The Mysterious Mr. Miller

21. SEARCHING THROUGH THE PAST

I fought the tears that were accumulating in my eyes as I stood in front of my father's house. I had handed over the spare key to Sean who unlocked the main door and broke in with Thomas. I on the other hand, was drowning deep into nostalgia. I had spent a fair share of my life in that apartment and this was the place where my father was murdered. So being here was not easy for me at all.

"What are you waiting for?" Sean waved his hand in front of me, breaking the chain of my thoughts.

"Nothing." I said and walked inside.

The house was exactly like how I had left it. The last time I was here, it was a week after Dad's funeral. I had cleaned the floors and emptied the refrigerator before turning it off, along with the other electronics. Now I was glad I had done that because I didn't get to revisit the house after that.

"Okay so what do we know by now?" Sean said rhetorically, looking around the house.

"We know that the Machiavelli mafia has something to do with Elijah's murder and now they want you. Who are Machiavelli's? A renowned Italian Mafia family currently led by three sons of Antonio Machiavelli; Paolo, Enzo and Marco. Paolo is 42, the oldest and the only one who is married. Your kidnappers were hired by a woman who is probably Bianca, Paolo's wife. Enzo has been arrested in an organ trafficking case and the youngest Marco keeps a low profile." He went on and on.

"Have you ever conducted business with Machiavellis?" I asked.

"No because our moral values don't align." Sean replied as he walked into Dad's bedroom. I didn't feel good touching anything that belonged to Dad but it was important.

"You have moral values?" I asked, looking into his cupboard. The familiar scent of his clothes filled my nostrils and I imagined engulfing him into a giant hug.

"Contrary to popular belief, we do." He said and looked beneath the bed.

Once we had thoroughly checked the bedroom, we searched the kitchen and the guest bedroom. This room used to belong to me before I had moved out. It still had the swing chair that I got for my 16th birthday. I remember spending hours on this chair reading novels. That's where I got my love for literature that later became my profession.

I sat down on the swinging chair to reminisce those days. Sean was searching the room thoroughly and I should have been helping him but I was overwhelmed by all those memories of Dad and my past. I took everything for granted and now, I was left all alone in the world.

"Nothing here. Let's go." He said and then walked out of the room. For him, it was all a project, something he needed to solve. For me, it was my life and it was all in shambles.

We then went to his study room. It was Dad's private place where he hardly let me enter. It had his work place slash library where he used to prepare his lectures and checked all the assignments. The one time I was here, I accidentally emailed all his students the upcoming test question paper and after that, I was banned from entering this room.

"I don't think we are going to find anything." I said, blowing the dust off his books. He would never let them get this dirty.

"Your dad used to work here, right?" Sean asked.

"Yes." I said.

"Remind me what he taught in school?" He asked.

"Physics." I responded.

"And to teach highschool physics, he must need a laptop. I'm curious why I haven't seen one in the whole house." Sean said and it alerted me all of sudden.

I walked over to the desk and searched for his laptop. He had a MacBook pro and I remember it because I was the one who taught him how to transfer all the data from his old laptop to the new one when he bought it last year.