The Enigma’s Anomaly

The cops take señor balaclava away and tell us to come down to the station as well, but we usher them off by saying that we’ll be there soon. I just really need to talk to Gerard.

“Alright so who is Banks?”

Gerard looks uncomfortable and nervous, and starts twiddling with his hair.

“He’s, um, the corporate businessmen who I interned for before I got my first comic published.”

“And?”

“I, um, sort of walked in on him having an affair once,” Gerard says.

“That guy?” I say, not even hiding how scandalized I am. I remember when he told me about him though.

“That’s um... that’s not all,” Gerard says, and he scrunches his nose like he’s guilty of something.

“What else?”

“I sort of discovered that he was embezzling money. There may have been some extortion involved. And fraudulence. The thing was that no one ever testified against him! No one ever called him out on it, so I figured no one would notice if I based a character off of him. I honestly didn’t think it would ever come back to bite me!”

“Wait, so you’re telling me, that you interned for a guy who was extorting and embezzling money, as well as cheating on his wife?” Gerard nods, so I continue, “And you used that information to base a character off of him in your comic book?”

“Pretty much,” Gerard says.

“Is there any more to this story?”

“Uh, kind of.”

I groan, “Oh great, spill it Way.”

“Frank... I did something really bad. Like really really bad. Really really really really-“

“I got it. What did you do?” I ask him anxiously.

“Well I, uh, I needed a startup. For the comic. Money, you know?”

“Gerard! Did you blackmail him?” I ask.

“I may have sort of done that, yes,” Gerard says.

“Gerard!”

He panics and covers his face, “I’m sorry. I’m sorry. I just, I needed the money, and I had all this dirt on him, I just didn’t know what to do!”

“So that’s it right? That’s where this story ends?”

“Yeah, I think that’s about it. I mean, no one knew what he was doing! No one knew, so if people found out... but he’s rich. Majorly rich, it wasn’t that big of a deal and he never spoke to me again after I left!”

“Okay, so if that’s all that happened, why does he want you dead?”

“I told you that I based the villain off my boss?” Gerard says, “Well it’s not exactly vague. It’s sort of in your face. Not only does the character look like him, but he acts like him. How do you think the world would react if they found out that that villain is a real person? It could destroy his reputation. He’s not exactly a private guy, he’s in the news a lot, he’s this huge businessman! It would destroy his relationship, and his job and everything else.”

“Wait hold on. Relationship, career, and he’d go to jail? Gerard, he’s been trying to destroy everything you were threatening to take away from him!” I say and finally it all fits. “He was going to kill you so you’d stop writing about him, but when it became clear that that wasn’t going to work he decided to make you understand what you were doing! Show you what it’s like on the receiving end. He’s a sadist alright, and he was trying to give you what you were menacing over his head, only ten times worse. You were going to ruin his relationship with his wife, so he tried to have me killed. You were going to ruin his career so he was trying to get your dream job with this comic abolished. You were going to send him to jail for fraud, so he was going to do that to someone you loved.”

“Evil genius,” Gerard mumbles shaking his head, and looking almost impressed. “Okay that’s pretty disturbed, but you’ve got to admit that’s damn clever.”

My eyes fall and as much as I like Gerard, I can’t help but think how stupid it was for him to do all that. That was a really dumb thing to do. He never would’ve intended for anybody to figure it out, but he was basically giving that guy more than enough reason to try and hurt him. Doesn’t mean I like him any less, it was just really stupid.

“It was like a tribute to how I got my start!” Gerard tries to defend himself when he sees my face, “I based this character off of Banks, and then I put the symbolism in the books and I never thought he’d notice! I never thought he’d read them. I just wanted to be able to look back on it and see the irony in the work. It was just representational! I swear. It’s not like its inaccessible information either! Anyone with logic could have worked out that Banks is a horrible person, and the evidence is in the numbers, it’s all there! I just... oh god you think I’m an idiot. You hate me don’t you? You hate me, I just know it!”

“No Gerard. I don’t hate you. I’m not going to deny the fact that you were incredibly stupid when you did that, but I don’t hate you.”

“I’m so sorry. Shit, I feel awful, about it. I, uh, that’s sort of thing that I didn’t tell you,” Gerard admits.

“You said there were two things. Two things that were related,” I point out.

“Shit, you were paying attention when I said that? Fuck, Frank don’t think badly of me when I tell you this,” he asks.

“I tried to kill you, I think we’re pretty much even.”

Gerard frowns then takes in a few huffs of air and says, “well, um, see Banks, he is definitely well connected. Through some means, he pretty much works with everyone in the city. Like other businessman, financial firms, politicians, everyone. Just everyone. He’s an entrepreneur kind of, and everyone just knows him.”

“You’ve lost me,” I tell him.

“Okay, well the thing is that I didn’t have any, well reputation, when I was looking to start a comic. Like I said, this guy knows everyone so I had him make a few connections which dragged a man called Derek Fischer into things. I needed a publisher, Banks needed me to keep quiet and Fischer needed to keep things quiet as well because he’s an associate in the whole embezzling scheme.”

“You blackmailed your editor?” I ask trying to wrap my head around this. Gerard blackmailed someone? It doesn’t seem possible! He’s such a sweet, innocent guy. It just doesn’t compute that he could do that. I guess we all do bad things for money like he said a while back, but I never would have pegged Gerard as a blackmailer. At least what he did wasn’t nearly as bad as what I used to, but it’s never come back to bite me and that’s the difference. When I was doing things illegally I had the sense to stay anonymous which has kept me safe. Gerard’s crime is out in the open.

Gerard corrects me, “Ultimately no. Banks blackmailed him for me, but that’s one of the reasons why I have such a cozy job, I guess. But I paid Banks back! Like actually, paid him back a year ago, with interest even. He shouldn’t still be mad about that, but I guess basing a comic book villain after him wasn’t so good an idea.”

“Yeah, but even then, isn’t it a little harsh to inevitably try to get you to die?”

“He’s a go big or go home kind of a guy. Which is why he decided to steal millions of dollars instead of just thousands. He’s also a sociopath. It’s not just him who has things to lose. It’s everyone who works for him. Probably dozens of people could end up in prison or paying fines,” Gerard explains.

“Oh god, Gerard!”

“It’s alright, you can call me an idiot.”

“You’re an idiot,” I say and he nods bowing his head down shamefully.

I walk over to him and put my hand on his shoulder, “but you’re an idiot I love.”

Gerard smiles, but it fades quickly and I realize he’s still not done.

“What now?”

He winces when I ask him, and bites his lip, “this is the last thing, I swear. It’s absolutely the last piece of the story, but you’re not going to like it.”

“I didn’t like any of the other stuff you’ve said so I wasn’t really expecting to like whatever this is,” I tell him honestly.

“Well this isn’t my fault or anything. This is just a development that is happening that kind of explains the timing of all this. I guess I understand why he’s trying to get rid of some loose ends at the moment, including me. It’s going to be nearly impossible to get to him. He’s almost indestructible at this point. Lawyers so good they could convince a jury that Mars belongs to a Polar Bear. I don’t think anyone will be able to get to him. Because, Frank, the thing is that Banks is... he’s sort of running for U.S. senate in 2016.”