The offices of the trendy youth magazine, 'Hey, Wow!' were always a hive of activity. Every day there was some new trend, a celebrity event...or scandal...or another cultural zeitgeist moment that needed to be reported on. That was Suzy's job; to find what the 'now' was or to discover what might be the next big thing. But she was torn between the pop culture phenomena she was meant to report on and what she was increasingly becoming obsessed by: The conspiracy of The Triangle of Power and the suspicious...and even downright criminal...activities of the Landgraab family.
But today she had to focus on an article about fashion and just that. There was a midday deadline to reach and she was determined to get the piece...about whether the colour pink should be worn by men...done so she could be free to research and write about the conspiracy. After writing 500 words on the new trend of a well tailored pink shirt for men was the in-thing she finished the article with a flourish and presented it to her editor.
"There you go, one article on men's fashion as promised" she said, handing the draft article to her editor.
"Very good, very good" she replied, giving the article a quick skim read. "But...before you slope off on one of your crime articles I have a field assignment for you"
"Oh..." said Suzy, not expecting this.
"Yes" replied the editor. "There's the comic book convention in town: With the Llamaman TV series such a hit I want you there to get the low down on where the kids are at with this show and the comic book scene in general. Will there be Llamaman copycat shows? Webweaver? The Bulk? Superiorman?"
"But comic books aren't my scene!" said Suzy.
"Neither was crime reporting but you picked that up quick enough. Now go, and try not to give the nerds a heart attack"
Suzy headed down to San Myshuno to see what was going on at this comic festival. It really wasn't her scene as she preferred movies, art, music and even television instead of comics. When she got there she found a few stalls devoted to the Llama Man show plus a bit on real science focussed on space exploration. However, the place was hardly a hive of activity...in fact, it was sparsely attended and most people looked bored. Wherever the zeitgeist was, it certainly wasn't here.
But one person caught Suzy's eye. She recognised her from somewhere and it took a while to put a name to the face...or at least, a nickname. She was a trendy red headed young woman with a distinctive beauty spot on one side of her mouth and that's what rang a bell in Suzy's mind. She was a model, but more specifically she was Miss Ginger, March's Lothario Kitten of the Month. That meant she was close to Alan Cuffe and Suzy was very keen to find out more about the recent fire...and the attempted assassination in the Fashion District.
"Excuse me, you're Miss Ginger, aren't you?" said Suzy.
"Well, yes I am...are you a fan?" the woman replied, looking Suzy up and down and giving a smile of approval that could be mistaken for flirting.
"Not exactly" replied Suzy. "I'm a reporter for 'Hey, Wow' magazine...oh, and I've wrote that article about Malcolm Landgraab in last month's Lothario magazine"
"I remember that article...so you're Suzy Kent? Alan's mentioned you a few times" said Miss Ginger. "By the way, my name's Tasha" she added.
"Pleased to meet you. Do you have a few moments to spare?" asked Suzy. "It's about Alan, actually"
"Sure...the scene here is deader than pleats. What do you want to know about Alan? I should warn you I DON'T do kiss and tell stories" replied Tasha.
"I'm not interested in gossip. For one thing, how is he doing after the fire?"
Tasha took a deep breath. "Not well, at least he's not his usual self." she said with a sigh. "We haven't been having Kitten Club meetings at the moment and he locks himself away a lot of the time."
"What about Madelyn? Does she keep you informed about what's going on?"
"She spends most of her time caring for Alan at the moment. She's running the day to day business at the moment. Alan is writing, painting and keeping himself to himself. He seems distracted whenever I see him. I think the fire has got to him deep down."
"Because it nearly killed someone?" Suzy pushed Tasha further on the subject.
"No...I mean, he cares that the police lady makes a full recovery but...there's something else bothering him, I'm sure. It's not what happened, it's who did it. That seems to scare him more than anything else"
"Do you have any idea of who that could be? Has Alan or Madelyn said anything to you?"
Tasha shook her head. "No. I have no clue...we were all questioned by the police about the fire and the shooting a few weeks ago but I wasn't present at either. I get my information well after the fact"
Suzy nodded quietly at this information and thanked Tasha for her time. Alan suspected someone, that's for sure, but who?
Tasha left the scene but another person who was under suspicion had arrived: None other than Nancy Landgraab. The powerful maven of society saw Suzy and made straight for her with a look on her face that indicated she wanted to have it out with the young reporter.
"Well, look what the cat dragged in" said Nancy, dismissively.
"Nancy" replied Suzy, not wanting to rise to the bait.
"It's Mrs Landgraab to you" Nancy replied, coldly. "I'll have you know that your hatchet job on my son has failed: The D.A. has dropped all charges against him."
"I only reported on what he did: Malcolm was selling drugs and everything in my article can be verified. Now if your smart lawyers managed to cut a deal with the D.A. then that's not my problem" replied Suzy, defiantly.
"Just stay away from my family in future!" said Nancy.
Suzy paused for a moment but did not break eye contact with her. Then, calmly, she said "you were in the area when the fire bomb went off at Alan Cuffe's. What did you see?"
Nancy gulped. "I don't have to answer that" she said, nervously.
"You just did...in a way. Or should I be asking who did you see there that day?"
"You know nothing, little girl!" said Nancy before walking off in a huff.
Suzy nodded to herself. The question that needed to be answered was who did Nancy see outside of Alan Cuffe's house that day? Chances are it was probably the same person who tried to shoot Lily and Madelyn.
But the scene changed again with the arrival of her fiancé, Neil, who had just finished his first work shift of the day. He saw Suzy, smiled and waved to her before jogging over to give her an enthusiastic kiss on the cheek.
"I stopped by your office and they said you were here...how's it going?" he asked her.
"Well, it's been a day of twists and turns. I didn't expect to be here at this convention which, to be frank, is pretty boring BUT I've had some very interesting conversations which will need following up" she replied.
Neil narrowed his eyes. "Conversations about...the 'Triangle of Power'? Well then, let's talk about what you found out over a drink. There's a bar right over there." he said.
After they got their drinks and sat down, Neil could hear Suzy's account of her conversations with both Tasha and Nancy.
"I think this boils down to this" he began. "Either the Landgraabs are trying to kill the Fengs and the Fengs retaliated by fire bombing Cuffe's home because Cuffe is in league with the Landgraabs OR someone else we don't know about wants to kill all of them."
"Oh you make it sound so simple and straightforward" said Suzy, gently mocking him. "I'm more inclined to think a mysterious third party is involved."
"You mean, the Visitors, or whatever they're called?" said Neil.
"Yes. But we have no clues as to who they are...or even if it really is a group...we don't have one single name"
"Could it be Villareal or Goth?" Neil posed the question.
Suzy shook her head. "I don't believe the Goths are involved, based on my dealings with them. The Villareals? Yes there's suspicion about the father but he's not linked to either Cuffe, the Landgraabs or the Fengs. Oh it's so frustrating knowing that we just need one tiny bit of information to move forwards on this case!"
"I like how you say 'we' when it comes to investigating this: I feel properly invested in it now" said Neil, smiling. He looked at his watch "Oh crap! I've just remembered that we're booked in to view the wedding chapel at 3 and it's 2:15 now! Drink up, we need to get to Newcrest pronto!"
Suzy looked shocked and gulped down the last of her Sweet n' Spicy before grabbing her bag and running off to the subway station with Neil. They'd managed to book a provisional date for the wedding at the most desirable and exclusive wedding venue in Sim City and they did not want to end up on the chapel's naughty list.
The moment they stepped into the chapel they knew this just had to be the place for the wedding ceremony. It was furnished in white and pale colours mixing Edwardian, Belle Epoch and Gilded Age styles with a small pond and garden at the front, an expansive rear open air section for dining and a beautifully decorated chapel itself which intertwined flowers around the pillars. Suzy loved it and Neil loved everything that she liked. It was settled; this was to be the venue and they finalised the administration there and then.
That whole business took two hours and so it was straight on home for dinner. Afterwards, as Suzy cleared away the dishes and Neil was engrossed with the latest episode of 12 O'Clock High, she was pondering all that she had learned today. This case was eating her up. As she put the last clean plate away and wiped the sink she turned to Neil and said "I want to pop over the road to visit Action...see if he can shed any light about the case? Is that OK?"
Neil looked up from the TV. "Yeah, that's cool. Do you want me to come with you?" he asked.
"It's sweet you want to get involved by you've had a longer and harder working day than me so you relax and I'll see you in a bit. I'll only be over the road."
Suzy walked over to Action's house and knocked at the door. She heard footsteps approaching, a click from something and finally a voice from the other side. "Who is it?"
"It's Suzy, are you free to talk?" she replied. The door chain was undone and the door opened. Action waved her in and holstered his service issue .38 revolver.
"What's going down, sis?" he asked.
"Just our regular catch up on this case. I had a little tete-a-tete with Nancy Landgraab and one of the Lothario Kittens: Miss Ginger." she replied.
Action's face lit up "Oh Miss Ginger...I've had the briefest of pleasures meeting her. And both of them gave information to you? Even Nancy Landgraab?"
"Not directly" said Suzy. "Tasha...that's Miss Ginger's name...said that Alan's taken this really hard and that it's playing on his mental health as if he knows more about it but can't speak up. And when I put it to Nancy that she knew who set off the bomb and saw it happen she reacted extremely defensively. That's when I realised that the rumour that Nancy was right outside Alan's house and was with someone is actually true. Can you confirm that?"
Action took a deep breath. "Yeah, we're looking for someone" he said.
"Do you have a name for them?" asked Suzy.
"We don't have a name, just a description. She's young, long dark hair, dark brown eyes, always wearing the same outfit whenever there's been trouble and she's been around"
"You mean she's got criminal form?" said Suzy.
"Nothing we can nab her for. But twice she's shown up where a crime's been committed and someone has pointed the finger of suspicion at her. And there's something strange about her as well: She's seen wearing this black and white dress with an orange sweater underneath and a black cap all the time. Witnesses say she has this penetrating stare, as if she's trying to hypnotise them. There's some more outlandish claims made about her but I chalk that up to a bit of hysteria."
Suzy wrote this all down. "And that's all you know about her?"
"All I know. Heck, I even questioned her some months back and noticed that intense stare but I didn't think much of it at the time until this fire at Cuffe's place and witnesses putting her at the scene. I'm hitting a dead end trying to find her but I know you are useful when it comes to this kind of thing: Your information in the past has helped us catch criminals, even though Malcolm Landgraab wriggled out of a sentence in court. Can you help me track down this woman?"
"I'll do what I can. Thanks for the tip off, Action"
Suzy left his house and was heading home when she saw someone right at the end of the street. "I do not believe this." she said out loud to herself. At the end of Foundry Cove was a woman crossing the road: A woman in a black and white print dress, orange sweater, black cap and with long black hair. Suzy had to think fast: She could call for Action but if this was the same woman he was looking for then she'd be tipped off because she would recognise him as a policeman. Suzy had to get a name at least, she would approach this woman directly.
"Hello there, can I speak with your for just a couple of minutes?" said Suzy, approaching the woman with a disarming and innocent smile.
"Erm, yeah, what's this about?" replied the woman.
"My name is Suzy Kent, I'm a reporter at Hey Wow magazine...have you heard of it?"
"I have, I usually read Smogue" the woman said, flatly. "I'm not interested in a subscription"
"I'm not here to sell you a subscription. I'm a fashion reporter and I saw your outfit and it's so much the in thing right now I wanted to ask you a few questions about it...if you don't mind. I promise I won't take up much of your time"
"O...K..." the woman replied with a hint of scepticism in her voice.
"So where is that outfit from? Do you know the designer's name?" Suzy asked, still innocently.
"I don't. It's off the peg and I can't remember the name of the shop"
"That's a shame. Is this a style of dress you regularly wear? What attracted you to that outfit in the first place?"
"Yeah, it's my style and I like the pattern, the colour combination and it's as you said: Trendy."
"That's great...OK, I just want to finish up by asking some background questions; probably won't end up in the article I'm writing but it's more for my notes really. Can I get your name and age?"
"My name?" said the woman, her eyes narrowing. "Well yes, my name is Leanne MacGregor and I'm 27 years old"
"And do you live in Sim City or are you visiting?"
"Both: I reside but I'm not originally from here" now the woman looked very suspiciously at Suzy. "What magazine did you say you worked for again?"
Suzy felt the Leanne's eyes glaring at her. She felt like this woman was looking into her mind and soul as she did not blink once but maintained an intense eye contact with her.
"Hey Wow..." said Suzy, almost in a trance. "I know a writer over at Smogue: Davis Goode...he's kind of strange. Have you read any of his stuff?"
Leanne suddenly snapped. "He's their BEST writer and I won't hear a word said against him! I don't believe you, Miss Kent. I don't believe you're interested in what I wear...why did you approach me? WHY?"
Suzy recoiled. The intensity of this woman could be felt from a range of just two feet. Suzy was now frightened of Leanne as there was something malevolent in the way she glared at her. She had to get away.
"You can check with my office, I'm genuine!" Suzy replied, nervously.
"Oh I'll do that...and if I find you're lying to me I'll make you pay dearly!" said Leanne.
Leanne pointed a finger at Suzy: It was long and thin, like a dagger held in the air and Suzy wouldn't have been surprised if at that moment Leanne had stabbed her with it. Suzy started to back away without saying anything. Leanne watched her walk off, tracking her all the way down the street. Suzy turned and walked slowly so as to not look suspicious but instead of heading home, she headed to Action's house. She knocked softly at the door.
"Action!" she whispered hoarsely "It's her! I've seen the suspect and she's at the bottom of our road right now!"
The door rattled as it was unlocked and Action stood on the porch with his .38 service revolver in his hand. "She's here?" he said, scanning the scene.
"Yes! Right at the end of the road! There! She's heading past the communal garden!" exclaimed Suzy.
Action took his gun and ran down the road. He could just about see Leanne walking away in the distance so he increased his pace. The chase was on!
