Escape Your Past

THE OFFICE

"Ms Shay, instead of explaining my reasons, I prefer to show them to you. Please." he said and gently pushed me at my lower back while pointing up the stairs. 

-"I don't like this! Don't go! We'll find another investor." Donbe was screaming in my head. My husband and I invested a million pounds in that f*****g building and of course, we'll find another investor, but if I needed to know if he had bought a cat in a sack. So I waived gently goodbye at Charles and followed Mr X up to his office. 

While we were going up, I was thinking frantically what to do.

"Tell him you need to use the bathroom and just avoid him for the rest of the night."No, I need to know. If there is a chance he'll actually provide some valuable information, I can't miss on that. I'll record him on my phone, if he tries something funny...

The room was luxurious and lovely. In shades of dark green and walnut. I immediately asked him if I can charge my phone and while he wasn't looking I put the recording on and placed it at the end of the table. That gave me some comfort and I looked at him expectantly. 

"Alright, Mr X, here I am."

"Yes, indeed. Tell me, Ms Shay, if you could go back in time would you kill Hitler even if that meant to change the course of history and destroy your own life and of those you care for the most?"

What the hell??? Is he nuts? How is that related to anything?

"Ah-h, I am not sure I understand, Mr X" Maybe he's having a stroke?

"Yes, yes, your building. You want to know. You've always been so curious, but you know what they say, curiosity kills the cat!" he cackled like an old hag. What is going on?

"You're saying that as if you know me, Mr X, but this is the first time we meet, so I have to admit, I am confused."

"Well, of course,  you are. This is the first time you meet me. I've met you already, a long long time ago."

"Really? When??"

"So your building, look at it Ms Shay. It's right here" and he pointed at the wall where there was a gallery of old photographs. I suddenly forgot everything, it was like looking at your newborn, you can't stop admiring it. And really did look like a brand new building.

"It was taken right at the time they finished construction. The name of the pub downstairs was "Polis" hence the name of the whole compound. At the back they had the glass plant." he pointed at another photo of the plant " and they had a yard that was mainly used for storage, among other things..." and with that he smiled at me. Like he was pushing me to figure something out. I stared blankly at him. What a weird little man.

"And this photo is of the five Foster brothers. A handsome bunch. The one with the blue eyes in the middle is my grandfather Alexander Foster." He got that right, they were truly good looking. Those black and white photos always added class. Still I found it hard to believe that these sexy men shared the same gene pool as frail old Mr X. As if reading my mind he added:

"I take after my father's side."

"Right, you mentioned your mother was a Forster." I said politely. It was nice to go down his memory lane, maybe he's just an eccentric old man after all, who just wants to reminiscent the past.

"Do you know what they did the Fosters, Ms Shay?"

"No, sir, I haven't heard of them until you mentioned the name."

"This one" he pointed at the first one to the left "he was in  charge of gambling. This one was in charge of drugs. This one was in charge of import, this one was the cleaner, and Alexander managed them all. Like an enterprise. They had captains and foot soldiers, much like their colleagues the Italian mafia."

"When you say the cleaner, do you mean the killer?" I raised an eyebrow.

"Yes, Ms Shay, that's exactly what I mean." 

""Godfather" style" was all I could think of to say. Why was he telling me all that?

"Do you know how the cleaner got rid of the bodies?"

"No, I don't know" I gently bent my knees and was ready to pick my dress and run. If this creepy fucker tries to jump me, he's in for a fight.

"They melted them Ms Shay, in the glass factory stoves." he said and smiled wickedly. Suddenly it all clicked. I understood his riddle.