Chapter 7: Arcadia Bay Nocturne
And so it came to pass that for the second time in one day, Chloe Price was taken from her doorstep by two mysterious men to meet their equally mysterious employer.
At least the two guys in suits were far, far nicer about it than the First Guy and the Second Guy had been, namely starting out by introducing themselves as Rutger and Halliwell, sparing Chloe the mental pain in the ass of having to refer to them as the Third Guy and the Fourth Guy.
They let her go into her apartment to get her beanie, jacket, and a fresh pack of cigarettes.
They came in a black limo instead of a shitty, rusty mid-size, and even opened the back door for her as though they were more like chauffeurs than the shady emissaries of an enigmatic third party.
They didn't put a smelly black bag over her head, and Chloe spent the ten minute ride looking out the tinted window at all the pretty Oregon scenery that everyone but the tourists had learned to ignore.
They even let her smoke.
As the sun hid behind the trees, the limo pulled into a long gravel driveway that led up a hill to a massive, secluded house. Chloe didn't know where big houses ended and mansions started, but she reckoned that this one rode the line.
Rutger and Halliwell led Chloe through the front door of the house to a large and dimly-lit foyer with a marble floor, complete with a circular staircase on the side that led to the second story. From there they went through an equally dimly-lit hallway with beige plaster walls, ornamented by vases that were purchased more for their ability to unify the room they were in than their own merits.
The final stop was an office with white walls and white carpet, the only splashes of color being a black desk with two black chairs on opposite sides, and a red door to the right.
There was a sound of a woman grunting, and aggressive bodily contact coming through the red door.
"Have a seat," Rutger said as Halliwell left. "She'll be with you in just a minute."
Chloe took the seat and waited as the sound of the thudding and female grunting from beyond the red door got louder. It culminated with the woman screaming; not in pain or terror, but as though she were leading the Scottish army against King Edward's British. This was followed by a loud thump and the sound of a body hitting the floor
"Is everything okay in there?" Chloe asked.
"Everything is just fine," Rutger said, and flashed the serene smile of a man too well-paid to give a shit about propriety.
The red door opened and a tan man with blonde hair and cold eyes walked out, the material of his track pants making noise as he did. He walked through the door next to Rutger without making eye contact with, or saying a word to, anyone.
Then, through the red door, walked a beautiful woman in her early thirties with a dark red ponytail and dark brown eyes. She was wearing a clingy black sports bra and even clingier black yoga pants. Her sneakers were so white that they were either new or had never been worn outdoors. She was using a small white towel to mop some of the sweat from around her face and neck, but Chloe saw that she'd missed a spot: a bead of perspiration was slowly traveling down a rather impressive set of six-pack abs.
Chloe lost her train of thought.
"Miss Price?"
Chloe snapped out of it, and this beautiful woman seemed to notice her snapping out of it.
"Forgive my tardiness, Miss Price, as it is difficult to find a Krav Maga instructor on a Sunday night. Also, forgive that I don't sit down. I don't want to get sweat on my chair."
"Oh, it's… it's fine," Chloe said, not knowing what to make of the redhead, or the situation she was in. "Who, uh… who are you?"
The redhead smiled in slight embarrassment. "I must also ask you to forgive my lack of manners, apparently." She held out a hand. "Denise Leonard."
"Leonard?" Chloe asked after they had broken the handshake. "As in…"
"Leonard International, yes. My father is the CEO, and I myself am the CFO… That's Chief Financial Officer…"
"I know what it means," Chloe said with a friendly smile. She, in fact, did not know what CFO meant, but Chloe felt a strange need to impress this woman.
"So," Denise said. "To business. One of my employees spotted you going into Justin Williams' house today."
"Jesus," Chloe said, letting the politeness drop. "How many people are camped out there?"
"We at Leonard International have a very vested interest in the outcome of that investigation."
"I met a guy today who also had a vested interest. He liked to use a gun to make his point."
"Ah," Denise said. "I see you've made the acquaintance of Michael Dixon. The fellow who calls himself 'The Bull?'"
"How do you know who The Bull is?"
"Leonard International's business in Arcadia Bay is shipping. An unfortunate fact of life is the shipping business is that trains and trucks are often used to mule drugs, often by third parties without the knowledge of our employees. Which means our shipments are being hijacked. If The Bull is dealing the drugs that come on our shipments, then that means he is very bad for business, and we'd like to see him dealt with to the fullest extent of the law."
Chloe's head started spinning.
"Look," she said. "The last two days have involved two separate people getting shot in the head, one of which right in front of me. Oh, and the kicker? My ex-girlfriend is in town, and she's not very happy with me right now. I don't want you making my week worse. If you want me off the case, just say so. The Bull is one thing, but you? You're, like, hella rich. Richer than God. That means you know where all the places worse than hell are."
Denise's eyebrows raised. "Hella?"
That one surprised Chloe, too. She hadn't dropped the H-Bomb in years.
"On the contrary, Miss Price" Denise said. "We would like you to continue your investigation."
Chloe's eyebrows rose. "Say-what-now?"
Denise nodded toward Rutger, and he stepped forward, producing a slip of paper from his jacket pocket, before handing it to Chloe.
It was a check. The first thing Chloe noticed was that it was signed by Denise Leonard. The second thing she noticed was that it was made out to Chloe Price. The third thing she noticed was a number of zeroes bordering on the obscene.
"Wow. That's… a lot. But if you're looking for the person who did this, a guy named Arnold Trainor was apparently the shooter. They found him this morning."
"We know this," Denise said. "We also believe that someone hired Trainor to kill Mister Williams, and we would like to know who that is. That's where you come in. You are the detective, after all."
"I'm not a detective," Chloe said.
"Yes, you are. We need someone who is able to go where the dirty cops want to keep hidden, and the clean cops and our own people can't. That means you."
Chloe looked back down at the check. "And I get this when I figure out who hired Trainor to kill Justin?"
"Oh, no," Denise said, grinning. "You get that now. You get another for twice that amount when you find out who hired Trainor to kill Justin."
Had Chloe drunk anything in the last few hours, she might have peed a little.
"We think it leads to The Bull," Denise said. "And that man in prison is the best for Leonard International, and best for Arcadia Bay. Leonard International is willing to be a good friend to you, Chloe."
Denise leaned on the desk, either to relax, or to show off for Chloe, Chloe couldn't tell which.
Chloe looked from Denise, to the check, to Rutger behind her by the door (still smiling his oblivious smile), back to Denise.
"Is solving a murder all I gotta do to get this shitload of money?"
Denise smiled the kind of smile that would have lured a sailor to his doom in a Greek myth. "Well, if you feel that guilty about it, I'm sure we'll think of some-"
There was a knock on the door.
"Yes?" Denise asked, and Chloe could sense an edge coming into the smoothness of her voice.
The door to the office opened, and Halliwell peeked in.
"It's here," he said.
Denise's eyes widened in joy. "Well, bring it in!"
Halliwell walked past Rutger with a package under his arm about the size of the laptop Chloe had at home. He placed it on the desk, and Denise used a nearby gold letter opener to undo the tape holding the package closed. She looked inside, ruffled through the packing peanuts before she found her purchase, sighed, and smiled.
"Wonderful…"
Denise took an object out of the box and showed it to Chloe. "Have you ever seen this before?"
The object was a photograph in a gold-plated frame (although given how rich Denise Leonard was, it could have been actual gold). It was of a lighthouse, the lighthouse, the Arcadia Bay lighthouse up on the cliff at Koch's Folly. It had been taken with a Polaroid instant camera. Not only had Chloe seen this picture before, not only was she actually there when the photograph was taken, but she was dating the photographer at the time.
"Yes," Chloe said, feeling her forehead threatening to flop-sweat. "Yes, I have."
"It's a Max Caulfield original," Denise said. "I'm a great admirer of her work. She's a native of Arcadia Bay, as I understand it. Have you met her?"
"Yes," Chloe said, and Denise apparently noticed her trying to be tight-lipped.
"Is there a story there, Chloe?" Denise asked.
Denise had given Chloe more money than she would see in a year. Honesty was the best policy.
"Um… You know that ex-girlfriend I mentioned a few minutes ago?"
Denise smiled. Chloe detected surprise, delight, two forms of greed that she could recognize, and another four she couldn't.
"Well," Denise said. "Aren't I grateful the world is so small?"
Denise looked at Rutger. "Do be so kind as to escort Miss Price home. If you'll excuse me, I'm going to admire my art, and… think about the future."
Rutger walked Chloe out of the office and closed the door behind them. Apparently Halliwell was taking the rest of the night off.
"Is she always that… friendly?" Chloe asked as they walked to the other end of the hall.
"Only to the people she likes," Rutger said.
"Oh… Does she like you that much?"
"No comment."
The door behind them opened. "Chloe?"
Chloe and Rutger turned around to see Denise coming toward them from the office.
"My card," Denise said, handing it to Chloe. It had no name, and just one number.
"Thanks," Chloe said. "This your work number?"
"No," Denise said. "It isn't." And she walked back into the office.
Chloe looked at Rutger.
"Still don't wanna comment?"
Rutger drove Chloe home beneath the light of the moon over Oregon. Chloe entered her apartment without turning the lights on, threw her jacket on the recliner, lay down on the sofa, and crashed.
She didn't even take her boots off.
Darkness and a chill.
Sorrow and anger.
Dirt and a foul stench.
A cry of surprise.
She stood up.
"What the f—"
Blinding light.
Chloe woke up, and she could still feel the tension from her nightmare in her body. She stood up and rubbed her face trying to release it. It didn't work.
She showered, put on a clean set of clothes, had herself a wake-and-bake session, then put on her jacket and beanie.
Her first stop was the bank, where she deposited Denise Leonard's Fat-as-Fuck check. Chloe imagined all the expensive and fancy places she could eat breakfast with her newfound windfall… before realizing there were no such places in Arcadia Bay, and settled on going to the Two Whales, where she ate for free anyway.
As she made her way up the two steps to the diner's door, she found she was remembering more and more of the nightmare that had woken her up that morning… which was odd. Her nightmares usually went away the more she thought of them.
She entered the diner and turned right, trying to spy her favorite booth, but two people were already sitting there.
Her mother Joyce…
And Max.
Chloe heard someone near her groan the words "Ohhhh, shit," before she realized it was her.
