Enchantress

The First Meeting

“Raymond Leslie was murdered today morning,” Ryan said in an emotionless tone.

Colour drained from Samuel’s face and his eyes popped out. He sat like a statue for a few minutes before launching into a full-fledged rant.

He tore at his hair and said in a pained voice, “I told him so many times to stay away from Lily. If only he had listened…”

Ryan’s face turned red with fury as Lily’s name was dragged into this. He felt like ripping his head off but he managed to control himself and gritted out, “Tell me from the beginning, Samuel. Your honest narration would help us solve the case.”

He shifted uncomfortably on his chair and licked his lips, “From where should I start?”

“How did you meet Raymond? What kind of relationship did you share with him? How do you know about Lily?...” Ryan was going to shoot a few more questions but he stopped seeing his ghostly appearance. Samuel looked as if he would faint any moment.

Ryan felt irritation mess with his nerves. He let out a sigh and handed Samuel a glass of water and commanded, “Drink.”

Samuel’s hands trembled as he took the glass. He guzzled the water in a single breath, spilling some of it on his clothes.

Samuel kept the glass on the table and started talking, “Raymond is…umm… sorry… was a great friend of mine. I indeed work as his manager during the day but once the office hours are over we hang out like close friends.

We studied together in the same college and when Raymond took over his father’s Empire, he offered me the post of a manager.

At first, I was reluctant to take on this job, but Rob convinced me saying that he needed people whom he could trust…”

“I see…” Ryan said looking deep into his eyes, trying to see if he was lying but he couldn’t find a trace of deceit.

“Do you know when and where Raymond met Lily?”

“Of course! I was with Raymond when he first met Lily.” Samuel said with a distant look in his eyes as his mind veered to the day they had met.

***

“Hey, Samie! Why have you stopped in front of this night club? Drive me to Leslie Palace quickly. I need to make a presentation for my meeting.” Raymond said as he looked up from his laptop. He had been so busy that he didn’t notice when Sam deviated from the usual route.

“No way! Dude, this party is overdue for a month now. We are going in and we are getting wasted.” Sam said getting out of the car.

He opened the back door of the car and dragged a reluctant Raymond out. He snatched the laptop from his hands and put it inside the car and locked the doors.

Then he threw the keys to the valet for parking before Ray could protest.

“Hey! What are you doing? Valet, give me the keys off my car.” Ray barked but Sam grasped his arms and pulled him inside.

“Sam, this is not right.”

“hmmm…”

“I am warning you..”

“Ummhmmm…”

“Sam, let me go..” Ray said struggling against his grasp.

“Sam, I will fire you the first thing….” Ray stopped mid-sentence as his eyes fell on the girl sitting in the corner. He stopped dead in his tracks. The surroundings zoned out and all he could see was the girl in front of him.

He could see only her back from this angle but her soft curves had already mesmerized him. Her long legs were visible through the cut in her long flowing gown. Her skin was smooth, marble-like.

He felt like tiny magnets had embedded themselves in each of his cells and he was attracted to her like the opposite poles.

He detangled his hands from Sam’s in a quick movement and strode towards the lady, hypnotized.

His heart thudded against his ribs and his hands grew clammy as he drew closer. He felt an intense urge to see her face.

With a trembling hand, he gently tapped on her shoulder and croaked, “Miss…”

His breath got caught in his throat when she turned around. Her electric-blue eyes held him captive.

She looked at him with a raised eyebrow but he was rendered speechless and kept gazing into her eyes. He felt like drowning in those dazzling orbs of blue.

“Yes…” She asked softly when he didn’t respond for a while.

Her voice seemed like the sweetest symphony to him….

“Wait a moment… You are narrating this as if you were the one experiencing it… I hope you are not making up stories.” Ryan asked in a curt tone.

Samuel came out of his reverie and explained hurriedly, “I know Raymond’s story very well, maybe even better than him.

The incident of the nightclub is etched so well in my brain that I won’t forget it even if I get amnesia.

That is because for the next whole week Raymond kept narrating his first meeting like a robot. I had to threaten him, in the end, to make him stop…”

Ryan’s ears perked up as he heard the word threaten. He squinted his eyes and asked, “What did you threaten him with?”

Samuel let out a nervous laugh before saying, “I told him that I will resign from the job.”

Ryan visibly relaxed and said, “I see… did he stop boring you with his story…”

“Ummm…. he didn’t though the frequency did decrease…”

“Okay, I want to know from your point of view, ‘What did you see that night?”

“I just saw a love-struck i***t make a fool of himself. He must have been staring at the girl for a very long time. Maybe he was even drooling because the next moment a slap landed right across his cheeks.

Then she stormed out of the club throwing a dirty look at him.

Raymond stood there caressing his lips with a huge smile plastered on his face as if he had been rewarded rather than insulted.

I was too stunned to react. When I finally composed myself I took him home.”

Samuel let out a deep sigh and said, “To this day, I regret dragging him to the night club that night…”