Chapter 16
“How did the interview go, by the way?” Mateo asked after a while, remembering that Jedidiah had an interview with a journalist a while ago.
Jedidiah glanced up, meeting Mateo’s eyes for a moment before smiling slightly. “It was postponed in the end; it will be at the end of this week instead. It will be had in my office as well, we’re trying to be more cautious about where I go after last time.”
Mateo nodded approvingly, smiling at the reports as he continued to read through them slightly absentmindedly, absorbing the information but not thinking about it too deeply. He frowned when he came across James’s report on the Serenity Wilkins situation.
There was something handwritten on the corner, referencing a date from 22 years ago. Was this when his father was murdered? He thought, glancing over at Jedidiah. “Are there more reports, spanning back further than the last few years?” Mateo asked after a moment, flicking through the folder.
Jedidiah nodded, meeting his eye for a moment. “Yes, in the other office are more about the hotel’s affairs, or James has access to the Hargrave reports from the past few years, if you’re interested more about the Serenity Wilkins situation; I can see which page you’re on there,” he said with a slight smile.
Mateo nodded, tapping the corner of the page. “James added a handwritten note here, referencing something which happened literally 22 years ago. Does Serenity Wilkins go that far back in your family history?”
Jedidiah frowned, holding his hand out for the page. “No, not that I know of. The first time we came across her was shortly before my father died, ten years ago. Oh- this is about the Lincoln family in general, I expect. James knows the most about them, and I asked him to try and link together what they actually want with us. This little note was probably for his own benefit.”
Mateo hummed in understanding, taking the sheet back from Jedidiah and reading the note again.
‘What was their real intention if their plan hadn’t been interrupted on’ It read, followed by the date. Mateo worked out that he would’ve only been five years old at this time, back when he was happily living in Spain with his whole family. It suddenly occurred to him that he didn’t know how old Jedidiah actually was, so he turned to his boss.
“How old are you?”
Jedidiah glanced up briefly before continuing typing for a moment and then turning back to Mateo. “Thirty. You’re twenty…between six and eight, but I’m terrible with telling ages.”
Mateo smiled, “you’re exactly right; I’m twenty-seven.”
Jedidiah smiled; he was glad that he and Mateo were close in age; it was just another thing which they had in common, after all. In reality, Jedidiah wanted to be Mateo’s friend; he admired the younger man and enjoyed his company. He just wished that the two of them could spend time outside of a work setting.
Playing with his ring whilst Mateo continued to read through the reports, he became increasingly curious about the cryptic little note which James had left on the page about Serenity Wilkins. “Do you mind if I do a little snooping around about your family’s history? There’s something about this which is bugging me,” Mateo said truthfully.
“That’s fine, you’re welcome to go ask James for any past reports. You should know the full situation anyway, if you plan on working here for a while.”
Mateo smiled, “I am.”
Jedidiah watched as Mateo closed the door behind him, before finally letting himself beam gently, resting his cheek on his palm as he smiled to himself.
—————
James had given Mateo the key to a fairly large room on the bottom floor of the hotel, which essentially contained all the reports of the Hargraves’ past dealings, or as much as people actually knew about what was going on.
Vincent Hargrave had been a very secretive man, and as a result, everything mentioned in these reports were all normal, basic things. Nothing incriminating, and very little actually about the Lincolns.
Until Mateo stumbled upon a goldmine known as a date from 22 years ago. An unofficial report, more like a hand-written page stuffed into the folder from that year, explained that Vincent Hargrave had had Richard Lincoln murdered, leaving Crystal Lincoln, his wife, to continue leading the Lincoln family.
The murder of this man had occurred twenty-seven years ago, but it seemed to Mateo that the problems between the Hargraves and Lincolns went far further back than then. Putting the hand-written note about Richard Lincoln’s apparent murder to one side, Mateo glanced down at the page of the incident which James’s note mentioned.
It stated that the Lincolns had attempted to kidnap Vincent’s son in revenge for Richard’s death, but Mateo thought that the timing was odd.
[If Richard was murdered twenty-seven years ago, then why did the Lincolns only retaliate five years after? And why go after- why go after Jedidiah, an eight year old boy, rather than Vincent, the one who caused the situation?] Mateo spoke aloud in Spanish, thinking the situation through.
And then he remembered what Jedidiah had said previously - that the Lincolns had no qualms hurting children. He, an eight year old child, had been used as a bargaining piece between two mafia families.
He’d been fought over like some object, just so that the Lincolns could get back at Vincent Hargrave.
Mateo took a step back, rubbing his eyes. [This is so fucked up, how can Jedidiah even still respect Vincent after it was his actions which got him almost kidnapped?] How traumatic must that have been? He thought silently, flicking through a few more reports.
[Unless, the murder of Richard Lincoln wasn’t unprovoked. Unless, that was Vincent’s revenge for something else?] he suddenly whispered, trying to get his head around the full situation. This was some Capulet-Montague bullshit; just how far back does their rivalry go? He wondered with slight frustration.
To fully understand this situation, Mateo would need to read a lot more reports, and he would need to talk to Jedidiah himself. And asking about the kidnapping incident seemed like a good place to start.
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