"So much to do today, Neil. Do you think I should pop next door to speak to Eliza now?"
"Suzy, it's 7:30am. She might still be in bed...especially if the baby's been keeping her up at night. Relax, darling, just give it until around 9am and then go and see her."
"But I'm too excited, I'm buzzing...so many questions about this Advik Archaya to put to her!"
"And that can wait another 90 minutes or so...I tell you what; why don't you write down on a piece of paper all the questions you want to ask her; gather your thoughts properly. It'll help you pass the time instead of wearing a hole in your shoes pacing up and down".
And this saga she had found herself on all began with the discovery of a missing page from a book...
On the stroke of 9am, Suzy gathered up her questions and ideas and headed straight round to the Pancakes residence. She rang the doorbell and it was Bob who answered it.
"Oh, hello Suzy. What is it?" he asked in his usual, slightly bored sounding voice.
"I'd like to talk with you and Eliza about the neighbourhood...we're still getting the hang of things around here. And I've been learning a bit about our new house: Can I ask you guys some questions?"
"Erm, yeah, sure...come on in" replied Bob, looking slightly confused by Suzy's request to answer questions.
He led her to the lounge and he sat down to watch some TV: The news was on and it was about the airline worker's strike.
"I hope you guys weren't planning a big vacation anytime soon. Looks like the whole system's grounded." said Bob, nodding at the footage of striking airline workers.
"No...well, not until around August; we're still settling in." replied Suzy.
"Well..." said Bob with a sigh. "...we weren't going to go on vacation anyway: The baby's nixed that idea. Anyway, what did you want to know about the neighbourhood?"
"Your old neighbour, Advik...he mysteriously disappeared, didn't he?" Suzy phrased her question as gently as she could in order not to spook out Bob with everything she knew about the case. Bob sighed again and drew in a deep breath before responding.
"Yeah, poor guy." was the eventual reply.
"Did you know him well?" she asked, pushing a bit more.
"Yeah, pretty well. We'd go fishing and hunting a few times. Decent guy but I didn't hang out with him much as work and...stuff with Eliza..." he said, with a faint grimace on his lips "...got in the way. Then I really lost contact with him after he went a bit crazy."
"He went crazy?" Suzy pressed again even though she could tell Bob wasn't comfortable with talking about such things.
"Yeah...really far out, you know?" said Bob, shifting uncomfortably on the couch.
"How so?"
"Jeez, where to begin? You know he was a regular guy and all that but he met this girl...wait a moment, no, she came along later...That's it, he claimed he'd stumbled on some kind of terrible secret and it really freaked him out. He was never the same guy after that; became a recluse."
"Did he say where he found this secret?" asked Suzy, her eyes bright with excitement as further revelations in this story.
"Yeah, in some book." Bob replied.
"Do you know which book?" asked Suzy without hesitation.
"Jeez, I know you're a reporter and all that but this is kind of intense!" said Bob, defensively.
"Sorry, Bob, that's my training taking over. I'm just interested in strange stories, that's all. This sounds fascinating."
"Well, it was weird to witness, I can tell you. I don't know the name of the book but he showed it to me one time. I didn't understand it; it seemed gibberish to me about pocket worlds, triangles of power and conspiracies."
Suzy's heart skipped a beat...this book, could it be the one she had one torn page from? Could this be the book that explained everything mysterious about Sim City?
"And it was after reading the book his behaviour changed?" asked Suzy, restraining herself.
"Big time. He became paranoid, then he got into that whole painting gig, quit his job and I only saw him a few times after that."
"You mentioned a girl he was seeing, what do you know about her?"
"Not much. Saw her a few times when she came over to visit him but I never spoke with her. She was a classy chick; long black hair, dark eyes, kinda sultry looking. Oh yeah, Advik told me her name was Leanne. Anyway they were an item for about six weeks and then...BAM...he disappeared. Only found his shoes. The official report said he probably fell off a cliff and into a fast moving river...body's probably washed out to sea."
Suzy sat back in her seat and took a deep breath. Everything fitted here; the book, the obsessive painting and Leanne McGregor, angel of death. She probably pushed poor Advik off the cliff.
Upstairs the baby started crying and it could be heard in the lounge. It was loud enough to interrupt their conversation and after a few seconds Suzy could hear a door open upstairs and Eliza's voice boomed out downstairs.
"Bobby...can you feed Armand? I'm in the bathroom right now...there's a bottle of milk by the crib." she said.
Bob got up and sighed with exhaustion again as he trudged up the stairs to feed the little one. He was resigned to the fact that he wasn't going to get his old life back now, that he will never be able to watch a TV show all the way through and that sleep would be intermittent but he figured what else was there to do to resit it? Kid's gotta be fed, he figured. Besides, Armand was his son and give it a few years and they'll be throwing a football around in the back yard.
"Suzy, is that you?" called out Eliza. "Come on upstairs, I'm busy cleaning the bathroom but I'd love a chat"
Suzy walked upstairs where she could hear Bob cooing to the baby in one room and Eliza's footsteps in a room opposite. Eliza greeted her neighbour with a hug and a big smile.
"Did I hear right that you're interested in hearing about our old neighbour, Advik?" she said.
"Yes, sounds like an interesting, if tragic story" replied Suzy.
"Oh it was so sad when we heard the news of his disappearance." said Eliza. "But he did give us one of his paintings, for free, before he left on that last, fateful trip. Would you like to see it?"
"I'd like that" replied Suzy, again excited that she was learning more and more about this story.
Eliza led Suzy to one of the bedrooms and there, above a mantlepiece, was a landscape painting of a mountain range...in the same particular pink shade as the painting she and Neil had seen at the art gallery.
"Did he tell you what inspired this painting?" asked Suzy.
"Not really...he said it was called '6am Sunrise' and asked if we would take very good care of it...and we've done so. It's hung there ever since we got it."
"He was quite talented" said Suzy, scrutinising the painting for any clues. Nothing obvious struck her though.
Her studiousness was interrupted by the sound of the baby gurgling "ah-goo" and she turned to look at him lying there, his feet gently kicking in the air and one hand at his mouth. She started making goo-goo noises back at him.
"Any plans to start a family with Neil?" asked Eliza and Bob.
"What? NO! Well, not now...but...I'm tempted!" Suzy replied. The power of a cute baby had struck her. "Anyway, it smells like he needs a change of diaper so I'll leave you to it. Thanks for that very interesting information." And with that, she headed home.
She found Neil reading a book about French 19th century painters. He looked up at her and asked how the talk with Eliza and Bob went.
"Good, very interesting in fact" she replied. "So this Advik Archaya got hold of some mysterious book that told of all the conspiracies in Sim City...I think it's the same book the missing page I have in my possession is from. Anyway, Bob and Eliza think it drove him mad and he became paranoid and obsessive. And they said he was dating Leanne McGregor! It all fits!"
"If only we can find that book..." mused Neil.
"The more progress we make, the more we discover that we need to find out more" she sighed.
Neil stood up and put the book back on the shelf. "I have to go out for a bit" he said. "I'm meeting Andre in town". Andre Good was Neil's best friend and was best man at his wedding.
"Aww, that's nice. Do give him my love" said Suzy. "Is he seeing anyone, do you know?"
"I don't think so, I'll soon find out when I catch up with him" replied Neil, grabbing his wallet and set of car keys.
"I hope he is...he's too down on himself when it comes to dating. There's plenty of nice women out there!" said Suzy.
"I hope so...it hasn't worked out so far." Andre replied. "But you'll be my wingman, right? Encourage and big me up to the ladies?"
"Of course. You're officially a friend to the married man. Well, let's get a beer and catch up...I haven't seen much of you since we moved house" said Neil, jerking his head towards the Waterside Warble bar.
The two went inside and found there weren't many people there. It must be a slow afternoon, Neil thought. They took their places at the bar and ordered two beers.
"How's it going, Andre?" asked Neil.
"Job's much the same, I'm still at the same place and doing the same things." said Andre with a shrug.
"Dare I ask how the love life is?"
"Deader than pleats and men's hats" replied Andre, taking a big swig of his beer.
"Did you follow things up with Tiffany?"
"We had one date, but it's clear she and I are two very different people to make anything work. I suspect she still holds a candle for some other guy. Kept dropping the name 'Alan' into the conversation. At one point she accidentally called me by that name. Shame, as she was extremely HOT!"
"We had one date, but it's clear she and I are two very different people to make anything work. I suspect she still holds a candle for some other guy. Kept dropping the name 'Alan' into the conversation. At one point she accidentally called me by that name. Shame, as she was extremely HOT!"
"Yeah, you know she's a Lothario Kitten?" said Neil.
"You told me that...I can well believe it. Shame it never went any further; I'd have liked to see her in her kitten outfit." said Andre, managing a wry smile.
A beautiful and svelte looking young woman wearing the latest fashions walked past them both and glanced in their direction momentarily.
"Speaking of kittens...there goes another one!" said Andre, excitedly. "And she's my favourite! Miss Ginger!"
"Why don't you say hello to her?" asked Neil.
"You know I think I will!" said an eager Andre, ready to leap off his bar stool but as soon as he was poised Miss Ginger, Tasha Michel, walked over to a tall, slim and very handsome man and gave him a kiss on the cheek. They sat down together on one of the bar sofas and snuggled up to one another.
"...or maybe not. Some guys have all the luck" said a deflated Andre.
"Well, there's..." began Neil.
"DON'T SAY IT!" replied Andre, interrupting and pointing an accusatory finger at Neil.
"...plenty of fish in the sea?" continued Neil, looking admonished.
"Well while you think up your next homily I'm going to the bathroom." said Andre, getting up and walking to the bathroom...taking a moment to look once again at Miss Ginger in all her beauty as he walked past.
Meanwhile Neil smiled and took another sip of his drink. Andre was frustrated by his lack of success with women but he didn't seem despondent. Where there's hope, there's love; Neil thought.
"Fancy seeing you here!" came a familiar voice sitting next to him. Neil turned and saw his neighbour, Barbara Dubois, sitting at the end of the bar.
"You too. Where's Jeremy?" said Neil.
"He's meeting me here; we're going to go out to dinner tonight at a Chinese restaurant we both like. Where's Suzy?"
"Right about now she's still over at the Hey, Wow! offices. I'm here with my friend, Andre. Do you remember him?"
"Oh yes, from the wedding. Nice guy. Is he still seeing Tiffany?"
Neil shook his head. "Didn't work out; I'm helping him look for a bit of romance down here. He's not having much luck, I'm afraid."
"Too bad. I hope his luck improves tonight!" said Barbara.
Andre returned from the bathroom and the three of them had a friendly discussion until Jeremy showed up and whisked Barbara away for their dinner date. Andre watched them leave and said "now that's the kind of girl I'm looking for. How did you and Jeremy end up with absolute angels like Barbara and Suzy?"
"In my case, she worked on me until I cracked. I'm glad she did. Anyway, the right girl is out there for you, Andre. You've just got to be patient. Let's get another round in." said Neil, catching the barmaid's attention.
They had a second round, then a third but tonight wasn't the night where nice, attractive single ladies came to the Waterside Warble. Perhaps the one night in its entire history where this had not happened. Andre grew despondent and left to go home. The scene was dead, the vibe had gone and so had Andre's quest for this evening. Neil finished his last drink and headed home as well but he paused to watch and listen to a busker in Spice Quarter Square. Andre's words before he left buzzed around Neil's head as he watched the busker.
"There's no attractive single women around!"
Neil looked around the square and saw a young, attractive woman eating a bowl of Ramen.
...and another...
...and another although, Neil thought, she looks a little spaced out...
...and another. Wait, isn't she that singer from TV? If only Neil had hung on just 10 minutes more...10 MINUTES! Andre just has no luck...
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