Chapter 9

GWEN STEFANI’S AWESOME vocals were just fading as Albert was parking his car at the back of the mansion. He entered the basement lot to spot five sedans identical to each other to his dismay. He anticipated as much as he can, but this is Alfred Enterprise: a normal business empire at the front, but hid on its six was a more sinister legacy.

Albert did not know how it started for he was also just a passer-by in the grand scheme, but when he and his brother got adopted by the Baron, their lives have been catapulted to a trajectory they’d never expected. And this descent flung him towards these stairs he’s elevating from. He tried to hide the fear in his face as he approached the butlers stationed at the hallway nearest to the door. 

When he entered, several of the senior members of the company were sat around the roundtable wearing serious faces between them. A cold air blew around him as sixteen eyes, at least, watched his entrance. Albert reciprocated the leers to slap names at the quorum.

Aeric Gustav Jr.

Seamus Marshall Oswald

Ross E. Charlotte

Michael Gilliam

Herman Roosevelt

Charles Pierre Albert IV

Regular names with irregular motives hiding behind those regular faces. These six had no obvious distinction from each other: they were all old white men with white hair and wrinkled faces in their late 60s donning suits of the same brand, color and number of breasts. If you blur them, they might as well be the same person replicated five times. But what made it unnerving was; everyone else in the room has no obvious distinction from each other! A single stare from a six-headed beast this big has the power to turn a Medusa-Adarna-Basilisk-Cockatrice-Dopehead into stone.

And although he’s not stone yet, GD, who was sitting behind the Baron is one pressure away from being one. Albert pondered sitting beside him but Gustav, the spokesperson, spoke before he could step any further away from the door. “I take it that you’ve heard the news?” he asked Albert.

“Which news? I hear a lot of them in a daily basis.”

“You know what we mean, boy!” Oswald bleated. 

Gustav raised his hand to stop the impatient man from his loud notes. “Have you heard anything from Caine? We’ve heard through the grapevine that he caused Leopold’s death.”

“I have neither seen nor heard him since our fight last year.” Albert deliberated. He has to be precise with some of these people, because as stupid most of them may be, there’s one here that he’s afraid would catch him off-guard.

“Wow, that’s very specific Albert,” Gilliam spoke tenderly. 

Suddenly, Albert felt what Adam felt in Eden as he realized he’s naked amid these animals. That one phrase from the inquisitor turned his defenses low. He’s shown a bit of a rattle, so the snake danced around him even more.

“Specific...and a bit of a lie,” Gilliam slid a picture towards Albert’s direction showing a meeting between the two. The questioned had a few punches to throw but as he looked towards the biter’s eyes, he can sense that he has more fangs hidden, so he went a different route to avoid the thicket.

“Gold. Did you call me here to talk about lies? Because I have a jarful of it in my vault waiting to be publicized.”

No one batted an eye, but none dared to talk either.

Albert resumed, “I’ll answer your questions once you answer mine.”

“You’re not in the position to demand here, boy!” Oswald angrily addressed.

One more “boy” and Albert would smack the living goatee out of this annoying prick. Nevertheless, he kept his upper hand. “Am I not? The fact that you called me and not anyone else tells me otherwise.”

“Well, we really have no other option. Your batch keeps dying and getting outlived by us geezers. It has probably something to do with the choices you made,” Roosevelt commented.

“There’s no need for personal attacks, everyone.” Gustav stood up to see Albert eye-to-eye. “We will accept your condition. One question, that’s it.”

Everyone understandably had mixed reactions towards that statement but they can do nothing. They really needed Albert; who tried to come up with a question that will take the most from the lot. He was having a hard time coalescing everything when the Baron finally spoke.

“Three questions.”

Everyone, even the reserved ones got shocked as they try to make the Baron desist from that notion using only their eyes. But he was not having any of those, because he only was fixated at Albert.

“We want Albert here to show how we can be transparent to each other.” He looked so genuine that you can almost believe he’s not a murdering psychopath.

Without a moment to lose, Albert started thinking about his precise probes in within a few seconds. Who killed Ali? would've been an obvious misstep because he already knew that these people killed him even without evidence; and they would wear that like a badge of honor. So, he had to think of another. He’s never had this opportunity before because he used to just go around them when he wanted to find something out. He thought about Ali, Margaret, Caine, Charles as his synapses rapid-fired into one densely condensed open question.

When the overwhelming three seconds passed, “Who killed Leopold?”

“Like I said, we think—”

“I want none of that, Gustav. I want real answers if you need my cooperation.”

This put Albert in a good spot for he was now the one making demands. For a moment, he was in-charge of the room. And he’d like to keep it that way. 

“It was Officer Jameson,” answered Keeling. They had to show one of their cards early. They were planning to use the relationship between the three to scuff Albert’s decisions but that card now swan-dived out the window to land ass-first on a seatless mountain bike.

“I want you to be sure,” Albert.

Keeling affirmed, “We are.” Gustav nodded, so did the Baron. 

Albert couldn’t care less about the others. He just wanted them to be sure, because now that he knew that what they want has nothing to do with that case, he can narrow down the parameters of his next questions. 

“Does my next mission involve me killing someone?”

“No.” Even though the Baron felt sketchy, he was always an honest man to all the present company, including the suspicious and blood-abstaining Albert. For now, he trusted the honor among these thieves and gambled that they’re telling the truth. And if they are, then he’d be willing to comply.

He stopped speaking for a full minute so Charlotte had to ask, “Isn’t there supposed to be a third?”

“Don’t remind him!” Oswald’s voice once again annoyed all the living things among the room.

“I mean he’s not an idiot,” Charlotte replied.

Albert interrupted, “I’d save my third question after you brief me. That’s okay, right?”

They all agreed to that condition because this ultimately meant that Albert is on board with whatever they want him to do. The third question will be nothing but be a GPS in a long straight road with unclimbable walls leading to a fix they want.

The seniors held a debate with each other on who to target while Albert sat down besides the shivering GD. “Intense, huh?” he asked.

“Uh huh,” GD.

It’s obvious how he’s new to this as he displayed 11 out of 10 signs of anxiety. Albert just let him be and semi-listened to the very civil arguments of the half of the 12 angry men. They deliberated how they should carry out the plan in their parts while setting sight on a target for Albert. Several names came up; along with a strong intent towards Charles.

They thought that Charles was the one who ordered Caine to start crippling the many-footed yardbird syndicate. So, they thought about targeting him. But they soon realize it will be a vertical uphill climb as there’s some bad blood between Albert and him. 

“Plus, I doubt Albert here can seduce Charles into submission,” Charlotte sneered.

Is that a challenge? Albert thought to himself.

“So, then target someone he can easily do that to,” Roosevelt just grossed Albert out even in his subtle remarks. But he presented a valid point to the table.

A point that everyone recognized. See, even a pig can be right once his lifetime. 

Albert, sensing the close of the end, stood up and presented himself once again at the front of the seniors. He got ready to receive his mission, which was already really obvious to GD, who tossed a dime to wish him well in his mind. 

“Ana Esther Rodrigues. We need her access first if we are to sneak past Charles’ impregnable vaults,” Gustav ordered Albert. He waited for a response.

“Clean, swift and precise.” Albert mellowly chanted the mantra.

“Now that that’s out of the way, my third question is directly addressed towards you Pierre. He had a lot of time to think about the third of the three but his emotions riled him into this one in particular.

“Go on.”

“Did you order Charles to marry Marge?”