-ANGELS OBLIQUELY
CHAPTER 4
I observed her from behind my cup of coffee. She seemed to be finding one thing after another to postpone telling me everything. Since we got into the coffee shop she had gone to the lady's room, pretended to look in the menu for something to eat when it was obvious she wasn't hungry and when she finally decided for black coffee, she started to look into her purse for a cigarette.
I didn't mind, I can be patient when I want to, besides I wasn't going anywhere until she told me her story. So if she wanted to keep the charade, I would patiently stand on the side and wait.
After she managed to light her cigarette, she gazed nervously at me. "So, Severus... did you find something about Duane?"
I couldn't believe she was deliberately trying to change the course of the conversation. "As a matter of fact I did, but I'm not giving you any information until you decided to be honest with me."
I leaned forward, close enough to intimidate her. "It's all up to you," I said.
Her eyes locked into mine, but she quickly avoided my gaze, looking at her own coffee.
"I don't know... what do you want me to tell you?" she said still avoiding my eyes.
"You could start by telling me who was that man and why he felt comfortable enough to hit you in public."
"That's the owner of the club, I've known him for a long time and we..."
"Are romantically involved?" I completed.
She nodded embarrassed.
"I would think you had better taste for men, but judging by the places you go, that's not a surprise anymore," I said trying to offend her so she could reveal more information.
"I didn't meet him there, we met in different circumstances and he is not always like that." She gazed back at me .
"Oh that's a relief!"
She seemed to get angrier by the minute, and I knew that pretty soon she would be yelling the whole story at me.
"I'm not proud of any of it, it's complicated. I didn't want you to know because I knew you'd be like that!"
"Ok so, make me understand, change my mind if you will. Because up until now, it sounds really bad!"
She sighed and took a moment, as if trying to put the ideas in order.
"Well... it all started after I married Duane. You see, Ellyot, the man you saw at the club was one of the people who helped on our research, he helped me create the potion Duane is after." She stopped to sip a little coffee before she continued, "My marriage had been wonderful for sometime, or at least for me, and I was still working on the project, when Ellyot didn't show up one morning."
"For the next days, I kept asking where he was and nobody seemed to have an answer. That is until he sent me an owl asking me to meet him at that club. I had never been there before, so I was a little surprised to find out Ellyot owned the club. In fact I was surprised with a lot of things he told me that day," she said blowing cigarette smoke.
"Why would someone in that line of work, own a dirty little night club like that?" I asked.
"That's what puzzled me. So he started telling me how Duane and Fudge had found a way to get him out of the project. In one day, he had no job, and his license as a potion researcher revoked. It was like he was nobody from one day to the other. They paid him a good deal of money to keep his mouth shut and threatened to kill him if he tried."
"And why was he risking himself in telling you?"
"Because he knew the same would end up happening to me, either losing my job or getting killed. Of course I started to see that a lot of what he said fit perfectly and now that Duane is trying to kill me, I panicked and that's where you come in." She paused to let the waitress pour more coffee in her cup.
"It still doesn't explain the club and your involvement with him," I said a little annoyed with the fact she was involved with that man. No matter what she said, I couldn't trust him.
"Well, when he found himself with money but couldn't work on the one thing he knew, he had to find something to invest his money on, to at least keep him from starving. So he bought that place. It was good to keep a low profile and he could put his plan to work," she said.
"And what plan would that be?"
"He knew that the american Ministry was very much interested on the potion, so with my help, he could get the potion formula and sell it to the americans. That way Duane wouldn't be able to get it. As soon as I confirmed that his story was true, I decided to play along with Duane and do whatever he asked me. So when he asked me to quit my job, I couldn't say no."
"But don't you know how to reproduce the potion on your own?"
"No, it was a complicated formula and the Ministry took over. They got the formula and there's no way I can remember everything all by myself. We were going over a plan to get the formula back when Duane tried to poison me."
She looked sincere but there was something amiss about her story. I wanted to press further and ask about her relationship with Ellyot, but I felt that she would tell me when she was ready.
I looked into her cinnamon eyes and they seemed lost and tired. So I decided to let her go. There would be plenty of time for us to talk. The sun was almost up and I was feeling exhausted myself.
I walked with her to the end of the street and before leaving she looked up at me as if wanting to say something but instead she gave me a weak smile and disapparated.
I stood there for a moment and instead of apparating back home, I made my way back to the night club. That Ellyot guy wasn't making any sense to me.
............................................................................ ...................................................................
A/N : Well this chapter didn't have a lot of action but it was necessary to keep the information going. To alicat999 and Happynutcase : Thanks for the reviews I'm glad you're still enjoying.
CHAPTER 4
I observed her from behind my cup of coffee. She seemed to be finding one thing after another to postpone telling me everything. Since we got into the coffee shop she had gone to the lady's room, pretended to look in the menu for something to eat when it was obvious she wasn't hungry and when she finally decided for black coffee, she started to look into her purse for a cigarette.
I didn't mind, I can be patient when I want to, besides I wasn't going anywhere until she told me her story. So if she wanted to keep the charade, I would patiently stand on the side and wait.
After she managed to light her cigarette, she gazed nervously at me. "So, Severus... did you find something about Duane?"
I couldn't believe she was deliberately trying to change the course of the conversation. "As a matter of fact I did, but I'm not giving you any information until you decided to be honest with me."
I leaned forward, close enough to intimidate her. "It's all up to you," I said.
Her eyes locked into mine, but she quickly avoided my gaze, looking at her own coffee.
"I don't know... what do you want me to tell you?" she said still avoiding my eyes.
"You could start by telling me who was that man and why he felt comfortable enough to hit you in public."
"That's the owner of the club, I've known him for a long time and we..."
"Are romantically involved?" I completed.
She nodded embarrassed.
"I would think you had better taste for men, but judging by the places you go, that's not a surprise anymore," I said trying to offend her so she could reveal more information.
"I didn't meet him there, we met in different circumstances and he is not always like that." She gazed back at me .
"Oh that's a relief!"
She seemed to get angrier by the minute, and I knew that pretty soon she would be yelling the whole story at me.
"I'm not proud of any of it, it's complicated. I didn't want you to know because I knew you'd be like that!"
"Ok so, make me understand, change my mind if you will. Because up until now, it sounds really bad!"
She sighed and took a moment, as if trying to put the ideas in order.
"Well... it all started after I married Duane. You see, Ellyot, the man you saw at the club was one of the people who helped on our research, he helped me create the potion Duane is after." She stopped to sip a little coffee before she continued, "My marriage had been wonderful for sometime, or at least for me, and I was still working on the project, when Ellyot didn't show up one morning."
"For the next days, I kept asking where he was and nobody seemed to have an answer. That is until he sent me an owl asking me to meet him at that club. I had never been there before, so I was a little surprised to find out Ellyot owned the club. In fact I was surprised with a lot of things he told me that day," she said blowing cigarette smoke.
"Why would someone in that line of work, own a dirty little night club like that?" I asked.
"That's what puzzled me. So he started telling me how Duane and Fudge had found a way to get him out of the project. In one day, he had no job, and his license as a potion researcher revoked. It was like he was nobody from one day to the other. They paid him a good deal of money to keep his mouth shut and threatened to kill him if he tried."
"And why was he risking himself in telling you?"
"Because he knew the same would end up happening to me, either losing my job or getting killed. Of course I started to see that a lot of what he said fit perfectly and now that Duane is trying to kill me, I panicked and that's where you come in." She paused to let the waitress pour more coffee in her cup.
"It still doesn't explain the club and your involvement with him," I said a little annoyed with the fact she was involved with that man. No matter what she said, I couldn't trust him.
"Well, when he found himself with money but couldn't work on the one thing he knew, he had to find something to invest his money on, to at least keep him from starving. So he bought that place. It was good to keep a low profile and he could put his plan to work," she said.
"And what plan would that be?"
"He knew that the american Ministry was very much interested on the potion, so with my help, he could get the potion formula and sell it to the americans. That way Duane wouldn't be able to get it. As soon as I confirmed that his story was true, I decided to play along with Duane and do whatever he asked me. So when he asked me to quit my job, I couldn't say no."
"But don't you know how to reproduce the potion on your own?"
"No, it was a complicated formula and the Ministry took over. They got the formula and there's no way I can remember everything all by myself. We were going over a plan to get the formula back when Duane tried to poison me."
She looked sincere but there was something amiss about her story. I wanted to press further and ask about her relationship with Ellyot, but I felt that she would tell me when she was ready.
I looked into her cinnamon eyes and they seemed lost and tired. So I decided to let her go. There would be plenty of time for us to talk. The sun was almost up and I was feeling exhausted myself.
I walked with her to the end of the street and before leaving she looked up at me as if wanting to say something but instead she gave me a weak smile and disapparated.
I stood there for a moment and instead of apparating back home, I made my way back to the night club. That Ellyot guy wasn't making any sense to me.
............................................................................ ...................................................................
A/N : Well this chapter didn't have a lot of action but it was necessary to keep the information going. To alicat999 and Happynutcase : Thanks for the reviews I'm glad you're still enjoying.