17-02-2020, 02:07 AM
"It weren't the first time he did a thing like that." Mander told Luc, Ramirez, and Nunzio as they had another pint in his room. Being a guest room at Castle Finzione, it was large enough and had enough comfortable seats for all of them around a table. "Weren't the last either. It were the first time I thought it might just be worth my life to take the fucker with me, though."
Hernando and Luc smoked and sipped their own pints. Nunzio didn't smoke but sipped along.
"Then you weren't 'only following orders.'" The Generalissimo said over his pint. "If you hadn't, he'd have killed you as an example to the others. You did these things under duress. That is a different matter."
"Oui." Luc agreed. "If Igazi didn't kill you, the others would have. You MIGHT have saved that village that day by sacrificing yourself or Igazi might have killed them all and burned it to the ground as an additional 'fuck you' for your insubordination. The man was a sociopath; there's no depth to which he wouldn't have sunk." Everyone looked at Luc. He looked at Ramirez. "Did you not think I'd been trying to build any case I could against David Igazi before your Contessa settled the matter?"
Everyone laughed.
"Si." Nunzio spoke up, having been listening to the story as well. "I cannot imagine doing the kind of things you have done, Mander."
"You were born in San Finzione, mate." Mander answered. "We got a monarch too; she doesn't take as much of a hand in taking care of the people as Her Countessness does. You don't have to go looking for work from psychos, then find out who the boss is and what he'll have ya doing. That maiming-the-dog trick Scott did? Yeah, I've seen it before, too."
Nunzio lifted his beer into the air to toast his Contessa. The others clinked theirs with him.
"If any of ya don't believe my role in things, you can ask Her Countessness. Think she were gonna hand me an island without using her Thing to make sure I wasn't a fuckin' rapist first?"
They all nodded as they drank. They didn't need to bother her with the question. They knew her and that it was something she certainly would have done. Ramirez looked at the clock.
"It is getting late." Ramirez said. "Let's not keep our driver waiting any longer, Luc."
"Yeah," Mander agreed. "I imagine Her Countessness is gonna want to talk to us all in the morning."
They said their goodbyes. Luc and Ramirez returned home and Nunzio went back to the Servants' Quarters. Mander went to bed.
* * *
The Sun shone through the open balcony doors into the bedroom of the castle. It cast it's beam across the marbled floor, onto the Persian rug, across the king-sized bed, and onto the face of Contessa Helena de San Finzione. She opened one eye slightly and the light entered it as well.
She was alone. Suzy-Q had left at some point in the night. Helen checked her phone and found two messages. The first was from LeGrasse, saying that they'd tracked down the motel that Dietz evacuated and were questioning the manager. The second was from Susan, who had apparently gotten everything back from Suzy-Q and told Helen what a lovely night she'd had. She smiled and went to get ready for the day.
As she sat in the bath, missing Jeanne's usual "assistance" with bath time, Helen had a thought about how she wanted to address the people she now thought of as "her crew." How she needed to tell them to get themselves unfucked and accept that Mander was part of the team and wasn't going anywhere. She wasn't yet aware that after she'd went to bed, Luc and Ramirez stayed and settled some differences with Mander over a second drink. She still thought something needed to be said to everyone. When she emerged, she sent a text calling everyone who'd been at the meeting on Monday to the castle. She was so scattered that she'd thought it was Tuesday yesterday. The kind of day that George Carlin described when he said "All day Wednesday, you keep thinking it's Thursday; and it happens all day. Then Thursday comes and you're all right again." A little thing, but another reminder of what she and Suzy-Q talked about.
Helen got dressed. Then called for a couple of pages to bring her some things as she left her bedroom and sent another text to the others, telling them where this meeting would be held. She went to prepare.
* * *
Hernando and Luc smoked and sipped their own pints. Nunzio didn't smoke but sipped along.
"Then you weren't 'only following orders.'" The Generalissimo said over his pint. "If you hadn't, he'd have killed you as an example to the others. You did these things under duress. That is a different matter."
"Oui." Luc agreed. "If Igazi didn't kill you, the others would have. You MIGHT have saved that village that day by sacrificing yourself or Igazi might have killed them all and burned it to the ground as an additional 'fuck you' for your insubordination. The man was a sociopath; there's no depth to which he wouldn't have sunk." Everyone looked at Luc. He looked at Ramirez. "Did you not think I'd been trying to build any case I could against David Igazi before your Contessa settled the matter?"
Everyone laughed.
"Si." Nunzio spoke up, having been listening to the story as well. "I cannot imagine doing the kind of things you have done, Mander."
"You were born in San Finzione, mate." Mander answered. "We got a monarch too; she doesn't take as much of a hand in taking care of the people as Her Countessness does. You don't have to go looking for work from psychos, then find out who the boss is and what he'll have ya doing. That maiming-the-dog trick Scott did? Yeah, I've seen it before, too."
Nunzio lifted his beer into the air to toast his Contessa. The others clinked theirs with him.
"If any of ya don't believe my role in things, you can ask Her Countessness. Think she were gonna hand me an island without using her Thing to make sure I wasn't a fuckin' rapist first?"
They all nodded as they drank. They didn't need to bother her with the question. They knew her and that it was something she certainly would have done. Ramirez looked at the clock.
"It is getting late." Ramirez said. "Let's not keep our driver waiting any longer, Luc."
"Yeah," Mander agreed. "I imagine Her Countessness is gonna want to talk to us all in the morning."
They said their goodbyes. Luc and Ramirez returned home and Nunzio went back to the Servants' Quarters. Mander went to bed.
* * *
The Sun shone through the open balcony doors into the bedroom of the castle. It cast it's beam across the marbled floor, onto the Persian rug, across the king-sized bed, and onto the face of Contessa Helena de San Finzione. She opened one eye slightly and the light entered it as well.
She was alone. Suzy-Q had left at some point in the night. Helen checked her phone and found two messages. The first was from LeGrasse, saying that they'd tracked down the motel that Dietz evacuated and were questioning the manager. The second was from Susan, who had apparently gotten everything back from Suzy-Q and told Helen what a lovely night she'd had. She smiled and went to get ready for the day.
As she sat in the bath, missing Jeanne's usual "assistance" with bath time, Helen had a thought about how she wanted to address the people she now thought of as "her crew." How she needed to tell them to get themselves unfucked and accept that Mander was part of the team and wasn't going anywhere. She wasn't yet aware that after she'd went to bed, Luc and Ramirez stayed and settled some differences with Mander over a second drink. She still thought something needed to be said to everyone. When she emerged, she sent a text calling everyone who'd been at the meeting on Monday to the castle. She was so scattered that she'd thought it was Tuesday yesterday. The kind of day that George Carlin described when he said "All day Wednesday, you keep thinking it's Thursday; and it happens all day. Then Thursday comes and you're all right again." A little thing, but another reminder of what she and Suzy-Q talked about.
Helen got dressed. Then called for a couple of pages to bring her some things as she left her bedroom and sent another text to the others, telling them where this meeting would be held. She went to prepare.
* * *
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