The King of City

54 POLITICAL DINNER

"Hello?". Lionel said answering the call he received from an unknown number.

"Hey, it's me". Beau said with his usual carefree attitude.

"Why are you calling me from an unknown number?". Lionel asked a little angrily.

"Cheetah, I do it as a precaution, remember that you are surely being watched". Beau said lying a little because what really happened is that he used the phone of one of his men because he couldn't find his.

"You're right! Well thought Beau”. Lionel said he had fallen for the lie. "Do you have news for me?".

"Yes, but not very good". Beau said with sincere melancholy.

"What happened?". Lionel asked, exalted and a little concerned for the safety of his friend.

"We carried out the plan that I told you about, everything was going very well up to a point". Then he took a breath and continued. "The agents we captured escaped and killed one of my best men". He said it with deep sadness, because he really appreciated the members of the band, since, after having dealt with them for a long time, he had already befriended them.

"That's too bad!". Lionel exclaimed, seeing that the situation was profoundly bad. "Do you know what that means?". Lionel said hysterically.

"That’s we fail, indeed". Beau replied, ignoring the answer.

"Not only that, if I’m someone so closely watched by the LICB, what do you think they will do when they know that they have kidnapped their agents to extract information?". It was true, Corrine's suspicions were surely going to settle even more since he was the target of his housemate. “However, we cannot stand idly by, each day that passes without moving is one more day that we are at a disadvantage and even worse, we don’t know what they really want from me and when they succeed, they will surely kill me or capture me indefinitely".

"And what do you have in mind?". Beau asked with a deep concern for his great friend.

"I don't know, I was hoping you would suggest something to me". Lionel said a little disappointed.

"I'll think of something, see you, I have a business to attend to so I can focus on the next step". Beau said goodbye sadly and quite concerned.

"Goodbye friend! I’ll call you if I solve something”. Lionel said, then hung up.

Lionel meddled in his thoughts, hoping to find answers in his mind, that's how he was for a time until he reached the villa, once there he sat on the furniture and threw his head back to rest without falling asleep. At those moments, Elsa went down the stairs of the house and saw Lionel in the cabinet, and then she approached cautiously so as not to disturb him, lately, Lionel was too stressed and if he was really resting, then she should avoid interrupting him.

"Elsa!". Lionel said and Elsa was startled, but it seemed to her that he was like a psychic, because in some other way he could have known that it was she who was passing by the front. "What do you do?".

"I was just going to the kitchen, I was hungry. How did you know it was me?". Elsa couldn’t bear it and asked directly.

"I just heard footsteps". Lionel said.

"And why did you think it was me and not Mary?". Elsa didn’t want to drop the topic until she got to the bottom of the matter.

"Mary just isn't here". Elsa felt profoundly stupid for asking that question, she was so amazed, believing that the reason why he knew it was her was one of her extraordinary abilities. "What are you waiting for?".

"For what?". Elsa asked innocently.

"Didn't you tell me you were going to the kitchen?".

"It’s true!". Elsa said with the pain that she had been discovered in the lie. "The truth is that I wasn’t going to the kitchen, I wanted to know how you were doing, you have been very stressed lately and you worry me a lot".

"Don't worry, just leave me just a few moments". Lionel said, but at that moment he remembered that the day he took Elsa to the villa, she had commented that Corrine seemed known to her but didn’t know where, so she hastened to prevent her from leaving, since she, paying attention to him, she was already up a few steps when Lionel called her. "Elsa, wait!" The girl's eyes lit up when she heard Lionel calling her. "Don't go, keep me company for a while". Lionel hadn’t finished the sentence and Elsa was already sitting near him a few centimeters from where he was sitting on the furniture, she really invaded a little of his personal space at a time when he didn’t want to be affectionate with anyone, but he had to get information out of him so he had to endure the situation.

"Why did you change your mind?". Elsa said while playing with Lionel's arms, she was obviously trying to cheer him up, but in Elsa's way.

"I just wanted to talk to you for a while, we haven't had a single moment in a while". Lionel lied.

"And what do you want to talk about?". Elsa asked that she wanted to be careful with Lionel, she didn’t want to damage the mood he had, it reminded her of Lionel that she always knew.

"Do you remember the day you came to this house?".

"Yes, I remember like it was yesterday".

"Do you remember what you told me about Mary?". Lionel said trying to get to the point.

"The truth, I don’t remember." Elsa honestly said that the only thing she could remember was the jealousy she felt towards her and how much it bothered her.

"Don't you remember you telling me that you seemed to have met her before?". Lionel asked disappointed by the memory of Elsa and despairing a little because he had no time to lose.

"Where do you want to go with that?". Elsa said, going straight to the point because at that moment she felt used and thought that Lionel didn’t need moral support, but that he wanted to get information from her.

"I need you to make a mental effort". Lionel said grabbing Elsa by the arms and caressing her right cheek to let her guard down, she soon saw how her gestures softened and continued to ask the determining question. "Do you remember where you had seen her?".

"I don't know Larson; I have a terrible memory for these things". Elsa said with the intention that Lionel insisted a little more, she liked the feeling of feeling indispensable for him.

"Come on Elsa, would you do it for me?". There was the question Elsa was waiting for, Lionel had let his guard down, but he was too desperate to think of stupid things like pride, so if he had to beg Elsa on his knees to tell him all the information he needed to discover who Corrine was and who their saviors were, he would.

"Give me a few moments, I'll try to remember". Elsa stood motionless with her eyes closed for a long time, suddenly snapped her fingers, and looked at Lionel. "I think I saw her at the senator's house, Benet's father". Lionel thought he had finally found a clue that was worth it, surely that would be a victory for him and a defeat for Corrine.

"Why were they there?". Lionel needed to know as much detail as he could.

"It was election time, Benet's father ran for the Senate again and eventually got reelected, as you might have realized". Elsa realized that she was raving so she returned to the important thing. "He had a great meeting and invited the most influential people in Lucien, there were politicians, scientists, athletes, singers, millionaires, and many other people that I didn’t know."

"Was it at that party that you saw Mary?". Lionel's anxiety increased with every minute of Elsa's story.

"It wasn't a party; it was a cocktail". Elsa corrected Lionel. "And yes, it was there that I saw her, she knew the vast majority of politicians."

"How could you not remember all those details the first time you came?" Lionel asked in disbelief.

"It didn't seem important to me, I also didn't know her, I'd just seen her". Elsa defended herself.

"And didn't you listen, even if from a distance, to what she does?". Lionel asked, who was already very close to exposing the biggest clue.

"No, I don't listen to anything, but I know who does know her and talked to her all night". She paused dramatically to make Lionel suffer a bit and continued. "My father".