Increasingly John Action found that he was restless in the mornings and found himself wanting to get out of the house as soon as possible. At the crack of dawn he had grabbed his gym kit and headed off to Oasis Springs to work out, have a shower and then partake of breakfast at the Rattlesnake Bar. He didn't know why he was this restless but this disturbed sleep and lifestyle pattern had begun after he had lost his memory. The upside was that the Rattlesnake did some of the best, damn fine coffee in the city.
After a couple of cups of steaming Joe, Action headed off to 13th Precinct headquarters to begin his shift. All week the department had been investigating the break in at the Huntington house and now they were on the verge of a breakthrough in the case. They were fortunate that multiple witnesses had come forward but the fingerprint samples didn't match anyone on the criminal files...they were either dealing with someone for whom this was a first offence, or else a master criminal who'd never been caught. It was almost certain the suspect was a woman, as most men had their fingerprints on record from being drafted into the armed forces at some point.
At the precinct house, Action went over the file of evidence they already had to make certain of all the clues and information they had. Most witnesses claimed to have seen a woman enter the house, alone. Action figured she had to have been strong to remove those appliances so maybe someone with an athletic build or physically well trained.
"So you're going with a lone wolf suspect, not a gang, Action?" asked Action's deputy, Cole Michaels.
"It looks that way...you've got to follow the evidence" Action replied.
"I thought you were a gut instinct kind of guy?"
"I am, and I'm never wrong about them but in this case there's a conflict between what seems logical and what can be proven and this time it looks like this woman lifted that TV, that stereo set and all those other items single handed. Find me evidence there was another person with her at that time and I'll change my mind"
"Well, if we find her then maybe she'll confess to who her partners were"
"Maybe, Cole, maybe..."
Officer Marina Beckett entered the squad room. "Detective Action, there's a lady out the front who wants to speak with you...she asked for you specifically. She didn't give a name, though, but said you know her" she said.
"One of your entries in your little black book, Action?" joked Cole.
"You can only dream of having a little black book like mine, Cole" replied Action as he headed out front to see who wanted to see him.
Action's heart sank when he saw who it was in the lobby: Candy Behr...aspiring pop star, model and tease. She blew hotter and colder with him more times than Goldilocks with a bowl of porridge. Action wondered which Candy was wanting to speak with him today: The hot one or cold one?
"Oh Action, thanks for coming to see me" she said, huskily and with a note of relief in her voice.
"Is this a police matter you want to talk with me about?" he replied, flatly.
"Well yes, but it's nice to see you as well...are you doing OK?"
"Let's stick to the matter at hand; what the problem is?"
"So I'm getting the professional cop today, am I?" said Candy, disappointed.
"Who else were you expecting?" replied Action.
"I just thought, you know..."
"That because we once shared a moment together before you bailed on me entitles you to special police treatment or even friendship? You thought wrong, sister."
"You're still mad about that? I'm sorry, I panicked..."
"I'm not mad, but I'm wary of a pretty face who's trying to get something from me. Now, what's been going down which requires our help?"
"Next door's been having these wild parties and there's some unsavoury types hanging around, you know?"
"I get the picture. Look, I'm on a case right now and I'm backed up with it but I'll hand you over to my colleague, Officer Beckett here, and she'll send a patrol over to check out the scene with your neighbours. OK?"
"OK...and, Action, you've still got my number, haven't you?" said Candy, batting her long eyelashes at him.
Yeah, I've still got your number...tucked away. He thought as he walked away. He returned to the squad room to find Cole on the telephone and writing things down on a pad frantically.
"Action; we've got a witness who says they've seen someone resembling the suspect down at Brindleton Bay...they say this character's been trying to sell some electronic goods from the docks down there"
"Sounds promising...OK, let's put out an APB and get some boots on the ground" said Action, determinedly. "Cole, you take your team down to the dockside area...Sergeant Kitchen will cover the area around the Salty Paws Saloon and I'll cover Club Calico. OK, have we got a detailed description?"
"Only that she's wearing shorts, a blouse and is kind of dark..." said Cole, reading the witness statement.
"What do you mean, dark? What? Dark skin, dark hair, dark clothing? Gimme more"
"I can't, Action. That's all we've got..."
"Great...did you lot sleep through the class on how to take a witness statement. Anyway, no time to talk...let's go!"
No sooner had Action arrived at the Club Calico than he saw someone who fitted the description of the suspect. A woman in brown shorts, a grey-brown blouse and with dark hair and a Mediterranean complexion. Was she the perp? Action thought she could be but she was slight and curvaceous on a slim frame and Action wandered if she could have lifted those large electrical goods on her own. She was also very attractive with a sexy figure but Action had to fight back his attraction in order to remain cool and rational.
Up close she just confirmed Action's initial impression that she was very attractive with form fitting clothes that left little to the imagination. But her arms were very thin without a muscle on them: Not fit for picking up heavy objects and moving them into a van. Still, she was the closest thing to a suspect so far.
"Excuse me, Ma'am...Detective John Action, Sim City PD. I'd like to ask you a few questions"
The woman looked him up and down "Ask away, detective" she said in a sultry voice.
"I'll start with asking for your name" said Action, cooly.
"Carly Navarette"
"Hmmm, nice name. Now, can you tell me your whereabouts on Wednesday the 24th of this Month between 2 and 4pm?"
"I can...I was up at Granite Falls for the day."
"Can anyone attest to you being there?"
"Sadly...no. I went on my own to spend a bit of time alone, gather my thoughts and enjoy nature."
"I can understand that, but it would help if someone could verify that...can I ask you what you do for a living?"
"I work as a reflexologist"
Action looked up from his notebook and looked confused. "A what?"
"A reflexologist. I help people feel well by massaging feet using various aromatic oils."
"A masseuse then?"
"NOT like that, Detective. My, what a dirty mind you have" she said, coyly. "I work at the Perfect Balance Spa"
"Oh, I see" He thought that place was a bunch of hippy crap but he didn't say so out loud. This chick didn't seem like the type to burgle houses...but he had her name, her place of work, he added her address and telephone number to his notebook and made a note to keep an eye on her while she was around this part of town...but his instinct told him this wasn't the suspect.
If not Miss Navarette, then who? Action cased the club, looking for someone...anyone...who also fit the bill. He'd noticed a middle aged woman hanging around the place but she was neither dark nor wearing shorts. But something else caught his eye...one of those unusual things a lot of people would pass by but to Action's trained sense of trouble it was like an alarm bell going off in his mind.
In the Club Calico's swimming pool was the same middle aged lady he'd seen before but in the pool with her was another woman...who was fully clothed and talking to the older woman. One in a bathing suit, one in her street clothes and both talking while treading water. Now this needed more investigation...
"Excuse me, ma'am...if I can have a word with you...outside the pool" he said. She noticed the police badge on his belt and nodded solemnly. She swam to the edge of the pool in a few powerful strokes, hauled herself out in one move and stood before Action.
"Nice swim? Have you tried it with a bathing costume on?" asked Action, sarcastically.
"Oh I can explain, officer...you see I was talking with that lady over there; she was swimming and I was leaning over and...well...I fell in."
"I see. May I ask what the topic of conversation was?"
"Erm...business" said the woman.
"Buying and selling by any chance?" asked Action. "Or more like selling goods that are in your possession?"
"It's not like that, officer..." the woman replied, defensively.
"How about I ask our swimming friend what your line of business is?"
"No need!" the woman said, suddenly. "OK, yes, I do sell goods"
"I'm going to have to see your place of work to check it out..." said Action, and as he looked around the place he noticed a large van parked in the loading bay of the club, a van that matched the description of the one involved in the Huntingdon robbery.
"Or how about I check out your van over there? That is your van...isn't it?" he said, knowing he'd set a trap for this woman...who was dark skinned, wearing a blouse and shorts and who had a well built upper body judging by the way she easily hauled herself out of the swimming pool.
Soon Cole Michaels and some uniformed officers showed up and the woman handed over her vehicle keys grudgingly. In the back of the van was a refrigerator, a TV and a state of the art stereo set. The only thing left to do now was read her the Miranda Rights...
The woman's name was Aya Chafik and she had no priors. She was taken back to the station and booked on suspicion of robbery and it was left to Action to interrogate her.
He led her to the stark, uninviting interrogation room and pointed to one of the metal framed chairs. "Sit down" he said. She meekly obliged whilst he slapped his files on the table and sat down opposite her. Looking up at her, he could see fear in her eyes.
"First time being under arrest?" he said. Aya nodded. "Well, we've got a pretty solid case against you here: Stolen goods in the back of a van you've rented and that lady in the pool you were talking to said you were trying to sell them to her. Am I correct so far?"
Again, Aya nodded.
"I'll take that as a yes then" responded Action. "So why d'you do it? You're not a career criminal...why?"
"I desperately needed some money...I've got debts, big debts and there was J. bragging about all this expensive stuff he'd just bought..."
"So you know Mr Huntingdon?"
"Yeah, I'm a barmaid over at the Kitten Club and J...Mr Huntingdon...is a regular there. That's where I heard of all his expensive stuff and, well, I thought his insurance would cover the costs and I could get a quick sell of all that brand new equipment."
Action wrote this all down and then put his pen firmly down on the table. "Well, a smart lawyer and a soft judge will probably get you a reduced sentence IF you plead guilty." he said.
"Detective; what tipped you off that it was me?" she asked.
"I look for the things that don't figure straight...a fully dressed woman who accidentally falls into a swimming pool doesn't just start talking business with someone she doesn't know. You were so desperate to sell those goods before we could catch up with you that you'd throw caution to the wind, forget about any embarrassment and conduct the deal there and then. Detective work is about noticing the things that don't seem right and then using cool judgement to figure out what's wrong. That's the Action way..."
The shift ended and Action went home, glad to have closed that case. It was time to put some space between work and personal life. He had some dinner and was about to watch some TV when there was a knock at the door. He could see through the window that it was Barbara from next door and she looked upset.
"Babs, what's the matter?" he asked.
"It's Jeremy, Action...can we talk for a bit?" she said. Action could see sadness all across her face.
"Sure we can" he replied, sympathetically. "Where is he now?"
"He's working late. He's been doing a lot of that lately"
"Is he still acting weird?"
"Yes. That's what's worrying me. He still freaks out whenever Suzy's name is mentioned, always repeats this same phrase whenever Geoffrey Landgraab is talked about and I found this in our study..."
Barbara held up a photo of Action. There were small holes dotted around the picture. "He puts this on a dartboard and throws darts at it."
Action raised an eyebrow in surprise.
"But that's not the worst thing..." she continued.
"It isn't?"
"He has a framed photo of Nancy Landgraab in our bedroom and refers to her as 'mother'"
"That is some mixed up stuff, Babs" said Action. "You know what I think? I reckon they've messed with his mind. I heard a lot of stories from old Marine buddies of mine about how the Commies brainwashed captured soldiers back in Korea and Vietnam and maybe the Landgraabs are using the same techniques on us."
"Us?"
"Yeah, I had my mind scrambled not so long ago...they took all my memories of this one case. The woman who tried to kill my work colleague and who I apparently chased down the road right there. I think the Landgraabs are up to something big and they can mess with people's brains. But don't worry, Babs, I'll get to the bottom of this. Jeremy and you are my friends and I am the man who would risk his neck for his fellow man."
Action comforted Barbara, who was close to tears by this time.
"I'm gonna need your help, Babs." he continued. "I need to know a few things about how Jez has been behaving of late. Can you help me?"
She nodded. Action led her to the dining area where they sat down to discuss this in more detail.
"OK, when did his behaviour start to change?" Action asked.
"The day he got the job at Landgraab's...no, wait! It started to change the day he went in for his final interview with them."
"What did he say about that?"
"Nothing much...except he didn't want to talk about that day at all. He said he went in, did this test..."
"Test?"
"Yes. They called it an aptitude test. He had to go in for that but he never told me what it was about or what happened even though I asked him."
Action thought about that and stroked his chin. Then he looked at Barbara and asked "Did he refuse to tell you what happened or couldn't he remember?"
Barbara took a moment to recall when she spoke to Jeremy about that day. "He said he couldn't remember"
Action slapped the table with the palm of his hand. "That's it! They've erased the memory of that day like they did with me! OK, Babs, this is what I want you to do...can you be brave, 'cos what I'm about to ask of you might scare you?"
"I'm scared already, Action" she replied, solemnly.
"I want you to get as much information out of Jeremy as possible. Try to stir up any memory from that day. Even if he resists or tries to brush you off, keep going...you all your feminine wiles to get him to remember any detail from that day; no matter how trivial. Then write it down in a notebook or diary or something BUT keep it hidden from him. You write down anything he can recall or anything about his work he mentions to you and you give that book to me so I can study it. You dig?"
"I dig...and then what?"
"The answers to our questions lie in the Landgraab Corporation building but I need some clues where to look. That's why that information is crucial. But you can't tell him what you're up to otherwise he might tell 'mother'."
Barbara nodded. She stood up and said "He'll be home soon but thank you, Action. I knew I could count on you."
She gave him a big hug of appreciation before she left but Action was already thinking about how to find out what those bastards, the Landgraabs, had done to his friend...and to him.
