I Fought The Law...

[Nayt]

"No, it's fine."

He said it was fine, but he still didn't seem too thrilled about it. Then again, maybe it wasn't the fact that Cyril was interrupting something and more about what Cyril was interrupting it with: questions about Eri. It was Cyril's job to find this information. Hell, he should have had it all by now. Hinan was probably wondering what he was paying for at this point.

"Honey, come back to bed . . ." the woman's voice beckoned, a little more audible over the phone, probably much closer to Hinan, now. Her voice definitely wasn't Eri's. Eri didn't sound like a southerner.

Again, there was a long silence. Again, there was no breathing, nor speaking. The receiver was muted somehow, probably with a hand or something thicker covering it. More than likely, he was having a personal discussion with the woman, but it didn't last very long, and she was guaranteed to not be around for the rest of the conversation afterward.

"Her voice? Smooth and sweet. That's the best way to call it. She could sweet talk her way out of anything. The perfect match for my brother."

[Ramlock]

Cyril didn't pay a lot of attention to what anyone thought of him; the only opinions that mattered to him belonged to himself and to the wallet of the person paying him. After all, that was the only vote of his employer that mattered: where their money went. Besides, Cyril hadn't conducted any major questioning of Hinan or Heita yet...

"Thanks. I'll let you go; you sound busy."

Cyril would hang up the phone up, drawing forth the other card he'd been given. He wanted to touch base with Heita Kiosna. The whole situation was kind of strange, and he hadn't talked to the actual man employing him yet. Besides, since Hinan seemed so occupied, it could be a good time to call...

[Paroxysm]

“Kiosna residence,” the voice that answered the phone would be a gruff one, somewhat pleasant, but also sounding just slightly annoyed. The owner of this voice, a man, approximately in his fifties; was probably hired help, a butler, or some other household servant that had picked up the phone, most likely with very specific orders not to disturb the master, Heita Kiosna; the head of the Kiosna family.

After speaking, the man would punctuate his words with a silence, a short pause, really; the caller could possibly use this chance to ask for whomever it was he was calling for.

“Who may I--ahem--sorry, who may I ask is calling, again?”

[Ramlock]

"Hello, my name is Cyril Shariph, calling from Chicago. I've been hired to find Mr. Kiosna's errant fiancee, and I'm calling to get any information I can about her."

Cyril didn't know who was answering the phone, and may well have been talking to Heita Kiosna, for all he knew. In any case, it certainly wasn't appropriate to give an informal greeting to a man he'd never met before. Money bred certain attitudes, after all, and even seeming to show a lack of respect could result in clamming up, or even retaliation of some sort...

"Can I ask who is speaking?"

Getting information from someone other than Heita could help, too... The situation was strange enough that the perspectives of even outlying people could bring some clarity to the situation...

[Paroxysm]

“I am the Head of Staff for the Kiosna estate, Eugene Renaldt.”

Eugene replied to Cyril’s question without missing a beat, and his voice was less gruff than before, replacing it with what may have been pride, instead.

Oddly enough, however; Eugene had not been alerted to the possibility of Cyril Shariph calling, a most perplexing matter, for he was always told when important calls may come in, and he wasn’t quite sure about this fiancé business, either. But that, that he kept to himself.

The master has been acting strangely lately, Eugene thought to himself. Perhaps he really has decided to remarry! Oh Joyous day!

“I must apologize, Mr. Shariph; why did you say you were calling, again?”

The aging butler sounded of a unique mixture of worried and gleeful, he didn’t want to risk offending Cyril, but he really had to be sure he heard the man right. If he had, then this would be time for celebration, some congratulations were in order, and how--why, the excitement was almost too much to bear.

"And you say that you were employed for the master?"

He added on.

[Ramlock]

"I'm calling because Mr. Kiosna's brother hired me on his behalf. I wished to speak to Mr. Kiosna, or perhaps anyone who met this missing woman, so I can get a better idea of her personality."

Cyril decided to be straightforward. After all, telling the truth could be much more useful, or even more manipulative than telling a lie. If Heita Kiosna heard someone was hiring detectives on his behalf, brother or not, it could make Cyril's job an awful lot easier. Being a man with money meant you have to worry about this sort of thing, after all.

"Is there anything you can tell me about her? Even something simple like the way she talks. Or if Mr. Kiosna is not available, could you tell him I called?"

Judging by the man's response, he likely took a large interest in Heita Kiosna's life, and could tell Cyril a wealth of information given just a bit of prompting...

[Paroxysm]

Eugene grew quiet for a moment or two as he listened to Cyril speak. Out of habit, he rubbed the tip of his chin with his fore finger and thumb, nodding to himself after every other word.

“I must regretfully inform you, Mr. Shariph,” he broke the silence soon after Cyril had finished speaking. “But I have not personally met this … This … Why; I do not believe you gave the woman’s name.”

Eugene nervously shuffled about, and if Cyril hadn’t actually named Heita, then the man probably would have already hung up; some of the things that the investigator was saying, simply did not make sense to the butler.

“And Master Kiosna’s brother hired you, you say?”

Hinan.

That was the name that came to mind, when Eugene thought about his master‘s brother, but he had never met the man; in fact, he had always assumed Hinan was an estranged relative, from the way others seemed to whisper the name, and bringing it up in conversation never really yielded any results, to say the least; it was as though some big secret surrounded the man.

Cyril would be able to hear some quick scratching coming from over the line, reminiscent of a pen on paper, or some other writing utensil.

“Shariph, Cyril; that was your name, yes?”

Eugene Renaldt asked in a solemn tone, he was utterly confused now and somewhat scorned; he hadn’t expected this call at all.

“I do apologize, Mr. Shariph, but I believe you will have to call back and reach Master Kiosna, personally. I can see about setting up an appointment, if it is necessary, as well.”

Some more shuffling could be heard and the closing of a drawer, Eugene had taken from a small oaken desk, a small black book, a schedule of sorts, which Kiosna kept up to date for his butler, and personal aides.

"When would be good for you, Mr. Shariph?"

[Ramlock]

Cyril hadn't mentioned Eri's name; he figured someone in Heita's household like Eugene would know the situation, if everything was correct. Eugene wasn't talking, which was as large a giveaway as any that something wasn't right. It put Cyril in a difficult situation, though. Now he knew just enough to be dangerous. And in turn, that meant increased danger to him...

"Yes, Cyril Shariph. Evenings are good, including tonight. If I'm not in during the day, I'll usually be in at night."

Any decent investigator had a secretary... Except Cyril. He didn't make enough to be able to afford one, and didn't trust any other investigators enough to get a collective secretary. Hopefully, Heita was available soon; for all Cyril knew, someone could be tapping his phone line. It required the simplest of equipment and access to do so, after all. And likely, there was a confrontation brewing with Hinan...

"Does Mr. Kiosna have any good times available?"

[Paroxysm]

Eugene ran a finger down a page of Kiosna’s schedule, taking his time as he read each individual passage, but not to spite Cyril, he was just a man who was set in his ways.

“Yes, I am sure we can arrange something, but I do believe Master Kiosna will be rather … Indisposed for the remainder of the night.”

There was a sound of regret in Eugene’s voice, he really did appreciate Cyril’s understanding with the issue at hand, after all, the man had made a call specifically for Eugene’s master, but he had instead only managed to talk to the butler.

“I will personally inform the Master of your call, Mr. Shariph,” Eugene said in reassurance to Cyril. “If you don’t receive a call back in a few days, please feel free to try and get back in touch. I do try and keep things on track, but it is not always so … You know how it is, I suppose.”

The butler shrugged to himself for a moment, not that Cyril would have been able to see, of course, but that was beside the point.

“Well, Mr. Shariph, could you give me the number to your office?--And I do wish you luck in your case.”

After Cyril had given Eugene Renaldt a means to contact him; the phone would go dead, silent.

Cyril would receive a call sometime in the future, or maybe more.

[Ramlock]

Cyril waited patiently, not feeling the subject of spite at all. Eugene was just doing his job, after all. It was rare that a minute couldn't be spared, after all. Only the truly self-absorbed could never spare a bit of their time. This was fairly important, though; most likely, Heita would have a pressing interest in calling him back...

"Thanks. I'll look forward to his call."

With that, Cyril would rattle off his office number, though not his address. If they wanted his address, they could have it, but Cyril didn't expect to be contacted by visit or mail. He'd had enough of that already with this case. First, Hinan showing up with some sort of ulterior motive, then Eri showing up to... Taunt him? Her motives weren't really clear either. Cyril had a feeling he was starting to get involved in something much bigger, though...

The rest of the night would likely progress easily. Filling out paperwork, reading through his mail... Collecting checks for deposit. Cyril's habit of taking on jobs from poor clients led him to offer a lot of payment plans. Every week, he would cash multiple checks for a dollar or less. Even if the checks stopped coming, he usually didn't pursue them. Any clients who stopped sending checks for such small amounts were generally in bad shape, anyway...

[Nayt]

The following day, there were no messages on Cyril's office door, nor any abrupt appearances of pink haired young women. 'Lest Heita Kiosna called him back or Cyril decided after awhile to check another lead, a dead lead or not, there might not be anything of importance for the entirety of the day.

Except the newspaper. That was kind of odd . . .

The front page story was that of a murder which apparently took place the night prior. At 2am, a police officer named Dewy Hecima was found dead in his apartment after neighbors complained about loud music playing into the wee hours of the morning. Neighbors reported that the music, the popular song by the Virginians, "Aggravatin' Papa," started anywhere between 11pm and midnight, and continued until police inevitably forced the door unlocked at 2am. There, they found Hecima, tight to a chair next to an open window, where all could see him from the street below.

He was mutilated beyond recognition. The tools of choice, as reported by the writer of the article, a particular Jesse Mairse, were knives, screwdrivers, and hammers.

While it wasn't rare for police to be killed here in Chicago, Cyril might recognize this man--at least by name. A few years back, there was a job offered to investigate the nature of this guy, Dewy Hecima, a man that was obviously a crooked cop. Turned out he was supposed to investigate Speakeasies all around Chicago, and was taking personal "donations" from numerous Chicago gangs, to boot . . .

[Ramlock]

Cyril would read over the news of the particularly gruesome murder with a certain lack of surprise. It was unfortunate; Cyril didn't want to see anyway so gruesomely killed, particularly someone he had any connection with. But still... It wasn't that surprising. That was a problem with being corrupt, after all. A good cop, or an innocent of any kind getting killed was tragic. A bad cop... Well, that was business...

Cyril, for the moment, was somewhat stalled. He needed to confront Hinan after getting more information from Heita, in a place that was conducive to talking. Hinan was lying; that much seemed clear, or at least reasonable. And if he was lying... Well, there was the issue of what else he was capable of. If he even suspected Cyril was on to him, what could happen? There was that matter, too... Cyril had called Heita, and it wasn't difficult to tap phones. Cyril had even done it himself before. Analog phone signals made it extremely easy, after all...

With that in mind, if Heita didn't call, Cyril would call his home back by the end of the day. This was major, after all. He had already found Eri, in a way. This case had suddenly become much more urgent, though...