Chapter 4: Solitaire

I rang the doorbell around eight that night. It was snowing. The front door opened and a man stepped out. I asked for Derrick Todd. He told me that I was speaking to him, so I told him that he knew my father. He invited me in. We sat down in the living room, and he asked if I was my father's son. I said I was. He said nothing. We sat in silence for a while. He asked what he could do for me, so I told him why I was there. He didn't seem shocked at anything I said, not even my visit to Roger Betham. He told me he had heard about Betham's death. He told me that whether I would believe him or not, I had saved Betham. "From who?" I asked. He told me that it was "a what, and not a who". He seemed a bit disturbed about this, so I changed the subject.

I asked him what he and my father would do. "Well, we never played poker if that's what you're asking," he said with a laugh. I asked him why he needed to see the Ace of Spades so often. Research, he told me. He and my Father would test the Object. They would do everything they could to try to get more information. All they ever learned was that it couldn't be destroyed, and no matter how they cut or burned the card, the second they would take their eyes off of it, it would reform. He told me they once wondered what would happen if one of them swallowed it, but out of fear they never went through with it. He asked me if I wanted a drink, but I asked about A.G. Industries. He simply laughed and said that "I was full of questions -" but added under his breath "- just like your father."

He let out a sigh and sat back on the couch. "This world was much simpler when we only had Holders and Seekers. It seems the more we learn the more we have to fear. You know that's where you're heading, right? The answers you seek are probably more terrifying than anyone can imagine. But that's what you get with this business." He told me he knew very little about the company, except that it's been around longer than one would think. I asked him what "Keeping Us Better" meant. He simply said, "Creepy, isn't it?" but told me he knew nothing. He apologized for not having very much information. But he told me he knew where I could go.

He told me it was far, but worth the travel. A man named Thomas Reel, who lived far south. Far enough that I would have to take a plane. But Derrick told me that it would be worth the ride, and if anyone could answer my questions, he could. He then laughed and told me I would probably have even more questions by the end. I thanked him and got up. He stopped me, and went into the other room. He brought back a locked box. "I'm pretty sure he would have wanted you to have it." I asked him why he would give it to me. He explained that he never opened the box so it wasn't technically his, and since he had no other Objects he wasn't a Seeker. "But your father gave me it, and it was his. Your father was some Seeker." I took out the Ace of Spades, and put the deck back on the table. I told him he could keep the deck as a reminder of my father. He asked me how he could forget.

As I stepped out of the house, I took one last look back at him. He sat on the couch, looking at the now spread-out deck on the coffee table, his head in his hands, his face filled with fear.

-S