James reached the main gate of the building where the guards were standing. One of them greeted James and asked, ‘Had a good evening, sir?’
‘Yeah, I did. It’s a hell of an evening,’ said James as he left the building and headed for the parking lot.
‘Goodnight, sir.’
James nodded and muttered under his breath, ‘Goodnight to you, idiot.’
Greg was sitting on his sofa, eating popcorn and enjoying an old movie on the television when his cell phone rang. It flashed James’s name.
‘Hello,’ said Greg.
‘Hey, buddy! What’s up?’ asked James.
‘What do you want?’
‘You’re smarter than I thought. I need you to come help me.’
‘Why me?’
‘Good question. I’ll think ten thousand times before calling Captain. Can’t call Robert because he is a family guy, and can’t call Mandy and disturb her at this hour, so that leaves me with you ’cause you are all alone. And since you just proved that you’re much smarter than I thought, you’re not a bad choice after all.’
‘I don’t want to come. Am watching a movie.’
‘What? Greg . . .’
‘I am watching a really good and classic movie, James. Priorities.’
‘All right. How about if I buy you the tickets for the next five movies you feel like watching?’
‘I need a date too. Can’t go alone.’
‘Take your teddy bear along.’
‘I am not dressed.’
‘The hell! Come the way you are.’
‘I still don’t want to come.’
‘Now what?’
‘I’ll have to go to the parking lot all the way down and then unlock my car, and if I forget the keys, then I’ll have to come all the way up.’
Just then, Greg’s door burst open, and James popped his head inside.
‘Now are you ready to come?’ asked James.
‘How did you get the keys?’ asked a surprised Greg.
‘The guard.’
‘Why would he give the duplicate keys to you?’
‘The badge. WPD badge. It gives you almost everything you want. Now get your lousy butt off that sofa.’
‘I’ll make sure you get sued for this,’ said Greg.
‘Dream on. And do bring your laptop. We’ll need some Internet research,’ said James.
Greg started walking towards his bedroom.
‘I told you, no need to get dressed. We are not going to any public place,’ said James, who was getting impatient.
‘At least let me wear my shoes,’ cried Greg, who was already irritated.
After travelling for about five minutes, Greg spoke. ‘I still want those tickets.’
‘Sure. I’ll personally come and watch movies with you,’ said James.
‘I don’t want to see any movie with you.’
‘Wonderful, works fine with me. So where do you suggest we should go?’
‘Lancer Mansion.’
‘Why?’
‘It’s an isolated area. We sealed away the place, and people don’t like to go anywhere near it. It’s practically no man’s land. Wouldn’t find a more isolated place. Which brings me to the question, why didn’t we stay back at my place?’
‘(A) I wanted a bit of air, (B) you wouldn’t have listened to me there, and (C) you are a highly distracted person. I doubt you would have even listened to me over your movie.’
‘You know me so well, James. In a parallel universe, we might have been best friends.’
‘That’s mentally disturbing,’ said James as he drove towards Autumn Street.
After ten minutes, they were inside the property and were looking for a place to sit. Greg started walking towards the garden.
‘Not there,’ said James.
‘We can sit on the bench. After all, you wanted a bit of fresh air, didn’t you?’ asked Greg in an amusing tone. He pointed towards a corner in the dark illuminated by a sole lamp post.
‘Why that corner? It’s creepy,’ said James.
‘Nothing scares me more than the sight of your face,’ said Greg.
‘You are the one who’s the freak,’ said James as they both started walking towards the bench.
After they were seated, Greg asked, ‘So what’s the plan?’
‘Open your laptop. I want you to search for some names and their history,’ replied James.
‘You made me come all this way at night in the cold to search about some guys whom even you could’ve accessed by yourself? What are we doing next? Playing encyclopaedia?’
‘Classified information, you fool. They are dead guys. Dead guys associated with the Royal Plaza Casino. Now that’s the information only you can give me.’
‘You mean George and Adam?’
‘Stop your jabbering. Here’s the list,’ said James as he handed the papers to Greg. A few minutes passed in silence except for the keyboard keys which were being intensely used.
‘Okay, so the newspaper reports say that they are all dead, obviously. Some about two years ago and near about that time span,’ said Greg. ‘You want any specific information?’
‘So many people died in that time span. And all were related to the casino, unnatural deaths. I want to know the manner of their deaths,’ said James.
‘Two of them committed suicide by taking poison, one of them hanged himself, and the other three went missing and were practically declared dead because they were never found,’ said Greg.
‘Now that’s what I am talking about. Was there any suicide note with any of them?’ asked James.
Greg shook his head.
‘Am I the only one who smells something fishy here?’ asked James.
‘Nope, even I do. Hell, anybody would.’
‘This leads us to a loose end! Damn it!’ said James. He anxiously paced about the area and noticed fresh sand in the corner near the fence.
‘Hey! Look! That’s fresh sand! Did any of our guys here do some digging or what?’ asked James.
‘None that I know of,’ replied Greg.
James bent down to examine the soil and started digging with his hands.
‘Crap!’ he exclaimed.
‘What is it?’ enquired Greg.
‘It’s a battery.’
‘What’s so exciting about a battery?’
‘Not just any battery. It’s a cell phone battery.’