Anu's page

Anu nods to Garabina.

"Sure. I don't really have anything better to do. If you want I'll head over there with you when you are headed back to the station. As far as I'm concerned the quicker we can get her likeness out there, hopefully the more quickly we might get a lead on where she is."

At the mention of illicit activities, Anu looks thoughtful...then slowly peers over at the policewoman.

"Well, the question is just how far are we willing to take this whole thing? Maybe the idea of plausible deniability would be a good idea for Officer Garabina? But hey, don't get me wrong, I don't have anything against doing what it takes...just saying maybe not all of us want to be as far into this thing as we are getting."

Anu shrugs a moment later.

"And honestly, I really don't give a damn if you all think I'm completely nuts or bat-%h1^ crazy. I know what I felt and I know what I saw. I'm in this however far it goes. I lived most of my life denying that side of my heritage and pretending not to notice strange things going on everywhere...thats done now. If my grandpa was right...I can't walk away."

Anu sits around and leisurely finishes his coffee.

"Garabina, are you going to have to head back to your station in order to pick up the file? Or are they emailing it to you or something? By the way, isn't your boss going to start getting suspicious of what you're doing, or is this the case you are assigned to look into at this point?"

Anu frowns is some confusion.

"Two sizes too small? Is that an important clue? If Ferrano is giving Dahlia things that used to belong to his wife...and they greeted each other warmly at the beginning of the showing....sounds like those two know each other even better than we might think already."

Anu raises his eyebrows and smirks slightly suddenly.

"So...err...Officer. What would the chances be about us finding out where Ferrano lives. Maybe a stakeout?"

Looking at Garabina with surprise, while sipping coffee.

"What do you mean exactly...dead for a year? Mrs. Ferrano? Well...that definitely proves some connection between Ferrano and Dahlia. Uh...that makes me wonder though. What was Mrs. Ferrano's name?"

Anu heads out from his little hole of an apartment not long after dawn, heading back over to the vicinity of the museum, chiefly going over by where he was attacked. He wants to get a better look at the alleyway in the light of day. He stops briefly to get a cup of coffee on the way. Once he arrives, he takes a good look at the alley from across the street and makes sure his phone is on and charged.

"So...who are you really Dahlia?" he says to no one in particular, his hand sneaking up to tightly grasp the medicine pouch he wears around his neck.

After taking a bit a look around, Anu heads to the Starbucks mentioned to meet the others.

To Jon "Not really...I'm kinda at a loss as to what to do from here...this kind of thing really isn't my specialty..."

Anu shrugs.

"Lets go ahead and exchange phone numbers, sound good?"

He looks back and forth between everyone.

"Or do we have somewhere we can start? I don't know about you guys, but I'm not sure how ready I am to just let this go. This whole thing was weird from the beginning. I could always ask around...but I'm not sure if the sort of people I know will have ever heard of anybody interesting in this."

"There was something odd about that burst of flame too...I really can't explain it. Something tells me it has to do with that dagger though. Maybe I'm wrong."

Anu may sound somewhat hesitant, but the look he directs towards the dagger and his mannerisms suggest that he is quite sure about it.

"As for the woman...vampiress or not, it really doesn't matter. Either way, we still need to find her and find out what she was after, right?"

Anu glances over at Garabina as he says so.

Anu gives Hank a withering look. He sarcastically says,

"Gee...when you say it like that it sounds plausible! Yes. That is what happened. Believe it or not at this point..I've kinda stopped caring. Look, I know my track record tonight really hasn't been showing me to be a real stable guy...but why would I tell you this now and ruin my perfectly reasonable explanation from earlier?"

To ST Guy

Glancing over at Jon Simon, Anu says

"As though you would have believed me? That woman, Dahlia...it was like some vampire movie or something. She came out of nowhere grabbed me from behind and bit me. I sorta lost it...then as I was drooping to the ground she smiles and blows me a kiss. With my blood on her lips...go ahead and call the damn whitecoats if you want, but I'll be long gone before they get here."

Growling in frustration, Anu glares around at everyone gaping at him.

"Argh! None of this makes sense! It can't! Freaking ghostly fire torching people in the Museum, that thing making me feel like I'm going to burn up next! Smelling burning flesh! None of you willing to listen or believe that strange things are happening...not to mention Dahlia droping down on me like a spider or something and sucking blood out of my freaking neck! This is the damned Twilight Zone, okay? Get it?!"

Throwing his hands up, Anu walks over to sit on the Museum steps, far away from the eerie dagger. Lighting up a smoke, he tries to ignore the looks he expects to be given for his rant.

Anu shakes his head after Hank's abrupt actions.

"I don't know what it is...there something wrong with it...like something is burning...like I am going to burn."

He hurried backs up from the dagger, dragging Hank if he has to.

Gazing at the dagger as he would a viper, Anu wipes the sweat from his brow. Shaking himself a bit.

"That doesn't look anything like the dagger I saw in the bag...thats different...what it that?!"

Anu looks around, sniffing the air...

"Does anyone else smell that...? Like something is burning? Its horrible..."

"After she disappeared, I stopped right over there to have a smoke, then I see the van. It pulls up out in front of the Cafe and I could see people putting bandannas over their faces. Something was going down, thats for sure."

Anu points to where the van had pulled up and then points to where the gunmen got out and then where the driver barreled off to. He points to where he was as well, near the mouth of the alleyway.

"Before I could really do anything, these gunmen open fire on the Museum, I couldn't tell if they were aiming at anything or just firing randomly. Then the driver gets out and starts trading shots with Jon and Hank. So I ducked back in the alley and tried to make myself unworthy of notice. It worked. The driver ignored me. When he was suitably distracted I rushed him and took him out. Unfortunately, by that time the rest of the gunmen had moved into the Museum."

Anu walks over to where the attack happened and replays the action, describing it for Officer Vasquez. Then he turns and indicates the back door of the Museum and the alley.

"Just as Jon and Hank made it to my position, the back door of the Museum bangs open, and here comes Dahlia, carrying this big black gym bag. She recognizes me and takes off running. So I hop the fence and follow. Lady was seriously fast. Strangest thing, is that she seemed to be enjoying herself. She kept glancing back and smiling like the cat that caught the canary."

Anu then describes the chase, her kicking off her shoes and the subsequent seemingly impossible bursts of speed she put on and then the final dark alley. Anu's face pales slightly as he thinks about that smile she gave him during the chase.

"She turned that last corner only a few steps ahead of me...but when I turned it...she was completely gone...just that black tote sitting there by the trash bin. I looked around and couldn't see where she'd be hiding or how...so I stepped in to check the bag. The Bag was full of Museum pieces, I really couldn't make out much other than a dagger covered in green crud. Thats when she got me. Just came out of nowhere and out go the lights. Last thing I see is her blowing a kiss at me. Thats it. Nothing else until the paramedics woke me up."

"As for my statement. I saw Ferrano arrive and greet the lady-thief as though he knew her. Thats how I initially knew her name. He called her Dahlia and asked, seeming to be joking, for her to not buy up the entire set of items for sale. They seemed like they'd done business or something before."

Anu pauses to look at the front of the Museum...

"I almost didn't go in at all, but something about Ferrano sent a chill down my spine. So I went in and signed the log before going into the auction. I wanted to slip into the back...and it so happened that Dahlia was sitting in back, so I sat just down from her and talked to her a bit about the items up for bid. We introduced ourselves, but didn't talk much.
Then she suddenly got up, like she'd forgotten something and said she had to use the restroom."

He walks towards the front of the Museum so he can show Officer Vasquez where things started going south.

"At that point I figured she was acting somewhat suspicious, so I got up and went to the lobby and sure enough, she was racing out of the Museum. I hurried and followed. She ran over this way and when I rounded the corner, she was gone. Into thin air."

for the ST Guy

To Garabina, Anu says

"Is there any kind of meaningful evidence you could gather from a pair of shoes? She kicked them off near the other end of that alley."

He stops walking and turns back to her.

"You probably want to get my complete statement now right? Before we do though...something that might be important, the log book that people had to sign while going into the Museum? Did it survive the attack? If it did...this Dahlia woman might have signed it."

Once Jon stops the car at the tape, Anu opens the door and gets out, glancing over towards the alleyway behind the museum.

To both Jon and Officer Vasquez he says...

"You know...I wonder if the shoes our lady-thief kicked off are still over in the alley. Officer? Was it sealed off? If it was, they should still be there."

Anu starts heading that way...

"As much as I'll ever be. Too much is still unexplainable."

Anu nods to that...

"Each person takes it as they will...some think that the spirits whisper to them warnings, hints and signs. Others simply think its a heightened awareness of things and people around you on a subconscious level. Personally, I'm not too sure what all this mean other than sometimes I can just 'tell'."

"I guess that would depend on the rifle..but for this situation...probably a pistol. At least that I can hide under my jacket. A rifle...not so much."

"Either way I'd like a spare gun...or you carry two and hand me one if things go south...not like I got a permit. I'd just rather not be Mr. Knife in a Gunfight...especially since my knife is now in evidence."

"Nothing voodoo or anything like that...this is more the sort of thing where you have a feeling you know is right...and then you see if proved right. Maybe you'd just call it instinct....but I have a really bad feeling about what happened there. I'm also not willing to rule out the possibility of supernatural creatures and spirits in our world...there so much variation in nature it wouldn't surprise me to see some that science hasn't quantified."

Once he is freshly cleaned up and in fresh clothes, Anu heads back out to Jon's car so they can return to the Museum.

"Ready to head over there Jon? I'm doing pretty good at this point. Some rest later should do me wonders. Oh...and didn't you say you had a spare gun...? I really don't think this whole thing is over with. I got a really weird vibe when I first saw Ferrano...and another eerie feeling when that ghostly fire blasted out of the museum."

Anu thoughts begin turning inward...thinking over again everything that happened. The way the spirits seemed to be speaking to him again..the woman, Dahlia, biting his neck like she was some kind of...of..vampire. There is definitely something strange going on here.

"HA!" Anu barks out once they are in the car. "Ahem...sorry about that...tell me something Jon. Are you a spiritual man?"

While Anu may say it was nothing, Jon can't hardly miss Anu's hand being wrapped so tightly around the leather pouch he wears on his necklace that his knuckles are turning white.

After he finishes eating, Anu steps outside for a smoke. Waiting for Jon and Hank to finish so we can go back.

Once Jon's done, Anu gets in the car to go shopping for some new clothes to replace those that are spattered in blood.

Anu takes a moment to think about it...then nods to Jon.

"Yeah, I think I'm okay for now...I'll need to crash here in an hour or two and don't expect me to chase anybody...but yeah. We should probably go back and see what happened. Er...once I'm not bloodstained. Heh...guess the guy who got his blood all over me can foot the bill for some new digs."

He grins wickedly at that thought.

Anu toasts Hank back.

Glancing over at Jon,

"Hey, I'm not saying I'm not a good guy too, but you guys are obviously willing to bend the law a bit, thats all I'm saying. And if thats what it takes to bring down the bad guys, then how is that wrong? Personally, I'm more interested in making sure they get whats coming to them than they get whats legal."

Anu shrugs.

"Yeah I know, I was just saying, maybe to collect insurance and to keep the goods too. People like that definitely figure greed as the top motivator in just about anything they do."

He frowns a moment...

"You know...maybe it would be a good idea to get more information on just what that exhibit was? What do you guys think? That'd probably be the best way to figure out why someone would want to steal it in such a spectacular fashion."

Anu smirks while glancing at Hank...

"I guess there are some perks for being the idiot who brought a knife into a gunfight. Don't worry about me guys...I tend to operate somewhat less that legally from time to time."

"You ask me though...either she arranged the whole thing with the gunmen and stuff to steal things.....OR...she and Ferrano are in it together for the insurance money. Course, if Ferrano died in the shooting then thats not very likely."

Anu seems to be thinking hard...trying to find the angle.

Anu continues a bit more hesitantly...

"Well...most of it."

He frowns, as though thinking hard to remember.

"When I saw her come out with that tote-bag...I just had a feeling that she must've had something to do with the gunmen...like they were a distraction so that she could snatch what she wanted. Honestly, I'm not even sure just how I kept up with her, once she kicked her shoes off and started running barefoot...she was like a freaking gazelle. I finally thought I had her by the construction site...but she disappeared...again!
The bag, still full was sitting right there by the dumpster though. I figured she ditched it so she could high-tail it out of there. Guess I was wrong. I opened the bag to make sure I wasn't chasing some poor woman...and sure enough, it was full of museum pieces, even an ornamental dagger on top of the pile. Then...I guess..she must've hit me on the neck...err..head? I'm not sure...then I was down for the count."

Anu sighs heavily. Then his head darting up with an eyebrow quirked he says,

"Oh..one odd thing. She grinned back at me a few times when I chased her...like she was having fun or something. She could've cried out that I was a mugger or something like that too and anybody on the street would've jumped me right away....weird. That...and she blew me a kiss, right before the lights went out."

As he eats, Anu begins to explain what he saw to Jon and Hank.

"That woman, Dahlia, she was out front in the crowd just before the Museum opened. When Julio Ferrano showed up, he greeted her and 'asked' that she not buy out the entire show. He must of known she had an interest in the exhibit and he seemed like he knew her personally."

He pauses to take a long drink.

"Once the show opened and everyone went in, I decided, what the hell. I went in to check out the auction. Apparently is was some kind of artifacts dredged up from the sea from a Spanish-exploration era civilization in this region. I actually sat next to her and introduced myself. She kinda explained things to me. I made a crack about the stuff being Atlantean...small talk."

Anu continues while digging into the delicious fish.

"After a bit...she seemed to remember something and got up to use the 'restroom'. I figured there was no way I was getting into her pants then so I got up to leave and saw her rushing out the front entrance. When I came out I lost her as she disappeared around the corner. Thats when I saw the van with those gunmen in it. The rest you know from there."

Smiling, "Sure, Mama. Blackened fish sounds right nice."

Anu gets cleaned up a bit while he waits for his order.

Anu nods to Jon.

"Why don't we go ahead and get some food to go then? A nice big order of steak and potatoes sounds incredible, if you've got it." he says as he smiles charmingly at Mama Otis.

"We taking your car Jon? Oh, I guess I still haven't introduced myself...its Anuskasha Whitefeather. Just call me Anu though."

Nodding to Jon,

"Food sounds really good right now. Why don't we get something and talk about what little I know over it?"

Anu grins somewhat at the KAIG comment and shrugs...

"Well...I didn't have a gun and he was obviously the bad-guy, just firing indiscriminately down the street like that when his buddies were blasting the Museum to pieces...I figured he needed to be taken down. And while it didn't really go the way I had planned, it worked out. Next time I might try a gun though...err...is there going to be a next time?"

Anu follows Jon up into the parking garage. As they ascend he asks,

"So...who are you exactly? And why are you helping me?"

As he waits for Jon's response, Anu begins to replay the events of the evening through his mind and he begins to get the tremors as all the adrenaline vacates his body.

"Oh...hell...I really killed that guy...didn't I?"

Anu nods and mumbles his thanks to Officer Vasquez and to the paramedics.

Looking at Jon and Hank he says,

"We're going?"

Anu heads over to get into the ambulance.

To the paramedics he says "If you don't mind, just drop me off at the front. The emergency room isn't necessary, right? You said I just need rest and fluids? Maybe just have me get checked out at the clinic so I can go home and rest."

Anu glances over at Jon as he finishes, hoping that he has a plan, as Anu has no real intentions of going to the ER or seeing a doctor if not absolutely necessary.

...He seems to hesitate before adding, "Officer? What happened in there...?"

Anu nods wearily and pulls the bloody knife out of his pocket (still folded down) and hands it over to Officer Vasquez.

"Yeah...it was his finds up for Auction...he asked her not to buy it all. It seemed like they were familiar with one another."

Staring off into space somewhat, Anu nods slowly to Jon's request.

Anu winces one more time, sitting up completely and cracking his neck suddenly. He blinks rapidly for a moment afterwards.
Turning to look towards Officer Vasquez,

"You need a statement?"

Anu looks at Jon oddly and says "Two fingers, and my name is Anu. I'm feeling okay...or at least not so bad now."

"That woman...her name was Dahlia...at least thats what Ferrano called her. They were talking, just before the auction opened...hmm..."

Blinking in confusion...Anu shivers slightly as he puts a hand to his head, wincing at the migraine. Slowly he tries to sit up a bit, hoping his last meal won't soon be decorating the street.

"...ugh....what happened..?" he says glancing about at everyone...to Jon he asks, "Did she get away?"

Noticing the medics for the first time, Anu looks at them with alarm.

"How long was I out?"

Anu hangs limply over Jon Simon's shoulder...looking for all the world like a body, being pale from blood loss. Even more so if the blood on his shirt hand or face can be seen.

Go ahead and move forward with things everyone. I won't be home until 2:00 PST tomorrow and then gaming later that day. So hopefully I will have time to catch up on some stuff once I get home.

Fatespinner, don't hesitate to keep me unconscious for a bit if that makes things easier to manage until I get home, especially since we are in the middle of the action right now.

Anu hangs limp...hazy images of the last few seconds of that surreal moment play over and over in his head.

Glancing about worriedly, Anu approaches the bag and unzips it using his knuckles of his blood-free hand, not wanting to leave evidence on it. He has to be sure of whats in it...has to.

"Damn...all I wanted was to ask her to coffee..."