Family Business

Chapter 9

Next morning was difficult. William walked into the dining hall and the chatter died away immediately. There was dead silence until he decided to ignore it and served himself some food from the buffet table.

Turning around, he looked for a place to sit. People shamelessly stared. Ignoring them all with great difficulty, he found a corner next to a young guy who was the only one not staring. He was totally engrossed in his phone, food untouched.

"Can I sit here?" William asked politely. The guy just gestured to sit without even looking up. Slowly a low murmur ended the silence and everyone went back to doing what they were doing before William came.

William had no appetite but since it was his first day he had no idea where to be until the captain meeting at 9. He dint get much sleep after the incident with Frank. He took a shower to wash off the blood and slowly dried himself, not willing to go back to the room where the only thing happened was mind boggling. Then he sat on the bed for a while, thoughts weaving between the strangeness of Lanchester and Leah's betrayal. He thought about captain, the only real father figure in his life and he disappointed him. At some point before the sun came up, his eyes closed and he fell back on the hard bed.

Few hours later, the sunlight flooded the room, falling on William's face. He would up with a jerk. Sitting up straight he recollected the events of the previous night and sighed. It was too late for his morning jog and he had no idea what to do so he got dressed and went down.

The manager of the hotel was talking to someone, he brow furrowed. When he saw William, his expression changed to something unreadable.

"Ah William! Slept alright ?" He asked. William just shrugged and said "Is Frank ok? I would like to go see him."

"Don't worry boy, they patched him up and let him spend the night at the hospital. He should be back before lunch." The manager said, patting him on the shoulder before turning to go. "Oh and captain Norman would like to see you in his office at 9.00. Why don't you go down to the dining hall and grab some breakfast." He added before walking away.

William ate in silence, ignoring stares and murmurs from the people in the hall. The young man with whom he shared the table with finally put down his phone and looked up. He had dark hair, neatly combed to the side, he had a slight stubble that gave his face a nice look. He gave William a look of recognition with his green eyes.

"Let me guess, William Cooper? I am Adam." He said, holding out his hand. "Possibly the only man in the history of Lanchester to become so well known overnight."

"Not for a good reason though." William replied, taking his hand. "Do you know why everyone is staring?"

"You mean you don't know?" Adam asked, raising an eyebrow.

Getting frustrated, William picked up his empty plate "Well.... Thank you for letting me sit here." He said before storming off to dump his plate.

******

Dana was the first to wake up. She was full of energy, ready to start the hunt for her boyfriend. He quickly got dressed and went down.

The rains had stopped and the sun was shining. The plants were still wet and the grounds smelled of petrichor. Feeling like this could be a good day she decided to take a tour of the hotel grounds. Who knows, maybe she would get lucky and bump into Aaron here. From what she could tell, nothing else in the town screamed job opportunities for smart young people.

She decided to take a tour of the grounds, she could see the edge of the maze from the left side of the hotel. The hedge wall was so close that it touched the compound wall of the hotel.