Elinor - Chapter 2

 

Elinor

By Karen Singer

 

Chapter 2

 

My entire head was in pain.  My wrists were in pain, my ankles were in pain, my back was in pain, and even my ass was in pain from sitting so long on that hard chair.  But my head was by far the worst.  First I had been hit over the head by the big guy’s gun, then later I had been punched a few times in the face.  I figured I had good reason for my head to hurt so much.  I also figured I had good reason for my brain to not be able to understand what had happened, including what was happening now.  I simply couldn’t make sense of anything that had gone on.  My bottom line though, was that I was amazed I was still alive.  I had been convinced I was going to die, and I still didn’t even know why.

Now I was following the big guy to…I had no idea where, but it seemed to be a long walk.  I saw a lot of fences, many of them with horses on the other side.  We passed a number of horse stables and other buildings.  The big guy finally led me into what looked like the main house.  Make that mansion.  As I followed through the house, my head swiveled around looking at everything.  It all appeared to be…rich!  Absolute wealth!

I was led into a large, beautifully decorated room with a desk in it and a nice seating area for relaxing with guests.

“That’s your desk,” the big guy told me.

“My desk?”

“That’s what I said.  Mr. Germo said he needs you to get his schedule straight for the rest of the day by the time he gets back.  I suggest you get busy.”

“But I don’t know anything about…”

“Your desk is right there!” the big guy stopped me as he pointed again.

“But…”

The big guy just shrugged then headed for a chair in the corner where he sat.  I looked at him there.  He appeared to be comfortable in the chair.  There was a small table next to it with a couple of books and a lamp.  The man picked up a book and began reading, ignoring me.

“That was Mr. Germo?” I asked, attempting to make sense of something.

The guy looked up from his book.  “That was him,” he confirmed.  “Enrique Germo.”

“And who are you?”

“Stan.  I’m your personal bodyguard…or assassin.  Whichever.  Depending on whether you step out of line or not.  If you do?”  He shrugged.  “I’ll kill you.  Even though I already know that Mr. Germo would rather do that himself.  Still, I wouldn’t mind ending your life in the least.  It gives me…purpose.”

I was aghast.  “And I’m supposed to just figure out his schedule for the day?”

“Something like that.”

“How?”

Stan shrugged.  “Your desk is over there.  It’s not my business.  My business is to take care of you, one way or another.”

I wasn’t sure exactly what that meant, but it sounded ominous.  “I’m Rowan,” I told him.”

“Not anymore,” Stan replied, his head down in his book.  “I suggest you get to work.  Mr. Germo is only going to be an hour or two at the most.”

I moved close to the desk and looked around the room.  It was obviously a woman’s office.  There were a few plants in the room and lots of decorations.  The desk was huge with an expensive executive chair behind it.  I sat in the chair and looked around.  The computer on the desk wasn’t just old, it was ancient.  My eyes fell on something else.  “A rolodex?” I said out loud.  “Give me a break!”

“What would you use?” Stan asked, his head still down in his book.

I didn’t bother answering.  I was about to turn to the computer to see if I could even get into it since I had no idea what password the previous woman had used, when my eyes fell on the book in the middle of the desk.  I opened it and confirmed my worst suspicions.  It was a date planner.  Searching through it, the entire thing seemed to be full of many penciled in entries.  I also noted a number of places where things had been erased then written over with something else.  Schedule changes.

I found today’s date and noted a number of things listed.  I guessed they were all things that were supposed to be on Germo’s schedule for the day.  I didn’t see anything about the woman going to a computer store to talk about getting a new computer system that was obviously needed.  I wondered if the woman had a separate schedule book just for herself.

Okay.  So now I had a list of things that Mr. Germo was supposed to be doing today, including the times.  Now what?

“I found his schedule for the day,” I told Stan whose head was still in his book.

“Good.  He’ll want you to fill him in as soon as he gets back,” Stan replied, still not bothering to look up.

I looked down at the entries.  The writing was neat.  Feminine.  But still a bit difficult to read since it contained more than a few abbreviations I would have to decipher.  I looked up again to Stan.  “The woman who died, I guess the one who’s desk this is…”

“It’s your desk now,” Stan replied, his head still in the book.

“Her name was Elinor?”

“Yup.”

“How did she handle things with…Mr. Germo I guess?”

Stan finally looked up from his book.  “First thing every morning, she usually sat down with him in his office and laid out his itinerary for the day.  Then whenever Mr. Germo went anywhere or did anything, she usually went with him.  A lot of her job was to just keep him on track and handle any of the details he asked her to.”

“And I’m supposed to do all that?”

Stan shrugged.  “That’s the job.  Unless you’d rather die.  Which will be easy enough to arrange.  Of course, then we’d have to find a new Elinor to take your place.”

“Elinor,” I repeated the name.  “My name is Rowan by the way.  Rowan…”

“I told you, not anymore!” Stan cut me off quickly.  “Whoever you used to be is dead already.  The only question now is, do you want your body to be just as dead as whoever you used to be?  You’re Elinor now.  I suggest you get used to it, or just let me shoot you and be done with it.  You’re choice.”

“None of this is making any sense!” I complained.

Stan put his book on the table and got up.  As he approached the desk he pulled his gun out.  He stopped in front of the desk and aimed it at my head.  “Bye Elinor,” he said.

“No!  Wait!” I said quickly.  Stan stopped, but the gun was still pointed at my head.  “I’ll be Elinor.  Okay?  I just….  Please don’t kill me.”

Stan shrugged, then put his gun away and headed back to his chair.

“I just don’t know anything about anything here,” I told him.  “I don’t even know how I got into this position in the first place.”

“Elinor died,” Stan said as he picked up his book again.

“And now I’m Elinor,” I said, looking for confirmation.

“For now,” Stan said as he opened the book.

“For now?”

“For now,” Stan confirmed.  “I’m guessing it’s all going to depend on whether or not you can convince Mr. Germo that you’re worth keeping alive.  He has a, shall we say fondness, for killing people.  I still don’t know why he didn’t simply kill you earlier.  I’m guessing he was just desperate.  Most likely, very desperate.”

“Yeah,” I replied.  “He must have been.”

“Indeed,” Stan replied as he began reading again.

I looked down at the date planner in front of me, then at the ancient computer on the desk.  Did that thing actually work?  The keyboard was off to the side of the desk.  I reached out and hit the spacebar.  Amazingly, I could hear the computer starting to come to life.  It took a moment, but the screen finally lit up.  Huh!  Not even a password.  I pulled the keyboard and mouse over in front of me, then began trying to look through what I could on the computer.  There was a lot more stuff in there than I expected.  None of which I knew anything at all about.  Something told me though that I better figure it all out as soon as possible if I wanted to continue living.

One thing had been made perfectly clear to me though, if I wanted to live, I had to keep Mr. Germo happy and prove I was worth keeping around.  But what about my store?  My brand-new computer store?  I’d just have to see.  For now, my main focus needed to be on staying alive.

Could I call the police?  The FBI?  The girl scouts?  Something told me that with Stan sitting right there in the room with me, that I’d never be able to manage it.  And Stan looked like he spent a lot of time sitting in that chair.  Stan was supposed to be my personal bodyguard…or killer.  But why?

“Stan?” I said.

“Yeah?” Stan replied, sounding very bored.

“Why do I need a bodyguard?  Other than to shoot me if I mess up.”

Stan looked up at me.  “Look.  For now, you’re Mr. Germo’s personal assistant.  That makes you the second biggest boss in this place.  You literally run everything around here, not to mention most of Mr. Germo’s business.  I’m here to make sure you stay alive, unless I shoot you, or Mateo shoots you, or Mr. Germo himself, which is the most likely thing that’s going to happen.”

Once again, the threat of extinction had been laid out to me.  I turned my attention back to the date planner, and the computer.  Maybe it would make things easier for me, and possibly for Mr. Germo too, if I typed out the events for the day in a more readable format.  Two minutes later, I began typing.

I was surprised when Stan suddenly walked over to my desk and picked up the phone on it.  Stan pushed a button, then waited a moment before he said, “Matilda?  Elinor and I are going to need a small snack brought to her office.  Oh, and I believe Elinor may have a splitting headache.  Can you bring her some tea as well?  I’m sure she’ll appreciate it.  Thanks,” he finished before putting the phone back.  He returned to his chair.

“Matilda?” I asked.

“The cook.  I just asked her to bring lunch for us here.  I’m sure the previous Elinor has some aspirin for your headache somewhere in that desk.”

I worked on the schedule list for Mr. Germo.  Fifteen minutes later, an elderly woman walked in with a large tray full of food in her hands.  She stopped just after entering the doorway and stared in disbelief at me.  She turned to Stan.  “Who’s he?  Where’s Elinor?”

Stan pointed at me.  “Elinor!” he said firmly.

Matilda just stood there staring at me in disbelief.  Then she started eliciting a string of Spanish to herself that I had no clue about.

“Matilda!” Stan said firmly.

“Si Stan,” Matilda replied.  She set the large tray on one of the tables in the room, then left, still talking to herself in Spanish.

“You done there yet?” Stan asked.

“I’ve just got to figure out if I can print this,” I replied, now looking at the ancient printer.

“Get done.  I’m getting lunch.  When you’re finished, I suggest you get yourself something to eat.  Mr. Germo is having lunch with his friend.  If you’ve got to go anywhere with him later, you may not get another chance to eat until tonight.”

It sounded like good advice to me, if not more than a bit weird since I still didn’t have a clue about anything.  I hit the print button and was amazed when the old printer started feeding paper.  In moments, I had two copies of Mr. Germo’s schedule for the rest of the day.  One copy for Mr. Germo, the other for myself.

With the papers ready to go, I walked over to the food tray.  There was nothing there that I wanted to eat, but I figured that food was probably good advice.  I grabbed a few things and brought them back to my desk.  The only thing to drink on the tray though was a cup of tea in a fancy teacup.  With little choice, I brought that to my desk as well.

As I ate, I looked through Mr. Germo’s schedule for tomorrow.  A few minutes later, I was typing that schedule into the computer, already planning for not only this afternoon, but for tomorrow too.

My only chance to live meant that I had to keep Mr. Germo happy.  So far, the only way I had to do that was to make sense of everything they thought I needed to do.  None of which made any sense to me.

Stay alive.  It was the name of the game.  And evidently, my name…my new name, was supposed to be…Elinor.

What kind of weird place was this?