“So,” Captain Alex began, changing the subject to get his mind off of how badly he wanted some of that wine, “how do you know Nathan? More importantly, why do you feel so strongly that we should trust him? I mean, I guess it’s too late now since we’re already in his limo and at his mercy, but I’d sort of like to know what I’m in for….”
“Fair enough,” Melono agreed. “He used to show up to my house every day and wait outside until I needed a ride. When Notmie hijacked his limo, he passed out at the sight of so many unearthly beautiful people charging at him, and I revived him and stayed with him until another ambulance could come.
“He’s a good kid. I doubt he even knows who sent him here. He just gets a call from someone and goes where they tell him; he’s been trained not to ask questions. I wouldn’t worry about it. I promise that if he has some connection to Sinclair, he sure doesn’t know it. I actually asked him once how he knew exactly when to pick me up every day and he said he just did as he was told. When I asked him who was telling him, he said he didn’t know and that he’d always figured it was someone who worked for me.
“Come to think of it, I never actually found out how he knew when to show up.”
“Oh, that’s because he had hidden cameras in your house,” Captain Alex replied matter-of-factly.
“Shut up.”
“No, really, he did. Notmie and I found some old tapes in the back of this limo one time when we were looking for a dress.”
“Why were you looking for a dress?” she asked, but then discarded the question and asked a more important one. “Why didn’t you mention this to me before?”
Captain Alex held his hands in the air defensively. “I didn’t think much about it. I didn’t know you at the time that we saw it, and I didn’t remember it by the time we’d met. But wait, I didn’t mention it when I told you about the family trees?”
“Nope, conveniently forgot to mention that part. And you’re sure it was this limo you saw it in?”
Captain Alex nodded. “Same license plate and everything.”
Melono tapped on the divider between the back seat and the driver. Nathan rolled it down. “What can I do for you?”
“Pull over the limo and open the trunk, please.” Her expression wasn’t the kind you ignore, so he pulled onto the shoulder and popped open the trunk. Melono let herself out, and Captain Alex followed.
They walked around to the back and stood in front of the trunk. Captain Alex held his breath as Melono opened it up to reveal nothing more than a spare tire and some jumper cables.
Captain Alex’s breath whooshed out of him.
“Bu–but it was here! Now it’s magically changed into a spare tire! But I swear it was here. You believe me, right?” He looked pleadingly at Melono.
“No, Alex, I don’t believe you. Let’s get back in the limo.”
She turned and started toward the door.
Alex wasn’t sure what had happened. He began poking around in the bed of the trunk, hoping that he might chance upon a button or lever that would spring up the surveillance equipment once more.
Just before Melono’s hand had reached the door, it flew open and Notmie stuck his head out.
“Y’all find all those video tapes in the trunk?” he asked.
Melono’s mouth fell open.
“You mean you saw them too? I thought Alex was just making up the whole thing.”
“Not this time.” Notmie grinned and stepped out of the car.
“Why didn’t you say anything sooner?”
Notmie didn’t seem to understand the question. “Say anything about what?”
Melono sighed. “When Alex and I were discussing the tapes. You didn’t say anything.”
Notmie chuckles. “Oh. Heh. Yeah, I wasn’t listening.”
Melono rolled her eyes, and Notmie returned to his seat so that she and The Captain could get back in and make themselves comfortable on the leather seats.
“So, what do you think actually happened to those video tapes?” Melono asked once Nathan had put up the divider between the front and back seats.
“It’s obvious, isn’t it?” asked The Captain. “Nathan must have done something with them.”
“Now wait just one second,” Melono said, putting up her hand to stop Captain Alex as he prepared to interrupt. “We don’t know that Nathan did anything at this point. This limo’s been quite a few places since Notmie hijacked it. For all we know, the French could have taken it to Disney World and back, and we would have no way of knowing it.”
“You really trust this Nathan guy?” Notmie asked.
“Yeah, I do. Remember, he’s been driving me around for the past year. No matter what you say, he just doesn’t seem fishy to me, and trust me, it’s my job to know who’s up to something and who’s not.”
“Fair enough,” Captain Alex said, shrugging. “So then we can assume that the French stole the tapes and monitors. But that doesn’t account for where those stupid family trees went.”
“Hardy-har-har,” Melono said, thinking Alex was making a joke. But then she paused and looked him over. “Please tell me you’re joking. You’re just being funny, right? You don’t seriously wonder…”
Oh yes. He seriously wondered.
“No, Mel, I’m not making a joke. If it’s so obvious, pray tell. Please explain. I beg you, enlighten the rest of us with your insight,” said Captain Alex, “because I sure have no idea how that makes sense.”
“ You of all people should understand it,” said Melono.
Captain Alex was taken aback. He sat and thought about it, trying to figure out why he, of all people, should know how this made sense. Finally, a grin slid across his face and the connection was made.
“Good one, Melono. I think it makes sense now.”
Notmie’s eyes darted back and forth between the two of them, trying to get clued in. After realizing he wasn’t going to get what was going on without a little more explicit help from the others, he began to pout. Melono leaned slightly toward Notmie, squinting at his pouting bottom lip as she did so.
“Notmie, are you…”
He immediately drew back his bottom lip into its proper place, as his face transitioned from pitiful to insulted in an instant.
“Of course not!”
“What were you pouting about then?”
“I wasn’t pouting about anything, but I would like to know what I missed.”
Notmie folded his arms, waiting for some explanation. When they gave none, he sat straight upright, unfolded his arms and pounded a fist on the seat between his legs. “I know that something happened when I was unconscious for sixteen days. Something had to have happened during that time and the fact that you two keep hinting toward it only proves my point. Now, I’m tired of listening while you two do this sorta-conversation crap back and forth where one starts and says something mysterious and the other replies with something even more mysterious. It’s about darn time you start explaining things to me, and what better time than when we’re getting chauffeured around for the next few hours?”
But there was a lot to be said. In fact, there was about sixteen days’ worth of things to be said and no way to say all of it in a matter of a few hours. They would have to gather their thoughts and highlight the main points before they could start to explain to Notmie what they’d talked about. And since it was Notmie who they would be explaining it to, they would also need to simplify it quite a bit.
Notmie misread them, thinking that their gathering of thoughts was a simple refusal to answer his question. The frustration bubbled inside him, and he forgot to keep breathing.
Once Melono had decided what should be said and how to say it, she turned to Notmie to begin. It was then that she noticed he hadn’t been breathing for over a minute now.
“I’m going to tell you what was discussed while you were in a coma, if that’s what you were holding your breath about,” said Melono.
Notmie exhaled and gave a slight nod, indicating that, in
deed, that was the reason why he had been holding his breath.
“I’m going to sum up the important things we discovered and decided, because it’d take too long to tell you everything we talked about—”
“But boy,” The Captain interrupted, “there were some funny conversations in there that had nothing to do with what you’re about to hear. You really missed out on them, Notmie.”
“—and it’s not all relevant to what we’re about to do anyway,” Melono finished, as if The Captain hadn’t said a thing.
Notmie began tapping his foot on the floor of the limo, not just because he was becoming impatient with all the build up, but also because he really, really had to pee. He moved his hand around in the air, gesturing for her to get on with it.
“Right. So here it is: the beginning to end of all that we discovered. I’ll try to get this in chronological order, but I can’t make any guarantees…” Melono took a deep breath and loosened her shoulders. Catching sight of Notmie’s severe fidgeting, she lost her train of thought. “Are you all right?”
“What? Oh, yeah, I just have to pee,” he replied. “Go on with the story.”
“I don’t know, maybe we should get some breakfast first. I have the money for it now.” She knocked on the divider to get Nathan’s attention. He rolled it down, eager for instructions.
“Yes? What can I do for you?”
Melono asked him to stop at the nearest fast-food restaurant and he willingly obliged.
Captain Alex did everyone the courtesy of holding back his rant about the evils of fast food.
“This way,” Melono said, turning to Notmie, “you can also go to the bathroom.”
It looked like Notmie would have to wait a few more minutes before he could hear his explanation. He didn’t protest, though; he really did need to pee.
Part 24
Noting a Note in a Notebook
They pulled into the drive-thru, letting Notmie out of the car to go inside while they ordered. The limo was met with askance stares by the locals, but that was the least of Melono’s concerns.
She opened her burlap sack of cash and paid for the food (“Can you break a hundred?”).
As they waited for Notmie to come back, she decided on what to tell him and what to keep secret for a little while longer. Not for dramatic purposes, but practical ones. Well, maybe a few dramatic ones, too.
Notmie hopped back in the limo, and she handed him his breakfast burrito, wasting no time before she bombarded him with information. He stuffed his mouth as she began.
“It all goes back to the French— Now wait, Notmie, I can tell you’re about to say something, but before you shake your fist at the injustice of it all, let me finish. And please chew your food before you try to talk again.
“The first thing you should know is that Alex’s great-to-the-seventh grandfather’s full name was Philippe Bianca. We don’t know much about him other than his name, which is enough for now. Judging by that name, you can bet just about anything that Phil was French.”
Notmie’s mouth, full of half-chewed food, lulled open, and he pointed an accusatory finger at Captain Alex.
“Yes, Notmie that means Captain Alex is part French. How French, we don’t know, but it could be as small as one two-hundred-and-fifty-sixth French, so don’t worry. I suspect most Americans are at least that French. But that doesn’t matter. What matters is that Phil had French relatives who we can only assume found out about the curse.” She gave Notmie a significant look. “These relatives, more likely than not, are predecessors to Sinclair Pontier and his French brigade.”
“But this is all speculation,” Notmie began, “and what does it have to do with me?”
Captain Alex sighed, cranky from having to hold in his fast-food rant. “If you’ll shut up and listen—” he began, but Melono cut him off.
“You’re right, Notmie. Everything up to that point is speculation, but it seems to fit perfectly with the rest of what we know, which is more than just guesswork. Alex’s parents were murdered by Frenchman; we know that for sure.”
Notmie had heard as much back at Larry’s house, so he shoved another bite of burrito into his mouth to allow Melono to continue.
She turned to The Captain. “You don’t mind me telling this story, do you Alex?” The Captain shook his head. “Okay, good.
“Alex was at home with his parents the night they were killed. It was the summer of his—what, junior year? Yeah, junior year in high school. Earlier in the evening, he’d walked into his mother’s study—she was a librarian, remember, and she enjoyed genealogy—and he found her working away on a project she’d been researching for as long as he could remember. She’d been commissioned to do it for a large sum of money and had worked tirelessly on it in the recent months until it was finished. But now it was finally done. Alex went into the room just as his mom was putting the finishing touches on it.”
“Finishing touches on what?” whispered Notmie, already captivated by the story.
Melono looked at Captain Alex, signaling for him to continue the story from there. He picked up on the hint and addressed Notmie’s question.
Keeping his voice low and suspenseful, Captain Alex said, “On a family tree… on your family tree. I knew I had heard your name before when I first met you, but I couldn’t remember where. You don’t usually forget names like Notmie. When I saw the family trees in the back of the limo, I immediately recognized my mother’s handwriting and saw your name, just the way I’d seen her write it that one day in the study.”
“Why didn’t you say something about it then?” Notmie asked.
“I hardly knew you at that point, and I’d just seen you attempt to kill a man… woman… whatever you call eunuchs. I wasn’t about to start trusting you with what could have been delicate personal information. Plus, I didn’t really put the pieces together myself.”
“Okay, fair enough,” said Notmie. “Now remind me where the French come into the death of your parents.”
Melono knew this was a touchy part of the story, and didn’t exactly want to see Alex bawl like a child the way he had when he’d told it to both Larry and her the week prior. Even more than not wanting to see him cry, Melono wanted to avoid recreating the uncomfortable position she and Larry had been put in when The Captain had “accidentally” jabbed himself in both eyes to act like that was the reason tears were streaming down his cheeks.
So she said, “I’ll take it from here, Alex. I know you’re tired of telling this story. Like I said, Alex was in the house on the night of his parents’ deaths. He came in just as his mother put the finishing touch on our family tree. He stayed in the study while she went to go call the guy who’d commissioned her to do it to let him know she’d finished. Alex was snacking on a bag of baby carrots as he looked over the family tree. His dad came in and examined his mother’s work, commenting on how lovely her handwriting was and how elegant her designs had become since she first took up the hobby. Shortly after she hung up the phone, she reentered her study and proceeded to share what Alex will only call a ‘gushy moment’ with his father. As we all know, gushy moments and baby carrots don’t go well together,”—Notmie nodded enthusiastically; he knew all about the dangers of mixing gushy moments and baby carrots—“because before he knew what had hit him, Alex felt the need to run to the bathroom and vomit.
“As he leaned over the toilet seat, he heard a knock on his front door and heard his mother answer it. Holding off on his regurgitation long enough to listen to what was being said, he distinctly heard French voices talking in aggravated tones to his parents. He couldn’t tell what they said, but the voices were getting louder and louder in what seemed to be a heated argument. But then the voices finally fell silent, and Alex figured they must have reached some sort of agreement. However, when he walked out of the bathroom, he found both of his parents’ bodies on the floor of the study, and the family tree was missing.”
Melono didn’t want to look at Captain Alex, in case he was crying
again.
Notmie, on the other hand, seemed to have no problem gawking at him. “That’s awful. And you’re sure both of these guys were French? I thought you couldn’t hear them very clearly. How do you know they had French accents? Couldn’t they have been German or something?”
Captain Alex shook his head. “No, no, no, I’m quite certain they had French accents. Plus, what Melono forgot to mention was what my parents looked like when I found them. They had both been strangled by French flags, which were still tied around their necks. That was sort of a giveaway to the whole French thing.”
“Ah, of course,” said Notmie before falling silent and waiting for the rest of the story.
“We’re still not sure why they killed my parents—” Captain Alex began, before his voice faded out and his eyes started to well up.
Melono finished for him. “But we know why they didn’t kill Alex, even though they must have known he was somewhere in the house. This is where Larry’s expertise came in handy. He’s been around for a long time, and having a prophetic mother means he’s quite well versed in the supernatural, curses included.
“As he explained to us,” Melono continued, “there are certain rules about casting curses that must be followed if the curse is going to stick. The one that applies to our situation is a rule involving the descendants of both the person who casts the curse and of the cursed. Apparently, if an individual sets a curse on someone’s bloodline—in this case, that would be Phil cursing Baron—the curse will only remain as long as there are still living descendants from that curser’s own bloodline.”
All the technicalities were beginning to bore Notmie. “So what?”
Melono sighed exasperatedly but cut to the chase. “Here’s the thing, Notmie: Alex seems to be the last direct descendant of Philippe Bianca.”
“Who?”
“Phil,” said Melono.
“Oh.”
Captain Alex nodded. “It’s true. I can’t think of ever hearing about any cousins or aunts or uncles. Phil was on my mother’s side, and she was an only child. Both of her parents were only children, too.”
The Fraud Page 27
