Witchbane - 5.2
Hexenfluch Headquarters, Berlin, Germany.
April 7th, 2015
16:30
‘You are going to Italy,’ Shelly announces. ‘There have been reports from Bergamo. A sorceress was seen in Alta Città, engaged in something very peculiar. We don’t understand the purpose of her actions, which makes them even more suspicious.’
‘What reasons do we have to believe she is a sorceress?’ the Captain asks.
‘Your own report,’ Shelly replies, handing Camilla the picture I recognise instantly. ‘It’s Ann Boleyn.’
I almost say: ‘Ha!’ Almost. With Shelly, one has to guard their tongue. You start with ‘Ha!’ and, before you know it, you find yourself in a deep and revealing conversation… revealing on your end, that is.
‘What is she doing?’ I ask instead.
Shelly’s face is perfectly blank when she answers.
‘She seems to be installing washing machines in random people’s homes.’
Allright, I’m sold. A sorceress engrossed in such boring and mundane business? I want to see it. If only for the sake of it.
‘She needs to be detained for interrogation,’ Shelly added. ‘You also need to stop whatever she is up to.’
I can see why Shelly has taken a battle stance. The Boleyn woman is known to stick her nose into very dangerous matters. Demon-summoning, for example. That wasn’t her first time either. When we researched her back in Liechtenstein, the search revealed she had a particular interest in inexplicable happenings and shady incidents.
That’s sorcerers for you. Powerful, but arrogant. Inquisitive nature, provocative behaviour. They go around looking for trouble. Is it so surprising that trouble comes looking for them?
I liked you, Ann Boleyn.
***
Alta Città, Bergamo, Italy
April 8th, 2015
18:25
We spend the first day setting surveillance in place. We know the hotel where Ann Boleyn is staying. We know at least two households that bought new washing machines from her. Apart from that, we know nothing. As far as data goes, it’s still pretty slim.
The way each of us goes about the surveillance business speaks volumes on the personalities in the team. Lucrezia spends her day on the roofs, seeking the best spots and figuring out shortcuts and escape routes. She is also taking photos, mostly to justify her presence up there to random bystanders. The kid mounts cameras on the traffic lights of all the major intersections. He spends his evening bar hopping, chatting and flirting like there is no tomorrow. I do my own rounds through the local restaurants and bistros. We are all working towards the same goal. We need to figure out where Ann prefers to dine, drink and walk… and whether she does it alone.
Luckily, Alta Città is not a big place. We are able to cover it pretty decently. By the time we get back together in our hotel, some of us have news to share.
‘She is not acting alone,’ Lucrezia reports, producing a stack of pictures. ‘I happened to catch them right in the middle of yet another washing machine replacement. There seems to be three more people helping her.’
I look at the pictures. On one of them, there is Ann, talking animatedly with an elderly Italian man, probably the household owner. Next to her, there is another man, well-dressed and handsome and smiling an easy smile. God, isn’t he dashing. Yum.
Then there is some skinny youth clad in an overall, clearly playing the role of the installation guy. He actually looks quite inconspicuous. I wouldn’t have spared him a second glance.
The last one is an upscale-looking girl. She was not with the rest of the gang when the washing machine was brought and installed. She joined them later in a little eatery where they spent the dinnertime.
‘And who is this?’ I ask.
On the photo, a black-haired, blue-eyed man is looking directly into the camera from the crowd. He is making horns with his fingers to the person in front of him, who seems to be a perfectly random guy going about his business.
‘Oh,’ Lucrezia says. ‘This one. I don’t really remember taking it.’
Her voice is as hoarse as ever, but not as impassive. It’s edged with confusion.
‘Something very weird happened when I was at the Piazza Vecchia,’ she says. ‘I was crossing the plaza when I noticed four men who looked almost identical to me. They were all wearing the same clothes, the cream-colored business suit.’ She pointed at the black-haired horn-maker. ‘And they were looking at the same direction, but they were in different places. One was not so far away from me on the plaza. The other one was standing at the entrance of a shop nearby. One more was sitting outside a small cafe. And there was another one on the roof of that cafe.’
‘Weird,’ Camilla agrees.
I frown. What Lucrezia is saying doesn’t make sense to me. It sounds like a sorcerer’s trick all right, but why would a sorcerer in their right mind do such a thing?
‘The one that was closest to me,’ the sniper continues, ‘he actually noticed I was looking at him. To mask my intentions, I asked him to take a photo of me at the plaza.’
‘Good thinking,’ the Captain approves. ‘What did he do?’
‘He said: ‘Is this all that you wish?’ Lucrezia replies. ‘I said yes. He took a picture of me and gave me my camera back. The next moment, he was gone.’
‘What do you mean, gone?’ I ask, feeling that she doesn’t just mean the stranger bid her a polite goodbye and went away.
‘He wasn’t next to me anymore,’ Lucrezia replies, clearly struggling for words. ‘And the other ones, the three other identical men, they were not there anymore, either. I could only see one of them, the one in the cafe. There was a girl there, sitting alone. He approached her and started talking… then I lost sight of them, too.’
‘Did they leave the cafe?’ the Captain asks.
Lucrezia shakes her head.
‘They just disappeared. The table was still there, but they were gone.’
There is a moment of silence as we digest the story.
‘Oh well,’ Camilla says presently. ‘There is definitely a mystery here, but I don’t believe it falls into the scope of our assignment. As long as these quadruple twin men and the girl are not Ann’s accomplices, we don’t care about them at the moment.’
‘I don’t think they are,’ Lucrezia says.
‘Neither do I. Let’s get back to business.’
April 7th, 2015
16:30
‘You are going to Italy,’ Shelly announces. ‘There have been reports from Bergamo. A sorceress was seen in Alta Città, engaged in something very peculiar. We don’t understand the purpose of her actions, which makes them even more suspicious.’
‘What reasons do we have to believe she is a sorceress?’ the Captain asks.
‘Your own report,’ Shelly replies, handing Camilla the picture I recognise instantly. ‘It’s Ann Boleyn.’
I almost say: ‘Ha!’ Almost. With Shelly, one has to guard their tongue. You start with ‘Ha!’ and, before you know it, you find yourself in a deep and revealing conversation… revealing on your end, that is.
‘What is she doing?’ I ask instead.
Shelly’s face is perfectly blank when she answers.
‘She seems to be installing washing machines in random people’s homes.’
Allright, I’m sold. A sorceress engrossed in such boring and mundane business? I want to see it. If only for the sake of it.
‘She needs to be detained for interrogation,’ Shelly added. ‘You also need to stop whatever she is up to.’
I can see why Shelly has taken a battle stance. The Boleyn woman is known to stick her nose into very dangerous matters. Demon-summoning, for example. That wasn’t her first time either. When we researched her back in Liechtenstein, the search revealed she had a particular interest in inexplicable happenings and shady incidents.
That’s sorcerers for you. Powerful, but arrogant. Inquisitive nature, provocative behaviour. They go around looking for trouble. Is it so surprising that trouble comes looking for them?
I liked you, Ann Boleyn.
***
Alta Città, Bergamo, Italy
April 8th, 2015
18:25
We spend the first day setting surveillance in place. We know the hotel where Ann Boleyn is staying. We know at least two households that bought new washing machines from her. Apart from that, we know nothing. As far as data goes, it’s still pretty slim.
The way each of us goes about the surveillance business speaks volumes on the personalities in the team. Lucrezia spends her day on the roofs, seeking the best spots and figuring out shortcuts and escape routes. She is also taking photos, mostly to justify her presence up there to random bystanders. The kid mounts cameras on the traffic lights of all the major intersections. He spends his evening bar hopping, chatting and flirting like there is no tomorrow. I do my own rounds through the local restaurants and bistros. We are all working towards the same goal. We need to figure out where Ann prefers to dine, drink and walk… and whether she does it alone.
Luckily, Alta Città is not a big place. We are able to cover it pretty decently. By the time we get back together in our hotel, some of us have news to share.
‘She is not acting alone,’ Lucrezia reports, producing a stack of pictures. ‘I happened to catch them right in the middle of yet another washing machine replacement. There seems to be three more people helping her.’
I look at the pictures. On one of them, there is Ann, talking animatedly with an elderly Italian man, probably the household owner. Next to her, there is another man, well-dressed and handsome and smiling an easy smile. God, isn’t he dashing. Yum.
Then there is some skinny youth clad in an overall, clearly playing the role of the installation guy. He actually looks quite inconspicuous. I wouldn’t have spared him a second glance.
The last one is an upscale-looking girl. She was not with the rest of the gang when the washing machine was brought and installed. She joined them later in a little eatery where they spent the dinnertime.
‘And who is this?’ I ask.
On the photo, a black-haired, blue-eyed man is looking directly into the camera from the crowd. He is making horns with his fingers to the person in front of him, who seems to be a perfectly random guy going about his business.
‘Oh,’ Lucrezia says. ‘This one. I don’t really remember taking it.’
Her voice is as hoarse as ever, but not as impassive. It’s edged with confusion.
‘Something very weird happened when I was at the Piazza Vecchia,’ she says. ‘I was crossing the plaza when I noticed four men who looked almost identical to me. They were all wearing the same clothes, the cream-colored business suit.’ She pointed at the black-haired horn-maker. ‘And they were looking at the same direction, but they were in different places. One was not so far away from me on the plaza. The other one was standing at the entrance of a shop nearby. One more was sitting outside a small cafe. And there was another one on the roof of that cafe.’
‘Weird,’ Camilla agrees.
I frown. What Lucrezia is saying doesn’t make sense to me. It sounds like a sorcerer’s trick all right, but why would a sorcerer in their right mind do such a thing?
‘The one that was closest to me,’ the sniper continues, ‘he actually noticed I was looking at him. To mask my intentions, I asked him to take a photo of me at the plaza.’
‘Good thinking,’ the Captain approves. ‘What did he do?’
‘He said: ‘Is this all that you wish?’ Lucrezia replies. ‘I said yes. He took a picture of me and gave me my camera back. The next moment, he was gone.’
‘What do you mean, gone?’ I ask, feeling that she doesn’t just mean the stranger bid her a polite goodbye and went away.
‘He wasn’t next to me anymore,’ Lucrezia replies, clearly struggling for words. ‘And the other ones, the three other identical men, they were not there anymore, either. I could only see one of them, the one in the cafe. There was a girl there, sitting alone. He approached her and started talking… then I lost sight of them, too.’
‘Did they leave the cafe?’ the Captain asks.
Lucrezia shakes her head.
‘They just disappeared. The table was still there, but they were gone.’
There is a moment of silence as we digest the story.
‘Oh well,’ Camilla says presently. ‘There is definitely a mystery here, but I don’t believe it falls into the scope of our assignment. As long as these quadruple twin men and the girl are not Ann’s accomplices, we don’t care about them at the moment.’
‘I don’t think they are,’ Lucrezia says.
‘Neither do I. Let’s get back to business.’