With a Pull of a Trigger

Chapter Twelve

The living room was nicely furnished, oozing elegance and sophistication. A large plasma television was attached to the opposite wall, a small wooden cabinet underneath for the blu-ray player. Two cabinets were on either side of the middle one, stacks and stacks of DVDs and CDs in them. There were large speakers on every corner of the plush brown rug. A long and comfortable cream colored couch was opposite the television, a small wooden coffee table in the middle, and two brown recliners were on opposite sides of the coffee table.

Gil sat down on the couch and Reini awkwardly stood there for a few moments, not knowing where to sit.

“Please, sit,” said Gil, patting the space beside him.

Reini nodded to herself and slowly sat down beside Gil, turning sideways to face him.

“You’re here because you have questions, no doubt,” said Gil.

Reini nodded.

Gil expelled the breath he didn’t know he had been holding. “Well, that doesn’t come as a surprise. Agents are naturally curious. It would make sense that you would eventually come to me and ask me questions.”

“We went to you already,” pointed out Reini, “you didn’t give us answers.”

Gil nodded slowly in understanding. “That was back then. You two were, I felt, unprepared. And I needed to speak to you alone. Miss Acker, though a great agent, is not that much concerned with speaking to me. It is you who needs the answers.”

Reini nodded. She really didn’t understand why Gil had done that—after all, anything she heard, Eena could hear too because Eena was someone she trusted—but she just nodded, wanting explanations to the things she had been thinking of.

“Would you like anything?” asked Gil. “Cofee? Juice? Scotch? Granted, it is quite early for alcohol, but if you would like that, I wouldn’t mind…”

“Coffee would be fine,” said Reini gratefully.

“Ava!” shouted Gil.

It was only a few moments before a woman stood before them. She was presumably in her early sixties what with her carefully braided gray hair and the wrinkles on her face. She had kind warm chocolate eyes which crinkled when she smiled. She was slightly short and stout, and to be honest, she reminded Reini of Mrs. Potts from Beauty and the Beast what with her uniform and the baby blue apron.

“Good morning Miss Saunders,” greeted Ava.

Reini’s eyebrow rose. “Wait. You know my name?”

The old woman nodded. “Of course. Gil talks about you a lot. You, Mister Milton, and Miss Aspen.”

From the corner of her eye, Reini saw Gil blush to the tips of his ears until he shook his head and cleared his throat. “Right. Ava, can you get me a cup of tea and a cup of coffee?”

Ava looked expectantly at Reini. Reini stared back until she realized why Ava was looking at her like that. “Right, sorry,” she apologized, “I’ll have my coffee with three sugars, one cream.”

Ava nodded and walked away, leaving the two to their conversation.

Reini looked back at Gil. “I have an idea as to why you would be talking about me and Sam, but Miss Cath? Really?”

Gil waved his hand in the air carelessly, an indication that he wanted to drop the subject. “Why are you here?”

“Questions,” said Reini for it was the first thing that came into her mind. She cleared her throat. “Like you said, I have questions and I came here because I want them to be answered.”