Merciless

Chapter thirteen

I smiled to myself at my perfect queen bee acting, like those girls with squeaky voice and fluttering hands.

He was silent for a moment.

Yup. Take it all in. You're worth it.

" You know what? Forget it. You don't deserve my apology.  Now, get out. We're here."

***********

We were standing, facing the entrance to the Winstor household.
It was a large mansion with a long driveway, huge fountain in the centre of it, perfectly kept gardens and all.

" Should we knock? 'Cause I don't see a bell or-"

Suddenly,the doors were pulled open by a tall man. He  looked around forty with brown hair and wrinkled eyes ,wearing a black waistcoat with a crisp buttoned up white shirt.

" Yes? How may I help you?"

His eyes narrowed at us disapprovingly as he waited for our answer.

" We are here to meet,Mr and Mrs Winstor. We are from-"

" Master and Mistress do not meet visitors unless an appointment is made."

What is this? Medieval England?!

My instant dislike was so obvious in the next sentence.

" Well then, butler. Allow me to complete my previous statement.
We are assigned to investigate the case of Michael Winstor, son of your Master and Mistress.
And a while ago, we got a call saying they have received a rather peculiar gift . We would gladly like to check it out. So, kindly move out the fuckin' way, butler."

His face was decorated with a furious look as his brows knitted together in annoyance and maybe a bit of surprise. He opened his mouth to reply when  the voice  of  a woman came from the inside.

"Who  is it, Alfred?"

Without taking his off mine, he called out ,
" A man and woman claiming to investigate Master Michael's....death."

There was a moment of silence.

" Oh .Let them in then. "

I smirked at the man while pushing him out of the way and sauntered into the mansion.

From the corner of my eye, I could see J looking at me curiously.

" What?!" I snapped.

" Should you always be like this? I mean, that  man was just doing his job. You didn't need to go all crabby on him."

" Yeah, not everyone can be perfect now, right Captain J?"

I sped up my pace without giving him a chance to reply.

He needed a woman with personality?
He got  the wrong one.

The mansion was huge , like the ones  you saw  in the regency  movies.
Large chandelier in the centre, two spiralling stairs, wooden cabinets with exquisite carpentry, rugs of the highest quality.... Who were these people?

As the living room came into view, I saw a woman sitting on one of the couches as she turned pages of what I thought was a picture album on her lap.

I cleared my throat to let her know of our presence at which she raised her head.

She  looked around  sixty , wearing a night dress. Her eyes were bloodshot, probably from crying as she looked at us curiously and smile in recognition after a few moments.

"Oh. Hello there. You must be from S.C.A.R.  I am so sorry if Alfred caused you any trouble. He is actually very alert after...after what happened."

Her voice shook with her words as her eyes began to fill up again.