Twenty Six

Mask- … -vt. Cover with mask; hide, disguise – Collins Gem English Dictionary, 1985

Alicia’s apartment left much to be desired and the journey there had given Isaiah the impression that Eaeshore was full of people at some of the bottom-most rung below the poverty belt. The many buildings they passed just to reach her apartment block were all on the verge of collapsing and Isaiah feared, more than once, they actually would and flatten the car, along with Lynn and him. Glancing into alleyways, countless of homeless people crowded around drum barrels that would be the fireplace for them to warm themselves at night, burning whatever rubbish they could find inside for heat- huddling their torn, seedy coats tightly around themselves.

It was as Carl said. After searching for some time, Isaiah and Lynn could not find anything of interest. The place was cluttered but picked clean of evidence and clues. Isaiah rummaged through the rubbish strewn around the wastepaper basket with Lynn but the only useful item was already retrieved by Elijah.

"How did he do all these alone…" Isaiah mumbled, "He should not have continued alone. There must be always someone watching your back and that’s why we work in pairs. Partners."

Lynn face fell a little and Isaiah arched a curious brow at her. She shook her head and turned away from him, pretending to be intrigued by the amount of cotton wool the girl had wasted on her cosmetic.

"You know something, Saiah? If Elijah found the torn piece here, maybe… maybe it was supposed to be with this pile of rubbish. Maybe it was supposed to be thrown away but she did not clear her waste basket properly..." Lynn suggested and Isaiah caught her deduction immediately. Smiling, impressed by her astuteness, he kissed her cheek.

"That’s why we work in pairs. Two brains are better than one. But I hope the garbage man’s slacking off or we may never find it…" Isaiah stood up and Lynn did as well- a face a picture of strange guilt.

"Is something wrong?"

"Nothing." Lynn mumbled before she smiled at him, too brightly and cheerfully. "Time to get our hands dirty."

***

The garbage dump was just right behind the rundown apartment block and it was terribly easy to find. All Isaiah did was follow his nose. Faced with an overflowing bounty, Isaiah knew he was in luck. Bags of rubbish overflowed and though he and Lynn were faced with a most disgusting task, it was still something they had to do. After exchanging a "Here goes," look with Lynn, Isaiah sighed and started in on those still in the dumpster.

"It’s most likely that she had cleared her rubbish a couple of days ago so those on the floor can’t be it." He reached in the sick blue dumpster stained with brown and green patches, took out a few bags and threw one over at Lynn who pinched her nose immediately.

"I’m feeling sick."

"Get use to it. Got your gloves on?" Isaiah chose one black bag for himself, not feeling lucky enough to hit gold at first touch.

"Yup." Lynn murmured, not too enthusiastic about the job before her. Isaiah smiled and tore open his bag, noting the decayed vegetables and rotten meat inside.

"Bon Appetite…" He sighed and started ransacking through the bag for that important half of the note.

"More like ‘Rest in Peace!’ You threw me one with two dead hamsters inside!" Lynn whined but Isaiah could understand. She was always quite anal about cleanliness, and, upon hearing her colorful comments that followed, he shook his head and smiled, casting the first bag aside before setting to work on the second one.

"What training do you need to be a rubbish collector?"

"What?" Lynn hollered back, holding up a tail that seemed to have come from some dismembered rat and then, with a wince on her face, flung it behind her and it hit the ground with a sickly ‘plop’.

"None, you pick it up as you go along." Isaiah chuckled but stopped when he realized he was sucking in the putrid stench of decomposition. Lynn held up a mushy, banana skin, threatening to throw it at him.

"One more and you’re getting it, Mister…" She warned, but at least she was smiling.

After several more bags containing leftover dinners, rotten vegetables, a dead cat, some dead fishes and numerous packets of dog’s droppings, Lynn looked like she was about to cry and Isaiah ran out of rubbish jokes to cheer her up, or rather, raised her ire at him so she would not be too bothered about the stinking job. He took out a white plastic bag marred with stains better not analyzed, and it seemed lighter than most and set it before her, nudging her with his shoulder.

"One more, darling. One more and I’ll marry you." He proposed, noting her face flushed crimson.

"We’ll do it together. Marriage takes two to build, or dirty up…" She nudged him back and he laughed, catching her drift.

The moment the white plastic bag was torn, Isaiah wanted to do a little dance. Inside were the familiar cotton wools stained with foundation and lipsticks' smudges? He heard Lynn let out a happy giggle.

"I think this is a sign." He hinted. She dug her hands inside rubbish bag while wrinkling her nose at him.

Suddenly, her hands stilled and she diverted her attention back to the garbage she was investigating. He saw her withdrawing out a white piece of paper, torn at the end. The smile was wiped away, replaced by a slacked-jaw look. He took it from her and held his breath. The heaviness and tenseness returned in full force but with hope.

"Sandy, 0840, then there are unnamed columns with numbers next to them. This must be the key…0620, 0810, 1010,0820,0640,0430. Add Lenny’s 0650, we have 8 coordinates. The Swastika is made up of 8 points. Lynn…" He whispered harshly, feeling joy surged through him. "I think Elijah’s going to be fine."

She took his hand and clasped it tightly. "I think so too."

***

They had thrown away their gloves together with the rest of the rubbish and ran back to the BMW, hand in hand when Isaiah’s mobile rang. He answered it to hear Iggy’s apologetic voice on the other line.

"It’s not Carter… or rather, we have no reason to keep him. And Ben’s gone from his dorm. We were there after visiting Carter...nothing."

"What?"

"And Stern said the Magdalene girl is not in her room… there’re no signs of struggle but the police found her organizer. There’s an entry marked, ‘Date’ with hearts drawn all over it and it was for two nights ago. Her hall-mates had not seen her since."

"Why didn’t they report it?" Isaiah slammed hard on the car bonnet only to hurt his own hand by the display of violence. Somehow, anger always had a way of rebounding back to agonize the one angered.

"It’s not unusual for them to not see each other for days, they claimed. They thought Magdalene was putting up with her boyfriend and thus, thought no more of it. Indifference, I guess. It kills."

"But Carter… the map… he has the map…" Isaiah insisted, clutching the paper with the rest of the coordinates on it. So close, they were too close to solving the puzzle but it seemed like someone had poured icy water over his spirits.

"No… he has a grid map… but it’s not as Elijah described the one to be. It’s one that can be obtained in all Eaeshore bookshops and petrol kiosks... The one Elijah spoke of had the grids drawn on it…" Iggy corrected him and Isaiah felt the faint hope he had slowly crashing down like the rain last night, disappearing down into the sewers through the drain.

"Thanks Iggy. I’m going over to Ben’s now… If he’s not in his dorm… then I guess he should be the one…"

"And Isaiah…" Iggy stopped him from hanging up.

"Yah?"

"Take care, buddy. And we’ll still be watching Carter still. Stern had his policemen doing the job."

"Thanks." Isaiah mumbled before he disconnected the call and climbed into the BMW, his expression much more troubled than before.

"What’s the problem?" Lynn started reversing the car out of the parallel slot and Isaiah gave her bitter smile.

"We have the key. We need the lock."

"It’s not with Carter?" Lynn asked, baffled. "I thought you said you saw it…"

"Apparently, it’s not it. But we found the key. We can find the lock…" Isaiah helped her checked the blind spots out of habit. "Since we have combed Alicia’s place and it’s not there, we just have to try our luck with Ben’s place. And I don’t think we’re running out of blessings yet. It’s not over." He concluded, endeavoring stoically to inject another boost of hope into the both of them; trying to convince himself of possibility of success as he trampled down on the weeds of doubt that had suddenly sprouted. Reaching in her glove compartment absentmindedly, he was taken aback to find no cigarette box inside and realized that they were in her BMW and not his Lexus.

"My Lexus. I have to find Elijah. I want my Lexus back." Isaiah joked, half-heartedly.

"Or your cigarettes? Now’s as good as any other time to quit."

"Oh… just keep your eyes on the road, Madame… I’ll decide when I need to quit…" He gave her a weak smile, missing the cigarette in his hand to distract him from the overwhelming worry that was twisting guts unrelentingly. Lynn shook her head. She threw an Eaeshore Map over at Isaiah.

"I hope it’s not when your lungs are filled with more tar than this road. Find the shortest way from here to the campus for me, will you?"

***

"This place is even ickier than the garbage dump…" Lynn grimaced at the ripped condom wrappers strewn on the floor and Isaiah could see what her mind’s eyes must had been showing her, viruses, germs, fleas and ticks. He let out a small laugh and took out a new pair of disposable gloves from one of his jeans pockets again. The entrance to the room was cordoned off and a policeman, standing guard outside, just in case Benedict Olson came back, let Isaiah and Lynn in after they flashed their FBI cover card.

Some students were loitering around, wondering what the fuss was about.

Isaiah had closed the door behind him to shut out the prying eyes. Lynn was now cautiously stepping on clean spots, if there were even any, to reach the other end of the room, surveying the place as she did. Somehow, he had a strong hunch that Lynn would not be asking for a confirmation to their department anytime soon. Maybe, she would be happier doing what she did best, hacking and breaking into system with her slender, painstakingly manicured fingers.

While Lynn rummaged the study table, and instinctively switched on the computer on it out of habit, Isaiah swung the door of the wardrobe open and saw a picture of a gorgeous girl with long, black wavy tresses pasted on the back of the door.

"Your love could have killed you. I hope I’m not too late…" He spoke to the photograph and finger the dried rose pasted onto the photo before hearing Lynn commenting on Ben’s computer.

"Elijah’s right. The calling cards were not printed here; it’s not a laser printer that he owned. But… besides all these loud proclamations of Nazi sympathy… his journal has nothing much inside about this matter…"

"I find it strange too… this photo… it just doesn’t fit…" Isaiah approached Lynn who was keying some search words onto the documents.

"So you don’t suspect him anymore?" Lynn asked. Isaiah pressed his lips together and thought for a while. He then took from her and explored the contents of the computer, shifting his jaws this way and that.

"It’s strange, don’t you think? That there is only one file in this whole system, archaic as it is…maybe the journal is typed as a kind of red-herring, so is the photograph. Think about it Lynn… human beings are complicated creatures. Probably he had thought of the possibility that we would search his dorm, after all, how many more students in the group were left? So he did up this journal… or edited an old one and made it seemed like this is the real him, not the loud dressing on the outside. Elijah came in and, without a second opinion, would naturally arrive at this conclusion but remember what Elijah said in his tape? Even he could not rule out Ben as a suspect. He was thinking about it. Jewish girlfriend… sacrifices. Ben had to give up something he loved as a sign of his loyalty… his fanaticism overrode his love for her. Or, he needed her to love him, to trust him… since she’s the ultimate sacrifice and he probably would not want Danny to do it. So he planned and plotted…" Isaiah closed his eyes, feeling a sense guiding him. Not a vision, but a sort of intuition that he had learnt to listen to a long time ago.

He went back to the photograph and stared at it for a while. Running his palm flat against various parts of the surface, he thought he felt some slight bumps, or rather, bubbles. Lynn had walked over to his side, silent like a sole audience, waiting for him to perform some magic- pull a rabbit out of the hat.

Isaiah very carefully tore the adhesive tapes off the four corners of the photograph and took it down. Alicia Calloway’s smoldering, seductive eyes stared back at him.

He heard Lynn suck in a deep breath.

He turned the photograph of Magdalene around. A grid-map of Eaeshore, fitting Elijah’s descriptions, was stuck to the back of the poster-sized snapshot.

They had found the real secret world of Benedict Olson.