Darkness on the Edge of Town

DeletedUser

Stewart sat in a corner of the train carriage, pretending to read his newspaper but actually watching the three men a couple of seats ahead that he suspected were other FBI agents. probably on the same job. the third man had only just woken up and was muttering something about Limes, and Limeys. whatever they were. the second man, who looked like the oldest of the three, had just stood up to talk the the third man. the first man, who was wearing a trenchcoat and a suit, stayed in his seat, watching the second and third men.
he decided to introduce himself.
Stewart folded away his paper, stood up and walked over to the first man, he sat down in an empty seat opposite him and held out his hand.
"I'm Stewart Richards. I'm guessing you're on the Century City task force?"
 

DeletedUser28032

Rick shook the mans hand firmly showing no suprise at his sudden appearance in the seat opposite him "I am indeed, I am Rick Derringer and the gentleman i was sat with is Jeffery Bauer...I take it your the Limey I am supposed to meet? he asked with a slight smile, the mans British accent betraying him as the man he was looking for after all how many British FBI agents could there be?
"So who did you upset to get lumbered with this dead end assignment?" he asked the man as he quietly studied his appearance, the man looked to be of the right age to have served in the war though he decided not to bring it up the last thing he wanted to do was dicuss the Marne and dredge up the old memories and the pain that would follow.
The countryside flashed by as the train made its way up the east coast to its final stop in Century City itself, where hopefully there would be someone waiting to meet them, prefferably Agent Bannerman so they could get started immediatley, Rick was already chomping at the bit, he didn't know about teh other four but he wanted to get this show on the road.
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Mrs Pitt
She glanced back nervously into the house at the young woman sat in her living room before returning her attention back to the man on her doorstep "Are you with the police?...because I've already told them all i know" she asked quietly, although the man didn't look like a policeman, he wore a suit instead of a uniform and looked a good deal younger than the two policemen who had asked their clumsy questions and awkward attempts to comfort her also his accent sounded funny, it wasn't local in fact she wasn't even sure that it was American "If you don't mind me asking...where do you cmae from...I mean you don't sound local" she wasn't sure that she wanted to speak to this strange looking an about her daughter in fact she had only let Nellie in because she had been nice to her.
Mrs Pitt stood and quietly waiting for the man to asnwer her questions before deciding whether or not to let him in.
 

DeletedUser

"it's probably because i take the 'shoot first, ask questions later' line. which hasn't made me all that popular with my superiors. do you know anything more about this case? or have you just been given the same briefing as me?" Stewart said.
he hoisted his suitcase up onto the luggage rack, the shotgun making the case rather heavy.
 

DeletedUser13682

"Oh of course, I'll sit with you." Theodore said, and moved to the location of the other two. He sat down, and a few seconds later, another man came up, sounding like he came from Britain. Must be the Limey the other guy was talking about. Sure enough it was, and as the two of them engaged in conversation, Theodore decided to talk to the guy who first talked to him. "Anyway, like I said before, I'm T.W. Duke. Never caught your name though. Besides which, you must've done something really bad to get sent here. Me, all I did was consume a few white peppers."
 

DeletedUser

"what are white peppers?" Stewart asked the previously sleeping agent. who, in Stewart's opinion, was quite possibly gaga.
Stewart wondered how the man would fare in a gunfight? would he shoot the enemy or lecture them on Limes, Limeys and White Peppers?
 

DeletedUser28032

"Drugs I am right aren't I?" Rick supplied the answer as the rest of his new team mates settled down around him, it was starting to look like the last chance saloon for them, screw up and they were out of here and if they were to die in the process then it wouldn't matter one bit to their superiors How the hell did i end up in this mess? I did the right things, I always caught the bad guy didn't I?
The train began to slow, its long journey coming to an end as they approached the Station a sign hung over the tracks said WEL_OM_ TO CENTU_Y CITY in bright blue letters, or at least it was blue where the rust hadn't eaten through what few letters remained, obviously this place was a destitue and deadbeat as he had first feared it would be.
Collecting his bag from where he'd left it on the floor Rick made his way off of the train with the others, very few passengers had bothered to travel this far north and even fewer were waiting to get on.
Stepping onto the near deserted concrete platform Rick watched as the wind blew a wrapper of some kind past his feet Jesus even the tumbleweed is garbage Rick joked with himself, gallows humour already beginning to kick it but what was worde was that there was just a feeling that something was just plain wrong almost and hated to use the word but .....almost.....Evil
A young boy no more than eighteen dressed in a policemans uniform was stood craning his neck, searching the faces of the passengers as they disembarked "Are you looking us boy?" Rick called somewhat annoyed at the fact that not only had Bannerman not bothered to meet them here but that he'd sent some raw, rookie cop to fetch them God dammit are we that unimportant?
Turning to follow the sound of Ricks voice the boy gave a slight jump before scurrying over to meet them, he was short with blonde hair and pair of watery blues eyes which looked nervously out at the four agents through a pair of wire framed spectacles "Are...are you the Feds Bannerman aasked for?" he asked nervously as if one of these big shot city cops would slug at any moment, Rick rolled his eyes this was gojng to be a long enough trip without some rookie asking silly questions "Yes we're the agents now where the hell is Bannerman and whats so damn important that he couldn't be bothered to meet us here?" the boy's already pale complexion grew paler as Rick bent his ear ou of frustration, although from what the boy was to say next it was probably due to having to deliver the bad news "oh geez you guys don't know....Bannerman dissappeared last night...no one knows where he's gone"
 

DeletedUser

So, they were five... six when Bannerman joined them. He had mis givings over working with some drug fiend. He'd heard all kinds of awful stories about what happens when they snap. As the conversation slowed they finally arrived in Century City. The other agents looked a little distraught looking at the town's desolation and disrepair. Jeffry didn't mind, at least there were people which was better than some of the towns he went through out west. As they stepped out onto the platform he felt something he didn't like. A cold wind seemed to penetrate his duster and chilled him to the bone. The last time that had happened he'd been chasing a band of sadistic Indians escaped from the reservation in Colorado. That had been an awful journey with awful memories; he realized this journey might be worst.

Derringer confronted a rookie cop Bannerman had sent, who informed them that Bannerman had vanished. This was bad; where could he have gone?

"Does Bannerman have any other agents deployed out here?" He asked the boy. Perhaps he was staying with someone else...
 

DeletedUser31931

"My name is Ben Aldous, madam and I come from England. I'm not a policeman no, I work for the FBI. I'm sure with your help we can get your daughter back safely and get the criminal caught which I want to do just as much as you. I don't like seeing innocent people having their lives ruined. I will track down your daughter and her kidnapper I promise. All I need is some help from you." With that he awaited a reply.
 

DeletedUser28032

The boy blinked at agent Bauer as he tried to phrase his reply "errr...well...Agent Bannerman wasn't all that popular with the guys down at the station and the otehr two agents stationed here were shot last night during a stakeout"
oh this just gets better and better Rick thought pinching the brideg of his nose "Ok then, best you gets us down to the station and then fill us in on whats been happening around here" he said trying to remain calm, it wasn't the rookies fault that things had gotten so screwed up.
As the rookie led them through the station, prattling on about some missing girl Rick fell into step with Agent Bauer "so looks like we have a disappearance and a double homicide to solve along with the bootlegging, any thoughts as to where we should start?"
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Mrs Pitt
Biting her bottom help as she battled to make a decision she eventually opened the door to her house "Ok I suppose it wouldn't hurt to answer your questions as well as miss Baileys" she said leading the man into the living room "I'll just go and put the kettle on whilst you two get acquainted" she said gesturing for Ben to sit down before she rushed off into the kitchen to return several minutes later with a small tray with three cups of coffee and a small fruit cake which she laid on the low coffe table in the centre of the room. "Please feel free to help yourselves its only Alice who really eats the stuff" she stopped mid sentence at mention of her daughters name, for a few startling moments it looked as if the poor woman would burst into tears before finally getting her self under control and asking in a calm if sightly high voice "Ok what would you two like to ask me?"
 

DeletedUser

"Hmm... Well I would recommend with starting at Bannerman's place then check the spot where those two agents were murdered. I don't know what else to tell you seeing as how this kid doesn't know a thing. Maybe we'll find something rookies like them would miss. By the way I did work in Hoover's newfangled forensics section. If we find something they could look at, well I could send it down and we could see if anything can be made of it. Not that it would help as I don't think they have the type of resources Hoover wishes they had. Just a thought though."

Jeffry paused to listen to what the boy was prattling on about, sounded like a serial killer or some kind of kidnapper was loose in town. Great just what they needed to complicate matters...
 

DeletedUser31931

(OOC: Going back in time here.)

Whilst Mrs Pitt left into the kitchen Ben stuck his hand out to the woman. Miss Bailey was it she had said? "Hello Ms. Bailey. My name is Ben Aldous FBI. What are you doing here?"
 

DeletedUser25825

Nelli stood and smiled congenially as she took his offered hand in her own. She shook it gingerly and said, "My name's Nelli. I'm on assignment from the Podunk Daily. I was hoping to get some information concerning Mrs. Pitt's daughter for our readers." She continued to smile as she removed her hand from Ben's hand, and sat back down.

She looked over toward Mrs. Pitt as she returned, and smiled thankfully at the offered refreshments. She looked toward Ben and said, "I'm sure Agent Aldous has much more pressing questions than I Mrs. Pitt, so will defer to him first." She removed a battered notepad from her jacket pocket, and pulled a pencil stub from its bindings. She began jotting notes to herself, as she waited for the G-Man to start his interview.
 

DeletedUser13682

"Yeah, crazy stuff, the pepper is. Invented it myself actually. Nobody else has survived it though, told them not to try it. Oh well." On the matter, Theodore wouldn't talk anymore. They arrived at the station, and disembarked, the town feeling spooky and quiet, just the place for scary monsters and super creeps, like the murderers and grand theft sapienists of the mafia, and Theodore. He loved this place, so quiet and peaceful, and eerie at the same time.

He listened to the other people speak, not wishing to intrude upon their valued words with whatever nonsense he had. Besides, they had some pretty useful information that he could use. The thing sounded like mafia had done the job. Caught a couple of not so good agents spying on their bootlegging work, and decided that dead mouths were the quietest. Then there was the girl, and maybe Bannerman, who had disappeared. Maybe that was related to the homicides, maybe. An idea came to his head, maybe it was too crazy to ever work, but it was a possibility. "If we can get any information on this, or if we can't, I think I have a way to get to the bottom of this. Might not work mind you, but it might. You see, I have an informant of sorts, down on the mafia end, who might know a thing or two about Century Cty. But I don't want to use the person yet, only if we need more information."
 

DeletedUser31931

Ben turned to Mrs. Pitt and asked his first couple of questions "Was your daughter seen with anyone new in town or someone who didn't speak to the other townsfolk. I know you may have answered these for the police but could you tell me the answers anyway. Also What did your daughter say before she went missing? Did she say anything about where she planned to go etc?"
 

DeletedUser

"An informant. I'd save him for a bigger job than this. It sounds like at worst we have some rabid rum runners and possibly a serial killer. Nothing that demands much. If you want an informant best to save that guy for now. Now let's say we go inspect Bannermans quarters?"
 

DeletedUser

"Yes, We whould go to Bannerman's quarters, see what we can find." Stewart turned to the rookie copper. "do you know where Bannerman's apartment is?"
the boy hesitated for a moment, and then began to speak; "Err, I think it might be some where in 9 street, near the docks, number 8, or number 18. or maybe it's 7. I'm not sure." he mumbled.
Stewart sighed and turned back to the other agents.
"Right, we've got a rough adress, shall we move out?"
 

DeletedUser28032

Mrs Pitt
"No Alice is such a good girl...she knows better than to talk to strangers" she said shaking her head, both hands gripping the cup of coffee to stop them shaking, the FBI agent made her nervous, she felt as if she had done something wrong instead of being the victim. Taking a sip from her cup she anxiously awaited the next question
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“Perhaps it would be more prudent if were to find our quarters I don’t exactly want to go lugging this thing around” he said indicating the suitcase in his hand “Bannerman’s already been missing for several hours one more won’t hurt our investigation….show us where we will be staying” the boy looked at the group wide eyed as a sinking knowledge filled his head, it hadn’t started very well, he’d already forgotten Bannerman’s address and now this “err…we…haven’t booked anywhere…we didn’t know you we coming” the boy mumbled casting his eyes down onto the litter strewn floor.
Rick fought the urge to shout at the boy, it wasn’t his fault that this operation was such a shambles “Fine….Agent Bauer, Agent Richards go and find Bannerman’s apartment myself and Agent Duke will take our baggage to the station then with any luck we’ll be able to check his office” Rick spoke quickly taking control of the situation before it could get any worse “Go with the agents we’ll find our own way to the station” Rick told the boy, who preceded to gape at him, gabbling some feeble excuse at him, however Rick was not in the mood and so defeated by a single stony look the rookie retreated away hurriedly in search of Bannerman’s apartment.
With their partners luggage in hand Rick left the dingy station and started on down the street quickly locating the police station only a few blocks from the station. The station was a two storey art deco building, its once brilliant white paintwork now reduced to a grimy grey colour, a boarded up window on the second floor and hand painted slogans on the walls clearly told Rick how people felt about the police in Century City.
A man dressed in rags looked up at the two well dressed men as they approached the stations main door, his features were gaunt and his hair was long and greasy and it was clear that he hadn’t eaten for some time though his breath told the two agents that he had been drinking “I wouldn’t bother with them if I was you….they’re all useless….I tried to tell them but they wouldn’t listen to me” Rick turned to look at the man his curiosity piqued “what did you try to tell them?” the man gave them a gap toothed grin a gloved hand appearing from beneath his stinking black coat “That depends….a man gets awful thirsty whilst telling a story and a drink isn’t cheap”
 

DeletedUser

Stewart turned to Bauer as the others walked off. "right then, shall we set off?"
he walked out of the station and onto the road, he looked around, this was number 6 street.
Bannerman's quarters wasn't that far away.
Stewart set off, aware that Bauer was behind him. they turned a corner into 7 street. ahead of them a man in a bulky overcoat and hat was talking to another man at the entrance to a side alley.
keeping an eye on them Stewart continued to walk.
 

DeletedUser31931

Ben hadn't expected to get a break first time. He stopped for about minute and said "When she wasn't home do you where Alice hung out? Maybe someone was watching her as she went around town?" and he awaited a reply.
 

DeletedUser

Finally, something to do. After listening to Agent Derringers orders Bauer followed Agent Richards and the rookie who were quickly outpacing him. He looked around at the dilapidated setting that greeted them as they moved down the streets. As they got closer to the sea everything increasingly looked rusted and weather beaten, a fact that extended to the citizens of the town.

Watching how quickly the rookie and Richards were outpacing him Bauer decided to follow at a discriminate distance. They were moving too fast for him and in any case he figured he could watch the rear in case anyone jumped them.
 
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