Catherina Morgan has been found dead this morning
, the TV reporter spoke.
Catherina, the famous “I Need a Real Clue” singer is dead?
She was shot multiple times by Kane Jefferson
, the TV reporter continued.
My father? How? No, he couldn’t have done that.
The TV reporter continued bringing details about the incident. I knew my father had engaged in a relationship with her, but recently they had a fight and broke up. He’s still not able to do this.
There were also reports of money fraud concerning Kane
, the TV reporter said, switching to another man wearing coat:
yes, it is believed Jefferson’s family built their wealth based on schemes involving scamming and tax fraud. That would explain the homicide.
I turned off the TV. “Liars!”, I wanted to shout. How could they talk that bad about our family? They invested so much time to rise their corporation, they wouldn’t ever go corrupt. Who are they to talk bad about my family?
I risked a peek on my tablet, swarmed with message notifications ranging from “Are you okay?” to death threats. I turned off the notifications and scrolled the news feed, also cluttered with the recent happening. As I scrolled, I saw the camera video recording the murder. It felt so weird: why did he show his face on the camera? If my father was rich, why wouldn’t he hire someone to do that?
My tablet ringed with a new report:
Mr. Jefferson’s execution scheduled for Sunday
. In three days? How did they judge him this fast? No, there’s something clearly wrong.
I turned on the TV again and switched to a channel that doesn’t broadcast news. However, for some reason, they were talking about Catherina’s life and trajectory to success. Damn, she was pretty gentle, benevolent and lovable. My father would never murder her.
The TV broadcast her top hit. When it hit the chorus, I cried uncontrollably.
It ended so out of the blue
I’m not willing to just let it fall through
Your words sound so untrue
I need a real clue
---
After recovering, I first tried to talk with my father, but the officers turned me down. One of them sadistically said: “you will never meet your father again”. I could hear them talking about how my father pleaded innocence, accusing someone named Alan Howard.
Then I moved to my father’s residence, surrounded by policemen not allowing me to enter. One officer appeared from the front door, reporting there were only burnt papers. I could spot his hand hiding a lighter.
“Lara Jefferson?”, a reporter showed up, “mind being interviewed?”
I said yes and walked away, speeding up as more of them kept approaching.
I called my brother Albi, who was traveling in Canada. “Hello, sister. How do you do?”, he answered enthusiastically. “Our father is being framed of murder”, I told him what I noticed, “we need to save him”. His mood changed and I could tell he was thinking something.
“I searched for this man Alan Howard, he’s pretty rich and is running for governor”, he said, “he’s also looking for a maid”.
“Fuck”, I muttered to myself realizing what Albi was planning.
I changed my hairstyle and faked a new ID card. The same day I was interviewed by Alan Howard himself, “how are you, sweetie?”, he tried to pick up on me. I kept my cool and got hired.
The next day, I received one small camera and three pretty tiny voice recorders. The plan would be to place one voice recorder in his office, one in his favorite coat and I would keep the last and the camera with me. Each recording would be sent straight to my brother real-time. We expected him to unawarely confess.
The first day, I managed to do my part. We couldn’t get a confession, but my brother learned something disturbing.
“Our father’s residence got confiscated and is being auctioned, apparently Alan wants the house.”, he said. “Why?”, I asked. Albi paused and said: “it holds an artifact that allows anyone who uses it to be above law and control the world”. I asked further about it, but received no feedback.
“Lara, the auction is tomorrow, we have until then to stop him”
---
The second day, as I was cleaning the library, I noticed one book with an odd title: Dark Secrets about Thomas Jefferson. When I grabbed to check it, the bookshelf moved revealing a passage.
I pulled my camera and started recording as I climbed down. It revealed a room containing something that looked like my father. “So that explains it”, I muttered.
Other than that, I spotted multiple scriptures and drawings that resembled a large-sized bird skull. The scriptures used weird letters, but for some reason I could understand them.
Apparently, the skull is guarded by the Jefferson family. It is a very powerful native-American artifact and anyone who wears it can select any person of the world, read their mind and even control them.
Just then, I felt a small syringe being plucked in my neck. I last see Alan Howard before blacking out.
---
When I woke up, I was tied to a metal chair in an empty room. “Good news, Lara”, I heard Howard say, “I won the auction...for your residence”.
“Bad news, Howard”, I smirked, “you’re getting arrested”.
Alan Howard laughed for a while before saying: “it doesn’t matter anymore. Once I get that skull, the police will be me...the world will be me”.
He threw multiple bottles on the ground, spilling some liquid. “As for you, Lara”, he opened multiple taps, “you will slowly be dissolved by acid”. Afterwards, he climbed the stairs and closed the door.
The water level reacted with the acid on the floor, rising its volume slowly. It soon got on my feet and I felt a burning sensation. However, the rope tying them to the chair dissolved.
I stared at the rising water level and the rope tying my hands. “Fuck me”, I muttered.
I threw myself backwards. My clothes soaked with acid and my arms and back started burning. I was screaming when I finally got my hands free.
I ran to the stairs, whose steps were slowly dissolving. My feet and hands looked pretty ugly and my shirt was half burnt. I kept banging against the door, screaming, trying to break it.
When the water level was close to the last step, I heard something opening the door.
“Hey, you alright?”, Albi asked.
---
After explaining everything and getting myself new clothes, Albi drove following the GPS on the voice recorder I put on Alan Howard’s favorite coat. It showed up on the central park. Multiple officers were on the central park, mostly protecting Alan.
They ordered us to stop, but my brother accelerated the car against the Alan figure. However, multiple police cars stopped us just a few meters away. As I hid behind the back seats, Albi looked me a last time before getting yanked off the car.
Just when I thought he was going to be shot, multiple fireworks showed up in the sky. I took that moment of distraction to run against Alan Howard. I could stand up against him for a while before he violently threw me on the floor. When I got up, he was no longer in sight.
Soon I could hear his voice from anywhere, his face showing up on the main billboard: “
From now on I have control over this city and soon the world
”, I heard he say, “
any resistance will be shut down
”.
As he kept on his dialogue, I approached my brother when I spotted my father well alive. I hugged him and he hugged me back. He seemed sad, but I wasn’t. The real skull was with me. I couldn’t believe I successfully exchanged them during that engage.
My father took the real artifact and soon I could spot Alan Howard screaming and shaking convulsively before banging his head against the stand he was in until he passed out. I couldn’t read his mind, but I smiled as I imagined his pain.
---
As we were moving off the city, I learned what had happened. My father persuaded one loyal officer to drive him to the central park. On their way, they launched one flare on the sky, distracting the officers enough. My brother got the false skull from Alan’s room, for some reason a perfect copy of the original.
I asked my father why he used the skull. “The world shall not know the power of the artifact, so better they think it’s a curse”, he answered, “also he deserved that for fucking with our family...and Catherina”.
“I won’t hide our family’s secrets anymore”, Kane said. “We’ll have to destroy this artifact now”.
He turned on the radio, coincidentally broadcasting Catherina’s top hit:
It ended so out of the blue
I’m not willing to just let it fall through
Your words sound so untrue
I need a real clue