Chapter 51 - Why does it smell like wet carpet?

POV: Aiden

It'd been about a week since I began working for Nichola and boy, I did not sign up for this shit. Well, I never wanted to sign up for this in the first place anyway but my point was, this a lot more work than what was in the job description. After the initial check of what the fuck was going on with the control centre, it was found that they had fucked it up pretty badly. Well, maybe I'm being a little harsh on them. Essentially, the things they wanted implemented and how smooth they wanted it to run could not be supported by the current software slash system they had been running on. Even the way they set out things was an inconvenience. Furthermore, the processor, the graphics card, neural processor and the computer chip couldn't handle the expectations. Hence why they'd been coming across so many errors.

All in all, they'd basically fucked up everything from the get-go and now they've got a couple of months to either tone done their ideas or restart from scratch. Worst of all, I think the final form of the car was meant to be officially revealed and tested in about four months. How they made it this far successfully was a mystery to me but hey, I'm glad I'd never bought one of their cars or else I'd probably rage at like, every aspect and break it with a sledgehammer.

Ok, maybe I have anger issues sometimes. Just sometimes

Obviously, I scheduled an important meeting with all the higher ups, stating it was quite urgent and boy was it urgent. After hearing the news, everyone began full-blown panicking (except Mr. Fonzo and his assistant, who were eerily silent and weirdly calm about the entire thing) which turned into quickly accusing me as a fraud or a liar who was trying to sabotage the group, which is pointless considering I work in a completely field and we aren't even competitors. Luckily, I managed to calm them down by expressing that I was just doing my job by informing them, whether they believe me or not was completely on them. After that, it turned into a huge debate on what they should do with half the room saying to tone it down and the other half saying to put more money in for better equipment and doing it all over. It was interesting seeing fifty year old men arguing with each other like primary school kids. I had a good laugh after the meeting.

Regardless, it was up to the boss and apparently, he decided to go with putting in more money and starting from scratch, which was cool and all but I had told him that it's going to take a shit ton of time and the only way they're going to make it was if they delay the reveal or make everyone involved work overtime until the date in four months, which broke like every ethics code if I wasn't wrong. People would quit their jobs if they had to do that and you'd never get the final product, let alone the technology you sent me here for.

This stirred up a new wave of complaints and shouting which began to do my head in but luckily, Fonzo icily told them to shut the fuck up. I must say, that man is fucking terrifying when he's pissed. It almost made me regret starting anything with him in the first place. Almost.

Anyway, he said he could only delay it by three weeks, saying some bs reason on why he couldn't do any longer but I couldn't care less because it was still a pretty close call. He just resolved it by saying he'll talk to the ethics manager and he'll bribe everyone into staying by paying them 25% more than the usual wage, including overtime. I don't how he has that much money or where he got it from but any sugar baby who heard of his financial status would strip their clothes in public and immediately begin to lick his shoes in order to get his appeal. I didn't know how that's really appealing but he probably has some sort of weird kink.

I'm also sure it's not ethical to bribe the workers into more hours but eh, not my problem. Everyone in the room seemed hesitant with the decision, with some verbally showing their discontent but they eventually all decided to go along with it... for now.

Which brought us to a couple of days forward, where I was going to be working overtime for the 7th day in a row (and counting). It was not bad in terms of the actual work and workload since I was really enjoying rebuilding the entire thing, making it slicker looking and even reformatting the apps so they functioned and looked better. In terms of co-workers, they were all initially wanting to strangle me to death for getting them overtime for five ish months (not my fault since I gave an alternative) but once they heard the huge and over the top benefits, newly found motivation coursed through their veins and now they're working on it like it's the best Christmas gift ever given to them.

They even apologised to me and asked me out for drinks... after this dark period. Oh, they also made me their boss because they had absolutely no confidence in leading this entire project in such a short time, so the manager was manager in name while I'm the real manager but undercover. Yay! I don't even work the damn company technically!

One thing I do hate about overtime was the fact that its sapped the energy out of me, so whenever I go home, I just immediately crash on the bed. Well, I did that for the first two days until I realised how nasty that was so now I shower before crashing. I hadn't had a proper meal since starting here nor had I hung out with Nero nor could I go clubbing (in order to get laid) because there's probably going to be something left over that needs to be done on the weekend.

I'm physiologically, psychologically, socially and sexually frustrated.

In conclusion, I should've let this company just take the hit and never mentioned the issue, just secretly tweaking the apps so they barely functioned.

It's was around 1pm, meaning it was nearing lunch. I'd essentially done all I needed to do by lunchtime, with the only thing being left over was dropping off a report to Mr. Fonzo. I hadn't seen the man since the meeting six days and that honestly surprised me. I expected him to be childish or annoying and come to visit me throughout work to annoy the shit out of me and argue with me but he's remarkably serious with his work and acted like a legit CEO when he's meant to be. A small part of me was pouting but that part of me would never the see light. Plus, I don't exactly want to be on the other end of his cold words and icy stares, so it was probably for the best anyway. He did his job. I did mine. We will part and never see each other again. Everyone's a winner.

I finally approached Shinsou's desk and when the man spotted me approaching him, I quickly sent a polite smile his way, which he returned back. I informed him as I approached his desk (located outside of Fonzo's office), "I'm here to discuss and drop off the report to the boss, at the time you told me to come." To show further and unnecessary proof, I raised the file up and bumped it against my temple (bEcAuSe I'M qUiRkY lIkE tHaT).

"Great, Erwin finished up with his earlier appointment a while back so he should be in his office. You don't have to knock. Just enter since he's already informed of your arrival."

"Yes sirey." I followed Shinsou's instruction to the tee but instead of greeting Erwin, I was confronted with an empty seat and a weird smell. It kind of smelt of dampness and wet carpet, which was a bit odd but maybe the dude liked the smell of wet carpet. To each of their own, I guess.

Regardless, I went back to inform Shinsou of his absence but he kind of brushed it off, saying how he was probably in his personal bathroom, which happened to be connected to his office. I was told to sit in there and wait for him. So I flopped on to the leather sofa located in the corner of the room and waited. People actually have bathrooms attached to their offices? I thought that's some sort of myth movies and books create. It's weird not going to lie but at least the guy doesn't have to leave his office like ever if he doesn't want to.

After like ten minutes, Erwin still hadn't come out and the room was still greeting me with the odd smell and the eerie silence. At that point, I'm annoyed as all hell because it was beginning to cut into my lunch time and I wanted to fucking have my chicken nuggets, located across the street. I should leave and come back later. It wasn't even my fault so he can't blame me. Or... you could snoop around a bit, as a punishment for wasting your time. But if I'm caught, I'm a dead man. However, you're Aiden Hendrix, the sneakiest man alive (after Nero). You won't get caught. ... you know what other Aiden, you right. Let's snoop... only for that weird carpet smell, because I'm actually a morally great person and I will not look into people's personal's lives if they haven't told me themselves. Unless they've fucked up and killed someone. Then imma expose their ass.

With a new objective in mind, I left the wanted file on his very sturdy wood desk and sniffed the air for some sort of direction. I was very apologetic for my nose but it must be done. Anyway, all the sniffing in and out of objects, all about the room lead me to a wall where there was a huge painting mounted. It took up about the entire wall, barricaded by windowpanes. It was not the painting itself that was causing the weird smell but rather below it, on the carpet. That being said however, the painting itself was also wet.

It literally had water droplets, water trails and droplets hanging off the bottom edge. That was not usually how paintings were meant to be nor how they're usually treated so it rang warning bells. I crouched down and poked at the carpet underneath and found it wet and very damp, so the wet carpet smell I was complaining about earlier was literally wet carpet. How... odd indeed.

The amount of water present was too much to be a cup of water so it was not Erwin or someone just throwing a cup of water at the painting (for whatever reason) but it was not enough to say they had a hose in here, which would honestly make me question every CEO's offices. Like a bathroom and a gardening hose? What next, a sauna? Back to the conflict at hand, there was probably enough water for like a bucket and it was damp enough for it to suggest the wet patch was recently placed, which brought up the next question. Who the fuck was bringing a bucket of H2O to the boss and why? I was still crouching when I looked left and right for anything odd and there wasn't... nearby that is.

In the distance, next to Erwin's desk, there were some paperwork that'd been scattered on the floor. It was in my blind spot when I entered the room so I didn't see it initially. I approached it closer and find that yes, the papers were dry and the contents of the paper were completely gibberish. The question was, why were they on the floor? Everything else in the room was quite organised and clean except for the wet patch and these papers. Could it be... signs of struggle? Or was that just my head overcomplicating it? Maybe the papers were on the floor for a reason. Maybe he's just constipated and that's why he was still in the bathroom. But then again, there hadn't been a single sound or nothing from there and I don't think you can soundproof bathrooms that well. Actually, scratch that. He would definitely soundproof it all things considered.

"Mr. Fonzo? Boss? Erwin?" I called out but as expected, no response from the other side. It could still be soundproofed and he could actually be in there, so I still didn't open the door.

Look, I might've been overthinking it but I was going to be wary, just in case. I opened the door just enough so I could pop my head out of the office and call out to Erwin's assistant. He looked up with a puzzled look and I quickly asked what I needed to ask. "Did you leave that exact spot sometime in the last say, three hours?"

"Huh? No? I was here the entire time..."

"Did Erwin order for a bucket of water to come his office or did someone come with a bucket of water during their appointment?"

Shinsou looked beyond confused now and was looking at me like I've completely lost it. "Uuuhhhh no and no?"

"And is Mr. Fonzo a pretentious neat freak­– I mean very organised as a person?"

"Yeah... Mr. Hendrix, where are you going with–"

I rudely interrupt him again because my gut is really telling me something is wrong. "And that transfers over to the state of his office, yes?"

"I- yeah it does. He hates everything out of place. Aiden–"

"Great! Thanks! Don't worry, I'm just really curious, that's all. Ok, bye."

I immediately shut the door and turned back to further analyse the room, with a new sense of urgency. This time, I noticed a couple of smaller things that were located on the floor like pens and paperclips. I checked the bathroom door to found it unlocked and the room to be, as predicted, empty.

Ok this is definitely out of the normal. This is most likely signs of trouble. From Erwin's or the person's part, I don't know but what I don't understand is how they got away. Clearly, they didn't leave through the front door because Shinsou still thinks his boss is in his office. This is a locked room case, without the murder aspect. Ain't that interesting. Man, if I wasn't feeling like sherlock Holmes, I sure as hell feel like him now and I'm going to embrace the shit out of it.

"Now then," I said out loud to myself in a mock but perfect British accent, "let's go over the facts and what we know so far. The man. Mr. Erwin Fonzo was last found dead– he's not dead Aiden. Well, at least from what we know. Look, there isn't any blood here but he could've been murdered elsewhere. Anyway, the man apparently had been present throughout the day, with appointments keeping is day occupied. Well, I think that's the case. I just assumed every CEO's day goes like that. Regardless, the dude apparently never left his room or else Shinsou would've seen him. Or maybe he did leave but he definitely came back and once he came back, he never left again. But he's not in the bathroom or his walk-in wardrobe (which I found while looking into the bathroom) so he's kind of disappeared out of thin air. Oh wait, he has teleporting powers so he can technically do that. Maybe I am looking too into it..."

But my head whipped towards the scattered objects on the floor and reignited the debate. "But he's known to be organised so all that mess is out of the norm. It could be a sign of some sort of struggling going on but the amount of mess seems... too little. Hmm interesting. Continuing on, the man was known to be serious about his job so missing any sort of meeting or appointment intentionally without any sort of warning beforehand doesn't sound plausible. Speaking of not plausible, where does the water come into play? Like I don't... did he just somehow get a shit ton of water and dump it on the painting? But why? You know what, I'll just get back to it later."

I walked to the desk with a finger on my chin and studied the contents on the desk. "Nothing seems out of the blue, the files seem quite mundane... wait I lied. The laptop is open. If Erwin went anywhere on his own accord, he'd definitely close his laptop, especially since there's sensitive information on there. If he doesn't do that, I'm going to quit my job. I refuse to work under someone so... utterly stupid. I'm going off track again. This doesn't seem to be robbery since the laptop and sensitive files are still here... he definitely went somewhere by force. But how, where and why?"

I continued poking at things until I came across a mug. I picked it up and to observed it closer, looking inside to find the remains of what seems like black coffee. A bitter drink for a bitter person. How fitting. I took a sniff of the cup to confirm my guess except along with the bitter smell of coffee, there was an underlying smell of... sweetness. And not like the sugar sweet kind. I don't know, it's a very weird sweet that I can't identify. Regardless, it didn't seem like a good thing because now there was the possibility that Erwin got fucking poisoned. I don't want to really believe that was the case.

I'm going to need to consult the poison and drug expert.

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NOTE: The chapter is becoming way too long so I'm breaking it up. Don't worry though, they're being posted at the same time anyway so people don't really need to wait. This message was completely unnecessary but I will like I need to justify why I'm ending it like that.