BIA Ch. 102

Day Thirteen

Manny parked the car in front of a three-story single-family house on the outskirts of the city. It was unexpected that it wasn’t a large apartment or loft downtown, but still, the modern and sophisticated exterior of the house definitely seemed like Bran’s taste.

“It’s just the shell. The inside is like something a nouveau riche Chinese person would decorate.”

Chester harshly criticized Bran’s interior design taste.

“You live in a doghouse.”

“What are you talking about? It’s true that Agrippina has a lot of stuff, but it’s not to the point of being called a doghouse.”

Leaving Chester, who was chattering that was why Agrippina hated him, Isaiah got out of the car alone.

Whether it was because he expected Isaiah to come, or because he believed that no daring thief would come to rob the house of a mafia underboss, unlike the other houses around, the front gate was wide open. Isaiah walked through the garden with its wide lawn to the mansion. When he pressed the doorbell at the front door, a woman’s voice came through the speaker after a moment.

“Who is it?”

Her voice sounded older than he had expected. Isaiah gave his name as Bran had instructed. Soon, the front door opened, and a woman with graying hair greeted Isaiah warmly. It seemed she was Vanessa.

“Isaiah.”

As soon as Vanessa saw Isaiah, she hugged him with her thin arms. He had already noticed from that affectionate embrace.

“Why haven’t you come even once all this time?”

It seemed that Isaiah Diaz had been to this house before as well. Of course. Isaiah clicked his tongue inwardly. He should have known when Bran had said he could just go without any explanation.

“I’ve been a bit busy.”

Isaiah pulled away from Vanessa’s embrace, smiling awkwardly.

“Yeah, Bran’s been saying that lately too. So much so that he’s sleeping outside. I wonder what bad things he has to do so much. He’s the busiest mafia member in the world, you know.”

Vanessa, who grumbled as if she was complaining about a grandson who didn’t visit often, pointed to the stairs leading to the second floor and said.

“Anyway, you’re here on Bran’s errand, right? He just told me to guide you to the study, is that okay? Is there anything I need to find with you?”

“Ah, no. I’m fine.”

Isaiah quickly said that and ran up to the second floor. As soon as he arrived at the second floor, he was briefly frustrated seeing the numerous doors on both sides, but luckily, the first room next to the stairs was the study.

Indeed, with the antique furniture and the grand ornaments placed here and there, it felt far from the modern interior. Well, with this many books, there was no way to create a sophisticated and clean atmosphere.

It was definitely his first time here, but the scene itself felt somehow familiar. He couldn’t tell if it was a memory of sneaking into Bran’s house in Liberty Port, or a memory of Isaiah Diaz stepping into this study.

Feeling complicated in many ways, he entered the study and finally saw a large desk. On top of the fancy desk that looked like it belonged in a medieval royal court, a fishing bag was placed, looking ridiculously out of place. The other two were placed on the floor next to the desk.

Isaiah opened the bag on the desk first. It was to check if there was a gun inside, but as soon as he opened the zipper, a strange object placed on top of the beige barrel caught his eye first. It was a state-of-the-art smartphone.

The way it was placed neatly on the barrel didn’t seem like it had been dropped by accident. It was clear that someone had intentionally put it there.

Isaiah quickly picked it up. It was a new product, even with the screen protector still on. Of course, the call history was empty, and the basic text message app had several service notifications sent from the telecommunications company, including a message announcing its activation. And at the top, there was a message presumed to be from Bran.

“The discreet is not bad, but I want to be more intimate with you.”

In short, it meant to use a messenger to exchange messages more quickly instead of slow notes. But why did he have to use such a suggestive expression like tete-a-tete, in close touch?

He was such a cunning human being. He was an expert at playing with people’s hearts.

Isaiah cursed wildly in his mind. But unlike his violent thoughts, the hand holding the smartphone was trembling endlessly. He held the smartphone carefully with both hands, as if he were holding a precious scripture, and looked around. Only after confirming again that no one was there, did he turn off the device and put it back in the bag. He put it in the empty space behind the folding stock so that even if someone else opened the bag, they wouldn’t be able to find it right away, and closed the zipper.

He opened the two bags next to the desk and confirmed that they contained guns. As he stood up holding the three bags in both hands, the bag with the smartphone felt surprisingly heavy. Of course, it wasn’t because of the smartphone, but it seemed like something else was inside.

He briefly thought about checking, but decided not to. If it was something he needed to check right away, Bran would have probably left some instructions. The fact that there were no instructions meant that he could look at it later. If he wasted time and Chester, who was out of his mind, came barging in, that would be more troublesome.

Isaiah went down to the first floor, said goodbye to Vanessa, and left the house right away. Fortunately, Chester was waiting quietly in the car. Well, even if this guy was out of his mind, he wouldn’t think of barging into Bran’s house with his bare hands. He didn’t have that much guts.

Manny, seeing Isaiah holding three fishing bags in both hands, immediately opened the trunk door. Isaiah put all the fishing bags in the trunk and got into the back seat.

“Did you bring the guns? How did you bring them?”

“I just brought them, what else.”

Isaiah said, closing the car door.

“It seems Isaiah Diaz has been to this house before.”

When he said that the housekeeper opened the door as soon as she saw his face, Chester muttered, “Ah.”

“Oh… so that’s how it was.”

Chester, who had been scratching his nose and mumbling, belatedly got angry, saying, “Anyway, that Bran bastard drags people around like dogs!” Isaiah didn’t respond and just looked out the window. Honestly, he couldn’t even hear what Chester was saying. All his attention was focused on the trunk of the car. More precisely, on the new smartphone in the trunk. Maybe a new message had arrived in the meantime. He just wanted to get rid of Chester and Manny quickly and check the smartphone.

Isaiah shut up Chester, who was suggesting they grab lunch, and went straight to the Tate Building. As soon as he arrived at his accommodation, he installed a benchrest on the window seat and mounted the .338-tuned barrel of the AT model he had brought from Bran’s house. It wasn’t like he was going to actually shoot, but once he took out the gun, he couldn’t help but set it up and adjust it carefully. It wasn’t because he was a perfectionist, it was just a habit ingrained in his body. It was like inertia. As he was switching between three of the six scopes he had, adjusting the magnification, the surroundings became quiet. Chester and Manny had left.

Only then did Isaiah take out the smartphone from the bag he had placed in the corner of the living room. As soon as he turned it on, he checked the message app first, but there were no new messages. There were no missed calls either. Isaiah was momentarily very disappointed, and surprised at himself for feeling that way.

What was this all about? It wasn’t like he had never received work phones before. There was even a smartphone on the table that Chester had forced upon him.

He hated himself for being so affected by a single message, so he deliberately turned it off again and threw the smartphone into the bag. Then, belatedly, he remembered that the bag had been heavy, so he opened the zipper again. When he took out the rifle case inside the bag, he finally saw several notebooks lying on the bottom.

What are these?

Isaiah took out the notebooks and glanced through them. The way they were filled with numbers, they seemed to be ledgers. The beautiful handwriting, as if printed, was clearly Bran’s. It was the same handwriting as the notes that had been in the desk bookshelf when he had gone to his house in Liberty Port.

Isaiah’s expression gradually hardened as he looked through the notebooks one by one. Some ledgers were just ordinary sales records of businesses, but there were also more dangerous contents.

Why did Bran put this in my bag? Did he know that Cedric was going to pass the boss position to Chester? Was he planning to dismantle the organization altogether? Is that why he took them out?

Of course, he thought it wasn’t such a one-dimensional reason, but then again, it was also possible. Wasn’t he an FBI agent who had infiltrated with a purpose in the first place? If that purpose was to properly destroy the Kalisz Family, there was no more perfect evidence than this.

Anyway, it would be better to move this to Bell Financial later.

Isaiah put the notebooks back in the bag. He put the rifle case on top of them, and after hesitating for a moment, he took out the smartphone and closed the zipper.

I can’t help it. I have to ask about the notebooks.

Isaiah made excuses to himself as he turned on the smartphone. Yes, he had a clear purpose. It wasn’t just that he wanted to hear Bran’s voice. Absolutely not.