Avec le Pianiste
Les Pianistes réagissent avec un sourire nubile caractéristique comme elle est complimentée par le diplomate, et hoche les clins d'œil quand on rappelle que son invité détective est en tant que tel. Après une gorgée de liquide orange qu'elle boit, sa voix remplit la pièce.
"Je sais à quel point c'est de la chance, inspecteur. J'ai vu les deux côtés d'elle beaucoup de fois, comme je suis sûr que vous l'avez aussi. Quoi qu'il en soit, je suis sûr que vous êtes curieux de votre situation. Je n'ai jamais été un pour les discours dramatiques, le piano un pantomime suffisant pour moi, voyez-vous. C'est l'état des choses : je représente un certain bienfaiteur intéressé et bien connecté qui choisit de rester anonyme. Il, pour des raisons qu'il n'a pas jugé bon de me dire, vous a choisis deux, et l'un d'eux qui devrait être ici bientôt" Elle vérifie une montre de poche, l'impatience visible seulement à la plus perceptive des yeux pour la courte seconde "sont parmi la multitude qu'il a offert le même deal. Il promet le désir de votre Cœur, quel qu'il soit, à l'achèvement d'une série de 12 tâches au maximum, spécialement adaptées aux hommes d'une importance et d'une capacité particulières. Il y aura un certain choix dans les tâches qui vous seront assignées, vu que vous n'êtes qu'une seule cellule dans un réseau assez vaste de bénéficiaires, mais une fois que l'accord est entré de tels choix ne peuvent pas être garantis en tout temps. La minutie de l'accord peut être lue ici, bien qu'il soit terriblement ennuyeux si vous demandez mon avis." Elle produit un morceau de papier de quelque part, brun foncé que d'habitude et recouvert d'un imprimé minute, dirigé par une signature brodée de quelque "Baseborn and Fowlingpiece", probablement une institution juridique.
"Je dois vous avertir que ce qu'il y a de loi à Londres ne considérera pas toutes les tâches qui peuvent être attribuées comme entièrement légales, bien que vous trouverez de telles trifles signifient beaucoup moins hors du soleil. Inutile de dire que chacun d'entre vous a le droit de refuser toute tâche, bien que cela ne vous empêche pas d'être récompensé. »
La pianiste, toute affaire à travers son discours, s'incline légèrement, devenant plus confortable à mesure qu'un sourire élégant grandit sur son visage. Alors qu'elle trouve sa position nouvelle et consomptiblement plus attrayante, la porte s'ouvre derrière Miles et Spencer, et un homme honnêtement bronzé entre, à propos de laquelle le Pianiste semble extrêmement heureux.
"Ah, tu nous rejoins enfin. Je comprends que naviguer à Londres doit être doublement difficile pour un surfaceur, s'il vous plaît, asseyez-vous! Nous ne faisions que couvrir vos missions particulières". Le visage du Pianiste laisse encore une fois penser à la frustration si subtilement qu'elle semble presque imaginée, et elle passe en revue les détails de l'accord dans un peu moins de détails. Une fois terminée, elle saisit le document et plante son pouce sur l'un des quatre symboles étranges en boucle qui semblent causer un léger vertige lorsqu'on le regarde. Ce sont des tourbillons de formes et de lignes, bordés de points et d'épis, et sont uniformes à l'exception de celui qui a été poncé, qui est légèrement plus grand et significativement plus complexe.
« La Correspondance, pour vous qui ne le savez peut-être pas, est une sorte de magie très réelle et très mal comprise dans la Neath. Placez votre pouce sur les trois marques d'uniforme, s'il vous plaît. Ceux-ci garantissent simplement qu'une violation du contrat par vous entraîne la résiliation immédiate dudit contrat. Le mien, comme l'a ordonné notre bienfaiteur, garantit ma mort permanente si moi ou le bienfaiteur rompons le contrat sans raison. Une question de sécurité, et j'espère que celle qui vous donnera un peu d'esprit que notre bienfaiteur n'a que le meilleur en réserve pour nous tous. »
Elle glisse le papier en arrière, et attend soit des questions, soit des pouces descendants avec autant d'empressement.
Name: Spencer Cole
Age: 55
Physical Description: Exquisitely dressed in grey pin striped 3 piece suit, a perfectly tailored Egyptian cotton shirt and a Jaxon English bowler perched on his head, he is the epitome of style. Turning to fat in older age is a dominant gene in Spencer's family and combat this, he keeps a strict regime of running to giving him a taut sleek form which he moves with smooth purpose. Boots made of soft, velvet like leather clad his feet, a long chain leading to an elegant pocket watch mark and the mole skin briefcase mark him as a man of distinction.
Its often said that people dress to hide their flaws or accentuate their more desirable attributes and Spencer was no exception to this rule. He was by no means a hansom man, dour in expression, weak chin and a nose that was almost, but not entirely the wrong size for his face. Still, he was not without some positive physical attributes, he had been involved with several high profile women in his life, one of whom was a well know actress, none of them had ever lasted more then a year or more. They could never offer him what he really wanted.
Personality: Petty, ruthless and uncompromising, are some of the nicer adjectives used to describe Spencer. Most who have worked with him describe him as narcissistic, manipulative and abhorrent. Spencer's better personality traits were never encouraged to come out. A ruthless attitude were cultivated as a child and a cool intellect was nurtured. This upbringing has left Spencer some what distant and disinterested in others, that is unless he considers you of value. Accustomed to being deferred to he makes a difficult travelling companion and a formidably enemy.
Given his affluent family circumstances Spencer has never been require to do manual labour and Tabour, his equerry has always dealt with the more physical side of Spencer's business, not that there is a vast amount of that kind of work with the lifestyle he leads.
Ethics/Beliefs: Morality was never much of an issue for Spencer, in as much as he had never really had it instilled in him. Ruthlessness was an attribute that was nurtured, developed and grown , this ruthlessness which, today, Spencer wields like a weapon. At a very early age all of the Spencer children were encouraged to cheat, to be manipulative, to win at all costs. Winning, of course to most people, is a subjective matter, to Spencer it was his life force. Anything could be 'Won', people, property, favours, money, import rights, conversations. Wining is what drives him and the only unfair game that you ever play in life, is the game you lose....
Occupation/Talents: 30 years with the British Diplomatic Service has left Spencer jaded, frustrated and angry. He had been, what many would call lucky in his postings. Lucky in the first instance that his father purchased his commission with the Diplomatic Service and in the second instance that all his postings had given him unrestricted access to business leaders, politicians and affluent people who could ensure the ships from British Tobacco Ltd were not subjected to any formal inspections. Of course the fact that the Spencer family were the majority share holders in British Tobacco Ltd and subsidiaries were purely coincidental. Spencer always wanted to be more hands on with his family’s businesses but destroyed all chance of that after the accident.
His real talents lay with people, he could manipulate them and bend them to his will, subtly of course, none of this crass violence that people seem to revile in these days. Far from disliking people who resisted him, he respected them for it, he even liked some of them. Not that it would stop him trying to use them to his advantage in one way or another.
Heart's Desire: A child. A male heir to carry on his work and his genes to the next generation. There really isn't much more to it, he does not need anything material, he has no need of a wife or friends, nothing more than a son.
History: Spencer is the eldest of 3 brothers, and there fore, as is right, the next in line to take up a position on the board of directors for the family’s business, except that to be a board member you first must have provided a male heir to the family, which for Spencer was an impossibility.
Growing up on the family estate as the eldest brother should have been relatively easy for Spencer, he had a full 16 months on his twin brothers and he exploited this age gap for many years. The twins grew fast and being twins, did everything together. It was a cause for concern with the family heads when Spencer's mother produced twins, the family had experienced problems in the past with twins, they had found it difficult to sever that unseen bond twins have. The Family heads decided on a different course of action with Twain and Evans, their tutors encouraged this bond and strengthened it over the years.
On the Twins 12th birthday the day was to be celebrated with a shoot. The preparations had taken weeks and the twins had each been presented with a brace of identical smooth bore shot guns. Shooting was a part of life at the family’s estate and by this age each of the children were proficient in handling guns.
Nobody knew how Twain managed to get separated from the group, and neither Spencer or Twain could remember exact details of the incident. Even today, when he thinks back on the weeks that followed a dull pain builds between his legs. When the doctor had made it clear that nothing could be done to rebuild the parts that were destroyed, Spencer was moved from the family estate into the town house. He was kept separate from the rest of the children and purchased a Commission in the Diplomatic Service.