Chapter 43
“This place is the same as before.” Mrs. Selena Barton leaned her cane on the chair and sat across from Zach’s desk, looking at the office of Grande Funeral Home. “I thought Quinn’s generosity would make you at least renovate this place!”
Zach signaled to Alice, the Banshee who brought the old lady in nodded and then left the office. Talking to such an old lady is a very difficult task, so Zach needed to concentrate on it.
“Mrs. Quinn is indeed very generous, but everything here is left by my father. We don’t want to make any changes. Including the chair that madam is sitting in, I don’t know if madam likes it or not?”
Mrs. Barton’s wrinkled lips slightly raised, remembering that in Quinn’s funeral, she had complained about the chair of the church: “Quinn has reminded me before that you are a very interesting person. It is indeed true! This chair is very comfortable. I really like it.”
“It is great to hear that. I don’t know if Lola told you before, Alice is a great cook, what would madam like? I think Alice is very willing to make something for her friend’s family member.” Zach kept a smiling face, bit by bit, slowly trying to find out why such an important person wanted to visit him all of sudden.
Mrs. Barton shook her head with a chuckle, and her eyes became serious: “No need, I don’t mind about who Lola is making friends with. I have something that I need to ask, and I hope Zachary Grande can answer honestly.”
Zach quickly stood up, flattened the wrinkles on his clothes, and slightly bowed to salute: “Zach. Mrs. Barton, just call me Zach.”
“Okay, Zach.” Mrs. Barton waved her hand and signaled Zach to sit down: “I want you to tell me the stories of the three siblings of the Grande family.”
Zach sat back and said calmly, “I am Grande’s eldest son, because my father failed to give my mother status, and I was living with my mother in the west of the Federation and running some small businesses. Because of the war, our life was difficult. When my mother died, I returned to Barton to find my father. Benjamin is my brother, but we have many differences in personality. He joined the army early. When he retired, our mother had already died of illness, so he came to Barton to find me. Our little sister, Alice, was an orphan in Button City and adopted by our father. But both Benjamin and I treat her like our real little sister.”
“Very good.” Mrs. Barton nodded expressionlessly, glanced at Zach: “Just as it was recorded in the citizen’s file, you are very honest.”
Zach didn’t respond to Mrs. Barton’s compliment. He believed that Mrs. Quinn had done the same investigation as well. Honest? Not at all. They didn’t care what Zach’s true identity was. What they cared about was whether Zach was a person who could keep secrets, and did he have the perseverance to maintain the consistency of the story.
Zach looked at Mrs. Barton’s face. He and Benjamin had realized that this day would come sooner or later at Mr. Quinn’s funeral. As nonhumans, they were forced to get involved with the lives of humans.
“I, Mrs. Quinn, and everyone.” Mrs. Barton fiddled with her cane: “We are all very satisfied with the results of how you handle Pooky. Don’t be nervous.” Mrs. Barton looked at Zach: “We are not curious about how you did it. When you live long enough and have seen enough things, you will lose interest in the course of things, you just want the results.”
Zach thought for a while, then nodded. It was not that Zach was trying to please Mrs. Barton, but that he had reached the same conclusion with his age…
Mrs. Barton chuckled again, “there is no need to please me.”
Zach tilted his head and smiled helplessly, “may I know the purpose of your visit, madam?”
“Because of Kyle.” Mrs. Barton’s face once again became serious, staring at Zach’s eyes, “if you have the ability to make a normal person become mentally ill, then it shouldn’t be a problem for you to do it the other way around.”
Zach frowned. He didn’t think Pooky Quinn could be considered to be a normal person. But Zach immediately thought of something and then frowned. Alice once reiterated Lola’s worry about her brother, but according to what Alice had “seen”, coupled with Zach and Benjamin’s judgment on ‘Connor’, Kyle should be able to recover very soon.
“Did Lola tell Alice already?” Seeing the change of expression on Zach’s face, Mrs. Barton said, “then, there is no need for me to explain it further. I think my explicit request is more direct than the ambiguous request that Mrs. Quinn gave to you, right?”
Zach was surprised. Do those old ladies tell everything to each other?
“What? You can’t do it?” Mrs. Barton asked with a frown after seeing Zach’s surprised face.
The surprised expression faded from Zach’s face as he reacted, “No. Madam, you mean Kayle lost his mind? Lola didn’t mention this but only said that because of the performance in the game last week and Mr. Barton (Kyle’s father)’s request, he was quite stressed.”
Hearing that Zach didn’t refuse the request, Mrs. Barton’s tightened brows loosened, “I also thought the same before, but apparently it is not like that. He always repeats a certain sentence all by himself, and his temper has become irritable. He also quit his team and gave up his studies. This is completely different from the Kyle I know. Something must have happened that he couldn’t understand.”
Zach frowned, he was thinking, why is this happening.
Just when he was about to open his mouth and ask some more questions, he was stopped by Mrs. Barton, “I have said it already, I just want a result.” Mrs. Barton took over her cane, leaned forward, wanting to get up. Zach quickly got up, got around the desk, and helped Mrs. Barton.
“I have already said what I know, and my request.” Mrs. Barton held Zach’s arm and walked toward the office door, “whatever happened, you, solve it!”
Since he was already requested to do it like this, what else could Zach say? He could only nod his head.
“Don’t show me a gloomy face!” Seeing Zach’s helpless face, Mrs. Barton said, “I’m more generous than Quinn!”
Zach smiled. This was something he had already known. Three days after Mr. Quinn’s funeral, the church on the west side of the cemetery received a donation from Mrs. Barton, stating that all seats must be replaced. For this reason, the priest of the church also specially thanked Zach. If it were not the Grand Funeral Home, he would not have received such a ceremony and gathered a group of the richest old people in Barton city to come here.
Opening the door of the office, the young maid took over Mrs. Barton’s hand, and under the guard of the black bodyguard, Mrs. Barton left the Grande Funeral Home.
Watching Mrs. Barton’s car leave, Zach frowned, and Alice hurriedly rushed to Zach’s side, playing with her hair nervously.
Louise’s departure also made the Banshee, who was not good at makeup, return to her original appearance. The deep outline cast a shadow on her eyes in the sunlight, which always gave people a feeling of dispiritedness.
Zach stroked the banshee’s hair, “don’t worry, it is not about you and Lola. You two are still friends.”
“Really?” The banshee raised her face. The shadow under her eyes disappeared, and her blue eyes reflected the sunlight, “Mrs. Barton doesn’t mind Lola having a friend like me?”
“No, she doesn’t.” Zach smiled. That’s what talking to banshees is like. She must make sure that everything is confined, then she will be relieved.
Alice heaved a sigh of relief. Lola felt that it was cool to receive home education, and not go to school, and the guardians of Alice are also very cool. But Mrs. Barton might not think the same. At least, Mrs. Quinn thinks that it is not good for a young girl. So Alice was worried that Mrs. Barton would restrict Lola’s contact with her.
The Banshee, who had been happy for a while, suddenly thought of something, and looked at Zach suspiciously: “Then why did Mrs. Barton visit us?”
Zach’s smile became a bitter smile, “It’s Kyle. It seems that Kyle hasn’t recovered from the ‘accident’ and his condition has become even worse.”
Alice was stunned for a moment. It only took her a moment to think about Kyle’s problem, and then the thought of it was thrown out from her mind. Instead, the banshee was worried about her friend again. She wondered if Lola would be more worried about her brother becoming like Pooky.
“Are you worried about Lola?” Zach looked at the Banshee’s face, stroking Alice’s back, and asked softly.
“Mhm!” Alice nodded.
Zach thought for a while, “Let’s go and see how Lola is, she should still be in class. You can accompany her.”
Alice nodded quickly, but then shook her head a little hesitantly. Lola’s school, Raiput High School, is a densely populated place, and Alice was worried that she would not be used to such occasions.
Zach was not in a hurry, watching Alice herself struggle mentally, whether Alice would go or not, Zach would go. He needed to get in touch with Kyle and figure out what made Kyle abnormal.
“I’m going!” After Alice hesitated several times, she finally made the decision, “Did Mrs. Barton make any requests?”
“Mhm.” Zach nodded: “She wants Kyle to return to normal, maybe that ‘Conner’ has affected him, and Benjamin is also going to keep eyes on him.”
Something flickered in Alice’s eyes and hesitated: “Za, Mr. Zach…”
Mister.
Zach frowned. Alice usually would not call the vampire mister. After all, they existed in this society as siblings. In fact, their feelings were no different from siblings. But once Alice was feared of something, she would use the honorific title, which is the behavior of the weak asking for protection from the strong!
For example, when the cemetery was repossessed by the city government, the banshee thought that the vampire and the werewolf would leave Grande Funeral Home, and look for another place to stay, Alice called Zach mister. (Volume 1, Chapter 8)
“Alice.” The vampire held the banshee’s shoulder and said seriously: “Don’t be afraid, we are using a new method to integrate into this world…”
Alice looked at Zach’s eyes and finally nodded.
Prior to this, the nonhumans of Grande Funeral Home only occupied three legal identities and received wages issued by the municipal government, and they actually lived in seclusion from the outside world. And all this has disappeared with the change of the times, and now they have entered people’s lives in an inexplicable way.
As Mrs. Barton said, she didn’t care about the process. She only gave the request and generous reward. What is going to happen in between is going to be the Grande family’s business.