We had tried about ten phone numbers we had that might've been Lilli's brother's, but each person had no idea who Basch Zwingli is. How are we going to find this guy when the power is out?
Then Lilli's eyes lit up in the beams of my flashlight and she dashed upstairs, the breeze from her sudden movement lifting my hair. She came back triumphantly with a sheet of paper that had a small portrait attached to it. Scribbled across the paper in large handwriting was a phone number.
"Call that number." Lilli whispered, shoving the paper in Anthony's face.
"Alright, geez Lilli." Anthony dialed the number into his phone and pressed call. The tension in the room reminded me of that split second moment of silence when someone shoots at the goal in hockey. Anthony put it on speaker.
A man's voice answered at the third ring. "Hello?"
"Hello, is this Basch Zwingli?" Anthony asked while Lilli and I listened with baited breath.
"Mmm. What is your business?" The man interrogated.
"I'd like to meet up with my cousin Basch."
"Wait, who is this? Anthony, is that you?"
"Yeah." Anthony gave Lilli and I a small smile.
"Where are you?"
"Your old place."
"Ah, I remember now. You bought it after Lilli passed."
"Yes, now back to what I was talking about earlier." Anthony took a deep breath. "I want to meet up with you somewhere. It has to be close to the house."
"I suppose I could do that." Basch answered.
"Great, could you meet me in two hours at that super old restaurant just outside of town? I'll be bringing someone with me."
"I guess."
"Thanks, Basch. See you then , bye."
"Goodbye." Anthony hung up the phone and smiled over at us. Lilli started towards Anthony and raised her eyebrows as if to say, "What about me?"
"You can't come, someone might see you. Just imagine the effect you would have on a person, let alone your brother-practically-father!"
"Fine." Lilli sighed, walking into the kitchen and sitting on the counter. I watched her solemn eyes as she started out at the spring green foliage.
"You, however, are coming with me. Now." Anthony started to drag me out the door and I looked to Lilli for help but she didn't see me. I guess I'll be going to confront this guy, then.
Anthony hopped in the driver's seat without permission.
"Umm, this is kinda my car." I stood outside the open car door.
"And you kinda don't know where we're going." Anthony replied, buckling his seatbelt. He patted the passenger seat and I sighed, walking around the front of the car and sitting dejectedly in the passenger seat of my own car. I've never sat here before!
I watched the trees tower over my tiny car. They were very green and enormous, nothing like what we had in Idaho. Not any that I had seen, anyway.
Anthony pulled into the empty parking lot; the lines had started to fade. I looked at the 'restaurant' with suspicion; it looked more like one of those shitty motels you see in the movies.
"Here we go." Anthony breathed, tucking something into his pocket. Maybe it was just his hand.
"Alright then." I said, just to say something.
We stepped in the doorway and the overwhelming smell that all old buildings seem to have overwhelmed me.
"What the hell is this place?" I whispered in Anthony's ear as he walked up to the man I had seen in the photo at the house.
"It's my meeting place." Anthony hissed back; waving at the man who must be Basch.
We walked up to the table and Basch looked at me, seemingly emotionless. He took a long pull from his glass of ice water and sized up Anthony and I over the rim.
"Well, what are we here for then?" He asked, setting his glass back delicately on the rickety wooden table.
"You see, this man I have here, has some things to ask you." Anthony said, pointing to me as he spoke.
"Have a seat." Basch said, pulling one of the chairs next to him out. Instead, I sat down across from him, facing the door.
"Well played." Anthony said so quietly in my ear that I almost didn't hear him.
"Basch, when was the last time you were in the northern part of Idaho?" I asked, taking a sip of my own water.
"I'd say about a week ago, why?" His face gave nothing away, he must be used to doing this kind of thing. Either that, or he had nothing to do with the killing.
"Can you tell me anything about a boy who died in an alleyway not that long ago? He was on my hockey team, you see."
"No, I'm afraid I cannot." He lost his composure-just for a second- and his pupil size increased. It was barely noticeable, but I had practiced these things on Alfred.
"You lie." I stated, as the waiter came up to take our orders. He was a small guy who looked like he might be sixteen at the most; the hand holding the pen trembled so much I wondered if his handwriting was even legible.
"Nothing for now, thank you." Anthony told him while I was staring down Basch. He fidgeted in his seat and took another sip from his glass, trying to hide the fact that he wiped his hands on his pants. He was sweating! I'm certainly getting somewhere with this.
"I am not." Apparently Basch would need a little persuading.
"Tell me about Lilli." I blurted, wondering what his reaction would be to having his dead little sister mentioned. His eyes shone a bit but he quickly blinked.
"She, umm, she's dead."
"I already now that, you bastard." It didn't occur to me until later when Lilli told me about her parents that he quite literally is a bastard.
"Come on, no need to be throwing names around in such a... umm... restaurant." Anthony struggled to find a way to describe the shitty looking restaurant we were in.
"What's your name, kid?" He did not just call me a kid!
"I said tell me about your little sister."
"She was... very... special to me."
"Really, how so?"
"She was practically my daughter, I raised her from birth until she died."
"Again, I already knew that." Basch glanced over at Anthony, who shrugged.
"Umm, I think I was not very good to her."
"Oh, you think so?"
"Yes, I talked very little with her and kept our house mostly in silence. She could never have any friends over because I could never decided whether to say yes or no."
"Sounds like you gave her a very pleasant life." I said sarcastically.
"Please, don't make me talk about Lilli." Basch begged me, the first emotionally-charge words I had heard him say.
"Only if you talk about my dead teammate instead." I tapped my foot on the floor impatiently.
"A-alright, fine." Basch looked around him nervously.
"Look, everyone thinks I killed him because he was a pretty enormous douche bag to me and I got into a fight with him just before he died, but if we know who it really is then I can go back to Idaho and see my friends and family."
"Okay. I can tell you a bit but not much. The guy's nickname is Iggy and he has thick eyebrows. Twice the size of Anthony's." Basch described, pointing at one of Anthony's brows.
"Anything else?"
"Lilli; she knew him." My eyes lit up with excitement; I think I know who it is!
By the way, this is for Lilli. watch?v=UNGozTgUAkI