Cheetos, Lies and Video Tape
Kyle dug his hand into a bag of cheetos. As a recovering, strung out alcoholic, his addiction to alcohol has been replaced with another oral fixation.
Eating. A lot.
He leaned foward and grabbed another handful of cheetos as he read over the morning copy of the Times, specifically his second page (inward cringe) piece on Marthinus T. Steyn's collaspe. He figured it was better to not have it featured blatantly on the front page. Less attention for Steyn, less attention for Kyle. He shuddered as he thought of the woman he fondly refers to as Shera.
A stray cheeto fell to the floor causing Kyle quickly to bend over and pick it up before the 5 second rule ran out. Popping it into his mouth, he noticed the email notification icon on his desktop computer was blinking. With orange fingers, Kyle opened up the email.
****
From: (unknown)
Topic: Gothic-ah murders.
Attachment: murder.avi (86.3mb)
To Kyle Evans of the Nachton Times
It may be of interrest to you to hear the police have received new evidence in the Gothic-ah murders. A security tape has appeared, that was overlooked at first. The tape is attached.
Enjoy
****
'Whee,' Kyle said as he clicked onto the attachment and started to watch the video. The video was clear but the angle left very little to be desired. It showed a man and a woman. The images start to blur a little as the female starts to attack and apparently kill the guards. Probably due to the quality of the video.
Kyle tilted his head, trying to make out what she was doing to the guards but it was clear that they were dead or dying. However, at the end of the video, their faces are clear enough to get a print image, which is what Kyle does.
Leaning over to his right, he watches the printer spit out the screenshot of the male and female assailants. 'Fun, fun,' Kyle said. He would contact the paper's IT department to see if he could trace the email, but he wasn't expecting any interesting results from that.
'Gothic-ah,' he said slowly and googled the name on his computer. 'Ooh,' he said. A fetish store. That should be interesting. Kyle made a mental note to check out the lead as he ate another cheetos.
"At the Times building, Lady Meegan?"
"Yes, please."
"If you are sure. Very well." He pulled the car to the curb infront of a parking meter, shut off the ignition, got out and walked to Meegan's door. After he let her out, he put coins in the meter. She wondered if he was going to follow her in. 'Only one way to find out.' Meegan tightened the sweater around her waist, and smoothed her skirt. Her hair was pulled up into braided pigtails, something she'd done on the drive. She tilted her head back to look up at the building and did her best to remember the name of the reporter. With no luck she decided to ask Jeeves.
"Jeeves, do you remeber the name of that reporter that used to print Theory columns on the Kin?" It just seemed to her better not to call attention to herself by using what was almost a curse word in this city.
"Kyle Evans."
"That's right. Thank you. Will you be waiting here when I return?" She held her breath, giving no outter sign she wanted him to not come with her.
"No, m'lady, I can not wait here when I will be with you." She let out her breath and wrinkled up her nose. 'Oh well, life goes on.'
She took shrugged and headed into the building, Jeeves beating her to the door just soon enough to open it for her. 'How DOES HE DO THAT!?!?!" She chuckled softly and made her way to a bank of elevators. Jeeves pressed the button to call the elevator, and shortly one dinged open. Upon entering, he pressed the button for the Times reception floor.
She stepped from the musak filled space to a busy lobby, her eyes fell on the receptionist and her feet followed. Jeeves followed a few paces behind.
"Hello." She said to the rather apathetic woman. "I need to see Kyle Evans, please."
The woman looked up, and spoke in a bored voice. "And you are?"
This woman didn't look to be the object of discretion, so she would have to be. She leaned forward and spoke in a firm non-threatening tone.
"You can call him, or I can just take one of these little badges," She picked up a guest badge from a little pile. "And go find him myself."
The woman picked up her phone and dialed Kyle's extension.
Standing, he went to his small bathroom and again thanked the gods that he was incredibly spoiled. Washing his orange fingers, he looked up into the mirror and was satisfied with his appearance. Forced sobriety was difficult but the shakes were starting to subside and the color was back in his face. Drying his hands, he was pretty certain he was craving a sandwich.
As he grabbed his keys out of his desk, his phone rang. Grabbing it, he answered. 'Kyle Evans.' He listened for a moment and became annoyed.. 'Well who is she?'
Meegan grinned at the woman. Pinky-yellow, made her want to giggle, but she didn't. She thought that maybe Kyle wouldn't know what she looked like and decided to help the lady out and still not give her name.
"Tell him if he wants an exclusive with the owner of," Meggan pointed to the logo on her chest. "Then he ought to come down here. Tell him I'll spot him lunch for his trouble."
The woman looked at her with a tilted head, then shrugged. "She says if you want an exclusive with the ower of her tank top logo, you should come down here, and she'll buy you lunch."
Kyle moved quickly out of his office, thru the loud bull pit of cubicles and staff to the bay of elevators. Curious, he thought, the owner of Gothic-ah wants to buy me lunch. I am a-ok with that.
He swiftly walked into an opening elevator and pressed the lobby button repeatedly. He wasn't sure whether it was the exclusive or the free lunch that was urging him on.
Looking around the front desk, he noticed a woman with a man standing several feet behind her. Kyle looked at the receptionist and she nodded towards the couple. He gave her a wink and approached the woman.
'Excuse me. Are you the owner of Gothic-ah?'
"That depends. Are you Kyle Evans?"
She figured he was, but then she didn't expect a man that looked like he either hadn't slept in three days or had a drink in that much time. 'Must be a tough life, being a conspiracy theorist.'
Not in the least.
Kyle looked at the woman and then watched the man behind her. He gave the gentleman a nod. 'So the owner of Gothic-ah wants to buy me lunch and give me an exclusive. I am intrigued.'
He offered the woman his arm and held a hand out to the door. 'Shall we Miss....?'
"I have a car outside. What do you fancy for lunch?"
The elevator dinged open as she spoke the last words. She stepped into the car, Kyle then Jeeves following her in.
'So, tell me about these murders. How were you involved?'
"I'm not aware of which murders you're talking about. Murder happens every day in our fair metropolis."
Kyle scratched his cheek and then pulled out the image he printed off the email he had received. 'Someone emailed me this today,' he pointed to the two assailants, 'So I assumed since you arrived on the heels of me literally receiving it, that your 'exclusive' was about these murders...or were you just having a sale, Miss...sorry didnt catch your name?'
Worst case scenario, he'd get lunch, Kyle figured. He couldn't imagine what else the woman would want to talk to him about. He covered the murder trials, scandals, and the occasional conspiracy theory. Kyle sighed. He had hoped she wasn't another one of those vampire groupies. He had enough of them in the past 24 hours.
"Mr. Evans, I wouldn't walk into your office and say hey I saw some murders, Want me to tell you about it? I came today because I had questions for you. Since I know of only three people with those tapes, I know that email is legit. So here's what I'm going to do. I'll answer your questions, but for each one you ask, I get to ask one."
She had little other choice, he knew more than she wanted him to, and he would print it anyway, he might as well have the truth, well most of it. Jeeves pulled up at the curb of a small Greek bistro. She knew the place, the food was good, and it was dark, quiet and under-populated.
"Like Greek food, Mr. Evens?"
Kyle didn't wait to be let out of the car. He stepped a long leg out and stood on the sidewalk waiting for Miss Masters. He hated the interim before diving into a story. There was always a song and the side stepping. This quid pro quo proposition was easy to navigate while a little (or a lot) drunk but in his sobriety he realized that people annoyed him.
Short, to the point. No games, no zig or zagging. He really wanted to tell Miss Masters to save it since he didn't dance, but he would wait and let her begin. He already put it out there and flat out asked. If she wants to pretend or had her ulterior motives, he'd wait, granted not happily.
He looked over his shoulder at the menu posted by the front entrance. He hadn't had a gyro in forever, much less pronounced it correctly. Kyle smiled as best he could as Miss Master exited the vehicle.
She took a moment to study Kyle. He didn't look all that happy and she had a feeling he was one of those hit it and quit it guys, and the dance she had in mind was going to annoy the crap out of him. She wondered if he would be more inclined to answer her questions if she was forthright in her information.
They ordered drinks, and as the waiter walked away, she picked up the big black menu, but she wasn't seeing what she was looking at.
"I don't know the woman, I never learned her name. I'm told she is a powerful woman. That man's name is Panos Mehalitsenos. It is not a name that will ever be erased from my memory. He is a sick, dangerous man. I do not know how she killed them, only that she did. He stopped her from killing me, but his intentions were not noble ones. Anything else you want to know?"
She put her menu down and looked up at Mr. Evans. 'Please don't ask how I got away, please, please, please'
'Well, who told you she was a powerful woman? What were they doing there? Did they take anything? Why did this Panos gentleman save you and more importantly, how did you get away?'
He leaned forward in his chair, waiting for her answer. 'You can either tell me what happened, from start to end or I can eat my lunch, thank you and leave, Miss Masters. I'm not here to play games. You asked for me specifically and you said you had exclusive information on something. Feel free to share.'
Kyle sat back in his chair, casting an odd look at the man sitting next to her. He was there to protect her but was a servant of some sort. But protection from what?
Damnit he needed a drink.
"No one told me, you could feel it radiating from her. She said only a few words to me but each one was filled with the authority of a woman used to being obey." She took a sip of her lemon water. "As to what they were doing in my Studio, I can not say, as I never found out. Panos took an outfit I had given him, but he did not steal, nor did she." She sipped again, recalling his questions.
"I do not know exactly why he spared my life at that moment other than he wanted me, for what, again, I do not know. I fear however he is obsessed with me and will stop at nothing to get to me. I fear for my life, and the lives of my friends." She played with the edges of her napkin. She really had no desire for Mr. Evans to know Aron's name. It would do her no good for him to sniff around that tree.
"I was saved by a night in shining armor. Or rather I called a friend and he came to my aid. No, I will not tell you his name or even the car he drives. So don't ask."
She took a long sip of water, and gave Kyle a level stare. She could only go so far, and she wondered just how far he would push.
"You want start to finish, fine. I can give you that. It all happened in such a short time, that the telling is rather anti-climactic. I chose to work late, the design vibes were flowing and I have a deadline. I took a break down on the factory floor to get some ideas, when they intruded on my space. I did not see her kill my men, but when I asked about them I was lied to, but the truth was visible in his eyes. The woman threatened me, Panos got her to back off, how I do not know. He only said four words to her." She drank from her glass, and figeted with ehr napkin some more.
"He helped me so I chose to help him. His clothes were torn and bloody, he had several wounds from being on the losing end of a fight. He was running from something or someone with some kind of power over him. I do not know the detail, as I couldn't get much out of him. As we were together longer I discovered his intentions were neferious." A deep breath and sip of water.
"I called my friend as I got clothes from a surplus room. Nope, no back exit in that room. My friend came and scared him away. I've been hiding with my friend since." The waiter approached their table as she finished speaking.
"I'll have a house salad please, with grilled chicken." She returned her gaze to Evans. "I don't know what else I can tell you."
"I don't know what else I can tell you."
Kyle looked up. He started again with the questions. 'Well, I'm going to ask, Miss Masters. Who's 'the friend' that scared him away? If you're going to refuse to answer obvious questions, again I'm wondering just why are we here? I mean, I could dig around and find out what the police know. They will undoubtedly already have or will soon, the video tapes in your factory. If they don't, again I ask why are we here and why are you telling me only part of the story? What are you covering up? Were you actually working in your factory or was it something else you do on the side? Was this a party that got a little out of control, maybe?'
He looked at the servant next to Miss Masters. 'Also who's your bodyguard here who is looking unbelievably uncomfortable?'
"The 'bodyguard' is merely a butler I'm afraid. Currently Miss Master's"
Allright, maybe it wasn't a very accurate truth, but it was a truth non the less.
"Lady Meegans savior prefers to keep his name hidden due to publicity reasons and ofcourse it is easier to keep her under protection if noone knows who he is. I can assure you he has done nothing he is ashamed of"
At this point not only was Kyle annoyed but extremely hungry. The special consisted of noodles, chunks of cheese and beans...along without several other greekish items, he wagered. He dug in, not surprised that it was delicious. He thought about Rene and wondered how she was doing. He'd have to call her sometime soon.
Kyle looked up at Miss Masters to see if she would continue. If what she said next wasn't satisfactory, he planned on taking his leave.