Rosie Canfield, the yogurt lover. Great.
“What the fuck are you doing here?” Harry snapped.
“Oh,” she sat herself on the extra chair and crossed her ankles. “But I have news.”
Harry exhaled sharply. “How’d you even know where I—”
“What news?” I interrupted him and Rosie smiled at me.
“Inquisitive, aren’t you? You truly are a Statesman.” She said, tapping her talon-like fingernails on the table. “Another great addition in Morrison’s shelf of marionettes. Isn’t she, Harry?”
“Rosie, I swear to God—”
“Now, now, brashness is unnecessary in this lovely occasion. I’m only to deliver news. And I promise it’s harmless.” She smirked. “Well,” she looked at me. “Quite.”
Harry shook his head and crossed his arms.
“Now,” Rosie began. “You, Alice, should tell Fry Kinney to get off my back. I know you two are close. Tell him to mind his own business. Tell him to pull out his snoopers or else—or else I’ll make sure his criminal activities will be headlining every tabloid in this godforsaken city. And that Vanessa he’s been canoodling with? Tell her to back off. I have my connections, Alice. And I’m not afraid to use them.”
“W-wait. What do you mean by criminal activities? Are you calling my best friend a criminal?” I said, dumbfounded. I look at Harry and he furrowed his eyebrows.
“A delinquent. An annoyance that should be fixed.” She replied.
I was beyond pissed. “What the hell did he do to you?”
“I think it would be wise that he should be the one to tell you.” She said. “Besides, I am only a messenger, a go-between. Declaring his transgressions is beyond my jurisdiction. But, if you really are curious, and mind you I know how painstakingly awful it is to not be able to amuse curiosity, I will only spill one bean. His doings are unethical and heinous.”
I gulped. "What?"
“Rosie, please—just—leave.” Harry said through clenched teeth, keeping his anger at bay.
“No.” I said. He looked furious. I try my best to ignore him. I faced Rosie, whose amusement was quite malicious and provoking. “Did The Union Daily send you?”
She hummed, tapping her fingers again. I catch her giving Harry a swift “look”. “You can say that. But I want you to know that he had upset a firm far more larger than The Union Daily, Alice. Just promise me you’ll tell him what I told you, make him stop, and you will never hear from me again. Everything will be at peace, including the warring rivalry between the Statesman and the Union.”
She noticed the troubled look on my face and sighed. “Alice, your friend is an outlaw. Morrison knows it. Do you know why Jeff Frederickson and I left the Statesman?”
“Rosie, stop.” Harry hissed.
“Do you know why the papers bad-mouth your beloved Chief? Hm?” She continued. “Because he is a crook. A felon. He and his secret band of worshippers are all felons.”
My head was spinning. “I…I don’t understand.”
“Don’t you see? Your beloved Fry’s taking advantage of you. I know you’re smart, probably a bit reserved, but smart. Cunning, wise, clever, oh Kinney absolutely adores you! I know they’re making a plan. I know they’ll drag you into this madness sooner or later. Those devious little schemers…” She muttered angrily. “They have been planning a revolution ever since The Union started bad-mouthing Morrison.”
“They?” I said.
“Oh stop acting so innocent, Alice. I know you know who I’m talking about here.”
Then it hit me. “Liam?”
She grinned maniacally. “Ding, ding, ding! Ten points for Gryffindor. Oh, and you forgot about Zayn. Zayn. Zayn. Zayn Malik. Those two are the masterminds of chaos. They’ve always been.”
I remained silent, the happenings of Friday lunchtime looping in my mind. She continued. “I left the Statesman because anarchism isn’t really my scene. I’m not as rebellious as they are. God. That company is a madhouse I tell you! Constantly searching for conflict. I felt like my brain was about to explode at any second. And Morrison? God, how do I even describe Morrison?”
“Rosie you need to leave now.” Harry said, his voice stern.
She looked at him and I watch as they did a staring contest.
Defeated, she sighed like a snob. “Fine, fine. Tomorrow then, Harry.”
She stood up and looked down to me, grinning. “Alice, I know you’ll do the right thing.”
I watched as she walked away, her heels clicking on the granite floor, commanding attention. Harry turned to face me and I look away.
“Alice—”
“I…I’ll be right back.” I stood up, grabbed my purse, and decide to go to the restroom, not knowing why exactly. I guess I just needed some alone time.
I looked at myself in the huge mirror. Adrenaline started to rush through my body like wildfire. I left the restroom, bloated with agitation, and speed-walk past Harry, who’s calls I tried my best to ignore. I heard him call for the bill and I kind of felt bad for letting him pay for my gnocchi.
I ran, yes I literally ran, towards the exit doors and heard the host calling for me; “mademoiselle!” but I ignored him too.
My actions may have been too irrational, too foolish, but Rosie’s claims ignited something inside me. It provoked me. It may have been the natural need to defend my best friend—and friends—from her, to call her a liar, a fiend probably, to attack her and defend the company I was working for, or maybe it was something much more than that, maybe it was the other way around. Maybe, she was right.
I was just too confused.
I stood there at the sidewalk, picking on the sides of my thumb. It was something that I did unconsciously. It became a habit. A nasty habit. I look at my thumb and it looked back at me, bleeding. I was frustrated. And I wanted to go home.
Then, I heard the doors behind me open and I wanted to run away. “Alice!”
Tears started to cloud my vision. No. I don’t want him to see me cry. Why was I crying anyway? Keep it together, Alice. Don’t be a wuss.
“Alice?” He said again. “If this is about Rosie, I want you to know that she’s—”
“That she’s what?” I snapped, facing him now. He looked at me, startled. “That she’s a liar? Oh for fuck’s sake Harry, just stop it. Everybody’s a liar. You’re a liar. I’m a liar. Everybody in this goddamn world is a liar!”
“You don’t fucking get it!” He raised his voice. “She’s a delusional psychopath. She’s toying with you! Ever since we worked together at The Daily Sentry she and her manipulative—”
The small hairs behind my neck rose. “What did you say?”
His face paled.
“Harry. What did you say?” My heart started pounding in my ears.
He rubbed his wrist. “I…we worked together…at The Daily Sentry. We worked for your grandfather, Harrison Walker.”
“You knew him?” I said.
“Yes.” He said, looking down.
At that very moment I wanted to break down. My grandfather died two years ago. Assassinated, at the 15th of July 2012; shot on the head while walking down the sidewalk outside his office. It was his seventy fifth birthday.
It was an unjust death, his killer yet to be identified. The people around me, the newspapers, the magazines, say it was because of “political” reasons, because he was too much of an authoritarian and people were getting tired of him. But I know someone just craved power. And someone was jealous. And jealousy is the root of all evil.
“I have to go.” I croaked.
“There’s something I need to tell you.”
“What, Harry?”
“Get in the car.” He opened the door. “Get in.” He said, much forcibly now.
Though hesitant, I hopped in and he slammed the door shut. He jogged across the vehicle and stepped inside.
“What is it?”
He sighed gravely. “Fry suspects that it is Rosie who has been extracting confidential information from the company’s finance department; planned sales volumes and revenues, costs and expenses, cash flows, etcetera. He suspects that Ronaldo’s with Rosie. He’s been on to them ever since she left the GS. He believes that her leaving the GS is her way to escape from suspicion. And I, support his claims.”
“How do you know this?”
“Jeff told me.”
“Jeff Frederickson?”
He nodded.
“You and Jeff know each other?”
“Yeah. It’s a long, long story. Anyway, Jeff found out that the Chief’s an ex-conman. He’s a smart guy. When Morrison found out that Jeff knew about this, he fired him immediately. Jeff told me about the job vacancy, so I applied. He requested that I’d work undercover though, to be…secretly wary that the man I'm working for is an ex-conman. Still a conman. Aside from writing bullshit editorials, my job is to feed Jeff intel.”
“He flew to New York to lay low, for his own protection. Morrison’s been sending his watchers, Alice. He’s got goons all over the city. Fry’s just doing his job. He’s a good guy. Rosie on the one hand, is a psychopath. I suspect…I suspect she’s working for Morrison.” said Harry, his eyes filled with fear.
“But what if the Chief finds out that you and Fry are…” I felt as though I was swallowing my tongue.
“I’ll be alright. Liam and Zayn though, should be warned. They’re in danger.” Harry said. “They are oblivious as to who they are fighting for. They’re defending the wrong man. The Union Daily’s not the antagonist here. It’s…the Global Statesman. It’s all a play, a sham.”
“I don’t understand.” I said, feeling stupid for saying it out loud. “How can Rosie be working for the Chief when she personally said that he’s a felon?”
“I told you, it’s all a play. A theatrical work, so to speak. She’s a great actor. A deranged lunatic.” His words shook me, and I began to understand.
“We have to tell Liam and Zayn. If the Chief finds out—”
“He’ll torture them to death.” Harry finished for me and I gulped.
“Rosie suspects me. She'll probably tell the Chief that I'm—”
“No. She thinks you’re soft. She knows you’ll keep your mouth shut. She knows you’ll obey her.”
“But I won’t!” I half-yelled. “I have to tell Fry.”
“Fry knows what he’s gotten himself into. He knows what he’s doing. Just let him do his thing and—”
“I have to protect him, Harry!” I said. I look down at my hands and realize they were shaking. “I have to at least warn him.”
“I’ll protect him. You just be you.” He said and I shake my head. “How did Rosie know about Fry’s plan though? Ronaldo doesn’t know shit about Fry’s ulterior motives. And how the hell did she find us?”
“Chief’s goons probably?” I said. “You told me they’re all over the city.”
“Rosie must've deployed them.” He looked pensive for a moment. He then twisted the ignition and the car roared to life.
“Where are we going?” I said.
“I’m taking you home. I have to talk to someone.” He said.
“Who?”
“Someone.”
I groaned. He looked at me and smirked. “You're pouting again.”
“I’m not.”
“You are.”
I force a grin. “There, happy?”
“Pleased.”
I looked at him and he was smiling at me—that smile that’d always calm me down—but when the image of him being abducted and tortured by Chief’s goons shadowed my vision, I look away and pick on my thumb again.
* * * *
inessential fact of the day: Alice is a wolf-biter.