Chapter 10: A Chat with the Contessa
Sam's safehouse was the basement of an old factory. The basement was boarded up from the outside, but Sam and Cami climbed once again through a window and many cobwebs.
"Ach!" Cami coughed. "I hate this, right now."
"Only now?" Sam coughed too. "I hate this entire situation."
"Really? Right now we'd be at school and in geometry class, or we could be here. What do you prefer?" Cami asked as she started pulling cobwebs out of her tail.
"Okay, fine. I'd rather be here than in geometry class." Sam admitted pulling cobwebs off his shirt. "I'm kind of scared to ask, but what are the odds that Mom and Dad are alive?"
Cami froze. Her mind calculated the odds against her will. "Well, whoever did this made everyone, except us, think nothing was wrong, so he or she must need them alive." Cami said to calm her nerves. They had to be alive. They had to.
"Yeah, that makes sense." Sam said like he was trying to convince himself.
"So, how are we supposed to have these disguises look?" Cami asked, getting off the worrisome subject.
"Try to look like college students?" Sam suggested.
"Probably college graduates or someone like that." Cami said as she cleared junk out of the way. She shoved boxes and crates into the corner until she had a decent-sized gap for her and Sam to work.
"Can I wear fake facial hair?" Sam asked with a lopsided smile.
"Sure." Cami laughed. "You really like it, don't you?"
"More that you know." Sam said. "I doubt I'll grow the real thing; I prefer the fake stuff for some reason."
Cami shrugged and pulled out some clothes that might work for the disguise. She also pulled out the make-up from her bag and sighed. This wasn't going to be easy.
Sam was waiting for Cami's make-up to look acceptable for about thirty minutes. He was edgy and ready to get going.
"Cam! Come on! Move!" Sam said exasperated.
"Well, I'm sorry, but neither of us know how to apply make-up!" Cami said walking up to him. "How's this?"
Sam looked at the make-up job. "Fine, I guess. Let's get going." Sam walked over to the window. He was wearing the slacks again and a moustache with a button down shirt.
"Be careful that you don't get covered with cobwebs." Cami reminded him. She was in a skirt and a sleeveless shirt with a cardigan.
"Thanks." Sam whispered as he answered. "You too." Sam slid out first into an alleyway. Cami followed him holding her shoes. She was wearing heels again.
"I hate heels, SO DANG MUCH!" Cami complained as loud as she dared while she slipped them on.
"You say that every time you put them on." Sam commented as they walked out of the alley together.
"Well I do." Cami said stubbornly.
The two of them walked along the street together towards the Contessa's real estate agency. Right as they were getting close to the building Cami suddenly remembered something.
"Sam, you're Matthew Janson and I'm Georgia Hina." Cami hissed under her breath.
"Good thinking." Sam whispered back. "I got it."
The two of them entered the agency to find it empty except for a woman with black hair and the lower body of a spider who was sitting behind a desk. She looked up at the two of them.
"Hello, may I help you?" Her voice was oddly unnerving. She wore a nametag that read 'Contessa'.
"Hi, my name is Matthew Janson. This is my close friend, Georgia Hina. We are looking for a house." Sam said. He sounded perfectly believable. Cami was surprised; Sam should try out for the play at school.
"Is this your first time?" Contessa asked. She gestured for Sam and Cami to sit down in the chairs across from her desk.
"Is it that obvious?" Sam asked sheepishly.
"Yes." Contessa said. "What are you looking for in a house?"
"A cozy place, preferably in Prague. Do you know any place?" Cami asked. She was smiling benignly, but she watched Contessa for any sort of recognition.
Contessa raised an eyebrow. "Is there anything else you are looking for? What's your budget?"
Cami did not know what to say. She didn't know what the average house cost in the area, so she couldn't come up with a practical guess. Luckily, Sam came to the rescue.
"We want to see what the prices there are before we come up with a budget." Sam said calmly. It was a bad excuse, but it was the best they had.
Contessa shrugged her boney shoulders. "That is not the course of action I would recommend, but do what you will. I know another agent who knows Prague much better than I do, I will tell him to give you a call. If you would please leave your number, I-"
"Wait!" Cami said without thinking. "I mean, um." Cami looked at Sam.
"She means that, uh." Sam said trying to cover up Cami's mistake. "Uh, that we heard that you knew Prague very well once." Sam said quickly.
Contessa gave both Sam and Cami a penetrating stare. "I knew it, once, quite well, but that was a long time ago." Contessa said slowly. She kept staring at the two of them. Sam and Cami tried to look natural and stare back.
"Well, what happened?" Cami asked.
"Things change." Contessa said shortly. Her brow was furrowed like she was trying to recognize the two of them. Just then, the telephone on Contessa desk started ringing.
She answered it slowly. "Hello?" There was a pause. "It's been years. How are you?" Another pause. "Alright, we'll skip the pleasantries, Rajan."
Cami and Sam froze and looked at each other. Cami jerked her head towards the exit and Sam nodded. They slowly stood up and tried to walk to the door. It seemed farther away than before. There was a click as the phone was hung up.
"Who are you?" Contessa said quietly. "And why are you warning us?"
Cami and Sam looked at each other. "We are not of Interpol." Cami repeated what she said to Rajan.
"That's not the answer to my question." Contessa said. "Who are you? Why are you here?"
"We told you our names, Contessa. What do you know of Sly Cooper?" Sam said coolly. He was now staring at the Contessa with his almost amber-colored eyes.
Contessa's face changed to an expression of disgust. "That idiot boy and his stupid little gang. I have not seen them since the day I was taken into custody. I had hoped that I would never hear that name again. It's been over twenty years and I haven't; now you are bringing up the past. Why?"
"We need to know everything about Cooper." Cami said smoothly. It felt very weird to call her father 'Cooper'.
"Well I can't help you." Contessa said. She was still staring at the two of them. "All I know is that he stole from me twenty years ago."
"Thank-you for your time, Contessa." Cami said politely and turned to leave with Sam behind her.
"Did you know I was once an accomplished hypnotist and psychologist?" Contessa said quietly. Cami and Sam stopped, but didn't turn around.
"I made psychological profiles of many criminals, but I can make psychological profiles of anyone I meet." Contessa said carefully. "I believe that you two are doing this illegally because you came in here and did not ask outright. I also believe that you two have a personal reason to track Cooper down and you are lying when you say that you are warning us. Also, she's got a ringed-tail."
Sam and Cami jerked their heads around. Sam stared at the Contessa and Cami at her tail. Cami growled at herself. She should have added something to her tail to hide the stripes. It was a dead giveaway.
"Really, Contessa? You don't think that we are private detectives?" Sam asked smoothly.
"No, I think you're his relatives." Contessa said.
"What are you going to do about it?" Cami dared her.
"Nothing." Contessa said. "I have a successful honest job and no one is going to take that away from me. It is up to you what you do; just don't bring me down with you. I never saw you." Contessa nodded at them.
"We never saw you either, just don't tell anyone else about us." Sam inclined his head. Cami did as well and they walked out.