“Times change, but not the people, who always lurk at us from everywhere”

  The beginning of September was so warm and pleasant that it still made you think of summer and not about a certain summer, but about one during which your soul awakens from its numbness falls in love, and suddenly stops being a child.

  But still, this fleeting love, this summer love, about which many dreams, it’s not more than an illusion. That’s why, sooner or later, one must return to his life, to return to reality and to live the destiny woven for him.

  “This is life. You can’t fight against it,” Eva slowly whispered and she touched her beautifully rounded belly as if trying to send to her child all the love her heart was capable of.

  But that touch didn’t calm her as usual, but per contra: her heart squeezed and pounded her chest like a flea, her soul numbed and a kind of ticking was heard pulsating in her ear, as if someone took a piece of metal and was slowly hitting another one, not for hurting another person, but for making the one get angry.

  And the one who was getting out of her mind all the time was Eva because days were passing, months were flying and the same happened to the weeks, but her hopes, till then full of warmth and dreaming, were now crumbling like a castle made from playing cards, slightly touched by a gust of wind, and those hopes had all a name and a face - Brian Beneath.

  “Why isn’t he coming? Why?” slowly whispered Eva and as if slight dizziness took over her, the young girl closed her eyes, supporting her body on the trunk of the first tree met on her way.

  Then, she suddenly had been grabbed by the hand and helped by someone to sit on the bench next to her, and when Eva finally opened her eyes, after chasing away that transient dizziness, she saw in front of her a stranger smiling at her.

  The young girl didn’t smile instead, because even if the stranger seemed to be a gentle person, Eva disliked his smile, for finding it forced and for noticing a kind of strange aura floating around him. “Who are you?” she finally asked him, after she managed to put in order the dizzying number of questions in her head.

  “Aaa, who am I?! Let’s say I’m a known person, who was just passing by here, and who decided to lend you a helping hand. It seems to me that you need it a lot,” he said and his eyes fixed on her slightly rounded belly, which was barely seen through the cloth of the dress, quite veiled, tailored this way to hide the pregnancy from prying eyes.

  But the detail that was an illusion for others didn’t pass unnoticed by the stranger, and this whispered to Eva to be as cautious as possible because one doesn’t know nowadays with whom one can meet and especially with what intentions that person approached you.

  “And still, should I know you?!” the girl asked him, stretching her back and trying to hide as much as possible the pregnancy.

  “Personally … I don’t think I had the pleasure to meet you, but socially you are a true legend, Miss Stonebridge.”

  Eva's heart skipped a beat, for she didn’t expect that the stranger knew her name and from what she can notice from his sure movements, while he steps behind her, surrounding the wooden bench and later sitting down next to her, this guy isn’t just somebody, who came here just for fun, and if he managed to find out her identity, after all the unnatural efforts, which Emily and Lorenne had filed to erase Eva's name from all registers, it means that this guy has a good relationship with someone important from London Police Department and this made easy his work to find her.

  But Eva decided not to reveal who she is and, taking a straight posture, which denoted her confidence and her capacity to cope with stressful situations, the young lady watched him straight into his eyes and with a low voice, but confident, she talked to the stranger how Lorenne taught her to act in front of someone unpleasant for her, but who might be someone important and the work Lorenne did with Eva for months, since they were living together, was bringing now fruits because Eva was acting so well, that even the stranger wondered for a second if he talks with the right person or not.

  “It seems to me that you're mistaking me with someone, mister …” but she received no answer because the stranger was busy staring at her, trying this way to disarm her and to make her act wrong, as he needed, but in the end, a cunning smile on his face betrayed him and he talked to her with half a voice, using the tone of a dog ready for attack and this made Eva again twitch.

  “My name … Vincent Keen. I’m a private detective and well known to be honest by the entire England Society, for my job well done of course and for this they call me the Mad Dog and they aren’t calling me like this only because I love so much hunting wild animals … I better prefer hunting man,” but to his surprise, after she managed to chase away the slight shake of her hand and to hide this movement from his sharp gaze, Eva snorted with laughter.

  “I didn’t know that there still are mad dogs hunting people.”

  „And, why do you think so, Miss Stonebridge?”

  “Because their euthanasia has been growing lately and if to watch carefully along the street you can see all over instead of mad and furious Pitbull, only frightened Chihuahua, who is shy hiding under the long dresses of their “mommies”.

  “At least you don’t deny that I said your name wrongly.”

  „I never said that.”

  „Then?”

  “Simply I gave you the chance to further confuse your own ideas, because it’s not my duty, nor my pleasure to make you think differently and to lead you to the right path, Mister Keen.”

  “And still, at least I must know with whom I’m talking to if I want to accept that I’m wrong.”

  „Helen!”

  „Helen what?”

  „Am I a suspect, detective?”

  “No, but it seems to be a bad growth for someone not to say his full name. I would rather prefer to know your surname too, than only your name.”

  „Walker. Helen Walker!”

  Listening to this name, Vincent was the one to twitch, for he didn’t hear this name for 17 years already, and now this name squirted in front of him as if it was a rogue horse, who was threatening him to crush him under the hooves in his mad gallop.

  But still, with all the confusion he was feeling now in his chest and especially for knowing that the real Helen Walker was dead, Vincent convinced himself once again that he wasn’t delirious and that he was just talking to Helen Walker’s vivid copy, what meant that he was talking to the baby that lost her mother the day she had been born.

  “I see you like playing, Miss … Helen, but it seems to me that you don’t know the sad story of the real Helen Walker if you decided to use her name deliberately and shamelessly.”

  “Why shamelessly? From what I know I have the right to use this name as I like because this name is mine by birthright.”

  The girl’s piercing gaze and the way she was talking to him as if she was trying to seduce him or to disarm him, made Keen be alert, because even if the girl said nothing indecent or untrue, the way she was using the words, trying to confuse him even more, whispered in Vincent’s ear to be as careful as possible if he doesn’t want to fall into her trap, for he can lose the last chance to solve this case, which seemed so easy at the beginning, as a children's game because he thought that he will earn a lot of money solving two cases into one, but now, after he found Eva, after a long time of searching for her all over, he found himself again trapped into a labyrinth and this is something that drives him crazy.

  But the luck was by his side and, while he was with business in Portsmouth, he saw Albert by chance and, recognizing in his person the former teamster that worked for Christine Bircham, he right away understood that Emily and Eva might be also in the area, but at a crossroad, he lost Albert and he had to wait other two weeks till to find a new trace.

  It happened one night when he decided to enter a famous casino in the town and from talking to talk, he met someone who knew another one who heard something about Ms. Lorenne Fabeau.

  So, from a talk to another and from meeting every day new people, Vincent finally met a guy who seemed to know Lorenne so well and he told Keen everything he knew about her, because he hate her for some reason and from his talk, Vincent could find out everything he needs to find them, but this cost him a lot of money because the new acquaintance wasn’t a stupid guy and he also knew that information costs money.

  “And, you say that Ms. Fabeau has had recent visits?”

  “Yes. Two young ladies. I never saw them around here before, but it seems to me that both of them hide something or maybe are hiding from somebody. Especially the younger one.”

  „Why do you think so?”

  “Because she’s always trying to avoid people and if someone tries to talk to her or to find out where she came from the right away shows him the path on which he should quickly move and, to be honest, there are many guys who are trying to talk with her because she’s a beauty, but she seems not to be interested in marriage, what is weird and she has all the time red eyes as if she cries all day.”

  “Crying eyes, you say? And … by chance, couldn’t you find out the reason?”

  “And do you think she’s talking about this? No, the young lady is as intelligent as she’s beautiful, or at least she has good teachers because Madame Fabeau is famous in town for her talent to make men kneel in front of her and, getting favors that she needs to succeed in one field or another.

  But Vincent didn't like that his interlocutor winked at him after he talked to him about the “favors” which Madame Fabeau used to receive from men, and a kind of nausea pierced Keen’s stomach and because of this, he decided to leave that place immediately, even if he still needed some details that he felt that were missing from the chain of his case, but it seemed to be more complicated than at the beginning of the conversation.

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  Being half of his way to the door, Vincent stopped and turned toward his “new friend”, who was half surrounded by cigar smoke. “And … how did you say that the husband of the famous Lorenne Fabeau died?”

  „Did I say that?”

  “Then … be kind and let to “escape” more information through your teeth, because not little money I left to pass through my fingers for that little information I heard from your mouth” and his eyes focused on the envelope with money that the informer left on the table, but which he right away put in the pocket of his jacket when he noticed in Keen’s glance that he wanted that money back.

  “He died in a duel,” whispered the man in the end. “A duel with the scent of a love triangle and in this, of course, Ms. Fabeau had a word to say too, because her beauty made an important person, who came here from London, lose his head and to ask her some favors … nothing decent of course.”

  “A proposal that seems to me wasn’t something acceptable for the husband who asked his rival for a duel.”

  “Something like that. But here it’s also involved some businesses and the scent of money, not only the love and the warmth of a beautiful woman in a man’s bed. We all know that nowadays it is not a problem to find someone with whom to spend the night and not to die for this.”

  „What did you mean?”

  “I don’t deny the fact that Ms. Fabeau’s intelligence and beauty are worthy for a duel, but still, those two fought for the trade with precious furs that Mister Fabeau owned, but which passed in the hands of our ex-Prime Minister, as by magic.”

  Keen rolled his eyes, surprised and happy with the new information received and he again pierced the glance of his interlocutor, who slowly smiled, noticing the detective’s gaze of interest. “I see you didn’t know this part of mister Edward Anderson Bell, but I can assure you that you don't know much more about who he really was. If you want to know more, I suggest you try to enter the bars of Ms. Fabeau. She can reveal even the secrets of the Triangle of Bermudez if you need this information too” and the man's sharp laughter was heard everywhere in his office.

  “I think it's in bad taste to dream of forbidden things, while you have an important conversation with a young lady,” Eva told him and her words had burned Keen on the skin as if it was the whip. “May I know at least what you are dreaming about while talking to me?”

  “About nothing and at the same time about everything. Especially I dream about finding out some secrets.”

  “Who nowadays hasn’t secrets?! I bet you also have it, mister Keen, but nobody still paid someone to find them out, nor they have forced you to reveal it to someone.”

  “Should I? I mean, should I reveal my secrets in front of you?”

  “Then, why should others reveal their secrets in front of you, detective?”

  “Because the secrets you are hiding are totally different from mine.”

  „Like?”

  “Let’s say that what you know can kill, while what I know not. Actually, you already have a dead man on your conscience, Miss Walker!”

  The smile on Eva's face faded and her eyes twinkled with hatred. „Really?! And who it's assumed that I've killed???”

  ”Baron Beneath!” Hearing this name, Eva stopped her breathe because even if this name was somehow known, she couldn’t remember who was him, and Keen, seeing her reaction, decided to play a little bit with her emotions, dragging her in the same game that she had alone invented as if he was a cat playing with the mouse before having him as a meal.

  “And who it’s assumed to be … this mister?”

  “Aaa, who is Mister Baron Beneath, you are asking?! Let’s say he was a very wealthy man in the area, who once being a widower decided to bring a new wife into his home. That’s why he traveled the world far and wide till he got to Mister Walker’s home and he asked him to give his younger daughter in marriage. That young lady was no more than 16, but even so, her father accepted that marriage, even if the age difference between the two brides was almost threefold.”

  “You are lying!” Eva wheezed through the teeth.

  „Why would I do that??”

  “I don’t know your reason, but I don’t like the game you are trying to drag me in, so I’ll go now” and Eva indeed stood up, intending to go, but Vincent grabbed her hand and, without standing up too, he looked deeply into her eyes.

  “The one who is playing with me is you, Miss Stonebridge or Helen Walker, how you decided to name yourself now, but still, I warn you that your game won’t last long with me. I love to win, that’s why everybody who enters a game where I am in loses right from the start.”

  “Then, I suggest you get used to it because I also dislike losing a game.”

  „And yet we stand in different positions.”

  „Because of my alleged guilt of Baron Beneath's death?”

  “No, because of mister Anderson Bell’s death and you also knew this person well too.”

  “Did I really know him??!! I think you are wrong in all you said, detective Keen. I never had the pleasure to meet any of the two gentlemen you mentioned, as I don’t know who they might be. But … if you think that I have something to do with their deaths you can investigate it, but I assure you that I have no fear in my soul and no remorse, as I won’t stay one more second here to listen to your aberrations, that you are saying since you approached me. So, as I’m not the guilty person you are looking for … I’ll go. Have a nice day, mister Keen and I hope to never see you again.”

  Eva turned her back to Keen and moved away from the bench, rushing. Keen instead remained sitting on the bench and looking in the distance, while stirring thought in his mind: “It seems to me that she had no idea about Mister Beneath marriage because she didn’t even blink when I mentioned the name of Anderson Bell. Only if she’s a damn good actress, but in her case, it is impossible, because a pregnant woman can't easily control her emotions. But still, why did she hide the baby from Brian Beneath? If he knew about this child, he probably would have pressed him to find her quicker. But so?! What kind of game this child is playing and especially what kind of businesses ones do at her back because it for sure is something strange when in this is involved Lorenne Fabeu and her relationship with Edward Anderson Bell.”

***

  Eva's hurried footsteps were on their way out of the park, where Albert was waiting for her next to the carriage.

  Even though Albert usually went with her during her walks, for Eva had been quite ill during her pregnancy and she could easily lose consciousness, today she decided to walk alone and she demanded to the teamster to wait for her next to the carriage.

  “What if something happens to you?! Albert tried to oppose her demand.

  “Don’t worry, Albert. I’ll be more than fine. I feel in shape for a few days and my headaches don't bother me anymore. This is due to the approaching time for the child to be born and that is why he takes little care of his mother too.”

  “And still, there are many months till the child will be born. You should take care more about your health, Miss Stonebridge. Don’t make me complain to Miss Emily.”

  “I’ll be alright, Albert. You are such a troublemaker… it’s only a walk” and she turned her back to him, grumpy, but she regrated it right away because after about two hundred meters of walking she heard again the rumble in her ears and she also felt how she loses strength, for later have that conversation with Keen, the conversation that brought her a lot of troubles and now she was so preoccupied with.

  “Where does this man know that much about Helen Walker? And who the hell Baron Beneath is? He's probably related to Brian, because of the similar surname, but he never talked to me about this and about the fact that my mother should have married this old man. Why? Why does this happen to me right now? And especially why did that man tell me that I have something to do with that man’s death? Anderson Bell!!! I don’t know this man as I don’t know the one who showed up in my life from nowhere and is tormenting me now.”

  “Are you alright, Miss Stonebridge?” she heard Albert’s voice and, raising her sight, she saw him standing not too far from her, but instead of the usual smile she had for him as a greeting, Albert saw her confused and thoughtful, and somehow preoccupied in a strange way, but he preferred to give her some space and to wait for her answer.

  “Tell me, Albert, do you know any detective named Vincent Keen?”

  “Keen?! Keen!” Albert slowly whispered, trying to remember where or if he somehow heard this name before, but in the end, he nodded in negation. “No. Never. Why?”

  “Because this man approached me in the park, not that long ago, mentioning that I have something to do with the death of a man called Anderson Bell. Who this one is? Do you know him?”

  Albert froze. “Does she know who Anderson Bell is?” Albert wondered in silence. “What else did the naughty detective tell her?” but the questions stopped into his throat and he just stared at Eva, whose eyes were burning with hatred, while she was trying to build the entire puzzle in her head.

  “You didn’t answer me, Albert! Who is Anderson Bell?!

  “From what I know he’s the Prime Minister of England, but I didn’t know he died. Why? Did that detective tell you in which circumstances he died?”

  “No. He just mentioned the fact that I have something to do with it. And more than that, he knows who Helen Walker is!”

  Here Albert felt more confused than before because he tried before to find out some details about Eva’s parents, but he didn't advance in his investigation, being convinced that it won’t help the “Red Ants,” but now, when he heard that an unknown detective is asking around about Eva’s dead mother it seemed so weird and preoccupying for him and he decided to talk to Emily right after they get back home and if necessary to investigate everything about the past events.

***

  The carriage pulls away at a slow step, rocking Eva slowly, who was sitting in the back rear, on soft pillows, and gently touching her belly, while her thoughts weren’t with her.

  Albert was feeling the same, who was keeping silent and only slightly pulling the reins, while in his mind Eva’s last words were spinning around and this made him be so anxious, feeling that something bad approaches them, but not to make the girl suspect something he decided not to ask her more about it, at least not until to talk to Emily about everything.

  Suddenly Eva touched her chest, stifling with the other hand a shout, which was about to come out of her mouth, and it didn’t happen because of sudden pain, but because she managed to remember a fragment from an event from two months ago, when they were sitting in the backyard of Lorenne’s house, in a warm evening of June, while drinking tea or reading.

  Eva was sitting as usually comfortably in the beechwood swing, surrounded by books and soft pillows, with her nose stuck into an interesting book, while Lorenne and Emily were sitting at the coffee table, not too far from the girl, and whispering about something in great secret.

  Eva managed to hear something the two women were saying only when she was forced to move the page, interrupting her absence this away, and she finally looked around for a second.

  “Do you think that this job will end well?” Lorenne whispered, preoccupied. “What was supposed to be a sudden death, about which they should have talked only days, has been in everybody’s mouth for months already and this doesn’t seem to end soon, Emily.”

  „We must not be alarmed in vain. I'm sure we'll find a way out of this, just like we managed to solve all our previous problems. After all, Anderson Bell is just the country's prime minister and nothing more…” and the rest of the conversation was whispered again and Eva could no longer hear what they were saying, but she does not insist on listening to what followed, convinced that the two ladies were discussing the subject of a novel or some spicy event which had happened in high society, so she turned back to her reading and, slightly humming a song, she sunk again into the world of the fantastic.

  “It can’t be,” Eva whispered, barely heard, and she again covered her mouth, trying not to be heard by Albert, because she knew well that he’s loyal only to Emily and for the first time since she met him, Eva felt that she’s afraid of this man.

  “If they had something to do with that man’s death, why did the detective suspect that she’s the guilty one? What really connects her to this gentleman? Would it have anything to do with Helen Walker as Baron Beneath had? What the hell is going on and why is she so preoccupied?” the questions continued to roll in her head for a long time, and in the end, Eva ended up in tears, because she started to be afraid for her life and for her baby, feeling betrayed by those who she trusted so much and for the fact that Brian had forgotten her.

  It had been months since the two didn’t see each other and even if she had been at the end of this world, he would have found a way to find her, if he loved her, especially after Miss Davis informed him about their location, in many occasions, but he didn’t show up and he also didn’t send any news about him, and this made Eva feel so hopeless, so unprotected, but still convinced to live no matter the efforts she must do for this.