CHAPTER 32: Veiled Threats

 

Suzy grabbed her handbag, her house keys and rushed out the door to work....only as soon as she shut the door she heard a disturbing gurgling sound from her stomach. Breakfast was NOT good. The fridge had broken down during the night and the delicious fruit parfait yoghurt she'd prepared the night before had gone off....and now her tummy was paying the price for not binning the whole lot straight away. It was no good, she couldn't go into work feeling like this. She had an article to write but she could do that at home and at the library and take the morning off to take some Dramamine and Milk of Magnesia and hope her stomach would calm down by lunch.

In the meantime, she took herself down to the spa for a detox. Settling into the sauna she thought about her article and what it would involve. She had enough to do a piece about the mavens of Sim City...well, at least two of them. She'd interviewed both Lily Feng and Bella Goth and there was enough material for an article: Only Nancy Landgraab had avoided an interview thus far.

After a session in the steam room, Suzy headed off to Willow Creek Archive to finish her article. Settling down with a stack of magazines and newspapers from the archives and seated comfortably at a desk with her portable typewriter she got to work. She noticed that one of the librarians was surreptitiously pocketing a library book into his cardigan pocket and hoping no one noticed. Suzy smiled to herself; she knew that guy...nice enough to talk to, looked like a bookish square but was secretly a petty pilferer.

Suzy's thoughts were abruptly halted by a stern looking woman of around 40 who stood right next to her, pointing a finger.

"YOU! Yes you! I know who you are!" said the stern woman.

"You do?" replied a bemused Suzy.

"Yes! You write for that scandalous magazine! The one that's leading the youth of today astray!"

"Do you mean 'Hey, Wow!'?"

"Hey, Filth more like! My niece reads your trash magazine and it nearly led her astray with your low morals: Pop music! Long hair on boys! Mini skirts! Date whoever you like! Tsch! Scandalous! Scandalous! It should be BANNED for corrupting the young of SimNation!"

"Have you ever considered...Miss?" responded Suzy

"MRS Edna Sneedly! I run the Willow Creek Concerned Citizens Society"

"Well, Mrs Sneedly, that the youth of today want something different? They want to express themselves in fashion, music and art in a way that is different from your era. And they want to make their own choices instead of being told what to do, say and think by committees?"

"Harumph! 'Make their own choices'! Who'd ever heard of such nonsense? Why can't girls your age settle for nice young men like this gentleman, drop your hemlines and learn to bake apple pies?" Mrs Sneedly pointed to the kleptomaniac librarian as an example of an 'exemplary' young man.

"Sure, I'll bear it in mind" said Suzy, standing up and walking over to another part of the library. She made sure Mrs Sneedly got a good view of her short dress. Sitting down at another desk, she began work again when she was interrupted by none other than Victor Feng.

"Good afternoon, Miss Kent" he said. "I see you're doing some research on my wife"

"Yes...well, looking at the society pages to see what she was wearing at various events."

"Very good...I especially liked that green gown she wore to the Norton Building opening back in December"

"Mr Feng...I'd like to ask a question in your capacity as a city councillor" said Suzy, eager to corner Feng on a topic.

"Go ahead"

"Are you aware of an old tunnel that runs underneath the Landgraab Mansion in Oasis Springs?"

Victor Feng paused before giving an answer. He raised an eyebrow in surprise. "I am not...but thank you for bringing that to my attention. I wish you well with your article." He said before leaving.

Suzy finished her manuscript, put it in an envelope and mailed it to her editor. Her job for the day done, she decided to check out a recommended hot spot in town: The Narwhal Arms. It was an old inn building converted into a nightclub which had been recently refurbished to be a trendy hot spot. However, once inside, Suzy was disappointed by what she saw. Instead of a swinging venue, it was mostly populated by older lounge lizard men. She sat at the bar and ordered a drink, hoping things would improve. She did see a familiar face, however.

"Hi, it's Julian isn't it?" she said to a young man she had met once before.

"Yeah, and you are?" he said, struggling to put a name to her face.

"Suzy Kent...I'm from Hey, Wow magazine. We met a few weeks ago at the Blue Velvet club in Willow Creek"

"Did we? I meet a lot of chicks" he said before shrugging and walking off to the DJ booth.

Suzy sighed. Why couldn't she meet any decent men who were interested in her? The boat had sailed with Jeremy, John scared her, Travis didn't seem interested, Burr was obsessed with his activism and Julian was an airhead. She downed her drink and thought that seeing that she was at a loose end, she had a dance.

When she got home later that evening, things weren't much better: Her toilet had broken this time...on top of a malfunctioning fridge this was another hassle she didn't need. At least she could get an emergency repairman to visit. Or, in this case, a repairwoman.

"Show me where the problem is and yes, I'm a woman, but I can still do the job as well as a man" said the woman, sounding bored.

"Oh, well thanks for coming out at this late hour. The busted toilet is just here. Busy day?" said Suzy, making polite small talk.

"Tell me about it! We had this big water pipe burst down at Oasis Springs this afternoon. Me and the team were working non-stop to try to stop half the neighbourhood from flooding. Some of the guys are still down there."

"Oasis Springs you say?" said Suzy, intrigued. "Whereabouts?"

"Acquisition Butte" said the woman.

"That's where the Landgraabs live, isn't it?"

"Sure is. The burst water pipe was in an old, abandoned mine shaft that runs right under their mansion. I tell you, Mrs Landgraab was furious about the whole thing. Said she'd pay for all our overtimes if we got it fixed tonight. Sheesh, that lady sure has a temper on her"

Suzy pondered this bit of information. She did mention the tunnel to Victor Feng who seemed interested in it. Could these things be connected? The repairwoman finished fixing the toilet and left. As soon as she had, there was a ring on the doorbell. It was Summer Holiday.

"Hey Summer, how's it going?" said Suzy.

"Suzy....do you think guys are lame?" said Summer, sighing.

"I'm beginning to think that way" said Suzy. "Why, what's happened?"

"It's what's NOT happening. Travis: One minute he seems keen, the next he treats me as if I don't exist"

"What does Liberty have to say?" pouring a drink for Summer.

"I haven't seen Liberty for days...she's away in Florida at the rocket base"

"I think guys are not taking us seriously enough if you ask me" said Suzy. Here's my tip: Ignore them...they'll hate that and in a short while you'll see who starts paying you decent attention"

Summer nodded. "I think you and me should hit the tiles one night: Girls night out and see if we can't land ourselves some cool guys."

"I'll drink to that" said Suzy, raising her glass to Summer's.

CHAPTER 31: Things Hot Up

Jeremy Saint paced up and down the path outside of the Arts Centre in downtown San Myshuno. He checked his watch...a minute past 8pm. Would she delayed? Will she show up? Jeremy's heart beat faster as time ticked on and he couldn't see his date.

Then, emerging around the corner at a brisk pace, she came running: Barbara Dubois, Jeremy's date. Only last weekend had they decided to go steady and this was the first time they'd seen each other since then. They both smiled the moment they saw each other and ran towards each other for an embrace.

"You came!" said Jeremy

"Of course...you don't think I'm going to miss the Hijinks Festival with you!" she replied. "I'm starving, let's get something to eat."

"I know you love spicy food, Barbara, and I know a good little eatery just over there. Do you like Cajun?"

"I LOVE Cajun!"

"Come on, let's go!" they grabbed each other's hand and ran off to the vendor.

Jeremy and Barbara both sampled the Tagine and caught up on each other's news of the week. Soon they were joined by another person, a man.

"Excuse me" he said. "I require a place to sit so I can ingest this sustenance. As all other designated seating surfaces are occupied, may I sit at this place so I can eat this meal?"

"Erm, yes, that should be fine" said Jeremy, awkwardly. The man's over formal speech was jarring but it what was on the plate that caused Jeremy and Barbara to wince.

Jeremy noticed something unusual on the man's plate. "Erm, I think I can see something moving on your plate" he said.

"I know. They are hi-protein insects and worms; very nutritious" he said, taking a mouthful.

"Well, I don't know about you, Barbara, but I'm full...shall we head on over to the bar?" Jeremy said, wanting to get away from this strange man and his even stranger meal.

"I'm good to go" she said, pushing her plate away from her.

The two of them got up and went far away from the man to where music was playing and people were dancing.

"Shall we?" said Barbara grabbing both of Jeremy's hands and spinning him onto the dance floor. Jeremy did the Economy Shuffle whilst Barbara flung her hair back and treated him to a fine display of funky go-go dancing.

"You're good!" said Jeremy, feeling like he was stuck on a washing machine spin cycle. "But, phew, can we get a drink?"

"Sure" she said. They went over to the bar, got a couple of drinks and as this was the Humor and Hijinks Festival they decided to check out tonight's stand up comic.

"I'm having a lovely time" she said, leaning her head on Jeremy's shoulder.

"I am too" he replied, smiling.

"Yawwwwn, I'm getting tired but I don't want the night to end" she said, looking into his eyes.

"Well....it doesn't have to" he said nervously. "I mean, we could always head back to...." he didn't know quite how to end his sentence.

"yes?" she asked, expectantly.

"I mean, if you don't mind that is....but you could always come back....with me....to....my place" he said, gulping at the end.

"Great! Let's go!" she said, grabbing his hand and leading him to the subway station.

They paused outside of Jeremy's house. This was a big moment; inviting a beautiful woman back to his place.

"You can have my bed and I'll sleep on the couch" he said.

"Don't put yourself out on my account" said Barbara.

"Well...it's no trouble really"

"We can decide the sleeping arrangements inside" she said. Jeremy showed her in and led her to the bedroom.

"Here's the bed, bathroom's down the hall on the right, here you'll find a light switch..."

Barbara patted the space on the bed next to her. "Plenty of room"

"Well, as this is a first date" he said, nervously.

"Second" she corrected him.

"Oh...right. But you know a single man, a single girl together in the same bedroom..."

"It's 1966, Jeremy..."

"But are we ready?"

"Let's just snuggle"

"Oh, OK"

They settled down but within minutes both were fast asleep.

CHAPTER 30: Bad Trip

 

John Action sauntered into Precinct 13 headquarters and saw that old Sergeant Kitchen wasn't at the front desk. It was a woman officer, one he didn't recognise.

"Well hello there, I guess you're the new girl" he said to her.

"And I guess you're Action...I've heard a lot about you" she replied with a smirk.

"All good, I hope"

"They were more like warnings" she said. "Anyway, you can't stand around here trying to charm your way around your co-workers, Action, this lady's come in with a complaint" she nodded to a young hippie woman sitting, waiting on a bench in the reception area. Action wandered over to her.

"What's the problem, Ma'am?" he said.

"Well...it's..."

"my ex. He breezed back into town with some bad acid. Well, I told him I wanted nothing to do with it and threw him out but he still operated around Oasis Springs, selling his junk. Anyway, he quickly split the place and we've got a whole bunch of people having a bad trip, attacking passers by and causing trouble" she said, sadly.

"Bad acid: that's a bad scene, sister. I'll head over there, crack some skulls and get that junk off the street and out of the hands of those acid-heads"

Mirage Canyon, 11:17 am

The main street looked quiet, too quiet. Action's hand hovered over his .38 service revolver....just in case! He needed some information so he wandered over to The Solar Flare lounge; a classy joint most of the time although they were known to violate state hygiene laws from time to time. Action walked up the stairs to the lounge but although the doors were all open, no one was around. "Strange" he thought to himself.

He wandered over to the large windows that afforded an excellent view of the main street. From here he could observe any strange goings on without being seen himself. As he watched and waited, he noticed a violin propped up on a stand right next to him....he couldn't help but pick it up and give it a go.

He saw a fair haired lady of about 40 stagger down the street, rubbing her arm in pain. Taking this as a cue, Action put down the violin and ran over to her.

"Excuse me, Ma'am, is anything the matter?" he said to the lady.

"Yes...ow...I've just been punched by this weird young woman. She claimed I stole her bananas and that I was in league with the secret government so she just lurched at me and started punching me. Fortunately, she only hit me in a couple of places like my arm...there's no serious damage."

"Where did this happen?" said Action.

"Over by that small park area" she said, pointing to a grassy area that had a few benches. "Look! There she is! The woman who hit me!"

Action looked around and saw an enraged looking young woman pulling a man doing yoga off the ground and hitting him over the head. He ran over, his hand still hovering over his service .38.

"Freeze right there!" he shouted. The woman looked around terrified, the man staggered over to a nearby bench.

"Oh my God, what have I done?" she said, wild eyed.

"You're Jonesing from a bad, bad trip, lady" said Action. "Now you're going to come with me and tell me all about where you got that acid from"

Action called for some back up and the lady was bundled into a squad car to take back to police HQ. Action took a moment to grab a coffee and have a brief work out to keep his muscles toned. Sergeant Kitchen entered the recreation room and walked over to him.

"Good work out there, Action" said Sergeant Kitchen.

"Just doing my job, my way" replied Action.

"Anyway, we're processing that lady plus a few other freaks who've taken some of that same batch of LSD. Oh, and the Chief wants some progress on those robberies. We're still holding Aurora Ahmed; the Chess Bandit, someone needs to interrogate her"

"And that someone would be me, right?" replied Action, downing his coffee.

Down in the cells he went to fetch Ahmed and take her to an interrogation room.

"I've said all I got to say in front of your colleagues and my lawyer" she said.

"I know" Action replied. "I'm not interested in you...I want to know who your fence is"

Action took her to an interrogation room and sat her down. "We've got you for the Jade statue job, you're going down but if you want to avoid hard time you'd better co-operate and tell us who your buyer is"

"I'm not a fink!" she replied. "You've got nothing!"

"We've got witness statements, we've got your fingerprints on that chess board and you left enough clues to fill a ship" said Action.

"So what if I did touch that chessboard? Plenty of people play chess"

"We know your signature style, Aurora. Now this is pretty open and shut....WHO'S YOUR FENCE?" he said, pounding a fist on the table.

Ahmed started to sweat and wilt under the pressure. "OK, I did have a fence...but I never met them, I swear. But I know it's a woman: Even though she wore a mask I could tell by her voice and body shape the fence was a woman. I don't have a name or contact number; they always contacted me"

"That's a start" said Action, making notes.

At the end of his shift he headed home for some chow. As he sat with his grilled cheese sandwich watching Mr Ed on TV he heard a knock at the door. Looking through the window he could see a very attractive young woman dressed in red and white standing outside.

"Hi, can I help you?" he said, opening the door.

"Oh, hi, I'm Katharine Bowie from the Mirage Canyon Citizens' Association" she said.

"Of course you are" he replied.

"And on behalf of our members I want to thank you for helping our little community out in tackling the junkie problem on our streets"

"Just doing my job, my way, Ma'am"

"And we're very grateful, Officer Action" she said, coyly.

Action smiled. "I'm off duty now but would you like to come in for a drink?" he said.

Katharine smiled and said "I thought you'd never ask"

CHAPTER 29: What Lurks Beneath?

 

The phone in Suzy Kent's house rang. As she struggled to zip up the back of her dress, she ran over to answer it. "Hello, Suzy Kent here...hngh" the zip was stuck halfway.

"Hi, it's Burr" said the voice at the other end.

"Burr...hngh...that's got it! Sorry. Yes, hi Burr. How are you?" She said with relief that the zip made it all the way to the top.

"Good. Hey, I've found out some interesting things about the Landgraabs...can we meet up at the library?"

Suzy's eyes widened in excitement. "Sure! Willow Creek Archive in 1 hour?" she said.

"See you then" replied Burr.

Putting her feet into her favourite white go-go boots and checking her make up one last time, Suzy grabbed her shoulder bag and headed off to Crawdad Quarter.

Suzy sauntered her way to Willow Creek Archive and saw Burr DeBenning, an acquaintance and someone else who was interested in the shady activities of the Landgraab Family, waiting outside for her.

"Burr, what is this you've found out?" she asked.

"I've been looking at the land records for Oasis Springs and there's something strange near the Landgraab mansion. A tunnel that runs right under the property. I've tried finding out more but there's no record of it other than an old map dated before WW1."

"Hmmm, potentially interesting. So no one knows what it is or what's in it? I think we should take a closer look" she said.

"My thoughts exactly" said Burr, smiling and impressed with Suzy's courage. "Let's go"

Afluista Mansion

Standing outside the modernist estate of the Landgraab family, Suzy and Burr looked at their pocket map to see where the mystery tunnel entrance was. A jogger went past them, looking at the pair suspiciously.

"Quick!" said Suzy, pulling her pocket instamatic camera from out of her bag "let's take a picture of ourselves so we look like tourists!"

Once the jogger had gone they checked Burr's map. "According to this, it's down a footpath to the left of the house which loops around behind it. I think this-a-way!" said Suzy, running off in that direction. Burr took a leisurely stroll down the path instead.

Once they'd reached the point where the map indicated the tunnel entrance, they found a heavily boarded up hold in the rock face. Burr tried to pry the boards off but they were heavily nailed in place with rocks and mortar behind them to deter any intruders.

"This is going to be more difficult than I thought" said Burr. "We can't manage it today, we'll have to come back with more equipment"

Suzy agreed, reluctantly; her curiosity piqued even more by the discovery of the tunnel entrance. Burr said he knew a decent bar in the area and they headed off to the Rattlesnake Juice Bar.

"So, do you do a lot of this undercover investigating where you work?" Burr asked Suzy.

"This is my first time" she said. "I got into fashion journalism but I've gotten away from that lately".

"I didn't think of myself as an investigator either" said Burr. "I work for the city planning department but whilst I've been there I've seen plenty of shading dealings...I've been sucked in to the case as well. Psst! You'd never guess who's just walked in this bar?"

"Nancy Landgraab! No way!" exclaimed Suzy, clapping her hands over her mouth so she didn't sound so obvious to onlookers.

"Shhh!" said Burr.

Nancy tottered over to the bar; she swayed exaggeratedly, winking at a male customer before she sat down, unsteadily.

"My ushual, Barkeep, and put it on my tab *hic*" said Nancy.

"I think she's already had too much to drink" said Burr to Suzy.

"I love your dressh" said Nancy to Suzy.

"Erm, thanks." replied Suzy. "Coming from you Mrs Landgraab I take that as a compliment"

"Now who'sh that handshome young gentleman sitting next to you....he looks like a keeper" Nancy said, eyeing up Burr.

"I'm Burr and this is Suzy" he replied.

"Hmmm, if I weren't already a married woman..." Nancy didn't finish her sentence but eyed up Burr lecherously.

"Well, is that the time? I must head out, Suzy. See you soon?" said Burr, getting up to go.

"Wait, no! Already? Can't you stay?" said Suzy.

"Sorry Suz, got to be somewhere else" he replied before heading out the bar.

Nancy Landgraab was chatting up a couple of other men at the bar and ignored her. Stepping outside into the cool evening air, she spied a friend: John Action. "Hey John" she said.

"What's the score, Suzy?" replied Action. "You still following that case of yours? I saw Nancy Landgraab in the bar just now"

"Yeah, she's hammered." replied Suzy. "Look, John, can you push some information my way about her and her husband?"

"Don't go messing with police business, Suz. It's a job best left to the pros. This is a tough town with some mean streets which the Landgraabs pave with secrets, signs and threats!" Action banged his fist down on the table they were sitting at.

"But this could be big!" said Suzy

"Leave it, doll!" said Action. He looked into her eyes, intensely. He was not a man to be messed with. Suzy said nothing and Action left without another word.

Suzy felt conflicted; to pursue this investigation or to drop it? Action had warned her, Burr seemed too frightened by what he might find out. That left her to investigate. Meanwhile, back at the Rattlesnake Juice Bar, Nancy Landgraab kept downing Tequila Slammers and keeping the young menfolk there wrapped around her little finger.

CHAPTER 28: Spice

 

Jeremy Saint's hand hovered over his telephone...tonight was the Spice Festival downtown and he had an extra ticket for it. He knew there was only one person he wanted to ask to come with him; Barbara, but the nerves were still there...what if she turned him down? What if he blew it...again...with a woman he fancied. He shut his eyes, gulped and picked up the phone receiver. Opening his eyes but feeling his heart beating ever faster, he dialled Barbara's number. One ring, two rings, three rings, the heart was beating faster and he was starting to sweat. For rings and then a soft, feminine voice said "hello" at the other end.

"Hi...It's Jeremy. Would you like....I mean, I have an extra ticket for...for the...I mean, would you like to, you know, erm, go with me to the Spice Fes-"

"Yes!" Barbara consented before Jeremy could finish asking her.

"OK, great. I'll pick you up in an hour?" he ventured.

"I'll meet you there; it's near where I live. Outside Waterside Warble" she said.

Jeremy put down the receiver and punched the air in triumph.

"I love Asian food!" said Barbara, heading straight for the sample curries, rice and noodle dishes. "There's so many good places to eat around here, I'm spoiled for choice"

"I tried it out for the first time last month" said Jeremy. "I'm warming to it" he said, taking a bite of something that was a bit more spicy than he was expecting...warming to it was an apt comment.

They tried the Spice challenge: Jeremy made it to curry #3, Barbara could only manage half a portion of #4. The evening was going smoothly and Jeremy was more relaxed than earlier, but, worrier that he was he couldn't escape a nagging feeling that at any moment she could go right off him and leave. He felt this more when, at one point, the conversation went quiet as if they'd already run out of things to say to each other. He suggested, hesitantly, to head over to the Warble for a drink. Barbara readily agreed.

"You weren't that bad!" said Barbara, reassuring Jeremy after he attempted to sing a Beatles song at the open mic night.

"I wasn't a patch on your version of 'You Really Got Me"" replied Jeremy.

"I never miss open mic night here" said Barbara. She stretched her arms in front of her "Hmmmm, I'm having a good time but I had an early shift today and I'm starting to flag" she said.

"Oh, I hadn't realised it was that late" said Jeremy.

"I've had a great time tonight, Jeremy" she said, patting him on the arm. "We must do this again and soon" she added.

Their eyes locked on each other and without saying anything they held their gaze. Then they started to move closer to each other. At that point a wild thought possessed Jeremy and he leant forward to kiss Barbara.

He broke off seconds after he kissed her...did he cross the line? Had he blown it? Barbara took his hands and smiled.

"That was lovely" she said, smiling. They kissed again and then one more time.

"Well, I guess we'll be seeing each other again" said Jeremy, suavely.

"I think so" she nodded, smiling.

Jeremy walked her home. Outside of the apartment block where she lived they kissed one more time. Barbara was about to invite him in but she was tired. "Jeremy...any other time I'd invite you in for a night cap but I'm so, so tired and am just going to flop in my bed"

"Oh I understand!" he replied. Frankly, he was too nervous about going to a woman's apartment after only one date; his small town morality kicking in. He saw her go into the building safely and walked to the subway station, whistling a merry tune to himself.

CHAPTER 27: Checkmate

 

"What you got for me today?" said John Action, striding into the squad room at 13th Precinct HQ.

"Take your pick" said the bored looking detective. "There's a huge backlog of cases on that pile there"

Action looked at various case files and picked one. "Robbery over at Windenburg...I'll take it" he said.

Action took what little information there was and put it on the crime notice board, laying out the photos, reports and connecting them to each other with coloured string.

Pondering the chart, he needed more clues to work with. Grabbing the keys to a squad car Action headed off to Windenburg and to the crime scene on his own.

Windenburg....9:52am

"I'm telling you, officer, I was alerted by the sight of the front door of the house hanging open. I went to investigate and that's when I was shoved and knocked down" said the witness.

"Did you see the perp?" asked Action.

"Only a little...short hair, wearing shorts...that's all I remember"

Action nodded and left the witness after taking some notes. A colleague stopped him in the hall of the house. "Hey Action; you got here before us! Regulations say you should not enter the premises on your own!" they barked at him.

"Yeah, well, if we waited for you lot to finish your coffee and donuts then we'd never make any progress!" Action replied, nonchalantly.

Action scanned the crime scene for clues. The perps had broken in and made off with an expensive Jade bust of the Chinese Emperor, Zaitian, so this wasn't a quick smash n' grab; they knew what they were looking for. He then made his way to the games room where there were another couple of witnesses. One of them he recognised: His neighbour, Travis Scott.

"Travis, you mixed up in all this?" he said.

"Action! No, I have a weekly chess game here with my old college buddy and...well, I don't know what happened. We were playing chess, got about 15 moves in and then we both passed out" replied Travis.

"Passed out?" enquired a sceptical Action.

"Yeah, it was freaky" said Travis' friend. "I'd just made coffee for us, we settled into playing our chess game and then all of a sudden we both felt woozy and...well, I don't remember much after that"

Action picked up a coffee mug that had been lying on the floor. "This one of the mugs you drank out of?" he asked. Travis nodded. Action took a sniff of it, ran his finger around the rim and rubbed the small amount of liquid between his thumb and forefinger. "Hmmm, Benzodiazepine" he said to himself.

"Do you know what's really strange, officer?" said Travis' friend.

"It's that the chess pieces have been moved after we fell unconscious" he continued.

"Explain" asked Action.

"Well, we were 15 moves into our match. We had both taken two pawns plus a bishop apiece. When we woke up, Black...that's Travis...had put White in check. Our game wasn't that advanced"

Action stroked his chin and pondered this new clue. "Thanks...stay cool" he said and headed back to the station.

Back at the station The Chief pulled Action to one side. "Listen, Action, I know you're a maverick that likes to play by his own rules but you're alienating the rest of the team"

"Maybe if the team didn't slack off so much!" replied Action.

"Look...just play things a little more to the senior sergeants' liking. That's an order"

Action touched the peak of his cap in acknowledgement but didn't stop to ponder the Chief's words...he had a hunch to follow. He looked through the files and found a rap sheet that looked promising. Not wanting to hang around the station for official clearance, he left on his own to track down the perp.

Pupperstone Park, 4:15pm

Action entered the park; there was only one person present, a woman with short hair, wearing black hot pants and sitting alone at a chess table pondering the pieces.

"Well, well, well if it isn't The Brain herself" said Action, silently moving up to her.

"What? I have no idea what you're talking about!" the woman replied.

"The Jade Emperor, I know you got it. How about I get a search warrant for your car trunk and we do some searching there?" he continued.

"I don't have it!" the woman protested. "You're guessing, officer. You don't have any evidence"

"I know you've got form for robbery, Brain" said Action. "I also know you're obsessed with chess. That's why you couldn't resist completing the game those men were playing. You drugged them and went about your work but you saw that board, saw the mistakes and poor moves both of them had made and you played the game out until "check". Realising that you were running out of time you ran out of the house, knocking that man over along the way."

"A nice theory, officer, but where's the proof?"

"A chess grandmaster's style is like a fingerprint...each is unique and identifiable."

"Wait? What?"

"I'm bringing you in and impounding your car. You have the right to remain silent..."

The Blue Velvet, 9:20pm

"Good work today, Action" said Officer Datta when the shift had ended and a group of them had headed off to the nightclub for some entertainment. "Next time, clue the rest of the shift on what you're up to"

"I work my side of the street, you work yours" replied Action.

CHAPTER 26: The Conference

 

Suzy came away from her complimentary free session at Movers & Shakers feeling aching, stiff and in need of a stiff drink. It made a distraction from a pretty boring work day, where the editor was more interested in what flavours of ice cream were in for '66 than in Suzy's ongoing work into the skullduggery of Sim City.

As she limped home she was stopped near her house by a well built, tanned man who was out for a fitness run.

"Hey, I know you!" he said, pointing to her.

"Erm....you have me at a disadvantage" Suzy replied.

"I saw you sing and play guitar down at The Blue Velvet....yeah, you were mighty fine!" he said, smiling. "By the way, I'm Don Lothario"

"Do you live up to your name?" said Suzy, who thought this guy was a little too full of himself to be healthy.

"I've never been known to disappoint" he said with a smile, which soon turned to horror. "Is that the time, must go! See you around!" he said, running off. Suzy had no idea what made him change his tune so quickly...there was no one about except for a middle aged red headed woman coming down the road in one direction and a golden haired one jogging in the other. Suzy shrugged and made her way home for a much needed meal.

She'd finished making a Caesar Salad that she got from a recipe book when the door rang. Looking to see who it was, it turned out to be her best friend, Summer Holiday.

"Summer, what a nice surprise, come on in" said Suzy, enthusiastically.

"Hey, how's it going? It seems like ages since we last met" said Summer.

"Oh I've been very busy with work" said Suzy, sitting down to finish her dinner. "I've been doing a lot of research into an article I really want to write...you wouldn't believe the stuff I've uncovered"

"I thought you wrote fashion articles" said Summer, intrigued.

"I do....normally....but this one's different. I can't say too much now, but in time".

There was another knock on the door and Suzy got up to answer it. It was Jeremy from next door.

"Oh hi, Suzy" he said, a little nervously. "I met a friend of yours last night...his name is Burr"

"Oh him, come inside, Jeremy and stop looking like a mannequin on my doorstep" said Suzy, ushering in Jeremy who was holding a large envelope in his hands.

"Hi Jeremy" waved Summer. Her presence made Jeremy seem more nervous.

"Anyway" he said, sitting down. "Burr gave me this to give to you...he said it contains information you might find useful for your next article?"

Suzy eagerly took it from his hands and opened it. Just peering at the top page made interesting reading. LANDGRAAB CORPORATION PLANS FOR WILLOW CREEK AND OASIS SPRINGS DEVELOPMENT. It was a photocopy of an apparently real plan to demolish most of Willow Creek to build something else...something unspecified.

Summer and Jeremy looked eagerly at Suzy to see what the document was. Suzy slid the package across the table to her. "This affects both of you"

Summer and Jeremy gave it a brief look. "They want to smash this place up!" exclaimed Summer.

"The Landgraabs are pretty powerful" warned Jeremy. "Hang on...what's this here...there's a mark on this map of our street...right here. It's marked 'portal'...what does that mean?"

"That's right near the fishing spot past John Action's house" said Summer. "Why is that spot marked with a red circle and why 'portal'? There's no doors or gates there...just some wild flowers, a few old logs and that huge tree"

"I don't know..." said Suzy "but it's important to the Landgraabs"