Kill the Lights

A few days ago, when Mason got off from Noah’s yacht, he went to the Westwood Village where it was still raining. And Haley’s cousin Joy lived there.

It was Joy who took the picture of Mason going inside the hotel room with Noah, and it was Sandra who posted it on Twitter first. And after that, Anna, Jason, Colin and everybody had shared the picture among themselves adding, ‘Fuck you.’ If Noah hadn’t held his hand and did something crazy like asking him out for a date that morning, Mason would’ve been seriously fucked.

He did blame himself for being careless even when he knew that Joy was following him, but it wasn’t going to end up with him clapping and saying, ‘You fucked me up, that’s amazing!’

He went inside a big mall and bought new clothes and a cap, a pair of gloves and a raincoat, and a scary looking kitchen knife. It was easier to kill a person with a gun, but there was nothing else better than a knife to put a person in fear.

Mason wore the black clothes and the cap underneath the rain coat and went to Joy’s house. Because it was a pretty nice condominium, CCTV was installed in many different places. However, it seemed like a professional didn’t install them because there were a lot of blind spots.

He pressed the doorbell and waited, but there was no sound coming from inside for a long time. Did she know he was coming beforehand and hid or pretending not there? Mason mumbled, ‘Joy can’t be that smart’ and thoughtlessly turned the door knob. The door opened very easily, and Mason frowned.

This wasn’t in his agenda. He cautiously peered over the edge and opened the door widely, to be confronted with chaos. Mason slowly scanned the inside. It could be a thief’s or a robber’s handiwork, but he knew it wasn’t. First, neither was there a bloodstain nor a knife or a bullet mark anywhere. Emptied closets, opened safe and a non-existent travel luggage. It was messy, but it wasn’t like someone went through the area.

She had run away. –Mason blinked in surprise and licked his lips. She was probably scared of causing the problem, but instead of hiring a bodyguard she just ran away? It was weird that she’d packed her stuff hurriedly like that and left.

With a nagging feeling, he left Joy’s house and went to Aunt Anna’s house four blocks away. It was the same there too. Uncle Jason, Jordan, Sandra and everyone; nobody answered Mason’s call. To be more accurate, their phone numbers were erased.

Mason thought about it a little and called Pitzroy Greenham, who worked with Mason three years ago at Zii, and who was now a private detective in LA.

“What?”

Mason asked Pitzroy again. Pitzroy patiently repeated his message.

[Joy Clank first went to her friend’s house in Santa Monica. About two hours later she got chased by someone out of there, went to a small motel and abandoned her two kids there. -Ah, the kids are being sent to a shelter tomorrow. -After abandoning her kids, she was seen leaving the motel following a group of people wearing black and, disappeared, nowhere to be found. She could be anywhere].

Mason frowned. He had requested Pitzroy to find Joy, Jason, Anna and others.

“What does that mean?”

[Are you gonna keep asking me? If you are gonna do that, I’m gonna have to bring a recorder].

[That will tell you instead of me]. Pitzroy sounded annoyed, and Mason realized that it wasn’t a simile or a metaphor. All the traces have been erased, as in ‘disappeared’, so that Pitroy couldn’t track.

“All of them?”

[Finally, we are talking].

Pitzroy asked, [Are they good people?]

[I smell something very dangerous. You’ll have a hard time looking for them.]

He said, [‘You have to give me more money for this,’] and licked his lips. Mason thought about it a little and cleanly said, “No, it’s okay.”

[It’s okay? You are not gonna look for them?]

“No, I’m not. I was not looking for them because I’m close to them.

He just wanted to check if they were planning to cause any new trouble, or if they had something to cause any more problems. Pitzroy said, [Wow, cold-] and blew a whistle.

[Those people, they might be dead.]

“So?”

Mason added indifferently. ‘Why should I bother?’ They weren’t his relatives; also even if they were blood related, he didn’t care.

The other person licked his lips, knowing he had lost an opportunity to earn more money.

[True. I also felt dangerous doing this job. It’s good to stop here but...]

[Mumble, mumble]. Pitroy seemed to hesitate, as if he felt he should finish the job he started and mumbled and acted annoyingly.

[Ah. But you... Who did you get a recommendation from, before contacting me? It was Mason, right? Your way of talking is like that son of a...–]

“Good job. I’ll deposit the money to the account number I know.”

Mason cut the other party short and after spewing all those words, he hung up. That son of a bitch was always too quick. Of course, if he wasn’t so quick it’ll be hard to make a living by investigating other people in secret. He always talked a lot, but he was good at what he did, and he still seemed to be the same.

Mason stared at the public telephone’s receiver, hanging by getting caught in a hook, for a while before sighing and turning around.

“Did you finish your business?”

Phil, who was waiting a few steps behind, asked. Mason stared at him checking his watch with an indifferent face.

He briefly had an idea, but it seemed likely that the reason why all of them disappeared was because of this man’s words. Or to be accurate, Noah’s words.

It isn’t easy for a person to disappear suddenly without any trace, and if it’s more than two, it gets harder. The one who could do that was either someone powerful or with a lot of money. But if say a person had both, then it’ll be very easy.

“There’s no Mr. Raycarlton today.”

Instead of asking, ‘What did you do to my relatives?’ Mason asked, “Is he busy?”

“He’s always busy.”

Phil coldly replied and raised his head. Mason chuckled at his piercing stare.

“You don’t seem to like me.”

Anyone was free to dislike him, but Phil was very bad at controlling his facial expression, especially since he was ‘the Noah’s’ secretary. Of course, he might be thinking it wasn’t worth hiding his expression.

Phil seemed like he didn’t know Mason would ask such a question and frowned.

“I am just-, .....wondering what Mr. Raycarlton is thinking. I cannot tell.”

“Ah, that’s the same as me.”

‘Who wouldn’t be curious’. -Mason said blandly, and Phil sighed and walked away to open the car door. Just like saying shut up and get in.

After Mason closed his mouth and got inside the car, Phil closed the door and climbed onto the passenger seat. The car started smoothly, and the security guard company’s cars surrounded the area. The paparazzi that were waiting obviously followed them.

Mason let out a long yawn and stared outside the window. The paparazzi were honking or dangerously changing lanes or sometimes threw a can to make him look their way. Mason had been suffering only for three days, but he already thought that he hated those paparazzi as much as he did Zii’s boss, Bereta. He was about to turn away when,

“-!”

Bang! Mason startled and tried to stand up and ended up bumping his head on the car ceiling. Ugh, Mason held his head but still looked outside.

“What’s going on? Are you okay?”

Phil asked in surprise, and instead of answering, Mason shouted, “Stop the car! Quickly!” Screech! The car stopped at Phil’s hand motion, and Mason opened the car door and looked at the point where he had been looking.

“Haley? What’s wrong?”

Phil called him because of his serious expression, but Mason bit his lips and glared at the street where the reporters were everywhere.

‘I didn’t see it wrong. Definitely, underneath that street light, those two were standing holding the cameras. Aaron and Ashley.

They were hiding among the reporters looking for someone.

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