Chapter Seventeen:
Caught…again!
Gregory inched his way towards the banister. He grasped it and quietly leaned over to see who had entered the house.
Jeff was heading towards the stairs with what apparently was some sort of purpose. Gregory stepped backwards and ducked into the nearest room. He kept the door opened slightly so that he could see where Jeff was going. Mr. King reached the top of the stairs and headed down a hallway opposite of where Gregory was hiding. He didn't do it with an heir of someone who hadn't been in the house before. Gregory watched Jeff disappear into one of the doors one the far side of the hallway.
When he did, Gregory crept out of his own hiding place and started down the stairs quickly. He was on his way towards the living room when he saw movement out of the corner of his eye and someone grabbed his arm and pulled him into a nearby room.
Violet let go of the rather painful clutch she had over his arm and opened the door again slightly.
"He went upstairs." Gregory whispered, assuming that Jeff was who she was watching for.
"What is he doing here?" She asked. Her eyes narrowed as she looked at the stairway.
"I don't know."
"He has a key…" She said, still not looking at him.
"Well…he does own the town." Violet gave him a dark look.
Gregory wasn't paying any attention to it. His eyes had widened. Violet gave him an odd look before he darted forward and closed the door.
"What are you doing?" Violet asked sharply.
"What the heck is he doing here?" Gregory asked while taking a step backwards. Violet raised her brow.
"I don't know, that's what I just asked you." She said, her voice brimming with annoyance.
"Not Jeff! Mr. Stiltz! I just saw him walk into the living room!"
Violet leaned towards the door and opened it slightly. Her eyes brows went up. She closed it again, softly.
"Great…" She said quietly. "You know…somehow…this is all your fault. This never happens when I'm with Edward." Gregory shot her an aggravated look before he walked to the other side of the room. Violet leaned against the door and sighed, occasionally looking out to see if either of the men were on their way out.
The room looked as though it were ancient and had not been used for a few years. There was an end table and a couple of old dusty chairs that looked as though they had once been red, but were now a cross between a light pink and orange. Gregory walked over to the end table. There was a large book on it with the words ALBUM written on it. Gregory started flipping through it. He paused on the first page, which he examined in fascination.
"What are you doing?" Violet asked from the other side of the room.
"Looking at the Skellington's photo album." He responded. A spark of interest flashed in Violets eyes and she crossed the room quietly. She looked over Gregory's shoulder and examined the page curiously.
There were six photos on the first two pages. Two of them were of a much younger Hector Skellington. One was of a beautiful woman with red hair and the last three had children on them.
Gregory looked up at Violet in slight confusion.
"These are…Hector's kids?" He asked.
"Well…" She answered, looking as perplexed as he did. "That's Viktor…and I guess that the girl is probably his daughter...Anna...or...something like that…and…the last one…" She examined the picture.
"He doesn't look like Hector." Gregory said quietly.
"No…but he looks kind of like her." Violet pointed down to the picture of the woman. Gregory nodded.
"We should take this." He said after some careful consideration and even then he felt a little awkward saying it.
"You think it's important?" Violet asked, obviously not in a bullying sort of mood. He shrugged and began flipping through the book to get to the end. When he got to the last few pages he stopped and looked up at her.
"Sure." He said. Violet was staring down at the pictures on the last page as though she were trying to decided whether or not they were really there.
"Holy crap…" She said softly. "He's…I mean…" She stopped and swallowed.
"I guess he's used it in the last ten years." Gregory said.
The owner of the house had obviously taken advantage of the last couple of pages, where he had placed a lot more recent photo's, which included some older pictures of Viktor, rather sickly looking pictures of a woman with long dirty blonde hair, and a few younger and more current pictures of himself. Gregory also saw a picture of an older man who looked oddly familiar but wasn't given much time to think about it because at that moment the door behind them opened. Gregory saw Violet spin around, closing the album as she did. She picked it up and hid it behind her back.
Standing in the doorway was a very angry looking Brutus Stiltz. When he took the time to examine both of them, his angry look fell a little into slight bewilderment.
"Gregory?" He asked, while raising one bushy eye brow. Gregory gave him an awkward semi smile.
"Hey…Mr. Stiltz…"
The older man seemed to regain his composer.
"You are both in a lot of trouble." He opened the door.
"Follow me." He turned around and started out the door.
Violet quickly slipped the album into Edwards tool box and then motioned for Gregory to head towards the door. Gregory followed Brutus, feeling a bit foolish about being caught twice in The Pumpkin House and feeling a little ashamed about going against what he had told Brutus he would not do.
Brutus cast a quick look towards the stairs and hurried his pace.
"Come on…" his voice was set just a little above a whisper.
Brutus opened the kitchen door when he reached it and watched both of them as they exited it. He walked out himself and closed it quietly behind him.
"Alright you two. Keep walking till you get to my house. I'll be behind you to make sure you don't run off…and if you do…I'll go right back in there and tell Jeff what you did."
Violet and Gregory shared an exasperated look and started off towards Brutus's house. On the way they both grabbed their bags. Gregory looked over his shoulder, caught Brutus' eye and quickly looked away.
When they got back onto the main street, both Violet and Gregory cast a wary look at the front door of Pumpkin House. Behind them, Brutus did the same. He caught up with them halfway down the street to his house.
"Now I don't know what you were doing in there, but giving who I'm talking to…" He cast a dark look at Violet who was trying, quite unsuccessfully to look innocent. "It was probably something unpleasant…and maybe illegal. I assume I don't have to ask who's idea it was either." Violet look slightly offended.
Brutus' eyes turned on Gregory, who met his gaze and suddenly felt very ill at ease for doing so. The expression in the mans eyes fell between suspicion and confusion. Brutus looked at Violet again, who had been making faces at him while his attention had been directed elsewhere.
"Aren't you suppose to be at school…both of you?"
Violet shrugged.
"I got kicked out." She said, without much emotion. Gregory nodded uncomfortably.
Brutus looked at Gregory with something like disappointment in his countenance.
"I'm going to have to tell your Aunt about it this time, kid. You'd better get back to school." Gregory nodded. He turned to go, but was stopped by Violet who stepped in front of him and shoved Edwards tool box in his hands.
"I'll come get it later. DON'T LOSE IT." She said quietly. Gregory nodded and headed down the street. Violet watched him for a minute before turning back towards Brutus.
"Well…" She said, while giving him a mischievous smile. "It's been fun…but…"
"Oh you aren't going anywhere yet." Brutus glared at her.
"Aww come on…what are you going to do…tell Caroline? She's probably passed out somewhere by now anyway."
"Just because I'm out of the force doesn't mean I can't have someone else throw you in juvenile hall. I know a few people who owe me a favor down there you know."
Violet narrowed her eyes and crossed her arms.
"What do you want?" She asked bitterly.
"Where's Edward?" Brutus asked.
Violet shrugged.
"The heck should I know? Probably talking to some shrink or throwing stuff at little kids on their way to school."
"What are you doing with the new kid?" Brutus asked. He gave Violet an accusing look. She grinned at him.
"What…I can't have friends?" She said in a wretchedly sweet voice that sounded almost serpent like.
"I don't know what your planning Violet, but I'm warning you, if I catch you making that kids life any more miserable then I WILL personally see to it that YOUR life becomes more miserable. Understand?" Violet smile faded.
"Your too uptight Brutus." She sat down on his porch step and blankly watched a spider as it spun it's web.
"I'm serious Violet." He said angrily. She gave him what may have been the most honest look he'd seen on her in years and shrugged.
"Fine…whatever. Gregory's not so bad." She stood up and brushed herself off, (making sure to swipe her hand through the silk web and send the spider falling to the pavement, as she did.) and started back down his steps and towards the street. Brutus stared after her for a moment, looking slightly perplexed. By the time she was at the other end of the street his confusion turned to that of annoyance.
"Oh…she's up to something all right." He grumbled to himself. There was a sound of a door opening and closing to his right.
Jeff left the house and headed towards him. The man put on a bright and utterly phony smile.
"Yep…all locked up."
"Good to hear." Brutus said sarcastically. Jeff mustn't have noticed for he nodded brightly as he too started down the street.
"I uh…suppose that the owner of the house also asked you to um…look after a few things for him while he was gone…eh?" Brutus said loudly. Jeff turned, looking slightly worried.
"What do you mean?" He asked nervously.
"That bag, under your arm…I don't believe you had it going in." Brutus grinned knowingly at Jeff, who looked down at the bag, off to the right, as though looking for an answer, and then back at Brutus who was still smiling at him.
"Uh…yes, as a matter of fact, that's exactly it." He cleared his throat. "Have a nice day Brutus. He turned and headed off.
Brutus waved, still smiling.
"Idiot." He said through his teeth.
Once again, I apologize for it taking so long. I should be having a lot of extra free time from now on though. I still have about eight school days left, but I don't have track anymore so I have all of my afternoons and weekend free from now on. I also apologize for my horrible grammar in my last chapter (I think it was in The Law Of Your Anarchic Demise.) for those of you who read the last chapter. I knew that I hadn't added in a lot of the possession things but completely forgot about them. Hopefully this chapters a little better. (Although…not perfect I assure you.) Thank you for reading. I'll update soon!
