The Castle On The Hill

Part 3

Part-3

Sam cranked the old-fashioned manual handle to lower the side window after he secured himself with the seatbelt. As they went up the main road, he glanced out from the window and saw a long series of lights along the shoreline. Those lights were from the shops-illuminating the front part of the sea. But soon the hills on the both sides blocked his sight. Against the backdrop of starlight sky, he could see how tall the hills really were. They could be called mountains if not for the fact that their peaks were somewhat flat. He could make out the forests on top as the leaves danced when wind blew from time to time.

Roy took a peek and saw Sam was looking outside. He unhurriedly spoke,

"So-I didn't ask that night on the beach, but could you tell me why you need fake ids again? Can't you use one of the five that I gave you before?"

Sam turned his head and looked at Roy. He could tell Roy was itching to ask this question for the last two days. He didn't want to divulge anything, much less the real reason but he also knew that if he didn't say anything Roy would just pester about it later. For now, he decided to answer Roy's question with his own,

"Why?"

"Why? You could call it my professional pride. Or the fact that you could've passed a lifetime with one of them without ever getting caught. They were that good. And I supplied you five! Five! What did you do in the last two years that required you to burn all five?" Roy's voice became more and more agitated as he went on.

Sam couldn't refute that. Roy's ids were in fact that good. The fact that he had come straight for Roy after he run out of ids were a proof of that. He scratched his head and muttered,

"Yes, your ids were good. But due to a silly mistake I made-I had to discard them."

"What happened?" Roy asked a lot calmer after observing Sam's reaction. "It isn't like you to make mistakes about grave matters such as this."

"Yeah, I know." Sam sighed, "Turns out I trusted the wrong person."

Roy expected the story to continue. But Sam shut his mouth not intending to clarify any further. Roy just shook his head. He knew if Sam wanted to not talk about something, he couldn't make Sam talk even if he strapped him to a bomb.

Sam asked after about five minutes went by in silence,

"What about you? How come I didn't see Mary when I previously visited?"

There was really nothing to look at. There were just rocky hills after hills on both sides.

Roy turned the gear up a notch,

"You just missed each other before. She went to help her mother just a week before you arrived. She came back on the next week but you were gone by then."

"There was no need to stay any longer. You had the ids waiting ready for me. I just needed to pick them up."

"Yeah, because you phoned to let me know in advance. This time there was no warning. You just appeared out of the blue and demanded for an id." Roy lectured, "It's very hard to create a flawless id. And I already stepped down from the game. The only reason I could give you this time and this identity was because I prepared it as a backup for me. Still, it would take about a week to replace my picture with yours."

"And I thank you from the bottom of my heart. It's not like I'll be working you for free. I'll pay adequately for your services." Sam replied bowing theatrically towards Roy.

Roy scowled at Sam before turning his gaze straight forward, "I don't need your money. I was never helping you for the money anyway. I could never repay you for what you did for me. At least this way I could help you with your situation, no matter how small."