it, I know."
“Hmmff,” Keith breathed through his nose as he stood for a moment before turning around and heading for the door.
“Dinner should be ready soon.” He said, as he stepped through the doorway. “Finish this up and then I’ll debrief you on what happened today over a warm meal.”
I nodded to him as he turned away and grumbled to himself. “God knows I need one.”
I shake my head, turning my attention back to the screen I’d been bent over in front of for so long. The words blared at me, as I scrolled for a moment down NetWorkz’s bland website before scribbling down the address on a spare piece of paper, before clicking off my monitor and standing with a groan.
I stretched for a moment, my spine cracking as I did before I grabbed the note and stuffed it into my pocket. Locking the door behind me, I headed down the hall towards the dining room, and wondered what was for dinner.
~~~~~
Crime apparently.
When I got to the dining room I found Keith standing in the doorway blocking the entrance.
“Keith?”
“Oh good, you're here.”
I froze, that voice, was he really back already?
I squeezed past and found ‘Mr.Mystery’ sitting at the head of the table.
“You’re back already?”
“Oh I never left, I was in the attic.” He shifted in his seat, “There’s a lot of locked boxes up there.”
“Wait a minute,” Keith interrupted, “you know him?”
“Yeah, he broke in like eight hours ago, and offered to give me some information in exchange for a knife in the evidence locker.”
“Did you give it to him?”
“No, of course not, I wasn’t going to sneak into a police station to steal something.”
“Yeah, we had talked about you doing it for him.”
“Me?” Keith said in befuddlement, staring at him from across the room.
“Why not, you’re a detective again.”
“Okay,” I said, trying to break out of the strange situation I had found myself in, “can we go back for a second? What are you doing here?”
“Well the attic was boring, there was plenty of stuff to lock pick but none of them had anything interesting in them, and you weren’t revealing anything worthwhile so I figured I’d just come down and make myself at home.”
He tilted his head at me, “Or was I not allowed?”
Despite the conversation we were having, the strangest part was that he genuinely seemed to not know why it was strange. Then a thought crossed my mind.
“Do you do this alot?”
“What? Break into peoples homes and act like nothing’s out of the ordinary, yeah. I do it with a lot of people, my boss, some of his associates, the mayor, the chief of police, your dad-”
“Wait, you know my dad?”
He froze, I waited for him to say something, but he didn’t, he didn’t even seem to be breathing.
“Did I say that?” He asked, sounding genuinely puzzled.
“You mentioned my dad.” I said, walking over to him, “You mentioned you’d break into his house and act like nothing was out of the ordinary.”
He paused before giving me a strange smile through the mask. “Well this is his house is it not?”
“Tell me what happened to my dad.”
“Brian.” Keith warned me.
“What, it's not like you talk about him.”
“And for good reason.”
I turned back to Mr.Mystery. “Tell me, please, something, anything.”
His voice softened, “You look just like him.”
The familiarity of the phrase hit me like a truck.
“Were you the person who gave Leo the Key?”
“Key?” he said, his voice shifting again, “What key? And besides, I haven’t seen you brother in months.”
Keith walked over to us, “has he seen you?”
“No.” He said, standing up quickly, “And I wouldn’t want him to.”
He backed away from us, teetering as if he wanted to tell us something, though he didn’t, and soon he had gone out into the hallway and left.
Keith and I stood there for a moment, not knowing what to make of the so-called Mr.Mystery’s sudden exit. Then he poked his head back into the room.
“Knife, don’t forget it.”
Then he darted back out of the room.
~~~~~~~~~
The second Keith was sure Mr.Mystery was gone he called for our butler with great urgence. While waiting for him he paced the floor, as I took a seat at the table.
“Why didn’t you tell me earlier that the house was broken into?” He asked me, his words quick and punctuated.
“You were at work.” I answered as I watched him.
“There is such a thing as a phone, you know.” He glared coldy at me.
“You never know who might be listening at your work though.” I continued, leaning forward in my chair.
“So now you're cautious?” Keith stopped in his tracks and turned to me. “For someone who claims to be this city's only hope, you sure don’t have your priorities in order.”
“Why? Because I put you and your safety above everyone else’s?” I frowned and sat up, crossing my arms.
“No, because you put everyone else’s safety before your own!”
I stared at Keith for a moment, my jaw going slack as my crossed arms loosened a bit. Keith looked at me, his eyes softening from the harsh anger that was there moments ago.
“I just…” Keith sighed and moved to sit across from me at the table. “I’ve lost enough family already. Your dad, he-”
Keith paused, stopping to lean forward and drag his hands across his face before he leaned back and let out a breath.
“He cared so much for you and your brother, you know?” He finally spoke. “You guys were his everything, and I don’t know what I’d do with myself if something happened to you on my watch.”
I stared at him as my thoughts raced. Why wouldn’t he just tell me earlier that he felt this way? Was there something he was holding back? Another part of me though, deep in my head wondered what else he could possibly not be telling me about my father.
Still though, I pushed aside all the confusion and thoughts and spoke softly. “It’s not your fault.”
Keith sat up sharply, opened his mouth to say something but was interrupted by our butler finally arriving.
“Yes, Master Keith?” He inquired, as he came into the room. “Is there anything I can help you with?”
“We need to get the locks on all of our windows and doors replaced.” He ordered, as he turned away from me. “And we should look into finally getting our surveillance cameras up and running again.”
“Of course sir,” Our butler nodded. “I’ll contact the companies immediately.”
Keith nodded, running a hand through his hair as he sighed again.
“Would you still like to eat dinner here?”
Keith paused, glancing at me before shaking his head.
“No, have it brought to my room,” He decided. “I have some work I need to attend to.”
With that our butler nodded and left, leaving Keith and I to fill in the silence. I stared at my hands, lacing my fingers together before Keith spoke up.
“I don’t know if I’ll see you again before I go to bed,” He paused, turning slightly to me. “But if I don’t, be careful will you? And keep in mind what I said. I really don’t know if my heart could take having to bury any more of my kids.”
And so I was left alone at a table with far too many empty seats where laughing people should have been.
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