This is the third part in a series, so if you have not already done so, you might want to read Part I and Part II before continuing.
“If it gets out that you’re the cook in your family, your political career will be over,” Frank told Charles as he sat back in his chair and rubbed his round belly.
“That’s why you’re sworn to secrecy,” Charles said with a smile. The truth was he relished compliments on his cooking, but Frank was right. Their party was too full of toxic masculinity for him to be able to publicly brag about his culinary accomplishments.
“Don’t worry,” said Charles’s wife, Charlotte, as she started gathering up the dishes. “At least this housewife knows how to use the dishwasher.”
“I knew you were good for something,” Charles said. Charlotte smiled while giving him a warning look that told him he was on thin ice with that joke.
“Charlie and Charlie,” Frank said with wonder in his voice.
“I give her a hard time, but we do make a good team,” said Charles.
“Don’t I know it. So, why did you really ask me over? You know I can never resist your cooking, but you obviously have something on your mind.”
“I have a meeting with Voldemort, and I wanted to talk strategy for information gathering. I asked you here because I couldn’t be sure our offices aren’t bugged.”
“I assume that’s also why you asked me not to bring my phone.”
“Yes.”
Frank nodded and Charles continued. “Obviously, we can’t search his office while we’re in there with him, but we can look around while he’s talking. Maybe he’ll leave something sitting out that will give us a clue.”
“We might have a chance to look around before the meeting. You know how he loves to keep people waiting.”
“Good point, but I don’t want to rely on it. We’ll take advantage of it if we can, but if we get caught, we’re dead, so we have to be very careful. At the very least, I do want to take a look at anything that could give us a clue as to how he’s converting people. It could be something sitting on his desk or hanging on his wall. I don’t know. I just want to go in like detectives with our eyes wide open. We won’t be looking for anything specific, which means we’ll be looking at everything, got it?”
“Yes, but I have one question: what if he’s not the one converting people?”
Charles sighed a heavy sigh. “You think it might be Matthew.”
“He does seem to be the one pulling the strings.”
“I’ve thought about that, but we need to focus on one thing at a time. Let’s see if we can find anything in Voldemort’s office. If not, we’ll look elsewhere.”
“I saw absolutely nothing,” Frank said the next day as he collapsed onto the leather couch Charles kept in his office.
“Neither did I,” Charles admitted.
“How is it that he did all the talking, but I’m the one who’s exhausted?”
“Because trying to keep up with his nonexistent logic is too much for any sane person to bear. He ties our minds in knots and then trots off none the wiser, either because he has no brain or because it was tied into knots long ago and never untied.”
Frank laughed. Then he said, “Now what?”
“I suppose it’s on to the next office.” Frank nodded from his supine position on the couch. Charles hadn’t said Matthew’s name, but then he didn’t have to. He was next on their list and Frank understood that Charles didn’t want to say his name in case someone was listening.
To be continued…