Find It Inc.

Chapter 18

Richard and Jo are now alone in a room that Jo did not know existed and she has searched the whole building from plastered brink to plastered brink. This was hidden and it had no smell. It was a room that Richard made himself for himself. He says that he likes to work here away from everyone and it helps him think. No one knows it is here (except Darryl since Richard had to have permission to build it in the first place and Darryl knew where to find him in case he was needed.). One of the advantages of being the second hired.

Richard explains that the reason why Jo cannot smell this room with her werewolf nose is because it is sprayed with a family secret formula that kills all scents from a place as well as a body. Richard told the story that his great, great, great-grandfather’s uncle’s son made this formula to hide from dwarf hungry werewolves (Jo mumbled a “sorry”) and the formula has been passed down from family member to family members since then. There is no longer a need to hide their scents but everyone thought it was super cool so they kept it as a family secret. Jo had a few questions to ask and she began with the most obvious one. Did anyone steal the formula from Richard? Richard admits that he does not keep the formula in the office and he says that no one from his family has ever worked for ‘SoilCoal’ but he does have a feeling that he may know who the murder is (but he could be wrong.).

Richard did not want to say anything until he was certain and he regrets not coming to someone earlier but he did not know who and how or with what? You cannot go up to someone with nothing and says so and so could maybe, possibly be a killer. So he kept quiet like a fool. A dumb foolish fool.

Here is how the story goes:

Richard has a sister who married a man that no one in the family understood nor liked. He was a strange fellow but in a creepy, unnerving way not in the way that everyone was used to. To say he was odd was a lie because it would not be the correct word to describe this being. He was… unstable but in the way that no pills or therapy could help him. Why did Richard’s sister marry him and bring him into the family with the scentless formula? No one is a hundred percent sure but their father believes that the man manged to get inside the sister’s brain and rewire her to the point of insanity. So much so that after they got divorced she went into a mental home in the hopes to fix what he rewired.

He was an ill man who got demented thoughts into his head and they stayed there. Richard remembers when this man, who goes by the name X since whenever he had to sign something or write something or type something all he wrote was an X, believed that a certain pigeon was out to kill him. X was sitting on the couch one day and he looked out the window to see a random pigeon walking past. This pigeon became X’s enemy but the problem was that all pigeons looked the same to him so he had no clue which one was the one that he thought wanted his blood. X made a plan to go to a fountain that is in the center of a well-known park that not only pigeons visit but kids, parents, travelers, people who think walking is an exercise go to. X went to this fountain and planted a bomb in it. The bomb went off killing pigeons and people. The police arrested X who was in jail (well he was still meant to be in jail but he got out, as in he escaped) but during this jail time was the right time for Richard’s sister to cut ties with X and seek help for herself.

Richard has a feeling that X got out of jail but not after learning some skills on how to cover his tracks as well as getting the thought in his head that ‘SoilCoal’ is the reason for his jail time. Or that the pigeon runs the company, you cannot tell what he thinks. Richard thinks X is behind the murders.

Jo tell Richard that she is sorry that X came into his family’s lives and she also asks him if he thinks that X was the one who stole money from the company? Richard did not know about this last part so he went back into shook with his mouth hanging open again. And again this lasted for a while so Jo went to get something to eat. She had coffee. She made sure that no one died yet and she played games on the computer. An hour later she went back to Richard’s personal secret room to check if he had moved but he did not so she went to have another cup of coffee. She made a pyramid out of the cans of energy drinks she consumed. Jo rested her head on her desk and as she was dozing off she smelt Richard standing in front of her. Jo awoke and they went back to the secret non-smelling room of Richard’s.

Once inside the room Richard said that it could be possible that X hired someone to steal the money since X is a moron, possibly a good murderer but a moron. X by himself would not know how to steal money from books. Jo admits that she has staked out the building at night and never saw anyone came in or out but the following day was when murder three was found so she wonders how he is able to get passed everyone. Richard does not have a clue and speaking of clues…

Jo takes out the packet with the clue inside it and Richard and she takes a closer look at it. It is a piece of cloth that got torn off from pants. Richard says that he recognizes the material since it is the same material that his grandmother used to buy all the men and boys in the family. Plus X was wearing that material with he was arrested. This means that he is visible unless his body is invisible but his clothes are not so he takes them off and performs murders in the nude which sound even grosser for some reason. There is a knock on the door which made Richard and Jo jump and knock heads. Darryl comes into the room and tells them there is another body.

This body was found in the kitchen and the method of killing was poison. Someone joked (in poor taste) that no one can be next since every room in the office now has a dead body attached to it. He half laughed while others just looked at the body with emotional exhausted because of these consistent string of deaths. Some employees went back to work while Richard went to take a closer look at the dead body. Jo looked around the kitchen to see if there was anything to see. There was nothing out of the ordinary except the dead person. Richard stood up and said that they need to plan a trap or something to catch this person. Jo agreed and with frustration they both walked out the kitchen to make a plan and set the trap.

Hours and paper diagrams passed and they finally came up with something that could work. The plan was clichéd but simple and it required fast reflexes and speed which Jo has; certainly in werewolf form. That very night the trap went into action.

***

Everyone went home for the night including Jo while Richard stayed behind to do some more work. Richard was sitting in the open floor plan of the office working with only his desk lamp on. Everything was very quiet and because Richard does not have good ears he could not even hear the squeak of a mouse in the house. He was working away (since he actually had real work to do) when suddenly he felt a hand on his shoulder. He froze.

The hand felt heavy as if it was trying to push Richard into the floor. The person was standing right behind Richard’s chair that he could feel their breath on the top of his head. He knew being bait would be scarily and that he would be in danger, everyone knew that, but it is different once you are in danger. Everyone knows everything without any experience of it. One part of him really hopes that Jo is fast enough to save him while the other hoped that it was Jo playing a trick on him. The person is a mouth breather so the breath hit the whole top of his head. Richard wondered where the other hand is and he imagines that there is a knife hanging above him ready to go down and strike. A moment of nothing except fear passes and the hand is then lifted off the shoulder.

Richard slowly rotates his chair around to face who he must face. It is dark in the room but after a while his eyes adjust to the lack of light and he is able to his the outline of a short man with two empty hands standing in front of him. Another moment passes and his eyes become more used to the dark and therefore, he is able to see more details. This is a man he knows not and it is not a man but a woman. A woman he does not remember seeing or meeting. She turns around and walks away from Richard.

Richard’s word of ‘wait’ gets logged in his lung that all could come out was a little, short breath. He wonders where Jo is and at the moment the werewolf form of Jo jumps from the darker corner of the room and wrestle the short woman down to the ground. They fight; Richards get up and hops around trying to figure out how he can be more of aid than hurt.

The fight was not very long since it was a little woman against a fit werewolf. The woman did not bring any weapons with her which was a good thing for Jo. I guess she wanted to strangle someone this time. When you think of it there are so many ways you can kill someone. Anyway the fight goes on with Jo and the woman were rolling on the floor; the woman attempts to grab Jo by the neck but whenever her hands get close Jo would bite them. Jo managed to get behind the woman and was able to pin her down as well as to keep her arms and legs separated from each other. Richard switched on the lights which caused a blinding white to Jo’s eyes but she did not let go.

Once, her eyelids stopped blinking she was able to make out the expression on Richard’s face. Jo wanted for a name of familiarity to flow from Richard’s lips like in the movies but nope that did not happen. Instead, Jo and the woman were on the floor while Richard stood and looked trying to figure out… something. You could see the gears trying to rotate but running out of oil. Some round gears even turned into triangles that is how lost he was.

The sound of the elevator doors opening broke the still, awkward silence that engulfed the room. Jo could hear and smell Darryl come out of the elevator and stopping in place to see all that was before him. Darryl took out his phone and called someone. It was one of the employees. He told that person not to come into work today and to pass the message to everyone. Since these events happened the people in the office decided to make a phone tree to spread information quickly, just in case.