Unsung Requiem: The Ghost Bird Series: #13

by C. L. Stone

  He did the familiar smile, the millimeter that nearly shifted into two millimeters. “Mrs. Rhodes is in the position she is in for that reason.” He held on to my foot, not doing anything but holding it and looking up at me. “And my day is immensely better with you in it.”

  I think I stopped breathing completely. It was eons and a single moment all at once. It felt like a dream and not a dream at the same time.

  In a quieter tone, he said, “Your complete exhaustion state is very interesting. You become much more honest and open. However, I hope you can get to sleep and also come talk to me, outside of school, much like this. Because I miss talking to you, too.”

  I could only blush and nod ever so slightly, agreeing. I wasn’t even sure how I was doing this, just rambling on like I’d been.

  He released my foot and nudged me at the knee. “Get into the bed. I’m going to go check on the kids to make sure they are at least pretending to go to sleep. Technically, the first night with someone new in the house, they’re supposed to stay up all night sharing information and getting to know the new one until they fall asleep first. An adult checking on them while they think they’re being sneaky helps them feel comradery.”

  I nodded and instead of getting under the covers, I just relaxed onto the bed.

  I kept telling myself eventually I should get up and brush my teeth. His voice echoed in my mind, instead, distracting me. I know I watched him cross the room and head down the stairs.

  That was all I remembered.

  Bend

  (Jazz term referring either to establishing a pitch, sliding down half a step and returning to the original pitch or sliding up half a step from the original note)

  Victor

  As they got into Mr. Buble’s car, Victor received a call from North. He answered quickly.

  “We need to go over some details,” North said. “Are you free now?”

  He checked with Mr. Buble. “I think so?”

  “I’d like in on that meeting,” Mr. Buble said.

  “Then meet us at the diner.”

  They weren’t far from Bob’s Diner. The dinner rush was there. Mr. Buble had a difficult time finding a spot to park. It was odd to see it busy when the last time Victor was there it was so empty.

  By diner, North actually meant they were in the little security trailer outside the diner.

  Victor had been inside a few times but most of the monitoring inside was more than just for the diner, but also for the houses up the road. It was small, with two rooms with a single bathroom between them.

  When Victor and Mr. Buble arrived, Victor was surprised to see not just North, Silas and Nathan, but Corey Henshaw, his dark web contact.

  “Depth… I mean Corey.” He held out a hand to shake his. “What are you doing out here?”

  Corey was tall, with blondish hair and wore a Mario video game T-shirt and jeans. He sat in one of their office chairs, rocking back and forth, as far as his legs would let him. “I guess I’m your backup since you’ve been busy.”

  “It should be over now,” Mr. Buble said, shaking his hand. “So where are we with this?”

  “The establish connection Victor made,” North said. “It’s supposedly the trunk that was stolen. I don’t know about the rest of the items.”

  “I didn’t see any more offers to sell,” Corey said. “But it’s likely if they were, it might have been to pawn shops or online, and they’re too common to track down. This trunk might be our saving grace that they want to sell it. And so soon.”

  “We have a location,” Victor said. “We need a time.”

  “They want it to be the same night as a concert at that venue,” North said. “We’ve agreed.”

  Victor was surprised. “Already?”

  “If nothing else, we can monitor who shows up, even if we just set up cameras and are far away,” North said.

  “That can get tricky,” Victor said.

  “I’d rather see their faces,” Silas said. He and Nathan were sitting on the floor, as there were only two office chairs in the space, near the monitoring equipment. There was also a short stack of go bags and a couple of cots leaning against the wall. Silas continued. “Volto knows how to take out cameras too easy. We need to meet. Directly.”

  “Then we go,” North said. “We might need cash. And we need people in the concert because this drop-off isn’t until near the end. Luckily, Dr. Green bought tickets.” He cringed a second and then looked at Victor. “Also, happy birthday, you’re going to a concert.”

  Victor smirked and bobbed his head. “Cool. Do I still get to go? Or am I working during it?”

  “We’ll get you to go,” North said. He glanced at Mr. Buble who had been silent. “What about you? Are you in?”

  Mr. Buble nodded. “If you’d like. Where am I needed?”

  “I’d actually like you to head it. You’re someone unexpected. You’re unconnected to the school and us.”

  “Then why not me?” Corey asked.

  “You’re not even supposed to be in town,” North said.

  Corey grimaced. “Okay, that’s true.”

  “I’ve also established profiles,” North said. “Jay and Karen are at the top. And their friends. Rocky. Anyone else they’ve talked to in the last couple of weeks.”

  “Wil Winchester?” Victor asked. “Do you have him?”

  At this, Corey sat up straight. “Wait, what?”

  Victor was surprised by his interest. “I saw him talking to Rocky earlier today. Was sort of odd. They’re not exactly the same crowd.”

  Corey frowned. “If that’s true, and he’s involved, I’m afraid this whole thing needs to be dropped. And quickly.”

  This surprised everyone.

  “What do you know about him?” North asked.

  “I’m not at liberty to say. Not yet. It might not even be connected.” He motioned to the list North provided. “But he wasn’t on your list before, was he?”

  “No.”

  “Then add him, but if he shows up to this event, I have to take over.”

  North frowned, looking at the others.

  Odd. “We weren’t aware Volto had connections to other groups.”

  “We’ve never seen Volto,” Corey said. “But we have Wil’s sister with us. So if there is some connection, we take over. Case closed.”

  “So far, our top contenders are Karen Newman and Jay William,” North said. “And… someone else.”

  “Mrs. Lee should be at the top of the list,” Mr. Buble said. “Despite our feelings, this is as close as you’ve gotten, and it’s likely she knows more, even if it isn’t her. Where is she now?”

  “At home. Kota’s there now.”

  Mr. Buble nodded. “We’ll wait as long as this concert if you can establish that it might not be her. But if there’s nothing to suggest she’s not, we’ll be forced to check the data that’s been obtained, and any other device she has.”

  Victor hated this plan. The others continued to talk, but in a way, it felt like kicking the hornet’s nest by allowing things to be stolen from Nathan’s house. It was no longer just Volto against their team. Volto was going to find himself facing all of the Academy, and maybe authorities if it was proven it didn’t risk Sang.

  And if it was Kota’s mom… just so many questions on what would happen to her, and Kota, and what it meant for Sang and the rest of their team.

  Ma Non Troppo

  (But not too much)

  Victor

  A phone was buzzing on a table nearby. Victor turned over…

  And fell face first into carpet.

  The fall shook the bunkbed he’d dropped from. His body ached. His muscles hurt.

  Life was too hard right now. Maybe he could ignore the phone.

  “Are you okay?” Nathan’s tired voice floated to him.

  Victor twisted his head, finding Nathan looking down at him from the top bunk, pressing his cheek to the edge of the bed,
dark circles under his eyes.

  At least Victor had been on the bottom bunk. The fall hadn’t been too bad.

  He grunted shortly. “You get it. I don’t want to.”

  The phone was still ringing, but then silenced as it switched to voicemail.

  There was a soft moan from the other bunkbed in Mr. Buble’s house. Sang threw the blanket over her head.

  No one was in the mood to wake up yet.

  Nathan smacked his lips like his mouth was dry. “If it’s Academy, they’d call me next.”

  Yet the phone on the dresser across the room started vibrating again, the case making a loud reverberating echo.

  “It’s yours again,” Nathan said to Victor.

  “Tell them we don’t want any!” Sang’s sleepy cry came muffled from underneath the blanket.

  It was tempting just to ignore it, but two calls so quickly to just his phone had him worried. He got up on all fours, crawled across the carpet on his hands and knees, reaching up for the phone. Why did he leave it so far away from the bed anyway?

  The screen of the phone flashed.

  His mom.

  She was calling.

  Victor rolled his eyes, putting the phone aside, flopping back on the carpet. His bare legs itched a bit, the boxer shorts he wore became cold against his body. The room had a slight chill. “I really don’t want to.”

  “What does she want you to do now?” Nathan asked. “Besides getting you to kiss her ass and beg to get taken back?”

  Victor, despite not wanting to, answered the phone, wanting to get it out of the way and done with. “Yes?” he said when he answered. “Also, how’d you get this number?”

  “Young man,” she said in a tone he had not heard from her in years but could tell was serious. “You are to get here right now.”

  “I’m a little far away at the moment.”

  “I have our lawyer here. And a guest.” The way she said the last part was very clear she didn’t want this particular guest.

  Victor sat up sharply. “What?”

  “Someone is suing this family. Very publicly.”

  Victor pressed a thumb and forefinger to the bridge of his nose. He wasn’t totally sure this wasn’t some panic that didn’t even involve him, just her precious reputation. “Why me? I don’t…”

  “Did you get someone fired from their job last night?” She paused. “Don’t answer that on the phone. In fact, don’t say anything. Just get here. Right now.”

  Victor was now wide awake, blinking as she hung up on him. He dropped the phone onto the carpet.

  Suing… Mitch.

  Mitch knew his name. His family. That they had a lot of money.

  Of course. And he didn’t have to drag it into court because his parents would want to keep their reputation intact and they’d want to settle. He was mostly surprised Mitch had pieced this together so quickly and talked to his parents. Did he go without a lawyer?

  Victor groaned and faceplanted himself into the carpet, and starfished his limbs out.

  “What up, bud?” Nathan asked from across the room.

  Victor didn’t answer. He didn’t want to. Tired. Not in the mood. They had stuff to do today, and he totally didn’t feel like dealing with this right now.

  There was a noise of Nathan moving and Victor turned his head in time to see Nathan nearly falling out of the top bunk, catching himself and slowly lowering himself down until his feet were on the floor. He wore only his boxer briefs. Once he landed, he shifted over to the bed Sang was in and poked at her through the blanket.

  “Get up. Get Victor up,” he told her. “Find out what’s going on.” He left to go to the bathroom first.

  This room was eerily like Kota’s bedroom. It was almost like they were at his house.

  Sang moaned from under her blanket. “I’m getting up. I just don’t want to.”

  “You don’t have to get up,” Victor said from the floor.

  “Yes, she does!” Nathan called from the bathroom.

  Victor was amused at the back and forth of Nathan getting on Sang’s case. They’d lived together for a while. He was sure this is what the term ‘acting like an old married couple’ was.

  Sang rolled herself up for just a second, enough so she could get momentum to slide to the floor and crash onto the carpet, half sprawled out, legs still hanging onto the bed. She gazed up at the ceiling. “I know Mr. Buble said no coffee, but I need some.”

  “You can have some coffee, princess,” Victor said in a half-deflated tone.

  “No coffee!” Nathan’s voice echoed this time. A minute later, the shower turned on.

  Victor flipped over and army crawled on his elbows with legs sprawled behind him, until he reached Sang, and hovered over her upside down, super close.

  “I’ll go get coffee,” he said in a whisper.

  “Don’t…” she said, and her cheeks turned red.

  He gently kissed her forehead. She tried so hard to do what they wanted her to do. “You can have coffee. You don’t have to do anything, just sit in the car with Nathan while I go figure out what my parents want from me. You can sleep the whole way.”

  “You can’t go alone,” she said. Her eyes fluttered open. He was still close enough that he could feel her lashes tickling his forehead. “We have to stay together.”

  The way she said it made his heart light up in such a way. It was like she was saying they, him and her, had to stay together.

  He wanted that. Forever.

  “We’ll go together,” he said. “But… I have to go in alone. They won’t allow anyone else in on this.”

  “Does she want you to go with Brie?” she asked in a cracked voice.

  Victor half choked on a laugh. “That’s not what this is about.” He rolled over until he was laying on his back again and could simply turn his head to look at her face.

  She turned to look at him, eyebrows crinkling in confusion. “What is it?”

  “Mitch,” Victor said. “Apparently, he’s there threatening to sue. Or something like that.”

  Her eyes widened. “Right now?”

  “I’m sure it’s a bluff,” he said. “He just wants to extort money. And it’s his lucky day, my parents would pay him off to keep silent, despite him not deserving it.”

  She pressed her lips together and her eyes narrowed. She wasn’t happy, but she wasn’t going to say so.

  He turned his head until he was looking at the ceiling. “I don’t like it either.”

  Guerriero

  (War like)

  Victor

  Within the hour, they’d all gotten dressed. Mr. Buble was informed of what was going on.

  “I can’t go in with you, unfortunately,” Mr. Buble said, “unless you feel it’s needed.”

  “It’d be hard to explain why you were with me, and the truth is likely something they won’t want anyway,” Victor said to him. “They just want it to blow over.”

  Mr. Buble took the time to tend to the kids in his charge but insisted Nathan and Sang accompany him.

  They needed to change into more formal clothes. Nathan had packed a pair of black slacks and the Armani shirt that Victor had grown used to wearing for years.

  Victor touched the collar, feeling the starched crisp material in his fingers. But these clothes were the old Victor. The one that bent to their will for far too long. He wanted to show he wasn’t the same person who left before. He wanted to feel secure in himself and his decisions.

  It was Sang that noticed when he seemed to hesitate putting the clothes on.

  “Maybe try a different color?” she asked. “Or another brand?”

  It was like she could read his mind sometimes. He considered this, and while they didn’t have much in the way of options, inside Dr. Green’s car was a collection of more formal clothes he’d wear as a doctor for meetings or for Academy missions that would require it.

  Out of the collection, he tried on a lig
ht blue shirt, nearly the same style as his Armani but with thicker cotton fabric, and gray pants. They didn’t fit quite as well but looked fine. He could pass wearing them in formal circles.

  The others got dressed into nicer clothes, too. As much as Victor didn’t mind, he assumed given the setting they’d be more comfortable dressed up.

  At the Morgan estate, Nathan parked Dr. Green’s car near the garage in the back.

  “I’m sort of surprised they let us in without questioning us,” Nathan said.

  “The guards are still the same,” Victor said. “They’d let us in.” He looked gloomily over at the large, yellow, three-story home, at the expanse of a lawn, the pool, the pool house, the exterior buildings… all of it. Familiar and yet in the time he’d been away, he felt removed from all of it.

  He’d told himself he’d never be here again. Never.

  As much as he knew that wasn’t true. He knew, in his heart he’d have to come back eventually.

  Knowing this bit of information didn’t help the tight knot in his heart that had formed days ago and festered.

  There were other cars near the garage. One in particular was old, brown and without a rear bumper. He thought he saw it at the library and now it was familiar. Victor imagined it was Mitch’s.

  “He’s probably inside. Lying to them,” Victor said. “Who knows what he said.”

  “We’ll go in,” Nathan said, taking the keys out of the ignition.

  “No,” Victor said, without much conviction.

  Nathan turned to him. Victor had slumped in the passenger seat. Sang was awake but laying lazily in the back seat behind them.

  Nathan put a hand on Victor’s shoulder. “We weren’t there for you when you really needed us,” Nathan said. “There was a mix up, sure, but we should have been there. It’s okay to ask for help. And we can go in because they know us. It’s not like Mr. Buble where they don’t know him at all.”

  “And you’re supposed to put him on speaker,” Sang said from the back. She turned her head and then adjusted until she was sitting up. She’d twisted herself to lie down with her seatbelt on. “Should we get Mr. Blackbourne here? Don’t they know him, too?”