EPISODE 10

'tow trucks are not friends'

LEON'S CAR BROKE down five miles from Cavendish' Manor. His tires at the back were both flat.

"What... the Jesus..." he muttered as I squatted carefully on the muddy road, pulling out a long, thin metal pin of some sort from one of the tires. When I pressed down on the wheel, it had more holes than one.

"Sabotage," I muttered. "But why would Cavendish do something like this?" I looked up, curious, but Leon's expression looked so pissed, it was waving out of him like heat. I pressed my mouth together. His expression was enough of a comedy skit.

He closed his eyes, took a deep breath, bringing his fingers together to create an enclosed triangle, before opening his eyes again and smiling. "I hate him. I hate him so much. Pulling dirty tricks... what age is he? Seven?"

I blinked. "I'm going to be honest, but something about this situation makes me want to laugh."

He dropped his forced smile. "Don't laugh. I beg of you."

I smiled instead. "Then what should we do now?"

"I need my sister."

So he called Cordelia and put her on speaker. We told her about what happened in a way that I tried to speak clearly about the events that transpired while Leon added his angrier inputs at the reminder of the meeting. A few times, he had muttered in Korean, profanity I presume, because his sister kept calling him out for it.

"So... let me get this straight," she said in the end. "You're both stuck in the middle of nowhere and you see nothing but fields?"

"Because Cavendick put bloody pins on my bloody wheels," Leon added heatedly.

"Alright. I'll send someone to pick you guys up as well as the car. Where are you precisely?"

Leon turned to me. I shrugged. "We're not sure," he answered. "We've gone pretty farther than I would say two punctured wheels could endure. Which is a miracle in itself."

"Why don't you hike forward by a mile and look for a sign? Leave the phone to Wendy."

"What? Why would - "

"Please?"

We turned to each other. Again, I shrugged.

Leon exhaled. Then pouted. "If you want to talk to her without me, you could just say so you know."

A hint of a smile in her voice. "What a smart, baby brother."

A solid minute of silence as literally Leon walked away, Cordelia asked, "Is he far enough?"

"I suppose so?"

"I need a bit more than that, Wendy."

"Yes, he's far enough that he won't hear. But what's this about?"

"I did the tires. Well, I asked Milo to order his staff to puncture the tires."

My brain blanked out. "Why?"

"Well, let me be more clear about this, huh?" Cordelia sounded both tired and agitated. "Dominic ordered me to tell Milo to order his staff to puncture the tires. He knew you wouldn't be able to meet with Cavendish without me, that's one. When I asked him why the hell would I puncture my little brother's precious car - one he adores so much, he barely uses it apart from the occasional stroll, and only on streets he knows are safe - and he said, and I quote, 'Romantic opportunity?'"

I blushed, now staring at Leon's back as he stopped mid-way, far enough that I could still pretty much see the details of his person, and stop and start walking towards the fields.

"How does he know about me? Or... that?"

Cordelia paused. "So you do have a crush on my brother?"

"What?! Of course not!" Oh yes, Wendy, you idiot.

Cordelia laughed despite herself. "Oh don't be shy, darling. I sensed something earlier on, you don't have to be so shy. From what I know, Dominic never really knew. It was only a bet. Though a very sure bet. What kind of person would help a random stranger who has hardly talked to her in the three months he was incarcerated? In an ice cream shop from a small town for the matter? An old lady, maybe. But then he makes more research and realises you're not an old lady, but a young girl. Infatuated, maybe? Curious? Whatever it maybe, it happened. I have no qualms about your relationship with him - that's your personal life and his - and I am glad he has you in his life."

I was not, at all, prepared to have this conversation, so I did nothing but stay silent, half gaping and fully red, while the topic of our conversation was waddling alone in a field of grass, disappearing between them, then popping back in with leaves in his fist. And on the other end of this conversation was his sister, telling me she not only knew of my infatuation with her brother - plus a man in a cold table somewhere getting his insides poked whilst having a laugh at this - but supported it.

I felt a bit dizzy.

" - Wendy? Hello? You still there?"

"... Yes," I squeaked. Then cleared my throat. "I mean. Yes. Just feeling a bit... faint, to be honest."

"Well... please don't. But honestly, my brother may seem... whimsical and amazing, but he's also easily swayed by his emotions. And right now he's strung tight by the murder of his best friend who is playing him around like he's creating a play. Dominic wanted my brother to be the protagonist. This has been planned for years. Even before he came to talk to me."

"About that... so you didn't just received a letter. You talked to Dominic in person... about this."

"... Yes. But only once. To give me specific instructions. He 'stumbled' upon me in a Regatta in Washington. This was just two weeks ago. Then he sent me the letter before the news of his death touched down. I was in Paris, working on a case, and now here, helping a dead puppeteer." She sighed. "But what's done is done, and the best thing you and Leon can do is to finish this quickly and painlessly. Leon will go through much more than this. This is only the start. And Milo is only the first one. There are six more... the next one you'll meet tomorrow, but you'll be traveling tonight."

I exhaled, closing my eyes. She heard it and instantly became sympathetic.

"I'm sorry, but there's a really, really tight schedule. The real reason your tires were punctured is because I need to send a driver to your location and straight to a hotel in Brighton where you'll meet Cassandra. Cassandra Bernault-Arjenios. The model who's a bit... well, crazy is... an awful word..."

"The one in love with Dominic," I answered, remembering the video. Then remembered something else.

"Yes..." she said carefully. "She has a photoshoot in Brighton tomorrow. You can 'accidentally' have a meet up. Though you have to be very careful when you interview her. She's... fragile. And one call to her mother could close the door between you and her forever. So unlike with Milo who you can go straight with, you'll have to interrogate Cassandra a little more carefully."

"Okay... your brother's coming back."

Leon waved the hand curled around a bunch of flowers.

"It's fine. He needed that time to cool off. Milo has a tendency to run his mouth. The car's not even far. It's hiding somewhere in a corner road there. It'll be there once - yes, Adam? You can go. - he'll be there in a minute."

"Okay." I hesitated, but curiosity won. Leon was far enough. I just had to make sure my question came out correct. "Something about Milo."

"... Yes?"

I bit my lip. Oh, I'm a chicken. "When Dominic described Milo in his... big reveal video, he described him as pompous and... great. And when we met him, he wasn't... anything like that at all." I closed my eyes. Can't just ask their relationship, can I? Though a murder is a good enough reason to pry through someone's life.

"Oh." Even she sounded surprised. "Well... I don't know. Maybe that's just how Dominic saw him? But I have a feeling that's not what you want to ask me about." A black car and a tow truck was seen over the horizon, just behind Leon who turned in surprise. "Milo and I were not engaged. It's something more along the lines of something called 'marriage meeting'. He was one of the prospects for my... well, future husband. Leon can tell you more about it. I can hear the truck now."

"Yes, Leon stopped the truck right now and..." My eyes narrowed. "I think he's arguing with the truck driver. And the driver of the black car just got out as well."

Cordelia sighed. "I knew I should have sent one of those long trucks that carry cars. He's probably arguing because of Old Betsy getting dragged around in a tow truck. You can say a lot about my brother, and I love him, but sometimes he's such a diva."

I surprised both of us by snorting out a laugh. "Yeah, he's really arguing with the Adam guy."

"Tell him I can't send one of those big trucks. He'll have to make do. Good luck, Miss Cain. You're going to have to deal with him longer."

"Right."

I guess I'm going to have to call Quinn again.

- - -

Quinn's reply to my hesitated ask was surprisingly positive.

Nearly three hours of the drive, the driver, Adam who we chatted quite a bit and told us he was from a private driver company and that it was not his first time being asked to hide before picking up a client.

And now whilst Leon was checking us in this hotel by the sea that looked more like a delicate little castle, I went outside and called Quinn.

"It's fine," she said cheerily. "I've got the perfect excuse now."

"Hit me."

"We're going on a round trip across most of England for - and cue drum roll - ice cream expedition! Ta da!"

"That's... creative?"

"You bet your arse it's creative. It's for your job, so your dad won't question it as much. Isn't it brilliant? You may now call me genius."

"Well, you've always been a genius, the only problem is that you're in Little Hodge as well. What if he - actually, what if my stepmother sees you?"

"Oh, I'm not in Little Hodge, dear. I'm out of town as well," she said as if this was nothing. Quinn who rarely leaves her own house save for when she needs to go to London for a meeting or two at her real job working for a video game company. And that only happens once or twice a year.

"And you can't ask me about it because it's a secret," she continued. "And no, it's not a new secret boyfriend or whatever. Or murder. Which is... not as exciting."

"Alright... Well. I guess I'll talk to you again later?" I turned back at the glass doors of the hotel. It was dark now but the lights around the street, across the beach, were brilliantly lit.

"Yes, please do. And maybe after my little excursion, I'll get tell you about my adventure. Good luck to both of us!"

A sensitive model. Good luck indeed.

— — —

Cassandra Bernault-Arjenios came earlier than expected. At 11 pm, paps swarmed her entrance as she pulled out of a black limousine while we looked on from the seventh floor windows.

"She must've wanted to go drinking before the shoot," Leon said, watching as she disappeared into the lobby and the flashing cameras were pushed off by purple-clothed bellboys, flushed red and harried. Lobbying off insistent cameras must be above their pay grade.

"She does seem like a party girl," I said. I had made my own limited research of the suspects by jumping around online. The more celebrated, the more research. Cassandra was as such, as someone who had a popular social media and a face splashed across infamous covers and spreads, as well as photoshoots and runaways of well known designers.

"She's more of a quiet drinker, finding a posse among the most elite in the club, and blending in. Letting them shadow her while she never dim against her own light. This is easier than I thought." Leon went around the telephone for the hotel. "How do you feel about doing our little reconnaissance a bit earlier?"

"What do you have in mind?"

"Cassandra is more vulnerable with a drink and a pretty face. You already have the pretty face. I just need to know how good you are with alcohol."

"I'm a pretty good pint drinker." Eleventh and twelfth years were not my most innocent years. I didn't have Quinn then because I had met her on my summer job. I had not been around the most innocent of people back then.

Leon smirked. "Then it's settled. The last thing are your sizes for clothes and shoes. Our second suspect will be the blonde by the VIP couch."

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NEXT

EPISODE ELEVEN

A DRINK OR TWO

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When I go back to edit these chapters, I'm going to remove a lot of shit. For now, I apologise for so rambling through this story.

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