"You know, we really should get the plumbing in this place sorted out" said Neil as he grappled with the broken kitchen sink. "This thing is always springing a leak and how many times have I had to fix the ballcock on the toilet?"
"I didn't know you were such an expert in plumbing" said Suzy.
"You have to be in this place! Anyway, I've replaced the washers and that should be that. Phew!" he said, mopping his brow. "Have wrench, will travel" he added. "But...have you given any thought to moving to a bigger...better equipped place?"
"What, leave Foundry Cove?" exclaimed Suzy. "I guess...but this is where all my friends are!"
"I know, we don't have to move far...we can stay in Willow Creek...but we're doing well financially and after the wedding we'll have some savings to put down a deposit on a nicer house"
Suzy bit her bottom lip and hummed.
"I'll let you think about it" said Neil. "Right, time to take these old, cracked washers and these dirty rags to the trash can" and with that he put the broken bits of the sink and the mopping up rags in a bag. He then hauled it outside where he dropped it into the trash but then he heard his name being called out.
"Neil, Neil Humphries!" came a woman's voice. Neil turned around to see Nancy Landgraab in her keep fit tracksuit, signal to him. Neil wondered what she was doing calling out to him: He hadn't spoken with her for months, what did she want with him now?
"Mrs Landgraab, what can I do for you?" he said.
"Nothing much" she replied, coldly. "I just wanted to inform you that the Landgraab Foundation is currently re-structuring."
"Really? What does that involve?" he replied.
"We have to focus on what is paying dividends and what is a useless asset. Trim down the fat and the excess so to speak."
"I'm not a businessman, Mrs Landgraab" said Neil.
"No, but you have been the beneficiary of Landgraab Foundation funds to help your burgeoning career in art and, so far, you have failed to impress the trustees"
"Oh really?" said Neil, seeing where this was going. "I had my works shown in galleries, I did some commissions for you and I have stuck to the terms of the funding grant"
"We've redefined the criteria of aspiring success and decided...you're not it" she said, again, in an icy cold voice.
Neil took a deep breath. "Mrs Landgraab; cut the crap. You know and I know that this isn't about my art, it's about getting at my fiancée. She told the truth and you can't handle it" he said.
"Personally I'm very disappointed in you, Neil. I introduced you to her so you could be a distraction for a little while...I never knew you were going to end up as her faithful sidekick."
"Maybe I'm just copying the example of your husband?" said Neil, his anger starting to bubble under his placid exterior. This woman was as dishonest as the day is long and he actually felt good to be rid of her money.
"I'm warning you, Neil, do NOT make an enemy of me!" said Nancy with a sudden harsh tone to her voice.
"Do as you will! I don't need your money anymore...I think I've done enough to...what did you call it? Define my own criteria for aspiring success." he said, turning around and walking away from her.
Nancy watched him leave. I could crush him like a bug she thought. But not now.
Nancy began to jog again but she was stopped in her tracks by a familiar, but unwelcome face.
"Nancy Landgraab" said Leanne McGregor. "The Alan Cuffe situation"
"It's been dealt with: Cuffe no longer wants to know anything more about us and is stalling the police investigation. He's frightened, that's the next best thing to having him killed...in fact, better; killing him would have attracted too much attention" replied Nancy.
"We are monitoring Alan Cuffe. However, it has come to our attention that the one known as Suzy Kent is interfering with your operations."
"Oh her? It's nothing, I assure you. She wrote a bothersome article about my son which led to him being...briefly...investigated by the police. The judge dropped the charges. It's purely an internal family matter, nothing for you and your associates to worry about."
"Small incidents have a way of becoming large problems if left unchecked. Keep this Suzy Kent under control or we will have to arrange another accident."
"You're taking a great risk!" exclaimed Nancy. "I know the police have your name and description on file and you know the detective who's looking for you lives right over there!"
"Appearances and names can change, Nancy Landgraab. Heed my words; sort out Suzy Kent" and with that Leanne cast a glance towards the Kent residence. Nancy too looked that way and when she turned around to face Leanne, she noticed the sinister young woman had vanished.
Meanwhile, back at the house, Neil entered and let out a sigh.
"Is everything alright?" asked Suzy.
"I just had a talk with Nancy Landgraab: She's going to cut my arts funding" he said.
"Oh no! How dare she!" exclaimed Suzy.
"Actually, I'm relieved: I felt bad taking her cursed foundation money whilst I knew all the dirty tricks she pulls. This is a release and, hopefully, the start of the next phase of my art...my work, my way"
"I'm proud of you, honey" said Suzy, smiling warmly at him. Then she noticed someone running past the house. "Well it looks like the great and good of Sim City have decided to walk past our humble home this morning. It's Alan Cuffe...I want to have a word with him." she added.
Suzy ran outside to greet Alan. "Oh hello, Suzy" he said warmly, but in a diffident and distracted way.
"I wanted to ask you..." said Suzy "...what's the response to the Malcolm Landgraab article been like?"
"Very good, very good indeed. Sales for this month's 'Lothario' have been excellent and in part between your article and this month's Kitten...shame she's quit now. Anyway, that's by the by, you did a good job."
"I hear Nancy Landgraab is angry about it"
"Don't worry about her; she's my problem to deal with" said Alan. "I believe in free speech and honest reporting and your article stuck to the facts that other newspapers and magazines refuse to publish out of fear."
"That's reassuring to hear" said Suzy. "Can I talk with you a bit about a potential follow up article I have in mind?"
"Sure, fire away" said Alan.
"I want to do a piece about the fire at your house and the police investigation"
Alan went quiet. "Let's not talk about this in the street...can we discuss this at your place?"
Suzy nodded.
"This is my home, it's not much but I like it" she said. "Oh, this is my fiancé, Neil. Neil, this is Alan Cuffe"
"Glad to know you, Neil. So you're the man who has captured the affections of Sim City's most beautiful and courageous journalist?" said Alan, firmly shaking Neil's hand.
"You're here!" said Neil, his eyes wide with being star struck. "You're Alan Cuffe and you're here!"
"Well I've got be somewhere" said Cuffe, nonchalantly. "I take it you're a Lothario reader?"
"Only the one issue, the one with Suzy's article...but I recognise you from that TV show: Lothario After Dark"
"I get around" replied Cuffe. "Suzy, about this article idea of yours: I want you to drop it. The whole incident was very traumatic to me and everyone else involved." he said.
"But Alan, this could help the police investigation as well...a detailed and truthful article about an ongoing case could prompt a member of the public to come forward with more information!" said Suzy.
"Suzy, Suzy...this isn't just a criminal case. The FBI and State Department are rumoured to be all over this. Please, not now...don't write this now." said Alan, with a pained and worried look in his face. Suzy was sharp enough to notice it.
"Very well Alan" she said, picking up on the cue. "I'll find something else" she said, solemnly.
"I look forward to reading it when it's finished. I must be going now. Nice to meet you, Neil." and with that Alan Cuffe left to resume his run.
"He's covering for something" said Suzy as soon as the door shut.
"Or he's genuinely traumatised by seeing a friend nearly burned to death?" replied Neil.
Suzy shrugged. "Well, I have a couple of topics to cover next...one is a review of Cuban Heeled Boots and the other....is investigating that tree and glade again."
"I think I can guess which one you'd prefer to write about" said Neil with a grin.
"Now be careful as you walk along the passage" said Suzy to Neil as they stood in front of the hidden entrance of the Foundry Cove tree. "It's pretty dark in there and at one point there's a stream you have to cross. Not wide, but get your footing wrong and you'll get wet feet."
"And it leads to some glade? It seems impossible!" said Neil.
They both entered with Suzy leading Neil by the hand along the narrow, earthy tunnel. They stepped over the stream and headed towards the sound of a gentle breeze and a pinkish light that was up ahead. Eventually they stepped out of another hole of...presumably...another, almost identical tree and entered the mysterious glade.
"This...isn't possible!" said Neil in astonishment as he looked around.
"It's as beautiful as I remember from my first visit" said Suzy.
"But I made a careful note about how far we travelled" said Neil. "I make it 200 yards from the entrance to hear. That should put us just inside the fence of the container yard. I can see no trace of the facility here! And this sky...it looks like sunset but my watch says it's 11:48am!
"Is it sunset or a dawn?" said Suzy, looking around.
"I can't tell" replied Neil. "OK, I guess we look around to find out more about this place"
The two split up and looked out for something of interest. Everything looked familiar but it was the lushness of the place and so many different flora from a variety of places around the world growing side by side that attracted their interest. Neil attempted to collect a small branch off of a sapling that caught his attention but the entire tree just fell apart, as if it had melted, in his hands. All that was left was a pile of sludge on the ground where the sapling once stood.
"Now that is bizarre" he said.
"Let's look for something else we can take a sample of" said Suzy, scanning the scene. "Wait! Look over there...it looks like mushrooms or toadstools but they're in a hexagonal pattern" she said, pointing to a patch of ground where there were 6 little dirt mounds with thin, grey mushrooms sticking out of them. The mounds formed a hexagon shape when viewed from above. Suzy went to harvest a couple of them but they too, like the sapling, instantly turned to mush.
"How peculiar!" she said.
"Well, even though it is just a pile of slush I'll grab a sample" said Neil, producing a handkerchief and scooping up some of the mush into it.
They walked around the glade some more, trying to make observations. "I wish I'd remembered my camera" she said. "We'll just have to make a mental note for now and the next time we'll bring a camera."
"There's no doubting this place is strange yet beautiful. I might come back with my sketch pad next time" said Neil.
"I told you it was a special place" she said, smiling at him. "Now you know...thanks for being by my side on one of my adventures"
"Where else should I be?" replied Neil, returning the smile. They stood and looked at each other warmly before being overcome by an urge to kiss each other.
"And we'll bring a picnic" she added as their lips parted.
"Let's get home" he replied, brushing a strand of her hair from her face.
But their presence and behaviour had been noticed. On the far side of the glade a glowing, translucent ball emerged from the pond. It hovered above the water, scanning the glade with a bright light that was contained within the ball. It detected the two lovers and slowly, and silently moved towards them. As it flew slowly across the glade, weaving in an out of the trees and long grasses, it left a little sparkling trail of light behind it.
It stopped about 20 feet away from the couple and ducked behind a flower bush. There it could observe the couple without being noticed. It waited to see what they would do next and when the two stepped into the hole in the tree and left, the ball remained for another minute before heading back to the pond.
They went home and Neil put some of the pulped mushrooms...if that's what they were...into a jar and in the fridge. Suzy entered the kitchen and sighed. "Let's unwind...shall we say down at the Blue Velvet?"
Neil agreed and they headed off to the local bar to unwind, have some drinks and talk about what to do next.
"So, what do you think we should do with that sludge?" said Neil.
"Get it to a biologist, or chemist...you know, some kind of scientist" she replied.
"Unfortunately I don't know any...well, if you except Julia." said Neil.
"Well, she might know or know someone at her work. OK, we'll ask her. Wow, it's really starting to get busy in here!"
Suzy spotted Liberty Lee at the far end of the bar and waved to her. "Hey, Libs! On your own here tonight?" she said.
"Yeah, the others bailed on me but Gary will be along shortly" replied Liberty.
"Hey, Neil and I have found out more about that tree!" said Suzy, barely able to contain her excitement in this crowded place.
"What is it?" replied Liberty, keen to know.
"We've got some plant material from there we want analysing. You don't happen to know anyone in your line of work who could examine it?"
"I'm a rocket engineer and we're planning on going to the Moon where there's no plant life. Sorry, can't help"
"Oh well, it was worth a shot" shrugged Suzy.
"Hey, Suzy! Are you going to sing tonight?" called a voice of one of the regulars.
"I wasn't planning on doing so..." she replied.
"Go on, sing!" another person shouted. And then another, and another...even Neil lent his voice in support of her singing. Suzy shrugged and went on to the microphone.
"Well, that's over and done with" as she put the microphone back on the stand after her performance.
"That's the second best version of 'You Don't Have To Say You Love Me' I've ever heard" said Neil. "Shame you don't want to do an encore"
"I will spare the audience that for tonight" replied Suzy. "Let's sit down over there where it's less busy"
"I'm still buzzing about what we found today" she said.
"The beginnings of a new article?" replied Neil.
"Maybe...eventually. But I wonder if it has anything to do with Action's investigation? What if they're linked somehow?"
Neil nodded in thought. "The Landgraabs certainly know about what lies beyond that tree, it's mentioned in their maps and plans for the area. Who knows who else in The Triangle knows?" he said.
Suzy shut her eyes for a moment and took a deep breath. When she opened her eyes she looked at Neil in a very warm and seductive way.
"Hmmm, maybe it's the fire, the drinks, the music and the fact that you're a wonderful companion but I'm feeling....hmmm....very, very warm". She said the word warm with a soft, inviting pout of her lips.
"Suzy! Must you be so suggestive in public?" said Neil, feeling the heat under his collar.
"I can't help myself sometimes...after all, that's how I got my man!" she replied.
"Oh you've got me alright but let's move this to back home before you get carried away any more!"
"I want to get carried away" she said, standing up and grabbing his hand. Without another word she had whisked him back home.
They wasted no time hanging around outside but hurried to the bedroom where Neil, usually so proper and gentlemanly, let himself go, had her dress unzipped and was fiddling with her bra strap.
"I had a thought...we could hand the sample over to Action" he said, in between kisses.
