Chapter Seventy-Seven: Lies and the Truth
“You were WRONG.” Daryl smirked.
“Shut. Up.” Judith Jofrey seethed.
They were sitting in the Mayors office, where Demon Jones had called a meeting.
“Both of you, enough.” Demon growled.
“C'mon Dad. Let me just have this.” Daryl grinned. “I mean, unless that baby brat Masters has grown into a teenager in the past twelve months, there's no way Belle Masters could be Giggles, because she doesn't have a sister old enough to fight!”
“Get OVER it!” Judith hissed.
“ENOUGH!” Demon raised his voice. “Now, if you don't stop Daryl, I will have you removed.”
Daryl settled back into his seat, satisfied.
“Now, we have a problem. Mark is dead, thanks to Master Revolver. Roger has vanished for the time being, which is annoying because I had plans with the March Hill Crusaders.” Demon glared at Judith.
“You were going to betray the Mobsters of Misneach.” She said evenly.
“They're idiots who have only kept their power by the sheer virtue that no one else could be bothered.” Demon muttered.
“They're the reason you got in as Mayor, remember?” Judith replied.
Demon bristled.
“I don't think we have anything further to discuss. Good day, Arnold.” Judith got up and left.
—
“Is this going to be another chapter of exposition?” Charlie groaned as Belle jotted down some notes.
“I'm just going say this is totally the fault of the Mob. The last time we had so many crime syndicates in Pleasantville was when the March Hill Crusaders ran the Mayors office. Now the Mob are in with Demon, it's history repeating.” Belle collated her notes, neatened them up, and put them in a folder. “Now, we need to deal with the fact that it's lunchtime.”
“Definitely exposition.” Charlie sighed as he climbed in through Belles bedroom window and followed her downstairs for lunch.
“So I heard that Demon is REALLY pissed at Master Revolver, and they had a huge blow up after Mark died.” Tammy was telling them what her snooping had discovered. “They haven't spoken since.”
“Maybe murdering Mark wasn't such a good idea for the Mob after all.” Peter mused. “It's just driven a further wedge between them and City Hall.”
“Which leaves the door wide open for the Haunted Maze Troupe, or anyone else to come in.” Belle sat down.
“No Belle.” Charlie shushed her.
“I just sat down!” Belle looked insulted.
“You had your lecture face on. We don't need random facts about Pleasantville history.” Charlie told her.
“Sounds like someone's being attacked outside!” Next door, Patrick began to panic.
“Calm down. Charlie just insulted Belle and is paying for it is all.” Sunny rolled her eyes, and went back to reading Melody her book.
“I don't think the Troupe want power though. They just want to sell their drugs.” Tammy said as Belle tore after Charlie.
“It makes things interesting though. Demon can't act until he has another legitimate name to throw his weight behind.” Peter mused. “Will you two sit down and eat?”
Belle and Charlie sat down, Belle pouting and Charlie grinning.
“Of course, we never exactly know WHO is getting themselves ready underground.” Peter continued.
—
Demon Jones sat at his desk typing up a letter to some rich snob or other that he needed to appease. Keeping all his connections happy was a difficult task, especially when those connections had needs that could only be serviced by drawing the ire of Chuckles and Giggles.
Those two pests and their friends the Noble Knights of the Last Order were making life extremely difficult. Especially when they had the backing of that goody-two-shoes Peter Masters. The criminal element, while still quite profitable, was running into huge problems because of them.
Demon sighed and finished off the letter. Suddenly, there was a knock at the door, and his son entered.
“What now?” Demon glared at Daryl.
“Well, my sister is finally getting married.” Daryl sat down. “Interestingly enough, to someone you might know.”
“I really don't care about that little trollop. She chose not to be a part of this family.” Demon grumbled.
“Also, we're going to have a visit from some government officials. They're going to do a full investigation.” Daryl added.
“WHAT?!” Demon roared.
“Thanks to Chuckles and Giggles and that stupid protest they had. Of course news of it got out and now we're under pressure.” Daryl told his father.
“Those two little morons have been a thorn in my side for too long!” Demon growled. “First they invade MY home, now they've got the government onto us. Well, never matter. Pleasantville has gotten through things like this before. We'll just have to keep things relatively clean while they're doing their little investigation.”
“How about putting Masters on leave? Both of them?” Daryl asked. “If the investigators get a hold of them, it could spell trouble.”
“No, that will just draw attention. We'll just give them light duties. Nothing where they can get involved in any investigation.” Demon rubbed his chin. “We'll need to do something about the Mob.”
“They don't want to get arrested any more than we do.” Daryl pointed out.
“I hope you're right. They might just decide to act up out of spite.” Demon mused. “Especially with how unstable Mobster Marion has become.”
“Losing the Lions Claw Blade twice has unhinged her completely.” Daryl agreed.
“I'm trusting you to keep an eye on the Mob.” Demon told his son.
“Count on me.” Daryl grinned.
“Not sure what we're going to do about the Troupe, and the Crusaders could want revenge at any moment. DAMN Revolver!” Demon growled as Daryl walked out to lord over his two associates.
He only hoped that he could keep things under control until he could have his revenge on Chuckles and Giggles…and their number one fan, the number one lawyer in the city, Peter Masters.
—
The man and his coworkers stood on the edge of Pleasant Gorge, looking out over the city of Pleasantville.
“It's time to find out exactly what's going on in this city, or my name isn't Richard Dickson!” He said in a high-pitched voice while he narrowed his eyes.