Play@YSDC

Holly looks to Christopher to see if he has any final questions he wants to ask Pizner.

Christopher Fontana

Chistopher shakes his head, nothing else to ask comes to mind. Now they had to figure a way to neutralize Pizner and to deflect Walker's interest. Somehow he doubted that they could persuade Pizner to intercede on their behalf, they would have to come up with a plan and that could be dangerous, especially if they had to remain in L.A. for much longer.

"Let's get Walker's telephone number, we might need to contact him."

Christopher motions Holly to step away and lowers his voice "How much of this is Pizner likely to remember?" he asks.

"I've already got Walker's number," Holly whispers, showing Chirstopher on her notepad where she's written it down. "I've never done this before, so I can't be certain, but he should experience some memory loss. How much - who can say? He may remember bits and pieces."

Christopher Fontana

Christoper nods "OK, that could work in our advantage... do you think we could get him to telephone Walker and say that he's warned us off and he'll be out of touch for a day or two?" he pauses "I mean... would he be convincing?"

"For the next minute or so, he can't help but speak the truth," replies Holly. "Getting him to do something will require persuading him, though. He may also sound drugged-out, but Walker might chalk that up to drinking."

Christopher Fontana

"Hmm, yes, that's probably too risky.. I can't think of anything else and we ought to be getting out of here, unless it's worth going over to his office?"

"It probably won't be worth it," whispers Holly, "as we've milked him for all we could, and we don't want to be seen there if he has a secretary or something. Let's get moving."

You put Pizner to sleep once more and load him back into the car. After driving close to where your own car is parker, you leave him inside with a gun and some booze, and look for a policemen to report him. After that, you walk to your car, and plan your next moves.

"We still have time to go to the Times," says Holly, "though now we have more important things to research. We need to find out whatever we can about Trammel in Pasadena. He's at the top of the food chain. Or we can try to contact the others and fill them in on what we've learned first, but they may be in the middle of things with Buchwald."

Christopher Fontana

Christopher checks his watch, dealing with Pizner has cost them a chunk of time but had alerted them to a whole new threat and avenue of investigation that needed to be followed up on. "Let's carry on with our original plan and complete out research at The Times, Pizner wasn't aware of our destination so we ought to be in the clear for a while. We can warn the others when we meet up later on."

Holly nods. "The Times it is," she says, starting to drive there.

You reach your destination less than twenty minutes later. The offices of the newspaper look very new, and clean, and bustling with activity. You introduce yourself and wait for a few minutes until a man in his forties comes to greet you. His name is Matthew Hudson and he was the editor in charge of Ian's work during the months he spent at the LA Times. Hudson welcomes you warmly and seems to be one of those people that naturally make a good first impression, with a large smile and big blue eyes. "Nice to meet you. I was expecting you a couple of hours ago, did you get lost?", he asks while shaking your hands.

Christopher Fontana

"Pleased to meet you Mr. Hudson" Christopher says warmly, as he shakes the editor's hand. "No, not lost exactly but we were unavoidably detained and could not phone ahead, sorry if we've caused you any problems."

"Did Ian explain what we hoped to find?" he asks after the introductions have concluded.

"Not really", he answers thoughtfully, "I understand he's back in town, and he's asked me to cooperate with you and answer your questions. I can guess this is about his "secret project", as I can't think about anything else. You see, a few months after he arrived here, he told me he was working on something big. He said he wasn't ready yet to reveal the full story, but it was huge. A large scale drug operation, corrupted cops, something that would rock the entire city. I told him to be careful, but he is a stubborn one", he concludes shaking his head.

"We need to start by finding out whatever we can about a big shot in Pasadena named Trammel," says Holly. "Ever heard of him?"

"Trammel, huh?", he thinks for a couple of seconds, then shakes his head, "First time I hear the name, I'm afraid. We can check the archives, though. Do you think he's involved in some sort of shady business?"

Christopher Fontana

Christopher smiles ruefully, "Well let's just say that the name came up recently and definitely needs some further investigation." he realises that Hudson will look into things regardless of what they say, the man wants a 'scoop'.

"Say... have you heard of a 'shady' Private Investigator by the name of Pizner?" he asks... maybe they could deflect things a little and make things more uncomfortable for Pizner.

OOC:   I assume that we're not really going to be able to keep any research 'secret' from Hudson are we? If that's the case we're better off finding out all we can about Echivaria and Trammel and letting Hudson make of it what he will.