Part 2 :
The Death of Henry The Hen
There was a knock at the door, Henry went to the door and found himself staring into the gold shine of a police badge and the dull gleam of an A.D.A badge. "Um, hello, can i help you officer, A.D.A Grumpy?" Henry wondered. "Actually in fact you can, Mr.Hen, we were wondering why you failed to check Hans mail, you realize if you had, he would be alive correct?" Officer Smith said bluntly.
Henry paused for a moment, he started to sweat, he started quite slowly "Well...you see, I..came home that day, to find my wife had hung herself from our tapestry, of course i untied them and put her on the floor, I checked her pulse, she was pure white...but..i just couldn't believe it. i called you guys immediately, I sat in the middle of the floor and waited. About 3 minutes later..a..officer, by the name of Troy showed up, he asked the normal questions i guess, stuff like "did you move her?', "has she ever displayed any sort of emotional problems?". I got through them, he had been writing up a report, he called the morgue and they carried my wife away. After they had left i called her sister and her mother. Finally the reality set in that my wife was gone, i broke down. Between all that was happening i never got a chance to check Hans' mail. Officer Troy should back-up what i've said, now if you don't mind i have a funeral to plan." Henry explained
"Well i am sorry to hear about your wife Mr.Hen, but i'm going to have to ask that you not take any sudden trips, i realize this is a tough time, but right now your our only lead"
Officer Smith stated
"Well thanks, if you need me just call...*deep sigh* i won't be going anywhere"
Henry sighed deeply
What Henry left out:
Henry was freaking out, he arrived at work to find he had a call waiting , not unusual, but something that he hoped wasn't happening , he knew that his debts were bad, but to think they'd come calling so soon..Henry picked up the phone slowly "Hello?"
The phone was silent, then a grating voice finally started talking "Hello, Henry...you probably already know what this is about...here's what you will do, you will ignore Hans mail today, you will do this and we will negotiate your debt to us...oh and as for an alibi,...well let's say i'm taking good care of that..right...now!"
Henry was so relieved, this was he and his wife's chance, she had been with him through so much, then , as he was about to hang up, he heard a bone chilling scream "Heeenryy!". He instantly knew it was his wife, he bolted out the door and raced home.
He arrived to find his wife dangling from the curtains, a small note attached to her body, he read it slowly aloud:
"Henry, did you you really think a simple mail check failure would be enough? You had over 1 million of bad debt and you certainly wouldn't be earning any money as a pro-bono lawyer for that fool Hans. I think the distress of your wife's will be a pretty good reason for the mail, don't you think?
From , RMPL".
*Back to present*
Henry knew what had to be done, the police would find his credit statements, the defaults on the car loan, the foreclosure on the house, he couldn't let the mob eliminate him too, he needed to escape, but his car had been taken by the police for processing. He picked up the phone and slowly dialled, he knew the person who he was calling was ex-mafia, but at this point he had no choice "Hello, Bob, it's Henry...i need a favour".
*At Bob the Bakers*
"Bob listen , i need to use your truck, i've decided that the funeral will just be me, i'll be burying her by the old picnic grounds were we used to eat. I think she'd want it that way",
Bob: "Alright Heny, i'll bring it to you, my daughter is all broken up, so i won't be letting her in on the details, see you in 15".
As Bob was getting ready to leave the phone rang again, Bob slowly picked it up, he wasn't expecting any other calls, and he dreaded what the call might be about, "Hello,". silence answered Bob, he was about to hang up, when a grating voice came through : "Look Bob, i'll skip the pleasantries, the time has come for you to finally be of use to our organization, with Henry's car out of commission, of course he'd call you, his friend, but you know what, Bob? Your going to "fix" your trucks brakes for me , and maybe the wrench slips, the bolts come loose, you don't notice, you take the truck to Henry's, after he "loses control" of the car you'll redial this number, and we will discuss your reward. By the way your daughter hasn't come home has she? Consider her our insurance policy."
Bob was speechless, this was his chance, he liked Henry, but honestly the chicken deserved what was going to happen, the legacy of his debts to the mob was as long as the list of people who wanted him dead. Plus he couldn't allow his daughter to be taken, not after what had happened with his wife.
Bob drove slowly to Henry's, he could feel the truck going out of control even at low speeds, he came to a rolling stop in fron of Henry's house, the moment of truth had arrived , he knocked slowly on the door *Henry answers door*.
"Hi henry, i brought the truck, but i gotta ask, do you mind if i come along? My wife and yours were close, i'd like to say some words of remembrance." Bob asked.
"I don't see why not, let's load her into the bed of the truck." Henry said despondently.
Henry pulled out of the driveway and headed for The Low Swing picnic areas, Henry noticed that Bob was fidgeting a great deal an constantly checking his seatbelt, they came up to overhang bridge , when all of the sudden a group of ducklings popped up in the middle of the bridge, Henry had to avoid them, he slammed the brakes as hard as he could, that's when he realized hos foot was already to the ground, and the truck wasn't slowing down. Henry turned to Bob, Bob whispered "Henry, i...i had no choice, they took Ruby Henry, my Ruby...my precious daughter...she's all i have Henry, I'm...I'm so sorry". Bob burst into tears. Henry realized that neither he wasn't going to survive this accident.
Henry turned the wheel , as he swerved to avoid the ducklings, the car started to roll as it ploughed into the water, a crunch was heard, Bob watched as sharp rock broke through the window and spilt Henry's head open. The car was at a dead stop, Bob dragged himself out, as he did he heard the low wail of sirens, within seconds he was surrounded by cop cars.
Screams rang through the air, but Bob was oblivious, he had done it, he had saved hos daughter.
Officer Smith jumped out of his squad car, the police had been wire tapping, Henry's phone , but it had cut off during the call between Henry and this man at the end, were they had agreed on where they would be going, he had to get to him before he died of his injuries, suddenly, a pop was heard and the man was slumped in the ground , Smith couldn't believe it, he broke into a run and flipped the man onto his back...to have his worst fears confirmed, the man had been shot.
Smith headed back to Henry's house to search for clues, it was then that , in his garage he found a letter addressed to him, he carefully opened it with a pair of tweezers. after the incident with Hans he was taking it a lot more cautiously. he slowly read the letter aloud:
"Officer Smith, this morning i lied to you and officer Troy, I knew in advance what happened to my wife, how you may ask, her killer called me. It was not a suicide, they blackmailed me with old mob debts to forget to check Hans mail, they even said that they were working on rock solid alibi, little did i know it was murdering my wife.
I wrote this letter because there is no way the mob won' come after me, the fact that i can identify key member's and operations means i won't last very long, the least i can do is point you in the right direction.
Their leader is a man known as Rumpelstiltskin, he had plans to take his operations global, but he entire situation with Hans forced him to delay them, you have to stop this organization while the moment is there. Officer Smith you don't have to believe a word of this , but I wouldn't waste my time writing it if it couldn't help you, best of luck."
Yours without regret, Henry the Hen
End Part 2
Part 3:
The Case Of Rumplestiltskin
As Ruby, daughter of Miller Bob watched the last outlines of her house disappear, she wondered where on earth , and who on earth could possibly take care of her. The police had been at the house right after her father had left, they said there was no time to explain and that she was being taken into protective custody.
She arrived at the police station , and everyone treated her oddly, like some sort of giant weight was hanging in the air, she wondered why this was , then a women dressed in a strange suit walked up, took her by the hand and led her into a side room.
Child Aid Worker: Now Ruby, this may be a lot to take in all at once, but your dad has been killed, he died in a terrible accident with Henry the Hen, i know you need time, so i'm going to leave the room for a while, when your ready i have some papers i need you to fill out, it's only fair i tell you, you'll be adopted , i will do my best to find you a loving home, i'm so sorry about your father.
As the women left the room, Ruby sank to the floor, she couldn't believe what she had heard, her dad...dead. It seemed like just the other day they had been laughing and joking around, and now he was gone. Ruby wiped her cheeks, she realized she had been crying, she looked around, and it seemed like n time had passed at all, until she saw the clock and realized she had been crying for over an hour.
Ruby looked around , she noticed a strange mirror on the wall, she walked up and cupped her hands around her eyes to see through, but saw nothing, just then , the door opened, the strange lady was back.
Ruby: your weird lady, you look funny, do you have a name?
Lady: just call me Delilah
Ruby: So...Delilah what do you want me to fill out again?
Delilah : Just this form, it's quite easy, you just put your name and one interesting about yourself and i handle the rest
Ruby thought to herself *you know, i am 16, i only have to live with these people for 2 years, then i can leave for the big city and go for my goal to be a professional artist* *Ruby started filling out the form, she needed a well to do family, especially if they lived in the city, so she decided to lie , she wrote that her interesting fact was that she could turn straw into gold*
Delilah took the form and said "Thanks Ruby, i realize this is a rough time, if you never need someone to talk, just call me". Delilah smiled and left.
*Meanwhile at Rumplestiltskin's lair*
Henchman: "Sir, your not going to believe it, our police contact just faxed us this, the miller's daughter, she can transform straw, STRAW into gold , can you bloody believe it? Imagine the possibilities sir!!"
Rumplestiltskin : "Don't tell me you roob, show me, and don't tell me what to do, i'll believe the possibilities when i'm darn well ready. Well look at that, it really does say that...quite interesting, with this girl's power within my control..well immeasurable wealth would be just the beginning, she would make me so rich , i could ditch all this illegal crap...and find a more suitable servant..."
Henchman: "But sir, how do you propose to get her, it's not like you could walk into the police office with forged files, claiming marital status and a upstanding job. They have your prints remember, they would run em and you'd be screwed , not to mention your voice hasn't recovered , they would recognize it from the tapes. It'd be suicide if...you...why...why...are..you...ll....ooking...at mmme?"
Rumplestiltskin: "TAKE A GUESS".
*That night they forged all the necessary documentation*
*The next day*
Officer : Why hello there, what can i help you with? Mr....
Henchman (aka Snargle) : It's Mr. Snargle, please and thank you. I've come to adopt that poor girl featured on the news the other day, i myself lost a daughter recently , and i am determined to save another young soul from the same fate."
Officer: Well that sure is heart warming, but i'm still going to need to see all your paper work. Of course you wouldn't be here without it, but quite a alot of people have come inquiring about her you see, the candidates must meet certain qualifications. For example a steady job, pass a criminal record check, home close to school. Do you have that paper work Sir?
Snargle: "Well officer, you'll find i meet all of those qualifications, as I'm sure you can see from what i have there, now if there is nothing else i must get back home please feel free to contact me, when and if this girl will be able to join my home."
As Snargle left , he allowed himself a small smile, he had them.
*3 days later*
The phone rang in the main atrium of the castle rang, Snargle bolted from the armchair he was sleeping in, as he answered the phone, his head turned the area of the room, and he noticed the tapestries depicting his bosses many victories, he wondered if any of them had actually happened. He spoke "Why hello, this is Snargle, who is calling?"
The voice on the other end was quick and squeaky, it reminded Snargle of the noises the rats made. "Mr. Snargle, you'll be pleased to hear that your application for adoption has been approved, you may pick up Ruby today at 4:00 p.m. sharp."
Snargle: "Well I'm glad to hear it, i will be there, in fact if possible , i could come and get her right now."
Officer: "That might be better , the press will be here soon, they want to meet the man you know? We'll get her ready, just pull around the back."
Snargle: "Well thank you officer."
Snargle hung up the phone , he called his boss, "Boss, we got her, get your arse over here, i'm going to go get her now."
As Ruby waited by the door, she wondered what type of man this "Snargle" was, certainly not a friendly name, but for 2 years, she could grow used to it. She had been told by Delilah that this Snargle fellow had just lost his daughter in an accident and was looking to regain some normalcy to his life, best of all he lived near , not only her school, but by the city!. She still had Delilah's card, the aid worker and her had grown quite close, she hoped they could remain friends.
Snargle arrived at the back of the station, there she stood, the girl who could turn straw into gold, she certainly didn't look like much, she was around 5'6, lithe, sort of a despondent look on her face, but none of that mattered to him or his master, if what the report said was true, they both stood to get very rich.
Ruby entered the luxury sedan, she noticed the inside was in a state of disrepair, and that the front and back were separated by some sort of partition. Then she heard a low hissing , like the tires were being emptied, it was then that the world went black.
Snargle knew the sedative wouldn't last, the boss had instructed him to use significantly less than the usual amount. The boss didn't want to risk any sort of brain damage to the girl, he turned off the main road and onto the service road, after a couple more minutes he arrived at a fork in the road with a sign pointing in either direction, he climbed out, reached under the sign and pressed the button, the road opened a little wider and the entrance his bosses mansion was revealed. He quickly drove in and shut the entrance from the control panel, locking the door shut with the code number.
When Ruby woke , she was in a strange circular room, it had brick laden walls that extended much beyond what she could see, the bricks were polished and almost looked like marble, even with the light provided by some sort of skylight wherever the roof was, it was not very easy to see much of anything, she realized it wasn't a room, it was a tower and as she slowly came out her daze, she noticed the floor wasn't a floor, but rather a large room, filled with straw and she was sitting on top of it all. The suddenly a voice came from above her:
"Well , it seems your awake, I sincerely hope those files weren't incorrect, for your sake at least. I believe in rewarding my "workers" however, so if you can manage to turn this room to straw, i may see my way to granting you one request, barring of course leaving, but I'm a sucker for ill thought out bets, so i'll make you one, if you can guess my name, I'll release you".
Ruby thought for a second and realized that her best option was to play along. This guy was clearly nuts if he thought straw could be turned to gold.
Ruby: "You have a deal, are you there?'
When no one answered she assumed the voice had left, she searched around , but she couldn't find anything that resembled much of a dorr, just as she was giving up, she heard a small click, she turned and dug away at the straw on the side where the sound had come from, there she found what looked like a small door, with a rectangular slot in it.
She ripped the slot open and put her mouth close to it she screamed "Help, please, is anyone there? Hello?".
She heard a shuffling and then a voice came from the outside of the slot.
"Hello, my ruby, oh don't fret , your quite safe, Snargle is here, Snargle will take care of you, yes, and maybe one day, Snargle will take you away from master, you'll be my RUBY".
Ruby: "Listen, i don't know you, but if you help me, i can make it up to you in gold , you'll be rich."
Snargle: "oh , tempting tempting , but what do you need? I won't betray the master, not ever"
Ruby thought for a second a realized her salvation would be this man's idiocy, all she needed was her fathers chest form their house and she could attempt an escape.
Ruby spoke quickly : " Oh, I'd never ask you to that, i just need a small favour, there is a chest under the floorboards of my old house, i need it to make the gold, would you be a sweety and get it ?"
Snargle: "I will go now, my precious ruby and to shine brighter, light the lamp in the corner".
The man named Snargle through something through the slot and Ruby heard him walk away, she searched frantically and finally found the match he had thrown, she lit the torch on the wall, and realized that her initial thoughts on the room size were inaccurate, it was much larger then she had initially thought.
A good deal of time passed an Ruby slept restlessly until she heard a small click and something being slid in under the straw. She caught a glimpse of a long hallway, lit with torches, but she would worry about that later she threw the straw aside and found the chest, she opened it and pulled the bottom of the top cover off revealing another , smaller chest inside, inside was a small piece of gold, about the size of a babies fist. She grabbed the torch and set the straw a ablaze, she put her mouth to the slot again for air and stood on the chest to avoid the flames. After about 20 minutes all that remained was ash, she placed the gold in the centre of the room and pressed the button on the wall, she calmed herself and said "Your gold is ready".
At first there was no response, then a voice said "Really, well this is a surprise, but i'm going to have to check of course."
Ruby ran back to the chest and sat on top of it, covering it using the length of her dress she shuffled to the farthest point from the now revealed wooden door, then the door creaked open, a strange looking man poked his over-large nose in. The stranger titled his head and asked "Why is there..so little?"
Ruby didn't skip a beat, she responded : The conversion process is long and complicate, it requires a great deal of straw to make more gold, with what you had, the amount you have there is the largest amount i could have made, you want more, put me in a bigger room."
Stranger: "Well , i suppose that makes sense, now choose your prize, one thing , no strings attached."
Ruby: "I want a hint about your name."
Stranger: "Well, your nothing if not blunt, very well a promise is a promise, i shall give you 6 letters in no particular order from my name, they are : U,R,L,M,P,E"
*The next day*
Ruby woke up to find herself in yet another room, same torch placement and after much searching she located the rooms door. The difference was this time there was a match left on the floor, along with the now useless chest. She had to get more of her fathers hidden gold from the house, so she again dug through the straw to the slot in the door, she opened it and called out "Is anyone there?"
And once again the strange man known as Snargle came to the door and he asked " What can i do for you, MY SWEEET RUBY?"
Ruby: i know you brought my tools last time , but i need your help again , to make more gold i have bigger chest hidden in my house, could you go and grab it for me?"
Snargle growled to himself and left, he returned much later this time and was out of breath when he arrived, he could barely tell Ruby to stay away from the door.
As the man left again, Ruby set the straw on fire , again using the door like an air filter, she waited it out and once it had burned itself out, she once again pressed the button and challenged the strange man to come see his gold.
Strange Man: "There certainly is more , but i need even more, what woud it take for you to triple this amount?"
Ruby stopped and considered, then she answered: "It would take a room thrice as high, filled nearly to the top, on one side there will be a window, it must have the morning sunlight come in and shine on the straw, i will also need a needle, do this and i will triple your gold".As for my reward, tell me , does the last part of your name rhyme with anything?"
The man hesitated, took a look at the gold an responded, "Yes, it rhymes with Milton." He promptly exited, gold in tow behind him.
The next morning , Ruby was woken up by a sight she had not seen for days, natural light. The tower was exactly as she had specified, and on a small ledge there was a needle.
Ruby quickly got to work, she sewed the thread like she had never sewed before, it took her almost a day of careful straw removal from one side, but she made herself a semi sturdy rope. She went to the latch in the door and called out again, this time waiting beside it for Snargle to peek in.
He did and she got even closer to the latch, she whispered "Good sir, you have been so kind, i wish to repay you, if you can do this one last thing, bring me the chest from the other room, filled with rocks, and i shall bestow you with gold beyond your wildest dreams."
As night stole upon the tower, Ruby feared the man was not returning , but just as she was giving up hope, she heard the slow drag of feet up stairs. the door slowly creaked upon and she made her move, she bolted towards the door, and leaped fist first into Snargle'd, he dropped and as her momentum carried her forward, she heard a loud crunch behind her.
Ruby bolted down flight after flight of stairs, until she came to another large wooden door, this one was slightly open, she didn't hesitate, she swung the door open and kept running , she noticed she seemed to be in some sort of main atrium , with large tapestries hung all around , although something seemed off, the tapestries looked torn and some seemed to be glistening red, there was a large armchair turned towards a mantle place in the centre of the room, and for a moment she could have sworn she saw a slumped figure in the chair, but she pulled her eyes away and found herself heading to a large main doorway, again strangely open, creaking in the wind. As she reached he entrance , the sudden burst of light blinded her, and she took a step back inside, when she heard the distinct sound of tires screeching.
She slowly stepped into the sunlight and saw a long road winding ahead of her, Ruby started to walk.
*Hours later*
Ruby was exhausted, she had been walking for what felt like forever, she had made it off the strange side road and was following the main road, she saw a local gas station, she slowly trudged her way to the station, outside there was a beat up telephone, Ruby reached into her breast pocket and pulled out a battered business card, on it she saw something that brought tears to her eyes, Delilah's home number, scrawled on the back of the card, charred but readable and under it was the one thing that Ruby had hoped for "Toll Free".
Ruby slowly dialled the number on the third ring someone finally picked up, Ruby slowly spoke " Hello, Delilah..."
End Part 3
After Word:
When Ruby was brought to the police station , she felt eyes on her, she didn't understand why, it just felt as if they expected something and got something else.
She had been at Delilah's house for 3 days now, the child services worker had for all intensive purposes adopted her, and this suited Ruby just fine, they had similar interests and what was better, she lived in the city!
When she was led into the main Chiefs office, she noticed some odd characters, the first was a stumpy little man with a fancy looking suit he had some sort of tag on his upper left pocket, Ruby stole a glance at it, it had the letters : A.D.A on it, beside him was a burly looking officer in a trench coat.
They all took a seat, the Police chief entered the room, he was larger then the cop with the A.D.A, he had a barely shaved 5 o'clock shadow and a look of utter boredom. He sat down slowly and deliberately , he tossed a file towards the stumpier man and cleared his throat, he slowly spoke
"Ruby, you need to know some things, first of all , we here at the police department wish to offer our heartfelt apologies, the man we sent you with seemed perfect, he had the paperwork, but as we've discovered, it was forged, very well too, professionally done. But we can get to that later, first, the man known as Snargle is dead, he died bleeding out , no need to worry though, we all recognize you were desperate.
As for the other man, we have discovered his name is Rumplestiltskin, he was the one who killed Hans Clever, Henry the Hen and ultimately your father, his prints were a perfect match to the ones found on both the letter we recovered from Hans cell.
We have some mixed news though, the gold you gave to this man, well it was fools gold, very convincing , but fools gold, we believe your father struck a vein of it and was laundering it through the city using his old mafia contacts.
As it turns out, Rumplestiltskin tried to use the gold the other day to make a buy off a known arms dealer, well of course when the dealer took a close look at the gold , he realized it was fake and it seems he wasted Rumplestiltskin, whether this was gang related is still unknown."
"We felt you should know that this tragedy has come to an end, we all wish you the best."
The man rose and took Ruby's hand and shook it, he then left the room, and shortly after , so did the other two men.
It was just her and Delilah now, she turned to Delilah, but she couldn't see her eyes were filling with tears.She couldn't believe it was finally over, good riddance to both those men.
Delilah spoke: "Let's get you home Ruby."
Ruby slowly smiled and started crying all over again
THE END
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