Yep, another chapter!
I wonder how soon this will wind down? It’s longer than the anime already, but the anime didn’t cover pre-Rome…
Chapter 27: The unwelcome visitor
“Yellow!”
A day had passed since the
duel between Todd and Ash. Much to Ash’s shame, it seemed that the grapevine
knew all about it…
Oh, it rankled.
Andrea cast a glance towards the voice and nearly froze. “Bruno.” He hissed in a whisper. “What are you doing here?”
“Now how’s that a way to treat an old friend? Ah, you’ve fallen on good fortune it seems! You’re glowing with health!”
“Look, I know you. Now what do you want?”
“You’re rich now, don’t mock me since I’m still poor! I need money.”
“Well, I can lend you five hundred francs a month.”
“No, I’m afraid not… you get ten times that amount, don’t’ you? From your ‘father’, the Major Cavalcanti… and you have five millions in deposit in Danglars’ bank! Oh no, don’t cry poverty with me friend.”
“Your point is?”
“Tell me of this Count of Monte Cristo?”
“What is there to tell? He is a Maltese, quite rich, treats me well enough, seems to be somewhat infatuated with the viscount de Morcerf, and is quite eccentric. I was recommended to him by Lord Wilmore, I’m sure you remember our friend?”
“Ah, yes, our worthy English friend!” Bruno did remember. An English lord had visited their slave-galleys, snuck them a file and small purse while his servant distracted the guards, and thus aided in their escape.
Yellow nodded. “For the Count’s enemy, they do seem to get along rather well together… or perhaps he knew my past – excuse me, I know he knows my past, and is setting the Count up for a disaster. He is my patron, you know…”
“I know that well enough, all of Paris speaks of the Count of Monte Cristo. They adore him. What a shame if he were to suddenly expire?”
Yellow’s eyes widened. “You’re not thinking of-?”
“Why not? You would not lose anything.”
“I could lose everything!”
“You have Lord Wilmore and a means to contact him, I don’t.”
No, he didn’t… Lord Wilmore was a man of his own making and bowed to no one. Their meeting earlier had been pure chance.
What good would telling Bruno do though? The man was thick. Brute strength over subtle tactics every time…
“What would you have me do then?”
“Draw me a plan of his house.”
Yellow scowled, but nodded, and quickly sketched out the quarters. Bruno had blackmail on him and he knew it. “No dogs, no traps, glass full-length windows large enough to pass a man through. He has no fear of being robbed.”
“Well, that is a pity…”
“Whatever for?”
“For me of course. It will be too easy.”
“You may do what you wish, but I wash my hands clean of this affair.” Yellow handed over the plans, fifty francs for current expenses, and then exited.
He hit Danglars’s residence and spent a few hours at the piano with Sabrina, she appreciated him somewhat, but was far from being in love with him.
She still felt manipulated…
Pity, he liked the young woman. She had spunk.
Lance looked at the anonymous letter. “Yellow sent it? So Bruno is moving faster than I expected. Very well…”
Silver snorted. “So what are we to do?”
“In that case, I’ll be at the Opera tonight…” He nodded. “Everyone will see me there…. And I’m sending all of the rest of you to Auteuil to prepare for another dinner-party tomorrow. Claire will remain with me.”
“I hear and obey.” The former smugger smirked. “Lorelei will be glad to leave the house.”
‘So she and Koga are…?”
“I believe
so, yes.”
“Wonderful. She deserves some
happiness.”
“So do we all, excellency…”
“I had hoped not to drag innocents into this, but Ash’s folly was not of my making. However did Bruno gain his information?”
“That is a question to be answered another time…”
Silver and the rest of the staff were soon scarce, leaving Lance and Claire alone in the house. Claire had a pair of thin, almost needle-like daggers, as well as a lasso, the Punjab lasso, that could strangle and kill in an instant.
<
Favors, favors… I’ll be seeing you around. > Charlotte grinned before she
vanished. The Count and his entire entourage would be at the opera tonight, for
that was certain… Now who would leak Bruno the information?
Well, it mattered not to her…
She had her role to play and as the actress, she would…
Lance was her ‘child’ after all, and she wished him luck.
He would not fail…
Night began to fall, as the sun set rapidly beneath a layer of painted clouds in gold and violet hue. As the sky darkened to cerulean and then to almost black, white stars began to sprinkle themselves across the azure tapestry.
The plan was already set.
If Bruno was only intending to rob him – his mahogany secretaire was at hand, two drawers filled with gold – then he could forgive him. Murder, on the other hand…
Well, that would be different.
The punishment would be much higher should the case be proven in the killer’s favor.
Claire checked the angle of the stars. “Almost nine…”
“Shh.”
He had sharper ears than she, and she knew. She instantly quieted, hearing a slight scratching noise at the window. Someone was using a diamond to cut the glass…
Soon, a man pulled himself up.
“Bruno…” He sighed, as he turned to Claire and motioned something. She nodded and returned with a black cassock and three-corned hat, as his ruby hair darkened to jet-black, short…
His suit had been replaced with glittering steel mail beneath the priest’s robes.
Meanwhile, Bruno had begun to pick the lock of the mahogany desk. “Urgh…” Why was this so difficult?
He switched lock picks and tried again…. Ah, yes, one of the tumblers began to click open…
It had gone on long enough. The door opened soundlessly, as the light switch was flicked on, and Bruno found himself face to face with the Abbé Busoni.
“… What?”
“Well, well…how are you tonight, my dear Monsieur Bruno?”
“L’Abbé Busoni!” He gasped.
End Chapter
Completed 4/29/05