Interviewer: Senior Bank Auditor Mary Price
Interviewee: Overseer Mervin Douglass of New Haven
[RECORDING IN PROGRESS! SESSION BEGINNING…]
Price: [Clears her throat] This is Senior Auditor Mary Price, recording on June 6 two-thousand years after the institution of the One World Order. Today we are beginning depositions regarding the incident in New Haven. With us now, we have Mr. Mervin Douglass, Principle Overseer of Security and Civil Affairs in New Haven at this time. Mr. Douglass has only been Overseer some nine months now, and has come today without complaint or issue. [Looks up from the recording device on the table to Mervin Douglass who is sitting across the table.] Mr. Douglass, would you like to make any opening remarks before we begin?
M. Douglass : [Shakes his head] No, not at this time, Auditor.
Price: [Nods] Very well then. Mr. Douglass, you reported for duty in New Haven September 2, in the nineteen nine-hundred ninety-ninth year after the One World Order, is that correct?
M. Douglass That sounds correct. However, jet-lag, stress, and time have all clouded my memory on the specifics, so I would have to check my records to be sure. If you would like, I can have them provided as well as their supporting documents.
Price: Thank you for the offer. I’ll let you know about those. In the meantime, prior to holding your position as Overseer in New Haven, what was your title and function?
M. Douglass : Before arriving in New Haven I was the Director of City Planning in Lone Haven, ma’am. I had held the title for seven years, and was responsible for planning and executing restoration efforts of the Lone Haven territory.
Price: Would you say you were good at your job?
M. Douglass : I would say I did what I could do. It’s difficult to say how I did, except through the lens of history.
Price: [Huffs] Mr. Douglass, I will need a more concrete answer than that. Yes or no will do just fine.
M. Douglass : Respectfully, I cannot do that. City Planning isn’t like performing an investigation or making a cake. It is impossible to tell how I did until those areas reach their intended capacity and are evaluated. In terms of construction and planning, I would say I did a good job. I am the only City Planner since Lone Haven Haven was founded to begin the reclamation of the wetlands along the gulf coast.
Price: [Nods thoughtfully] I see. I apologise for my hasty judgement then.
Douglass : Please think nothing of it. It is forgotten. Shall we continue?
Price: Yes… Mr. Douglass, in your own words, would you please recite the incident which led to your instalment in New Haven?
Douglass : Yes… I wasn’t there, but I read the reports well enough. I’ll begin with the professor, I think.
[BEGINNING RECITATION OF FACTS OF FACTS AS SUBJECT RECALLS]
--Jan. 23, 1006, 10:12 am [One World Calendar]--
“Briars! That is all those at the top care about, and because those of us below them need them to survive, or to have anything of our own, they are all we care about! All of us here work like dogs for so little, labouring day in and day out without rest! If we were to stop, then our debts would open us up to be bought like fruit from the store! However, through uniting and restoring-”
“Weee-errrrr! Weee-errrr!” Came the blare of a siren as the crowd rapidly began to disperse. The old man standing tall atop his crate didn’t step down. Instead he just turned away from the retreating workers and looked on as two officers exited their cruiser.
Stepping out of the driver's seat on the left was a woman who looked to be in her early thirties with her blonde hair pulled tightly back under her helmet. Both of her blue eyes regarded the man coolly as her partner, a younger man whom the old man thought, “looks almost too young to be a rapid response officer,” adjusted his helmet.
They both approached him, and despite their open hands meant to calm, they looked dressed for a riot. Both wore blue kevlar body armour on their torsos, shoulders, and thighs. White gloves covered their palms, and shining black combat boots were laced up on their feet.
Stopping a few feet away, the woman, the older of the two, demanded, “Sir, please step down off the crate and come with us.”
“I will not!” He said stiffly, turning up his nose a bit, “Someone must finally speak about how perverse all of this is!”
The younger officer opened his mouth to speak but before he could speak his partner tackled the old man off the crate. Landing hard on the rough concrete of the parking lot, the old man was dragged up with blood streaming down his nose and a head throbbing as he coughed and hacked from his windless lungs.
“On your feet old timer,” the officer demanded as she saw him start to swoon back towards the concrete.
“So close,” He mumbled, his eyes slightly glazed over, “They were on the verge!”
“You’re on the verge, old man!” The female officer chastised, “You’ve been warned, and warned again! There won’t be a third time! It’s off to Temp Agency for you!”
Sighing and shaking his head, the old man began to rebut, “No, no! We must have a world where… Ah, hell! It doesn’t matter anymore. PLease, would you permit me to take my medicine officer? Stress like this, it does terrible things to my blood pressure.”
Narrowing her eyes, the officer demanded, “Show me.”
The old man nodded and reached his hand towards his pocket but the officer quickly gripped his wrist as her partner joined her.
“Slowly,” She cautioned him, looking him directly in the eyes.
Again, the old man nodded as his hand crawled into his pocket to withdraw a little orange pill bottle.
The old man began to open the pill bottle but the younger officer, getting what his partner had been onto before, said, “Hold on!”
The old man stopped and the younger officer held out his hand.
“Let me see that,” He ordered.
The bottle changed hands and the younger officer nodded to himself.
“It says here you get one tablet. That’s what you get. You’re not offing yourself on my first day,” He decided aloud as he handed the old man his one pill.
Nodding in thanks, the old man swallowed his pill before the young officer put the old man in cuffs, both his hands behind his back. The female officer placed a hand on his shoulder and firmly began to guide him towards their cruiser.
“I think the cuffs are unnecessary,” The old man protested weakly, “I couldn’t run more than a few hundred meters without my heart exploding. Besides, I was merely protesting.
“Protesting is against policy for company employees.”
“I’m not a company employee though,” The old man argued.
“Then you are trespassing as well,” the female officer stated, “You’ll have to pay that fine as well as a fine for using the company-”
“I’m familiar with all the injustices of protest,” the old man said, “You don’t need to lecture me.”
“You’ll get a lecture anyways,” The younger officer said, “We have to follow procedure or we open ourselves up to fines as well.”
“A society shouldn’t be charged for every-”
“Don’t start that up or I’ll taze you,” The female officer warned.
“Of course,” The old man dismissed, “My mistake.”
“Are you mocking me?”
“No,” The old man said, “just agreeing with you.”
Curling her lip, the woman raised her fist to strike the old man, but her partner caught her forearm with his own gloved hand with a surprisingly strong grip.
“Don’t give him that,” the young officer pleaded in a hushed tone, “There are eyes still on us. If you do anything more than you have then you’ll surely enrage the steel workers and then we may have a full blown riot on our hands. Blue-collar guys tend to stick together, especially when Rapid Response officers step into a scene. Let the folks in processing, or the Temp Agency be the bad guys. You just said this morning that we don’t need any more heat.”
Nodding the female officer lowered her fist and hissed, “Not another word from you. Understand, Wrinkles?”
Nodding, the old man fell silent and allowed them to help pack him into the back of their cruiser before setting off.
The cruiser pulled away from the factory, sirens silent then, but just as the younger officer predicted, from the windows of the warehouses were many sets of blue-collar eyes. Many of their lips were pressed together. Some whispered hushed prayers, and others turned away from the windows and snapped shut their eyes as though trying to erase the images of one of their own being arrested.
Somehow though, all of their thoughts still dwelled on the old man’s words followed by one thought which was whispered and grumbled by many of them as they trudged back to their daily grind.
“If only.”
As the cruiser turned the first street corner, the young officer tilted the mirror to see into the back of the cruiser where the old man’s eyes where beginning to droop as his head leaned against the window.
“Hey! Hey, geezer, don’t fall asleep,” he called through the mesh as he rapped his knuckles against it.
The old man chuckled, and sat readjusted himself a bit.
“Dammit,” The officer swore, not pressing the issue as he turned his head to address his partner, “I don’t wanna clean up some degenerate drool.”
“I promise I’ll be no sort of trouble in terms of mess,” The old man called from the back, ‘I’m just going to rest is all.”
Shaking his head, the officer turned to his partner and switched gears asking, “Think that food truck is still outside the precinct?”
“Do you really want to waste this week's pay on lunch? I thought you brought it today?”
“I had to pull some longer shifts and couldn’t make it to the clearance sale last week. I should have enough Briars, but if it comes down to it then I’ll need to head to the banks…”
“Make sure to tell the bank you’re an officer. We get our loans interest free and a loan so small shouldn’t attract any of the sharks up top.”
Running his hands through his hair, the younger officer nodded in agreement.
“Hopefully it won’t come to that. Still, I’m starving!”
“Part of the issue is that you’re still living in the city,” The older officer counseled, “FarHaven has a similar commute to your walk. If you move out there like the rest of us you could save thousands and afford to shop during the regular shopping periods. Afterall, right now you’re paying-”
Her face froze as she whipped the car over to the side of the road shouting, “Shit!”, before shifting to park and tearing herself out of her seat.
“Shit!” He echoed as he followed his partner’s lead. They both dragged him out onto the sidewalk before administering CPR.
“The Red Wagon is on the way. This guy better have a retirement fund,” The female officer said as she walked around the cruiser to see her partner staring down at the old man.
Both were completely still, and she sighed.
“I’ll cancel the Wagon… The city should take care of his fees following their harvest.”
Shaking his head, the officer felt tears stream down his cheeks.
“W-what did we do wrong?”
The older officer sighed, and shook her head.
“The only mistake you’ve made is getting invested in the guy,” She said, “and this isn’t that kind of job. Hell, it’s not even that kind of city. I’ll give you a minute.”
As she walked away, the younger officer continued to cry, mentally correcting, “It’s not that kind of world.”
[ENDING RECITATION OF FACTS AS THE SUBJECT RECALLS]
Price: I see… How exactly does any of that link to you?
You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.
Douglass : My younger brother held my office before I did. He decided to mouth off to a Union official that some old professor wasn’t worth looking into. This enraged the Unions, as their members considered the Educated’s protected status sacred, and they began plotting to kill him. At the same time, civil order was becoming harder to maintain. My grandfather decided to act.
Price: I see. Would you please elaborate on that?
Douglass: Of course. My younger brother made his stupid, stuipid comments to that Union official, whose name I don’t remember for the record, two hours after the old man shuffled off his mortal coil. The following day as the winds began to change direction, my grandfather called me. I don’t know how he knew, but he did. That’s when I got the call. I- I believe I was on the beach…
[BEGINNING RECITATION OF FACTS OF FACTS AS SUBJECT RECALLS]
Jan. 25, 1006, 1:10 pm [One World Calendar]
“I’m vacationing on a beach… How can that possibly be this awful?” I wondered as I set my open book onto my face and settled further into my deck chair. The book was a rather famous one, “The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes”, and was easily the most thrilling part of my trip. The only way I could find to keep my mind occupied was reading, and I’d elected for mystery to give my brain something at least somewhat worthwhile to work on.
Both the book and I looked terribly out of place on the beach, I think. Harrera Beach was known for it’s gorgeous white sands, beautiful bar staff, and tasty drinks. I do like a good drink, as everyone knows, and if the bar girls will have me then I’ll have them. I make it a point not to be pushy though. That’s Larry’s thing, and personally I find it to be one of his less fortunate behaviors. I digress though, as I was talking about how out of place I looked on a beach.
Sand isn’t my favorite, but it’s not so bad. I can put up with it, though I honestly prefer skiing down a slope on some mountain to lounging on a beach. What made my trip so terrible then?
My fiance.
[Subject takes a drink from a container. Later input from the Investigator suggests that the container was full of strong alcohol. **NOTE FROM INVESTIGATOR: “How the Hell did he get that past security? We searched him three times!”]
My fiance was Teresa Garerra, at that time. Teresa’s family owns a large amount of real estate, and her family talked my grandfather into strong-arming me into the match. She’s gorgeous, witty, and can put up with my drinking. I’m sure everyone was confused at that point why I didn’t like her, but we’ll get to that later. For now, just know that being in her presence did nothing but put me in a bad mood. The fact that she had brought out a bunch of her friends to mingle with mine on that trip only added to my stress as I knew it would only complicate my plans later on. More on those later as well.
“Er, sir?” A voice interrupted my napping.
Raising my book up far enough that I could see, I realized it was the ginger-haired kid who’d been porting my drinks to me. He was, without a doubt, my best friend on that trip. Quick on his feet, and always found me a new drink within three minutes. His freckled face was smiling at me with a plastic expression that made me lower my book back down to hide my eyeroll.
Fakest expression I’ve ever seen, I thought, knowing exactly why he was so nervous as I recalled a few of the incidents with the staff that Teresa’s friends had started since we’d arrived. If I worked here and I had to put up with those harpies, I’d be terrified myself. Actually, I’d quit and apply back once they left. It would probably be better for my mental health… Anyways, the kid had to have the patience of the Buddha to put up with us. It probably also helped that I tipped generously over the past several days when I realized I could get him to piss off Teresa’s friends in ways that would amuse me.
“Ginger,” I began from beneath my book.
“Yes, sir?”
“I gave you a good chunk of money this morning to do some things. Do you remember what they were?” I asked, deciding to take a break from my nap in order to push my own agenda.
“Get my hair cut by a “proper barber”, make sure you have melon balls at any point you have to sit outside, and be sure to inform you of anything worth knowing,” the young man recalled.
“Good. That third one is important, you know. I’m sure it’s silly, but information is a powerful thing. It also is the only form of entertainment I have here besides reading, drinking, or reading while drinking.”
The young man just stared at me, clearly confused.
“We will circle back to that another time,” I decided as I took the book off my face, squinting as the afternoon light assaulted my eyes, “what brings you over here?”
“Your wife-” “Fiance,” I corrected, motioning for him to continue, “-fiance instructed me to come get you so you could join her in the water.”
I let out the groan of a wounded animal. Until that point I’d been feigning a cold to get a day to myself. I should have known that wouldn’t work. Who ever really has a cold during vacations they didn’t want to take?
“She used the word ‘frolick’, didn’t she?” I asked, fearing the answer.
“She did, yes,” Ginger answered.
Reaching into my pocket, I pulled out a wad of cash and handed it to him.
“I’ll double that if you can sell her that I’m feeling deathly ill and need to stay here,” I informed him.
“Th-thank you sir!” Ginger said before taking off in the direction of the group on the water to deceive my party.
Now, I’m sure you are still wondering why I hated Teresa. First, her friends really are the worst people. They are the type to go out and look for problematic situations to get into. Then they will complain about it for hours. Second, they are man eaters. I have it on good authority that Linda, Teresa’s best friend, had slept with most of the waiters and waitresses by our fifth day at the resort. She had also had her way with numerous members of the cleaning staff, whom she mostly had to bribe. Linda isn’t even the worst of them either! She’s tame compared to the others!
Teresa’s biggest sin though was her dishonesty. We had a clear agreement regarding seeing other people. I’d followed it to the letter, and she’d broken it repeatedly. In fact, she’d been writing her dear beau every night and calling the things “business letters”. She had no intention of being faithful in a marriage, nor did she have any desire to spend time with me. She really just wanted access to my money so she could continue setting up a nice nest egg for herself and her lover.
Had she told me when we discussed things originally that she wanted a marriage which was more for show, then I would’ve probably shrugged and let it be. However, she told me that she wanted us to learn to love each other. Teresa had proven over the past several months that she was a manipulative leech that I needed to shake off before long. I had a plan to do just that, but I needed to wait for the right moment. Sadly, the moment wasn’t when we had a bunch of my friends and her friends around.
“Mervin!”
Looking towards the water, I saw Teresa bouncing towards me in her designer bikini with her sunglasses raised so they sat on top of her head.
“Dammit,” I swore, “she’s feeling compassionate.”
I quickly grabbed my glass and slammed the whole thing, then grabbed the pitcher next to it and was working my way through it when Teresa arrived at my humble deck chair.
“The server said you weren’t feeling well,” Teresa said with a pout, “what’s wrong?”
“Summer cold,” I explained, trying to modify my voice to sound slightly congested.
“More like summer hangover,” Teresa said coyly, plucking the pitcher out of my hand, and shaking it a moment before asking, “ How many of these have you had?”
“Not enough for this conversation,” I muttered under my breath.
“Hm?”
“Nothing,” I quickly replied, asking, “What brings you to my spot?”
“I want you to come hang out with us! Enrico was just explaining how he’ll be in the latest productions from Mayhew Media’s drama branch! He’s so much more approachable in real life than I thought he’d be! Ryan and Luca have been discussing… Something. I don’t really know. They keep just whispering and giggling like my friends have been,” Teresa explained.
I couldn’t help but chuckle at the mention of my friends. Enrico, an actor of some renown, is a tall muscular wet dream for women. Of course, what most people don’t know is that he can be a total pushover. That’s why he’s never made it out of the dramas he hates so much and into the comedies he dreams of starring in.
Luca and Ryan were… Different cases. Both are married, but only Ryan is faithful. Luca has more women in his bed now than he did when we were teenagers. Ryan is just a gossip and I suspect has been hearing the same rumors I have about Teresa’s friends. Luca probably found those rumors to be… Attractive. I imagine he had designs on seeing if they were true.
I remembered at some point that I was being rude though, as I had forgotten to reply to Teresa amongst my musings.
“I’ll be there in a minute,” I promised, “Let me just grab some water.”
“One minute!” Teresa agreed, turning and then running back towards the water. I watched her as she rejoined the group, and shook my head.
She is beautiful, I thought to myself, if only she wasn’t so treacherous.
“Mervin! C’mon! IF you don’t hurry, I’ll throw out your books when we get back to the room!” Teresa called from the water.
Hauling myself free from my seat, I casually tucked my hand into my pocket, gripped the whole wad of bills there, and stopped Ginger as he meekly tried to go around me. The poor kid thought he’d fail. Honestly, I never expected him to succeed, and he faced those demons in the water very admirably. A reward was certainly in order.
“Ginger,” I said, setting a hand on his shoulder, “You dropped your tips earlier.”
Holding out the bills to him, the young man tapped his pockets for a moment before starting, “I still have my-” “-no, you don’t,” I said carefully, “these are yours.”
Ginger’s eyes widened, and he took the bills sputtering thanks.
“Just don’t spread around how much I tip. It’s bad form. Also, tell the chef to spit in any food he wants but mine.”
“Of course sir! Thank you!” Ginger said, heading back towards the cabana.
I marched dutifully into the water and screwed on my best smile, recalling Ginger’s fake and applying my own, improved version.
“Mervin!” Everyone called as I entered the water.
“Hello, hello,” I said pleasantly, “I hear my friends are laughing like school girls.”
Throwing a pointed look towards Luca and Ryan, I watched both of them laugh when they realized they were caught.
“Ass,” Luca greeted, throwing his arm around me and pulling the floating cooler they’d anchored in the center of their circle near us, “What’ll it be? Beer, or beer?”
“Well, all of that’s nice,” I mocked jovially, “but I’ll have beer.”
“Ah! Good choice,” Luca praised, pulling out a can and handing it to me. I soon settled into conversation, and I remembered that my friends were the only reason I’d been able to stand this trip. I also know that Teresa was all too aware of that. She’d set everything up this way.
On the surface, that’s all this was: a vacation between two groups of friends. However, letters recovered from Teresa, several choice phone calls, and a clever little recording device proved to me this was more than a simple vacation. Since we’d been here, Teresa had slipped out several times citing “woman problems”. Each of those times I’d made sure to slip an RFID tracker on her. Reviewing that, and reviewing several documents with my family’s privileges had revealed Teresa had set up five secret bank accounts as she was funneling money out of her personal accounts.
The exact specifics of her plans are still unknown to me, but I did confirm that she was siphoning from the operating revenues of several of her family properties. She was also scoping out our fee structures, b ased on the papers she’d been reviewing.
While I was aware of these things, I never took any action against her. It wasn’t my place to. Besides, I had my own desires in regards to her falsehoods. Five more years of bachelorhood!
Our conversation pushed into the late afternoon, but ended for me when I got a call. It wasn’t uncommon for me to get calls at odd hours, but it was odd that someone had the good sense to call the cabana instead of the hotel proper. Walking with Ginger, I mentally counted the list of people who knew me well enough to think to call in this manner. When I took the phone from the bartender, the voice that greeted me was unwelcome, to say the least.
“Mervin,” my grandfather, Otto, greeted, “I hope your vacation is going well.”
“It was,” I lied, “Now it would seem that you are bound to ruin it though.”
“I heard a rumor that you had told someone you’d rather lay down on a bed of nails than go on that vacation,” Otto airly shared, “I thought I may be doing you a favor by pulling you away.”
“If you want to do me a favor, you know what calls you need to make,” I reminded my grandfather.
We’d argued, at length, about my engagement. He thought it was a good idea to get such a prominent property group behind me, but apparently he skipped due diligence since Teresa’s secrets had eluded him. I’d tried to show him, but it was his opinion that I was just overreacting. He’d called me over suspicious and that was the last time we spoke.
“That again, huh?” Otto chuckled tiredly, “Well, I didn’t call to fight with you Mervin. I called because your brother is in trouble.”
“Trouble?” I asked with a thick layer of sarcasm, “Why, how strange!”
“It’s not a trivial thing, Mervin. The New Haven Unions are after his head, along with half of the city,” My grandfather said grimly.
“That bad, huh?” I asked.
“Worse. A professor was killed, he mouthed off about it, and the Academics are completely bent out of shape as well. I had representatives from my private office meet with both groups and they have said that they will not make any further moves until I remove Phillip from his posting. The only member of the family qualified is you, and give that you are-” “-you don’t need to finish,” I said wit ha sigh, “I know I’m going. New Haven isn’t exactly the posting I wanted though. I was hoping for High Haven. Uncle Chaz is due to step down soon. Perhaps we could shuffle things around?”
“No,” my grandfather answered firmly, “your brother has decided he wants to be a problem child, and I’ll have to straighten him out here. I don’t trust any of your cousins with this, and so I ‘m giving the job to you. You have passed on being promoted several times anyways, and the city will elt your pursue your… Personal projects.”
“My investigations make more in revenue than some precincts,” I reminded my grandfather.
“Yes, and I love that you began that business. I just wish you would bring it into the fold so we could manage it for you.”
“It’s mine,” I said firmly, “but I take your point. When do I need to leave.”
“As quickly as possible,” My grandfather answered, “otherwise your brother may not survive.”
[xxxxx]
I wish I could’ve snapped a picture of everyone’s faces when I came back downstairs around dinner time. I had ditched the floral pattern shirt, the slightly too-short shorts, and had my hair trimmed back to a neater style that made me look a lot less like a bar bum. In place of the floral shirt, I instead wore a suit which was probably worth more than some people’s monthly wages. It was a plain, battleship gray which almost every member of the Douglass wore. Though the cut and style had gone out of fashion, it suited the company just fine. We wear it as a callback to the G Men of the past, at least that’s the company line. I’ve never minded. To me, the style just looks good. Over my arm was a long wool coat, black and without any frills. My hair was gelled and styled in an old-fashioned combover style which called more attention to the angle of my face. My face wasn’t important though. Theirs were.
There are few things Elites fear. Poverty and death normally make the top of the list. Gray Men are always in the top ten though. Despite my position, I’ve maintained the attitude from the days I truly was a Gray Man. There’s something satisfying about locking up the most corrupt of society, and the fact that they are my fellow Elites who tarnish the reputation of my class just makes is so much better…
The fear in the faces of Teresa’s friends told me already that there were one or two things they could think of that would warrant an investigation into them.
Pity, I thought, I’d look into them as well if I had the time. Ah well. I’ll settle for this.
“Vacation is over,” I announced sharply, “at least for me. Teresa, when you are done you may join me in new Haven. I left a note with all of the details in our room. Good day.”
WIth that, I turned and headed for the door. I knew my friends well enough to know that they wouldn’t take offense. I’d had to make sudden departures before. This wasn’t anything new. Teresa was the one who would be frustrated, and her friends would be confused. Best of all, I wouldn’t have to melt in that deck chair anymore. Well, actually that wasn’t best of all. No, no, I skipped over that part. I made a deal with my grandfather, you see. I do as he ask with no further complaint and I was free to end my engagement whenever I wanted. As I stepped into the car I pulled out a copy of Macbeth and quoted to myself, “Fair is foul, and foul is fair.”
[ENDING RECITATION OF FACTS AS THE SUBJECT RECALLS]
Price: [Glares at Mervin] Care to reveal where you keep that collection of illicit literature? Macbeth is illegal under your family's own codes.
Douglass: [With a coy grin] Narnia.
Price: [Sighs] I’ll look into that later. Along with where you got that flask you’ve been drinking from.
Douglass: Also Narnia. My drinking isn’t the issue here though. You are searching for how the incident in New Haven came about. I wasn’t the only person who had a hand in things. Why don’t you go ask the Mayhews? Better yet, ask Morgan’s little boy-toy.
Price: I just might, Mr. Douglass. For now though, I think that will be all.
[END RECORDING]