"Yes ma'am, that will be fine. We are investigating the disappearance of Jeremy Avalon, he has not been seen in some days, and concerned parties are anxious to ascertain his whereabouts and to be reassured he is safe and in good health. I understand you have been a co-star of his and a casual aquaintence, and was hoping you could help us with information that could lead us to him."
Who are you working for? He ain't here anymore.
[ooc] I'm in the middle of my move and apartment hunting so posts will continue to be infrequent but I will check the board every couple of days [/occ]
So far so good, see if you can calm her fears, suggest a face to face meet so she can see for her self we mean no harm to either Billy or her.
"Emerald City Investigations, ma'am"
I forward our office's contact info and digital business card.
"We are a private investigation firm, we are not investigating any wrong doing, just attempting to locate Mr. Jeremy for a concerned client. Any information you could give us would be very helpful and quite appreciated."
I turn to Graul: "Do that scan thing you do if you don't mind, I want to make sure nothing has changed in the last few minutes..."
Okay I'm coming down.
A moment later the door opens a little and you see a busty blond wearing a silk robe. She has a black eye. She looks around suspiciously.
So you're from a private investigation firm?
I know Billy. Billy came buy my place a few nights ago. He was really upset and wanted a place to stay. We used to date a while back, but we haven't been together in a while. Anyhow, my boyfriend Jeff was over at the time. He went to the door and started giving Billy a hard time and told him to take off. They had a bit of an argument and Billy punched him out. Jeff was really pissed and he started yelling at me and Billy, and then he left. Afterwards Billy told me what happened and how these gangers came buy his place an tried to kill him. I kinda felt sorry for him, so I said he could stay for a while. The thing was, Jeff was still really pissed about what happened. He's kind of obsessed with his appearance, and I guess he had a big black eye. Anyhow, he's got some connections with some kind of nasty people, and he sent this guy buy. He took Billy. I don't know what he did with him, but he told me to keep my mouth shut. I've been trying to decide what to do for the last couple of days.
How did you know to look here for him.?
Graul sees his chance and jumps at it "Of course we knew you knew each other Ma’am! You’re Cindi Starr! You’re famous! You’re so great! I’ve seen all your Sims and…ah” Graul starts becoming aware of the incredulous stares his teammates are giving him “…and…ah..that is our…um, …investigations led us to….ah…Maybe I should just go wait in the van now.” Says a thoroughly embarrassed and dejected young Troll.
He slowly starts to turn away but is obviously hoping someone will tell him he can stay.
To Graul: "Kid, stick by me and watch my six, I'm sure Ms. Starr is used to exuberance from fans."
To Ms. Starr: "Ma'am, do you know where we could find your boyfriend? It is vital that we accomplish our client's request, and it seems that this...Jeff, did you say?...should be able to give us the information we need to track down Billy. Just sit tight and call us if anyone comes poking around, or if Jeff comes by starting a fuss. And ma'am? If it's all the same, we'd appreciate it if you kept the police out of this. You don't need the publicity, and it would just get in our way. Billy's safety is our primary concern in this."
Rick makes a mental note to blacken her boyfriend's other eye. Roughing up women is not acceptable in his book...
Uh, yeah. Here's the thing, Jeff's also kind of a producer that I do a lot of work for. His name's Jeff Treehorn. Billy used to do a lot of work for him too, before he went into rehab. The thing is if you guys go talk to him, he'll know I snitched, and I'm worried what he'll do to me. So is there someway you could do this without him knowing. If it helps I think I know the guy who came buy and took Billy. I think people call him Mick- Mick the Brick. Problem is, I'm more scared of him than Jeff.
To Graul: "Kid, stick by me and watch my six, I'm sure Ms. Starr is used to exuberance from fans."
To Ms. Starr: "Ma'am, do you know where we could find your boyfriend? It is vital that we accomplish our client's request, and it seems that this...Jeff, did you say?...should be able to give us the information we need to track down Billy. Just sit tight and call us if anyone comes poking around, or if Jeff comes by starting a fuss. And ma'am? If it's all the same, we'd appreciate it if you kept the police out of this. You don't need the publicity, and it would just get in our way. Billy's safety is our primary concern in this."
Rick makes a mental note to blacken her boyfriend's other eye. Roughing up women is not acceptable in his book...
Hoss is keeping an eye on things and taking this all in, but decides to say something. (Hoss has the Blandness quality so she may not have even really noted him earlier)
"Well Ma'am... if Billy used to work for him, and they had a falling out due to the rahab, that would be all the excuse we need to talk to him leaving you out of it. That being said, any idea where we might find this Mick fellow?"
"I've heard that Mick is "connected", if you know what I mean. I'm don't know where you'd find him."
Do you know if his connection is pasta, sushi, dim sum or pho?
"Pardon me a moment..."
I step away and get on the horn with Duke, one of my "connected" contacts...
"Duke. Rick. Yeah, that Rick...Hey, have you heard of a mook goes by Mick the Brick?..."
Duke Contacts picks up.
"Rick, haven't heard from you in a while. I'm kinda in the middle of something right now, so I can't talk long. Yeah I heard of Mick. He's with the Finnegan family- one of O-Malley's boys. I'd stay away from him. He's a nasty SOB."
"Thanks Duke, I appreciate the heads up"
Hmmm...
"Ms. Starr, thank you very much for your time. Don't worry, your name will not come up in any of this. Here's our contact information, don't hesitate to call if you have any new information, or if you need help. Good evening, ma'am"
Back in the van:
I bring the team up to speed on what I found out about Mick the Brick.
"O.k., seems like we have a situation, with the mob being involved and all. Being subtle has never been my strong suit, so if any of you have any less than direct ideas..."
Before they leave, Graul can't help but step forward and say, very shyly but still looking Ms Starr straight in the eye "Um, Ms Starr? Are...Are you OK? I couldn't help but notice your eye there and, well..." He falters for a bit but then takes a deep breath and stands up to his full impressive height "Maam, Whoever did that to you is no kinda man. I hope you don't mind, but this here is my personal number" he gives/sends/whatever it to her "If whoever did that to you comes around or causes you any kind of trouble again, just gimme a call, Any time, and I Promise you I'll teach him some manners and he'll Never bother you again" Somewhat surprised at his own boldness, Graul's shyness in front of the beautiful woman returns and, unless she has anything to say to him, he retreats back to the safety of the van with his teammates.
Once Rick shares his info, Graul says "Well, we can either go after this Jeff sleezeball or this scumbag Mick. Or both. Seems like at least one of them should have some info on our target. Thing is, we just have to make sure however we do it we don't cause any further problems for Miss Starr...We could maybe try to play one off the other? 'Mick said so & so about you' 'Well, Jeff already sold you out so..' that kinda thing. Or, I dunno, you guys got any ideas?"
"Kid, I like the way you think. I'm sure this Jeff character is responsible for Ms. Starr's shiner, and any ammount of discomfort we can cause him would be just desserts in my book. Now, Mick is 'family', so as long as whatever passes for 'honor' in his world isn't involved, we may be able to negotiate an equitable solution to our problem."
"You know what else I like about you, Graul? You got class, kid. That's a rare thing these days..."
Graul pauses for a moment, not sure if Rick is doggin' him or not but then finally smiles his big ugly Troll grin at what he takes for an honest compliment "Gee, thanks Rick! That's means a lot coming from you. I mean with, you know, you having so much experience at this sorta thing and all." The young mage sits back with a smile on his face, finally starting to fell like he's a welcome and functioning member of the team.
After a few min he sits forward again and says "So, how do you think we should approach this 'Mick' guy? You know where to find him and all? What would the 'Family' think of us coming in as detectives into their turf?"
"Kid, we're privae eyes, not cops. The mob uses private dicks on occasion, when they don't think their mouth breathers can get information in a subtle manner. The problem I see, we don't know why the mob is involved. Poor sap must owe quite a bit for the mob to get involved, if it's even about money. I hope it IS just as simple as throwing nuyen at the situation..."
Rick enjoys working with Graul, the kid's enthusiasm and naive manner softens Ricks cynicism and makes him feel a little better about the state of the world. Hope the kid can keep from being too darkened by these times...
Graul nods his head as Rick clarifies things for him "Right Right, of course." He pauses in thought for a second then lifts his head with a mischievous grin, speaking with a very poor mob-like tough guy accent "An' ife don' agree, I kin jus get in his head like and Make him do what we want" as he wiggles his fingers in the age-old 'hocus-pocus' fashion and winks.
And this time his less than pleasant appearance only serves to heighten the humour of his jest.
What's the plan?
Since it's mob there's two ways to get info from them or their enemies. Assuming it is mob and not just Mick doing a freelance favor. Let's do a little discrete questioning. I still have a few contacts on that side of the street. We can phrase it like we are working on something and want to make sure we're not stepping on any toes, on one side and looking to spoke some wheels on the other we'll just have to be careful.
Graul trusts to his teammates greater experience in these types of matters and will go along with whatever plan they suggest. He'll mentally ready himself for when his skills and talents Are needed.
<Sorry... been away on a business trip>
Hoss is there and basically up for whatever you need.
"I haven't been a dick that long, at least not a private one... so I'm along for whatever ride. I'm probably best used as quiet backup though..."
Where would you like to go next?
I'll attempt to contact my sources for more information on Mick and if this was mob action or freelance.
"Hmmm, what would be the value of putting surveillance on this Jeff character? Visual, electronic..." I nod to Graul "...mystic? He seems central to Mick's involvement, perhaps he might slip up and give us a clue?"
"I think that's a great idea. as for me though, I'd have to be pretty close, and maintain concentration to put the 'spook' on him. Maybe the tech boys back at the office might have something we could use?"
"First, I think we need to Find him though"
You know his name is Jeff Treehorn, and that he makes porno sims. It shouldn't be too hard to find the guy.
"Ok, so electronic surveilance, Enoch, you're man can take care of that? Graul, what do you need to keep the mystic eye on him? Hoss, what do we need for physical surveilance?"
I rub my chin, thinking...
"Enoch, what did you come up with on how "official" Mick's actions were?"
For me, I have to be able to see him, or at least see the place where's he's at, similar to how it was at Miss Starr's. I also have means to getting the truth out of him if that proves to be necessary. So just lead me too him and I can deal with the rest, if we decide to go that route.