THE ROOT OF A CYNOSURE

Chapter three

Damon

The wall clock chimed six o'clock as I sat in the living room ,trying to watch a Japanese cartoon film titled AOT. I found it hard to concentrate as my mind was tumultuous.It was six days since I had the romantic lunch with Alicia even though there was no romance.
I really wanted to see her again but she left me with no contact and even if I had any, there was no flash drive to use as an excuse to see her. It was obvious that the only thing that saved me from jail that day was the flash. I had to move on.She made it clear that the lunch was just a pay back and no string was attached.
I appreciated her honesty. Should I swallow my pride and take Natasha back? She was beautiful ,charismatic and romantic. We could hit the clubs together, take a trip to Nikkie beach on weekends, spend sometimes here and obliterate this loneliness.But I was not in love with her,or any other girl. I wanted to be with someone I truly loved and the feeling is reciprocated. But I could not see Alicia given me that chance. I had to let her go off my mind. It was not going to be cushy, I knew.
The door bell rang and I grimaced. This pizza boy was a bum. He was coming when I had made my self a meal. What the hell was wrong with him? I moved angrily to the door, turned the key and tugged the door and stood still. Alicia stood there, letting her red hair sprawl over her shoulder, giving me that sensational feeling that made my liver shiver. This girl was killing me. I was deeply in love and I was not giving up. She has this thing with expensive clothes. Her body clinging woven serpent jacquard dress , metallic gold sandals were made by Gucci. Her ravishing eyes hid behind Gucci split 1 sunglasses then she swept me off my feet when I saw the Rolex Oyster Perpetual Cosmography watch round her wrist. She looked bright ,beautiful and fragrant like cattleya orchid.
"Hey " Her saccharine voice emerged .
" Hey." I smiled.
" I'm sorry for the unscheduled visit."
" How many men on Earth today are lucky enough to find a ravishing princess glowing in Gucci eyewear, Gucci woven serpent jacquard dress, Gucci metallic gold shoes and a Rolex Oyster Cosmo ,standing by their door and illuminating their life?" I smiled. " You are welcome. Please come inside."
My description of her clothes seemed to have startled her. I paved way for her and let her into the big living room. She looked round and it was obvious that she was impressed. It was simplified, chic and sophisticated. The library was enhanced by a material inversion;the living room had a 3d floor ,with a Turkish rug; the dinning room had ebony, fire oak floors, while the stepped up library had a white epoxy resin floor with an ebony oak ceiling.The intricate gallery wall behind the large TV was an eye intrigue.
"Please sit down.I I waved at one of the white sofa ,while I walked to the living room bar . "Champagne, black and tan, juice, gin. ....."
" Juice." She cut in.
I served her a glass of Liquitera and poured myself a glass of black and tan.
" How come you could tell the brands of my wears at a glance?"
She asked as I sat down, " You must be an enigmatic connoisseur."
" I don't just identify them but can also tell their price tags." I boasted. "Like the other day,you wore a eighty thousand dollar mermaid sweep train prom dress, twenty two grand
Valentine rockstud mule, a seventy grand D and C Sicily bag."
" Oh my God !" She exclaimed . " You must be shopping for your girlfriend like every week."
" I would have love to give that impression but no, I know because that is what I do for a living."
"Hmmmm.....you must own a boutique, huh?"
" No. I just wrote my finals and I have been working as a part time sales boy at La Queque fashion house for four years."
She gave me a look of disbelieve. " A sales boy? Come on be serious for once."
" I am. That's what I do...for now."
She glanced round the living room. "You must be earning high to live in a house like this, have champagne and Liquitera in your bar, drive a Buick Cascada."
"The car,house,drinks.....they don't belong to me. I live with my friend who happens to have travelled to his country, Nigeria. The drinks... he gets them as presents because his father is a billionaire and since he is a muslim and don't drink alcohol, I take of them. Though some defile the law but he doesn't. You know you rich folks like to give gifts to rich folks like yourself.We have been friends since our first year."
She was silent for a few seconds and I guessed she was nursing her disappointment. Well. I could not give her the impression that I was somebody I was not. I owed it to myself to be real. We spent about an hour talking normal. She gave the impression that it was a casual visit. Then she decided to leave, she got on her feet, started walking towards the front door when I called , " Alicia".
She turned her head at me.
" You have a reason for coming here yet you want to leave without executing it."
" I don't think you are right."
" Don't be shy. You came to ask for my hand in marriage. Okay, I will marry you, now you can ask if I will marry you since You know I won't turn you down..."
She laughed.
" Oh, I get it. You changed your mind, disillusioned that I'm just a mere part time sales boy who offers Luquitera from his friend's bar."
"Oh,don't be stupid."
" But don't get me wrong. Fahad does not own everything here. The clothes in my closet, the books on my shelf, the toiletries in my bathroom are mine,and each time he is going to pay the rent ,I make sure I go with him and count the money and the receipt is properly signed."
Again she laughed.
" You are naughty." She said.
I walked passed her, hesitated, then held her hand and walked her back and sat her down on the sofe. I thought she was going to object. I was tempted to sit close to her ,but I did not want to cross limits. When a girl who barely knew you trusted you enough to visit you alone, prove to be a gentleman. I sat opposite her.
" Go ,on?"
"What makes you so sure?"
" I don't know. I just feel this connection with your heart. It's a one way thing though. I feel it but you don't. You can trust me,Alicia."
"Trust?" She said as if she was hearing the word for the first time. I saw hesitation and doubt on her face ,then a smugly perturbed expression. Oh no! I fought the urge to hold her face and tell her to lean on me, I was ready to be there any time she needed me. After dawdling, she capitulated .
" Yes, there is something I wanted to tell you but....I changed my mind. I barely know you," she began, " I - I know the man that was killed." She dropped the nickel. I felt something cold crawl inside me. Was the ravishing damsel part of a gang ?
" He was there to see me. We had an appointment . The name he mentioned was a message for me. I think he saw you with me under the tent."
I was not enjoying this. I could vividly remember the short stocky guy in suit. Me and gangstars, never. I was a man,yes, but my name was Damon Simon and not Sylvester Stallone.
" The name he mentioned was John Terry." l quickly told her.
She nodded.
" Actually, I did not just come for the name. I wanted to tell you about it. I need someone to talk to."
I was overwhelmed that she wanted to share with me but I was not so sure I wanted to hear this.
"Are you sure you want to listen?"
" Yeah, I told you to trust me." I said automatically. I obliged because I wanted to be with her. My love for her was affecting my sense of judgement. If listening to her was going to keep me closer, I was game.
" He was the one I went to see the day we met. We were supposed to meet at the tent. But he called me to tell me that he felt he was been followed and needed to shake them off. I did not know what he meant and why he was been followed. He then later called that we should meet at Daxton Street.That was when I left. As I waited under the rain,he called me and asked me to leave at once and he switched off his phone.
I became scared and called my chauffer who picked me and left. It was agonising when I heard later that he was shot and killed."
" I am sorry about that."
" Thank you. He was a private detective. His name was Derrick Tyler. I hired him. He was the person who got me the flash drive. When you saw me make a call under the tent, it was with him .He told me the password. I feel I got him killed but why?"
" He was doing his job. Private eye, lawyers, judges go through various cases and make friends and enemies constantly. You never know who is vindictive. Don't put it on yourself."
She nodded slightly.
" I need to trust you with this. I have never let it out."
" Go on,princess. I am Damon Trust."
Even at her state of perturbation, she still managed to giggle.
" I told you my name was Alicia Grant .My father is Jim Grant. I don't know if you have head of him."
" Oh,humble girl. Who has not heard of the 8th richest man in the world?" I said giving her another quick glance. The idea of having her as my girlfriend began to drift away .This was not some kind of movie. This rich guys went for themselves. Jim Grant !Phew!
"I am the only child of the Grants. I have all the love ,attention and care I need from them. I have anything I asked for." She eased her baulk on the sofa. " It all started when this detective came to question my father. I eavesdropped and no one knew I was there. He asked my father if he knew about the murder of one Professor Pliers Brett in 1996. My dad said he did. Then the detective asked if he knew the culprits who did it. My dad said he never met them .The detective said but they were connected. My dad said the connection was not direct. It was between him,the hospital and the law. I became curious.My parents were not criminals. What was going on? The detective wanted to ask another question when my father told him that he was on his way out and asked him to meet him at his office. The detective wanted to protest but my dad told him that he was only attending to him because of patriotism and humility. I think the detective understood how powerful my dad was so he obliged.The incident got me curious.
I later asked my dad who the man was, and he said he was a housing agent .That single lie sparked my inquisitiveness.I browsed the professor's name but found nothing much. It seemed the publicity about his murder was low. So, I contacted Tyler. He was a prolific and high profile private eye .Even though he was very expensive,he was very efficient. He dug into it and miraculously got the original case file. I insisted on having a copy so he sent it into a flash and warned me to be discreet. I don't have my PC here."

"I do." I sprang up,finding the mystery more interesting. I went in and got my Zinox Core i7.While I let it boot, I fixed her another Luquitera and replenished my glass with black and tan.
She fixed the flash and I turned away as she put the password.

" You don't have to do that." She observed.
When she opened it, a picture of a young handsome young man appeared. He wore his auburn hair like a rock star. His vicious eyes were green and mean. Dressed in leather leopard jacket ,and blue denim pants.He was holding a very beautiful lady with pigtail red hair,dressed in skimpy ,skinny dress. They looked like a young couple in love and did not give a damn about the rest of the world.

" This is Richard Cliff. This picture was taken in 1993.He was said to be around eighteen then.The lady is Maria Hudson. Two years younger than him."
She scrolled to the next picture. "This is Professor Pliers. He was a Professor at Harvard and the head of a secret team of scientist working for the government .

He was a biochemist and it was suspected that they were creating a virulent bio weapon to curtail the virulent global terrorism.
The government made it secretive because of spies, humints, saboteurs and enemies.

It was a very big project and the professor was in charge and sole authority over withdrawal and release of funds to the team. Tyler suspected they were creating a bio weapon drone. Well, that is by the way. Trouble started when the team needed funds to carry out a project and the professor was not reachable. To their dismay, he had withdrawn the remaining money which was put in a safe house: one point nine billion dollars."

"Phew !" I whistled.
" The professor was the first suspect and he was declared wanted but due to the nature of the research, there was less publicity. This happened in December 1996. Eight months later, his body was found buried at the back of his house. This became news and the government could not keep the press out of this. His death was publicised because he was a renown academic who had contributed a lot to the world of science.

FBI, Local police, and CIA swooped in. It was suspected that his thumb was cut off which meant one thing: He did not withdraw the money but had his thumb cut off to get his finger print. I do not understand most of the forensic details but I understand that this lady was his secretary. After an intensive investigation, it was discovered that it was her boyfriend was the mastermind and brain behind the heist.

They killed the professor in cold blood, stole the money and disappeared. Imagine a twenty one year old stealing almost two billion dollars. There was a serious manhunt for them but they were never found. The guy was working at a local store as a store keeper and was said to be very honest. They lived together and no one knew anything about them prior to '93 when they first arrived Detroit. They were later suspected to have been illegal immigrants from Sicily, Italy.

But Italian authority could not identify them. They became known as the mysterious couple. It was learnt that they got married in 1997, before the body was found in a registry. They were traced to Texas and it was learnt that Maria was in labour in a hospital .The agents rushed there but they were too late. She had disappeared and abandoned the three hour old child. Nothing was heard of them again until they were traced to a hotel in Vegas two years later but found dead."
" Both of them?"

" Yes. It seemed they were involved with the mafia. Someone had gone into the hotel, shot them and burnt them with acid. The man was later arrested but died in detention. He confessed to the crime but denied knowing anything about the heist. There was no trace of the money. The man who killed them said they lived an extravagant life, moving about in disguise and lived in five star hotels all through. This happened in 1999.The case was shut in 2000."

" But your dad was questioned just of recent ."
" A detective who bumped into the case file felt there was need for a clean-up. Now it is shut finally. When Tyler dug this up and assured me that my parents were not involved, he told me why my dad was questioned and my life stopped moving." There was tears in her eyes. " I hired him to dig into the culprits past, find what the law could not find,I was ready to pay any amount. I gave him an advanced payment of one million dollars and promised him another four if he found it."

I crinkled my face.
" I don't get it. The case is shut. Why do you have to spend such amount to dig into their past?"
Tears now rolled down her cheeks.
She looked as if she was going to burst and I could see the effort she was using to calm herself.

" Because Tyler discovered that my dad was questioned because I am the child that Maria Hudson gave birth to and abandoned by the criminals that day."

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