“There are so many things in the ceiling that you cannot even imagine. Security cameras, voice recorders, heat detectors, and thermostat. The best feature is the fire extinguisher that was also my invention. Instead of pouring water or some other chemical on the fire, it will suck all the oxygen from the vault. We used to call it sucker in my days because it can also be used to suffocate unwanted visitors.” Kripke talked in a childlike excitement. “I had never thought I would see it one day as a finished opera d’art.”
“You were a brother?” Alicia said.
“I was a brother once, now I am a son. A son of nature, and nature likes balance more than improvisation.”
“Why did you betray them?”
“Betray? Who are we talking about? Are they government? Are they church? They are just a bunch of scientist, thinking it would be cool to give themselves fancy names, and I was also just like them. An idealist and a fool.”
He lost control on himself for few minutes, but he rubbed his face harshly and went back to his calm demeanor. She was unable to see his emotional response to the situation as only one side of his face was visible in the red light.
“And now you work for Maximón? That’s not idealism?” Alicia said.
“Maximón doesn’t sell ideologies. He is a business man as honest as you can get. He hires people like me to carry on his bidding and pays them well.” Kripke was still calm like he was holding a Q&A session.
“And you will kill anyone for money? How many people have you killed Kripke? Do you even remember? Even I could be one of them.” Somewhere, looking at his graceful face, she still struggled with the idea of accepting him as a killer. She wanted to hear it from his mouth hoping that her camera still worked.
“How many people have I killed? Good question. The honest answer is many, but in your city, I have only killed two people, Bernard and Rebecca, and sweetheart, here comes the punchline. It was not me who tried to shoot you.”
Alicia knew he was trying to mislead her, but she played along.
“Then who did it?”
“Well, I really don’t want to go in the details, but trust me, you and me are on the same side.” Kripke smiled at her. “Anyways we are not here to talk about me, sweetie.” He checked his watch. “We have some time and I really wanted to talk to you. You are going to be the best weapon for Maximón. You have no idea of your worth. Maximón has won many battles against the Legacy, but you are going to make him win the war.”
“I will never do anything for him or for you.” Alicia was disgusted by the idea.
“That’s the best part of the plan. You don’t need to do anything. When I came to this city, I was after the Archive and the Scripture, but slowly, things changed. When I first met you, I wanted nothing more than to use you against your boss. But then, the miracle happened. The more I got to know you, the more significant you become in my eyes.” Kripke came nearer and his voice was intense. “I have high hopes with you, Alicia. We have a future together, and I want you to rise to it. Go back from where you started. Open your books again. Prepare yourself for the real enemy. This battle is over. Now get ready for the war.”
“Stand back.” A crisp voice came from behind and a guy came out holding a sniper rifle in his hand. He was completely clad in black with a bullet proof vest, a helmet and a gas mask. She heard footsteps coming from both sides of the column. Dozens of snipers running towards them.
“Relax, relax.” Kripke held his hand in the air. “I am here to surrender anyways.”
The first sniper stood guard while the others tied Kripke and dragged him out of sight. She wondered what they would do to her. Whatever was the case, she was an outsider as well, but the sniper didn’t say anything. She looked around not knowing what to do.
“I would like to go home.” She said to the sniper creeping out by standing close to him in the dimly lit vault.
“I would like to send you to the prison.” The voice came out from the gas mask.
“Pardon me.”
The sniper took out his gas mask. “You pardon me, are you crazy?”
She looked at the familiar gloomy face. His black hairs were hidden under the helmet. She looked at him again from top to bottom; heavy boots, bullet proof vest and a sniper rifle in his hand.
She lowered her head and said.
“I want to go home.”
————
The return journey was surprisingly silent. Alicia didn’t ask Ken any questions nor he was in mood of talking. They left the vault from the lift in Ken’s bedroom. In the lift, she just stared at the sniper rifle in his hand and the infrared light visible on it. There was no one in the house above; no Kripke, no snipers. She didn’t see Garret either. She checked her mobile when she got in the Jaguar with Ken. It was passed midnight and there were seventy-nine missed calls from Flora and Sam combined. She quickly sent them a message.
“I am fine. On my way home.”
When Ken sped the car out of the garage, she turned back to look at the door. The door, slowly closing behind them, was fully covered with ivies. That was the reason, she and Sam were unable to find it. When they got passed the museum, she saw a brief glimpse of red and blue lights of police cars.
As soon as Ken turned the car to the main road, he increased the speed. Within sixty seconds, they were going above hundred miles per hour speed. She quickly tied the seat belt. He was angry and he had every right to be so. Alicia could not even ask him to not be mad at her. The journey, which usually took an hour, was surprisingly ended in fifteen minutes.
“How did you know it was Kripke?”
Ken asked him pulling the handbrake in front of the Stone Manor. His face was red and his eyes were bulging out of its sockets. She couldn’t answer it without turning in Sam. She presses her lips and tried to open the door which was centrally locked. He grasped her by the wrist. The grip was neither gentle nor affectionate. It was the grip of an angry man.
“Why did you do this?” He hissed in low voice.
“Why did you give me that key?” She retaliated in the same tone.
He left her wrist; the silence grew stronger in between them.
“Goodbye, Miss Stone.” He opened the door lock without looking at her, He looked tired and disappointed to Alicia. For the first time she felt, she had done something terribly wrong. She opened her mouth to say something, but she really needed sometime to process what happened today.
“I cannot say I am sorry, because I am not. I don’t even know whether I should be sorry or not … but I know why I did it, and my reason makes sense to me. I might have broken your trust, but I had no intention to hurt you. I cannot ask you to understand me today, but I know one day you will.”
Ken chuckled. “You think I am mad at you because you took Kripke to the Archive?”
“Yes.” She looked at him in confusion.
“Kripke is already arrested. My men are going to hand him over to the police. He is not a problem, Alicia.” He said looking down at her wrist where the red marks of his grip were still visible.
“Then what?”
“You are the problem. You are not supposed to know about the Archive. You are not supposed to go anywhere near it, and you entered it not once, but twice. This is a deliberate and perpetual violation of our security protocol.” He looked at her face. “You still don’t understand? It’s not safe for you.”
“Well, then I am really sorry from the bottom of my heart.” Alicia said.
“And what am I supposed to do with your sorry?”
“I promise I will take it out of my mind and you will never see me anywhere near it, as you said.”
“I am afraid that even that would not be enough.” He said with a pained expression. “Go home now. We will talk later.”
She wished she could know how to console him, but she had no other option except saying him goodbye for the while.
—
But the later didn’t come until Christmas.
They met every day in
the bookstore, but never talked to each other except for work. She avoided sitting in the office in his working hours. He never called her in his office as well. It was like they both stopped existing for each other. Sometimes she caught Sam throwing strange glances at them.
Other than that, things went back mostly to normal. She went to lunch with Sam every day and joked about his new girlfriend who was a nurse at the hospital. Flora was a little disturbed when she came to face the reality of the killer. She confessed to Alicia that she used to think that Kripke was a fine gentleman, but Alicia was sure that she would get over soon.
She also had frequent lunches with Garret. He often invited her at his place, but she refused. She had told Garret not to discuss anything about Legacy to her ever as she only wanted to see him as a friend.
So everything went back to normal as it was previously, except that Alicia was struggling to come to terms with the idea of Ken as a sniper. She liked her boss, who was running a bookstore, who was a loner and often got angry when getting called so, but he cared and he listened. The man with the gas mask on his face and a sniper rifle in his hand was a stranger whom she didn’t want to know.
The mystery behind Mr K was solved, but this was not the truth she wanted to know. She remembered Garret mentioning a long time ago about the Tactical Division of the Legacy. He had also said that it was a rumor, but apparently it was not. It was a fact and the legality of it was completely out of question. She often heard Ken’s voice late at night. It’s not safe for you. But, then she remembered another voice. I have high hopes with you, Alicia. She often thought about her conversation with Kripke in the Archive, but it was something she could not share with anyone.
Saturday was the last day before Christmas and she was at work. They were going to hold a huge sale on the Boxing Day based on the Christmas theme, and they were all busy in decorating the store. She had made a checklist of everything they had planned to do on Monday and she was making sure that they were going to leave the store in perfect condition so there would not be any tasks left for Monday. She was thinking about leaving when her mobile rang in her pocket. It was a message from Flora.
“Harry wants to take you for a dinner???”
She texted back, “Ask him to come home.”
She also wanted to talk to Harry without making it awkward, and the best place to do it was at home. She sighed and put the mobile back in her bag. These days she spent most of her time in thinking about what happened with Kripke. She was about to leave the bookstore when a man delivered an envelope to Sam.
“For Miss Alicia Stone.” Sam read it aloud.
There was no one in the whole universe who could have possibly sent her letter. She was sure it was some kind of a misunderstanding, but she opened it anyways. The letter came out of the envelope was of heavy quality with a seal embossed on top of it. Alicia and Sam read it together:
The Mayor’s office
requests the pleasure of your company
at our Annual Christmas Dinner with
MAYOR CLARKE ROBINSON
Sunday, the Twenty-Fifth of December
Two Thousand Sixteen
Seven Thirty in the evening
at
The Mansion House
Broadway
Georgestown
They both looked at each other with wide eyes. Sam whistled as soon as they came out of the bookstore. She didn’t know whether she wanted to go or not, but she was pretty much sure that there was no option of backing out.
CHAPTER TWENTY
A Family Man
When she entered the small kitchen of Stone Manor, Flora grinned at her. She was expecting her to be mad at her as she refused to dine with Harry, but that was a surprise.
“Is everything all right?” She asked taking off her coat.
“Hmmmm.” She was still smiling.
“Okay. Stop creeping me out.”
“I got a call from the Mayor’s Office. They said they are going to feature my shop in the national travel guide, as one of the finest attraction of Cambridgeshire.” Flora said with a bright face.
“That’s great.” She smiled back to her, but she felt a little confused inside. “You know that it is not exactly an attraction?”
“Does it matter?” Flora said. She didn’t look happy with her reaction.
“Well, congratulations. I am really happy for you.” Although, she was still doubtful. Flora was running the shop since last sixteen years, but apparently, the Mayor had just noticed it. Alicia got an invitation to dine with the Mayor and Flora got her shop featured by him. It was too good to be a coincidence.
“Thanks. I have one more good news for you.” Flora smiled, but she looked hesitant this time. “Harry wants to get back.”
“But what about Daisy? Weren’t they engaged?” She had not thought about Daisy since Kripke got arrested. She wondered where she was.
“They broke up.” Flora avoided her gaze.
“But why?”
“She is not a real daughter of Kripke. He paid her to pretend to be his daughter.”
“And you seriously think this is the real reason of breakup?” Alicia didn’t want to sound bitter but she could not help herself.
“She is a call girl in real life.”
“But she was modelling as well? Wasn’t she?”
“It was all a facade.”
Alicia suddenly felt claustrophobic in the small kitchen and felt the need to go out in the open air.
“I will talk to Harry myself.” She didn’t want Flora to be the middleman anymore.
“You remember my prediction, right? Harry or horror, there are only two paths in your life.” Flora pleaded to her.
“Harry is a horror for your information, and by the way, what happened to your prediction of catching the killer?”
“Well, I never said by hands.”
Alicia laughed. “Then, I will also get back with Harry virtually.” She climbed up to the attic and threw her stuff in a corner. She dialed Harry’s number with a heavy heart.
“Hi! How are you?” Harry was surprisingly cheerful on the other end.
“Hi! Flora told me about …” She bit her lips, “about Daisy.”
Harry didn’t say a word in reply. It was clear that he didn’t want to talk about it.
“We should do something for her. Where will she go now?” Alicia said wondering what she could for her.
“Like what?” Harry said.
“We can arrange a job for her. You have plenty of friends in town and also in London. Someone might be able to give her an opportunity.” Alicia said.
“Do you think she wants an opportunity? She lied to me, Alicia, about everything. If she wanted to come towards a respectable life, she could have asked my help anytime. There were so many moments when we were together, away from anyone’s eyes.” Harry was fuming over the turn of events which ended up messing his life. “Even now, I asked her to cooperate with me in gathering evidence against Kripke, but she refused to go against him. She is still supporting him. Can you believe it?”
“Wait, what evidence do you need now? I thought the case was closed.” Naturally, Harry didn’t know anything about Alicia’s involvement in catching the killer.
“Case is far from closed. So far, we have only proved that he was impersonating a police officer. We still have no evidence to proof that he has killed someone as well except for his confession. He has confessed for the murders of two victims, but he refused to accept killing the first one and also there is a matter of murder attempt at your friend. He had refused to acknowledge both when London Police interrogate him. Now they are asking me to gather proofs, and Daisy is not co-operating at all.” He sounded tired and frustrated.
“I am sorry. I wish I could do something.”
“Well, you can have a dinner with me.” Harry’s manner changed.
Damn.
“I wish I could, but I have just got an invitation of dinner tomorrow.” Alicia felt very uncomfortable with t
his conversation.
“You are … going out with Ken?” Harry asked with suspicion.
“No. There is nothing…” She was unable to say that there was nothing between her and Ken without feeling a little heartbroken. “I am going on Christmas Dinner at The Mayor’s residence.”
“Really?” Harry said in surprise. “That’s big. I bet Melanie liked you that day in Le Forno. That’s why you got the invitation.”
“Yeah, I think the same.”
“So we can postpone our dinner to the next weekend.” Harry was still hopeful.
Here comes the moment of truth.
“I am sorry, Harry, but I am not in the mind to go out with anyone. You are always welcome at my home. In fact, I was going to ask you to have lunch with us tomorrow.”
She didn’t want to have any more bad blood in between them. The only thing she learnt from Rebecca’s death was that it was not good to close doors even if you close it to protect yourself. She knew she couldn’t change Harry, nor could Harry change her. The right thing to do was to accept the truth that they were two very different people with different priorities in life.
“You are a good person, Harry, and you deserve a partner who understands your needs and makes you proud and I am not that person. I am still trying to find a way to feel proud of myself, and I don’t know how much time it will take. We don’t need to fight because of what happened in the past. We both are mature enough to take the right lessons from our experiences in life, and can still be good friends.”
Perhaps it was the sincerity in her voice, or something else, for the first time in five months, despite of having a different perspective, Harry didn’t contradict her.
————
In Stone Manor, Christmas was celebrated like every other day. Flora cooked food; Lucy and Steve watched television. Alicia stayed in her room reading books.
She had shown the invitation letter to all of them because she needed to get permission to stay out late. She saw Steve telling something to Lucy with lots of hand movements. She couldn’t conclude that he was angry due to the invitation, because he was always angry. Finally, an hour before her departure, Lucy came to Flora to tell Alicia that according to their mutual decision, she should not be going as she was not “mature enough” to handle such a delicate situation, and they didn’t want the Mayor to be mad at them.
The Killing Scripture (Alicia Stone Series Book 1) Page 18
