May Be the Case

by Rachel J. queen

  In those words, a fleeting dismay crossed the girl's face. Lidi seemed to look for the incognito meaning of that phrase in his eyes. She stopped when she realized that, although the bodies were distant, their thoughts were approaching. "So, you are not so despotic" she replied lightly.

  "I feel like a worthy opponent, I'm letting you know."

  This time, a brat smile. "Do you want to overcome me?"

  Anything could restore a climate of cordiality, with that little, mighty heat, which seemed to warn them that, from moment to moment, the evolution of events would have taken the forms of a couch to get fire on. They stopped looking at each other. In the embarrassment of the moment, Lalanny, however, appreciated the unexpected abdication. A cheerful smile appeared on her lips, mirroring gently in him. "Good night, Logan. See you tomorrow."

  "Good night, my Dear."

  Like every morning, the next day Logan got up very soon. He went down to the kitchen in boxers, carrying the report on Sinn. He greeted the servants and told Videl he was waited for a business breakfast. As soon as the woman disappeared, he sighed. A few hours of sleep, an endless night. He had woken up without energy. He was a shadow with a huge amount of tormented thoughts on. All linked to a woman, only to her. He picked up the orange juice carton and drank, trying to focus on the file:

  Saving was at risk of collapse for a long time, and had had a scary year start. Yet Sinn, co-founder partner with Bryan Mitchell, didn't give up his good life. While estimates were dropping and the risk of bankruptcy consolidated, with banks refusals to support an unproductive financial system, Sinn had resorted to several lenders to get more money, letting Mitchell's father cover them. He even asked Lloyd for money.

  "Good morning." Lidi came into the kitchen in sportswear. She was sweaty and breathless, having been running for over an hour around the villa. She did it often to relieve from stress. She wasn't surprised to see her brother-in-law, they were the only two early birds in the house and always crossed. "You came out of bed early! How are you?"

  Twisting his mouth, Logan prepared mentally to deal with himself after that vision. "Well" he candidly lied. He forgot the property right that Sinn tried to claim on a villa belonged to his recently deceased father, obtained indeed by his third wife, Justine Sinn, from whom he had divorced. "You're awake..."

  "Sometimes I go running" was her strict explanation. Lidi went to the open fridge with the inevitable dose of sovereign indifference. She wanted the orange juice cardboard. She took it gently from his hand and drank a sip. "Last night did we bother you?"

  Logan examined closely that diffuse blush, thanks to which the blue irises appeared as fragments of the sky. He spontaneously wondered, thinking of her naked under him, at that delicious reddish. He masked everything behind an apathy facade and a shoulder lift "No. I thank you, indeed. Beach Boys have prevented Katrin from snapping on her private life."

  Lidi looked confused. "Maybe music was too high. I thought you were her private life. What happened?"

  "Nothing" he said, detached. "As usually, you have some confused ideas."

  "Or perhaps Katrin has them" she added. Snorting, she got off her jacket and put it on a chair. The gray top she was wearing drew a thin strip between her turned shoulders and clutched in front of her generous breast, pushing it out. Logan lowered his eyes, irritated by himself, but couldn't restrain himself and looked at her. The top showed her stomach and belly. She had perfect flanks. He had never noticed that piercing on the navel, a tiny brilliant butterfly. He closed the fridge. "Don't waste your time." She raised an eyebrow in return. Lidi didn't like to stay with him. "I'll be late for acting."

  "I'll change and give you a hike."

  "Don't bother, thank you."

  Logan noticed the hurry with which she brought her eyes from her chest to her face and felt the spasmodic desire to kiss her. "No disturbance. I have to get out too."

  Lidi didn't expect that slight insistence, she couldn't catalog it. She was little inclined to pick up provocations, goodwill told her it would have been better to refuse, but the prospect of a Ferrari ride with that wonderful day mortifies the idea of the usual bus. After all, he had occasionally accompanied her outside and they never killed each other. "Okay, then."

  "A quarter of an hour is ok for you? You've lessons at nine o'clock."

  Her brother-in-law missed nothing, she thought, agreeing and getting out of the kitchen.

  There was silence in the car. It was always so when they traveled alone. Her face at the window, Lidi was looking at the row of houses lining on the road. Someone mowed the grass from his lawn. The weather, which seemed so beautiful as she woke, was fouling, but at least there was no traffic, they would have get to the theater in good time. Logan lowered the radio.

  "How's the course?"

  Lidi was doing anything she could not to consider her momentary interlocutor, but she couldn't prevent him from speaking. What to say. She wasn't the new Meryl Streep.

  "Good. Thank you."

  "Can we stop to take a coffee at Starbucks?"

  "No thanks."

  Logan frowned, snapping his jaw. "Did I do something wrong, by chance?"

  She stroked her purse, distractedly. "Apart from the fact that you exist?"

  "Are you angry with me for a particular reason? I meant this."

  "Uhm... now that I think about it, I don't think so."

  " Fantastic. Our communication is always very exhausting, Lalanny."

  "I have no desire to... communicate with you."

  "No? Because sometimes I behave like..."

  She got more comfortable in her seat. "Oh, please don't say it"

  "Like your father, I agree, but admit that you are unruly."

  "I admit it" she replied, in the same tone as she could have said I swear before a court. Logan snapped his jaw. "You need a guide."

  "Only if you think I don't like doing wrong, yet I love what scandalizes you, I love being myself when my husband is away. If you weren't there…"

  Logan stretched to her repeated refusal. He changed gear.

  " Go on. If I wasn't there? "

  "I would feel more free" she concluded.

  "But you're free, Lalanny."

  "Sometimes I remember too much being in your house." "Then forget it, you can do whatever you want. You're good at bravados."

  "What a prig" she lifted her chin with pride. They had arrived. As the car approached, Lidi started to get down. Logan stopped her just in time. "Wait! I have one thing here that..."

  "What?" she sat down reluctantly, "You're taking precious time away from my daily Fashion consultation. My colleagues won't forgive me" she joked. She was in a good mood because she could move away from him. She smiled, when Logan put a box on her womb. She opened it without thinking, "What is it?"

  "Well, it seems obvious to me" he looked at her as she contemplated the jewel, startled. "Do you like it?"

  "If I like it!" Lidi tried not to comment too enthusiastically, but the glow of that jewel prevented her from thinking. “ Holy shit! I've never seen a more beautiful bracelet in my life. What do you need to celebrate? Oh, I hope you'll give it to my sister and not to that stupid fake blondie!"

  Logan turned his gaze away, "No, it's not for them."

  Because he didn't add anything, Lidi turned to stare at him, and he pointed at her with his chin. Grasping the meaning, the girl burst laughing, incredulous, "It's a joke, isn't it? I can't accept it!"

  "Stop being ironic for once, why can't you?" The serious tone forced her to return serious. She blushed hard, suddenly had difficulty to breathe, to stand still. She had the feeling that something disconcerting was going to happen, like that, in a moment, "They're... these are diamonds!" she stammered.

  "The best ones, yes. You have a thin wrist, the measure should be right. Try it."

  "I can't accept it!" what the hell could she say about such an object? "They are diamonds, not beads, they cost a fortune! If I brought it I should explain it for one hundred
years!"

  "Then don't wore it in front of Domina or your husband."

  What an absurd request! She looked at the bracelet, dazzled.

  "And when, then..."

  "When you're alone. Or when you're with me."

  "I'm never with you."

  His fingers tapped on the steering wheel. "Keep it..."

  "But..."

  " It's yours. Keep it hidden from anyone and put it on when you're alone."

  Lidi inspired, seeking unnecessarily to attribute a sense to that unexpected present. She took refuge in practicality.

  "You've lost half of your cynicism lately." She closed the case and turned to look at her brother-in-law as if he had gone crazy. "All right." He put the velvet box in her purse. "Now I just have to go, bye." She got out of the car with difficulty because of her jammed belt, or maybe because her hands trembled too much. She walked over to the window.

  "Thank you."

  In the afternoon, Glenn phoned apologizing for an incident that would have made him skip the afternoon meeting: The meeting took place in a tense climate. At the end of the day, present ones unreservedly expressed their increasing doubts, prophesying a series of hypotheses, from the most unhappy to the most serious. The ineffable Glenn had breached all over the board, was on everyone's mouth, and Logan couldn't help but wonder how many of them were aware of Sinn's machinations.

  Jack limited to patiently listening to disagreements and discontent, intervening only for pointing out a theme, suggesting the immediate application of a stricter control regime. The proposal was welcomed by a circle of stiff faces, fearing a news leak that could cost the reputation of the firm. Logan lingered also that night, reading the suspicious cards and Sinn file. At first he didn't notice it, but now he realized that Tylor was right to say there were gaps. Some of Oliver Sinn's last years were a mystery not only for Lloyd, but also for Justin, his ex-wife, a great friend of Bettany: A fraction of his existence where no activities or contacts of any kind could be reported. A beating at the door made him lift his head to the door. A moment later, Jack came out.

  "Do you have a minute?"

  Logan put away the cigarette he smoked and stopped reading. Unfocused, he suddenly realized he was exhausted. Laying his hand on his neck, he rubbed his hair. "Sure. What are you doing here? It's eight o'clock." He pointed to the chair, but Jack declined. "I left Gracie with my mother-in-law, me and Marron are going to retrieve her, but first I wanted to give you this."

  Logan's mouth leaned in a grimace as he accepted a big bag. "Will this make me distrust also myself?"

  "Conversely. I would say it leaves no doubt who to worry about. I wanted to ask for an investigator's co-operation but it was too risky and Glenn would have a rough one if they find out, so I've been researching alone and I've already found many answers."

  A private investigation on Oliver Sinn and his comrades. Logan didn't show any enthusiasm about that revelation. "Be careful, Jack. I don't want you to end up in trouble."

  "We have the acts of the Quincy process."

  They exchanged a serious look, and Logan closed his lips, astonished and cautious. "I spent the whole day wondering how to get to him."

  "There's no need for it." Jack had nothing to add and departed. "See you tomorrow."

  " See you tomorrow. Have a good night."

  To study the fundamental parts of Quincy process, Logan lingered for another hour. He decided to free the desk only when he came to the explanation of everything: Talbot had fed on the precarious state of Saving, taking money from the company treasury to redeem shares and debts previously accumulated by Sinn himself, and this was just the tip, because nobody knew how much he had earned from it. It was the left hand of the devil. His mastery of Saving was obvious, proved by many operations on which he left an exclusive footprint, but his name only externally appeared in the system, he was playing with covered cards, so he couldn't be inquired. It remained to link the suspicious death of a Saving member in the period when Talbot was in constant business: he had lost a security officer's life. According to the notes written by Jack on the margins, the dynamics of facts were inadmissible, the man had died during a shift in the evening service, by mistake falling from a stairway staggering his neck. Jack's version suggested that perhaps Talbot had been discovered by the guard, and his hands was now dirty.

  Oliver Sinn moved the threads for Talbot: He had instructed him to destabilize Saving assets, creating an apparent insolvency for creditors and trustees, then accused him and finally, had corrupted Judge Quincy for acquitting of accusations of aggravated fraud and undue appropriation of the company resources. They had planned everything together. Because Talbot's participation in Saving collapse was unproven, extraditing the company and getting a first reparation through the serious speculation that had been done was a joke. Before threatening him, Sinn had kept an eye on Quincy, removing, as the man questioned by the authorities told, the money offered to bark. Why didn't the corruption attempt work? Was the judge weak and then Sinn and Talbot had passed to threatening?

  When the law firm hadn't renewed Kent Vaughan's contract because of his bad reputation, the latter had become the principal legal representative of Saving. Talbot, or Sinn, had staged Vaughan's participation in the operations, whether there was any real involvement, no matter what. Vaughan had defended himself in court only on the charge of perjury, obtaining full absolution due to insufficient evidence, just like Talbot. According to records, Vaughan, Talbot and Saving had obtained a couple million of compensation claims from that series of proceedings and the credit was all of Quincy. Then a blown... maybe a false step. Calfort Quincy was investigated and expelled from the list for aggravated corruption. Where was the money? Was that the money Jack had mentioned that day at lunch? The offer that surpassed them in the top secret report?

  3

  In the starry night, a half-moon moon fluttered every now and then among the mists of passing clouds. A warm wind blew, and streets were crowded in downtown. London fluttered with life. Logan switched off the radio and continued to drive.

  It seemed that the dinner accompanied by the Beach Boys soundtrack convinced Katrin that there was only one worthy note on her phone book. She invited herself to his home even that night. He had been able to postpone it, this time. When he got home, there was a solid silence. John came to open and informed him that Billy was upstairs with friends who would have stayed for the night, while the rest of the family, except Lalanny, was out for the show at the Royal Drury Lane Theater.

  Logan learned the news with a good deal of confusion.

  "I thought that mad woman spent two weeks behind the announcement of that show to be in front row today. What is she doing at home?"

  John, as usual, limited his observations. "If you allude to Mrs. Kallistos, I have no idea, sir, she's in the living room... at her third film."

  "Thank you, John."

  "If you don't have any further request, I'll retire, sir."

  "No. It's fine, John. Good night."

  "Good night sir."

  In the living room, Logan talked to Videl and ordered her to leave because he wasn't hungry. Videl left and he leaned his shoulder on the door jamb, silent for a few moments on the doorstep. In evenings like that one, he was particularly tired, he feared to be betrayed, unable to look at Lidi without explaining how much he desired her, trying to breathe deeply, get used to her vision, resigning mentally to the infinite series of things he would have liked to tell. Sometimes they went to sleep without having spoken, then greeted for his own self-control. But there were even no days, where he ended up tormenting her, and they were getting more and more frequent. Lidi was abandoned on the couch with a Cips pack. Her loose hair were lifted from her neck, spilled on pillows. The blue screen light blinked in the dark room. She just glimpsed him.

  "Hi Logan."

  Logan looked around. On the carpet there were notes, pencils, magazines. She seemed to be absorbed by the black-and-white film, in her relaxed pose
her pajamas had lifted on her piercing. Day no, he thought. Definitely a no day.

  "Good evening." He didn't want to fight with himself. For an evil that any man might have suffered before such beauty, he wanted to forgive himself. He went to take the remote control and pushed pause. Startled, he examined the bracelet he would never have believed to see. "What an hard head..." he murmured. First she staggered to accept it and now she wore it when Videl's lynx eyes would have catched it in a moment?

  Her voice resounded dry. "Can I do what I want or not? Can everything have the right measures?"

  "Never as right as yours" he let escape. It was night, he was exhausted, and she was his Lalanny. At least in his fantasy. The bracelet was really good on her, he noticed: probably her was a form of protest. Indignation for the car scene. Usually she answered point-black, but today she ignored him. "Even you had a no day, or definitely a no one" Logan realized.

  "That's right. And I don't want to talk about it. "

  Logan slipped the index into the tie knot and pulled it out. He unexpectedly found a smile in her eyes. There it is, then! She ignored allusions, and loved direct compliments. The thought of this transgressive side of Lidi suggested him some sinful things. "Are you knocking a record on TV, or wearing a jewel causes you a crisis of identity? You talked about that show for weeks..."

  Lidi picked up a chips from the bag. "I didn't want to go out. If Katrin has to come up, I'll go upstairs."

  "She won't come today." He paused. He was hurt by the desire to give her a kiss. "I thought you wanted to see..." He would have liked it, getting home and kissing her passionately for a long time.

  "I have no intention of justifying my boredom with you, sorry." She was in a bad mood.

  "Give me some space." Lalanny pulled on one side, allowing him to sit close to her. Logan took her wrist gently, looking at the tender contrast of the bracelet with her skin. She was born to wear bright jewels. The bone was thin, the complexion wonderful. "It's a charm on you. Have you had dinner?"