IC-Chapter 1-Never Get Old(Rawlings/Yeager/Bill Johns/Jim)

[Philulhu]

Bill paused and studied the TV then shook his head. He could never understand why conflict between two nations could start over something so ridiculous as a game of soccer. He knew that thousands would die and the consequences would rumble on for decades.

He flicked the TV off and headed for the shower. Twenty minutes later he was heading out the door and in the direction of the station, eating a toasted bagel as he went.

[Mr. Handy]

Police Headquarters, Franklin Square - Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
7:30 AM - Friday, July 18, 1969

Bill walked to police headquarters and arrived with plenty of time to spare, half an hour before his shift was set to start. Hardly anyone was in the office, but Lieutenant John Yeager's office door was open and his light was on, so he had presumably also gotten in very early. He had been working pretty late last night too, but then again, so had Bill.

[Philulhu]

Bill helped himself to a coffee and headed for Yeager's office. "'Morning LT," he said as he pushed open the door, "Any news to report overnight?"

[Mr. Handy]

"Morning, Bill," said Yeager, who was sitting behind his desk. Paperwork covered part of its surface. "It's been pretty quiet overnight. No sign of Brian Anderson yet, or of that con artist Leblanc from Louisiana, though I think that guy probably skipped town if he had any sense. He had to know we'd trace his prints."

[Philulhu]

"LeBlanc?" said Bill, as he took a seat on the corner of Yeager's desk. "Don't think I came across him. What's he been up to?"

[Mr. Handy]

"He's one of the guys we arrested outside Professor Anderson's house night before last," said Yeager. "We sent his prints in. He made bail yesterday morning too, and shortly after they cut him loose we got word back that he was wanted in Louisiana. He ripped off some rich guy back in Lafayette. Nobody's seen hide nor hair of him since he got out, but it wouldn't surprise me to see him mixed up in this mess."

[Philulhu]

"Jesus," said Bill, "Who isn't mixed up in this mess? Any idea what LeBlanc was up to or was he just sniffing around looking for drugs?"

[Mr. Handy]

"Maybe he was sniffing around for Morpheus," said Yeager. "For something that's supposed to be new and experimental, an awful lot of people seem to have heard about it. We do have an APB out on Leblanc. If he sticks around, it's only a matter of time before he gets picked up. He's a fugitive in an unfamiliar city, and we know what he looks like. He caught a lucky break once, but it won't happen again. He's not Richard Kimble. We'll find him, get what he knows out of him, and then extradite his sorry ass back to Louisiana."

[Philulhu]

"So what are we gonna focus on today?" asked Bill. "Are we still focussing on Anderson junior or have we got other leads to chase down?"

[Mr. Handy]

"If we can locate Brian Anderson, that would help," said Yeager. "So far, he hasn't turned up, but we have guys looking for him. In the meantime, there is a new lead. There was a murder last night in South Philly. Guy named Jimmy Salvatore, also known as Jimmy the Hand. He's a notorious fence. He was found tied up, tortured, and murdered in his apartment early this morning, but it looks like he's been dead awhile. Homicide Division is in charge of the murder investigation, but there may be a link to our case. A ledger was found in his home that refers to a recent business transaction involving Morpheus."

[Philulhu]

"OK, I'll check that out," replied Bill. "Who's my contact at Homicide?"

[Mr. Handy]

"You don't know anyone there yet, so it's best if we go together," said Yeager, standing up. "I'd want to talk to them personally, anyway." He shook his head. "Well, I don't want to, but it's important that I do. Those guys in Homicide think they're better than us." He led the way back through the office, talking as they went. "The man we need to see is Lieutenant Frank Little. He'll point us to the detective assigned to the case. Little and I have something of a rivalry going. He just has to try to show me up every chance he gets."

Bill went with Yeager out to the hall and down to the eastern end of it, where they reached the entrance to the Homicide Division. Yeager pushed open the swinging half-door in the waist-high wall that separated the entry area from the main floor of Homicide. There were a few detectives in plainclothes sitting at their desks and others walking back and forth on various tasks. Yeager flagged one of them down. "Lieutenant Little in?" he asked.

"Yes, sir," said the detective, carrying a mug of coffee and a file folder to his desk. "He's in his office."

Yeager nodded and led Bill to an office door with the label "Administrative Lieutenant," on which he knocked. "Come in," came a gruff male voice. Yeager pushed open the door, revealing a spartan office that looked fairly standard. Lt. Frank Little sat behind the desk, a bald man about fifty years old with a black mustache, smoking a cigarette. "Oh, hello, Johnny. Who's this, your dad?"

"Real funny, Frank. No, this is Bill Johns, my new sergeant."

Frank Little regarded Bill skeptically.

[Philulhu]

Bill decided to hit this one head on. "Lieutenant Little, we're investigating the Morpheus drug. Jimmy the Hand was involved in shifting the stuff and he's dead. If you can help us work out what happened to Jimmy and who killed him, we'll be outa your hair again."

[Mr. Handy]

"Ah, the Salvatore case," said Little. "That just came in this morning. I've assigned Detective Brooks to that one. You should talk to him."

"That's the guy with the coffee we spoke to on our way in," Yeager told Bill.

"Going in circles as usual, I see." Little chuckled.

"Don't laugh. We might just solve your murder for you."

[Philulhu]

Bill nodded an abrupt thanks to Lt. Little and made his way back across the room.

"Detective Brooks, he said as he approached, "I'm Detective Sergeant Bill Johns. Your LT tells me that you're working the Salvatore case. Jimmy was dealing in a substance called Morpheus, which we've been looking into. Perhaps if we work together, we can crack the case?"

[Mr. Handy]

Yeager went with Bill to Detective Brooks's desk.

"Good to meet you, Sergeant," said Brooks, raising an eyebrow. "So Morpheus is a drug, huh? I'd been wondering what that was. It's the last transaction." He reached into a cardboard box on his desk and pulled out a little black book, "This was Salvatore's ledger. It was well hidden, but we practically took the crime scene apart and located it. Says he purchased two units of it along with some papers for a thousand bucks from someone named Terry, but it's all in shorthand. Can't even tell if this Terry is a guy or a girl." He handed the book to Bill. "You can take a look if you like."

OOC,[b]Bill[/b], please roll Accounting.

[Philulhu]

OOC,[url=http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/3764589/]Bill tries to work it out. (1d100=5)[/url] Yup, got it :)

[Mr. Handy]

Bill knew enough mathematics and economics to make complete sense of the ledger. It contained meticulous records of a series of business transactions that were skillfully disguised so that it wasn't apparent at first glance, but Bill could tell that they were purchases of stolen goods, which fit with Salvatore's reputation as a fence. The same names of his clients appeared with frequent regularity, including this Terry, who had been one of his best performers for the past few years. In some of the early records in the ledger, which dated back as far as 1965, there was a client named Terrance Williams who disappeared from the ledger shortly before Terry showed up in 1966. It wasn't a stretch to conclude that these were one and the same person, and that after a while Salvatore had switched to using a shorter variation of his name. The Morpheus purchase had the previous day's date, and the transaction had occurred at around 4:00 PM. Bill also noticed that there had been a transaction on Monday evening. Someone named Marianna had paid him a hundred dollars as an advance down payment for Morpheus - which he did not acquire until Thursday. She did not appear anywhere else.

[Philulhu]

"It looks like 'Terry' is Terrance Williams," said Bill, pointing out two entries in the journal. He traced his finger down the page and tapped the entry for yesterday. "Do you recognise the name 'Marianna'?" he asked. "She - or he - paid a downpayment for some Morpheus..."

[Mr. Handy]

"Marianna?" said Detective Brooks. "No, I haven't the faintest idea who that is. I hadn't noticed the matching names either, but I'd only had time to glance through it."

"Good catch," said Yeager. "If this Williams is a thief who's been in the business for years, he'll have a record. We need to bring him in and have a chat with him."

OOC,The [b]Marianna[/b] transaction was dated Monday, four days ago. The last [b]Terry[/b] transaction was yesterday, which was Thursday.