"How you doin', Jeremy? Can you handle the pace?"
"I...*puff*....can...*puff*...keep....up..., Action, *puff*...don't...worry"
The two neighbours, Jeremy Saint and John Action, did another lap of their street and once past the old, big tree they came to a stop in between their houses.
"I've got to hand it to you, Jeremy" said Action. "You're not bad...for a civilian"
"I bet you do a lot of running in the police force and the Marines" said Jeremy, hunched over with his hands on his aching thighs.
"In the police, I've got to be fast to catch the bad guys...in the Marines I had to stay fast to avoid the VC bullets"
Jeremy waved a hand at him and stood up. "Man...I'm going to hit the shower now...thanks for the run, I enjoy the company and the challenge" he said.
"No worries, stay loose, man" said Action taking a deep breath. Jeremy staggered back to his house and Action was just about to move on when he heard a voice call out.
"You're in my way, Officer" It was Nancy Landgraab.
"Actually it's Detective now" said Action. "Sorry to get in your way, Mrs Landgraab" he continued, stepping off the footpath.
"You seem to make a habit of that" said a very terse Nancy Landgraab.
"Do I? Does it disrupt your activities?"
"You know nothing of them" she replied with a sneer.
"Oh don't count on that" Action said. "I know more than you think"
"You only suspect, Detective, but be warned...I can disrupt your life quicker than you realise. I won't put up with your intrusions or insinuations any longer...cross me again and you will feel the brunt"
"Fighting words there, Mrs Landgraab" said a defiant Action.
"There are fiercer fighters out there than the Viet Cong, Detective" and with that, she started her run again. Action followed her with his gaze until she went out of sight.
Action went home, showered, and headed off to 13th Precinct headquarters...this time in civilian clothes, not a uniform as befitting a detective. As he entered he spotted a tall, beautiful brunette at the front desk. His colleague, Officer Cole Michaels, gave him a rundown on the young lady.
"She gave her name as Francoise Erdee, she's French. I struggled to make out what she was saying, her accent's that thick. Hey, don't you speak a little French, Action."
"Un petit peu. Picked some up in Saigon when I was there. Mind you, the kind of French I learned isn't suitable for general conversation but I'll give it a go"
Action approached Miss Erdee. "Bonjour, Madamoiselle. Quel est le probleme?"
"Au secours, Gendarme! My...'ow you zay, concierge...erm...landlord...'e is gone...erm...'e left this letter. I do not understand all of eet"
Action took the letter and read it.
Dear ladies
By the time you read this letter, I'll be dead. I cannot give you the details of what has befallen me but my past has finally caught up with me. I have instructed my attorney to handle your rental of my property in future. Please do not try to find me, I have to atone for my sins and this is the only way I can think of settling them that best suits all concerned. Do not involve the police, I have gone forever. I apologise for the distress I have caused you with this letter and state of affairs; you are all wonderful human beings and I wish you all the best for your futures.
Yours sincerely
Jacques Villareal
"Please, what does eet mean?" asked Francoise.
"It's something to look into right away" said Action. "He addresses this to 'ladies' and refers to them a few times"
"Oh zat is myself and my two 'ousemates...we are all from France and we are doing...'ow you say...work experience"
Action's mind was suddenly filled with an image of tree gorgeous French women all living together....he assumed the other two must be very attractive based purely on the example stood before him. He struggled to think of a more beautiful woman he had met. He suddenly composed himself.
"And do you know anything about these activities and 'sins' as Mr Villareal put it?"
"No, notzing at all" she said, shaking her head.
"Alright, leave me some details about Mr Villareal's home and....well, contact details for yourself and your friends." he said, putting away his notebook and taking one admiring look at Miss Erdee. He had a girlfriend who he was very keen on...but in Action's mind it didn't hurt to look at the menu of life.
Action wasted no time in heading down to Jacques Villareal's home on the Crumbling Isle, Windenburg. It was an exclusive, difficult to reach place and home to some of the wealthiest people of Sim City. Action arrived there in one of the city's water taxis to find a very attractive, but also very quiet neighbourhood.
Action walked over to the residence of Jacques Villareal; the Von Windenburg estate. He was surprised to find a man matching Mr Villareal's description swimming in the house pool.
"Mr Villareal, I presume?" said Action.
"What do you want?" said the man.
"I want to speak with Mr Villareal. My name's Action: Sim City PD"
Without saying another word, the man swam to the edge of the pool and lifted himself out.
He walked over to Action, slowly, and said "I'm Jacques Villareal. What's this about?"
Action held up the letter. "This letter was apparently written by you and it talks about you doing self-harm and atoning for your sins. Do you recognise it?"
Villareal took a look at it. "Nope. I didn't write that although whoever did made a nice job faking my signature"
"And who would write a fake suicide letter and go to the trouble of faking your signature?"
"There are a lot of cranks in the world; you're the detective, you work it out. Out of interest, how did you come by this letter?"
"Your 3 French tenants...do you think they could have faked this?"
"Those three? Nah, they're sweeties....they wouldn't do anything that would get them deported. Besides, none of them could string out aa grammatically correct sentence in English by themselves."
Action looked around him and took a deep breath. "Do you have any enemies who would want to trouble you, Mr Villareal?"
"Not any more" said Villareal. "Now if that's all, Detective, I want you off my property so I can get back to my swim"
Action took the letter and without saying another word took a quick look around the island to see if anything was amiss but there was nothing. A couple of joggers, a man fishing by the beach but other than that...just the birds, trees and lots of saying don't walk here or no littering. Action waited for a river taxi and departed empty handed.
Back at the station, Action had his routine tasks to perform...one of them was his usual fingerprinting and photographing from serial pickpocket, Kabir Joyson.
"Mr Action...always a pleasure to be processed by you" said Joyson.
"Must be my charm or your ineptitude at escaping from the cops that keeps you coming back here" said Action.
"Oh Mr Action...that's cruel. If your colleagues weren't so jumpy at bringing me in when there's no evidence on me then we wouldn't keep meeting like this"
Action had a thought. "Hey, Kabir, I could make this whole process a lot easier for you; starting with bringing in some decent chow and having a word with the judge that I don't think you're a serious flight risk if he posts bail."
"OK, I'm interested..." said a cautious Joyson. "What's the deal?"
"And this landlord's name is?" asked Joyson
"Jacques Villareal"
Joyson smiled and drew a deep breath. "Well, well, well Action...you're caught between the Landgraabs and the Villareals. I wouldn't want to be you right now"
"Who's this Villareal?"
"He's wealthy, no one's quite sure how he comes by his money though...word on the street is he's as crooked at Nancy Landgraab but, like her, no one's got any dirt on him. But he's more dangerous than her, that's for sure"
"Why?" asked Action, suddenly engrossed in what Joyson had to say.
"Rumour had it he murdered his wife!"
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Yeah, I remember the case...I was lead detective on it" said the Chief, when Action went to visit him after his conversation with Joyson.
"And had he murdered her?" asked Action.
"I believe so...so did most of my team. He had motive, means and opportunity but we never found the body...I mean, not one trace. According to him, and his family, she just 'disappeared' without trace and the case is still open". The Chief looked wistfully out of his office window. "So now Jacques Villareal has appeared on your radar...you best be careful. Like his wife, a couple of good cops have 'disappeared' when they've tried to go after him."
"What of his other criminal activities?"
"We can't tie him to anything!" said the Chief, suppressing his annoyance. "Oh we've tried...so what do you make of this fake suicide letter?"
"My hunch is that someone wants me to take a closer look at him and this was a way of an introduction" said Action, tapping his fingers together.
"Who would do that? An ally?"
Action shook his head. "The opposite...someone who wants me to stop taking a closer look at them: Nancy Landgraab"
"Now come on, we've talked about this before Action...the Landgraab's are donors to the Police Benevolent Fund and are upstanding members of the community!"
"I don't know, Chief...their names keep coming up on my recent cases"
"Look....run with whatever leads you have but don't go on any wild goose chases with the Landgraabs and be careful around Villareal!"
Action got up, did a casual salute to the Chief and went about his duties. At the end of the shift he felt restless so he gave his girlfriend, Katherine, a call and invited her over.
She arrived, tense and angry.
"Hey, baby, what's the matter?" asked Action.
"Oh I've just had a horrific day!" said Katherine. "One of the charities I'm involved in got its funding cut! We've been dependent on one single, big donor these last couple of years and, with no advance warning, they completely cut their donations to us! We've now got a massive shortfall in our accounts"
Action pondered this bit of news...on a hunch he asked a question. "Who was the donor?"
"Oh it was the Landgraab Foundation" came Katherine's reply. Action nodded to himself...now it was becoming clearer. "And was this charity your Anti-Crime one? The Neighbourhood Watch?" he asked as a follow up.
"Why yes? Do you know something about it?" she asked.
"Law enforcement and prevention of crime aren't flavours of the month with the Landgraabs right now. Tell me, do you know if Nancy Landgraab knows about us?"
"Erm...yes, I mentioned it in passing at a banquet we both attended last week"
Action nodded. "I'm afraid that you knowing me...intimately...has cost you. I'm sorry"
Katherine turned to Action and looked at him with a mixture of confusion and hurt. "Is this an act of petty revenge on her part? Hmmm, I wouldn't put it past her...the evil old witch!"
"Well, I'm glad to hear you and I are on the same page about her" said Action, smiling to diffuse the tension. Katherine saw his face and broke into a smile as well.
"Oh John....all this has made me incredibly tense" she said with a sigh.
"Well, let the healing hands of John Action do their magic work" he replied.
"Oh you have 'magic hands' now?"
"They've never known to disappoint" he said, seductively.
"Prove it then" replied Katherine, also seductively.
"Turn around and let them get to work" said Action. Katherine duly obliged and Action got to work massaging her neck and shoulders.
"Hmmmm that's good. Ooooh, that's the spot. Say, this couch isn't the best spot to do this...maybe we could move this into the bedroom?"
