Genealogy Caper

[Eilonwy Solstice]

She let out a small cry of pain. “Ow! That was my foot!”

“Sorry!” I quickly moved my staff.

“Give her some slack, Sue, she is blind, after all . . . .”

“Sorry, J; can’t hear ya,” she returned sarcastically. “Don’t you have anything a little more travel convenient, Ei?”

“Shhh!” Mask hissed.

I tried the office door as everyone else huddled in the small hallway. “Darn, it’s locked.”

“So?” Susan asked, perhaps with a raised eyebrow. “Let me try it.” I gave way as she got in front. The slight woman knelt, and I heard the lock jiggling. The sound brought back memories I had of living on the streets . . . .

“Susan, what are you—?”

“Shhh!” She said instead. “Oh, they apparently left a key underneath the doormat. How clueless can you get?” My eyebrows creased in consternation, but Susan quickly opened the door and drew me in. James followed, while Mask stayed behind as lookout.

The keeper’s office was cluttered and archaic, I figured that out when I tried getting out of the siblings’ way by staying in a corner and knocking down a stack of papers waist height in the process. Reddening in embarrassment, I apologized and stood still.

The finger bone Sue had received seemed to be the key in all this. I had offered to try reading it through Psychometry, and she had willingly accepted. And what I Saw didn’t make me feel very good. The first impression I had immediately received like a blow to the face was rage. Insane, blood-poisoning hatred that burned my thoughts with its intensity, causing me to retch. The grave was unusually large, with strange markings on it. The name I had Seen on the unusual marker was Beatrice Abbey. James had recognized the unique make of the grave as one that belonged to the Adroit Cemetery of the First Division Church of the Rose, about half an hour bus ride from where he worked. We had tried asking the groundskeeper nicely if we could look at the records, but he had been very uncooperative.

James and Su searched through the mess rather quickly after that exchange, Su occasionally opening my long coat and stuffing a tome or a CD or a diskette into one of the many pockets I had. Their rational was, if caught, they wouldn’t search me without my consent. Something seemed wrong about this logic, but I didn’t argue. Su was worried enough as it was without me pointing out flaws in her plan.

“Holy effing—!” Susan started swearing fluently, gesturing her brother to come and see.

“What? I’m—oh—! Is this what I think this is?” His reaction was the same, and he started swearing, too.

“Just grab it! We’ll sort through later.”

I opened my mouth to voice my confusion, but was interrupted by James. “There’s the signal; he must have heard us. You first, Ei.”

“We are DEFINITELY coming bask to this place!” Susan said, ushering me along.

I handed my staff to her and she guided me by the arm around all the obstacles and to the window. She slid out the window and jumped, Mask following suit. I sat on the ledge and lifted first one leg and then the other out, my hands feeling the edge of the open window to gauge the height of the opening. James took me by the waist and gently lifted me down, while the other women took me by the legs and brought me to the ground, holding my jacket flaps so it wouldn’t catch on anything.

The ground was about as even as a tent, but it was grassy and smooth. We started running post haste. The voice that I heard brought my heart to my mouth.

“Hey! What are you doing in here!? Give me one good reason why I shouldn’t call the cops!”

James stayed to mask our flight and to calm the eccentric keeper down.

[duamerthrax]

sorry about the swearing, eilonwy. i try not to, but i couldn't help myself.

the whole situation was just strange to begin with. su didn't want eilonwy involved in anything truly illegal, so she was trying to claim that we weren't breaking in. i'm pretty sure she caught on anyway, but was just too polite to say anything. also, her "they won't search a blind woman" theory left holes in logic, but what the hell.

the moment we got into the caretaker's office, we knew he was the guy we were dealing with. old bones all over the place, pictures everywhere, the guy even had books on bombs and stuff. su pointed out a picture of her with a bunch of others in a van, probably from the fourth of july party, she said. this was our mad bomberman, susan's stalker. we tried grabbing as much proof as we could , but su was shaking a little with the sudden realisation. and she forgot to be quiet after that, too, because the guy was coming back.

su jumped out the window first, to avoid the guy like th plague. i helped eilonwy outside after her, (trying to be as careful as possible), then was about to jump out, but the guy caught me.

"Hey! What are you doing in here? Give me one reason why I shouldn't call the cops!"

totally busted!

"Uh, look, I'm sorry about this, but, uh, I'm sort of the scout party."
"Scout party? Who sent you? Where are they??"

ok, gotta think quick, or he'll probably try to off me right here

"I'm with the NYU chapter of Delta Phi. I was trying to plan out a stunt for our newest pledges, and I got carried away. " i showed him my old id, praying to god that he didn't see how old it was

"Hm, you look like you're telling the truth, at least. Haven't I seen you before, though?"

"Uh, yeah, probably. We try doing good works in many neighborhoods, so I've been around here a couple times. I'm not surprised."

"You look kind of like..."
he started staring at me, then got an evil grin on his face
"You were here by yourself?"
"Yeah, just me. No one else." he was really getting me nervous
"Tell you what- I'll 'overlook' this little incident, but you need to do me a favor"
"Sure, pal, no problem" he was ushering me to the door now, and i was almost home free

"Next time, bring your sister here. I have plans for her" he slammed the door in my face before I said another word.

he knew who i was. i'm screwed now. if i don't do it, he'll probably try to kill off both of us. if i try getting help, he'd most likely just welcome it as an excuse to blow up more people he hates. i slowly walked back to my car to tell the girls the "good" news.

[Eilonwy Solstice]

What??! You mean that old man has been Susan’s stalker all along? And here I thought he was just cantankerous . . . .

[duamerthrax]

yeah, that makes me think that we got in there too easily. he must have wanted to be found, at least by susan.

[Koralth]

Yeah, whether he wanted to be found or not (and judging by the way he left a key laying around, I'm sure he did...), it's fairly obvious he was watching the room in some way (otherwise, how likely is it that he would have made his loud entrance right then?... I'm assuming you weren't breaking and entering while he was there...?) it's arrogant of him to have allowed you to walk away after setting something like that up. He obviously has some degree of skill in investigations (He tracked Mr. Thorne down while he was using false names!), and knowing this, I *ahem* cannot believe that he would have ever made a careless mistake like that with the key. This perp is not to be underestimated. I advise not pursuing the issue for at least a little while longer, afterall, he's proven his specialty to be in demolitions, and plastics aren't exactly the hardest thing to conceal.

Best situation now is that none of you make movements without bomb sniffing equipment of some sort. Can someone hook these people up with that kind of equipment?

He's playing you, I'm sure of it... *ahem* I just can't figure out what he's playing AT.

If someone could PM me how you attained the information you needed to start investigating this particular shop? I'm kind of busy here... elsewhere, kind of looking up information on local clubs for an investigation *I'M* carrying out, but if I get some free time (maybe now, while I'm at a dead end in my own?), I'll sort through your information, too.

[Kei Nakamura]

Where do you want the analyzer sent, and what compunds do you want it to trace? I have similar items that I use to identify airborn contamininants on some projects, and modifying a couple to detect a few different products shouldnt be too hard.

[concrete_Angel]

OK, maybe I should explain. I was trying to make Ei feel a little better, since she's OBVIOUSLY not all that thrilled with the whole B&E concept. I broke in and stole shit, all right? I was trying to make her feel better about the situation, so I never told her EVERYTHING.

The guy's totally obsessed, but he's not stupid. (of course, J, showing him an ID of yours was the DUMBEST thing you could have done, but whatever!)

Oh, and Bert, I think the guy's got a souvenir of yours. Some old photo with a Hummer, or something. I left that one with Ei, but it's yours if you want.

[Bert_the_Turtle]

I better take a look at that pic.

[concrete_Angel]

After all that, I thought I'd get a chance to relax, but when we dropped Ei off back at Ron's, I was just a little too hyped up to have a good time. I couldn't even enjoy the ham and extra cheese pizza Ei ordered especially for me. I think J was feeling it too, because he kept looking at me with the "last day on Earth" sympathy look. We decided to bail before it got too late (and so Ron wouldn't get cranky about overnight guests), so J grabbed the last of the pepperoni, and we headed out. He decided that the drive was a good chance for some good news/bad news talk. The good news being-I'M GOING HOME! After all this time, I was finally returning. I could just see the good old days flooding back.

We pretty much drove all night, since we were both so pumped with adrenaline. I didn't feel like this was real until I saw that familiar building I'd never stop loving all my life. It was just like I remembered it. My room hadn't even been touched. Well, it was cleaner, but you know what I mean. I dove for the covers, and hit the sack.

I woke up that evening. J was on the phone with his boss at work. He'd apparently been using all this time as vacation, and it was all used up. He'll probably be able to take his next day off in 2095, but at least he wasn't fired. He had changed to days now, though. Anyway, after I was done spying on him, I tried finding a few clothes that still fit. After a shower and change, J had ordered Chinese, and was rewinding something on the VCR for me: a marathon of Metalocalypse episodes!! We just sat down, and vegged out. Damn it was great.

Suddenly, we were right in the middle of Nathan Explosion talking about his girlfriend, when we heard an explosion for real. We freaked! I ran to the windows and looked down to see what happened, and the alley was trashed. Trash cans were on fire, crap was flung all over, and Frank (our FLHG) was nowhere to be found. I started thanking God that KT gave me some protection when I was in Chicago, but neither one of us felt much better. J went to check that our apartment was TOTALLY sealed and locked, when he came back with a note in his hand. I unfolded it, and knew exactly what had happened.

"I'm waiting, my Angel"

PS: Ei, he told me everything.

[GhostSpider]

I'd make some sort of joke, but frankly i'm too tired, and this is just way too freaky. Good luck Angel.

[concrete_Angel]

Damn, I must have set some sort of record. No jokes? I'm slipping. I'll have to try harder.

But seriously, how bad an idea would it be to show up? Should I stay or should I go?

[Cameron Thorne]

Just be careful, this guy may be insane....but so was Hannibal Lecter.

[duamerthrax]

may be???
no, he's just the lovable kind of insane.
how many times do i have to tell you NO? you're staying here for a reason, remember?