August Intruder- Chapter 40- A Haunted House (Patreon)

Melmarc strolled into the office the next morning.

He’d woken up feeling refreshed and ready for another day at the office. His bathroom had its own shower and everything, and a hot one had done him much good. He brushed his teeth, then used the toilet before his shower.

Dressed and ready, he ordered a ride on a popular taxi app, and left his room.

The house was quiet outside his room until he got downstairs.

He found two people on one of the couches. One was Anji, easily recognizable with his gothic hair. The other was a boy he hadn’t yet seen. He kept his hair long and held back in a ponytail, and had a smile that looked very friendly.

“New kid?” the boy asked, still smiling.

Melmarc wasn’t sure if he was the one being asked or if Anji was the one the question was intended for.

He kept quiet and allowed Anji the opportunity to address it.

Anji stared at him for a second before picking it up. “Yeah.”

“So Mr. Hitchcock’s got another minion.” His smile widened. “Or are you one of his case studies?”

Melmarc didn’t like how the boy said it.

It must’ve shown because the boy followed up the statement with another, and very quickly.

“Sorry about that,” he said. “I didn’t mean it that way. It’s just that almost everyone that’s been in this house long enough knows that Nay only has two types of Gifted he helps out. The first are Gifted that are useful to him in some way. I for one, do his laundry. Anji over here helps with hacking services and all around hospitality.”

“Why don’t you tell him my Class while you’re at it,” Anji sighed.

The boy shrugged. “I would, but I’m sure he’ll find out once he runs into Ariadne. She knows everyone’s class. By the way, I’m Nate.”

“He’s Nathaniel,” Anji interrupted. “No one calls him Nate. At least not here.”

That surprised Melmarc. Nate was a short form for Nathaniel, wasn’t it? And wouldn’t it make sense that people would want to use a shorter name when calling their housemates?

“Sorry, but why doesn’t anyone call him Nate?” he asked.

“Because Nay likes everyone to call each other by their complete names.”

“Why?”

“No one knows. Apparently, once upon a time, he stopped by and lost his shit when he found people calling each other by nicknames.”

Anji sighed deeply. “You make him sound like a mad man, Nathaniel.”

“And you follow all is rules like you’re his kid or something.”

“It’s a simple rule. It’s not like he’s asking us to call each other by acronyms or something complicated. Besides, the time he lost his cool was like a few years ago. All we know about what happened is from what someone told us someone told them.”

Melmarc looked between both of them. They spoke like they’d known each other for a while.

I guess they’ve been in this house for at least a month, so that should count for something.

“So no one knows why he has that rule?” he asked.

Anji shook his head. “But if you ask him he’ll tell you that names are important.”

Melmarc waited. It wasn’t like Anji had ended his sentence abruptly, but it felt like there was supposed to be more. Names are important, but why were names that important?

“Anyway,” Nathaniel continued. “Don’t call me Nate in Nay’s presence if you don’t want him to lose his cool. He won’t drive you out or anything, but you don’t want to get on your landlord’s bad side.”

“Wait,” Melmarc said, realizing something. “Does he call all of you by your names?”

Anji and Daniel nodded.

“And you guys call him Nay?”

Again, they nodded.

There was something off about that. If names were important, why did Naymond have them calling him by a nickname and not his own name? And why did he give people a false name? He remembered seeing Naymond’s real name and it wasn’t just Naymond Hitchcock.

What’s up with that?

Was it another Sage thing? Sages weren’t anything truly extraordinary except for their ability to see the forms of skills and their excessive bonus in their intelligence stats. But they were an enigmatic Class in their own right.

“Anyway,” Nathaniel checked his wrist-watch, “I’m guessing you’re one of the mentees from the police office since he works with them now, and he told us we’d be getting new housemates. If you are, I’d say you’re already running late.”

Melmarc knew that, but he couldn’t bring himself to feel like he was really missing anything if he was just going to end up arranging papers in some random office again today.

“There’s food in the kitchen if you’re hungry,” Anji told him. “But be careful. It’s really spicy.”

Melmarc remembered Ariadne telling him the same thing last night. He almost wanted to have a bite to see what they were talking about.

Wait. If they knew Naymond doesn’t like people calling each other by their short names, why did they tell me to call them by their short names?

Ariadne had told him to call her Aria last night, and now Nathaniel had told him to call him Nate. What was that about?

Not wanting to ask more questions than was welcome, he kept the curiosity to himself. He didn’t like not knowing, but sometimes the questions weren’t worth the possible stress.

Instead, he bid them a quick goodbye, and made his way out the door. His taxi was waiting for him.

…

Melmarc walked into the precinct and was greeted by the sight of a smiling Naymond.

“You’re late,” Naymond said, before turning and walking down a path.

Melmarc was expected to follow him, and he did.

“The bed was too comfortable,” he said.

It wasn’t necessarily a lie. The bed had been extremely comfortable. But that wasn’t the reason he was late. If he’d left the house earlier, he would’ve been early. Unfortunately, while he’d timed it well enough to arrive on time, his taxi had run into traffic.

“Of course it was,” Naymond snorted. “Anyway, today you’ve got a special assignment.”

He led Melmarc into an entirely new office that was a flight of stairs above them, making sure not to use the elevator.

Naymond strolled into the office in his deep black suit and equally black hat and made a theatric turn.

“Told you he was around.”

In the office was Alfa, Pelumi, and David Swan, the person he’d chased down just a few days back.

Melmarc was confused by how casually someone who was meant to be some kind of criminal was seated on one of the chairs.

But he never said he was a criminal, Melmarc thought, remembering that all Naymond had done was ask him and Pelumi to catch the man.

“Oh, before I forget.” Naymond held his hand out to him. “Phone, please.”

Melmarc reached into his pocket and paused. Why did the Sage want his phone?

He looked to Alfa for permission, and she nodded.

Pulling out his phone, he handed it over to Naymond.

The Sage took it cheerily and sauntered out of the office. There, he handed it over to a random person that was passing by.

“You’re headed to IT, right?” he told the confused staff. “When you get there, ask specifically for Dinklebottom. It’s not her name, but she’ll know who sent you. Give this to her. Tell her I need the encryption with all the works.”

When he was done, he sent the confused employee on his way. Then he turned back into the office and closed the door behind him.

“Now where were we?”

Alfa sighed.

“Before we begin, Melmarc, I want you to be fully and completely aware that you can always say no,” she said.

Naymond snorted. “Of course Mr. Lockwood can always say no. But mind you, Mr. Lockwood, you shouldn’t always say no. Sometimes an affirmative response is all the reply you need. Yes is positive, and positive is good.”

Melmarc looked between a now scowling Alfa and a cheerful Naymond. Then he looked at Pelumi.

She was seated on the only couch in the office and gave him a shrug that told him she had no idea what was going on.

He looked at David Swan and found the man had nothing but a frown for him. For the man, he gave a small nod of acknowledgement. Considering how deep the frown was, he didn’t think this was the time for apologies.

Maybe later.

“Am I allowed to hear what the request is before I say yes or no?” he asked Alfa.

“Yes,” she said.

“See!” Naymond interjected. “Isn’t a yes oh so beautiful? Imagine how it would’ve felt if she’d said no. It would’ve been wrong, wouldn’t it?”

Alfa pinched the bridge of her nose in exasperation. “Hitchcock, be quiet.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

“Why do you keep him around again?” David asked, his first words since Melmarc had entered the office.

“Because, believe it or not, he’s useful.” Alfa shook her head, then returned her attention to Melmarc. “You remember David, don’t you?”

Melmarc nodded. “I do, and I’m really sorry for hitting you so hard.”

“Hitting me so hard?” David snorted. “You just hit me while I was off balance, that’s why I stumbled that far.”

“Stumbled?” Naymond laughed. “Is that what we’re calling an Olympic class forward dive? Wait, is that a thing? Doesn’t matter. David, you’re a man, accept your actions with pride. You cleared six feet with that dive.”

David held back a frown.

“Are you sure you want to be riling up your mentee’s support right now?” Alfa asked Naymond, glaring at him.

“True.” Naymond adjusted his tie, cleared his throat, and chose silence.

“Good,” Alfa said. “Melmarc, your task today, should you accept it, is to go with Mr. Swan over here. He is currently-and has been for a while—working as Mr. Hitchcock’s C.I on a specific task.”

Melmarc paused. Naymond had him and Pelumi chasing down his C.I like he was some kind of criminal?

He looked at Naymond. That’s just wrong.

“In my defense,” Naymond said, reading his expression. “We had to make it look good.”

“You could’ve told us he was your C.I, though,” Pelumi said.

Alfa dropped her head in her hands. “Of course he didn’t tell you he was his C.I. What was I expecting?”

“I could’ve told her.” Naymond pointed a finger at Pelumi, then pointed at Melmarc. “But this guy would’ve blown the entire thing to smitherings if I’d told him. He can’t fake an expression to save his life.”

“That’s true,” David agreed. “I’ve only been in this room with him for a few minutes and I’ve read all his facial expressions.”

He looked at Alfa. “You sure this is going to work. Personally, I’d pick the African kid.”

Naymond shook his head. “Nope. Some of your colleagues got a good look at her when we came for you.”

“What about the boy?”

“He’s as unseen as love in your life. No one saw him. Made sure of it ourselves.”

Was that why he asked me not to be seen? Melmarc wondered.

“So Melmarc’s our only option,” Alfa said. “As long as he says yes.”

“And what exactly am I saying yes to?”

All three adults looked at each other, then at Melmarc.

“Well,” David began. “There’s this—”

“—Unsavory group that my C.I’s got himself tangled with,” Naymond cut him off. “They aren’t necessarily big and bad, but they know a few big and bads.”

“And what do I have to do on this?” Melmarc asked.

“Simple. You’ll follow our good friend here and help him engage in a courier task.”

Melmarc looked at all three adults. Alfa looked a little too tense for someone sending a mentee to just go pick something up. Naymond looked as casually unbothered as he always was. And David looked skeptical, like it was a task too complicated for Melmarc.

Not too complicated, Melmarc thought. He just doesn’t think I’m the right fit.

Melmarc thought about it for a moment. Did he want to be the right fit?

He had no idea what it was. Courier service meant he could be carrying anything at all. Judging by how the people they’d found David with looked, it could just as easily be something illegal.

C.Is bring criminal activities to the police’s attention, right?

“Stop that.”

Melmarc turned to Naymond. “Stop what?”

“All that thinking. I can literally see you trying to figure out unnecessary things. You’re going to be serving as a short term courier for the space of a couple of days. It’s no biggie.”

Melmarc pointed at the others. “They look like it’s a biggie.”

Naymond followed his fingers, saw the others’ expressions and shook his head in disappointment.

“Detective Alfa looks like that because she never likes the idea of sending a mentee unsupervised to do anything. Even if it’s something as little as getting a cup of water from the dispenser. And David over here’s just holding a grudge because of what you did to him.”

“No, I’m not,” David protested.

“Bottom line,” Naymond continued, ignoring David. “You aren’t doing anything dangerous. David’s going to take you to a house, there’ll be a few other kids there, you’ll pick up a package and deliver it to a specific location.”

“Sounds dangerous.”

Naymond threw his hands up. “How?”

“Someone’s going to take me to a ‘house’ where I’m going to pick up a ‘package’ with a few other kids and then proceed to deliver it to a specific ‘location.’”

Naymond opened his mouth, then closed it. He puckered his lips in thought. “When you put it that way it sounds very dangerous.”

Melmarc wasn’t trying to be difficult. But everything about the task was too vague. Where was this house? Who owned it? At least, what was its purpose? Then there was the question of what exactly the package was. Not to talk about where he was taking it to.

It wasn’t his fault that he liked to know as much as he could about what he was getting into. And why had Pelumi barely said a word?

Because there are three adults, and they are talking to me not her?

“What if we told you it would be in your best interest if you didn’t know more about this?” Naymond asked.

Melmarc shook his head. “Only makes it worse.”

“What if we told you what it was and said you weren’t allowed to open it?” David asked.

Melmarc thought about it. He might’ve believed them if they’d started with that, but now it just felt like they were telling him that they were going to lie to him and he just had to accept it. Not believe them, just accept it.

He’d been standing for a while now, but the entire thing was beginning to sound like a heavy responsibility. It bothered him.

But in Naymond’s favor, he felt less likely to say no.

If it was this important, somebody had to do it. Clearly, from what Naymond had said, Pelumi couldn’t do it. And if they were asking him, it meant none of them could do it.

They need someone young. Someone like one of the mentees.

“Have you asked the others?” he asked them. “I’m sure one of them would be happy to help.”

Jeremy, the lancer, looked like he would be more than happy to engage in something like this. Especially if there was going to be a lot of fighting.

Alfa looked at David and the C.I shook his head. “Their faces are already common.”

Melmarc couldn’t help but frown at that as he took a seat on the couch. Pelumi shifted to make sufficient room for him.

Their faces are too common? What does that mean?

He looked at Naymond in sudden realization. “You knew.”

Naymond gave him a cheery smile, but didn’t comment on it.

Alfa wasn’t so stingy with her words.

“Knew what?”

Melmarc suddenly felt tense, like he’d said something he wasn’t supposed to. But how was he supposed to handle this situation? They were claiming that they’d just found out about this operation that required a young mentee who was not known by the general populace of bad guys to do.

But was it really true? Had they just found out?

Melmarc thought back to his last few days here. Naymond had done nothing but keep them locked up in the building even when the other detectives had gone out of their way to take their mentees on the road.

He also kept switching offices every day. Was he making it hard for anyone with real authority to find us and make him take us out?

There were too many questions. One of which was ‘why?’

Was this all part of some plan concocted by Naymond from the very beginning? Sages were smart, very intelligent even, but were they that smart?

There was also the thing he’d done when they’d gone chasing Swan, predicting exactly how everyone was going to react based on what events took place.

“He’s doing it again,” Naymond sighed.

Melmarc ignored him. Something told him that asking questions wouldn’t get him answers. Still, there were questions, and he wasn’t one to not ask them.

But there was also the part of getting Naymond in trouble. Sometimes… no, all the time, he behaved as if the very idea of it was impossible. But it was, right? Alfa was his superior.

How would she feel if it all was actually planned?

Alright, Mel. What do we know? Mr. Hitchcock has kept us from going out since we joined. When we went out, it was only to get Mr. Swan. He told me to make sure only Mr. Swan saw me.

He looked at Naymond. “I went through a small warehouse when I was chasing Mr. Swan. They would’ve seen my face.”

Naymond waved the statement aside. “Those guys work in a completely different industry from Mr. Swan’s friends so we have nothing to worry about on that front.”

“What do you mean they do something different?” Alfa asked him. Then she turned to Swan. “I thought your dr—business is the only one currently going on in that part of town. Is there something the both of you are keeping from me?”

David raised his hands in defense. “Don’t look at me. I tell him everything. It’s not my fault if he doesn’t tell you everything.”

Alfa frowned. “Hitchcock, speak.”

“The circumference of the sun is in proper diameter with the circumference of the earth when mapped against the relative positioning of dimensions in the second atmosphere.”

Everybody looked at Naymond.

“What?” Pelumi asked, as confused as everyone else.

“She asked me to speak.” Naymond shrugged. “It was either that or recite a verse of Edgar Allen Poe in A-minor.”

Melmarc shook his head. “Poe’s works were write-ups not musical notes.”

“Exactly why it would be fun to do it in A-minor. Because it’s never been done before.”

“Hitchcock,” Alfa insisted.

“Alright, alright.” Naymond walked around the office in slow strides. “Let’s just say that this is not completely a surprise for me.”

Alfa’s brows furrowed.

“I said not completely,” Naymond said. “I mean, there are some parts that are a surprise, but not all of it. I had a feeling they would need couriers at some point. They do have to make a fair exchange. Middle man and all that.”

Alfa turned to David. “And when was I going to be informed of all this?”

“Again,” David pointed at Naymond, “I’m his C.I.”

Alfa groaned, then placed her head in her hand. “I swear it’s like working with kids.”

Pelumi opened her mouth, then closed it.

Probably a better option, Melmarc thought. After all, right now she was about to be working with children.

A child, to be more specific.

“You know more than you’re saying,” Alfa said suddenly, turning to Naymond.

“Oh, sweet detective.” Naymond cackled theatrically. “I know so many things. But on this matter… You’re right. I do know more than I’m telling you.”

Melmarc looked between the both of them, unsure of their dynamic. Alfa was his boss. That much was clear. Right?

So why doesn’t she exact authority?

Ark was older than he was, yet he was always one to speak up when Ark was being a bit too much, to him and or other people.

And Hitchcock and the others are being a bit too much. So why haven’t you said anything?

Melmarc didn’t have the answer to that. And he didn’t like it. He really hoped that this was going to be a one-time thing.

David looked at Melmarc, then at Naymond. “You guys really got to teach this kid how to have a poker face. It’s like his got the best facial communication skills there is.”

“I know,” Naymond said casually. “You should play charades with the kid. You can’t lose.”

“So… back on topic.” Naymond spun, headed for the door and opened it. “In three, two, one.”

The same staff that he’d handed Melmarc’s phone walked up to the door with the phone in hand.

“Oh, thank you, Gerrard. You’re a life saver.” Naymond took the device from the staff. “And I will see you for our next scheduled appointment.”

The staff looked completely confused as Naymond closed the door in her face quite gently.

“Now where was I?” He spun back to them. “Oh, yes. On topic. Here’s the works, Mr. Lockwood. Have I told you that you have quite the lovely family name. Sounds old. Like old name. The kind you hear on people from old money. Are you from old money per chance?”

Melmarc shook his head. He didn’t think he was.

His dad’s mother and father lived on the other side of the country and they often called them on video calls every now and again. His mother’s parents had passed a few years back, before the attack.

And from what he knew, his dad’s parents weren’t rich, or anything of the sort. They were simple people, not Gifted, living simple lives.

“No matter.” Naymond handed him his phone. “All I’m saying is that while this… duty… may feel worrying, it is not. Ms. Pelumi over there could do it with her eyes closed. And you could do it better and faster with your eyes open.”

Melmarc took the phone and immediately paused. He was stuck in the process of putting it back in his pocket. He wasn’t exactly sure what it was, but something felt off. Like…

He wasn’t necessarily sure what it was. It was like a bad haircut, knowing the barber had somehow messed up without even looking at the hair. He looked down at his phone and knew the problem was with the device.

But what was it?

He frowned, growing uncomfortable. It was just… wrong. That was the best way he could describe it. So rather than put it in his pocket, he placed it on the couch.

Pelumi gave him a strange look, split it between him and the phone on the couch, but said nothing.

When they returned their attention to the conversation, Alfa looked like she was deep in thought as Naymond spoke. Her eyes didn’t dart around. They simply stared at nothing as a frown creased her lips and slowly spread all around her face.

Melmarc had a feeling she was putting pieces together.

Either that or she’s reading one or two notifications.

Now that Melmarc thought about it, there wasn’t very much in the way of finding Gifted who kept staring at the air, reading and learning a thing or two from their notifications.

David chose his moment to interrupt Naymond while Naymond had ventured into a subject of friendship and comraderie to be found in tough times. Why was he talking about that? Melmarc had no idea.

“If I may.” David raised a hand.

Naymond paused, then shrugged. “Go for it.”

“How about you play supervisor?” David said.

“How?” Naymond shook his head. He took his hat off and placed it on the table just beside Alfa. “You know I could never.”

Melmarc watched Naymond smile. It was slow, and wide.

“I mean,” Naymond continued, his expression not matching his words. “Everyone already knows me. And who would I go as. I’m a guy with countless pairs of suits, not a casual clothing to my name. I could claim to be his butler but that would be too high class.”

He adjusted his suit, gave a practiced bow as would be expected of a trained butler. Then he shook his head.

“No, no, no. That would not work.” His expression turned thoughtful, yet excited. “I could be a fixer. Hired in the event of a problem. Or an overseer for the black-axe. Sent to ensure everything goes according to plan. I could have my own thing. Mr. Sunny Altwich.” He made a theatrical gesture as if at a sign board. “Overseer extraodinaire.”

Pelumi bumped Melmarc’s shoulder and he looked at her.

“He really likes to hear himself talk, doesn’t he?” she laughed quietly.

Melmarc responded with a gentle smile. She was right. Naymond certainly did.

Unfortunately, he couldn’t fully appreciate her joke. He was more worried about the task being given to him. Was he going to take it? He wasn’t going to say no at this point. Yes, they made the task sound very shady, but the fact that Alfa had even considered it made it sound necessary.

Also, they were the police. So while it might be dangerous, despite their best attempts to assure him that it was not, it was definitely legal.

Alfa was still thinking. She had a full facial scowl that was now turning angry. Beside her, Naymond was silently contemplating what possible role he could play. He was currently on the role of a street begger with way too much information.

It made it hard to believe he was taking this seriously.

As for David, the C.I, he just sat there on the table, quiet.

Something about Naymond’s thoughtfulness was rubbing Melmarc the wrong way. It didn’t necessarily feel bad. Just wrong.

“Motherfucker!” Alfa hissed suddenly.

Then she rounded on Naymond and shoved him into the wall.

“Language, detective,” Naymond chided.

David shifted slightly where he was seated and Alfa pointed a warning finger at him.

“You move and I’ll shoot you in the back. Twice.”

David turned as still as a statue.

Alfa turned back to Naymond who was smiling in her hold.

“I should’ve known.” The anger in her voice was clear. “This has you written all over it. Just last two weeks Jake was talking about how drug activities had taken a very silent turn amongst the Gifted recently. Then the old crew down south suddenly went out of business. The entire crew gone. Just like that.”

Naymond shrugged. “A stroke of luck?”

“Miss me with that bullshit. David, when did the Black Axe make contact? And don’t you dare lie to me.”

“About a month ago,” David answered. “They made contact with at least three crews from what I heard.”

“And then the crews started disappearing.”

Melmarc had no idea what was going on. Not that it surprised him.  He’d been here barely a week.

As for the accusations Alfa was leveling, he found himself wondering what exactly she was accusing Naymond of.

It couldn’t be of taking down three gangs, right? He was a Sage. His class wasn’t combat oriented. Yes, they were all non-Gifted, but still…

“He could if he put his mind to it,” Pelumi said, as if reading his thoughts.

“You think so?” he asked, skeptical. “Sages don’t fight on the front line. Most of them don’t fight at all.”

“But he could if he wanted to.”

“Yes, he could.” It was Alfa who answered. “Naymond has already proven on multiple occasions that he’s not like most Sages.”

She let him go with a resigned sigh and stepped back.

Naymond adjusted his suit. “I guess I will not be going undercover, then.”

Alfa shook her head. “If you have your grubby hands all over this, then I’m sure important people are interested in this thing. So no, you won’t be going undercover. However, you will be playing an active role. Melmarc.”

Melmarc perked up at his name. “Yes, ma’am.”

It was instinctual. He hadn’t even thought about it, he’d just answered.

“I would not put this on you if it wasn’t very important.” She looked like the words were going to make her throw up. “However, if Hitchcock says it’s safe, then it is. I can vouch for him on at least that. He’s a lot of things, but a liar isn’t one of them.”

That was a quick turn-around, considering she’d been shoving him against the wall just a few seconds ago.

“Uhh.” Naymond looked around her to Melmarc. “I’m actually a liar. And a very proficient one at that. I could sell my grandma and convince the seller that it’s my grandpa.”

No one answered him. Melmarc was confused.

“Aren’t you the seller?” he asked.

Naymond smiled cheerily. “My point exactly.”

It didn’t do anything to help Melmarc’s confusion, but he let it go. He had a feeling further conversation would do nothing but confuse him.

Naymond was only understood when he wanted to be understood.

“So the kid’s doing it?” David asked.

Alfa nodded. “He’s our best shot at this.”

“Our only shot, actually,” Naymond said.

Pelumi raised her hand.

Naymond smiled at her. “Yes, Ms. Pelumi.”

“Not to step on any toes, but why am I here if you only need Marc?”

“Because I was initially going to use you to appeal to his masculine ego to want to impress you. I was wondering why the both of you didn’t come in together today, but I figured it wouldn’t change much. Boys his age have always been interested in impressing the girl.”

It’s official, Melmarc thought. I don’t think I like him.

“Hitchcock,” Alfa said.

“Yes, detective.”

“Shut up.”

Alfa turned to Pelumi. “He’s ranting a lot but that’s not the reason you’re here. Melmarc’s task is supposed to take place in a few hours, and David’s the one driving him.”

Melmarc and Pelumi waited.

“Your job,” Alfa continued, “is to sit in the back seat of the car and ensure that David drives Melmarc to this location and drops him off without a problem.”

She handed Pelumi a piece of paper which the girl took. When she opened it, it was a picture of a house with an address scribbled at the bottom.

Melmarc grimaced. “That’s where I’m going?”

The building looked like some abandoned house children would dare each other to go into just for kicks and giggles.

“Looks like a haunted house,” Pelumi said.

Naymond snorted. “Haunted by incompetent wannabe gangsters, at best.”

Alfa shot him a look.

“What? Don’t tell me you really believe that group of riff-raffs are really gangsters. In my days we’d wipe the floor with all of them, then mop it with what’s left.”

“Hitchcock!” Alfa snapped, then sighed. “Sometimes it’s like I’m working with a child.”

Naymond merely shrugged and kept quiet.

Melmarc took the chance to point out the issue that had been bothering him with his phone.

He picked the phone from where he’d placed it and held it up. Just touching it was giving him some level of discomfort. But he knew it was mainly the discomfort of not knowing.

“Who’s phone is this?” he asked.

Pelumi looked at it. “Yours.”

Melmarc shook his head.

Naymond smiled at him. “You don’t think the phone’s yours?”

Melmarc shook his head again.

“Why?”

Melmarc couldn’t say exactly why he thought it wasn’t his phone. He just knew it wasn’t. It was like putting on a shirt that was perfectly identical to yours and knowing it wasn’t yours. Maybe because it didn’t fit just right or it smelled just wrong.

It was something. He was sure of it. The problem was that he just didn’t know what it was.

“Interesting,” Naymond mused. “So you don’t know how you know, but you just know.”

Melmarc nodded. “Yes.”

“What are the chances that it’s a side-effect of your skill or due to your stats?”

“My skill is making me suspect things that may or may not be?” Melmarc didn’t like the sound of that. He hadn’t even heard of side-effects of skills.

He knew of draw-backs like cool downs for skills but not side effects that happened even without using the skill.

Also, even without proof he felt too certain of it. The phone wasn’t his. Just to be sure, he unlocked the display and scrolled his way to his pictures.

Three thousand, two hundred and fifty-six. Sounds about right.

He didn’t have an exact number of how many pictures he had, but he knew it was around that number. Was he wrong?

He opened the picture folder while Naymond watched him with an intrigued smile.

David wasn’t as interested. “Do we really have time for—”

“Shush.” Naymond waved him down. “This is more important to me than your little make believe gangsters.”

Melmarc opened his pictures and found they were basically what were supposed to be there. He rarely took pictures of himself, and when he did, it was usually either his brother or Delano behind the camera, taking the pictures of him. So his gallery consisted mostly of memes and internet pictures.

Wait a minute.

He scrolled further. The memes and internet pictures would be the same, but what about the few individual pictures, the personalized ones?

Why am I hung up on this? He asked himself as he scrolled.

When he found some personalized pictures, he stopped on one of them. Then he turned it for the others to see. “What the hell?”

On his phone was a picture of him and two guys he’d never seen in his life, standing in front of a building he’d never been to before.

“That,” Naymond announced happily. “Is state of the art editing tech.”

Melmarc looked back at the picture. “And these guys are?”

“No idea.” Naymond shrugged. “AI generated? Slave workers in the gulf of Venezuela? Children of one or more of our beautiful employees?”

Alfa groaned. “God I hope not. We don’t need a Norbert travesty all over again.”

Melmarc looked between the both of them. “What’s the Norbert travesty?”

“Some IT guy didn’t want to go through the whole research for buildings and faces, so he just edited in media and contacts from the people he knew.” Naymond shrugged. “In his defense it was a last minute thing, so… not entirely his fault.”

Melmarc panicked for a moment. “You guys edited my phone?”

Pelumi shook her head in disappointment. “Not cool.”

“Are you guys kidding me?” David looked from one person in the room to the other. “What kind of pampering shit is this. When did people start questioning operations like this. You’ve got kids asking you questions they shouldn’t—”

“Enough!” Alfa hissed. “You, David. This is not some stupid gang were you get teethed when you ask too many questions, so not a word from you about how I train the kids. And no, Melmarc. We didn’t edit your phone. That’s just a clone. A perfect copy of your device with similar but entirely different pieces of information.”

Naymond nodded, then came to squat in front of Melmarc while Melmarc wondered what exactly it meant to be teethed. This was the second time he was hearing it, and not in a positive light.

“If you look through it,” Naymond said, “you’ll see that a lot of things are similar. You are still the same person in every picture you’ve taken. We’ve just swapped out the background and the people in it. Your contacts are also different.”

Melmarc quickly went to his contacts. He scrolled straight to Ark’s and checked the digits.

“You changed my brother’s number?” He scrolled to Dorthna, then Ninra, then his dad’s. “Are any of my contacts still here?”

“Yes.” Naymond winced. “And no.”

Melmarc took a deep breath, calmed himself. They were asking him to go and do something that was already questionable. And on top of that, they were completely disconnecting him from everyone he knew.

What if something went wrong?

“So where’s my phone?” he asked.

“It’s with IT,” Alfa answered. “I’ll have someone bring it over, and you’ll get it once you’re back.”

Melmarc wasn’t sure if they knew, but this made the task seem all the more dangerous. Why were they taking his phone away? And why were they giving him a fake one?

“It’s just a precaution,” Naymond said.

“Sounds like more than a precaution.” Melmarc looked through some other contacts. The names were the same but it wasn’t like he knew all the numbers on his phone. It was the reason he’d checked only the ones he knew. “Did they change all the numbers?”

Naymond nodded. “But they left your playlist alone, if that’s any consolation.”

Melmarc wasn’t sure what that had to do with anything.

“Anyway,” Naymond continued. “My contact is saved under Mr. Lockwood and the detective’s saved under Mrs. Lockwood.”

“Isn’t that a bit strange?” Melmarc looked between the both of them. “I mean, you guys saving your numbers under my parents.”

“What’s strange,” David said, “is you saving your parents names under anything but mom and dad.”

Melmarc had a feeling there was supposed to be some kind of complaint in there, or berating of some kind. Whichever one it was, he didn’t care. David was not the first person to make that comment.

Alfa clapped her hand to get everyone’s attention back.

“Now that I have your attention,” she said, when she had it. “If you need anything, Melmarc, you can call us. If the task begins to feel too heavy, you can just not deliver the package. It’s not important enough to cause a problem. Now, if we’re all good, can we get back to other tasks?”

“I’ll like to brief the boy on what he should and shouldn’t do during the whole thing,” David said. “If that’s okay.”

“Of course it is.” Naymond picked up his hat and placed it on his head. “And I’ll be here to listen to the whole thing. Ms. Pelumi, too.”

Then he took a quick look at his phone, turned to Alfa and tapped his empty wrist.

If he had the luxury of wearing a complete three-piece suit everyday, Melmarc figured he should be more than able to get a wrist-watch.

Or does he have something agains wrist-watches?

“Alright, guys.” Alfa got up from the table and made her way for the door. “Remember, this is important, but not so important that we can’t keep the investigation going without it.”

Then she left the four of them alone in the room.

Pelumi looked around at the remaining people in the room. She had a confused expression.

When she saw Melmarc looking at her, she asked, “Is it just me or did you not say yes, but everyone’s just acting like you did.”

He noticed that, too. But he didn’t really mind. It wasn’t like he hadn’t already accepted the task. Instead, he was more interested in what Naymond had insinuated about his skill being the reason he knew the phone wasn’t his.

How exactly did that work?