CHAPTER 31: Things Hot Up

Jeremy Saint paced up and down the path outside of the Arts Centre in downtown San Myshuno. He checked his watch...a minute past 8pm. Would she delayed? Will she show up? Jeremy's heart beat faster as time ticked on and he couldn't see his date.

Then, emerging around the corner at a brisk pace, she came running: Barbara Dubois, Jeremy's date. Only last weekend had they decided to go steady and this was the first time they'd seen each other since then. They both smiled the moment they saw each other and ran towards each other for an embrace.

"You came!" said Jeremy

"Of course...you don't think I'm going to miss the Hijinks Festival with you!" she replied. "I'm starving, let's get something to eat."

"I know you love spicy food, Barbara, and I know a good little eatery just over there. Do you like Cajun?"

"I LOVE Cajun!"

"Come on, let's go!" they grabbed each other's hand and ran off to the vendor.

Jeremy and Barbara both sampled the Tagine and caught up on each other's news of the week. Soon they were joined by another person, a man.

"Excuse me" he said. "I require a place to sit so I can ingest this sustenance. As all other designated seating surfaces are occupied, may I sit at this place so I can eat this meal?"

"Erm, yes, that should be fine" said Jeremy, awkwardly. The man's over formal speech was jarring but it what was on the plate that caused Jeremy and Barbara to wince.

Jeremy noticed something unusual on the man's plate. "Erm, I think I can see something moving on your plate" he said.

"I know. They are hi-protein insects and worms; very nutritious" he said, taking a mouthful.

"Well, I don't know about you, Barbara, but I'm full...shall we head on over to the bar?" Jeremy said, wanting to get away from this strange man and his even stranger meal.

"I'm good to go" she said, pushing her plate away from her.

The two of them got up and went far away from the man to where music was playing and people were dancing.

"Shall we?" said Barbara grabbing both of Jeremy's hands and spinning him onto the dance floor. Jeremy did the Economy Shuffle whilst Barbara flung her hair back and treated him to a fine display of funky go-go dancing.

"You're good!" said Jeremy, feeling like he was stuck on a washing machine spin cycle. "But, phew, can we get a drink?"

"Sure" she said. They went over to the bar, got a couple of drinks and as this was the Humor and Hijinks Festival they decided to check out tonight's stand up comic.

"I'm having a lovely time" she said, leaning her head on Jeremy's shoulder.

"I am too" he replied, smiling.

"Yawwwwn, I'm getting tired but I don't want the night to end" she said, looking into his eyes.

"Well....it doesn't have to" he said nervously. "I mean, we could always head back to...." he didn't know quite how to end his sentence.

"yes?" she asked, expectantly.

"I mean, if you don't mind that is....but you could always come back....with me....to....my place" he said, gulping at the end.

"Great! Let's go!" she said, grabbing his hand and leading him to the subway station.

They paused outside of Jeremy's house. This was a big moment; inviting a beautiful woman back to his place.

"You can have my bed and I'll sleep on the couch" he said.

"Don't put yourself out on my account" said Barbara.

"Well...it's no trouble really"

"We can decide the sleeping arrangements inside" she said. Jeremy showed her in and led her to the bedroom.

"Here's the bed, bathroom's down the hall on the right, here you'll find a light switch..."

Barbara patted the space on the bed next to her. "Plenty of room"

"Well, as this is a first date" he said, nervously.

"Second" she corrected him.

"Oh...right. But you know a single man, a single girl together in the same bedroom..."

"It's 1966, Jeremy..."

"But are we ready?"

"Let's just snuggle"

"Oh, OK"

They settled down but within minutes both were fast asleep.

CHAPTER 30: Bad Trip

 

John Action sauntered into Precinct 13 headquarters and saw that old Sergeant Kitchen wasn't at the front desk. It was a woman officer, one he didn't recognise.

"Well hello there, I guess you're the new girl" he said to her.

"And I guess you're Action...I've heard a lot about you" she replied with a smirk.

"All good, I hope"

"They were more like warnings" she said. "Anyway, you can't stand around here trying to charm your way around your co-workers, Action, this lady's come in with a complaint" she nodded to a young hippie woman sitting, waiting on a bench in the reception area. Action wandered over to her.

"What's the problem, Ma'am?" he said.

"Well...it's..."

"my ex. He breezed back into town with some bad acid. Well, I told him I wanted nothing to do with it and threw him out but he still operated around Oasis Springs, selling his junk. Anyway, he quickly split the place and we've got a whole bunch of people having a bad trip, attacking passers by and causing trouble" she said, sadly.

"Bad acid: that's a bad scene, sister. I'll head over there, crack some skulls and get that junk off the street and out of the hands of those acid-heads"

Mirage Canyon, 11:17 am

The main street looked quiet, too quiet. Action's hand hovered over his .38 service revolver....just in case! He needed some information so he wandered over to The Solar Flare lounge; a classy joint most of the time although they were known to violate state hygiene laws from time to time. Action walked up the stairs to the lounge but although the doors were all open, no one was around. "Strange" he thought to himself.

He wandered over to the large windows that afforded an excellent view of the main street. From here he could observe any strange goings on without being seen himself. As he watched and waited, he noticed a violin propped up on a stand right next to him....he couldn't help but pick it up and give it a go.

He saw a fair haired lady of about 40 stagger down the street, rubbing her arm in pain. Taking this as a cue, Action put down the violin and ran over to her.

"Excuse me, Ma'am, is anything the matter?" he said to the lady.

"Yes...ow...I've just been punched by this weird young woman. She claimed I stole her bananas and that I was in league with the secret government so she just lurched at me and started punching me. Fortunately, she only hit me in a couple of places like my arm...there's no serious damage."

"Where did this happen?" said Action.

"Over by that small park area" she said, pointing to a grassy area that had a few benches. "Look! There she is! The woman who hit me!"

Action looked around and saw an enraged looking young woman pulling a man doing yoga off the ground and hitting him over the head. He ran over, his hand still hovering over his service .38.

"Freeze right there!" he shouted. The woman looked around terrified, the man staggered over to a nearby bench.

"Oh my God, what have I done?" she said, wild eyed.

"You're Jonesing from a bad, bad trip, lady" said Action. "Now you're going to come with me and tell me all about where you got that acid from"

Action called for some back up and the lady was bundled into a squad car to take back to police HQ. Action took a moment to grab a coffee and have a brief work out to keep his muscles toned. Sergeant Kitchen entered the recreation room and walked over to him.

"Good work out there, Action" said Sergeant Kitchen.

"Just doing my job, my way" replied Action.

"Anyway, we're processing that lady plus a few other freaks who've taken some of that same batch of LSD. Oh, and the Chief wants some progress on those robberies. We're still holding Aurora Ahmed; the Chess Bandit, someone needs to interrogate her"

"And that someone would be me, right?" replied Action, downing his coffee.

Down in the cells he went to fetch Ahmed and take her to an interrogation room.

"I've said all I got to say in front of your colleagues and my lawyer" she said.

"I know" Action replied. "I'm not interested in you...I want to know who your fence is"

Action took her to an interrogation room and sat her down. "We've got you for the Jade statue job, you're going down but if you want to avoid hard time you'd better co-operate and tell us who your buyer is"

"I'm not a fink!" she replied. "You've got nothing!"

"We've got witness statements, we've got your fingerprints on that chess board and you left enough clues to fill a ship" said Action.

"So what if I did touch that chessboard? Plenty of people play chess"

"We know your signature style, Aurora. Now this is pretty open and shut....WHO'S YOUR FENCE?" he said, pounding a fist on the table.

Ahmed started to sweat and wilt under the pressure. "OK, I did have a fence...but I never met them, I swear. But I know it's a woman: Even though she wore a mask I could tell by her voice and body shape the fence was a woman. I don't have a name or contact number; they always contacted me"

"That's a start" said Action, making notes.

At the end of his shift he headed home for some chow. As he sat with his grilled cheese sandwich watching Mr Ed on TV he heard a knock at the door. Looking through the window he could see a very attractive young woman dressed in red and white standing outside.

"Hi, can I help you?" he said, opening the door.

"Oh, hi, I'm Katharine Bowie from the Mirage Canyon Citizens' Association" she said.

"Of course you are" he replied.

"And on behalf of our members I want to thank you for helping our little community out in tackling the junkie problem on our streets"

"Just doing my job, my way, Ma'am"

"And we're very grateful, Officer Action" she said, coyly.

Action smiled. "I'm off duty now but would you like to come in for a drink?" he said.

Katharine smiled and said "I thought you'd never ask"

CHAPTER 29: What Lurks Beneath?

 

The phone in Suzy Kent's house rang. As she struggled to zip up the back of her dress, she ran over to answer it. "Hello, Suzy Kent here...hngh" the zip was stuck halfway.

"Hi, it's Burr" said the voice at the other end.

"Burr...hngh...that's got it! Sorry. Yes, hi Burr. How are you?" She said with relief that the zip made it all the way to the top.

"Good. Hey, I've found out some interesting things about the Landgraabs...can we meet up at the library?"

Suzy's eyes widened in excitement. "Sure! Willow Creek Archive in 1 hour?" she said.

"See you then" replied Burr.

Putting her feet into her favourite white go-go boots and checking her make up one last time, Suzy grabbed her shoulder bag and headed off to Crawdad Quarter.

Suzy sauntered her way to Willow Creek Archive and saw Burr DeBenning, an acquaintance and someone else who was interested in the shady activities of the Landgraab Family, waiting outside for her.

"Burr, what is this you've found out?" she asked.

"I've been looking at the land records for Oasis Springs and there's something strange near the Landgraab mansion. A tunnel that runs right under the property. I've tried finding out more but there's no record of it other than an old map dated before WW1."

"Hmmm, potentially interesting. So no one knows what it is or what's in it? I think we should take a closer look" she said.

"My thoughts exactly" said Burr, smiling and impressed with Suzy's courage. "Let's go"

Afluista Mansion

Standing outside the modernist estate of the Landgraab family, Suzy and Burr looked at their pocket map to see where the mystery tunnel entrance was. A jogger went past them, looking at the pair suspiciously.

"Quick!" said Suzy, pulling her pocket instamatic camera from out of her bag "let's take a picture of ourselves so we look like tourists!"

Once the jogger had gone they checked Burr's map. "According to this, it's down a footpath to the left of the house which loops around behind it. I think this-a-way!" said Suzy, running off in that direction. Burr took a leisurely stroll down the path instead.

Once they'd reached the point where the map indicated the tunnel entrance, they found a heavily boarded up hold in the rock face. Burr tried to pry the boards off but they were heavily nailed in place with rocks and mortar behind them to deter any intruders.

"This is going to be more difficult than I thought" said Burr. "We can't manage it today, we'll have to come back with more equipment"

Suzy agreed, reluctantly; her curiosity piqued even more by the discovery of the tunnel entrance. Burr said he knew a decent bar in the area and they headed off to the Rattlesnake Juice Bar.

"So, do you do a lot of this undercover investigating where you work?" Burr asked Suzy.

"This is my first time" she said. "I got into fashion journalism but I've gotten away from that lately".

"I didn't think of myself as an investigator either" said Burr. "I work for the city planning department but whilst I've been there I've seen plenty of shading dealings...I've been sucked in to the case as well. Psst! You'd never guess who's just walked in this bar?"

"Nancy Landgraab! No way!" exclaimed Suzy, clapping her hands over her mouth so she didn't sound so obvious to onlookers.

"Shhh!" said Burr.

Nancy tottered over to the bar; she swayed exaggeratedly, winking at a male customer before she sat down, unsteadily.

"My ushual, Barkeep, and put it on my tab *hic*" said Nancy.

"I think she's already had too much to drink" said Burr to Suzy.

"I love your dressh" said Nancy to Suzy.

"Erm, thanks." replied Suzy. "Coming from you Mrs Landgraab I take that as a compliment"

"Now who'sh that handshome young gentleman sitting next to you....he looks like a keeper" Nancy said, eyeing up Burr.

"I'm Burr and this is Suzy" he replied.

"Hmmm, if I weren't already a married woman..." Nancy didn't finish her sentence but eyed up Burr lecherously.

"Well, is that the time? I must head out, Suzy. See you soon?" said Burr, getting up to go.

"Wait, no! Already? Can't you stay?" said Suzy.

"Sorry Suz, got to be somewhere else" he replied before heading out the bar.

Nancy Landgraab was chatting up a couple of other men at the bar and ignored her. Stepping outside into the cool evening air, she spied a friend: John Action. "Hey John" she said.

"What's the score, Suzy?" replied Action. "You still following that case of yours? I saw Nancy Landgraab in the bar just now"

"Yeah, she's hammered." replied Suzy. "Look, John, can you push some information my way about her and her husband?"

"Don't go messing with police business, Suz. It's a job best left to the pros. This is a tough town with some mean streets which the Landgraabs pave with secrets, signs and threats!" Action banged his fist down on the table they were sitting at.

"But this could be big!" said Suzy

"Leave it, doll!" said Action. He looked into her eyes, intensely. He was not a man to be messed with. Suzy said nothing and Action left without another word.

Suzy felt conflicted; to pursue this investigation or to drop it? Action had warned her, Burr seemed too frightened by what he might find out. That left her to investigate. Meanwhile, back at the Rattlesnake Juice Bar, Nancy Landgraab kept downing Tequila Slammers and keeping the young menfolk there wrapped around her little finger.

CHAPTER 28: Spice

 

Jeremy Saint's hand hovered over his telephone...tonight was the Spice Festival downtown and he had an extra ticket for it. He knew there was only one person he wanted to ask to come with him; Barbara, but the nerves were still there...what if she turned him down? What if he blew it...again...with a woman he fancied. He shut his eyes, gulped and picked up the phone receiver. Opening his eyes but feeling his heart beating ever faster, he dialled Barbara's number. One ring, two rings, three rings, the heart was beating faster and he was starting to sweat. For rings and then a soft, feminine voice said "hello" at the other end.

"Hi...It's Jeremy. Would you like....I mean, I have an extra ticket for...for the...I mean, would you like to, you know, erm, go with me to the Spice Fes-"

"Yes!" Barbara consented before Jeremy could finish asking her.

"OK, great. I'll pick you up in an hour?" he ventured.

"I'll meet you there; it's near where I live. Outside Waterside Warble" she said.

Jeremy put down the receiver and punched the air in triumph.

"I love Asian food!" said Barbara, heading straight for the sample curries, rice and noodle dishes. "There's so many good places to eat around here, I'm spoiled for choice"

"I tried it out for the first time last month" said Jeremy. "I'm warming to it" he said, taking a bite of something that was a bit more spicy than he was expecting...warming to it was an apt comment.

They tried the Spice challenge: Jeremy made it to curry #3, Barbara could only manage half a portion of #4. The evening was going smoothly and Jeremy was more relaxed than earlier, but, worrier that he was he couldn't escape a nagging feeling that at any moment she could go right off him and leave. He felt this more when, at one point, the conversation went quiet as if they'd already run out of things to say to each other. He suggested, hesitantly, to head over to the Warble for a drink. Barbara readily agreed.

"You weren't that bad!" said Barbara, reassuring Jeremy after he attempted to sing a Beatles song at the open mic night.

"I wasn't a patch on your version of 'You Really Got Me"" replied Jeremy.

"I never miss open mic night here" said Barbara. She stretched her arms in front of her "Hmmmm, I'm having a good time but I had an early shift today and I'm starting to flag" she said.

"Oh, I hadn't realised it was that late" said Jeremy.

"I've had a great time tonight, Jeremy" she said, patting him on the arm. "We must do this again and soon" she added.

Their eyes locked on each other and without saying anything they held their gaze. Then they started to move closer to each other. At that point a wild thought possessed Jeremy and he leant forward to kiss Barbara.

He broke off seconds after he kissed her...did he cross the line? Had he blown it? Barbara took his hands and smiled.

"That was lovely" she said, smiling. They kissed again and then one more time.

"Well, I guess we'll be seeing each other again" said Jeremy, suavely.

"I think so" she nodded, smiling.

Jeremy walked her home. Outside of the apartment block where she lived they kissed one more time. Barbara was about to invite him in but she was tired. "Jeremy...any other time I'd invite you in for a night cap but I'm so, so tired and am just going to flop in my bed"

"Oh I understand!" he replied. Frankly, he was too nervous about going to a woman's apartment after only one date; his small town morality kicking in. He saw her go into the building safely and walked to the subway station, whistling a merry tune to himself.

CHAPTER 27: Checkmate

 

"What you got for me today?" said John Action, striding into the squad room at 13th Precinct HQ.

"Take your pick" said the bored looking detective. "There's a huge backlog of cases on that pile there"

Action looked at various case files and picked one. "Robbery over at Windenburg...I'll take it" he said.

Action took what little information there was and put it on the crime notice board, laying out the photos, reports and connecting them to each other with coloured string.

Pondering the chart, he needed more clues to work with. Grabbing the keys to a squad car Action headed off to Windenburg and to the crime scene on his own.

Windenburg....9:52am

"I'm telling you, officer, I was alerted by the sight of the front door of the house hanging open. I went to investigate and that's when I was shoved and knocked down" said the witness.

"Did you see the perp?" asked Action.

"Only a little...short hair, wearing shorts...that's all I remember"

Action nodded and left the witness after taking some notes. A colleague stopped him in the hall of the house. "Hey Action; you got here before us! Regulations say you should not enter the premises on your own!" they barked at him.

"Yeah, well, if we waited for you lot to finish your coffee and donuts then we'd never make any progress!" Action replied, nonchalantly.

Action scanned the crime scene for clues. The perps had broken in and made off with an expensive Jade bust of the Chinese Emperor, Zaitian, so this wasn't a quick smash n' grab; they knew what they were looking for. He then made his way to the games room where there were another couple of witnesses. One of them he recognised: His neighbour, Travis Scott.

"Travis, you mixed up in all this?" he said.

"Action! No, I have a weekly chess game here with my old college buddy and...well, I don't know what happened. We were playing chess, got about 15 moves in and then we both passed out" replied Travis.

"Passed out?" enquired a sceptical Action.

"Yeah, it was freaky" said Travis' friend. "I'd just made coffee for us, we settled into playing our chess game and then all of a sudden we both felt woozy and...well, I don't remember much after that"

Action picked up a coffee mug that had been lying on the floor. "This one of the mugs you drank out of?" he asked. Travis nodded. Action took a sniff of it, ran his finger around the rim and rubbed the small amount of liquid between his thumb and forefinger. "Hmmm, Benzodiazepine" he said to himself.

"Do you know what's really strange, officer?" said Travis' friend.

"It's that the chess pieces have been moved after we fell unconscious" he continued.

"Explain" asked Action.

"Well, we were 15 moves into our match. We had both taken two pawns plus a bishop apiece. When we woke up, Black...that's Travis...had put White in check. Our game wasn't that advanced"

Action stroked his chin and pondered this new clue. "Thanks...stay cool" he said and headed back to the station.

Back at the station The Chief pulled Action to one side. "Listen, Action, I know you're a maverick that likes to play by his own rules but you're alienating the rest of the team"

"Maybe if the team didn't slack off so much!" replied Action.

"Look...just play things a little more to the senior sergeants' liking. That's an order"

Action touched the peak of his cap in acknowledgement but didn't stop to ponder the Chief's words...he had a hunch to follow. He looked through the files and found a rap sheet that looked promising. Not wanting to hang around the station for official clearance, he left on his own to track down the perp.

Pupperstone Park, 4:15pm

Action entered the park; there was only one person present, a woman with short hair, wearing black hot pants and sitting alone at a chess table pondering the pieces.

"Well, well, well if it isn't The Brain herself" said Action, silently moving up to her.

"What? I have no idea what you're talking about!" the woman replied.

"The Jade Emperor, I know you got it. How about I get a search warrant for your car trunk and we do some searching there?" he continued.

"I don't have it!" the woman protested. "You're guessing, officer. You don't have any evidence"

"I know you've got form for robbery, Brain" said Action. "I also know you're obsessed with chess. That's why you couldn't resist completing the game those men were playing. You drugged them and went about your work but you saw that board, saw the mistakes and poor moves both of them had made and you played the game out until "check". Realising that you were running out of time you ran out of the house, knocking that man over along the way."

"A nice theory, officer, but where's the proof?"

"A chess grandmaster's style is like a fingerprint...each is unique and identifiable."

"Wait? What?"

"I'm bringing you in and impounding your car. You have the right to remain silent..."

The Blue Velvet, 9:20pm

"Good work today, Action" said Officer Datta when the shift had ended and a group of them had headed off to the nightclub for some entertainment. "Next time, clue the rest of the shift on what you're up to"

"I work my side of the street, you work yours" replied Action.

CHAPTER 26: The Conference

 

Suzy came away from her complimentary free session at Movers & Shakers feeling aching, stiff and in need of a stiff drink. It made a distraction from a pretty boring work day, where the editor was more interested in what flavours of ice cream were in for '66 than in Suzy's ongoing work into the skullduggery of Sim City.

As she limped home she was stopped near her house by a well built, tanned man who was out for a fitness run.

"Hey, I know you!" he said, pointing to her.

"Erm....you have me at a disadvantage" Suzy replied.

"I saw you sing and play guitar down at The Blue Velvet....yeah, you were mighty fine!" he said, smiling. "By the way, I'm Don Lothario"

"Do you live up to your name?" said Suzy, who thought this guy was a little too full of himself to be healthy.

"I've never been known to disappoint" he said with a smile, which soon turned to horror. "Is that the time, must go! See you around!" he said, running off. Suzy had no idea what made him change his tune so quickly...there was no one about except for a middle aged red headed woman coming down the road in one direction and a golden haired one jogging in the other. Suzy shrugged and made her way home for a much needed meal.

She'd finished making a Caesar Salad that she got from a recipe book when the door rang. Looking to see who it was, it turned out to be her best friend, Summer Holiday.

"Summer, what a nice surprise, come on in" said Suzy, enthusiastically.

"Hey, how's it going? It seems like ages since we last met" said Summer.

"Oh I've been very busy with work" said Suzy, sitting down to finish her dinner. "I've been doing a lot of research into an article I really want to write...you wouldn't believe the stuff I've uncovered"

"I thought you wrote fashion articles" said Summer, intrigued.

"I do....normally....but this one's different. I can't say too much now, but in time".

There was another knock on the door and Suzy got up to answer it. It was Jeremy from next door.

"Oh hi, Suzy" he said, a little nervously. "I met a friend of yours last night...his name is Burr"

"Oh him, come inside, Jeremy and stop looking like a mannequin on my doorstep" said Suzy, ushering in Jeremy who was holding a large envelope in his hands.

"Hi Jeremy" waved Summer. Her presence made Jeremy seem more nervous.

"Anyway" he said, sitting down. "Burr gave me this to give to you...he said it contains information you might find useful for your next article?"

Suzy eagerly took it from his hands and opened it. Just peering at the top page made interesting reading. LANDGRAAB CORPORATION PLANS FOR WILLOW CREEK AND OASIS SPRINGS DEVELOPMENT. It was a photocopy of an apparently real plan to demolish most of Willow Creek to build something else...something unspecified.

Summer and Jeremy looked eagerly at Suzy to see what the document was. Suzy slid the package across the table to her. "This affects both of you"

Summer and Jeremy gave it a brief look. "They want to smash this place up!" exclaimed Summer.

"The Landgraabs are pretty powerful" warned Jeremy. "Hang on...what's this here...there's a mark on this map of our street...right here. It's marked 'portal'...what does that mean?"

"That's right near the fishing spot past John Action's house" said Summer. "Why is that spot marked with a red circle and why 'portal'? There's no doors or gates there...just some wild flowers, a few old logs and that huge tree"

"I don't know..." said Suzy "but it's important to the Landgraabs"

CHAPTER 25: The Package

 

Another day, another Simoleon. Jeremy Saint arrived back from Dewey, Cheathem & Howe exhausted and hungry. It was time to whip up a good old weekday staple; Mac n' cheese but as he was dishing up he smelled something nasty....a burning, rubbery smell coming from the stove. And that's when he noticed the sparks coming out of it.

"Bother, bother, bother" said Jeremy to himself. He phoned up the repair company; they promised him their best man will be around that evening to fix it. Well, that was a relief.

An hour later the doorbell rang and Jeremy spied someone wearing red overalls and a tool belt at his front door. Excellent, he thought, it was their best man. He opened the door and saw it was...

"I'm here to fix your stove" said the woman.

"Ah you must be..."

"The company's best man? Yeah, that's how they describe me because if they said 'best woman' people would phone our rivals" she replied.

"So are you?..." Jeremy said, nervously.

"Their best? Sure. I can fix anything you got Mister"

"Well, in that case here's the stove...I think it's..."

"An electrical problem...yeah, you get that with the Yum Cooker series. It has a poor wiring design. OK, let me get to work on this and I'll call you when I'm done." she said.

Jeremy was impressed by her coolness and let her get on with it. He settled down at his desk to go over office paperwork and no sooner had he started that he heard the repair woman say "finished!".

"What, so soon?" he said, entering the kitchen.

"Yep...like the man said, I'm their best"

"Well...would you like a coffee, I mean, you came out here at this hour and have done things in double quick time"

"Sure" she said, cracking a smile. "It's been a looooooong day"

"Back in my home town, we used to call out old man Cleary to fix everything. I guess he was my image of a repairman" said Jeremy.

"Well, this is the big city, Mr Saint, things are a lot different around here. Folk still don't trust a repairwoman these days" she replied.

"Well, I'll ask for you specifically in future" said Jeremy.

"Much obliged...anyways, must be getting on...two more call outs before my shift ends" and with that she touched the peak of her cap and left.

Jeremy was tired now and got changed for bed when the doorbell rang. "She might have left a wrench behind..." he thought. "Or it's Travis wanting a late night chat. Man, why do they leave it so late to disturb me?" Answering the door he noticed it was a complete stranger at his door. A man in trendy shirt with huge sideburns.

"Er, hi...I'm sorry to disturb you" said the man, noticing that Jeremy was in his pyjamas and robe. "I'm Burr and I'm a friend of your neighbour, Suzy Kent."

"Yeah, I know Suzy...what can I help you with?" replied Jeremy.

"I just called around to her place but she's not in....look, I've got these documents I thought she might be interested in for her work. She's working on a story and these are relevant." Burr handed Jeremy an A4 sized envelope that was heavily sealed with Sellotape. "These are REALLY important. I can't just push them into her mailbox, someone might take them so I'd feel better if I handed them to you to give to her...she's mentioned your name as a trustworthy friend."

"Oh, well....I'll make sure she gets them" said Jeremy, taking the envelope.

"Cheers, man, they're REAL important, remember?"

Jeremy nodded and Burr left. Jeremy looked at the envelope...what could be in it? To make sure they were extra safe, he put them under his pillow before going to bed.

CHAPTER 24: Downtime

 

The tranquillity of John Action's day off was broken by the sounds of an argument brewing outside his house. He couldn't make out what was being said but the voices were a man and a woman in a heated exchange. Action instinctively checked his .38 service revolver...just in case. He stepped out of his front door and onto the porch to see what was going on.

"I'm telling you, Nancy, don't bring Bella into this! She's suffered enough!" said the man.

"Well, you need to watch what she says to people who stick their noses in our business" replied the woman.

"Your business, you mean! I want none of it!" the man was getting really angry now whilst the woman remained icily cool.

"Hey, do you cats mind? Some of us are trying to get some peace and quiet here!" said Action, interrupting.

"Back off, mister!" barked the man. Action bristled at that, took a deep breath and sauntered over to the arguing couple.

"I don't like being spoken to in that tone....the name's Action, Sim City PD" he said, brandishing his badge. The man rolled his eyes in disbelief.

"I'm sorry officer, this is just a disagreement between old acquaintances" said the man.

"Is this true?" said Action, turning to the woman.

"It's true...Mortimer and I have known each other for years. There's nothing amiss here, Officer." she said, her eyes shrouded in large sunglasses which made it difficult to detect her expression.

"Nonetheless I'm going to have to take your names and give you a verbal warning" said Action. "Folk around here don't want a disturbance...even if it's between old acquaintances."

"Mortimer Goth" said the man.

"Nancy Landgraab" said the woman. "You may have heard of me? My family donates generously to the police benevolent fund."

"I heard of you, Mrs Landgraab" said Action.

"Is that all, Officer?" said Goth. Action nodded and the man stormed off. Action turned to Nancy Landgraab.

"So, what brings you around these parts, Mrs Landgraab?" he said, slyly. "Isn't it a bit low brow for your tastes around here?"

"I like to run and now if you've QUITE finished I haven't finished my exercise yet"

Action waved her on but thought about what he'd seen and heard. He knew Suzy Kent from across the road was looking into the Landgraab family for an article she was writing. When he next saw her, he'd decided to tell her what he witnessed.

Action decided to head to the gym for a workout: A routine he stuck to since his days in the Marines.

John Action pictured the desk sergeant's face on the punching bag and gave it some powerful uppercuts and roundhouses. It felt good to unwind whilst working out and the job could wait for now whilst he pumped iron. His muscles felt toned and buff so he hit the showers and got changed. Going downstairs, he noticed two people he knew, Suzy Kent and Jeremy Saint, enter the gym so he stopped his sparring to go over them.

"Suzy...Jeremy...how's it hangin'?" he said.

"How's it what?" said Jeremy, not up on his slang.

"Pretty good, Action" replied Suzy.

"Hey, I got some information you might find interesting, Suzy. This morning I saw Mortimer Goth and Nancy Landgraab having an argument...Goth was warning Landgraab about not bothering his wife but she said that someone was going around asking too many questions of the Goths. Could that be you by any chance?"

"I've been talking to the Goths for a story I'm planning" Suzy replied.

"Well, just watch your step...Nancy Landgraab's got you on her radar"

"Thanks, Action, for the heads up" she said. Action nodded to her and Jeremy and went on his way. He'd exercised his body, now it was time to exercise his charm. He headed over to the Blue Velvet to check out the scene.

Action swaggered his way to the bar, sat down and said to the bartender "my usual, please"

"You have a usual?" replied the confused looking bartender

"I do now" he said, pointing to a bottle of bourbon. The bartender nodded and poured him a drink. A very attractive blonde wearing white hot pants and matching go-go boots sat next to him.

"Can I get you a drink, Miss?" he asked.

"Yes please....a sweet n' sour. Hi, my name's Candy"

"Of course it is" said Action. "I haven't seen you here before because if I had I'd sure remember"

"Oh I'm in here a lot but we must be just missing each other" she replied.

"Well not tonight" he said, slyly. They chatted and laughed and seemed to be getting on. Action liked this groovy chick and decided to move things along. "Say, I'm getting hungry...what about you and me grab a bite to eat. I know this cool Italian place not far from here. Fancy joining me? I hate to eat alone"

"Sounds neat...just let me freshen up and let's head on out" she replied.

"Well, here we are" said Action as they arrived at the restaurant.

"Looks nice...classy. You must be able to afford to eat here; what's your line of work?" she asked.

"I'm a cop" he replied.

"Ah.....well....is that the time? I promised to meet my...erm…aunt! My aunt, she needs me. Rain check? Good! Bye!" and with that she ran off.

Action fumed. He hated being jerked around like that....she hated cops! More and more people these days hated the police; revolution, protests, disobedience. He spent 6 years in the Marines, did a tour in Simdo-China, came back and joined the police and this was the thanks he got! So much for a land fit for heroes. Action stormed off back home.

Well, his day of living it large didn't pan out the way he'd hoped. Still, he was intrigued by what had gone on between Goth and Landgraab. Maybe Suzy was on to something? Finishing his meal he looked out the window and saw a young woman standing in the middle of the road, not noticing the traffic. Action was quick out the door and yelled to her. She snapped out of her daydream and got out of the way before a car could hit her.

"Say, lady, you need to watch where you're going" he said.

"Oh, my apologies. I was receiving a message and didn't notice the traffic" she replied.

"Receiving a message?" said Action.

"Did I say that? I meant, I heard someone calling"

"Other than me?"

"Yes...but I don't know who" she said, awkwardly.

"Well...just take care in future. I might not be around to help you" said Action. The lady apologised again and walked off. "What a day!" thought Action. "What a day..."