A Gentleman's Game

Alan Detimis' house, Everleason, 5:17 P.M

Daniel parked his cherry red vehicle in a paid parking spot and he went over to the ticket dispenser, he scanned his FORMAL card. But because he was off duty the ticket machine didn't give him a free ticket, instead it asked him how long he'd like his ticket to last. Daniel put in an hour, typically you'd pay $1.50 per hour for parking, but because Dan scanned his FORMAL card it was discounted all the way down to 25c, and this is in the Rhombodian universal currency. Daniel inputted a Rhombodian 50c coin and got two coins back and a ticket for one hour.

Daniel crossed over the road to Alan's house. It was blue and one story tall. There was a large date palm half a meter from the mailbox. The mailbox looked like the thinker and his garage had a rainbow upon it. The door was a matte black colour. Daniel approached, crossing the grey cobblestone path as he did.

Dan knocked on the door and heard someone close the back door, it wasn't very loud, but Daniel heard it.

The sound of heavy footsteps approached the door. There was a peephole in the door and the man behind the door instantly noticed the EPD uniform. Daniel could feel an angry scowl from the face behind the door, but no chills ran down his spine.

"Sorry, but I don't like talking to cops." The voice behind the door announced. He was angry.

"Are you Alan Detimis?" Daniel inquired.

"Are you deaf? I don't talk to the police." Alan replied slowly as if he was speaking to a foreigner who didn't have a good grasp of the local language.

"My name is Daniel Smith. I'm not on duty, I swear." Dan stated calmly.

"Daniel Smith? As in Dr. D. S. Smith?" Alan inquired in a slightly less angry tone.

"That's what it says on my hat. Not the Dr part, but the rest is there." Dan stated, he removed his hat and waved it at the peephole.

"May I see your badge?"

Daniel took his badge off his shirt and held it out. Alan opened the door and took the badge gently and closed the door behind him. He locked the door and went over to the computer. He went to FORMAL's webpage and put in the number on the badge. He was surprised to see that Daniel Smith was registered as a worker with FORMAL, a member of the EPD.

Alan returned to the door and opened it wide. What Dan saw was a pale grey haired disheveled man. He was wearing gardening gloves and neon green overalls. He was covered from his stomach to his shoes in high quality soil and a slight scent of fertiliser wafted from him. He, of course, realised that he could potentially make Daniel uncomfortable.

"Come in." Alan stated. Now that his voice wasn't muffled by a door, Daniel could hear it sounded slightly younger than the man who it belonged to. "I'll go get cleaned up. Oh, here." He passed the badge back to Daniel. There was a bit of dirt upon it. "There's some shoe polish in the cupboard beside the trap door into my basement." He gestured behind him.

Daniel nodded. "Thank you." Dan entered the abode and proceeded to the cupboard mentioned above and took out the shoe polish. He removed a monogrammed handkerchief from his rear right pocket on his pants and cleaned his badge as his host walked past him and to the bathroom which was two doors from the back door.

Daniel looked around, there was many pictures of Alan's child around, but none of them contained Alissa in them. They were all from before the year-long period for which Micheal and Alissa were together. Daniel had to wonder why it took one year for someone to do something about the relationship between Micheal and Alissa.

Daniel guessed that on that day seven years ago that Alissa wasn't the only one who got a broken heart. Alissa was still alone. She had been sending letters to Daniel. Daniel felt like she wanted closure. If Dan could figure out this complex matter, he knew that it would finally help all involved move on.

Daniel noticed that there was a suede couch that was the same colour as David Lancer's famous overcoat. Daniel remembered that he was actually taking care of David's umbrella for a little while. But Dan was sure that it would be safe. Damien might have been looking in on it every now and then. After all, it was iconic, just like Dan is never seen anywhere without his hat, David is barely seen without his umbrella, or his suede light brown overcoat, or a magical cigarette in his mouth.

Daniel closed the shoe polish and placed it on the yellow coffee table in front of the suede couch. He pinned his badge back onto the right breast pocket of his EPD uniform. He couldn't put it on his duty belt as it goes against the uniform policy. I.e when a member of police is in uniform, then they must wear it in a certain way or you will get paid $2 less per hour for the day.

Daniel wasn't on duty, but he prefers to be proper regardless of the circumstances. It wasn't long until Alan returned to him. He had removed his overall's and changed his pants, he now smelt of roses and gardenias. His work gloves had also been removed from his hands.

"You're Elizabeth Everstone's husband, right?" Alan asked as he sat beside Daniel.

"That's right. Did you hear the news about her?" Dan asked.

"Yes. The whole planet was devastated, but they moved on."

"Really. Eliza always struck me as someone who wasn't always popular. She didn't sing or dance or act. In fact, I don't know what her job was, I felt like it wasn't my business to stick my nose in. She always asked about me. She is so selfless." Dan stated.

"Did she awaken?"

Dan had a stunned expression. "As a matter of fact, she awoke earlier today, I was the first to get the news. How did you figure it out."

"I'm not a single man myself. The way you talked about her, the way your face looked and your eyes told me you were speaking with a heart that wasn't heavy with despair, and you said 'she is so selfless.' You wouldn't say is, unless she was awake."

"Who's the real detective here." Dan laughed. "So where is your wife?"

"She's in Japan. She's been there for the last seven years. I wouldn't be surprised if she forgot about me and moved on to another man."

"Is she aware of your son's passing?"

"No. She was with her side of the family when he was assassinated, I got her a ticket for a morning trip to Japan on the chaos train so I could have time to hide the truth from her. If she knew, she'd probably end up in the Everleason psychological hospital. The whole affair filled me with anger and I drove Alissa away. So, Eliza told you he didn't go missing?"

"She did."

"Alissa must have told her. How is Alissa?"

"She bought a house in New Orleans. I get letters from her every now and then. Even though it's all just handwritten, I can feel she is wracked with guilt. I wish to help her. I've noticed you don't have a single photo of her anywhere in this house."

"They are here. I keep them with him." Alan stated.

"I see. You placed them with Micheal. What happened back then?"

"I'm not sure. They climbed up to the roof using the garage, it has a very robust rooftop despite current appearances. I was here drinking beer, watching 'A q of Frost.' Suddenly I heard Alissa wail 'no!' I went outside and I saw my son on the ground facing toward the moon. I'll never forget that. Never. I turned him over and removed the bullet, and it was from a sniper rifle. That's when I knew someone had assassinated my son."

"You recognised the bullet?"

"I used to own a gun shop. After my son's death I sold the business and broke my lease. I don't know who runs the property now. It's been so long; I don't even remember where my storefront was."

"I see. There's one more thing I'm curious of."

"What is it?"

"Why would you let me in?"

"The other members of the Everstone family trust you. If not, you wouldn't still be living at that mansion while you're in Everleason."

"How did you get that information?"

"I know I told Alissa to get lost, but later I realised it might not have really been her fault. She was with my son a whole year before he was killed. There must be another reason. I've been keeping contact with her for the last five years. She informed me that you still had a room in Everstone manor."

"I see. Is there anything else you'd like to add?"

"As a matter a fact, yes there is. My son is in the basement."

Daniel was surprised at this. "Really? For seven long years? Have you been keeping him on ice to prevent decay?"

"No, even the coldest area of Alminier can only prevent decay for only a certain amount of time. I used magic to prevent decay. He is as he was when I found him. Except I faced him toward the ceiling."

"May I have a look?"

"Certainly, if you think it helps."

Daniel and Alan got up; Alan led Daniel to the trapdoor. Alan opened the trapdoor and let Daniel go down first.

The basement was surprisingly modern looking, if not a bit futuristic. The walls had tiles instead of what basement walls generally look like. There was a marble slate in the middle of the room with a dead body upon it. The boy on the slate looked like he only died yesterday. There was a mural on the wall behind the slate. An image based on a picture of the last smile Alan caught on film. There was an open barrel close to the slate, it was filled to the brim with images of Micheal with Alissa.

"Where's the bullet?" Daniel inquired.

"It's over here." Alan stated and took a little bag from behind a vase of daffodils. He passed it to Daniel.

"Oh my." Daniel stated.

"What is it?"

"Well, Edgar has a personal assassin. Mitchel Burner. This bullet did not come from any of his weapons." Daniel remarked.

"Are you sure?"

"I've met him several times even before I became a detective. He's more personable as well. I don't think he has ever used a sniper rifle. In fact, for all the years I've known him, and I have seen his personal weapon's room once, his never once owned a sniper rifle. If he was going to kill you, he'd get up close and personal. So, I think that it was another assassin that took out your son."

Alan nodded. "I see. But why one year after Alissa and he started dating?"

"I'm not sure yet. Do you mind if I take this with me?"

"I suppose. But I don't think the rest of the EPD will assist you in this matter. After all, what police officer would want to look into a killing where money changed hands?"

"I'm doing that particular thing now, ain't I? Whether or not money changed hands or not, murder is murder. The person who hired the assassin is just as guilty as the assassin. We may not be able to touch the assassin but we can arrest the one who hired them."

"You're rather old for naïveté."

Daniel shook his head. "Are you having trouble believing that one cannot reach my age without losing all hope for the world? I'm a detective. A little naïveté is to be expected, no?"

"Whatever you say."

"I believe I'm done here." Daniel tipped his hat and climbed the ladder, Alan followed him.

"Farewell Daniel. It was nice meeting you." Alan called out as Daniel opened the door to leave.

"It was nice meeting you too." Dan replied and he closed the door behind him.

Daniel felt like he was getting close to some answers. But what will those answers be?

Daniel entered the address of 'Chaston's gentleman club' into his gps and started driving off. It took him two weeks after Edgar disappeared from Everstone mansion to discover that he and his posse had been staying there to avoid him. But now he was going to force them to speak with him, with politeness of course.

#

Chaston's Gentleman club, Chaston, Cascoss, 6:02

Daniel parked his car in a spot in the parking lot in front of the building. The spot he chose was a good distance away, he had barely any neighbours in his car's proximity. He supposed that Rhombadians had given up the joy of walking grand distances. Which would probably explain why there was twice the amount of buses servicing Everleason mall during the lunch hour than during other periods. But there was no time to think about that now. He was here for answers.

Daniel crossed the medium sized parking lot. Looking out for passing cars as he trodded along. He arrived at the entrance after three minutes, give or take.

Dan opened the fancy marble door on the right. This place had two doors out front and the guard of the doors was inside and not outside. The place looked similar to a fancy mansion. With fancy shrubbery by the entrance. You could hear people bowling from just outside the doors.

Daniel was now in the entrance. The front desk was in front of him. The air smelt delectable. Flowers decorated every last millimetre of the walls. There were ivory poles with a flower pattern either side of the front desk. The Clerk, a young man by the name of Jerry Hues, was cleaning some dirt on the desk with a fancy towelette.

"Good evening officer." The boy relayed. "How may I assist you?"

"Hello. I'm looking for Edgar Everstone." Daniel replied.

"Sorry," Jeremy replied without breaking character. "But nobody by that name has ever visited our establishment."

Dan raised an eye brow and the guy by the door, Samuel Brendor, got up from his shiny silver chair with a silk seat and walked to the clerk when he noticed a little detail.

"That there is D. S. Smith. It says so on his hat." Sam explained.

"Oh, my apologies Daniel. I thought you were another officer. I should be using my reading glasses. But they say my glasses aren't 'gentlemanly' enough." Jeremy straightened his tie and checked his mirror beside him to adjust his hair to be proper.

"That's ok. How about contacts?"

"I ran out this morning, and my shift began before I could go out and buy more." Jeremy explained. "Since I'm almost blind, could you take him Sam?"

"Of course, Jeremy. Daniel Smith, if you wouldn't mind following me?" Sam stated and gestured to Dan to follow him.

"Sure. But you should know I'm a good listener and I don't need your actions to repeat what your words have already conveyed." Daniel replied.

"Oh." The guard stoped gesturing. "I've done that particular gesture so many times that I can't stop myself."

Daniel smiled. "That's quite alright."

"Hey, why not join our club?"

"Oh, no. I'm busy with police work, I barely have time for such things. But this place is nice. I may consider it if I can find time." Daniel proclaimed.

Sam continued to lead the way and Dan followed behind. Soon enough they arrived at a private room. A terrible odour was in the air. It was the stench of exquisite and expensive cigars. The people in this room may as well have been tsars. There were four people. All male of course. Two Daniel knew by face and name. Edgar and Mitchel. The other two were Laurence Blaze, and Maurice Chutnis.

"Well, well, well. I expected you to come by for answers sooner." Edgar stated with a cigar hanging out of his mouth. "Anti-up." He dropped some chips on the table.

"You have been expecting me I take it?" Daniel asked.

Edgar laughed and coughed due to the large amount of Smokey air in the room. "Daniel, you are aware of the most common ability our family has, right. You have that power too, but you chose not to use it."

"Yes. You and I are owlmeireys, we have the ability to see things in places that we're not directly looking at with our eyes. It's like being a guard in a surveillance room." Daniel replied.

"Good job. I couldn't have put it better myself. We can look wherever we want with many scenes in our mind, and if we wish, we can focus down on something particular and watch a certain area like we're looking at a tv. The downside is that during the use of the ability you can't see what's directly in your face."

"But that doesn't explain why you were expecting me."

"How's your magic knowledge?"

"I don't know much about magic."

"How about blessings."

"There's a few I can name."

"How about this blessing." Edgar pulled up his sleeve to reveal a target birthmark.

"Isn't that the 'higher power' blessing?"

"Sure is, sonny boy. Now, you may not think much of this, your simple earth mind probably thinks that this mark, when it is shown, just increases my power points. But there is more to this blessing than what you think."

"The higher power blessing can grant an extra ability that has a similarity to the ability which you already have."

"Oh, I gave you too little credit. Now, wise guy, what do you suppose my extra ability is?"

"Well, it has something to do with seeing. You knew I was coming, but you have no real reason to monitor me. But you had a reason to monitor someone close to me. Eliza. You mentioned that you believed I was looking for answers, which leads me to believe you are actually aware that the Elizabeth in I333 isn't the real Elizabeth. So, the only conclusion is that the extra ability you gain every time that target is exposed to light is 'truth sight.' The ability to see the truth behind the lies."

"Bravo. Looks like we have a detective in the house. You know you didn't have to explain all of that, you could have just said the answer and left all that deducing in your head." Edgar covered his target birthmark as the other three men at his table were giving him the stink eye.

"But if you knew all along that she was awake, then why didn't you put her back under?"

"Are you trying to be slick with me? I'm not admitting to anything. If you want answers then you should figure it all out, super sleuth."

"Now I understand why you never liked me. When you used that nifty power of yours you saw my true potential and you knew I could take you down one day."

"There's nothing you can do. Even if I poisoned Elizabeth and you can prove it, or if you can prove that I hired the assassin who took down Micheal Detimis, there's nothing you could do because of a little thing called 'statute of limitations.'" Edgar laughed.

"How'd you know about Micheal Detimis, as far as the rest of Rhombodian sees it, he's missing, not dead."

"Did you forget that quickly that I can simply just use my truth site to see through lies?"

"Why were you watching Alan?"

"I don't have to give you a reason if I don't want to. Typically, I don't like playing with the rules unless they benefit me. So, the right to remain silent comes in handy, don't you think?"

Daniel grumbled in frustration. "May Mitchel and I have a word?"

Edgar gave Mitchel a deadly stare. Mitchel gulped in tried to lower his head so it would end up under his fancy suit. He soon got up, albeit slowly and shaking so much you'd think there was a massive earthquake happening at that very moment.

He and Daniel went into the change room by the bowling alley.

"We've not seen each other for a while." Mitchel spoke first. His voice was shaky, he was definitely fearful for his life.

"We can talk about that later. Why did he give you that look?" Dan asked.

"He doesn't want me to say too much and ruin everything he built up seven years ago." Mitchel stated in hushed tones.

"Seven years ago?"

"Oh, shit. I should have known I'd slip. Look don't look into that."

"Whatever happened seven years ago has to be resolved. I wasn't the only one hurt because of those events. I need to know exactly what happened."

"I can't tell you anything. I don't know what he'd do to me if I told you everything."

"Yes. He sometimes gives me the willies. I have something to ask you." Daniel took out the bag with the sniper bullet in it. "Is this yours?"

"No. That's a sniper bullet. A cowardly way to execute a target. You know me and the way I kill. I get all in your face about it. I'm glad you haven't turned me in yet."

"I can't turn you in, because there's an implant on you. You're probably not aware of it, but right now you have something under your skin that is messing with my recording devices, they are turned on, but if anyone tried to listen to what we're saying now or try to see what we're doing now, all they would hear is gibberish and all they will see is static."

"Oh. So, you have no evidence but your own word that I kill for cash."

Daniel nodded. "That's the gist of it, yes."

"You know. All I wanted whilst growing up was to be a magician or an animal tamer. I had dreams and ambitions before that man dragged us into hell. I forgot about me for a long time. When you entered our lives, I found myself again, we found ourselves. Edgar is doing everything in his power to keep us by our side. He may see the truth, but even with that ability he can't see every truth. Please help us."

"In order for me to help you, you need to help me." Daniel claimed.

"Look, I'll tell you one thing, and only one thing. I don't want to get into too much trouble. Edgar did ask me to kill Michael. I refused and he kicked up a stink about it."

"Did he ever tell you the reason why he wanted Micheal dead?"

"No. But I know that it had something to do with something that either Michael or Alan had back then that neither of them have now."

"Is that everything."

"I'm sorry I couldn't help more. I want to help you desperately, but I really have no other leads for you detective. I swear on my honor as an assassin."

"Ok. I believe you."

Mitchel nodded and waved goodbye and went back to the poker table. The other men were probably waiting for him to take his turn.

Daniel sat, took a deep breath in and looked up at the ceiling lights to think. Something they had seven years ago? The only thing that comes to mind is the gun shop. Daniel sighed and yawned. Daniel now knew that Edgar was aware that Elizabeth woke up. But Dan felt as if Edgar wasn't planning on returning Elizabeth to the state she was once in. Daniel felt he was getting closer and closer to an answer, but it was still just a bit out of reach. Daniel went to his car and returned to his room at Everstone manor. Whatever truths there were to discover would have to wait to be discovered until the next day.