CHAPTER 33: Interrogation

 

John Action finished getting the mail from his mailbox when he heard footsteps behind him. Resisting his inclination to reach for his .38 service revolver, he turned around to see Mortimer Goth walking by.

"Mr Goth" said Action, nodding.

"Ah....Detective.....Action, isn't it? Meddling in anyone else's affairs lately?" replied a terse Mortimer Goth.

"I patrol my side of the street, Goth, you patrol yours"

"I'm very protective of my family, Action, and will do anything to keep them safe....ANYTHING!"

"Message received" said Action, noticing the redness in Mortimer's cheeks and the intensity of his stare. The angry Mortimer stormed off, giving Action a cursory glance back at him but there was no time to waste....it was almost time for Action's shift to begin.

13th PRECINCT HEADQUARTERS, 0859hrs

"What have you got for me today, Sarge?" said Action to desk Sergeant Kitchen.

"That suspect you brought in a few days ago, Aurora Ahmed...she's still holding out on us" said Sergeant Kitchen.

"Leave it to me, Sarge, I'll sweat the information out of her" he said, grabbing her case file from the filing cabinet. Action walked down to the lock up cells. Aurora sat up on her bunk and looked him in the eye.

"You again...you don't let up, do you?" she said.

"Not until I get what I want" replied Action.

"Which is?"

"Who's your fence, Aurora? Your contacts in the underworld. I want you sing like a canary"

"I don't sing...why not try a birdhouse?"

"I'll try the blockhouse if you don't mind"

"What if I do?"

"Then say goodbye to the free life, Aurora". Action opened up the cell and led her to the booking station. Putting her up against the wall, he searched her.

"Hey! I went through all this when you brought me in!" she complained.

"But I know your fancy lawyer's been here since and I want to make sure he didn't give you anything he shouldn't have....like this little bag of white powder here"

"You planted that, Action!" she complained vociferously.

"Did I? OK let's talk some more about what other evil I might have got up to" he said, nonchalantly.

He sat Aurora down and turned on the harsh, bright desk lamp and turned it to her face.

"I want my lawyer!" she complained.

"All they'll do is get you down from a 10 year stretch to a 5 year one...I can do better than that if you talk" replied Action. He put some documents on the table in front of her. "We know you hit the expensive places, and leave a chess clue as your calling card"

"We've already been through this" she said with a sigh.

"Yes, but what I want to know is who's your network? You've got pretty big partners in crime, Aurora. You only get a cut of the haul."

"Prove it!" she said, definantly.

"I've got it all here, sister...your fingerprints at half a dozen properties, witnesses who'll testify that they saw you with two accomplices...who are they?"

"I...I...can't! They'll kill me if I talk!"

"They won't know" said Action, pressing harder. "Talk now and we'll get you a 3 year stretch"

"Alright....I do jobs for an organisation called The Triangle. My contact is Mal; I speak with him only on the phone and we arrange drop off exchanges for the merchandise and cash. I've only seen him once...tall, skinny, but he was wearing a ski mask."

Action nodded, picked up the case files and said "OK, we'll call your lawyer. Thanks, Aurora"

He returned her to the lock up and went to speak with The Chief but standing in the lobby of the precinct house was Candy Behr...the last time Action saw her she had stood him up on a dinner date.

"Hey Action" she said, sheepishly

"Candy...what brings you here?" he replied

"Just some neighbourhood toughs giving my sister and me a hard time...listen, Action, about that dinner date..." she began, apologetically.

"SAVE IT, SISTER! Action doesn't take being stood up sitting down!" he yelled, putting up his hand and then storming off.

He went straight to the bathroom to calm himself down. "Not cool, Action, not cool...don't let a chick bring you down!" he said, taking some deep breaths.

He got through the rest of his shift, it was mostly paperwork but he wanted to stay clear of Candy in case he blew his cool again. Changing back in to his 100 Simoleon suit and getting into his 500 Simoleon car he drove home, cursing the name of Candy Behr all the way. Once home he cooked himself up some mac n' cheese and was preparing to settle down to eat it when there was a ring on the doorbell.

"What kind of crazy cat wants to bother me now?" he said, checking his .38 service revolver was loaded...he'd made some enemies over the years. However, when he opened the door he saw that it was his neighbour, Liberty Lee.

"Well hello there......sweet Liberty!" he said, smiling.

"Hi Action, I hope I'm not disturbing you?" she replied, nervously.

"You could never do that, why don't you come in?" he said. "I made enough macaroni for two"

"Thanks, but I've eaten...wow, I like how you've decorated this place" she said, looking around.

"I've gone for an African vibe" he replied.

"I like it....the reason I'm here, Action, is that I didn't get to properly speak with you when you moved in. I've been busy lately"

"So your friends tell me"

"Yes. Well, I thought...well....you might like some company."

"I never refuse the company of a pretty lady" he said.

"You lead an interesting life: Ex-marine now a cop. You helped Travis' friend find his stolen statue. I'd like to know John Action a little better"

"And I'd like to get to know Liberty Lee more" he said, pouring her a drink and handing it to her. "Here's to getting to know each other" and they clinked glasses.

CHAPTER 32: Veiled Threats

 

Suzy grabbed her handbag, her house keys and rushed out the door to work....only as soon as she shut the door she heard a disturbing gurgling sound from her stomach. Breakfast was NOT good. The fridge had broken down during the night and the delicious fruit parfait yoghurt she'd prepared the night before had gone off....and now her tummy was paying the price for not binning the whole lot straight away. It was no good, she couldn't go into work feeling like this. She had an article to write but she could do that at home and at the library and take the morning off to take some Dramamine and Milk of Magnesia and hope her stomach would calm down by lunch.

In the meantime, she took herself down to the spa for a detox. Settling into the sauna she thought about her article and what it would involve. She had enough to do a piece about the mavens of Sim City...well, at least two of them. She'd interviewed both Lily Feng and Bella Goth and there was enough material for an article: Only Nancy Landgraab had avoided an interview thus far.

After a session in the steam room, Suzy headed off to Willow Creek Archive to finish her article. Settling down with a stack of magazines and newspapers from the archives and seated comfortably at a desk with her portable typewriter she got to work. She noticed that one of the librarians was surreptitiously pocketing a library book into his cardigan pocket and hoping no one noticed. Suzy smiled to herself; she knew that guy...nice enough to talk to, looked like a bookish square but was secretly a petty pilferer.

Suzy's thoughts were abruptly halted by a stern looking woman of around 40 who stood right next to her, pointing a finger.

"YOU! Yes you! I know who you are!" said the stern woman.

"You do?" replied a bemused Suzy.

"Yes! You write for that scandalous magazine! The one that's leading the youth of today astray!"

"Do you mean 'Hey, Wow!'?"

"Hey, Filth more like! My niece reads your trash magazine and it nearly led her astray with your low morals: Pop music! Long hair on boys! Mini skirts! Date whoever you like! Tsch! Scandalous! Scandalous! It should be BANNED for corrupting the young of SimNation!"

"Have you ever considered...Miss?" responded Suzy

"MRS Edna Sneedly! I run the Willow Creek Concerned Citizens Society"

"Well, Mrs Sneedly, that the youth of today want something different? They want to express themselves in fashion, music and art in a way that is different from your era. And they want to make their own choices instead of being told what to do, say and think by committees?"

"Harumph! 'Make their own choices'! Who'd ever heard of such nonsense? Why can't girls your age settle for nice young men like this gentleman, drop your hemlines and learn to bake apple pies?" Mrs Sneedly pointed to the kleptomaniac librarian as an example of an 'exemplary' young man.

"Sure, I'll bear it in mind" said Suzy, standing up and walking over to another part of the library. She made sure Mrs Sneedly got a good view of her short dress. Sitting down at another desk, she began work again when she was interrupted by none other than Victor Feng.

"Good afternoon, Miss Kent" he said. "I see you're doing some research on my wife"

"Yes...well, looking at the society pages to see what she was wearing at various events."

"Very good...I especially liked that green gown she wore to the Norton Building opening back in December"

"Mr Feng...I'd like to ask a question in your capacity as a city councillor" said Suzy, eager to corner Feng on a topic.

"Go ahead"

"Are you aware of an old tunnel that runs underneath the Landgraab Mansion in Oasis Springs?"

Victor Feng paused before giving an answer. He raised an eyebrow in surprise. "I am not...but thank you for bringing that to my attention. I wish you well with your article." He said before leaving.

Suzy finished her manuscript, put it in an envelope and mailed it to her editor. Her job for the day done, she decided to check out a recommended hot spot in town: The Narwhal Arms. It was an old inn building converted into a nightclub which had been recently refurbished to be a trendy hot spot. However, once inside, Suzy was disappointed by what she saw. Instead of a swinging venue, it was mostly populated by older lounge lizard men. She sat at the bar and ordered a drink, hoping things would improve. She did see a familiar face, however.

"Hi, it's Julian isn't it?" she said to a young man she had met once before.

"Yeah, and you are?" he said, struggling to put a name to her face.

"Suzy Kent...I'm from Hey, Wow magazine. We met a few weeks ago at the Blue Velvet club in Willow Creek"

"Did we? I meet a lot of chicks" he said before shrugging and walking off to the DJ booth.

Suzy sighed. Why couldn't she meet any decent men who were interested in her? The boat had sailed with Jeremy, John scared her, Travis didn't seem interested, Burr was obsessed with his activism and Julian was an airhead. She downed her drink and thought that seeing that she was at a loose end, she had a dance.

When she got home later that evening, things weren't much better: Her toilet had broken this time...on top of a malfunctioning fridge this was another hassle she didn't need. At least she could get an emergency repairman to visit. Or, in this case, a repairwoman.

"Show me where the problem is and yes, I'm a woman, but I can still do the job as well as a man" said the woman, sounding bored.

"Oh, well thanks for coming out at this late hour. The busted toilet is just here. Busy day?" said Suzy, making polite small talk.

"Tell me about it! We had this big water pipe burst down at Oasis Springs this afternoon. Me and the team were working non-stop to try to stop half the neighbourhood from flooding. Some of the guys are still down there."

"Oasis Springs you say?" said Suzy, intrigued. "Whereabouts?"

"Acquisition Butte" said the woman.

"That's where the Landgraabs live, isn't it?"

"Sure is. The burst water pipe was in an old, abandoned mine shaft that runs right under their mansion. I tell you, Mrs Landgraab was furious about the whole thing. Said she'd pay for all our overtimes if we got it fixed tonight. Sheesh, that lady sure has a temper on her"

Suzy pondered this bit of information. She did mention the tunnel to Victor Feng who seemed interested in it. Could these things be connected? The repairwoman finished fixing the toilet and left. As soon as she had, there was a ring on the doorbell. It was Summer Holiday.

"Hey Summer, how's it going?" said Suzy.

"Suzy....do you think guys are lame?" said Summer, sighing.

"I'm beginning to think that way" said Suzy. "Why, what's happened?"

"It's what's NOT happening. Travis: One minute he seems keen, the next he treats me as if I don't exist"

"What does Liberty have to say?" pouring a drink for Summer.

"I haven't seen Liberty for days...she's away in Florida at the rocket base"

"I think guys are not taking us seriously enough if you ask me" said Suzy. Here's my tip: Ignore them...they'll hate that and in a short while you'll see who starts paying you decent attention"

Summer nodded. "I think you and me should hit the tiles one night: Girls night out and see if we can't land ourselves some cool guys."

"I'll drink to that" said Suzy, raising her glass to Summer's.