CHAPTER 237: Look Around You

More depressing news today, thought Action.  The war in Vietnam was becoming a stalemate, all that hard fighting and gains won just a year ago was being squandered now.  And there was a threat of a coup d'etat in Syria.  The world's getting more unstable...or is it that I've only just noticed? He thought, sombrely.

"And later this evening on SBS..." the TV announcer said in an overly merry and positive voice that clashed with the news about war around the world.  "...action and adventure in outer space with the brand new series, Star Tr..."

Action firmly hit the off button on the TV remote control.  "Man, I hate science fiction" he muttered.  Instead he put on the radio and tuned it to his favourite soul station.

"That's more like it!" he said, smiling to himself.

But Action wasn't a man who could sit still for too long.  It was his day off but he was always the cop, always thinking of solving a case and in his mind he had the death of Geoffrey Landgraab, probably at the hands of an assassin, going around and around his brain.  He also had a hunch who that assassin was:  Leanne McGregor.  He could use his time productively by doing some snooping around but first he wanted to feel invigorated and his second favourite way of doing that was working out at the gym.

He was a regular at Movers n' Shakers Gym and well known by all the regulars.  It helped that many of them were his neighbours as well.  Sure enough, after he had changed into his PT gear, he saw Barbara having a work out.

"Hey, Babs" he said, laconically.  "I would have thought running your own business was exercise enough!"

"It is, but I need to keep trim as well.  Remember that time when I put on a lot of weight?" she replied.

"Yeah, but you still looked smokin'"

"Oh you flatterer, Action!  But I never want to be that shape again, thank you.  The cost of replacing all my clothes....sheesh!  Anyway, will you be able to make Summer and Travis' wedding?  Not long to go now..."

"I wouldn't miss it for the world."

"I love weddings.  I loved Suzy's especially." she said wistfully.  Action could detect the subtext.

"It'll be your turn soon enough.  Jeremy's not going to let you slip through his fingers if he has any sense." he said.

"Sigh...I know.  But I'm starting to get a little....impatient, you know?  Not for the wedding itself but waiting for him to get down on one knee..."

"Jeremy's a straight up kind of guy.  If he hasn't proposed yet it's because he doesn't want to steal Travis and Summer's thunder.  Relax.  Once those two have tied the knot it'll be your turn next.  Trust me, Action knows."

"I'm sure you're right.  And what about you?  When will be your turn with Katherine?"

"Me?" said Action, wide eyed.  "Hey, I'm not ready to settle down just yet.  Action is a cool cat."

Barbara smiled, mischievously.  "Sure you are, no one's cooler but you're also not going to let someone like Katherine slip through your fingers either."

"Touché, madam, touché.  Anyway, stay cool, Babs.  I've got an appointment with that treadmill!  Catch you later."

After his workout Action was still restless.  Working within the confines of the SCPD was restrictive:  One moment he was on a murder case, the next it was taken away from him to hand over to the Feds or a specialist Homicide department.  He was gathering an idea of a criminal sub-set working within the city:  Working for the Landgraabs one moment, working for a shadowy cabal who hate the Landgraabs the next.  The attempt on the lives of Alan Cuffe and his assistant, on Geoffrey's, the bankrolling of Malcolm Landgraab's drug dealing...some group was involved in it all.  However, all he had to go on was a name, an out of date description of them and an image in his mind of a red headed man's face.  It was time to start talking to his informants on the street...

"Sorry, Action, I can't help" said one of them, a lady who worked in the hospitality business and who knew a lot of people...law abiding and criminal...but on this occasion the names 'Leanne McGregor' and the description of a red headed man with a goatee beard didn't register with her.

There was another lady, an old retired woman Action had met whilst working on a case that involved lots of local burglaries.  She was a 'curtain-twitcher', a woman with a lot of time on her hands who saw everything in her local neighbourhood.  Getting the old folks to keep their eyes and ears open might be a good strategy, Action thought.

But then he spied a figure off in the distance and a bell went off inside his head.  A red headed man with a goatee beard.

"Excuse me...sir!" Action called out.  The man ignored him and kept walking.  

"Sir!  Stop!  Sim City Police Department!" Action called out again.  The man hesitated and then stopped.

"I'd like to you to help with my enquiries" said Action.  "Could you spare some time now...or down at the station?" that last part was said not as a request but more like a threat.

The red headed man hesitantly turned around and walked slowly towards Action and the old lady.

"What is the matter, Police Detective?" the man said, coldly.

"Hey, I think I know you..." said the old lady.

The red headed man shot her a glare and for a moment Action noticed that she suddenly looked unsteady on her feet.

"No...we have never met" said the old lady, as if in a daze.  "And I love all people who come to visit us".  Action thought that statement came out of absolutely nowhere.

The lady started walking off without saying any kind of farewell.  Action turned to the man, a suspicious look on his face.

"You sure have a way with women" he said.

"What is it that you need me to help you with, Police Detective?" said the red headed man, flatly.

"First, what is your name?" asked Action.

"My name?  You wish to know my name?" the man replied.  Action nodded.

"Well, I suppose it won't cause any harm in telling you...it is Luke Kendall.  Now what is this about?"

"I'm sure we've met before, Mr Kendall"

"If we had then one of us would remember"

Action didn't immediately respond but instead looked Kendall squarely in the eye.  Finally he said "do you know someone called Leanne McGregor?"

"What does she look like?" came Kendall's response.

"Average height, slim, long black hair, dark brown eyes, Mediterranean complexion."

"I do not know anyone who conforms to that description."

"Can you tell me where you were on the 18th August this year?"

"I was working" came Kendall's very prompt response.

"All day?"

"I worked a double shift that day.  Business was intense."

"And what business are you in, Mr Kendall?"

"Catering.  I manage a group of street vending stalls"

"OK, Mr Kendall, I'm going to need some contact details for you...now I'm sure we've met before and I KNOW it'll come back to me at some point."

"It shouldn't..." said Kendall and almost immediately, he realised he had let slip something that a smart detective like Action would pick up on.

"What's that supposed to mean?" asked Action.

"I am very busy, Police Detective Action...I must go now..."

"Wait...I never said my name"

"I noticed it on your ID badge"

Just as Action thought it would be better to haul Kendall downtown for more questioning he was interrupted by a work colleague:  A rookie cop called Jesse Navarro.  He had been working out at the gym as well.

"Hey, Action!  Glad I caught up with you!  I have some more information about that break in case the Chief assigned you!"

"Not now, Navarro..." Action replied.

"No, this is really important!  I know it's your day off but I know the Chief is anxious to make progress on the case.

Whilst Navarro was gushing all this information to Action, Kendall wandered off.

"Thanks a whole bunch, Navarro!  I was just about to get some low down from that guy and you come bounding in and ruining it!"

"Hey, I wasn't to know and...well, who is he?"

"He could be the man I can't remember..."

"What?  Wait?  That doesn't make sense..." replied a puzzled Navarro.

"Never mind.  I'll fill you in some other time"

That afternoon Action called on all his informants and those who had their ear to the ground in the underworld.  Despite it's often rustic, Southwestern charm, the Rattlesnake Juice Bar in Oasis Springs was a place where ex-cons and grifters hung out.  But when he asked around about Leanne McGregor he drew a blank from his network.

Disappointed, he went to sit at the bar and ordered a scotch and soda.  And then a second one soon after.  This mystery network of McGregor's and her cohorts did not leave a physical trace anywhere and yet he had met her in the flesh...twice...had evidence that she pulled the trigger on Madelyn Buchanan and that her name struck fear with some of his snitches.

Why can't I make any progress?  He thought to himself as he became more sullen.  And I'm sure that guy I met earlier has something to do with it.  I have a vague memory...I'm in a bar in downtown San Myshuno, I'm meeting someone...someone who's involved in the case...he looks like that Kendall guy and then....BLANK!  My memory goes.

But soon another thought enters Action's mind, and it's a voice not of his own.

"We ArE aLl ArOuNd YoU"

Action sat up to attention and looked around the bar.  Who said that?  There were only a handful of other patrons in the bar plus one barkeep and none of them were speaking to him.

"wE aRe AlL aRoUnD yOu...JoHn AcTiOn"

The voice was in his head and it sounded detached, as if someone had intruded into his mind.  He shook his head to try to clear it of this sinister voice.

"CeAsE, jOhN aCtIoN...yOu CaNnOt StOp Us"

Action stood up, briskly strode to a window and looked out.  Something was up, but he wasn't sure what.  A man walked past the bar and looked slowly at the window Action was looking out from.  His expression devoid of any emotion but for one brief moment he felt this man's gaze pierce straight into his soul.

Action looked again and saw another man with the same, expressionless look on his face and he too turned to face Action for a few seconds.

"We ArE eVeRyWhErE, jOhN aCtIoN...aLl ArOuNd YoU...cEaSe, GiVe In, Do NoT gEt In OuR wAy, We ArE eVeRyWhErE, eVeRyWhErE, aLl ArOuNd YoU...cEaSe..." over and over these words repeated themselves in Action's brain until they became deafening.

"Stop!  Stop the voices!  STOP THE VOICES!" Said Action, clutching his temples and shutting his eyes as the pain increased.

"Hey, Buddy, are you OK?" said a calm, soothing voice.

"What?  What's happening?" said Action.  There were two men sitting at the bar next to him.  Action didn't remember going from the window back to his seat.

"You started shaking and calling out in pain.  Do you need an ambulance?" said this voice, which turned out to be that of the man sitting next to him.

"I....was looking out the window..." said Action, pointing to where he'd been standing.

"Erm, you've been sat here the whole time.  Are you sure I can't call for an ambulance, or someone else who could help you?"

Action looked startled and his eyes darted all around the room.  What was going on?  He nodded and said to the man "call me a cab" and he swiftly downed the rest of his drink.