The Shadow of Deception

CHAPTER 3: MARVIN

“You don’t look like a cleaner,” said the lady interviewing me for the cleaning job at Mr. Marvin’s company, M&M Industries.

”I am, you have four staircases, four stores, and about ten office spaces in this building. The penthouse, I guess, is for somebody special like the boss,” I said, smiling.

“Wow! Very impressive. You can resume the next day. We are short on staff.

Why would the Contractor want Marvin's death to look natural and why should I steal the documents he wanted? These thoughts rang in my head. I should just shoot him down and make the contract easy.

“You should not be here,” said a man I knew later to be Ken. He was Marvin’s right-hand man. I thought of killing him but I would love to know why Marvin would put a mark on me. Something about this whole contract seems unclear. My contract is open, I have two hires competing with me to kill Marvin, and I know for a fact that Marvin is aware that his life is in danger or else why would he send someone to kill me?

I made up my mind that at any point Marvin would recognize me. I am killing him. I cannot be exposed or I lose getting contracts from the Contractor.

“Oh, my bad! I did not know that. I was told to clean the upper floor,” I said. I could see that he had not bought it and was reaching for a gun in his belt pouch.

“This is not the upper floor, this is the penthouse,” he said, placing his hands on his waist, and there was no gun.

“What’s your name?” He asked me. I stammered, “My name is C - - Ca – - Cas,” I muttered, not sure of what I should tell him. I did not expect him to take an interest in me.

“Is your name Cass with a double ‘S’ or Cax with a crossed ‘X’?” Ken asked.

“Cax with a crossed X,” I replied, unsure what his response would be, but I was ready for anything.

I scanned the area we were off-camera sighting, and my heart bit went up by double. I have not even started the cleaning job and I have blown my cover. I loosened the mop stick from the mop gradually as he started walking gradually toward me.

The door opened and Marvin walked in like somebody who had just received some bad news. He walked straight to his seat before acknowledging the both of us now staring at him.

“I can see you are having a good time with the cleaner. I haven’t seen this one before. I thought I left an instruction that I wanted to know everyone that worked in the Penthouse.” Marvin said.

“That is what I was looking into before you came in. She says her name is Cax and is obviously scared of seeing me,” Ken said.

I knew I had to do something quickly unless I could be in a terrible position that would make things difficult. Both of them were staring at me as if they were expecting me to solve a problem.

Marvin was almost my age. I was nineteen when I killed his father. He had grown to be a replica of his father. He looked so harmless and gentle that I almost forgot he ordered a hit on me. I was not sure, but if he was not the one who planned to kill me, then I must find out who. I looked at my mop and looked back at him.

“I am sorry, I will take my leave. It was my mistake. I thought the upper floor meant upstairs. That there would have been some work. Thank you, sir,” I said.

“Wow! I like this one. One minute she was scared, the other minute very bold.” Ken said, smiling. “You look too beautiful and smooth to be a cleaner, don’t you agree, Marvin? He asked.

Marvin was shy and looked away. It was as if Ken saying I was beautiful made him blush. I looked at him with some charm and he looked away again. “Oh no, this cannot be the Marvin that tried to kill me. Something is amiss and I am going to find out.

“I could leave if you want me to, sir,” I said. Now he was looking unsure of his next move. I was waiting patiently.

“You can leave, Cax,” Ken said.

“No! Let her stay after all somebody has to clean the office, right? Marvin said. Ken and I did not know whether he was asking for permission or instructing us.

I pulled out my mop and started mopping immediately while Ken sat opposite Marvin.

“So what is the matter? You rushed in here like you had seen your father’s ghost.,” said Ken, looking at me as if he wanted me to leave.

“Yeah, I did, I met with Father’s lawyer today and it was not fun,” replied Marvin. Who was now looking at me and his eyes were pleading. I stayed to hear what he was about to say.

“Do you want Cax to leave?” asked Ken.

“No let her stay, she could be useful,” Marvin said.

His father’s lawyer had stated that he would need to get a wife in six months or lose his inheritance to his Uncle. I almost burst out with laughter when I heard it. This Marvin I saw will only have to buy a lady. Someone that was shy of seeing Ken call a cleaner beautiful. I did not understand why wealthy parents do this for their kids.

I was shocked when Ken seemed unmoved. It was like he knew before Marvin the situation at hand. He told Marvin it was not a problem and he would fix it. I pitied Marvin even more. He looked like someone that was not prepared for this kind of life. I blamed myself for that, but I only count deaths in dollars and his death was going to bring me a great fortune. I thought of who Ken was and who he was working for. I immediately made him a suspect. Either he is an assassin hired to kill me or a spy sent to spy on Marvin.