Duncan Quagmire and Violet Baudelaire: A Reunion

Chapter 10 - Violet Baudelaire

The dinner was as awkward can be. The ten people all sat and were eating a three course meal delivered by the caterers and waiters. All of the service from the staff felt like it was a five-star restaurant.
They first were delivered whipped feta dipped along with some vegetables and crackers. The next course included a full roast turkey. Violet remembered that she and her family only ever got roast turkeys on Christmas, but apparently, the Hadley household got them whenever they liked. To top it all off, a large red-velvet cake was sent in, decadent cream cheese frosting piped on the top of the cake and around it.
Throughout the entire meal, there were private conversations. Count Olaf, or Harold known here was whispering very privately to his "secretary" Esmé. Mrs. Hadley ignoring the fact that her boyfriend was speaking very closely to another woman was delicately eating her food. Harry was eating to himself as well, placing more food on his plate than all of the Baudelaire's combined. Hannah and Sarah were too, talking very secretively like they were plotting murder. On us, Violet thought. Sunny and George, the youngest Hadley boy were throwing food at eachother which got pretty messy by the end of the meal.
At a time like that, Violet often thought to herself. She wondered where the Quagmire's were. She hasn't seen them for a few months now, after they left the Village of Fowl Devotees on the Self-sustaining hot balloon air home. Violet missed Isadora, her bright eyes and poetic words. She was probably the best friend Violet ever had.
Duncan occasionally ran through her head too. When she was in a tough situation or didn't know what to do, she thought about him. His expertise of journalism, his determination, his smile...
"Earth to Violet Quagmire," she heard a voice next to her saying. Klaus was snapping his finger in front of her passive face but she wasn't looking. Suddenly, her eyes focused on everything around her. The Hadley's, Count Olaf, Esmé and Sunny were beginning on their desert. Violet turned to face Klaus, "What did you just say?"
"What? Oh! I said, earth to Violet Baudelaire!" Klaus answered truthfully. She knew it, he didn't say "Quagmire", she probably thought it...

Once everybody was famished by the three meals, and after they thanked Mrs. Hadley for the meal, Violet, Klaus, and Sunny intended to go back to their rooms. They passed Hannah and Sarah who were still continuing to talk secretively and were eyeing Violet like she was a chewed-up piece of gum stuck on the bottom of their shoes. Violet ignored them.
Carrying Sunny, the two of them ambled up the stairs but halfway, they both stopped. "Do you know where our room is?" Violet asked Klaus. He slowly shook his head and Violet breathed out annoyance.
"Okay, well lets go through this corridor." Violet replied. Once they reached the landing for the third floor? Or was it the fourth floor? Violet put Sunny on the ground and they started down the first corridor. What made all of this trickier was that the corridor looked identical to their corridor so they had to look into the rooms.
The first three rooms they checked were full to the brim with laptops. Violet didn't know that there were this many laptops in the world, let alone in three rooms. The next room looked like it could be Harry's room. There were sports posters covering every inch of wallpaper and trophies were resting on a shelf. Klaus closed the door.
They went room after room down the corridor. Each room was turning more bizarre than the next. There was a room filled with candies in jars. Sunny tried to go in but they closed the door just in time before she took another step. Rooms were full of pillows, paintings, air-conditioners and speakers.
After their fifth room of pet food, the Baudelaire's were close to giving up. Their legs were tired, shoulders aching and they just wanted to go back to bed. "Last door until we go to the floor below... or above," Klaus said tiredly, he turned the door knob but it wouldn't open. He tried again. It wouldn't budge.
"This might be it! We locked the doors before, it might've locked on its own by accident when we left!" Violet exclaimed.
"How to open it?" Klaus asked. Although he has read many books, he hasn't read as much on picking locks.
"Hair pin!" squeeled Sunny, excitedly. She was holding a handful of gummy worms, she must have gone back to the candy room.
"Good idea!" Violet took a brown hair pin from her straight, brown hair and expertly twisted it. They heard the satisfying click from the door after they inserted it into the keyhole. Violet pushed the door open, praying that it isn't a room full of vegan pet food.
Thankfully it was not, only something much more curious. The room was considerably larger than the other rooms. There was an "L" shaped black leather couch in one corner, a large air vent on the other side of the room and in the middle of the room was a desk and a rolling chair. What was most peculiar was the suitcase. A large, leather brown suitcase sat in the middle of the desk, unopened. There were golden edgings all around the suitcase but what caught Violet's eye was a symbol next to the golden keyhole. What appeared painted on the suitcase with golden paint was an eye. Not just an eye, but the eye that they have seen so many times. "Klaus look!" Violet pointed at the symbol and Klaus leaned closer in.
"It's that eye again! The V.F.D. symbol!" Klaus exclaimed.
"This must be Count Olaf's case then," Violet continued, "it can't be anybody else's. I'm sure that Mrs. Hadley doesn't have any ties to V.F.D. as she adopted us, not because she is our legal guardian but wanted to have us. This must be Count Olaf's room then."
"Can you open it?" Klaus asked as he put all of his strength into opening the case but it wouldn't budge, just like the door earlier. Violet took her pin and she inserted it into the keyhole next to the symbol. Unlike the door, it didn't move.
"It's not working, I think we need a proper key for this one," Violet muttered under her breath. Sunny was trying to get onto the leather couch, Klaus had started inspecting the room again. Violet used her fingers to shape the pin but without luck, it didn't work. Violet turned to Klaus who was looking behind the couch, "Klaus," she began, "We need to go back. I have all of my tools there and with them, I can shape..."
Footsteps echoed down the corridor. They sounded like heavy, shoes thundering the floors. Violet looked to Klaus with a horrified look. Count Olaf was coming. Her heart beat elevated a million times. Next to his heavy footsteps were the sound of Esmé's high-heels. They sounded like rain-drops compared to Count Olaf. The corridor was long, but too long for them to sprint out. They had to hide.