Chapter 2 - First Tale II
As I heard what that man said, I thought back about today, and you could say I wasted my whole afternoon aimlessly walking because they told me the wrong road to the address, but It's odd, those people seemed like locals. Maybe I should ask someone about it, but not this guy, he already doubts me, or knows that I am not Mr. Grayworth. While I thought of that he continues talking.
"I have not introduced myself, have I?, I am Arthur White, I am the Supervisor that oversees the security in this property, I have been working for the family of Mr. Kingwood for years, if you have any question, you can ask and I can answer you"
That's an awfully especific introduction, for years, Is he hinting about something?, if he knows the actual Sid, Why does he not say anything?, I doubt he is just expecting me to come out and confess, and even if that were the case, as long as he does not outright tell me to stop it, I will continue my role.
Trying to attract much attention onto me would be bad, so it's better to act humble and not ask a thing.
"I don't wish to be a bother, I came here from a rather unorthodox road after all, and I caused troubles for the staff here, and I would feel bad to ask for anything to grand"
He does not change much his facial expresion, maybe he expected my answer.
"You don't need to worry about that, you were invited here by Mr. Kingwood, as his staff we have to arrange the needs of his guests"
I wonder if I am only being paranoic here, since he insist this much, I may as well ask, it could just be that he does not do this for a deep reason.
"Well, I do want to know the reason of my call, It was not mentioned on the letter after all"
He closes his eyes and thinks for a moment before answering.
"I apologize, I am afraid that he has not mentioned the reason, he just told us about a number of people that would come here because he invited them, and how we should just accommodate the best we can"
He took a moment to answer that, what he said does makes sense, but it could be something he came up on the spot, I can not tell, better not to press for details even though I want to know. Since he said they would arrange things for the guests, I can ask for for food, I have not eaten for a while.
"I see, then I will have to ask the man himself then"
"I am afraid so"
"Putting that topic aside, Could you arrage some kind of food, I am ashamed to ask this, but I am quite hungry, also, a simple place to sleep, I doubt I can just go back from the place I came with this weather"
"You don't have to worry about that, we will arrange a vehicle to take you to the main residence, where Mr. Kingwood wanted you to be taken when any of his guests arrived, you will have your own room to sleep, as for the food, taking into account the time, some light dinner will be prepared, in case you find it lacking, you can ask for more from the staff of the residence"
"Will that be alright? Then I thank you from your offer and service"
"There is no need for you gratitude here, Mr. Grayworth, I am doing this as instructed by my boss, Mr. Kingwood, he insists that we treat every guest with the utmost service"
Every guests huh, I am not sure how many of those guests are there, I hope that none of them had met the real Mr. Grayworth before.
"Now then, if you could await downstairs while I make the calls for your arrengements, it will not take that much"
What a shame, he won't make the call with me here, I would've like to see if he would keep the same persona while on the phone with the other staff he will call, this guy Arthur act supiciously, and it's unsettling, if he actually knows Mr. Grayworth, and he keeps that secret, it could mean that he scheming something, hopefully this is all in my head. Since the man said so, I could only stand up and exit the office, as I pass the door, I find that guard woman from before. She seems to be evaluating what to do with me until she hears what Mr. White says.
"Ms. Highlander, please escort Mr. Grayworth downstairs, he is one of the guests he was expecting, in a while he will be guided to the main residence"
With that as a signal, I was taken downstairs by this Ms. Highlander, she was the guard woman I first saw with Mr. White, a rather tall individual, slightly taller than me, which is around 1.80 cm, she seems like a trained individual, has fairly amount of muscle, so far I can not really tell the level of security here, a trained guard, a couple of newbies, and an old man, this seem different from what I was told, but I can not let my guard down, after all, the reason why I am here is because my client fear for his safety, in other words, he thinks someone here wish to harm him.
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While the steps fade from my office, I make a call, waiting for almost a minute until someone picks the call. The voice belongs to a male, one which I am accustomed to hear, after all, it's the man I call my boss.
"To receive a call a this hour, Is there a problem that requires my attention? or maybe is it..."
"No Sir, there is no trouble, but according your previous orders, I was to inform you when one of 'guests' arrives, regardless of the time"
"Certainly, I did say that, so... Who was the person?"
"Mr. Sid Grayworth, Sir"
"Grayworth, Sid Grayworth is it?, I have no recollections of that person, he was one of my father's acquaintances, whom I have not met before. I would like that you keep an eye on him, my father had quite a number of business partners and friends which he never introduced to his family, I still don't understand why, but it matters not. Right now I just want to find out who sent that letter, if what it says it's true..."
"Sir?"
"Never mind, just do as I told you"
"As you wish, Is there something else you would like me to do?"
"About Grayworth? Well, What can you tell me about him? Have you met him before?"
I take a moment to consider how to answer, but... without much change of tone I just say.
"No Sir, I am afraid no, the Old Sir kept certain level of secrecy for a number of individuals, and sadly, my brother was the one he took with him during those kind of meetings"
"Your brother huh, never mind then, have his sleeping chambers be the same as the others, if that's it, I will continue sleeping, further details will have to wait"
Without waiting for my answer he hung up.
"Now now... What to do..."
You could say I took a gamble here, that kid was certainly not Sid Grayworth, I am not sure why he is acting on his name, but he has the invitation letter, and I may be able to use that. I did not tell my 'boss', but it is hardly a problem, he does not know that I know after all, now I just have to make sure that this turns out beneficial to that person.
"Well, I can't just make our guest wait to long, can I?"
After muttering that, I made another call, this one to make arrangements for the new guest. As for who will keep an eye on the kid... let's see, that newbie may work, she was to start tomorrow, I need someone who lacks basic level of common sense of how things work around here.
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I was taken to the hall I was previously staying, I did not share that many words with that man, but I now have a lot to think. My goal here is to find the source of danger my client was worried about, I am still not sure where to start looking, but 'Mr. White' is a good start, I guess... I also have to probe that 'Mr. Kingwood', I was told by Mr. Grayworth to be on guard with that man, since he tends to take extreme measures to get what he wants, that is quite a thing to worry about, and even without the warning of my client, he has quite the reputation in the business world, a cursory search was all it took to define him as greedy and hard to deal with, he looks like the type of guy who can make a lot of enemies pretty easy, and such a guy called my client out here, if I were him, I would be on alert too, but apparently he said that he is more worried with the fact he knows about him, after all he only had dealings with Mr. Kingwood's father, and not many should know about him, his son not included in that list.
There are quite a few point I have to consider while I move around here, but that will have to wait until tomorrow I guess.
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These day we have been getting several guests from Mr. Kingwood, all them seem like people with strong personalities, few of them don't get along with each other, so it becomes our job to take care of their needs while subtly keeping them as far as from one another. As the right hand of Mr. White, I've had to meet all of our guests at least once, and for better choice of words, I can only say they have 'peculiar' personalities, one of the reason I believe they had quarrels, with that said, I doubt any of them is as perculiar as this Mr. Grayworth, his entry being rather unique, a man got lost and somehow got to the place he was looking for after wandering in the forest for hours, when my boss hear about such a person, he decided to take a look in person, he also had me tag along. Regretfully I could not make him change his mind about driving myself, he spared no seconds drove full speed, my colleges have complained that I drive too fast sometimes, but they know nothing, if you compare me with Mr. White, it would look like I drive at the lowest speed, he just have the car give its best, anyways, after a quick reminder of my love of solid ground, we entered the outskirt guard post where the man in question wandered.
My first impression of the man, no, it should be young man, was that he was calm, his theme of clothing being mostly black, as his hair, his eyes being quite the contrast, amber color with a bit of green, an uncommon eye color I must say. After confirming the facts with the guard responsible with this place, I turn to face the man, since it did not look like Mr. White wanted to continue talking, the first thing that came of the mouth of that young man being an apology left me rather confused, before he said I word, I thought he was a rude guy for some reason, and after hearing his apology I did not pursue my line of thoughts, I do wonder why.
On the way back, I had to no choice again, I don't think I can get used to this, it's been last yearbsince I got this job, but there are three things I still can not handle very well, Mr. White driving is one of them, the lack vacations, and lastly... the continuous not so subtle fights over money from the family members of the late Mr. Kingwood, at the begining while the late Sir was alive it was not that obvious, but due his sudden death things got complicated. My standing in this house is something I worked hard to earn, although I constantly receive 'requeats' of some members of the family to work with them in exchange of a better job, many of my coworkers would be delighted of such an offer, but it hardly motivates me, I came here with an objective in mind, and they are not what I am looking for.
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A few minutes later after waiting in the same seat I took when I got here before, people that look like my escorts came, there was not much to say about them, they seemed quite haughty after they saw how I was dressed, maybe they were expecting someone an expensive suit, so much for doing their best for their guests, although a little reprimand from Ms. Highlander was enough to put them in place and act professionally.
There is not much to say about my way to the residence, around five minutes in car, at normal speed thankfully, the rain was still going strong, so I could not take a good look at the place, there were not many lights on, probably because it was quite late. I was taken to kitchen and had some light meal there, not that I minded at all, I could see some real maids, you know, maids. Thinking back, those guys probably took me there expecting that I would complain about eating there with how they called them, servants, quite the attitude, looks like they did learn from the reprimand they had earlier, or maybe this is some kind of revenge from their point of view, could not be dumber though.
I had enough food and got healed with the maid power, so I asked to be taken to my room, sadly I could not talk longer with them, the guards had their eyes on me. I had to try on another time.
My room was located in a long hallway, the lighting was rather poor, I guess they did not mind walking like this since they did not bother lighting up the hallway, or just another pointless harassment, without paying much attention to the location of my room, I just went through the door, anymore analysis will have to be done with sunlight. I walked to my bed in this pointlessly big room and went to lie down after I put my stuff on the corner of the bed and just slept.
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As I was sleeping, I started to hear sounds coming from my room, doing best at waking up, I focus on the sound, I hear steps, they are coming closer, Is it coming for me?, I don't recall making enemies, maybe someone that knows Mr. Grayworth, question will have wait he is already at one corner, he is coming closer... no, he is still standing there, What is that person doing?, that sound... my stuff, I don't have anything of worth there, my senses are completely awake by now, I will have to act now, I am not sure if that guy will stop at only stuff.
"Stop right there"
I was not expecting the guy to stop, but I at least had his attention, I rolled on my bed in the opposite direction, and fell of the bed, I quickly stood up, and while I did that, the guy ran, went through the door, escaping, I went after him, but when I took a look at the hallway, I saw no one there, before I recall hearing the sound of a closing door, but the question is which one.
There was not much I could do, I just went back and closed the door, I moved the chair of a desk in the room to lock the door somehow, I doubt it would completely stop someone who wish to get in, but it will at least buy me time to wake up, I can not be careless again, I was lucky this time, I kept my life because that guy did not want it. I went to check my stuff, my phone and the invitation letter are gone, the question is which one was the guy after, and... Did he took both because he wanted them, or just had to take them because I had awakaned?, I will have prove friends from the other room to see if they hear a thing. Really, what an awfully 'lively' welcome this was, I will try to continue sleeping, although I should keep an eye open in case my 'friend' comes back, I doubt it but... who knows.
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That guy that came today, hardly had anything on him, a phone and a letter, I could not take anything more, well, the other things seem useless, they asked me to find out more about him, and this should be enough, I doubt this guy worth the trouble, but since he was an easy target... that's why I had been ordered to do this. Whatever, as long as I get paid, I should leave this in the room, we can not be seen together, although none of this guys would say a thing if they hear any sort of noise, it's better not to give them something against us.
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As the first rays of sunlight peak through the window, it marks the start of a new day, I open my tired eyelids, I can see them light the room, this have been one of the toughest mornings in a while, I feel like sleeping some more, but I can not do that, I need to consider how to handle what happened yesterday, it's odd, even though the noise was not particularly too high, it should be enough to warrant some kind of response from at least one of the other rooms, not all of them, but at least one of them, this lack of response seems quite suspicious, depending on how I put things later, I could even ended being worse. The most important thing will be to gather some kind of info, after that, well... to find someone I can trust, that may be hard to do though.
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