CHAPTER 53: An Act Of Vandalism

 

"OK, guy, no funny business...just spread your legs apart and put your arms up there!....The longer you draw this out, the worse it will get for you!"

"Geez...what the hell is this and what was it doing in there?"

One of the worst aspects of Action's job was frisking suspects. This guy was a joker...making life deliberately awkward for Action trying to search him for incriminating evidence. Well, somehow, he had managed to hide a child's toy on him. Oh ha-ha-ha, thought Action.

"Action...there's a civilian at the front desk wanting to report a crime" said Officer Datta, Action's partner. "I'll take over here if you like"

"Be my guess...watch out, he probably has a whoopee cushion hidden on him" said Action.

Out in the front office a bearded man stood there, waiting for someone to take a statement from him.

"Officer! I saw some kids over at Foundry Cove lighting old cans of gas, spraying graffiti and harassing some locals."

Foundry Cove! That's where Action lived.

"OK, thanks for the report...we'll get a squad down there to check things out" he said to the man. Action knew that if they got there quickly they had a chance to apprehend these vandals. He got a car, 2 other colleagues and headed down to Foundry Cove.

When they got there, there was no one to been seen. However Action recognised that his neighbour's house...Summer, Liberty and Travis' house had been broken into.

"Looks like vandalism, Action" said one of the cops. "Spray paint everywhere, things thrown about...they've left the TV, the record player and haven't touched any artwork."

"Any witnesses?" asked Action.

"Yes, a Miss Dyble...she was walking past the house and saw the door smashed in. She called us from a payphone around the corner. She's waiting down the hall there"

Action walked over to the witness and recognised her. She'd also witnessed the art theft over at the Solar Flare Lounge last week.

"Miss Dyble, we have to stop meeting like this" he said to her.

"Ah officer...you must think I'm some kind of crime magnet" she replied.

"Or going through an unlucky patch...so tell me what you saw"

"Not much, I'm afraid" she said. "Like I said to your colleagues, I noticed the door off its hinges and when I went for a closer look I saw the graffiti and the mess...I didn't see anyone suspicious in the area at all."

Action took a statement and started looking around the property for more clues. As he was doing so, a young woman with bright red hair approached him.

"Officer...I believe you're in charge of this crime scene" she said. "Allow me to introduce myself...my name is Daphne Blake"

"Did you see anything, Miss Blake?" he replied.

"Oh no, I'm not a witness...I'm here to help with your investigation"

"In what way?"

"Well me and my associates investigate mysterious crimes...the strange, the bizarre, the ones that have no obvious explanation" she said, enthusiastically. She seemed very young for this kind of detective work, very trendy and svelte rather than hard boiled.

"Nothing strange about this case, Miss Blake...we had a report it was local punks"

"No one saw anyone break in or leave" said Daphne. "No one heard anything. Whoever did this entered and exited without anyone noticing...that's a mystery. We'd like to help you solve this one if you've got no leads"

"Who's we?" said an unimpressed Action.

"There are four of us...well, actually five if you include our dog"

"Oh you have a dog? I'm impressed...maybe he can smell out your strange and mysterious criminal"

"Here's my card if you're interested" she said, handing him a green business card with purple lettering: MYSTERY, INC.

"If we see any ghosts or ghouls, we'll call you" said Action.

Daphne left the room and Action turned to his fellow policeman. "Right, you make sure you keep her, her friends and their dog off this premises...do you hear?"

"I hear, Action...say, she's pretty cute though" said his partner.

"Pretty soft in the head if you ask me!" said Action.

Outside the bedroom Action could hear raised voices.

"I'm telling you I did NOT see any mysterious, ghostly figure...I didn't see anything move of its own free will nor were there any strange noises or breezes! I've told the police what I know!"

Miss Dyble had been cornered by Daphne, who was asking her a series of questions, and did not like it one bit.

"OK ladies, break it up...we've got this covered. Miss Dyble, we'll be in touch. Miss Blake...just leave, please"

Back at the station, Action and his team logged their findings and then it was the end of shift. Action was glad to be home but he stopped by his neighbours' house to see how they were doing.

"Look, we've got an APB put out on these guys...I'm sure we'll get them soon" he said to Travis.

"Yeah, we'll get the cleaners in soon....fortunately they didn't take anything" replied Travis.

"Well, if you notice anything gone just give me a call...don't worry, guys, we've got this"

Action left to go home but on the way he bumped into Jeremy Saint, who was out for a run.

"Jeremy...congratulations on you and Barbara getting together" said Action.

"Well, she's just moved in to my house...it's not wedding bells at the moment" replied Jeremy.

"I can tell she's having a positive effect on you, man" said Action, smiling.

"That she is, Action, that she is"

"Listen...the guys down the road are pretty shaken up by that breaking and entry...it'd be good if all of us on this street worked together and kept an eye out for one another"

"Agreed" said Jeremy.

"Oh...and out of interest. Do you know of anything strange or mysterious around here?" asked Action.

"No....well, except for that tree over there" said Jeremy, pointing to the big, fungus covered tree by the fishing spot. "Suzy says that it's weird"

Action shrugged his shoulders and went home.

CHAPTER 41: Five Little Maids

 

One of the perks of being in the police force was that it allowed an ordinary beat cop to enjoy the luxury facilities of the Skye Fitness Club, courtesy of a year’s free membership to all at the 13th Precinct for their assistance in resolving the hostage situation last New Years’. Action had a daily exercise regimen and in his view why just pound around the local streets when you could enjoy the luxury penthouse views whilst on the treadmill?

After showering and getting dressed he noticed Nancy Landgraab had just arrived. Their eyes made contact for only a second but it was enough to prompt her to break off her warm up exercises and head over to him.

“Officer Action” she said as a greeting.

“Mrs Landgraab. I hope you are well” he replied.

“I am and thank you for keeping Mortimer Goth off my back”

“I just keep the peace, I don’t insert myself into other people’s problems”

“I understand and your impartiality will not affect the Landgraab Foundation donation to the Police Veteran’s Fund.”

“Why should it?” Action remarked.

“Oh…no reason. You protect and serve…just remember who that is” she said, cool as you like, before returning to the treadmill. Action watched her go, suspiciously, and headed off to work.

13TH PRECINCT HQ, 10:58am

“Chief wants to see you” said Officer Datta.

“Makes a change…he usually wants me nowhere near his office” replied Action, sauntering off to the Captain’s office.

“You wanted to see me, sir?” he said, after entering.

“Action…sit down! I know you like to be out in the field but…you’re too slow getting results!” said the Captain.

“I gather evidence, sir, with all due respect” said Action.

“Well, sometimes you have to knock a few heads about to teach the villains on the street just who’s boss.”

“I don’t like to haul some juve into the slammer and then find out he didn’t do the crime” said Action.

“I want results today, Action….actually I want results YESTERDAY! Get to it!”

“Yes. Sir” said Action, getting up to leave. No sooner was he out of the Chief’s office than Sergeant Kitchen approached him.

“Hold your horses, Action, there’s been a big burglary over at the Solar Flare lounge in Oasis Springs” he said.

“I’m on my way” said Action, putting on his cap.

THE SOLAR FLARE LOUNGE, 10:28AM

A full squad was on the premises already gathering evidence. Action noticed some unusual marks on the ground and brought them to the senior detective’s attention.

“Footprints…two sets. One large, man sized. One smaller but also male. Although the length would suggest a female it’s too broad and has to be a man’s. They ran across the flower bed here and into a getaway vehicle…you can see the tyre marks there; that indicates a quick getaway. I reckon it was a large vehicle as well; pick up truck or van.”

“It looks like a load of artwork’s gone missing.” Said Datta.

“Makes sense; the Solar Flare promotes a lot of new artistic talent on its premises so they have originals but they’re not well guarded.”

“And we’ve got some witnesses as well…I’ll dust for prints, you start the interviews.”

“Typical, I bet I’ll get the confused old ladies and retired majors….oh, hello nurse!” said Action, noticing who the witnesses were. Three very attractive young women.

The first was called Judy Dyble and she described the van she saw parked out the front. “I’m sorry I didn’t see it leave or who drove it but I definitely noticed it was parked oddly. I got a partial licence plate…651 is all I remember, sorry”

“Well, don’t be, that was very helpful Miss Dyble” said Action, warmly.

Moving on to his second witness, a perky blonde called Skye Warner, he got more information.

“I saw two guys run out of the building carrying paintings…they wore ski masks but one I noticed wore a short sleeve shirt and shorts…he was young looking. They waved a gun at me and I had to duck behind this stone bench”

“That was the right thing to do…and very brave of you to remember those details; it all helps” said Action, again trying to put Miss Warner at ease.

The third witness was inside the lounge: A striking young woman called Chloe Gibbs who was dressed in the height of mod fashion.

“I…I…was rehearsing for my live set when these two men in ski masks burst in and took the paintings there and just over here. They tried to grab my guitar but when I protested they waved a gun in my face…I’ve never been so scared in my life since….since….well, I heard my husband was killed at Ia Drang last year.”

Action put down his notepad. He’d fought at Ia Drang as well; it was a desperate fight for survival.

“I’m an ex-Marine, ma’am, I understand” he said, sympathetically. “Anything else you noticed?” he continued.

“Well, one of them…the one with the gun…got real close to me and I could see his eyebrows were red. He must have red hair”

“That’s very useful, Miss Gibbs”

“Call me Chloe”

“Sure thing. Now listen, Chloe, I’ve got some photos of some suspects here in this holder. I want you to look at them to see if you recognise any of them.”

Chloe looked at the photos in turn and shook her head. “No, they don’t look like the man I saw…it’s the eyes that I remember. They don’t have the same kind.” She said.

Action thanked her and headed back to the police station…he felt for Chloe, being a widow so young was rough and how many brothers in arms had he seen lose their lives in combat, never to see their loved ones again?

Back at the station Action looked at the evidence gathered and started to put together a crime map. What he had so far was two men, a van description, one of the men had red hair, a short sleeve shirt and was wearing shorts but no names yet. A new pair of villains working the town? Perhaps.

Action was having a drink of water in the evidence room when he heard the blades of the ceiling fan start to sound like the blades of a Huey helicopter. The room got hotter, like the jungle and he could hear cries, screaming and gunfire all over again. Chloe’s story reminded him of how he’d narrowly avoided getting killed himself and it triggered a Vietnam flashback.

The shift had ended and Action needed to switch off from work. He was hungry and remembered the Spice Festival was happening tonight. That sorted out his food problem…now he needed the company of a beautiful lady….he’d been casually seeing Katherine Bowie, the socialite, and things had been going well between them. Phoning her as he was ending his shift, she agreed to meet him in the Spice Quarter.

“Hard day at work?” she said, instinctively reading his face.

“You could say that…fancy some decent chow?” he replied.

“Always up for that and pleasant company” she smiled.

The festival was busy but they found a place to sit, eat and talk.

“I’ve always been grateful for the presence of the police…I couldn’t do what you do, couldn’t put up with the horrible and wicked things people do” she said.

“4 years in the Marines trained me well to deal with it” he replied.

“That’s what I admire about you, Action, your bravery" she said before breaking into a smile "amongst other things"

Action smiled as well and leant in towards her.

"So what's a rich girl like you doing with a brother like me?" he said.

"I don't care for categories...I see someone I like, I want to be with them" she said, calmly.

"Aren't you bothered by what other people might think?"

"Are you?" she said.

Action shook his head. "Never needed or cared for affirmation from others" he said. "Let them think what they want...I don't let them stop me"

"We're very much alike, John" she said, smiling.