Family Ties

Part 45

"I hear that the Inquisitor has been very active in the last two weeks," Damon commented as soon as Raymond sat down.

"You know what it's like. If I don't keep my terrible reputation, then who'd ever listen to me?"

"What did you do with Saul's family? There have been whispers going around, besides the fact that you had his club closed down, you had his family kidnapped."

"It's all smoke and mirrors." He laughed. "They think that Saul sent them away for their own safety. They're at a local resort and will be back in a month with their story of terror, helped along of course bit of suggestion of all the dangers to close all the loops."

"You can be really scary, the way you go around doing business. If I didn't know you personally, I'd be shitting myself by now." He laughed, slamming his hand on the desk. "But, your methods seem to be working."

"Come on Pops. I don't need to hurt people to make my point. As long as my terrible reputation holds, everybody will be kept in check." He smiled, shaking his head. Sometimes the idea of something is scarier than the thing itself. And he was going to capitalise on the fact that as the Inquisitor, nobody would dare to cross him.

"Now, you're friend has been very busy trying to find me and the two brothers. Thankfully, she used Saul who isn't the best at finding things." He sighed. "Will you tell her that if she carries on in this vein, the Inquisitor himself will have to deal with her, and it's not going to be a pleasant experience?"

"Sure, sure. I'll warn her to hold off, but you know that your title and position is a mystery to her."

"Then you should make sure that she understands exactly what she's gotten herself into." He leaned forward in his chair. "Pops, if she gets in my way, well, you know what the outcome  of that will be."

"Right, I'll get onto it immediately!" He saluted Raymond in jest, humour clearly visible on his face. "But how is the investigation going?"

Oh, it's plodding along fine. I've found the brother and will fly out to see him at some point. From what they told me, the two didn't get along so well. Kevin's penchant for stealing and bullying didn't make him very popular at home. Then, for some reason, they split the boys and his brother was adopted."

"They split them?" He asked surprised.

"Hard to believe, but they did. I don't think Kevin recovered from that, according to what everyone was saying, but it did seem to set his head straight with his schoolwork, but other than that, he was a bully and an opportunist." There was a lot more to this story than appeared to be. Every time he peeled away a layer, more questions would arise that revealed a little more of the story.

"It seems as if you know what you're going to do next, so I won't interfere." He nodded, pleased with the progress Raymond was making. It wasn't that he didn't trust his friend, he only wanted to have a few questions answered.

"Although Ray," He stopped him as he got up. "I believe that more than half a million was taken out of the vault."

"Trust me, it was money well spent and what are you so worried about anyway? Of all your investigators I'm the one who works on the lowest budgets and can afford to be generous sometimes."

 "Just remember, we're not getting paid for this case, so don't go acting like James Bond throwing my money around." He warned with a smile, also getting up.

"I'll keep that in mind next time you ask me for a favour." Raymond countered

--

Skye was setting the table when the doorbell rang. He immediately ran to open the door. For the past month, he wasn't allowed any visitors and spent most of his time cleaning around the house or doing homework.