THE PUZZLE

STORY TELLER

Here now the story of a man, his original name unknown, his intentions,incomprehensible.Friend or foe no one could tell.He went by the name The Story Teller.He showed up as quickly as he left and in his wake, a trail of violence was left but just as quickly as it started peace then reign.People judged him with the violence part but no one ever stood to think that the violence ended in peace and crazy enough harmony.Nobody ever claimed to had seen him.He communicated through notes.His words more of blackmail than of the helper he claimed to be.Apart from that only thing known about him was the cowboy hat the bandana and the shades.Whenever he showed in a place, he went to specific people, offered them what they needed the most and in return he gave them tasks that were rather too easy to carry out.

People around only assumed he was a man due to his stature and build.He was a Six feet plus.His body was well build and he his wear was always a black shiny leather jacket, denim jeans, a cowboy hat and cowboy boots.The bandana thing wasn't really that much but it completed his look.who knows maybe he even had a horse.It wouldn't be surprising.His stories had just started a some fifteen years ago even though some people claimed to have heard about him before then.

His fast story was told in a small town west of the state.Here people always had conflicts in most cases they resulted as differences between the famers and the herders.This conflicts would always escalate to ugly fights and lives would be lost ,people would be misplaced from home and crops and animals loss would be immeasurable .But that ended when he showed up.He told a few people to follow simple steps and the truth behind the attacks were unearthed.As it turned out, the politicians were influencing their people pushing them to fight.

When people's eyes were finally opened the Story teller disappeared and had been known to go around granting favors and asking for some in return.He seemed to have all the details of his targets lives.He actually called them person's of interest .He had been spotted in Luxville town and of course his stories arrived a bit earlier than himself.He had already made a quick visit to his dear targets and now he was waiting in the shadows for his sweet game to play out.The clock was ticking.

Milley had gotten herself an invitation to his dance, and so had Mark and lieutenant Johns.Milley's turn was the first and she had decided to show up and listen but if she did not like what the guy had to say, she would beat the crap out of him! By the time she got to the trailer, it was a bit dark but not yet eight.She preferred being way early on situations like those but as of that time she had other commitments to attend to first and also she had to explain herself to Mark.It was inconveniencing but she liked it .Not being alone was way better.Her life before Mark was quiet and he didn't have to do all the explaining or the caring but she was lonely, very lonely, now it was different and opposite but she was okey with it.

She waited on behind another car for the guy to show up.There were no forests around here and she had to Pay a car parking yard for the trailer.From where she was, she could see her trailer clearly and that would help her spot him when he showed.She always Preferred the heads up. She waited and waited,but the guy didn't show.Was he playing on her? Was he trying to scare her?.It was not until she had given up and stood to walk away that she heard him say" not so fast dear,".His deep voice sounded exaggerated almost as if it was not his voice at all."How the hell did you get here? and how long have you been standing there?," she asked.Both surprise and fear written all over her face.She had known many tough guys , hell! she had even dealt with some of them but this one, he was a different brand of tough.

He explained he was there since eight.He also wanted to make sure she came unarmed and alone and during his checking he found her seated there.He was not a fan of small talk and he just went down do business as soon as she regained her calm.He started by telling her who he was and asked her to open the trailer as the story would take quite a while.She hesitantly opened it and as soon they as were settled in the story teller went on to tell his tales.

Now this guy loved to talk in parables ,sort of, but today he had been brought here by something else.He wanted Milley's help but he knew she was not just going to help him.Normally he was only up to small favors but with Milley it was different , it was more like he was the one receiving the favor this time round. Even as of that moment Milley was not yet interested in his talk and so he decided to employ his usual little help tactic to get her on board and he told her two stories.

One was about a boy who had been found outside a children home by an assistant .The story had it that the child had been left there by an unknown person.

The childrens home looked for the boys origin for soo long but could not find anyone who even as much as just recognize the boy.They decided to keep him. The only thing the boy seemed to know was that his name was Roggie and he kept calling other kids in the place Abert.No one knew what the kid was trying to tell and they simply assumed the kid had just heard someone say somewhere.After tracking the kids family with no luck,they came to the only possible solution.

They took the kid in , enrolled him to school ,dressed him and fed him till he was adopted.The owner of the school had loved him so much that he could not even bring himself to give him off for adoption and he had decided to adopted him, and he at last adopted him.

This story had Milley's attention shift.She had spent the best of that month trying to find Albert's brother as it was part of the agreement with Alex.Up to that point Milley had come up with nothing.No one, even her most trusted sources seemed to know anything, anything at all about Albert or his brother.History had done a super clean job to wipe the brothers trail and Albert had used his money and influence to clean his.The fact that this guy right here knew something about it was worth a trial.

Milley went on to ask about the boy, where he was then and his name.The story Teller paused a bit creating suspension and attentiveness on Milley's side before answering.The silence in the room was somehow creepy and one could even hear a pin drop.The story Teller finally broke the silence by naming his price.

He wanted her to gather very important info for him and it was simple.All she had to do was go where he would send her, find out details about someone ,file them and return them back to him.Milley felt like she was being misused but her need for the information this guy had to offer was dire.The Story Teller could see the hesitation on her face and so he decided to clear out the air and explain himself to her.

" People call me the story Teller, do you know why?Well telling other peoples stories is my thing.But we all know in order for one to tell a story well, they need to know the story in depth.Personally I identify people of interest ,write their stories so as I could tell them later.You are one such people which is why I came to you.See there is more to your story than I would like to admit and I have a feeling you need assistance, to give you the assistance you need I have to teach you a lesson first which is why I am giving you this quest,"he said.

It was not a convincing story, in fact from where Milley sat it was a crappy confused one.But even though it was a bad one, Milley wanted the info this guy could offer and since he would not tell her the full story without paying her end of the bargain, she decided to take the deal and an alliance was created between them.All she had to do was go home and wait up for the assignment.As for the second story, a day was set.The story teller had other places to be and he was almost running out of time.

Mark was the second one to meet with him that same night .His appointment was set for ten and as usual he was punctual .He had walked into the tavern a whole tem minutes earlier.Tonight the tavern was not noisy, it was on a Wednesday and not many people went out drinking on weekdays and those that did never stayed there long.

The Story Teller arrived five minutes later and as usual he explained himself.With Mark, he did not have to tell a story first to gain his attention.Mark was a good listener and he too was here because he wanted to talk to this guy as much as he wanted to talk with him.The Story Teller told Mark his side of the bargain and as expected it was easy too easy to be the only reason why he was here.

All he wanted from Mark was for him to not give up on the case he had been working on and for Mark to quit investigating on the lieutenant for the moment.The Story Teller promised to give Mark all he needed to know about the lieutenant later.He also promised to help Mark solve the case if Mark followed his lead.

As a part of the payment, he told Mark the story of Albert this time without hiding out some details and the only part he left out was the part about Albert having a brother.That was left for Mark to figure out himself.He however warned Mark to not go out running after Albert because as he explained that would only make it hard to catch him.He instructed Mark to go to the prison and bargain a deal with George for information.Mark wasn't sure about that but he was willing to do it if it meant him closing the file ones and for all.In the end, Marks expectations on the guy were not met.He thought of him as a big bad wolf but in the end he only found a royal good puppy.Mark always over thought stuff and his conclusion was that this guy was saying less than intended to, or maybe he had an even bigger agenda.

Johns appointment was the next morning and his was a short and friendly one.The Story Teller only wanted something super simple from John and in return his promise was to not wash his dirty linen in the public.All Johns had to do was treat Mark's case as high profile and of super importance.He was to give Mark all the resources he asked for and not question his moves.This one even ended with a toast and a shared drink.

A quick visit to Becky to drop her appointment note and the Story Teller was gone.It was easier than anyone of them would have thought.This however brought some sort of divide between the three people.

Milley for one went home thinking about the story.There was a reason why the Story Teller mentioned the name of the kid "Roger" and Albert.Her thoughts pointed to Mark he was Roger and he rarely ever talked about his family.The guy had also told her that the kid was closer to her than she would ever suggest.Mark had to be Albert's brother.She would start sniffing around trying to find out about Mark.This was however only a short lived theory as Mark would later point out that he intended to visit his family during his upcoming vacation.

The lieutenant was also starting to suspect that Mark was the Story Teller, why would a ghost and a stranger be willing to keep a huge secret and all he wanted was for someone else's case closed.If he had asked for money or a position in Johns gov't it would have been reasonable, but a favor for someone else , didn't make any sense.With the fact that Johns had heard that someone was investigating him, he would only assume it was either Becky or Mark or the both of them.Maybe they were working together.But then Mark didn't hate him and he was not eying politics, why would he be going after him.That was a question he needed answers for and he knew just how to get the.

Mark also thought that Johns had made this whole thing up to stop him from investigating him.But the stories came right before Mark had started investigating.This all didn't make any sense and that is what the Story Teller was after, suspension and curiosity.