-Oxford - Thursday: Part 20-
Kendi Brown mind was sharp, it always had to be sharped. He knew better than anyone that just because someone was said to have the rumored Eyes of Power didn't mean that they were gifted with those abilities, just like there were those that had been gifted with abilities of their own. Mind reading wasn't exactly far off in what these people could do, they could pick up things. Yet Ruto's warning had him placing around his mind the one thing that had always fallen back to. Every member of the Ankou had to go through the process to become a true member of the Ankou. They had to die and be reborn. Well not everyone was able to be reborn, many failed and many died during this process. His first life had died in that coffin, buried under a special chamber but still buried alive. Controlling your mind, controlling your breathing, your heart rate these were all things that had to be done. They had to knock on the coffin's lid; three quick taps, three long taps, three quick taps. They were trained, of course, to control their anxiety and there was the promise that they would be freed if they could make it the four hours. The real problem with that was it was dark, that you couldn't tell how much time had passed and if you stopped the tapping, they just assumed you were dead and that was where you were left.
The boy did get some praise from him at least, he had a way to protect himself. His friends the way they had moved with him, the way they had protected him until he began his little ritual was enough for him to believe he didn't go out of his way to read the people around him. It was just something he likely couldn't control, at least not yet. He had almost seem confused with the fact that he was annoyed and the way he jumped once he had finished his ritual when he had touched him. It all read as someone who didn't expect to be touched, likely didn't want to be touched either. So the question he really had was how Ruto had known, how he had been able to tell him exactly what he was doing or attempting to do anyway. He had felt nothing, there was no pull in his mind. 'Well Ruto is a special case' the man wasn't exactly normal, but then neither were any of them. They all had the mark of the Ankou, Ruto had chosen an interesting location, it was on the inside of his lower eyelid a little scythe, one would never think to look under there when looking for a mark. Yet he was in truth no longer an Ankou either but that was the nice thing he supposed. Once marked you remained mark, the only difference was the little star-like shape marking him as a Banshee the number of points said exactly what type, he had a seven-pointed star, instead of the five-pointed star, meaning he was a Banshee to the Crown's family, instead of just the Crown itself.
Moving he pass the boy and stepping into the room his eyes scanned the room carefully. Lory sat at the head of the table, well perhaps it was Kyo who was, depending on how you looked at the table. Amanda and David sat on the right of Lory with the two chairs across from them empty which them, Princess Laura sat next to the man that was Kyoko's lawyer, he was actually between David and Laura but it was the way Laura was pressed against him that bothered him slightly. 'Must be older' he mentally shook his head as he figured that the man had to be closer to Lory's age but Laura was well known for teasing those younger than her or even slightly older than her and falling for men much older. 'A perfect example of ancient ways' not that she would be the first even in the modern world, it was only a few years ago when Dutchess or Gordon married a man seventeen years her senior, the man, of course, was the second son of a Duke Edinburgh the brother of the late King of Phillip. No one blinked an eye here, now if it had been a commoner he was sure there would have been all over the news about the age difference between them. 'Yet the Dutchess was 24 years old at the time. It also moved one possible match for one of the Princesses and kept the late King's siblings at a distance from the Crown and the Future Crown.'
Kyoko smiled softly as she looked up at from the kitchen cleaning her hands on a hand towel "General Brown it's wonderful that you could make it tonight" the smile held a warmth and he found himself smiling back at her as he moved further in and took her hand kissing it softly.
"Lady Kyoko I didn't realize you would be cooking our meal tonight." He watched in amusement as the young woman flushed red, pulling her hand free. 'Not used to attention still are you little one?' No, he supposed she wouldn't be seeing how she really grew up. "I brought the boys that were on your guest list." He said turning slightly to look behind him.
Kyo lifted her head turning to look back, "Where are my own children is the question." She frowned slightly as she pulled out her phone dialing, "Coming later than guests of honor" she muttered under her breath. Brown looked towards Lory who rose from his chair moving towards the five young men, his arm out wide as if he was going to embrace the five of them.
"Wonderful! We're so glad you could make it." Brown wasn't sure he really meant those words and the look on the faces of the five young men said they had a hard time believing it too. Yet Brown didn't miss how Kyoko eyes seemed to focus on Reino, how the young man's eyes seemed to find amusement in the way she was focusing on him. That's when the young man named Miroku stepped forward, he watched in amusement as the four men seemed to circle around Reino. He knew that Lory didn't miss it either but he did realize one thing, Kyoko had turned back towards the kitchen away from them all it was as if Miroku had a remarkable ability in reading people.
Tyler couldn't believe what she had just said, the idea that another Takarada would or could be a Queen made him sick. 'Damn Japanese' it was hard to control the disgust that echoed across his face. 'Of course that bitch would want to make sure her own stay in power, give the fucking Japanese more control over how things play out here' not that Leiko had ever gone back, but it still bothered him that she had refused to take the Williams name or more exactly she had added it to the Takarada. It became almost a trend after that, women began to keep their maiden name, it was as bad as when Robert had taken the Williams name, then again. He was the son of the late King's sister so it wasn't so bad he supposed. That alone had been a real scandal, it had happened in history from what he recalled seeing on the TV but not in the last couple of hundred years. It wasn't even as if she was the Queen at the time, she was just the spare, her brother Albert was next in line that had been why people were so surprised by the whole thing. 'He would have been a far stronger leader' the man had served his country, had ended up dying for it. He understood things better than a woman ever would.
Pushing those thoughts out of his head his eyes turned back towards Gayle King, "Don't joke about such a disgusting thing. That Girl is..." he didn't finish what he was going to say about Kyoko, he had felt a sudden chill move up his spine. It wasn't as if everyone liked the Royals or Nobles in this country, not even their own people. Yet for some reason he was fearful, coughing slightly he cleared his throat not fully sure how to save himself. Which he felt the need to do for some reason at the moment that he couldn't explain either. "I mean Prince Charles is far too old for her."
King flashed a smile at him, "And since when has that ever stopped anyone with Royal or Noble blood in them? A fear years ago we had a Dutchess marry a man 17 years her senior, I'm sure a nine-year difference is not nearly as bad as that in your eyes."
Tyler couldn't believe what he was hearing, did she totally forget the Prince's age? "There is a ten-year difference," he said with a huff.
"Her birthday is Christmas Day, his is on New Years Day... I think we can give them the nine years based on the year not the date."
Tyler didn't agree with it, that just proved in his mind that it was the ten years not the nine years difference. They had the full year between their birthdays. Not that he had recalled when Lady Kyoko was born. He only hoped that when she turned sixteen she would be like the other two Takarada and jump to somewhere else. It already made him sick inside that she even held a title at all simply because King Phillip had been weak ruler allowing Leiko to rule the roost. "Doesn't matter, she's a child."
King rolled her eyes, "Yet you have no problem believing the man who is 12 years her senior being forced to give her sexual favors?"
'Well when you say it like that' he mentally shook his head, he couldn't let her get to him. They had proof, didn't they? He had been harmed and in fear for his life. That Girl hadn't been and there was no proof that she was actually hurt now. No doctor reports at all minus what Protection Command gave them, those could be special effects her father was in Showbiz after all. Then there was the fact Heth had given a statement, she hadn't done that. She flat out refused to come down. True they could go either way in this, Heth could be a victim just as much as Kyoko could be and that was why he hadn't yet pushed a case forward. Yet Ren Tsuruga and that picture with those men... that was his proof that she was not innocent at all. He smirked, 'Yes Heth is innocent I'm sure of it, and they're just trying to do a cover-up.'
Tyler lifted his head as he heard the knock on his door, "Come in." He was pleased to see that Jia Mianju poked his head in. 'Poor guy is taking this hard' he was sure Patterson was taking it just as hard.'
"Sir, I was... hoping I could get an hour or two. I know we are busy, that we need all hands." His eyes darted towards his feet, "But I would really like to check on Cinderella..." he licked his lips as he darted his head back up towards him.
'Right he has a kid about the same age as Anna, I forget he was a father' he nodded his head, "Yes, just be back first thing in the morning." He figured he might as well let the man who if he recalled was a single father stay with his daughter, better safe than sorry.
"Thank you so much Boss," he said with a bright smile that quickly faded as he sighed heavily running a hand across the back of his neck. "Umm call me if you need me for anything. I went through all the... tips from the hotline. I marked the ones that seemed most likely to have leads." He said darting his eyes back towards the room behind him. "I gave it to Clarkson, she doing through them now."
Tyler "Thank you Officer Mianju" he paused for a moment, "Actually give me the case files for the last five missing girls that you were working on with Patterson last night before you leave." He saw the look on the man's face but he pushed it down as being confused for a moment. "Patterson was helping you last night, I want to see if perhaps there is a connection between one of them and his daughter." The man nodded his head before shutting the door.
Snake kept his face in perfect worry tone, relief couldn't be shown, happiness couldn't be shown. Here he hoping to just have a bit of time with Alice, perhaps she would be far more willing to spend some time with him. Yet of course now that damn woman likely pointed out something that made him question the missing women 'Well not that he will find anything to link them to her' he reached his desk and pulled out the case files checking them once real quick, he knew there was nothing really in there, he was good at covering his tracks and other people's tracks when he had too.
Making his way back to Tyler's office he knocked once more, "Come in" he cracked the door open before stepping fully inside.
"Here's those case files Boss." He said with the sad smile he could muster, but there was more he had to get this guy to open up to him, he couldn't afford Tyler to not trust him and he needed to get an idea what this woman knew. If she knew anything at all. "Umm Boss, Patterson and I worked on those last night nothing stood out to either of us. Mean Alice was kidnapped, these girls just seem like runaways." That was for a reason of course, but it wasn't something he needed to know.
"I realize that..." he paused for a moment but he knew how to make this work. "Yet our dear Commander King thinks that Heth is the bad guy behind it all." He said shaking his head in disbelief. "Thinks that Patterson came across something in these files. I don't buy it but it's my job to double check. Any tip on where Patterson's daughter is something we need to look through."
He nodded his head to the man his eyes turning towards King as he gave a pitiful smile, "You... you don't think my Cinderella is in trouble do you?"
King looked at him, she was almost unreadable but she said nothing before she sighed and shook her head, "I don't know Officer Mianju. I only said that because I was trying to point out to the Chief Inspector that he had a serial kidnapper but he didn't want to believe me."
"Yes... I thought the same but I couldn't make any connections..." actually he knew the connections. His boys were the connection, Heth had wanted a certain type and they had found those targets, he then picked them from mobile pictures the ones that he liked the most. Then he had used the police database to find the information he needed, to make sure that they wouldn't actually be missed. Well, the fact remained that no one had bothered to double check on the cases helped actually. Give it another week or two and they would be forgotten, but they couldn't keep taking Kyoko look-alikes not that it mattered now with Alice in their hands.
"Well that's what Chief Inspector is going to look into now." the way she looked at Tyler was almost amusing as the man seemed to flash with anger once more. Yet it faded quickly enough. Yet from the look of it, she didn't put the connection to Alice Patterson at all, she was here for those five girls that weren't in the database so that meant she was looking at their files the ones on the books and the ones not. The question was why? 'My time here might be ending sooner than we wanted' he would have to contact Straw Sandal and let him know and either get this woman on their side, kill her or move things ahead of schedule and well only two of those things would work for them.
A/N: SOS - 3 quick taps, 3 long taps, 3 quick taps [This is what Brown was tapping on the coffin.]