Luxembourg calls

I walk, more like waddle, into the conference room that is now across the hall from the suite that Vin and I are in. At 8 months pregnant, I can’t walk far without tiring easily. As soon as I got passed the door, I raided the fridge for apple juice and chocolate chip cookies; my only craving during pregnancy….well, other than sex.

As soon as I have my goodies, I snag a sturdy chair and clumsily plop down. Looking around, I see only five or six people in the conference room. Before I can open my juice and cookies, my desk phone rings and I see a phone number coming up on my caller ID. The country code is from Luxembourg. I’m in deep shit. My French is horrible; I can’t speak Luxembourgish (the High German language) and my German sucks. I answer, speaking in English, hoping that whoever’s calling can speak English.

“Hello. This is United States FBI Agent Marguerite Guidicelli. How can I assist you today?”

“Bonjour, agent spécial. C'est la capitale du Luxembourg vocation. Nous avons un patriote italien ex ici qui contient des informations sur l'assassinat du pape. Quand pouvez-vous obtenir sur le prochain vol ici? (Bonjour, Special Agent. This is the capital of Luxembourg calling. We have an Italian ex patriot here who has information on the assassination of the Pope. When can you get on the next flight here?)”

“Je vois. Ma capacité à parler et comprendre le français n'est pas très grande. Parlez-vous anglais par hasard? (I see. My ability to speak and understand French is not great. Do you speak English by any chance?)”

“Bien sûr! My apologies, Agent. I have heard many great things about you; including the ability to speak many languages. I’m calling on behalf of Luxembourg, Luxembourg. We have an Italian ex patriot here who has information in regards of the Pope and the assassination attempt. Is there a way that you can get on the earliest flight here?”

“Sir, my health is of concern right now and has been kept under wraps lately. I’ve been married for 8 months and during those months, I’ve been pregnant the entire time. It is against my private physician’s decision to fly so late in my pregnancy. Please tell me that you can fly here with this individual. My team is one fourth of what it used to be and I am unable to send someone else in my place”

“I am sorry that you are unable to fly here. We were hoping that one day we’d meet the famous Marguerite, ahem, Guidicelli. I will fly there with the ex patriot. Whom shall I call in order to arrange everything?”

I explained that they can call Giovanni to arrange everything and that after the birth, I will, along with Vin and the babies fly to Luxembourg.

After this hour long conversation, I am now able to eat my cookies and now warm apple juice. I could always get a cold juice and replace the warm one back in the fridge but was too exhausted to. I took my time to process the call that I received and then I turned back to the phone and called Giovanni, asking him to rejoin myself, and Vin, in the suite.

A few minutes later, my cousin, my husband and I are in the suite discussing the call from Luxembourg. Other then Vin and Giovanni, I don’t trust many others. I ask Giovanni to step in and assist me with this part of the investigation because of his ability to speak both German and French. I’m thankful he agrees to help.

Once he leaves, Vin and I walk hand in hand to our room. I take off my slippers, pull the blankets back, roll onto the bed, get comfortable and pull the covers up. Vin joins me from the other side of the bed. He wraps both arms around me, kisses the back of my head and we both fall asleep.

Questioning my cousin

After getting my Italian team up to speed with what Elizabeth mentioned, I called Giovanni and asked to come up to the suite that Vin and I have pretty much taken over. Giovanni has known me long enough to know when something’s amiss and important.

What seems like hours is only a matter of minutes. Knowing that Giovanni speaks English very well, he’s better in Latin and, of course, his native language: Italian.

“Ciao, cugino. Grazie per essere venuto con così poco preavviso. Ero al telefono con Sua Maestà la Regina Elisabetta II d'Inghilterra. Lei crede che il tentativo assassination è un lavoro intern, credo che pure. Che cosa mi uccide è che lei fortemente suggerito che si aveva a che fare con il tentativo assassisnation al Papa. Non voglio crederle a causa del fatto che tu sei mio cugino e, al tempo stesso, io voglio crederle perché è anche mio cugino. C'è qualcosa che vuoi dirmi? (Hello, Cousin. Thank you for coming at such short notice. I was on the phone with Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II of England. She believes that the assassisnation attempt is an inside job; I believe that as well. What kills me is that she strongly suggested that you had something to do with the assassisnation attempt on the Pope. I do not want to believe her due to the fact that you are my cousin and at the same time, I do want to believe her because she is also my cousin. Is there anything that you want to tell me?)”

“Mag. Vorrei che ci potrebbe essere un modo migliore per parlare con te di questo. E 'stato mi preoccupa per mesi. Come sacerdote, non sono in grado di condividere quello che ho sentito in confessione. So che sai già che, nonostante non si sia cattolico. Ma io vengo a ordinare di rompere quello che ho sentito in quella confessione. Qualcuno è venuto da me circa una settimana prima che il tentativo e mi ha confessato che erano una parte della pianificazione, ma non le riprese. L'obiettivo era quello di mutilare Il Papa abbastanza per Il suo ritiro così gli italiani e di cattolici di tutto Il mondo potrebbe avere un papa più giovane che sarà il Vicario di Cristo per un periodo più lungo. Purtroppo, questo è tutto quello che so del tentativo di Sua Santità. Non so chi sia questa persona né so a chi altro è o è stato coinvolto. Mi dispiace che ti ho deluso. Spero che un giorno tu mi perdoni, cugino! (Mag. I wish there could be a better way to talk to you about this. It has been troubling me for months. As a priest, I am unable to share what I hear in confession. I know that you already know that despite you not being Catholic. But I come to sort of break what I heard in that confession. Someone did come to me about a week before the attempt and confessed to me that they were a part of the planning, but not the actual shooting. The goal was to maim the Pope enough for his retirement so the Italians and other Catholics around the world could have a younger pope who will be the Vicar of Christ for a longer period. Sadly, that is all I know of the attempt on His Holiness. I do not know who this person is nor do I know who else is or was involved. I am sorry that I have let you down. I hope that one day you will forgive me, Cousin!)”.

Luscious Men: A break in the case

Despite the amounts of time my husband and I spend “alone” time together, well, alone, I’ve been keeping my ears and eyes open to everything I see and hear from the Italian team; or at least what’s left of it. I see Benny often to see how he is. The good news is that he’s healing faster than anyone his age should but is what matters the most; besides finding the people involved trying to kill the pope, I mean my great uncle in law.

One day, on the off chance she’d answer when I call, I decided to call my extremely distant cousin, Elizabeth Alexandra Mary Windsor; you may know her as Her Royal Majesty, Queen Elizabeth II. It, indeed, was my lucky day – she answered her phone.

“Thank you for taking my call, Lilibet! I appreciate you taking the time to talk with me. I’m concerned with Benny and the situation over here with the assassination attempt. He’s not saying anything to either myself or my husband, his great grand nephew or something like that. Anyways, I figured I’d give you a call to see what your insight would be. I know that you and Benny have become friends over the years; maybe he’s said something to you recently??”

“Maggie, dear! I’ve heard what’s been going on and have talked to Benny several times.  He sounds funny each time I call him; not ha ha funny but strange funny. I figure that you feel like he’s got his own hand in the whole attempt on his life; maybe that’s why it was only an “attempt”. I have the same feeling that he’s either involved or knows who did; knowing that the person could only harm him not kill him. I think it’s an inside person; I hate to say this but it could your cousin Il Camerlango.”

“You know what, Lilibet? I’ve already asked them both and they both said no. Giovanni doesn’t type as the sociopath type but then again he’s my cousin about one hundred times removed so I may be a bit partial so I could always ask someone else to profile him and see what they come up with. I’d love if it wasn’t Giovanni and of course hate it if it were him. I’ll get in motion. I’ll have others close to him profiled as well!”

I hang up with the queen and get started on my Italian team with their job assignments. I had a feeling that Lilibet MAY have a role in the assassination attempt since she was so eager to point fingers at my other cousin. Why would a cousin point out another cousin to a cousin? Something smells rotten in the state of Denmark….ok, Vatican City.

Men are SO annoying!!

Unfortunately I was unable to speak with D about him getting pissy about the one guy who was chasing me at work. It really pissed me off at the time but whatever. I ended up getting called to go into work last Thursday and it wasn’t great at all.

There’ve been rumors going around about myself and D. Normally I wouldn’t have cared if it was just me but it makes me look bad when my male supervisor is linked to the rumors. I’m supposedly dating D, sleeping with him and pregnant with his child. The worst I’ve heard to date was: “There goes D’s little slut!”

I have to call every Friday to get my schedule for the following week. This past Friday I called and was told I wasn’t scheduled which sucks but whatever. I call my second shift supervisor, Vic, (on his cell phone) and explained to him that I wasn’t scheduled at all. He was surprised and said that he’d do his best to get me scheduled this week.

My third shift supervisor, “T”, called me at 6 am this morning telling me that the work order increased and needed me in R & D. I said “Ok” and hung up. It took me all of 15 minutes to get ready this morning; which is a miracle because I didn’t have a sandwich packed last night nor did I get any clothes ready.

I sped to get to work and I was still a few minutes late. Thankfully T was very understanding; it was a shame that D was not. At this point, I don’t care if he was or was NOT understanding!! A few other people and  I get sent to R & D (Research & Development) and after a bit, D comes up to nab the kid who stayed an extra few hours from T’s overnight shift; staring at me the entire time. I look at him with a bit of disdain so he can sense I really didn’t want to talk to him.

After lunch, he comes back up to see how we’re doing. I ignore him as my one co worker busts on me staying that my “fantasy man” is visiting us. I turn so red, look at D then get back to work; hoping he did NOT notice me turning red. Oh, but he did. He couldn’t stop staring at me.

D, seriously, pick a mood and stick with it, ok? Do you hate me, love me, can’t stand me, want to date me or do me, just flirt with me, do you wanna blow hot or cold or do you just wanna keep me at arm’s length??