by Beth Hoyer
was informed of Victoria’s behavior with the subject about the rumor and protecting Victoria from public scrutiny. The school thinks Victoria should have a normal life as normal as possible without public interference.”
He heard Jacqueline become silent spoke eyes on his daughter “You still want to go to the school dance happening later with me present there?”
He stated at his daughter who spoke “I’m going and I don’t mind you there but I prefer to go in separate cars just to keep myself out of the spotlight and keep people’s focus on you and off me.”
He nodded his head feeling himself agree as Victoria got up speaking “I have to figure out what to wear for the school dance.”
He watched her leave and groaned loudly.
He heard Jacqueline speak “My husband and me along with Gustav were hired for our jobs by a Highlander group called Scotland.”
Jinks stiffened hearing that as she continued speaking “Scotland gave not much information on who we were serving but we were told that the Master we were serve was very guarded on his privacy and hated being in public. We signed some oath of secrecy paperwork form with very expensive money bonuses which we would get if we keep our mouths shut on the Master’s secrets after we retire.”
Jinks frown to look at Jacqueline who paused then continued to speak “all three of us were shocked to see the Master was you who we at first thought was related to a former King from the looks of you but figured out from your eating habits and not aging as Victoria grew up that there was something not Human like about you. We managed to guard this fact to ourselves while keeping an ear open for any talk about you any way during our travels in the city.”
Jinks frowned to nod his head as Gustav speaks “I answered the phone two days ago with a caller ID saying it was from a public phone without listing the location and got a male sounding like a Builder from the voice tone telling me to tell the others to keep our mouths shut or else while not indicating what the threat was aimed at before hanging up.”
Jinks opened his mouth when the phone shrilled its sound.
He looked at the console and heard Gustav speak “I’ll get it.”
Jinks watched Gustav answer the phone putting a head set on his head speaking “It’s from a pay phone according to caller ID.”
He frown seeing Gustav press a button on the console speaking “Montreal residence.”
Jinks watched Gustav whose hands became fisted and heard the butler’s angry voice speaking “That threat should be explained to me for I’m confused and I don’t know what the point is.”
He heard a pause followed by the butler give of a harrumph like sound before speaking “I and the servants signed warrants for our deaths if we talk which there’s a money bonus for us if we retire for us to live on comfortably.”
He heard Gustav pause followed by speaking “Good riddance.”
He saw Gustav yank off the head set putting it back on the wall by the hook before turning around.
Jinks spoke “Was that the Builder who called the threat before?”
He stared at Gustav who spoke “The caller was female sounding Human with hints of you in her voice tone and that the call was through an operator saying it was long distance. The female not identifying herself threatened execution of us servants if we talked about the Master while not indicating who that was. I asked her to explain and she said it was you who is a part of her and she expects people to stop talking about him. I replied talking about the oath of secrecy paperwork I and the others signed as death warrants while telling her that there was money bonuses for us if we retire for us to live on comfortably. She said she has people spying and will make sure people face death if they talk by setting off assassins which before I was about to talk she hung up and I hung up.”
Jinks groaned and felt an impulse to leave the kitchen walked out to the TV room to sit on the couch. He felt sleepiness leaned back shutting his eyes while sitting on the couch. He dreamed of Lance who was appearing to be smirking that annoyed him.
Lance spoke “I have something planned to keep people from picking on you.”
He heard an edge in Lance’s voice figured to himself that his father was up to something spoke “your up to something what is it?”
He stiffened as Lance looked at him with a black eyed glare followed by his father’s hand on his throat gagging him.
He listened while gagged as Lance spoke “I’m disappointed in you for not trusting me with your problems. I expect you to trust me blindly period without being informed of what I have planned for the problems.”
He found his eyes forced shut woke up to feel an impulse to turn on the TV and felt bored about them talking about the new medical procedure.
He felt his boredom stop by them “We talking about a Human male not being Human rumor. We’re saying that the tabloids’ upper ranked employees including the editors that produced the articles actually know who this male is from lower ranked employees suspecting this by their behavior.”
Jinks groan loudly as the reporters add “There’s a rumor among sources that the male is very well off in money indicated as a reclusive billionaire. He could explain why the tabloids are being tightlipped on whom the male is. The sources are saying that the tabloids are hesitating on revealing who that male is. The male billionaire possibly be able to shut them down as in suing them in court for trashing his reputation and interfering with his privacy hence the hesitation.”
He frowned forming it on his lips as the broadcast continued to talk “The rumor of the male being a billionaire it’s not the first time the tabloids trashed someone well off for they did that before several times to reported millionaires. One of them wound up suing the tabloids in court with the judge siding with the victim and imposed a heavy million dollar fine on the tabloids to pay. An editor of a tabloid replaced another editor that was gunned down in a drive by shooting. One of the millionaire victims victimized by the gunned down editor bragged about setting off assassins to kill that editor off. The millionaire in question would up out casted from social circles and lost his fortune to die a homeless bum in the city.”
Jinks frowned thinking “I’m wondering what Lance had planned?” as the news report turn to entertainment on actors and actresses which he ordered the TV off.
He got up wandering to the gym room thinking about the news broadcast as he arrived there and didn’t feel like doing any karate got down on the floor doing his familiar stretching exercises feeling himself better from doing it. He kneeled to stare at the mirror at his reflection before shutting his eyes finding his mind too cluttered to ghost walk which he willed himself to mediate.
He heard “Excuse me for disturbing you Master!” sounding like Gustav’s voice from behind him.
Jinks opened his eyes to peer through the mirror at the butler who had a glare on his face.
Gustav spoke “its lunchtime.”
He frowned getting up to walk to the dining room to spot Victoria still wearing her bathrobe with pajamas peeking out and her hair still messy eating there which he found a cup full of strawberry milkshake set for him on the table. He drank it all up while eyeing Victoria wolfing down her food before getting up darting out of the dining room. He wandered into the kitchen to spot Jacqueline washing the dishes.
Jinks spoke “Jacqueline why is Victoria still in her pajamas?”
He heard Jacqueline gave off a laugh before speaking “When I was Victoria’s age I spent all day trying to figure out what to wear and how to wear my hair for a date with John who I was in love with and is still in love with.”
Jinks spoke “Does Victoria have some interest in Mavis?”
Jacqueline spoke “Victoria admitted seeing him as a friend. She said to me before your arrival the previous night that she wanted to flaunt herself to the students in school at the dance as a way of saying that out casting her was a mistake. She’s worthy of being a friend with.”
He spoke as Jacqueline resumed her dish washing “Ok.”
He walked out of the kitchen and wandered to the gym room which he went through the motions of karate taking his time with it then knelt facing the target wall to mediate letting his thoughts wander about the Human male not being Human rumor in his mind and thinking about what Lance had in mind for him to do.
His reverie was broken by Victoria speaking “Dad.”
He opened his eyes to look on his left to see Victoria dressed in a long sleeve dress that reminded him of a prom dress with high heeled shoes on her feet and hair pulled back.
He stared at her as she spoke “Do you like the outfit?”
He frowned to speak “Its looking too fancy for the dance.”
He heard Victoria give up “Darn!” before darting out of the doorway leaving the doors open.
He went back to his mediating to hear her speak “Dad.”
Jinks looked at Victoria seeing her wearing jeans and a t-shirt like top as she spoke “what do you think?”
He commented “It looks too casual for the dance.”
He saw her frown as she spoke “darn!”
He watched her dart out of sight. Jinks figured to himself that she was modeling outfits to him to get his opinion on which one to wear for the school dance which she returned wearing an up to her knees length tank top like dress with some cleavage.
He got up folding his arms while speaking “You’re not going to the dance looking like that and I mean it.”
He saw her frown