To Live Another Day

Part Four (first half)

When it's late afternoon and the sun starts to set, she takes the bus to the address that the man mentioned on the phone.

It is a blessing to find an open seat near the window where she can stare at the outside. She does not know this place too well yet, but she likes it here. There is something haunting in the classic style of the city, in its green spaces, in the people that roam them. She normally looks at all details she can and carefully notes them in her mind, but that is a task for sometime else.

Now, she looks but does not see. She stares but does not record a thing. Time passes and she does not notice.

She is thinking about the strange man that has her wallet. He said his lady Marie, whoever he meant with that name, found the wallet shortly before the ending of the redoute. Apparently she did not wish to give something important as that to the staff, who would stack it along other lost items that go a long way until reaching their owner. So she had entrusted the wallet to him, assigning him to find the owner instead.

He seemed old, judging from his voice. Also, the way he described his relationship with "his lady" was questionable. Maybe it was a language thing, because she was not yet perfect in German, but he seemed too formal for her taste.

She could not help but find the story suspicious, and yet when she checked at home for her wallet after work, it was not to be seen anywhere.

How maddening! Only once did she take it out during the ball, and now here she is heading to a stranger's place to retrieve it. They have very likely found her employee card inside and called the number of the café to look for her. When she pieces the details together, it all makes more sense.

She feels better now, but does not fully drop her guard. She can never do that anyways. She never has.

Except one time...

Gosh, not him again.

How much longer until she forgets about him? How many more days?

___________________________

She is in shock.

The address on her note seems to correspond to her current location, but why does it feel wrong?

Now she stands in front of a high, see-through iron gate with patterns of roses and doves. Past the bars lies a driveway that goes downhill in the distance, surely to an underground garage, but straight ahead...the magic is straight ahead.

It's a mansion. A beautiful work of art dressed in white, nature stone and a blue-tiled roof. It is not particularly grand, from the front at least, but there is value and care in its details: the classical columns glued to the walls, the romantic balconies, the statues awaiting guests just before the door. All compact and symmetrical.

It takes all her might to pull herself together and press on the bell, as advised on the phone. Even if it is the wrong address, she will apologize and ask them for instructions on the right one. Nothing too difficult, right?

After the second ringing, a man shows up at the gate. He steps out where she can have a clear look at him. He has gray hair and a wrinkled, diamond face, and is clothed in a formal black suit with a bow tied to his shirt. She is too focused on reading him as a person, that she barely notices her wallet in his hands.

"Hello," he says, his face expressionless, "I assume you are Frau Weavil?"

He pronounces her name as Vaevel, with a strong V even, but she nods anyways. "Hello. Nice to meet you."

He hands her the wallet. "Thank you for picking it up. I have been unusually busy these days, it would be inconvenient to look for you personally."

She cannot tell if he is being honest or purposely rude. Either the first option is true, or he actually holds a grudge against the person who assigned him the task. And honestly, it seems as if this is not the first time...