Just Playing Detective

Nine year old Javier Loesing stared at his parent's guest. Allman Gregory Noose was nearly peeing in his pants because a bee was circling around the dinner table. Javier realized then it must be their former driver Coldham Fintan Noose III, the twin brother of Allman. While Allman didn't have fear of bees Coldham did. That didn't make sense, though, because Allman was married to Frieda and she was here. Javier was confused. Was Frieda also a twin? He was going to test them. Innocently Javier asked when the Nooses would reciprocate the invitation to dinner. For a moment Javier thought Allman or Coldham was angry with him. The impression was gone within seconds, so Javier wasn't sure. Frieda smiled at him and agreed it was no problem. Javier's parents and Frieda set a date. The mystery didn't leave Javier alone, though. He decided to investigate himself.

At the first chance Javier went online.
He googled Allman and Coldham. There was no information at all about Coldham, but plenty of photographs of Allman and a CV. The similarities between the brothers was stunning. Unfortunately the CV didn't mention if Allman had any siblings. Something didn't add up, though, because he knew Coldham had grown up in Miami, but Allman had lived most of his life in the North East of the US. Javier was stuck and looked for inspiration.

A few days later Javier talked with his oldest brother Wylie and how he would go about investigating people. Wylie mentioned their father used different search programs.
Javier worked out how to get access to them.

Interesting enough Javier found out Coldham wasn't a driver. He owned a security company, which made good profits. He was married to Frieda and lived in Miami with their daughter Casey.

Allman on the other hand was a psychiatrist and lived currently in California. He was happily married to Jennifer, a landscape gardener.

Javier noticed also that Allman was around one and a half years older than Coldham. Ergo they weren't twins.

Further digging revealed Allman was an only child, while Coldham had a younger brother Holiday Michael.

Javier combined some things Coldham had been telling them were true, but also that he had been lying in regards to others

Javier was sure now the person, who had been there for dinner and whom they had encountered on a Scotland vacation a few years earlier had been all along Coldham.

Javier felt betrayed. They had been very close when Coldham had worked as the family's driver. After Coldham had left them, they had lost contact.

Javier called the real Allman. Coldham and he might looked the same, but the voices were totally different. Allman's was high pitched, while Coldham's was deeper.

Javier managed to get Allman to talk about his dissertation and the newest project he was working on amongst other things.

Javier collected all the evidence and was going to show it to the whole family during dinner at the Noose's home.


©2014

Just lying

This story  builds on Drivers, The Heirloom, Just checking, Just confirming, Talk inside the shed and Talk outside the shed.

Patsy Loesing was expecting new guests. Her son Kenneth had told her one of them was the brother of their former driver Coldham Fintan Noose III. Anna, Kenneth's wife, and Kenneth had met Allman Gregory Noose and his wife Frieda at a hotel in Scotland on a vacation two years earlier.  Now Allman, a psychiatrist, and Frieda were living in Seattle. The Loesings had a vacation home in Des Moines with direct access to the beach.

When Patsy entered the sitting room, which was furnished in a mix of contemporary and classic style, she was perplexed. The person, claiming to be Allman, was definitely Coldham Fintan. Patsy was sure of this.
She knew more about Coldham than she let on. Coldham had behaved too unusual for an average driver and had been secretive. Patsy's suspicion had been roused and she went to check out Coldham's living quarters. What she found there convinced her he wasn't what he claimed to be. A thorough investigation revealed Coldham owned a security company. Patsy combined he was there to protect the family and when she checked with Kenneth, he confirmed it. Patsy was wondering why Kenneth thought Coldham was Allman. She didn't blow Coldham's cover, but was about to say it was interesting how successful all the brothers were, when Frieda upended her glass into Patsy's lap. Patsy's gut feeling told her Frieda hadn't been clumsy and done it on purpose, even though she looked totally abashed and apologized immediately. It seemed genuine. Patsy went to change her clothing and was followed by Frieda.
Patsy was straight. "What do you have to hide?" "I didn't want you to unmask Fin." "What? Kenneth didn't engage Fin?!" "No, Burt Lewis, Tianna Loesing's son, had heard through the grape vine that Averall Loesing planned an attack against you. There were rumours he wanted to kidnap a family member. Officially Burt stayed neutral, but asked Fin to look out for you. He worked as your driver as long as there was a threat. Kenneth didn't know what Fin's real job was. Burt asked for secrecy, so Fin has taken on the identity of his second cousin Allman, who's really a psychiatrist. We would appreciate if you could keep quiet about the situation." It made sense. The Wallenstein branch of the Loesings had been always trouble makers, ruining even Patsy's wedding day. Patsy was glad she now knew the truth and promised to keep her mouth shut. Little did she know...

©2014