A/N: Hey guys, the next few chapters are all going to be related to one another. They'll be based on The Supernatural Enhancements by Edgar Cantero - and just in time for Halloween!
"Hey Axel?" The voice had the red-head pausing in his typing. With a pen in one hand and a rough-draft Chapter 11 of Kingdom Hearts in the other, Axel peered over the rim of his glasses at the blond who was interrupting his brainstorming session. The scene made Roxas smile before he remembered why he had interrupted the older man. "How do you feel about changing locations for a bit?" The writer cocked an eyebrow.
"Is something wrong with our current location?" he inquired, peering out the window of the inn. Most people would believe that Traverse Town was a miserable place to live but Axel had become quite fond of it in the past few months.
"Nothing is wrong with Traverse Town, Axel. And before you ask, no, I didn't do anything to get us banned from Darkling. It's just..." Roxas sighed and ran a hand through his hair. "I got a letter from my Aunt Liza asking me to go to Twilight Town. My second cousin died and she wants me to take care of the estate." Axel blinked as he processed the information he had suddenly been presented with.
"You have a second cousin in Twilight Town? And they died?" he repeated. Roxas rolled his eyes.
"Apparently. I'd never heard of him before but Aunt Liza wants me to go take care of his estate," he repeated to the older man.
"I didn't know you had an Aunt Liza," Axel stated as he frowned down at the papers in his hand. Roxas sighed.
"You know I don't talk about my family. Let's just say that Aunt Liza is the only older relative that I care to keep in contact with. So are you coming with me or not?"
"Twilight Town, huh?" Axel queried. Roxas smiled, knowing that this question meant the blond was coming.
"Yeah. Axton House."
The ship touched down in Twilight Town on November 2nd and Axel and Roxas immediately disembarked and made their way to the lawyer's office. As Glew read the contents of the will, Roxas sat in stunned silence as Axton House and "all of its contents" was left in his hands. The same stunned silence remained as Glew piled the two younger men into his Mercedes and drove them to their new home.
The road seemed to go on forever in a westward direction and Axel was beginning to fear that he and Roxas would never be able to find this place on their own. "How are we supposed to come and go when we're on our own?" he asked.
"Just stay on the main road," Glew replied. "Don't worry; in your car it's a ten minute ride."
"We have a car?" Roxas asked, breaking the silence he'd maintained since entering Glew's office.
"Two, actually. Your cousin's – an Audi – and a Daewoo he bought for the butler, Struckner. He's closer to a housekeeper, actually although he left in mid-October without warning. I've been trying to contact him since." Axel bit his lower lip before leaning over to Roxas.
"The butler did it," he whispered. Roxas smirked at the red-head and although Glew could not hear what was being said he guessed something.
"I suppose he needed some vacation," he says apologetically. "He seemed fairly upset; after all, he found the bodies."
"Bodies?" Axel queried, his focus immediately sharpened. "I thought Ambrose committed suicide all alone."
"He did," Glew agreed as he turned the car down the stem of a T intersection. "In the same fashion as his father, thirty years ago." The car traveled down a gravel driveway deep into the estate. Untamed woods grew on either side of the driveway, halting before the building as if they were respecting the vast empty court, the center of which was ruled by Axton House.
The house, Roxas decided, must have looked Georgian on the blueprint, three stories high with a mansard roof. From the front yard, however, it showed none of the comforting Greek sense of proportion. The boasting grandeur and excessive verticality instead brought a somber mood on the gentlemen. Doors, windows and windowpanes consistently pushed the golden ratio a little further, stretching higher and narrower. The stone skin of the building seemed able to adopt the hue that best fitted the landscape. Beyond the conservatory was the hedge maze, the only object that dared to bring green onto the estate.
"Shall we?" Glew asked. Roxas and Axel followed the lawyer into the house. The older gentleman led the author and the editor around the house but it didn't mean a thing to either Axel or Roxas though Axel felt like he could catch some patterns. The entire house seemed to revolve around the library on the second floor, it being the house's central and largest area. Other features (such as the great number of long galleries whose only purpose seem to be the exhibition of curtains) utterly bewildered him.
"Don't you think it's strange that you had a cousin living in the same town as you and yet you never knew it?" Axel asked after Glew left. Roxas hummed absentmindedly as he investigated the bedroom that he and Axel had claimed as their own.
"You forget, I never really talk to my family. You know, even with the tour I don't think I could find my way around this house if my life depended on it," he stated
"And this bed!" Axel exclaimed as he sprawled across it. "I swear, we could have an orgy without your guests disturbing mine!" Roxas rolled his eyes before clambering onto the bed and smacking the writer with a pillow.
"And what about the missing butler?" he asked, attempting to get the red-head to focus. "Don't you think it's a tad suspicious that he goes missing shortly after Ambrose's suicide?"
"Alright, alright!" Axel chuckled. "I'm behaving! We'll try and find Struckner. God, what type of a name is that for a butler?" he asked the younger man.
"An awful one," Roxas agreed. "Let's get some sleep. Apparently, we're expected at church tomorrow." Axel groaned.
"Bad idea. I think the church might burst into flames if I try to walk through the doors."
"Stop being melodramatic," Roxas told him with a poke to the ribs. "You know we have to pay our respects to my cousin." Axel sighed but stopped protesting, instead he changed for bed and turned out the light. As the two men settled into their first night in a strange new house the silence was suddenly broken.
"Roxas...did we leave a trail to the nearest bathroom?" Axel asked in a whisper. A giggle was the only response.
Axel rolled into church the next morning cleverly disguised as a history professor from mid-century Oxford with sneakers while Roxas trailed behind him in a wrinkled button-down shirt with cargo pants. Both men noticed the curious glances and the small clusters gossiping together and while Roxas ignored them all Axel greeted them with a beaming smile that had them eating out of his hand. Roxas hated him a bit for it but was relieved when they exited the church without being approached. His relief was short-lived.
The first to approach were the Brodies. The husband and wife were the closest neighbors to Axton House and had apparently been in a business negotiation at the time of Ambrose's death. Their farm sat on land that belonged to the Wells' family and Ambrose had been in the process of signing the land over to them. While it was quite evident that they were mostly worried about losing their land, they stayed long enough to make polite conversation and for the young men to glean important information from them.
"So what can you tell me about my cousin?" Roxas asked, after assuring the couple that he would not renig on his cousin's business deal. "From what I've heard Ambrose had some pretty odd habits. Then again, I've also heard that there were odd noises coming from the house, flashing lights, occult rites held in the house an even a few ghosts hanging around the old place." Axel shot the blond a sideways look which clearly showed his interest in this new piece of information. Still, Roxas ignored him in favor of staring down the Brodies in a very nonchalant manner.
"The noises bit is not true," Mr. Brodie quickly stated and his wife followed up with a heartfelt apology about "people in town" misunderstanding Mr. Wells' studies for hermitage.
"I understand my cousin was a very scholarly gentleman – even more so than his father." Roxas stated innocently.
"No," Mrs. Brodie stated with a shake of her head. "John was an even more obsessive scholar. He studied anything and everything."
"Interested in math, too," Mr. Brodie stated. "Worked as a cryptographer in World War Two."
"And he started the rites here at Axton House, didn't he?" Roxas asked as he took a sip of his Wild Turkey. The Brodies shifted uncomfortably. "Well?" he prompted after letting them stew for a bit.
"They used to hold some reunions...in December. Nothing unusual, really, but since they had so few visitors during the year it just seemed odd to have so many cars parked outside their house. A couple would get lost and make it to our house and we always gave them directions. The visitors were always men, traveling alone. They'd stay for two or three days and then..." Mrs. Brodie shrugged. "They'd leave just before Christmas."
"Was that the only time Ambrose had visitors?" Axel asked.
"In such big groups. Occasionally one or two would stop by."
"And the ghosts?" Roxas asked.
"Oh," Mrs. Brodie laughed. "Those are just rumors. You know the stories people get going about old houses." Axel and Roxas saw the couple to the door and gave them a friendly wave farewell. The Brodies left in a friendlier disposition than they had arrived in and Roxas was unsure as to whether that was thanks to the fourteen-year old Wild Turkey that Axel had shared with them or the fact that they had been assured their land. The thought was put on the back burner as the front door swung closed and the red-head turned on his heel and got in the blond's face.
"Spill." he ordered. Roxas brought his hands up in a placating gesture.
"Okay, so I knew a bit more than I shared with you," he stated once the two of them were in the kitchen. "I can honestly say that I was unaware that Ambrose was leaving everything to me. Aunt Liza did ask me to take care of the estate but she also made me aware that she was unconvinced that Ambrose committed suicide. She asked that I look in to matters while taking care of his estate."
"So, what, is Ambrose her brother? Why doesn't she look into it?" Axel asked, watching as Roxas viciously broke the dry spaghetti so it would fit into the cooking pot.
"No, Ambrose was an only child. I'm not sure how she's related to Ambrose but she's far out in the system. Time is of the essence when investigating potential murders," Roxas told the writer with a grin. Axel rolled his eyes but dropped the subject in favor of watching the younger man cook the spaghetti and meatballs. As they sat down at the dinner table when they heard the sound of a car braking on the gravel. Axel pulled open the door to the sight of a gentleman who looked as if he belonged in a different era.
"I apologize for the late hour. I was driving through Twilight Town when Glew informed me that you had arrived. I wanted to welcome you, I am Mr. Knox."
"Uh, thanks?" Roxas stated, looking at Axel from the corner of his eye. The red-head seemed bemused by their unexpected visitor. "Would you like to join us for dinner?"
"No, thank you but if you wouldn't mind I would like to speak with you. By all means, please continue with your dinner." Roxas gave the man a strange look but re-entered the dining room and offered the man a seat as Axel began laying the table.
"Shouldn't a servant be doing that?" Mr. Knox asked, surprised and somewhat horrified that Axel was performing this duty.
"If you mean the butler, he deserted before he even saw how we leave the bathroom in the morning," Roxas told him.
"Struckner has resigned?" Knox asked.
"Do you know him?" Axel asked. "If you see him, tell him he won't get his job back easily – Roxas cooks like a God." The blond tactfully kept quiet, slicing his meatball into more manageable sizes until Knox drew him into conversation regarding the will. The man seemed mighty curious about Roxas and his relation to Ambrose and very interested in the contents of Ambrose's will.
"Didn't the will say anything else?" Knox pressed.
"You're certainly curious. Did you have your eyes set on the silverware or something? Because we can talk about it." Roxas stated, a small smile on his lips though Axel noted the hard look in his eyes.
"No, no, not at all," Knox almost blushed. "I'm just looking for an explanation for what Ambrose did." That invoked a small mournful silence. Roxas and Axel tried to suck their pasta quietly. "So, nothing else? Not a note? No instructions for Struckner or anybody?"
"Only for a Caleb Ford." Roxas told him, noting the bored look on Axel's face. He could tell that the writer was tuned out as the two men went through their song and dance routine again.
"Kigali." Knox suddenly said.
"Rwanda." Axel noted absentmindedly. Knox's head turned so fast that Axel was momentarily worried he might have gotten whiplash. It seemed that Mr. Knox had forgotten there was a third person present for their conversation.
"That's just where he started; his work must have drawn him deep into the country. He can be untraceable for months during these excursions." Knox told the writer.
"How long has he been gone?" Roxas asked as he set his fork down.
"Since April."
"So he might not even know of Ambrose's death?" the blond asked. Knos just nodded.
"It's funny he left you this house."
"Didn't we go through that just now?" Axel asked with a sigh.
"Twice." Roxas agreed. Knox didn't even blink and Axel returned his attention to his rapidly cooling dinner as Knox and Roxas bantered back and forth about Axton House being a poisoned gift. The only bit that creeped him out was learning that he and Roxas were sleeping in the same room that Ambrose and his father had jumped from at the same age, at the same time and from the same window. At least he could rest comfortably knowing that Roxas had a twenty-plus-year grace period before committing suicide.
"I don't like him," the blond admitted later in bed.
"Nor do I," Axel told him as he shifted to get more comfortable.
"He doesn't like us either. It's like he thinks we're in his way." Roxas stated, curling on his side so he faced the writer. "If he was part of the Christmas party, maybe Ambrose was their leader and Knox expected Wells to pass him the baton."
"Right, and that's why he kept asking about the will and whether there was a message." Axel paused and replayed the evening's conversation through his head again. "If Wells runs these yearly meetings that Knox attends, and Wells is dead and Caleb doesn't know...how many more don't know?"
"You mean they're coming back for Christmas?" Roxas asked.
"Why not? Ambrose wasn't a notable man, just rich. His death didn't make the papers. It was unexpected; he wasn't ill or anything. Most of his associates drop by only once a year. Caleb was one of the assiduous and he knows nothing. Conceivably, neither do the others."
"So, we don't interfere? We stay silent and have the dining room ready for the winter solstice?"
"Could be fun," Axel grinned. "Tomorrow I'll go through the office. I might find a guest list or something. You search Struckner's room: Check if he did receive any instructions. Any questions?"
"No," Roxas sighed.
"Can we move to another room?" Axel asked softly.
"Why?"
"I'd rather have you sleep on the first floor," the red-head told him. Roxas huffed out a laugh.
"There aren't any beds on the first floor."
"Isn't it like tempting fate?" Axel asked. Roxas gave the older man a smile.
"That's why you're here. To protect me."
Roxas woke up sometime after midnight. Absolute silence reigned over the room – the blond couldn't even make out Axel's breathing. He rolled over to his left and sat on the edge of the bed, ready to leap into the vast emptiness. It came as a bit of a shock when his feet touched the floor but he stood and headed to the bathroom for a glass of water.
Despite Axel's prior joking with Roxas, the bathroom was right across the hallway and the younger man was able to stumble his way into the room. He fumbled a bit with the light switch (the darn things were too high on the wall) but finally managed to blind himself with the brilliant whiteness. Filling the glass with clear liquid, Roxas gulped down several mouthfuls of water before he noticed the peculiar happenings. The white glow of the lights were beaming brighter and brighter, reverberating on the sink, the wall tiles and the shower curtain, haloing them all with an aura that seemed to corrode the outline of all objects and that of a shadow on the curtain.
Not my shadow. Roxas realized before the lights went out. He stood there, waiting until his scorched eyes got used to the dark before striding to the tub and pulling the curtain open.
Nothing there.
Roxas released the curtain and watched as it fluttered back to its original position. Stumbling back into the bedroom, he crawled back under the covers and fell back into an uneventful sleep. He would have chalked the entire episode up to a strange dream the next morning if it hadn't been for Axel.
Axel stirred, stretched himself out of his patchwork chrysalis, turned over and a good-morning smile froze on his lips.
"What's wrong?" Roxas asked. The red-head ran to the dresser and brought the blond a mirror. Roxas stared at the burst vessel in each eye – both his sclerae dyed crimson. The bathroom lights were burned out and there is no trace of anything or anybody in the tub. But Roxas knew that somebody had been standing there last night.
"Come on," Axel stated as he tugged on clothes as fast as he could. "Let's get you to a doctor."
The second-worst thing that can happen at a medical exam, Roxas decided, is having the doctor call in a colleague because he needs a second opinion. The absolute worst thing that can happen is that they ask your permission to take a picture.
Still, despite their attentions (and the fact that Roxas enjoyed the ride and the horror in the pedestrians' faces as Axel drove at the speed of 120 mph), the visit proved useless overall. Exiting the clinic, the two men walked down the main street into Gordon's, the local cafe that was still stuck in the eighties. It made an interesting background as Roxas caught Axel up to speed with the bathroom poltergeist.
"Do you think we should call someone?" he asked after he finished explaining about the lights and the shadowy outline.
"Who you gonna call?" Axel asked with a grin.
"An electrician," Roxas deadpanned. Axel let out a laugh, complaining that the editor was no fun but followed him to the front door after throwing down some money for their breakfast. Roxas stopped to speak briefly with their waitress before exiting the cafe, making a right and walking further down the street.
"Where are we going?" Axel asked petulantly. Roxas rolled his eyes behind his sunglasses. He had grabbed them that morning on their way out the door, deciding it was best to keep his blood shot eyes hidden from as many people as possible. The last thing he and Axel needed was people thinking they were stranger than they really were.
"The electric store. Remember?" he asked as he pushed open the door to Ray's Hardware and Electronics.
"Hello!" a woman called as she came around the counter.
"Uh, hi," Roxas greeted. "The woman at the cafe said if I wanted an electrician I should come here and talk to...Sam?"
"Wait a minute. I'll call him." She turned and left the main room. Behind the blond Axel browsed through the shelves, his long hair falling into his face. Roxas didn't pay him any attention until he heard the distinct noise of a box being unwrapped.
"Who's going to pay for that?" Roxas demanded.
"You," Axel told him distractedly.
"Am I? God, I don't know what to spend my money on. What a piece of nouveau riche scum I am," he sighed. Axel grinned, pressing random buttons on the voice recorder and played back, '-ce of nouveau riche scum I am.' "Cool," Roxas exclaimed, snatching the box out of Axel's hands. "Where do you put the tape in that?"
"Digital," Axel explained. Roxas huffed out an airy laugh.
"Seems like just yesterday people were going to see Arrival of a Train and running out of the theater in panic."
"Is it a problem with your car?" Both men gave small jumps – they hadn't heard the woman return.
"Uh, no, it's my house. I just wanted an electrician to come by," Roxas told her.
"Well, you see, we mainly sell appliances and tools. Sam only goes to homes for emergencies. Are you from nearby?" she inquired.
"We just moved..." he stopped as Axel gave him a small nudge. "We live in Axton House."
"Axton House," the woman repeated slowly. Roxas and Axel nodded 'yes'. "Well, uh...Maybe Sam can drop by sometime this week. Actually, I'll kick his ass off the couch if I have to."
"Oh, great. Thanks," Roxas told her. "Uh, I guess we're buying this," he stated as Axel shoved the electronics onto the counter."
"Okay, that's..." she paused to check the price tag, "eighty-five ninety-nine."
"Pay up, blondie. About time you started footing some of the bills." Axel told him with a grin.
"Do you take Visa?" he asked with a sigh. "So what did I buy that for?" he asked as they exited the store. He had drawn the line at shlepping the box for Axel – it was his damn electronics, he could carry it.
"So we can record any EVP noises in the bathroom," the red-head told him, explaining it as if Roxas was the dense one for not knowing this.
"What the hell is EVP?"
Roxas decided that the best way to get his mind of the supernatural occurrences plaguing his life would be to take his mind off of it for a while. With that goal in mind, he made the suggestion to Axel that they investigate the hedge maze at the back of the house.
"Sure," the red-head agreed without taking his eyes off the road. "Let me get this set up in the bathroom first," he amended as he shifted the audi into a different gear. Roxas transferred his attention back to the scene outside of the car, staring as people scrambled to get out of the way.
The ride back to Axton House was uneventful and the blond stayed outside as Axel set up his equipment. The editor shivered slightly in the cool October weather and peered at the surrounding woods. He had the uncomfortable feeling that he was being watched and when he shivered again it wasn't because of the weather. Still, he couldn't make out anything in the woods, though whether it was because nothing was there or because it was being hidden by the permanent twilight was anybody's guess.
Turning his back on the scenery, Roxas turned his attention back to the house. He dragged his sight across the building's facade, trying to guess where Axel was setting up his recorder. Was he still in the bathroom? Or already on his way out of the house? The editor sighed and scuffed the dirt with one of his ratty sneakers.
"Ready?" The voice caused Roxas to jump slightly and when he turned to face the speaker, Axel gave him a bemused grin.
"Shut up," he ordered as he led the way back to the hedge maze. Their sneakers crushed dried leaves, making the crunching noise the only loud noise in their little environment. "This thing is huge," Roxas noted, mostly to himself.
"It shouldn't take too long," Axel disagreed. "Little trick with mazes. Always turned in the same direction and turn around only if in a loop," he told the blond as he led the way into the maze. Roxas trudged along behind him and as he followed Axel through the hedges the only distinct sound was their breathing. True to his word, it wasn't long before they reached the center – four stone benches and a statue of Ariadne winding a ball of thread their reward. Despite the fact that it had begun to drizzle, the two men sat down and Axel spun a quick yarn about two maze goers being clutched by creeping fingers of ivy that dragged their prey into the hedge. Roxas slugged him in the arm, laughing nonetheless and Axel then led them back to the house.
It was half-past six in the evening and Roxas decided to start dinner as Axel built up a fire in the music room. By the time the blond brought dinner into the room a fire was blazing and Axel was playing the piano.
"Where the hell did a guy like you learn to play piano?" Roxas asked as he set a plate down on top of the instrument.
"Nuns taught me," Axel informed him without pausing his performance.
"God help the nuns that had to deal with you," Roxas muttered as he flopped onto the sofa with his own sandwich. "Good thing we got in when we did," he noted as he glanced out the window. The light drizzle that had started while they were in the maze and turned into a torrential downpour.
"Don't be so pessimistic, blondie," Axel told him as he finished his piece with a flourish. "Exciting things happen in the rain – all the time, as a matter of fact."
"I'd ask you to elaborate but I have the distinct feeling that I really don't want to know," Roxas retorted, giving the red-head a glare as he collapsed onto the sofa, sitting on the blond's feet as he did so. With a grumble, Roxas dragged his feet out from under the writer and propped them in his lap. Axel happily ignored him as he began eating his sandwich. As the silence dragged on between them, Axel glanced over to see the younger man staring at a slip of paper.
"What's this?" he asked, snagging it out of the blond's fingers. The paper turned out to be an empty envelope with AESCHYLUS printed on it in neat handwriting.
"I found it when I pulled out the Wild Turkey for Mr. Brodie. I hid it at the time but I searched his desk again this morning with the faint hope I could find something else – maybe whatever paper was supposed to be inside it – but no luck. Now I'm just trying to find out who this person is supposed to be." Roxas told him, shifting so that his legs were curled underneath him and he was leaning towards Axel.
"Was there anything in Struckner's room? Or in the servants' quarters?" the red-head asked.
"No. Everything has been deserted," the blond answered. Axel remained quiet, his attention fully focused on the envelope in his hand. There had to be something that they were missing. He began replaying all the conversations that they had had since they arrived here and something stuck in his mind. Roxas had found this envelope when he went to get the Wild Turkey for Mr. Brodie.
Brodie
John was an even more obsessive scholar. He studied anything and everything.
Interested in math, too. Worked as a cryptographer in World War Two.
Axel quickly counted the letters in the name – nine of them, two of which repeated. He quickly tallied the letters of every person they had spoken with or heard about and one name stuck.
"Aeschylus is Struckner!" he shouted, jumping up from the couch. "Ambrose did leave a message for Struckner."
"But how was Struckner supposed to know he was Aeschylus?" Roxas asked.
"It had to have been a code they used before," Axel guessed. "After all, Wells Sr. was a cryptographer. And he had a Struckner working for him as well."
"But what do you think happened to the message?" Roxas asked as he stood and snatched the envelope from the red-head. "Think he destroyed it?"
"I guess so," Axel sighed. "We really need to find Struckner and figure out what that message was."
"There's nothing we can do about it right now," the younger man sighed.
"I guess not," Axel agreed. "Come on, let's go to bed."
Roxas shifted restlessly as his dreams changed repeatedly. He was standing in a dazzling white desert and the weight in his hand told him he was carrying a gun. The heat was intolerable but it was not because of the sun. A fire was burning behind him and in the distance someone was screaming. Light swallowed him.
Roxas blinked awake into blackness, a gasp from his dream dissolving into silence. He waited for Axel to move but there was nothing so the blond remained where he was until he felt clearheaded enough to make his way to the bathroom.
As the light switched on he closed his eyes. The new bulbs were working perfectly but his eyes had grown sensitive. With a sigh he scrubbed his face, taking care not to sprinkle water onto Axel's voice recorder, which was lying on the sink. Shutting the water off, the blond grabbed a towel off of the rack and dried his face before peering into the mirror. His reflection stepped back. His sclerae seemed cleaner but the contour of his eyes was scarlet, like he'd been crying for weeks. With a sigh he hung the towel back up and instinctively turned toward the bathtub. There was no shadow but he stepped closer anyway and as he pulled back the curtain a guitar blast shook the foundation of Axton House.
The noise came from the music room, right through two floors and strong enough to blow the ceiling away. It was the same Dead Kennedys album that Axel had been listening to earlier in the afternoon but Roxas didn't recognize is at first. What he did recognize was the whistle from Axel on top of Jello Biafra's voice that almost cracked the bathroom mirror from side to side.
Roxas flew down the stairs, regretting the whole way that the house was much too big: a long corridor, the third-floor landing, a long flight of stairs, second-floor landing, two flights of stairs, another corridor lit by the music room from where the punk music blasted and the anteroom across, which Roxas stomped into just in time to see Axel bursting open the double doors to Ambrose's office.
The red-head ran to the window and scanned the garden. Roxas saw no one but Axel would later claim that somebody was there.
The doors had been blocked from the inside. The carpet was littered with papers. On the center panel behind the desk, where a painting of black plantation workers praying had hung, an open safe yawned.
"What the fuck is this fuckery?" Roxas demanded.
"Someone looking for something." Axel told him.
"Really?" Roxas asked drily. "What gave it away? The fact that this room is completely destroyed? What the hell were they looking for?"
"I don't know. All I heard from upstairs was breaking glass. I came downstairs, figured out he was in the office and since I didn't have anything to fight him with I figured scaring him out was the best option. Whoever it was, they were smart enough to block the office from the inside."
"Who would want to break into an office?" Roxas asked later as they sat in the living room.
"I think it was Knox," Axel told him.
"You think or you saw?"
"I think," he answered, after pausing to think about his answer.
"Not good enough. Besides, I don't think Knox is the type of person who would do the dirty work himself." The blond stated. "Anyway, forget about the who. Think about what. Knox expected Ambrose to leave him something; we know that. But was Ambrose left was a coded message for Struckner."
"And Knox was very interested in Struckner," Axel reminded the blond.
"True. We know it was a brief message; it was bound to be. It was most likely to lead Struckner to a longer message somewhere else. So it probably said..."
"Check the safe." Axel interrupted. "But that's assuming Struckner knew where the safe was."
"So let's assume he did," the younger man continued. "He opened it, took what he was looking for and left. So when this person came after him, they found nothing." The blond paused. "Are you sure they left empty-handed?"
"90% sure," Axel assured him.
"But none of this makes sense. If the safe contained Ambrose's final dispositions, and if they concerned Knox, as Knox believed, if all that were true, Struckner would have transmitted them to Knox." Roas ruffled his hair in agitation.
"What is Struckner didn't open the safe?" Axel asked. "Maybe he couldn't decipher the note, or he did and didn't understand the instructions."
"Okay," Roxas sighed. "Let's say he did read the note but chose not to follow it. He leaves, we come along, then Knox comes along..."
"And he does what Struckner wouldn't do?" the red-head finished.
"That's risky. How long was it between you hearing the window breaking and giving the alarm?" Roxas asked.
"Five to ten minutes." Axel told him.
"So he had to have known which room to look, knew where the safe was and spent ten minutes searching it?" Roxas asked.
"Or opening it," Axel countered.
"And that's where it all comes tumbling down. He doesn't even search the house; he goes straight for the safe; he even breaks in by the nearest window. Why is he so confident about the safe? Why is he so sure it's worth the trouble?" Roxas queried.
"Struckner told him," Axel stated with a shrug.
"And didn't give him the combination?" Roxas countered. Axel conceded by flopping into a chair and sulking. After a moment's pause, Roxas asked a question that had been bothering him. "Why didn't you come upstairs when you realized someone had broken in? That guy could have been a professional and he would have killed you with a moment's hesitation."
"You said it yourself: I'm here to protect you." Axel answered.
"That's it, we're getting a dog." Roxas muttered, pushing himself out of the chair and beginning an inventory of the safe. The revelation didn't come until dawn.
The safe had been opened, not forced.
~Review~