I Fought The Law...

[Ramlock]

Cyril's intentions were hard to judge. He sometimes made sure to change them, just to keep people on their toes. After all, whatever else was the case, he had been hired to find information on Eri, and even to provide current pictures of her. And as far as his demeanor went, the sudden change was enough to suggest that he was at least slightly skilled as an actor, and perhaps even practiced at displaying the emotions he wanted to...

"Perhaps. No one is perfect; not you, not your fiance, and not me."

Eri's response was purposefully and extremely vague. It wasn't a denial, though... And Cyril imagined it must have struck pretty close to the truth. At least, Eri's version of the truth. That was what made things so difficult sometimes. No one thought they were the bad guy. It was rare to see someone admit fault, it seemed, and even rarer to see them make penance. And no one on the outside could be objective, either...

"Yes. I can only imagine some of the names and deeds attributed to you..."

[Nayt]

"Of course. If you were perfect, you'd have no reason to live anymore," Eri responded in acknowledgment only of Cyril's declaration of the facts: that no one was perfect.

And again, it was somewhat of an iconoclast philosophy. Most people strive for perfection. They run, lift, swim, bike, study, and better themselves everyday of their lives, all in search for the perfect image of themselves, all never realizing how silly of a goal that really was. When you've reached perfection, where else do you go? Down? No, you're perfect, you can't take a dive. Up? No, you're perfect. You can't get any higher. Clearly, Eri didn't strive for perfection. She knew both its futility and the guarantee for misery upon reaching it.

Though she said this, she was not accepting or denying Cyril's mention of a "fiancee." What if she was, what if she wasn't? Conjecture could only get a person so far. Just how far would it get Cyril, then? Especially since he was dealing with someone who was quite the refined actor herself.

"What's the other side of the story, then?" she asked curiously.

[Ramlock]

"Well, that's harder to say. After all, my job is to find you. Getting hired means I have a certain responsibility not to look or speculate too deeply into my employer's side..."

It was true; often the money Cyril received was intended just as much for the sake of silence as it was for any particular job. Not that Cyril didn't do a bit of investigation to make sure he stayed out of certain situations. If no cop and no killer was going to show up at his door as a result of a job, that was all that really mattered...

"The other side of the story is simple enough. Money for services. That's my side, anyway... Maybe it's not really fair, since it's a third side, but it's my other side of the story..."

In any case, Cyril needed new information to draw new conclusions. He could guess more, perhaps, but didn't really want to. There were vague threats at the back of his mind such as a fear that his employer could kidnap Eri, perhaps, if he knew where she was. Those threats bandied about with ideas such as Eri trying to kill him for getting too close. Always expecting the worst made life more unbearable than if the worst was to just happen once in a while...

"And speaking of which, there's that other problem... Such as how exactly you and I relate to each other, right now..."

Cyril would look forward again, ironically shifting his demeanor away during his least ambiguous address of Eri. After all, Cyril didn't understand why Eri had sought him out...

[Nayt]

Cyril's response almost seemed like a trained dodge. Was Eri asking about his side of the story? No, no, she definitely was not asking for that--not that she didn't appreciate his particular side of the story, but he took her question and mangled it to provide a completely different answer without ever being incorrect in his assessment. She asked for a different side of the story, and she got one. It just wasn't the side she was looking for.

Cyril had his public speaking skills, clearly. He could probably "sweet talk" his way out of a lot of situations if he tried. This, Cyril's response to her, made Cyril that much more interesting of a guy.

"Our mutual acquaintance, right?" Eri replied.

It was a little bit of a sobering change of subject, maybe. At least it would've been to a lesser minded person. Eri, however, was a good actress. She turned from Cyril and looked out with a serious expression upon her face. Her brow was furrowed in thought. Acted thought--yet not over-acted.

She asked, then, with the utmost complacency: "What do you think of her?"

[Ramlock]

It was true; Cyril had dodged her question, just as she had dodged his. It was a fun little game, perhaps, and thankfully, Cyril had already won in some ways. He had confirmed Eri's presence, even if he didn't have photographs. He had fulfilled the requirements of his job, assuming he refunded the cost of photographs. Not to any useful degree, perhaps, but enough to confirm that Eri was in the city, and certain facts about her that were indisputable...

"I don't think anything of her. It would be irresponsible for me to do so."

Cyril didn't know anything about her, after all, or least had only faint bits and pieces. She frequented speakeasies, and seduced men on occasion... She had left an engagement of some sort... A lot of information that could have a lot of interpretations, and demanded more investigation before any judgments could be made. Cyril was having fun trying to make his judgment and learn such things, though he was unlikely to catch up with her again if she decided to disappear. That much seemed to be clear.

"I can say that she is curious about me, perhaps. And she is hiding more than she is telling..."

[Nayt]

Eri nodded along. Really, Cyril's response could have meant anything, just like Eri's question beforehand--regarding what Cyril's thoughts on "her" were. Eri could have been speaking in the third person, or maybe she wasn't. Cyril answered as if she had been, though.

"With an employer like her, I'm sure it's no longer a curiosity. She probably knows your whole life story by now," Eri replied with a shrug of her shoulders.

And at that moment, it might become very clear to Cyril that Eri was not talking about herself . . .

Eri leaned back upon the bench and looked out with thought written all over her face. She didn't seem to make anything of the fact that she was referencing a mysterious her. Perhaps she assumed Cyril knew exactly who she was talking about? Or maybe she didn't. Maybe it was a ruse. If it was, though, then Eri put on a pretty good ruse. She might have been a great actress and all, but even the best of performers could probably see that she wasn't making up this bit of information.

Hell, it might even knock Cyril off guard a bit.

[Ramlock]

"I see..."

Cyril would remain quiet for a few moments. However, he couldn't hide the furrowing of his brow. That was nothing new; a line was already worn into his forehead despite his young age. It simply hadn't displayed itself, despite the confusion of Eri's arrival. And now... Well, there was a certain amount of unknown Cyril was comfortable with. He didn't know about Eri, but he didn't need to. To not know what he didn't even know, though... That was a problem.

"She's no acquaintance to me, and I certainly wasn't hired by whoever you're talking about. Unless you've got some things to start telling me..."

Eri may well have been lying to throw him off-guard, but Cyril was generally inclined to believe people when they spoke to him. A bad habit, considering his impression, but one that matched his own personality. Cyril tended to get more mileage out of the truth, or partial truths, than he ever did out of lies. Lies were more difficult to pull off successfully. But this... It was enough to throw him off-guard, and even cast some doubt over the whole business. He had only met an agent of his supposed employer, after all, even if he was supposedly a brother to the man. The story had checked out well enough. But still...

"And why should she be interested in me or you?"

Cyril's life was simple enough; investigation wouldn't warrant much. Still, if someone had plans for him, he wanted to know what they were...

[Nayt]

"Oh?" Eri asked with a sudden growing interest.

She leaned forward, but in the direction of Cyril, almost as if she were passive-aggressively inspecting his face. She was probably looking for something, something like a crack or crease in his face that suggested a subtle lip movement that suggested the deepest concealment of a lie.

It was only a moment later that she leaned back again.

"You don't know the identity of your employer?" she concluded, "Huh."

She was silent for another moment--a moment which ended rather suddenly, with Eri standing from the bench and taking one step forward. She straightened herself up first and foremost, before turning to face Cyril with a coy smile spread across her lips. It seemed like there was still a game afoot. Eri clearly knew something Cyril did not, but she wasn't telling him. She probably wasn't going to, either. While Eri might be a goldmine of useful information about a lot of things, she was probably about as stubborn as Cyril. There was no cracking this dame.

"Looks like you've still got another side of the story to figure out, huh detective?" she asked rhetorically as she tapped him on the nose and, without further adieu, turned away from him and started off on her own.

[Ramlock]

"So that's it? No hint or anything like that?"

Cyril remained sitting as Eri walked away. He wasn't going to chase her, and wasn't too concerned. After all, she had found him in the first place. She would almost certainly be back again. She had given him enough reason to investigate his employer, though... Or supposed employer, as the case might be. There was a chance she was making up a story to occupy his time, but it didn't make sense for her to show up to do that herself...

"You're as big a tease as they say."

With that, Cyril would remain idly looking at passerbys, waiting to see if Eri was really leaving..

[Nayt]

Indeed, Eri was walking away. She had all intentions of leaving just like that--and, really, had Cyril not said anything at all, she would've just walked off without a word. But alas, he spoke out to her, causing the woman to stop on her heels and contemplate turning around.

It was only a second later that she did.

Still wearing a coy grin, she replied: "Hey, a girl's got a leave some mystery. Boys lose interest when a girl spells it all out for them too soon, you know."

A common theory--and a good excuse to be a tease, for that matter. Ideally, a man would lose interest in a woman if he knew absolutely everything about her. Of course, considering the source of this logic, she more than likely didn't believe it, and rather enjoyed being a tease simply for the sake of being a tease. In this particular instance, she was able to get away with being a tease, and in the most amusing of manners, too. She wasn't being a sexual tease or anything like that--she was being a tease for information.

You couldn't get better than that.

"I'll be in touch, detective," were Eri's parting words as she turned from Cyril again, and disappeared amongst a passing crowd . . .

[Ramlock]

Cyril couldn't help smiling once Eri had turned and left. It was true, at least as far as Cyril was concerned. Complete straightforwardness was boring, just as randomness for the sake of randomness was. Mystery, though... That was a different story. If there was something logical going on that he didn't or couldn't quite understand, that was intriguing... As with Eri.

"I have no doubt..."

Cyril would speak quietly, musingly, before standing and walking back toward his office. It was still strange when someone called him a detective. Cyril didn't care much for personal titles, particularly one that was incorrect. He'd never really been a detective. Detectives investigated crimes, and produced evidence for that purpose. Cyril occasionally was mixed up with a crime, but didn't produce evidence for the sake of convictions...

On getting back to his office, Cyril would immediately retrieve the number of his contact, and call the man who had assigned him the job...

[Nayt]

Hinan Kiosna. That's the man Cyril was calling for. So far, there was no suggestion that the mysterious Heita Kiosna was even in Chicago at the time, but Hinan was the one that gave Cyril the job. Cyril had a card for both Heita and Hinan Kiosna, neither of which spoke of their means of making money, only hinted strongly that they were sickeningly wealthy. In this day and age, though, entrepreneurs and philanthropists didn't advertise how or why they had money, they just did, and no one asked. Charities and the needy never asked where the money was coming from. They were just happy as hell to see it falling in their lap, and praised the contributor accordingly.

Chances were, the Kiosna brothers partook in their fair share of philanthropist activity in New York. When you had a lot of money, that's just what you did. You gave it away. It made people shy away from investigating you--moreso in New York than Chicago, too.

As per the information Hinan provided, he was staying in the Lexington Hotel. All it took was a call to the Lexington, a reference of his room number, and a polite question about the number to that room. Cyril would have the number in less than a minute. After which--

"This is Hinan," the voice on the other line introduced himself rather than saying hello--which wasn't quite uncommon for people with an excessive amount of money.

[Ramlock]

"Hello. This is Cyril Shariph."

Cyril waited for just a moment, thinking about the way he wanted to phrase things. He had a few choices in what to say, after all, and quite a few pieces of information to get. There was always the option of simply ending the job here, and telling Hinan what he had found out... It would be personally easier, after all...

"I'm calling to get some more background on Eri. Anything more you can tell me about her or the circumstances of her leaving would help me track her down; I've been getting hints of her location but nothing concrete yet. If I keep poking around, she might get suspicious."

Cyril, of course, wasn't going to tell Hinan that he had already met with Eri. That wasn't who he was concerned with finding at the moment, anyway...

[Nayt]

"Ah. Shariph? Right."

There was a long pause. The receiver seemed to be held away from the man's face as not even his breathing could be heard. Chances were it was more than that, too. A long moment passed where there wasn't even the slightest sound coming from the other line, not a word, not a breath. It was almost ten seconds before anything happened at all.

"That's why we're looking for her. Nothing prompted her to leave. She and my brother didn't have a fight. He's a stable man, you see. He doesn't drink, he doesn't smoke. He's got a habit of giving more than he really has. His fiancee didn't have a reason in the world to leave. It was just like that. One day, she was gone."

He had a certain irritability in his tone. More than likely, he was in the middle of something. More than likely, it had to do with a woman's voice in the background.

"All I know about her is that she lived in New York for the most part. Her family is all the way West, though, back in the homeland. Never jumped ship to America."

[Ramlock]

Cyril frowned as he held the telephone receiver to his head. It was certainly... Strange. For Hinan to stop talking into the phone for so long, then to come out with something that sounded so rehearsed... It certainly didn't seem right. And the sound of someone else with him... That just complicated things further.

"Did I interrupt you in the middle of something? I can call back later if it's more convenient..."

Importantly, Hinan hadn't told him anything about Eri. He had only talked about Heita, and then only really in general terms... What in the world was going on? The woman who was with him was concerning, as well. Cyril wanted to imply that he heard someone without saying he knew anything...

"She was going to be your sister-in-law, right? You must know something more about her than just the city of her residence... What was her voice like? How did she walk and how did she act around people? Anything like that could help..."

If Hinan was lying about anything, perhaps he would trip up with enough questions...