CHAPTER 188: Aftertaste

Another ordinary day in Sim City, but behind the nice, pleasant white bread facade there's a dark underbelly of secrets, threats and crime...

That's why men like John Action exist.  They walk the line between the respectable and criminal, keeping the predators of society at bay.  Action was someone who could spot trouble long before it erupted.  Every nervous glance by someone in the street, every house where the curtains were always drawn fast during the daytime, every vulnerable person alone late at night...he would notice it all and it would all go in his memory, ready in case something untoward happened.

He arrived at Precinct 13 to begin his shift but before he could even open his mouth to make some witty banter with the desk officer, Marina Beckett, she had something for him.

"Action, I have something that will interest you" she said.

"I'm sure you do" he replied, half suggestively as this sounded like another bit of banter.  

"The Goth Mansion case...the missing silverware has been discovered and the person with it is in custody."

Action raised an eyebrow in surprise.  "Well that's good news at least...any word on the missing books?" he asked.

"Not so far.  Here's the file with all the updates on that silverware though" she said, handing it to him.

Action flicked through the pages of the report and not only had the stolen silverware been found, but the people who had handled the stolen goods were able to give some leads about who the items had been bought off.  He peered intensely at the documents to see if there was anything more untoward to be discovered before he realised the front desk area was filling up with members of the public with their various complaints.  He had to go to the squad room to finish reading the report.

"Officer Beckett here will help with all your enquiries" he said to the members of the public before stepping away.

He went in to the squad room where there was Sergeant Kitchen, young Cole Michaels from the Juvenile Crimes unit and some new guy who strutted around the place as if he owned it and went by the name of Graham.  Fortunately everyone had more than enough to do except Graham, who it was suggested should deal with the public in the entrance lobby.

Action stood by the crime map with all the evidence gathered so far about the Goth case and referred to the new notes in his folder to get a more full picture of what they knew.  The mansion was broken into and apart from some silverware, targets of opportunity, the majority of stolen material were some books about UFOs and Mortimer's diaries covering a specific time period in the early 60s.  One witness, Mrs Giordano, said one of the thieves was definitely a woman.  The two men arrested for receiving stolen goods said the person who sold it to them was a woman although they did not know her name.

There was still a question about the case he wanted answers for and he swung past the criminology lab to see if the forensics team there had any information.  The person responsible was Feliciano, and he was just coming to the end of his shift and was upstairs in the recreation room.  Action wasted no time and headed up there himself whereupon he found Feliciano and fellow detective, Tony Gunn, playing chess.

"Good use of police time, gentlemen" said Action, as he entered the recreation room and saw Feliciano of forensics and detective Tony Gunn sitting around, drinking coffee and playing chess.

"I'll have you know that my good buddy, Thiago, and me have officially finished our shifts and are enjoying some time socialising before we go home to our beloved wives and girlfriends." replied Gunn.

"More like in your case avoiding being bossed around by your girlfriend" replied Feliciano, with a chuckle.

Action held the file up and showed it to the two men.  "Good work on the Goth case...how did you find the stolen merchandise?" he asked.

"One item we found at the crime scene...a few red hairs." said Feliciano.  "They wore ski masks but one of them must have taken theirs off or at least lifted it off their face at some point...probably after they locked Miss Joiner in the cellar and there weren't other witnesses around.  The hairs were found in the study, a very private part of the house so none of the Goths have red hair, the research assistant Miss Joiner doesn't and neither does the housekeeper so I figure it's one of the perps."

"Makes sense" said Action.  "OK, what next?"

It was Gunn's turn to speak.  "I figured there can't be too many female red headed burglars in Sim City so I ran the records and we found one...Maddy Henson."

"Maddy Henson!" exclaimed Action.

"Do you know her?" asked Gunn.

"By reputation.  Top cat burglar in her day but she packed it all in and went quiet back in '63." Action replied.

"Looks like someone or something has lured her back into the game" said Gunn.

"What about the people she sold the silverware to?" 

"They're amateurs out of their depth.  They were fed a rumour that the old Goth family silver was on the market and jumped at the chance to get their hands on it.  They caved in under interrogation and gave us Henson's name as the one who fenced the gear."

"Is there an APB out on her yet?  Why is everyone sat around here?  We need to be out there!" said an impatient Action.

"Relax, Action...an APB has been put out and we have units out there looking for her.  Now I'm going to give you a little advice I learned when I first joined the force:  Every day, give yourself a little present.  Could be a nice pair of shoes, a trip to the movies or something as simple as a cup of coffee and a tasty donut."  Tony Gunn said these words softly and at the end he pointed to the donut vending machine on the far side of the recreation room.

"You know, I might just do that" said Action, who got up from his seat and went to get a tasty donut.

An hour later and Action was pacing up and down in the main incident room, noting reports from various units on the APB.  Whilst the Goths' silverware had been recovered the books and journals hadn't and Mortimer Goth was still not back from his European trip to provide extra information about them.  Action's mind turned over with many possibilities of this case:  Did the thieves time their burglary because Mortimer was away?  What do they want with the journals?  To fence, blackmail or to make sure no one else had them?  

Not only did his mind turn over, so did his stomach.  "Man, I shouldn't have listened to Gunn and his hippy-dippy 'give yourself a present' ramble!" he thought "Those donuts in the vending machines were disgusting and I'm paying the price right now!"

"Detective Action!" called out the dispatcher.  "1-Baker-10 has spotted the suspect, Maddy Henson, at Hare Square in Windenburg"

"Tell them to keep an eye on her but don't approach...I'm on my way....*GURGLE*...ungh!" he replied, his stomach almost as loud as his voice.

It didn't get much better by the time he arrived at Hare Square but Action did have a life lesson that he would one day pass on to Tony Gunn:  Never let pain and discomfort show on your face.  He checked in with the beat cops of 1-Baker-10 and told them to circle the area whilst he homed in on Henson.

At first he thought he'd found her when he saw a strawberry blonde who looked vaguely like the suspect from a distance and then he thought she could be his own girlfriend, Katherine, who had a similar fashion sense with a striking, siren red outfit with white trim.  However this woman turned out to be neither but Action still thought she was worth questioning.  Even though he had a steady girlfriend, Action couldn't help but be drawn towards beautiful women even if it was just for a friendly chat.

"Excuse me, ma'am, I'm Action...Sim City PD.  I'd like to ask you some questions." 

The woman halted in her tracks and looked coy and more than a little embarrassed.

"I hope I haven't been naughty, Detective...Action, did you say?" she replied.

"Yes, Action.  You haven't been naughty in any way I'd be interested in right now however I'm looking for someone.  Have you seen this woman around here?" he asked, showing the lady a mugshot of Maddy Henson.

"As a matter of fact I have!" said the woman.  "Is she dangerous?  Is she wanted for a serious crime?" the woman's face turned from coy to scared in a flash.  "She's...she's...over there!" she said, pointing with a shaking hand to a woman just over a row of hedges who was walking along in the park.

"Alright, lady, calm down...don't make it obvious by pointing at her after all we don't want her to..."

The suspect woman saw the lady in the red outfit pointing directly at her and looking frightened and saw that she was talking to a man who had just flashed a police badge at her.  She put two and two together, turned around and started to run.

"...ESCAPE!" said Action, seeing the woman turn tail and start running.

Action noticed she could run fast for a woman wearing an elegant skirt suit and heels but if Action hadn't joined the US Marines at the age of 18 he would have made it as a running back for the Sim City Plumbobs so a suspect fleeing the scene would have to have been as athletic as him to stand a chance of outrunning him.  In a few long and fast strides, Action not only caught up with her but had overtaken and blocked her path.

"Maddy Henson...I'm Action, Sim City PD!" he said holding his warrant card in one hand and his .38 service revolver in the other.  She stopped running and looked defiantly in his eyes.  The other two patrolmen caught up with them and between them and Action they had cut off her escape routes.

Action put his ID away and swapped it for another card with some typed text on it.  "Dang it, I'll never get used to this part but we have to say it to you by law.  OK, Maddy Henson you are under arrest on suspicion of robbery and handling stolen goods.  You have the right to remain silent..." *GURGLE* "Oh don't you start, gut!"

____________________________________________________________________________

"Well done, Action" said Marina as they led Maddy Henson back to Precinct 13.  "Has she coughed up much?"

"Not a word since we arrested her." Action replied.  "She's going to lawyer up...she's an experienced criminal so we'll get nothing from her until her lawyer gets here.  Just book her, go by the numbers until then.  My shift is ending so I will sign off the arrest report and head home.  We'll pick this up again tomorrow."

Action didn't go straight home.  After changing into his brown suit at the precinct he headed to Suzy and Neil's new house to catch up with them.  He'd not been there before but they had given him their new address and telephone number and wanted to keep in regular contact as they were both working on one case together.

He received a warm greeting from Neil who ushered him inside.

"Hey, Neil, I know this is unannounced" said Action.

Neil waved a nonchalant hand at him "Don't sweat it, Action.  You're always welcome here" he said.

Action noticed that Suzy was cooking dinner but he also spotted the worn and dirty journals next to the record player.

"Hey, Action" said Suzy.  "Would you have some dinner with us?" she asked.

His stomach still hadn't settled "No thank you, I'll pass this time although it looks and smells good.  I ate not so long ago..." and I'm still regretting it.

"Is this purely a social call or one of our investigative catch-ups?" she asked.  

"A bit of both...I've made some good progress today" Action replied.

They all sat down in the lounge area and Action told his tale even though he was feeling very nauseous by now.

"A couple of weeks ago Mortimer Goth's diaries and research notes were stolen along with a few items of monetary value and today we busted one of the thieves who we think did it." he said.

"Why did they want his notes?" asked Suzy.

"Because they have the information about Bella's disappearance a few years ago." said Action.

Neil and Suzy both said nothing but took in deep breaths as the significance of this information dawned on them.

"Did you retrieve the journals?" asked Neil.

Action shook his head.  "We got the valuable items and one of the two thieves but no...no books." he said with a tinge of bitterness to his voice.  "We'll see if our suspect spills the beans in interrogation but it shows that someone out there thinks those notes about Bella are important enough to steal.  I reckon if we get our hands on those journals we'll know more about what's going on in secret in this city!"

"Well, you'll be pleased with what we found" said Suzy, enthusiastically.

"Remember how this all began with one torn page from a book no one could find?" she asked Action, milking what was, for her, a dramatic moment.

"Don't tell me...you found the book?" he replied.

"Not just one book...lots!" she said, wide eyed with excitement.  "They were buried just out there; the notes of a man called Patrick Cornelius, whose papers were obtained by that artist that went missing up in the mountains and now found by us."

"OK, what's in them?  What do they tell us?" said Action, impatiently.

"We've only just started to read them...they're very densely written and assumes the reader knows a great deal about esoteric science, philosophy and psychology but so far it describes three layers of secret activity in our city:  One controlled by the Landgraabs, one controlled by the Fengs and one by a group referred to as The Visitors.  So far we're learning about the history of the city and the influence the Landgraabs have had on it since the early 19th century.  It'll take time but we'll soon learn about what's been going on."

"Any dirt that would put those Landgraabs away would be very welcome!" said Action with a look of grim determination on his face.

"Action..." said Suzy in all seriousness.  "...what information we have now is going to blow our case wide open.  We'll soon get to know all the grubby, scary, mysterious secrets this city has!"

____________________________________________________________________________

"Agent 51 to Control...this is Agent 51, do you respond?" said the elfin looking red headed young woman into a device shaped like a TV remote control.

"Control to Agent 51.  Report" came a harsh, inhuman voice emanating from the communications device.

"Sources confirm that Detective John Action has apprehended Hu-mann Agent Maddy Henson.  Shall I liquidate either or both of them...or should I absorb them?" she said.

"You will keep Detective John Action under observation for now.  I will assign another agent to deal with Maddy Henson.  You have only recently altered your appearance; I do not want you to draw attention to yourself now."

"What about the Goth journals?"

"Safe and in our possession...Mortimer Goth knows more than we suspected."

"Shall I?..."

"NO!  You are to keep Detective John Action under surveillance for now and that is all."

"*sigh*....as you wish, Control.  Nilharoy Shebber-Shenty" Leanne McGregor put the device back in her handbag.  Since her alteration she hadn't had any 'fun' assignments...observation, research, more observation.  If only she could kill another human or perhaps absorb them she would be a lot happier.

And if that human was Detective John Action, so much the better.  She particularly detested that one.