Yet Another Spoiled Mood

The whole office of Marco was filled with rusty, but surprisingly restored devices, that looked like they were in use for torture. This was not far-fetched from the truth, since at a closer look there could be seen thick lobotomy needles, restraint collar and chains, as well as a chair reminiscent of the iron chair, but without spikes. From the single thought of their usage as well as the nasty smell of blood and sweat that they were soaked in for years, Eugene's stomach protested, but he restrained his gut and barely managed to hold his breakfast inside.

His companion, on the other hand, did not bat an eye at the presence of these devices of agony. Her attention instead was on Marco, who jogged towards his working table and hid inside the drawer everything that was on top of it, lobotomy needles broken in half, new looking medical equipment and some documents. Afterwards, he sat on the table and pointed to the empty sofa across the room, "You can sit right there."

"Are you planning on reopening the insane asylum complex with all of these… gadgets?" wondered la Avise while the two of them followed Marco's offer to sit down.

"Of course not!" Marco laughed off her assumption, but then scratched the nape of his neck in doubt, "You are not from the inspection, right?"

La Avise shook her head and Eugene mumbled, "Why would you even think that?"

"I was sure about you, but not about the lady. This is the reason I did not really want to let you in. This sight would be really confusing and provoke some questions."

"Afraid of the interrogation, I see. Unlucky for you, I am quite interested to hear the story of why your cabinet is overflowed by them." the lady crossed her hands in contempt. Eugene was eager to ask the same question, but could find a way to make it more politely, thus he was thankful that this woman pressed his brother's pal.

So far, it looked like a weird passion of his, since no one in their right mind would not try to decorate his clean office with old equipment for per se torture. There were enough of revelations Eugene experienced for these couple of days, and Marco of all people having this sort of fetish would be a last straw for him. And so, when Marco opened his mouth to defend himself, Eugene was prepared to just flow with the stream.

"Well, your brother knows about it anyway, so I will tell you, but I beg you to not spread the word about it, OK? As you probably know, this wing was occupied by insane asylum and many equipments were left behind unwanted after the hospital was expanded through the whole building. Higher ups did even try to resell it or do something about it, they just left it slowly rot in the basement and spread nasty rumours of this wing. And I thought if nobody needs them, then why don't I find a new home for these? Of course, for an extra cash, as hell, I would give out these relics for free! In the end, someone's rubbish might prove to be a gold for the other. You only have to search for this kind of idiot."

Eugene sighed in relief, even though his cause is not noble, he is at least not trying to play along with this crazy case Eugene has experienced so far. The lady, on the other hand, squinted at Marco and wondered, "And who are you reselling these devices to?"

"I am sorry, but a good businessman does not share with his sources of income. By the way, who even are you? I do not remember Chris sharing about someone this importunate."

La Avise frowned at his question, but before she was able to hiss out her complaint, Eugene intervened, sharing his gaze to both Marco and his companion, "In short, she is an acquaintance of mine who is helping us with one case…" Eugene doubted his words, but then proceeded now looking straight into Marco's eyes, "Listen, I really need your help! Starting from yesterday, my brother disappeared together with my friend."

Marco was taken aback from this sudden revelation, but after a second he causally laughed off Eugene's request, "The friend you are talking about is Douglas perhaps? Relax, man! Your brother is on holiday right now! They are probably partying in some place."

"No, I do not think so." murmured Eugene, still doubting himself, "I was ill for a couple of days and Christopher was taking care of me. It would really be out of his character to simply disappear after everything was revealed to me."

Marco hummed at Eugene's statement, but he still was not taking the situation seriously. The more he thinks about it, the more it feels like a total farce. What if his brother and friend indeed are wandering around the city and this woman's servant perhaps got lost? Paris is a massive and at places confusing city, after all. Especially for the ones who are not living here.

But before Eugene could accept this scenario, the woman spoke once again, "For now, let's put aside this situation and talk about the "Death Surgeon" incident."

Upon hearing this nickname, Marco's smile immediately dropped, and he glanced over Eugene. But upon examining his calmness mixed with unease, Marco sighed, "So, you already know."

Then he exchanged his look with the woman and continued, "Well, it were still my holidays when the incident happened. So I am not the one you should ask about how Chris managed to… wound this man."

"Do you want to tell us that you were not present at the hospital during that day?"

Marco raised his brow and scratched the nape of his neck, "Well, I was here but just briefly. I had to take my wife's medical papers that she forgot here before our trip to Denmark. Would you like to see her medical record?" grinned Marco and stood up.

"There is no need for that. Were you here in the morning?"

"Yeah, why are you even asking that?"

"Do not worry, I am just making sure that you could not possibly meet up with Christopher on that day. Maybe you are indeed quite a useless witness."

"And this one was quite harsh," cackled Marco, but then noticed that lady's sight was still on him. Eugene turned to her, but she ignored him, instead asking yet another question, "So you had not met with Christopher at that day."

Marco scratched his neck yet again and then exclaimed in impatience, "Listen, I honestly do not remember! Maybe I did, maybe I did not, but that does not change the fact of it being my day off. Or do you think I attached goddamn strings to Chris and slayed this politician?"

"Marco, why are you so angry?" wondered Eugene, making the man calm down a little, and then he apologized, "I am sorry, this is just not a matter to joke about. Miss… whoever you are. This is not nice to just interrogate people out of the blue, especially if a tragedy like this has happened. I have no idea how it happened, I am feeling bad for the victim, but also for Christopher. I knew him for a long while, in the end we went to college together. No way in hell he would kill someone! But if you want to learn more, then ask him directly, I have nothing to do with this case."

Marco walked towards the door and left it wide open to see his guests off. Now he exchanged looks with Eugene, they both felt a sense of fury in each others' eyes and not towards each other, but rather the one who started it. The woman departed from the room after Eugene. There was not any sign of doubt or regret on her face, just a void that was lacking emotions, just like a doll. However, she gave off a wry smile and calm words of gratitude to Marco right before he closed the door.

"You just need to spite him even more, right?" disappointedly asked Eugene.

"Is not it a common act of comity and smile and thank someone for their hospitality?"

"Whatever," snorted Eugene and hid his hands in the pockets, "Are you satisfied with destroying the mood of yet another person?"

The woman smiled yet again, but this time with a sense of playfulness like a cat that found a clew in a drawer, "Indeed I am, he was quite a talkative lad."

"Great," sighed Eugene in regret, and with a lack of enthusiasm asked when they were getting into the car, "So where are we heading next, madam?"

"Among all places that were named by Vera, there was one that caught my attention. Bar "Samuel", it was visited by my servant yesterday, but since he did not come back, it would not hurt to go there again. Perhaps, we will find a clue or a direction where we should look for the Death Surgeon next. Do you know where is this place?"

"Honestly speaking, I have no idea."

The woman frowned at him again, slightly improving Eugene's mood, "Fantastic, then I shall take a role of navigator."

The two departed from the hospital without interrogating any other soul, which appeared to be quite odd to Eugene. In the end, there must be a lot of people who were present there on the day of the tragedy. The man began regretting his decision to help this gal with the investigation, her presence does not feel too reassuring, not after she pissed off his brother's colleague. Or perhaps, he simply can't comprehend her stream of thoughts. Either way, there is no reason to ditch her yet, since he needs to talk to his brother about this occurrence, and she is more than willing to help with this task. Maybe if he follows the destructive tide this woman creates, he would be able to reach his answers.