2019-09-27 - Want to buy a Watchtower?

Alexander has finally recovered somewhat from the death flu and need to murder anyone who vaguely irritates him. And one of the first things he does once he gets back on his feet?

Go find people who might murder him for being vaguely irritating and ask them questions they're probably not going to want to answer. He makes stellar life choices, does Alexander. Either way, he's here, in front of Elise's very nice house, looking...vaguely professional? He definitely tried to dress up, and look harmless and like someone people want to talk to. Or like a Mormon missionary, because he's not GOOD at fashion. He's lost weight, and still looks...very tired, as he makes his way up the stairs to knock on the door. He's arranged his visit to be off hours for Elise, hoping to catch her at home. Maybe he's hoping to NOT catch Graham...because Graham.

The good news is, Elise is home and it's her voice that rings through the house when the knock comes to the door: "One second!" The thing about having one's parents horribly and tragically executed means that one's job doesn't expect them to come in for awhile, so Elise has found an awful lot of time on her hands. The bad news is.. Elise spends most of that free time with Graham, so .. you know. Anyway, she comes down from the upstairs in a pair of yoga pants and a lavender-colored tank top, brushing her hair back into a ponytail before she opens the door. She doesn't even look through the peephole like she's been trained!

"Uh. Hello," she blinks, her lips curving into a frown as she eyes Alexander. "If you're here to talk about our lord and savior Jesus Christ, I already went to Church this Sunday and I'm not in the mood." At least she's honest.

From somewhere in the house, Graham contributes, "Tell them to fuck off, we're busy sacrificing goats in here." While the curtains in the upstairs window twitch to let him peek through them. He'll be downstairs in a minute, once it becomes obvious this isn't the Jehovah's Witnesses again.

Alexander blinks back a couple of times. It takes him a moment, but then he grins, bright and brief. "Ah. No. Sorry. Miss Elise Krueger? I'm afraid I'm not here to talk about your religious inclinations." The smile dies to a ghost of its former self, and his voice goes solemn to match the dark and soulful (or creepy) eyes. "I actually was hoping I could ask you some questions about the deaths of your parents. If this is...I suppose it's never a good time, but if this is a time when you could spare some...time." A wince at just how lame that sounded. He clears his throat. "My name is Alexander Clayton." Just so they can get the 'you're the crazy guy' part over with.

The shout from up the stairs has Elise smiling too, but it's the sort of weary, thin smile of someone who has put up with SO MUCH SHIT and should be given sainthood as a result. She might've followed up with a 'oh don't mind him, he's just kidding, we only sacrifice goats on Tuesdays' had Alexander not immediately launched into his introduction. You see that thin, weary smile of hers? Watch it disappear in an instant, like magic.

"Our lawyer is already in touch with the police," her jaw sets, but she manages (for the moment) to seem very calm and composed. "And you're not the police." Just stating the obvious. And this is the point where she starts to vaguely shake, the emotion suddenly thick in her voice. "Is this some kind of sick murder enthusiasm thing? Because wow, awesome timing, could you at least wait to get your rocks off until after we have the funeral?"

As promised, Graham comes downstairs after a minute - or, well, after like 40 seconds. As soon as it becomes obvious that Elise isn't just going to shut the door on whoever it is. Barefoot and rubbing his hair, fishing out his smokes, he plods down the stairs, making no effort to pretend he's not coming over to butt into the middle of this conversation. That he rolls up right around the time Elise is like 'sick murder enthusiasm' is just bad luck all around. He is pretty much immediately in 'someone is about to wind up in a dumpster' mode, standing over Elise's shoulder to look at Alexander on the porch, a hand high up on the door - in preparation for slamming it - and the other hand on Elise's shoulder. Sure, he'll bite: "You're the crazy guy."

"I am not the police," Alexander agrees, calmly. His eyes flick towards the stairs, but he doesn't run and flee, even at the less than warm and welcoming reception. He studies Elise for a moment, then shakes his head. "It's not that kind of murder enthusiasm thing, Miss Krueger. I would like to discover who was responsible for your parents' death, and why. I realize that is an unusual request, but I imagine you want the same thing." He doesn't really straighten when Graham shows up, although he does sort of tense in that way that suggests that he's had a few doors closed on him and would rather not have his nose bruised. A brief grimace at the 'crazy guy', but he doesn't deny it. "And you're the guy from the sewer. I hope you're feeling better, Mister Stewart."

Elise is understandably stiff, though she seems to relax subtly when Graham puts his hand on her shoulder - even if her frown deepens at Graham calling Alexander 'the crazy guy'. She might be upset, but she's not RUDE! Jeeze, G. There's no comment on the sewer thing, the men can have their crazy nightmare reunion later. Right now? She's narrowing a look that may seem on the side of skeptic at Alexander. "Of course I want that," and that is very genuine, her brows furrowing. "But you'll have to forgive me because I have no idea why you would want that if you're not a police officer. Not that the police are doing a whole hell of a lot," she scoffs. "They send the whole fucking department to my house on some baseless claim from a methhead but they can't seem to put any effort into finding this disgusting person that shot my mom and dad." She might be a little bitter.

Graham doesn't answer for feeling better. He might have - took a breath like he was about to, pasted on one of his better smiles - but then Elise started in about the police and it leaves him shrugging expansively, drumming his fingers high up on that door that he's just waiting for permission to slam. "She makes a good point," he contributes helpfully. Skeptically, "You work for the ACLU or something?"

"Maybe I'm just crazy," Alexander says, with a shrug, "as Mister Stewart suggests. I don't like that it happened, and if it's at all possible, I'd like to see the people responsible found and brought to justice. If that's not possible, then I think you at least deserve to know what happened, why, and who is responsible. I don't mind sharing the results of my investigation with you. If you like. I don't have any requirements against it." He's impassive about the bitterness regarding the police, neither leaping to the department's defense nor condemning them. His eyes shift to Graham. "No. I believe they typically employ lawyers, and I don't think there are any specific civil rights violations involved. Unless you count life, I suppose. I'm investigating on my own initiative." Which is way easier to justify than the weird and complicated status he currently has with certain police officers. A look back at Elise. "It's your decision, of course. But I might be able to help."

Elise is mum on whether or not Alexander maybe crazy, but she does have a simple question: "Why?" It's probably not the most absurd thing she can ask. But she reaches up to touch Graham's forearm, the one he's using to hold the door (or slam it in Alexander's face), keeping him for the moment from shutting the door. "Why do you care? Why do you want to find out who did this? You don't know me, you don't know my parents. And I don't know a damn person in this town who's truly altruistic, so. Why?"

No specific violations? Graham snickers. "Been a while since you got arrested, obviously." But this conversation isn't about him, so he quiets with that. Doesn't stop his brows from climbing when Alexander states his purpose, and they stay up while Elise questions the wherefores: he thinks they're both fucking nuts and doesn't try to hide that opinion.

"Few years," Alexander admits to Graham, with a shrug. But most of his attention is on Elise, and her question. He shuffles on his feet a little, fingers tapping a nervous sort of rhythm on the seams of his pants before he forces them to stop. "A lot of people have been dying, lately," he says, at last. "It bothers me. This, at least, appears to be an incident where some form of conventional justice might eventually be seen. I don't like the idea of you never knowing what happened." A pause. "I don't like the idea of me never knowing what happened. Because that makes it more likely that it might happen again. And that will also bother me." He smiles a crooked little smile. "I don't 'get my rocks off' with murder, Miss Kreuger, but I do get a sense of satisfaction from solving them. If you need a selfish motive in order to feel comfortable, that's a true one."

Elise looks over her shoulder and up to Graham, noting the look on his face. It just makes her roll her eyes, but it's an affectionate sort of gesture. Then right back to Alexander does her attention settle, quiet as he explains his 'why'. It doesn't remove the frown, that stays firmly in place, but after mulling it around in her head for a silent few seconds? She sighs, turns, and walks back into her house, scooting around Graham in the process. "Fine," she relents, making this an open invitation for Alexander to come inside. Assuming, of course, Graham moves away from the door. "I don't trust that the police are going to do anything of worth. So, if this is what it takes? Then this is what it takes. My parents are..." she winces at the word, breathes in, and lets out a shaky sigh. "Were good people. They didn't deserve this."

Graham does not move away from the door. Instead, while Elise is walking off and talking and wincing, he makes sure to level some eye contact on Alexander and say quietly, "It's your funeral, man." He means this to be something she doesn't overhear, but that shit never works out for him for some reason. 🙁 Anyway, having said his piece THAT EVERYONE HEARD, he swings the door open and hooks a thumb toward the interior, if Alexander's still feeling like coming in. He lingers at the doorway, barefoot-kicking the cat away when she tries to dart into the outside world now that there's no Terrifying Stranger blocking her escape.

Alexander stares with empty eyes at Graham at that quiet (but not QUIET ENOUGH) commentary. After a moment, he inclines his head. "So noted." He doesn't make any attempt to make that sneaky and quiet. He steps inside at Elise's implied invitation. The cat's escape attempt is given a brief smile, but most of his attention is taken up with examining the interior of the house, taking note of anything and everything like he's going to be tested on it, later. "Thank you, Miss Kruger, for your indulgence." His voice gentles. "For what it's worth? I agree." He waits to be told where to sit, or where to stand if she'd prefer. "Some of my questions may be difficult. And you may not be able to answer some of them. But whatever you can share will help."

Elise definitely most certainly heard that. She pauses in step, shoulders tightening, and looks over her shoulder sternly back at Graham. "Be nice," it isn't a request. The living room isn't anything to write home about - there's a sofa, a couple of comfortable chairs, a television and a big ass cat tree in the corner. There are pictures in frames on the mantle - Elise and Graham, Elise and her parents, Elise and Graham again. It smells nice in here, lavender and vanilla with just a hint of Thai spices underneath it all, the latter probably unintentional and from whatever Elise cooks in the kitchen. "You can sit wherever you want," she opts for the sofa, "I don't really know what all I can tell you, I wasn't there when it happened."

Alexander takes one of the chairs, angling so that he can face the sofa where Elise is sitting. He sits like a man who might leap up and run away at any moment - mostly on the edge, leaning forwards slightly, although he tries to soften it with letting his forearms rest lightly on his knees. It doesn't really work. "Thank you. And no, I don't expect that you were." Just getting that out of the way. "In the days before their murder, were your parents showing any signs of unusual stress or distress? Anything that felt off or wrong, even if you can't put your finger on exactly why?" And, hey, he's going to try and reach out and lightly touch both of their minds, reading the emotional weather (and truth) of anything they happen to disclose.

Graham puts the cat on the cat tree. She immediately jumps down and disappears into whatever pocket universe cats inhabit when people are frantically searching for them everywhere and can't find them and then they emerge, yawning, like forty-five minutes later. "I think it's nice to warn people when they're fucking with things they best not fuck with," he mutters back at Elise, cross enough to get lippy - and then Alexander is doing things, and Graham may have no clue what exactly is being done (cuz noob), but he knows exactly where his kitchen-gun is. He goes into the kitchen to get it, excuse him a moment.

Elise mumbles something in Thai under her breath at Graham, settling back into the sofa with her arms folded across her chest. She settles a look on Alexander, actually putting some though into his question .. but then she just shakes her head. "Honestly? No. My dad is.. he was sick, he had a stroke almost a year ago. My mom was doing most of the work at the hotel, and she just.." she breathes out, dropping her gaze to the coffee table. If Alexander ever wondered what sadness felt like - real, unadulterated sadness - he was about to experience the full force of it. It rolls off Elise like a strong wave, the mournful undertones clear. She was being as honest as she could be.. but she was just sad. "My mom does her best, she.. we were supposed to have dinner, and.." There's a quivering note, before she suddenly jerks back and looks at Alexander as though he's grown two heads. "What are you doing?" she snaps.

Well. That's inconvenient. Alexander has GOT to get better at being stealthy about this whole mind-reading thing. Preferably before Graham shoots him. He's tuned in to the emotions, and the - not sympathy but empathy shows on his face. He feels the sadness as if it were his own, and his breath goes a little ragged. "I see. Thank you. Did your mother ever speak about their financia--" and then he's caught. He sits back a bit, considers her. "It's a trick, of sorts," he says, after a moment. "For interviews. A sort of lie detector test, if you want to be specific. It's not meant to harm you, Miss Kruger." It's very reassuring. No, wait, it isn't. He's not very good at being reassuring.

"You wanna see my trick of sorts?" Graham offers from the kitchen, in whose doorway he will now be leaning while he makes sure there are bullets in his gun. There are, but it always looks cool on TV when people check, so that's what he does. Also, he doesn't get a lot of chances to be menacing. APPARENTLY, he's being responsible and not 'accidentally' shooting Alexander in the face for stealing his brainwaves or whatever the dude's doing.

"I know what you're doing," it's almost accusatory, the way Elise says that. "But I don't know why. Do you honestly think I had anything to do with this? That if I knew something that I thought would be helpful, I wouldn't have already told the fucking cops so they could do their jobs? They were my parents, and my mom and I had our disagreements but I love her and.. God dammit, Graham," way to ruin her emotional moment. She looks up from her seat on the couch to Graham in the doorway of the kitchen and slumps forward, planting her face directly in her hands for half a second. Then, after she rubs her hands down her face, she hops to her feet and glares at Graham. "Put that away, are you seriously hiding guns in my kitchen?" Ohhh, he was gonna get his ass beat.

Alexander is menaced! His hands fly up and he sort of cringes down in the seat, distracted from his VERY IMPORTANT QUESTIONING, GRAHAM, but the fact that the man is holding a gun and clearly intending to use it. "Please don't shoot me," he says, hastily. "I'm not..." a sidelong look to Elise at her questions, and he sort of recoils from that direction as well; her emotions hurt. Not as much as the gun, maybe, but still. "I don't think you had anything to do with your parents' murder, Miss Kruger. But if I'm going to figure out who - and perhaps more importantly, why -" because, let's face it, everyone in this room probably has a 'who' in mind whether they're saying it or not, "much less prove it, then I have to have every bit of reliable data I can get. And people deceive for reasons other than personal guilt. Fear of retribution, of the exposure of other situations, or to protect other people they love. It's important to be able to sort that out." His eyes dart back and forth between Graham and Elise.

Graham offers a super-reassuring, "All right," in answer to Alexander's don't-shoot-me. See how that works, Alexander? He just smiles and says something pleasantly and it's totally credible. As long as everyone ignores the pistol-shaped elephant in the room WHICH WOULD BE EASIER if Elise had an ounce of fucking chill, christ woman. "Yes, Elly. I hide guns in your kitchen. Because I'm going to shoot this fucker in the face," even though he just said he wouldn't (so much for being reassuring), "if he keeps doing that crazy shit." He knuckles his own temple (with his gun-free hand) as an indicator.

They should talk about this later. He attempts to communicate this with his eyes, but tempers are all flaring, so maybe it lands, and maybe he gets punched.

Elise is also communicating things with her EYES. Like how she's going to toss Graham to the motherfucking floor if he keeps it up. "Not right now. Seriously, you're not shooting anybody in my goddamn living room and I just need this to stop," she balls her hands up into tiny fists, though she goes from glaring to pleading so fast that it will make your head spin. "Please, G. I just need a single ounce of normalcy from you right now. Please." Really, she's begging. She drops back down onto the sofa and looks hard at Alexander. "And that goes for you, too. You can't just .. dig into people's brains, it's not right. Even if you can do it."

"First off - " Graham stops, though, because Elise is obviously having a moment. So he peels himself out of the doorway, looking daggers at Alexander, and he tries one more time to say something to just one person, but he must be the loudest whisperer on the whole planet, because even though he drops his voice and pitches it toward Elise's ear, it's not exactly a secret: "You need to know that I have to tell my boss about this guy. And my boss?" He drops a look to the gun, then plods off to put it away. Wherever it lives that Elise doesn't know about~

Alexander's expression bounces through a myriad of emotions as all of this goes down. Skepticism at the reassurance, followed by a profound sort of resignation when Graham takes it back, then a touch of exasperation at Elise's chiding. He gestures at the GUY with the GUN who said he was going to SHOOT HIM IN THE FACE when she talks about 'not right'. But he does sever the connection he's been holding on her mind, and then there's a touch of surprise - but only a touch - at Graham's terrible whisper. "Well. That at least reveals the elephant in the room," he says, dry, as Graham moves to put it away. His eyes track him until he disappears, then he turns back to Elise. "Then, you are aware of the debt your parents owed, and to whom." His jaw sets. If he's gonna get shot over this interview IT WILL BE PRODUCTIVE, DAMNIT.

Elise knows that's a terrible whisper on Graham's behalf. And it makes her sink into the couch and sigh, pinching the bridge of her nose. ""I don't know if this is going to be very productive, Alexander. I think maybe it was a mistake to tell you to come inside," at least she's honest. As for who her parents owed? She just frowns. "My parents didn't tell me anything about owing money. I didn't have anything to do with the motel, and that's the truth. Frankly, I don't even want anything to do with it now." She slowly rises to her feet again. "It was really nice to meet you, Alexander, but I.. I'm really honestly very stressed out and G's just doing his best to help right now."

Graham's doing this absolute best to help right now. He closes, like, fourteen cabinets in the kitchen TO THROW HER OFF THE TRAIL, and materializes back in the living room in due time for Alexander to talk about debts. "I'll show you the door," he volunteers like a super-great gentleman.

He's going to get beat up later. 🙁

Have you ever seen a dog trained to hunt who's being held on a leash while a duck just waddles away from it, not ten feet away? That look of pure, agonized frustration? Alexander's face is the human equivalent of that, right now. If he was canine, he'd be whining with the need to slip the collar and chase whatever he needs to ground.

But he's not actually a dog, so he rubs his hands over his face and just lets out a weary sigh. "All right, Miss Kruger. It was nice to meet you, and you have my sincere condolences for your loss, for what that's worth. I am sorry to have disturbed you." He stands, reaches into his back pocket and offers her a card. It's a very plain sort of business card, with just his name, number, and e-mail on it. "If you change your mind, please let me know." He assesses Graham as he makes that incredibly polite offer. Such a gentleman; this one is clearly a keeper, Elise. He doesn't protest, though. Just inclines his head and gestures for Graham to lead the way. He's the host, after all.

Elise knows Graham's a keeper, that's why she's got all the heart eyes for him right now when he does his gentlemanly duty <3 <3 <3 "Thank you," she says of the sincere condolences, sniffling subtly. "Don't stay out there too long," she says to Graham, a warning perhaps?! "I'm just... I'm going to go make food," she is actually going to cry in the kitchen. Bye guys!

If Graham tries to roll for this, it will absolutely fail, so he's not going to. Elise is in the kitchen crying, so she definitely doesn't hear Graham leading the, like, twelve feet it takes to cross to the front door. Hand on the knob, he keeps his voice low FOR ONCE and tells Alexander seriously, "We all know what happened to her parents. Unless you wanna wind up just like them? I'd let it go." Eye contact and everything; this is Graham's serious face.

Alexander follows Graham with that 'I'm gonna get my ass kicked' sort of face. What the man says actually stops him. There's a flicker of surprise. He studies Graham for a long, long moment. Then he says, quietly, "If you have confirmation of that, Mister Stewart, I'll stop right here. I don't actually want to pick this fight." A pause, but anyone could HEAR the 'but' coming. "But, it bothers me. Why execute debtors who were paying their debt? People require fear to continue to pay and a knowledge of the consequences, but they also require a twisted sort of hope and trust that if they do what they're told, the wolf stays away. Killing people who were doing what they were supposed to isn't a show of strength, of consequences. It's risky." He meets Graham's eyes square. "But if you tell me that you have been told that it was business, then...well, there's not really a mystery, is there? If not, though--it's not a bad opening gambit to a larger effort for destabilization. And I don't like things being unstable. The devil you know is the still the goddamned devil, but a turf war drops a lot of mostly innocent people."

"I haven't been told anything, Mister - Alexander." Graham tried to remember the name, so good on him? So as not to tip Elise off, he opens the door at that point, but doesn't shove Alexander out onto the porch or anything. Just holds onto it near the top, like he did at the start of this scene, it's just how he holds doors, apparently. "I'm just playing the odds, man. Her parents were in deep, maybe they came up short, maybe they'd finally hit the limit on what they'd be willing to do. I dunno why, but c'mon. We all know who gave the order, you think he'd hesitate to do the same to you?" More importantly, says the chin-toss to the kitchen where his girlfriend is crying into a dish-towel and/or looking for his gun, does Alexander think he'd hesitate to the do the same to her?

"I gotta tell him you're snooping. Just to cover our asses here. Nothing personal."

Alexander steps out onto the porch under his own free will, and turns to smile at Graham. It's not really a happy smile but it very slightly warms his dark eyes. Whatever his opinion on Graham Stewart (Spoiler: It's not good.), he appreciates that he's trying to protect his girlfriend - even if he's working for the guy he clearly thinks murders her parents. You gotta respect managing that kind of cognitive dissonance, really. "No, I don't think he would. It still bothers me." A helpless shrug, like he doesn't really have a choice when something bothers him. He follows the look. "But she's right, you know. The Krugers didn't deserve what happened to them. And neither does she."

A heavy sort of sigh at the last. "I figured that, Mister Stewart. Take care of Miss Kruger." He turns and trudges away, all sad Jehovah's Witness, slinking away into the autumn. Why won't anyone just accept Jesus as their savior??

ENH. It's not like Graham's conscience exists eats at him about it. He starts to say something after who deserves what, then bites it back and, after finishing the preparatory breath, eventually concludes, "None of us get what we deserve." With a big, helpless-looking shrug. "You have a nice day." He closes the door after Alexander and skulks back toward the kitchen to take the beating that he absolutely deserves, no matter what his personal philosophy on such matters might be.