Play@YSDC

12.45pm Sunday 14th March 2010, Lucas Road, High Wycombe

One day since Regina Balfour was rescued.

Kris and Jocelyn arrive at Lucas Road in about ten minutes. It's a pretty well-to-do area of Wycombe inhabited by commuters into London due to the proximity to the train station. They pull up outside a large modern house, double fronted with a big double garage attached. It stands in its own wide plot of land behind a low brick wall and with an extensive driveway across the front. It has no hedges and only one tree so the police vehicles are quite exposed, particularly when the ARV arrives as well.

Sitting outside waiting for Simon, after about ten minutes a woman comes out of the house and knocks on the window of the patrol car.

-----

By the time Simon arrives, dropped off unceremoniously by Burke on his way back to the station, he finds Kris and Jocelyn sitting in the large and ostentatiously furnished front room with a young white woman in her mid-twenties. Is attractive, with elaborately styled brown hair and noticeably fashionable clothes. She introduces herself as Rachel Johnson.

Kris produced his warrant card he made introductions. ”Miss Johnson, we’re looking for Johnny Zero. We understand that you know each other? Possibly through the church? Have you seen or heard anything from him recently?”

"I'm pleased to meet you, Rachel," says Jocelyn. "I'm Jocelyn Leigh. Don't worry, Johnny is not the target of our investigation, but we are worried that he has fallen back in with the wrong crowd. It's important that we find him. He might be in danger."

"Dr. Simon Eagleton. I'm just here as a consultant for the police." Simon smiles disarmingly.

Rachel considers the question for a moment, and starts to speak quite slowly. She looks anxious but her voice is steady and she is well spoken with an upper middle class Home Counties accent.

'I know Johnny. I know him through the church, the Church of the Passover Angel. I haven't seen him for a few days. I've tried to call him but he hasn't answered. In fact, his phone didn't seem to be connected.

Simon's presence in particular seems to make her nervous, she keeps looking at him as she speaks.

'Is this something to do with Regina?'

"It might," says Jocelyn. "Why do you ask?"

Rachel narrows her eyes suspiciously at Jocelyn. 'Because Johnny said he was helping the Reverend Balfour try to find her.'

"No reason to worry about that." Simon steps in. "As I'm sure you've heard on the news, Regina was found safe and sound. We were all actually there when she was rescued. She's with the social services now who are looking after her and making sure she's fit to be released back to her family. As I am sure you can understand she had a very traumatic ordeal, and was without her medication for a few days. There's also the matter that two individuals conspired to kidnap her; while they have both died, we cannot rule out that there may be others who wish to target her. We need to make sure she is truly safe before she is released, the last thing we wish is for someone else to attempt to harm her."

"As for Mr. Zero, we just wish to speak with him. He seems to have gone to ground and that concerns us given recent events. Given one of the perpetrators of Regina's kidnapping was a former church member, we just want to be sure there's no connection there."

As he speaks he tries to get a sense of why she seems so nervous towards him. He knows he's a rather attractive man and hard to resist expressing admiration for, but this struck him as more than that.

psychology 75%,

1d100

"This puts Johnny in a much more favourable light," says Jocelyn. "How exactly did he say that he was helping Reverend Balfour? I just wish he had come to us instead of going off on his own. We could have worked together."

”Anything you can do to assist in our enquiries would be most beneficial,” prompted Kris.

She squirms in her chair, 'I'm not sure that Johnny was doing what Reverend Balfour asked, but he said he was going to see if he could find anything in Zac's house, Zac Newman, the man that died in the Eden Centre. They said that George Lewiston is his real name.'

She sits forward, speaking slowly but clearly she says, ''I'm only a writer, but I don't think Johnny is involved in Regina's kidnapping. He was friendly with Zac but he left the Church of the Passover Angel a while back. I don't know anything about police work but even I can see that you should be looking for a connection between that Peale woman and Zac. Not breaking into a church.'

The way she's nervously looking at Simon in particular, checking his response to her answers suggests two things to him, first, despite his devastating good looks she also likely knows who he is, knows there's something about him in particular that she needs to be wary about, and second, that she's anxious about her answers, anxious about what he'll make of them in particular. He's not convinced she's lying necessarily, but she has something to hide.

As she talks you notice that her right hand is shaking and her left is trying to hold it still.

"There are things about our investigation that the public are not privy to," says Jocelyn. "We found the connection between Lindsay and Zac early on. And our search of the church was not fruitless. Are you feeling all right, Rachel? Is something wrong with your hand?"

Spot Hidden roll (60% skill) at Rachel's:
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1d100

"My colleague is right, Rachel. They were related," Simon says, seeing little harm in admitting it now, and hoping the fact would lead her to trust them. "It's actually how we were able to identify Ms. Peale as a suspect and track her down.

"You seem anxious." He notes. "Please, don't be. Everything we've done has been to protect Regina. I actually volunteered to enter in to her motel room and try to talk Lindsay down, while she had a weapon pointed at me. If we were bad people we'd never have risked our lives to save her. And we would not have come here to interview you unless we felt someone could still want to harm her. Mr. Zero may very well know something about Mr. Lewiston or his co conspirators, and it would be better for everyone if we could speak with him and learn anything he knows."

His eyes widen with realization as he mentions Zero. "You know who I am though, don't you? And you've spoken to Johnny recently. Is he here, Rachel?"

(40%) 1d100

Kris noted the trembling hand. ”Is there anything you would like to tell us?” he said.

"I was with them when we rescued Regina," says Jocelyn. "Lindsay blasted me with her shotgun for my trouble. If it weren't for my vest, I might not even be here. I'm still badly injured. I can show you some of the scars if you like. We only want to protect Regina. We believe she may still be in danger."

Rachel pulls her hand into her lap. 'Everything is fine. I'm just not used to dealing with the police, that's all.'

She doesn't seem surprised that Lindsay Peale and George Lewiston were connected but her face because more alarmed when Jocelyn talks about being shot, 'That sounds horrible, being shot, the Peale woman dying...' she looks far away for a moment, '...the recordings. It must have been very hard.'

Then her face hardens, 'I'm afraid I don't know any more, I don't where Johnny is. Like I said, I haven't talked to him for a few days.'

She knows exactly who he is - he can see it in her face. Whether she's lying about Johnny, well, he's not so sure about that.'

You recall that Johnny Zero's mother said that Rachel is a teacher, she just said she was a writer.

Jocelyn is sure Rachel knows more than she's saying, but she doesn't know how to get it out of her. "Thank you," she says. "Regina is safe and unharmed now, that's the important part."

Idea roll (70% stat) about Rachel:
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(70%) 1d100

Rachel’s attitude was starting to rub Kris up the wrong way. She’d better start co-operating or she’d be taking a trip down to the station.

"What recordings are you referring to?" Simon asks. Did she know about the tapes?

"Rachel, I'm a trained psychologist." Simon points out gently. "I can tell when people are nervous due to unfamiliarity with speaking with the police,and I can tell when there's something more afoot. And I get a strong sense of the latter with you, just as I'm aware by looking into your eyes that you know who I am and have been carefully considering your answers because you're concerned how I will react to them."

He holds up a hand to silence her protests. "You're not in trouble. As my colleagues have noted we're only here because we are concerned about Regina. We believe she could still be in danger. Mr. Zero may know nothing, but given his previous affiliations with Mr. Lewiston we need to speak with him to see if he has any useful information. If you know anything, no matter how seemingly insignificant, I'm asking you to tell us. Regina's safety could depend on it, and I know you want to keep her safe just as much as us."

At the mention of the recordings Simon can see that the game is up. Rachel's expression takes on a resigned cast. 'Okay, okay. I haven't told you everything. But I don't know where Johnny is. I really haven't heard from him for a few days.'

She hesitates, and looks like she is trying to think how to best phrase what she is going to say. 'I do know a little bit more about what's been going on than I've told you. I shouldn't have let slip about the recordings should I?' she says, looking at Simon.

'I'm not just a writer. Well, I am a writer, but I'm more than that. I'm a freelance reporter, human interest pieces, that sort of things. At least, that's what I used to do. Then, something happened, the details don't matter, but work became harder to come by. Someone approached me with an offer, an offer i couldn't turn down. Do some undercover stuff, talk to people, join a cult. That sort of thing. So I got mixed up in the Church of the Passover Angel.'

Pausing for dramatic effect, seemingly warming to her theme, she continues. 'It wasn't just the church. Once Regina disappeared I needed info on the case. So, well, I had a few contacts in the police.'

She turns her palms upwards in a gesture of openness. 'But that's all I know, honestly.'

”You had better tell us everything you know,” said Kris firmly. “Specifically, what is Balfour’s planning to do. We know he’s up to something and it’s going to be very bad if he gets to carry it out.”

"Do you know of anyone else in the church who was also undercover?" asks Jocelyn. "Who was it that approached you?"

"You seemed rather nervous. Do you fear the church?" Simon asks. "I suspect you've seen enough in it to know that Balfour and his ilk are dangerous. And we fear that danger is imminent. What was your impression of Johnny, would you call him a true believer?" he asks,studying her carefully for anything else she may be holding back.

Looking a bit more panicked she says 'I saw stuff...saw some things...things I still don't understand. But I don't know any more than you about what's going to happen. Balfour says there will be a sacrifice, be a reckoning, that the Passover Angela will bring some kind of Armageddon to the world. But I don't know how he intends to do that.'

Asked about anyone else undercover she winces. 'Well, Zac, I didn't know it, but he was recording things. When he was singled out, I thought I was rumbled as well, I thought they'd know what I was, I was terrified. As to who approached me, well, like I said, I was going through a rough patch, I needed the work, I was contacted by someone from the Global News Service, Geraldine, Geraldine South, she sorted a few things out for me, put me in contact with Vince Carthon, he's my editor. I just told them what was going on, in the church, in the investigation. I've seen some of my stuff in their reports by that Julie Thomas woman.'

'Do I fear the church? Look, I've seen some things, I fear them alright. I don't know what they can do but I'm afraid of them anyway. Johnny, is he a true believer? I don't know. I mean, I don't know if he believes in the whole Passover Angel stuff but the church gives him purpose. He's important, he's trusted, he's someone in the church. He's Balfour's enforcer, his odd-job man.'

"Julie Thomas has caused so many problems," says Jocelyn. "What we have to tell you cannot end up in the news, at least not until this is all over. We think Balfour does intend to make a sacrifice Tuesday night. He believes God told him to offer up Regina, like Abraham offered Isaac. God told him no such thing, of course, but he believes it. We need your testimony to keep her out of his hands, at least until Wednesday. It's the only way to make sure she stays safe."

"I think we all have," Simon admits, somewhat reluctantly. "We saw the Passover Angel, a sudden hail storm on the motorway... not to mention whatever went down in Lindsay's motel room. I still do not remember all the details." He thinks that may be for the best. "I am quite confident there is a logical explanation for everything, but I've seen enough to know Balfour has access to some nefarious equipment and people, and he may have enough influence to bring this apocalypse down on all of us."

"We appreciate your information, Rachel, and know we shall of course keep it confidential. Have you told Thomas any of the more... concerning elements of Balfour's faith and what you have seen? From what little I've seen of that Thomas woman's reports, they've always been heavily sympathetic towards him. If we could get some of the other side out there it could help us keep Regina away from him for the time being and obstruct whatever it is he's planning." He adds, supporting Joceyln's point. "Any recordings you have of Balfour that are incriminating could be useful on that front. As for Mr. Zero, we believe he's doing whatever it is he's doing at the behest of the reverend.

"I can tell you we're looking into all this, Rachel, because we believe Balfour is dangerous as well. When all of this is over, I at least have no objection to offering you an exclusive on the case." If he played this right he might be able to get a book deal out of all this. Perhaps Cumberbatch could play him in the movie.

”I’d like to take a formal statement, Rachel,” said Kris. “As the others have said, this might be enough to keep Regina out of her parent’s grasp. Otherwise, that young girl could be in serious danger.”

She gasps, 'Regina? No! I didn't, I didn't know...'

Eventually she answers Simon and Kris, her face hardening. 'I don't report back to Julie Thomas, like I said, my editor is Vince Carthon in London. I don't know what he feeds to Julie but I haven't seen much of what I give them. But they pay well, so I keep on submitting it. Maybe they're planning on a big exclusive, on the Tuesday night, the service?'

'I can give a statement but I don't think I've got anything useful to say. Balfour's a religious fundamentalist, he believes the end of the world is coming. He has some...strange rituals. I don't know what good that will do.'

"It may help," says Jocelyn, "as will any recordings you've made. What we really need to do in order to ensure Regina's safety is to find Johnny and convince him to implicate Balfour. Perhaps we can make a deal with Johnny to reduce his own legal jeopardy in return for his cooperation."

"I have my doubts that will work." Simon points out. "I'm convinced Johnny is working for Balfour and that's why he's gone to ground. The trouble is, we don't know what he-- they-- are planning. I was hoping you'd be able to contact him for us Rachel, but if that's not possible we're back to square one." He frowns. "I don't suppose you have any idea where he may have gone? Even an off hand mention of somewhere he likes to lay low in the past could prove useful now."

"If you don't have any recordings directly implicating Balfour, my suggestion is you continue to tape him. Perhaps as the date grows closer he will reveal more of his plans to the faithful; if that happens please either contact us or go to the authorities with it right away. The same if Mr. Zero should think to contact you; see if you can't pry anything out of him."

He smiles in what he hope sis a charming fashion. "In any case, you've been a great help, and your cooperation is appreciated."

'I haven't made any recordings. I wasn't going to be another Zac!' She looks pleading, 'I don't know where Johnny is. He had some friends back in London, he could have gone there. But I don't know anything about them, names or anything. I'll tell you if he contacts me, I will.'

"Okay, thank you for your help, Rachel," says Jocelyn. "Your statement may help keep Regina out of her father's hands a little longer."

"Aye, you've done well." Simon adds. "Just keep an eye out and let us know if the good reverend does anything suspicious."

Kris thanked Rachel and handed her his card with his contact details. ”If you hear from Johnny or anyone else connected to the church, please let us know.”