FILE 24: AT THE SECRET HOTEL PART 3
"I want to come with you," As soon as Lea heard about my lunch plans, she spoke up right away. "This person you encountered sounds interesting," she added. It didn't bother me, so I agreed.
We were directly heading to our appointment to the spa, one of my favourite pastimes. This being Lea's initial time being treated at a resort, she was uncontrollably enthusiastic.
"I think I'll get the full package. My face requires relatively cleaning and I'd love a massage," she simpered happily.
"Hmm," I responded briskly as we crossed a narrow wooden bridge over the river.
I understand she's excited, but her chatter was very annoying. Upon entering the spa and resort building, I was pleasantly surprised to see Liam, my potential new customer, waiting at the front desk.
"I would like to schedule another appointment for tomorrow, at the same time, with the same girl. Yes, same package," he said to the receptionist as she typed on her computer.
I nudged Lea and whispered softly, "That's him." She murmured, "Oh wow." You can comprehend why. The guy wore very fancy clothing and a golden watch with diamonds in it. In my head, numbers were already going off about how much I should charge him.
Liam concluded his business and went off without detecting us, too busy on his cell phone. For the next two hours, both Lea and I enjoyed our indulgence. As she went for her massage, I got myself a body exfoliation (removing of dead skin).
By the time we departed our skin felt as if we were newborn babies.
"It's almost time, will we go to the Flying Toucan Pub and wait for the client?" Lea inquired.
I checked my watch which showed that we still had twenty minutes. Walking would take us ten minutes. Although I had a pretty blonde girl by my side, I still gave the women we passed a wink and an enticing smile, which made Lea scowl as we went to the pub.
Since it was midday, the pub wasn't as busy as it would be during the evening. There were four tables occupied, and they conversed quietly, enjoying their surroundings. A waiter directed us to a small table for four, presented our menus and after we issued our order, he went away.
I examined the bar with its exotic decor. A gigantic toucan in flight was in front with the pub's name in huge colourful letters. The walls inside were bright and cheerful and decorated with lots of plants with a giant rigid bar stacked with varieties of alcohol.
Outside stood many tables under brightly coloured umbrellas. When our drinks came Lea gave a happy exclamation at the cute umbrellas and citrus. "How cute," she was all smiles as she twirled her green umbrella.
I took a sip from my galaxy cocktail as a figure appeared by our table. "I see you're enjoying yourselves without me," a masculine voice said in amusement. Lea choked on her piña colada. I gave her my towel to clean herself as I explained to Liam.
"We got here a little early so figured we might as well keep ourselves busy while we wait for you. Does it bother you? I can summon the waiter if you want."
"No worries. I placed an order the moment I came in," he dismissed me. He motioned with a hand while he spoke, "Do you like this place? I come here every time I want to relax."
"Indeed, it fits the atmosphere of the Caribbean," I replied thoughtfully. The waiter brought his drink called Rob Roy, and we got down to business.
"I brought my partner, Lea Campbell if that's all right with you?" I took a sip.
"No, not at all, She looks quite lovely." He smiled respectively at her. "Allow me to introduce myself. My name is Liam Dankworth, and I have something I require of you. How do you do, Miss Campbell?" He introduced himself.
Lea blushed prettily as she responded, "Nice to meet you, sir." Enough with the pleasantries please, I painfully thought. As if reading my mind, Liam spoke.
"Let's get on with it then." Liam began with his tale as I listened earnestly for a remarkable story.
"As I told you yesterday in the elevator, I am the CEO of a research company. I am a scientist and wholly believe what I see and hear. Therefore, I was constantly a sceptic when it came to anything supernatural.
When I went to inspect one of our warehouses following employee complaints, to my bewilderment I encountered an otherworldly creature. To be sure they kept complaining of broken goods and missing objects.
However, I thought it was just some unpleasant prankster wanting to sabotage or a disgruntled ex-employee. It was no such thing. While I entered my rounds in the midst of a box of imported tubes, they all shattered, causing glass to fly everywhere. We tried pinpointing a cause, but there was no rational explanation for them to break.
Another incident was when I was in the shipyard with other workers. Several cases containing expensive research materials burst into flames," he narrated disbelievingly as if he did not believe what he was stating.
"If chemicals are mixed incorrectly, don't they explode?" I asked haphazardly.
He looked at me with a puzzled expression. "What do you mean?" he asked. "Well, I heard from a friend that chemicals can explode if mixed incorrectly," I replied. His face became pained as he responded, "This is real life, Nathan, not a movie."
Lea gave a giggle as my face flushed. I was merely asking. "I won't reveal what the materials were, but I assure you they would not explode," Liam confirmed. My face was burning while Lea chortled at my side.
"Okay, okay, stop laughing. Anything else?" I snapped, feeling embarrassed.
"Indeed. After all the employees departed on my last day, I went for a final inspection. Upon returning to my office, I found everything overturned and in a mess. I would have assumed it was a person if it hadn't been for the figure I witnessed."
As Liam furrowed his brow, tension settled around our table. "It resembled a corpse, as if they just stood up from their casket. After a moment of silence, he vanished into thin air, leaving behind a trail of dust. I was frozen stiff from fear, wondering all the while if it would come back and kill me.
It never returned, and I temporarily closed my warehouse out of concern for the safety of my employees. But it's been very inconvenient as it's slowed down our research."
He stroked his hands nervously but smiled as the waiter came to require if we had another order. We denied the request, and he went away despondent to fetch the bill.
"As the expert, can you identify what I saw that night, Nathan?" he inquired. "Sounds like a zombie," Lea muttered jokingly under her breath. I landed her a small kick under the table to shut her up. Although she grimaced and glared at me, she did not speak.
Truthfully it does sound like a living dead, but it's not. I remember dad once telling me over and over that it wasn't, because I myself couldn't help but thinking it was nothing except a zombie. Eventually, he shouted at me and punished me by forcing me to write a page with the phrase 'It's not a zombie'.
"The entity you encountered is called a Revenant. Supposedly, it is the spirit of a deceased human being that has returned to the mortal plane as a visible ghost or a vengeful spirit that has possessed a dead body, likely its own body.
Revenants are said to return to the living realm to take revenge on those who wronged them in their previous life." I rubbed my chin thoughtfully. "I'll require some information of anyone who recently died that recognised you or was associated with your company—"
To my surprise, Liam seemed troubled at my request. I smiled knowingly. "I constantly keep my client's info confidential, don't worry," I reassured him but he still didn't appear happy.
I sighed at his reluctance. "I need your cooperation if I'm to do my job." Ultimately, he agreed. We paid the poor sob who served us and returned to our accommodations.
"I will email you the address when we return to Busan. Once you eliminate the creature, I will compensate you immediately," he said gravely as we shook hands. My eyes glinted with greed at the idea. I can't wait.
"A revenant huh? I've never heard of such a thing," Lea observed as she poured herself a glass of water. We were back in our room. I relaxed on a couch while she spoke. "Consider it a vengeful walking corpse. As long as you are not its target, you'll be fine."
"Do you believe Liam Dankworth is its target?" she inquired as she settled beside me. I shrugged unconcernedly. "So what if it is? As long as we get rid of it before he gets killed, we get paid."
"Bastard," she grumbled. Uh-huh, I do not care.