Zedecker's Secret

Andi felt the disapproving glare from her father, "Uh, no, Ma'am. I thought your comment about your mis-timed entrance amusing... because it was well-timed... um, comedically, I mean..."

Another small smile and an almost imperceptible nod, "And you are...?"

Andi felt the old woman's eyes laser in. The oversized sunglasses masked a great deal, but Andi could feel Madame Zedecker scrutinizing her.

Andi steadied her sightline on where she thought Madame Zedecker's eyes would be and held them there, "I'm Andi Zhao, ma'am."

Madame Zedecker's heart started beating faster. Andi was looking directly at her. It had been a long time since that happened. Most people looked away; she couldn't blame them, her mangled body was hard to look at. Andi's gaze - gentle and harmless as it was - sent a ripple of delight through her heart. Doesn't hurt that Andi is just my type... She quickly deflected, "Lewis, let's get these signed. I'd prefer not to be sitting around all day."

Andi tilted her head at Zedecker's dry humor; she could have sworn she felt a wink coming at her from behind the giant sunglasses. As hideously deformed as the woman was, there was a youthfulness emanating from her. Andi could feel it.

Lewis Tremont stiffened his back, his professional demeanor returning, "Yes, indeed. Mr. Zhao, are you ready to review this for execution?"

Steve sat forward, "Yes, I believe so."

"No."

All eyes turned to Madame Zedecker again. An arthritic finger pointed at Andi, "She reviews, she signs. Her project. Lewis, we've discussed this possibility."

Andi shot a quick look at her father. They were both surprised.

"Andi isn't an authorized signatory for Phoenix. Not yet, anyway." Steve started to feel uneasy. He didn't like clients using white-shoe lawyers to bully him into unconventional terms.

Lewis Tremont cleared his throat, "Er, we would be willing to accept Ms. Zhao's signature if you act as witness, Mr. Zhao. Would that be satisfactory?"

Andi shrugged. Steve stood up, "Would you mind if we discussed this with counsel? We can commit to giving you an answer in the morning."

Andi noticed the lawyers were all holding their breath. That's not a good sign.

Madame Zedecker gave the slightest hint of a nod.

"That'll be acceptable. We'll email the new page with the amended signature blocks to you shortly," Lewis Tremont capped his pen, "and also a rider noting Andi as signatory." He nodded at Frank Whitaker, who stood up and indicated to the door, "I'll walk you both out."

Steve shook hands with Lewis and offered to shake Madame Zedecker's hand, but she waved him off, "No later than 9am tomorrow, Mr. Zhao."

Her hand returned to the joystick, and with a whir of the motor, she spun around and sped out of the room and into the waiting elevator. Her fingers tapped impatiently on the armrests as she ascended. The wheelchair zipped out of the elevator upon arrival on the second floor and didn't come to a stop until it reached her room.

"You weren't gone very long...?"

Zedecker turned toward the voice and raised an eyebrow, "Lewis is very efficient."

"Yes, he is," Kei Shang said as he held up a steaming teacup, "Here, drink this, it's part of the deal."

She grimaced before shakily bringing the cup to her lips. The bitter liquid went down with a scowl. The image of Andi Zhao flashed up in her mind's eye. The scowl turned into a smile.

Kei Shang didn't like seeing the smile.

He followed the wheelchair's pivot towards the window, which looked down to the front motor court. Kei looked down to where the Zhaos were walking to their truck.

"Ah," Shang said icily, "You think you've found a candidate..."

"Perhaps I have," came the quiet answer.

Shang's eyes narrowed, "Remember the rules, my dear. He must stay on his own accord and declare his love without any prompting by you." He cocked his head with mock curiosity, "No one's come anywhere close -- what makes you think this one will stay? Which one? The son?"

Andi chose that moment to look back up at the mansion. Her eyes found Madame Zedecker immediately. Andi noticed the tall Asian man behind the debilitated woman. Her caregiver, most likely, she thought as she lifted a hand in greeting and smiled.

"Ooooh, you have made a connection," Shang said sarcastically, "But is he the one?"

Zedecker lowered her sunglasses and pierced Shang with a glare, "Not a 'he'. A 'she'."

If Kei Shang was surprised, he didn't show it, "Same rules. Tick tock, your year is almost over."

The woman ignored the last sentence; time meant very little, with the past ten months flying by perilously fast. But yet, she now allowed herself to feel a tiny sliver of hope.

Outside, on the west side of the mansion, a dozen vines of ivy retreated into nothingness.

Chapter Three - The Contract

"Dad?" Andi watched the speedometer with concern, "How about slowing down to, er, you know, within some reasonable proximity to the speed limit?"

"Call Chad," Steve barked into his phone. He took his foot off the accelerator slightly.

"Stevie-Z!"

"Hey - you're on speaker, I'm in the car with Andi. We just finished up at the Zedecker place."

Chad whistled, "Weird, right?"

"Yeah, the house is weird, the lawyers are weird, and the old lady is definitely weird. No ghosts though. Normal temps all through the house and my phone held its signal the entire time. I checked it pretty regularly."

Chad whistled again, "Does that mean you signed?"

"Not yet - the Zedecker lady wanted Andi to sign. I'm going to have my lawyer go through the new riders they casually added on today as a result."

"I can't believe you're going to do this."

"I might not -- Zedecker's lawyers were hiding something. Madame Zedecker's hiding something. I don't know what yet."

"Ok - let me know what you decide. I'll get ready to poach your clients when you're neck deep in Zedecker voodoo!"

"Asshole!" Steve retorted jokingly.

"Takes one to know one... Hey, we're still on for Sunday night, right?" Chad hosted a weekly poker night at his place.

"Wouldn't miss it. Get ready to lose your shirt, big guy," Steve turned onto the on-ramp for the highway, "I gotta go."

Andi looked at her dad, "Want me to call DP?"

Steve nodded. Andi fished out her phone and dialed David Pomeroy.

"Y'ello!" David picked up on the first ring.

"Hey DP, it's Andi," she grabbed the contract from the dashboard, "We're just coming back from the Zedecker Estate."

"Fully executed?"

"No," Andi replied, "They had weird ask... so there's a new rider."

"What's Lewis Tremont up to now?" Pomeroy's curiosity was piqued, "Who'd he have as his associate? Some kid fresh from law school?"

Andi shrugged, "Some guy named Frank Whitaker. He's older though."

"Whitaker's his junior on this?" the lawyer sounded surprised, "Tremont doesn't need that much back up! I'm surprised."

"What do you mean?" Andi asked.

"Whitaker's up for partner this year. He doesn't need to be taking dictation from Tremont."

The Zhaos looked at each other and shrugged.

"Eh, who cares," Pomeroy continued, "If Zedecker wants to pay for it, who cares... Okay - I'll take a look. Are you guys headed back to the office? I can swing by later."

"No - we're headed home," Steve said, "Traffic isn't cooperating and I'm not sitting in this any more than necessary."

"Gotcha. What's the weird ask?"

"Oh, um, they asked me to sign the docs," Andi replied, "I'll forward the rider once I get it. Do you think you can review it by end of day? We promised Tremont an answer tomorrow morning first thing."

"You bet. I'll buzz you when I'm done." David Pomeroy hung up.

Steve slowed down as they hit traffic, "If DP says it's all legit, are you comfortable signing?"

Andi shrugged, "I guess. Chad was right though -- based on what we saw, this is going to take months. We might even be short-handed."

Andi's phone pinged. "Looks like the new rider," she opened up the document, "I'll send it straight to DP. You want to go over the budget again? I think we're going to need Jeff's team for longer than we thought."

"We're sitting in traffic," Steve drummed at the steering wheel, "Might as well do something with the time."

"Why do you think they want me to sign?" Andi pulled out a pen and started to mark up the budget, "What could be the reason?"

Steve was silent for a bit.

"Maybe they can use it as a way to cancel the RFP?" Andi offered.

Steve scratched his head, "No idea, but it can't be good. But it's a risk to them, too. They're accepting your signature as an un-authorized signatory. It gives a lot of wiggle room for us to say it's not binding."

"Did you know that Joan Zedecker has basically gone through almost a dozen RFPs in the past year? Interior decorators, art curators, engineers, landscapers, chefs, restoration experts... you name it, it's been RFP'ed for contract."

"And the house still looks like an abandoned disaster," Steve raised an eyebrow, "Why's she in a wheelchair?"

Andi shook her head, "Nobody knows. I haven't been able to find anything about it. Press photos before her husband and daughter disappeared were all run-of-the-mill hoity-toity black-tie stuff, nobody in a wheelchair. No photos of her after the disappearances."

Steve shrugged, "Lost her husband and her daughter on the same day, maybe lost her mind as well...."

"You think so?" Andi looked at her dad, "I thought she seemed perfectly lucid today..."

Steve grunted noncommittally as he steered the truck through the last couple turns before pulling into their driveway. He turned to Andi, "Keep digging. I'll call Jeff about the budget -- we need to build in more costs and time."

"Okay..." Andi nodded, somewhat distracted by the sight of a bright green convertible in front of their house, "Hey -- that's Georgie's car!"

"Andi," Steve put his hand on his daughter's shoulder, "I need the budget updated. No distractions."

"Yep, I got it," Andi headed into the house. Her best friend, George McCaffrey, was sitting at the dining room table, chatting with her mom.

"What brings you here?" Andi gave him a high five.

"I ran some background for you," Georgie said, "When you told me where you were going today... I pulled in some favors." Georgie was a rising investigative reporter for The Star Sentinel, one of the local newspapers.

"Andi, did you eat?" Tina started pulling stuff from the fridge, "Georgie?"

"I'm on a new diet," Georgie grimaced.

"Georgie, you should embrace your cherubic form," Andi said.

Georgie waved a hand dismissively, "Easy for you to say, you're genetically coded to have zero excess body fat. I'm fairly certain I gain weight every time you eat...."

"Thanks for giving me good genes, Ma," Andi looked at what her mom was assembling, "Oooh, I'll heat up some of these." She grabbed two pork buns from a container and headed to the microwave.

"Aiyaah! Stop! Microwave will ruin it," Tina clucked.

Andi held up both hands in surrender, "Okay, your kitchen, Ma!"

Andi went over to the fridge and grabbed two cans of seltzer, "Ok, what did you find out?"

"Top line: tread carefully... because it's a total black hole."

Andi sat down at the table and handed a seltzer to her friend, "No shit, Sherlock. Everyone's saying the house is haunted and to not take the contract."

Georgie nodded his head, "Something spooky for sure." He shifted his legs and settled into the chair, "Three years ago, Damian Zedecker strikes a major deal in China. Soup-to-nuts auto parts supply chain joint venture that guaranteed a near monopoly for Zedecker's subsidiaries in Europe. Two years ago, he goes back to hunt for another deal, and that's when it all went sideways."

Andi nodded, "Yeah - I read that. He pulled his daughter out of college, right? Something about her finishing her degree with a private tutor or something?"

"Exactly. Quinn Zedecker was a junior, doing very well academically for all intents and purposes... then Boom! She's pulled out of school and sequestered at home. No contact with her friends or anything," Georgie took a swig of soda, "Quite a change for Ms. Popularity."

"Wasn't there some scandal about her a while back?" Andi remembered reading something while she did her research.

Georgie nodded, "Yeah, some asshole from one of the gossip sites broke into her room and tried to steal her laptop. Lewis Tremont made that guy's life hell... kind of deserved it..."

"Lewis Tremont! That's the same lawyer we met today!"

"Tremont's been the Thoreau family's lawyer for years -- way before Joan met Damian Zedecker. She's the one with the old-money family. The Thoreau family owned pretty much everything west of Morton Valley, still does, actually. Joan's the last Thoreau, so she ended up with all the wealth. She's the patron of dozens of charities, was always out and about. But after Quinn was pulled out of college, Joan Zedecker cut off all social engagements and pretty much went off the grid."

"Maybe that's when she got sick?" Andi speculated, "She's got some degenerative thing going on right now. In a wheelchair and everything."

"Wait, you met her?" Georgie sat up, "Tell me!"

Andi shrugged, "She was in a motorized wheelchair. Couldn't sit up straight. Hands were all mangled and twisted. Couldn't really see her face. She was wearing massive sunglasses."

"Wow," Georgie ran his hands through his short blond hair, "Did she look the same? You know, like the photographs of her on the web?"

Andi shook her head, "Nah, honestly, it was like she's aged twenty years, maybe more. Doesn't even look like the same person."

"Tsk!" Tina tutted.

"What?" Andi looked at her mother's face, which was clouded with disapproval.

"Nothing," Tina said dismissively, she handed Andi the pork buns, "Careful. They're hot."

"Okay, thanks, ma," Andi took the plate. Tina headed to the sink, shaking her head as she went.

"Jesus, that smells good," Georgie looked longingly at Andi as she took a bite.

Andi offered him the plate with the remaining bun. Georgie shook his head.

"Keep going," Andi took another bite.

"Okay, let's see," Georgie continued, "I have it on good authority that most of the staff at the mansion have stayed on, and only one or two quit but nobody's talking. Family and friends of staff members aren't saying anything either."

"How come?"

Georgie rubbed his thumb against his fingers, "Gotta be the deep pockets. Zedecker probably wrote big cheques to buy their silence. No one's going to talk. Believe me, we've all tried."

"So what do you think's going on?" Andi asked.

Georgie got up and stretched, "Here's what my sources say: one said Damian Zedecker ran into the wrong crowd in Shenzhen and pissed off some crime family over there, and they offed him and his daughter and poisoned his wife... which is plausible. But... most of my sources say that Zedecker spent millions on an immortality elixir, and it backfired on him..."

Andi blinked, "Immortality? Come on Georgie, really?"

"Normally, I'd agree with you. Super far-fetched," Georgie nodded, "But these are sources I trust. They don't make stuff up just to get attention. One thing's clear, Damian made a bad judgement call somewhere along the way and it most likely cost him his life."

"Bad karma more like," Andi shook her head, "Zedecker wasn't exactly a saint."

"Maybe... who knows?" Georgie fished a flash drive out of his pocket and handed it to Andi, "Here's the other stuff no-one's supposed to see."

Andi stared at the slim blue stick in her palm, "Dirty pictures?"

"No - get your mind out of the gutter," Georgie scoffed, "The flash drive has Zedecker's finances on it... at least the finances I was able to get my hands on."

"From those same sources who say Damian Zedecker was buying an immortality potion?"

Georgie nodded, "Yes. They are credible, Andi. Trust me... you trust me, right?"

Andi nodded.

"Ok. Look, according to these files, Damian and Joan Zedecker moved all their assets into the Thoreau Family Trust about a year ago. With the disappearances, the lawyers are essentially calling the shots on the cash right now. Joan's delegated it to them."

"So what?" Andi raised her hands, "Maybe she's sick of paperwork!"

Georgie let a deep breath, "Nah... I don't think it's paperwork... Because the ultimate beneficiary of the trust is Quinn Zedecker."

"Huh?"

"Exactly."

Andi frowned. Georgie looked at his watch and polished off his water, "The only thing I can think of is that Joan's clinging onto some fantasy that her daughter is still alive somewhere... or Joan was trying to keep Damian away from the Thoreau money..."

"So then why are the lawyers willing to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars a pop on pulled RFPs?" Andi said, almost to herself.

"Dunno, but this is all I got. Be careful with this Zedecker project," Georgie clapped Andi on the shoulder as he got up.

"Thanks, G, I owe you one," Andi twirled the flash drive between her fingers.

Once George slammed the front door shut, Tina rounded the kitchen counter and sat next to Andi. The older woman's face was fraught with worry.

"What is it, Ma?" Andi said through a mouthful of food just as her dad walked in.

"DP wants to talk..." Steve looked back and forth between his wife and daughter, "Tina, what's going on?"

"I think I know what happened to the Zedecker family," Tina spoke calmly, but with urgency.

Steve pulled up a chair.

Tina continued, "I think there is a Gu spirit at work here. Bad magic. Evil curse."

"Okaaayyyy...." Steve looked at his wife skeptically.

Tina lasered him with a look, "Georgie just came in with a lot of interesting information that you didn't hear, so don't look at me like I've lost my mind."

"But Ma, does this Chinese black magic actually exist? I thought it was just folklore?"

"There's a lot of embellishment, but there's some truth underneath it all. In the wrong hands, bad things can happen. Look, Georgie talked about the staff not leaving the house and you said Mrs. Zedecker looks like she's aged twenty years when only a year has passed."

Andi sat bolt upright, "And there was a man with her. Looked Chinese."

Tina shrugged, "My gut says it's Gu. Gu can do things like this."

"If it's black magic, where's Chow Yun Fat?" joked Steve, "Where's Michelle Yeoh?"

Tina shot him a look.

"Um, ok. Say you're right..." Steve cleared his throat.

Tina tilted her head and arched an eyebrow.

"Ok, fine. You're definitely... probably right," Steve quickly conceded, "So what's the end game for something like this? If it is Gu... what's the end game?"

"Well," Tina let out a long breath, "Gu sorcery's been banned since the Han Dynasty. It's been forced underground, but it's still being practiced. Because it's powerful. The end game is usually revenge -- served up painfully and without mercy."

"So Mrs. Zedecker is under some Gu curse. And maybe that Chinese dude is behind it?" Andi still sounded skeptical, "Wait, are there Gu sorcerers? I thought there were only witches?"

Tina shook a finger, "Folklore always pinned black magic on women, but that's riddled with misogyny. Gu can be learned and practiced by anyone with malicious intent."

Steve shook his head, "I thought the bad voodoo was just something Chad made up, but it this is true, it's not worth the trouble."

The three Zhaos were silent for a moment.

"She's looking for help," Tina looked at her husband, "You need to take the contract."

"Huh?" Steve frowned, "I was thinking just the opposite!"

"We have to try and help," Tina said, "I bet you she's dangling this contract in front of you because she can't leave the house for some reason and the only way to get help is to get as many people coming to the house as possible."