IC - 28 - The Big Smoke - Simon and Jocelyn

[Silver Priest]

"Sounds acceptable," Simon reasons."I don't like Balfour being left alone anyway. With what just happened to his wife, I think he's going to do something and someone should have eyes on him."

[Mephistophilis]

Simon and Jocelyn loiter down the end of the street, waiting to hear back from Kris. They can just about still keep a look on the flat without being seen themselves.

After a few minutes of standing around a couple of young men stroll past them, laughing and joking. There's a whiff of cannabis in the air as they pass. They show any sign of having taken any particular interest in Simon and Jocelyn. But they stop at the end of the road, leaning against a low wall, chatting and smoking. They're probably no older than seventeen. One of them is tall and skinny, the other a bit more heavy set, not fat though. They both look like they could be black or mixed race. Neither looks back down the road but they don't move away either.

After fifteen minutes they're still there. Showing no signs of moving on.

[Mr. Handy]

"Looks like the occupant of the flat called a couple of his mates," Jocelyn tells Simon. "We don't dare leave one of us alone here now."

[Silver Priest]

"So what do you suggest we do?" Simon whispers quietly on his phone call, still miming expressively. "Can you arrest them for their ah, toking usage? Though that will surely attract attention."

[Mr. Handy]

"I don't have any arrest powers here," says Jocelyn. "Kris does, so maybe he can do it once he gets here. We should just keep an eye on things while we wait for him to call us back."

[Mephistophilis]

One of the lads, the skinny one, starts walking away from them, up the Marischal Road. The other one stands about for a minute smoking whatever it is, then looks around and starts walking back down the street towards Simon and Jocelyn, seemingly uninterested in them, or, at least, not looking directly at them.

[Mr. Handy]

Jocelyn moves aside as if to let him pass, motioning for Simon to go with her. She feigns disinterest in the young man, but she's on high alert. Her hand is on her mace. It isn't showing, but she's ready to act if he tries anything.

[Silver Priest]

Still on the phone, Simon's not sure he wants to leave as soon as the shifty teen passes, given how suspicions that may look.He continues his nonexistent conversation but casts a quick glance at the gentleman to try and gauge if he's more interested in them both than he lets on. Like his partner, he's worried the lad is going to try something.

1d100

[Mephistophilis]

The young man looks Jocelyn up and down and gives her a brief smile as he walks by. He doesn't even look at Simon as he strolls on past. Then continues down the road.

Glancing at the young man, he's full of the swagger and bravado you'd expect of a teenager, but his expression is open and guileless. He doesn't seem to be showing any special interest towards Simon or Jocelyn, at least, no more than might be expected from two unfamiliar faces standing about in his local area. Simon also noticed him checking Jocelyn out in a particularly unsubtle manner. If this guy is watching them for some gang then he's damn good at keeping himself looking casual.

[Silver Priest]

Simon waits for the man to get further down the road before saying into the phone, "It's fine. Nothing to worry about, I doubt it's even related to what I'm doing." Looking at Jocelyn as he says the words, he's confident she'll get the message.

[Mr. Handy]

Jocelyn keeps a discreet eye on the man, seeing which way he is going.

Is he going back the way we came?

[Mephistophilis]

The first young guy went back the way you'd come (north west), the skinny one. The second guy hung around smoking for a few minutes then walked the other way (south east), past the flat they're watching, past Simon and Jocelyn, and carried on walking away from them past a children's playground, turning right around a semi-industrial looking building, and out of sight.

[Mr. Handy]

Jocelyn gives Kris a call to update him on the situation and find out what's happening on his end.

[Mephistophilis]

You can talk to Kris in this thread.

[Mr. Handy]

"They're on their way," Jocelyn tells Simon when she's done with the call. "Sarah Balfour is being taken to hospital, so that should keep her out of play for a little while. The chap in the flat is most likely Henry Samuals, former gang member of the 318 Crew. He has priors for drugs, robbery, and assault, and he was in prison for being part of the murder of a rival gang member. He got out three years ago. And get this: one of his fellow gang members was Anton Harmon, now deceased. Louise Harmon is his sister. Her daugher Chantelle Harmon is nine years old, and I think they may be planning to use her in the sacrifice instead of Regina. The gang no longer operates, but Kris has contact info for his probation officer."

[Silver Priest]

Simon ponders the new information.

"We've established Louise still has connections to her brother's old crew. But I'm still not convinced Louise herself is involved with Balfour's church; she wasn't on the members list. I still believe her connection to this mess is more likely to have come from Johnny Zero. Zero pokes around and upends her life, then you come around which sets her off and she goes running here for protection. However, we can't discount her daughter, or her being radicalized by Zero." He bites his lip, then taps his phone, looking Louise Harmon up to see what kind of digital footprint she had. Specifically if she mentioned religion at all.

[Mr. Handy]

"Kris just told me Louise is a member of the church," says Jocelyn. "Her daughter is on the list too."

[Silver Priest]

Simon looks up at this, surprised. He takes it, then nods, grave.

"Then I believe we have our prime suspect. Can we find out where Chantelle is?" He's unsure exactly what they could do with that information, though his darker thoughts whisper some ideas to him. Still, he'd probably not act on them.

[Mr. Handy]

"She'd probably be home from school by now," says Jocelyn. "We have her home phone number from the list. We could try calling without identifying ourselves. If she picks up, we can always ask for Louise, who we know isn't there, and then say we'll call back later when she says so."

[Silver Priest]

"I'm not sure what that does for us," Simon says. "This Samuals chap is on probation? I don't suppose we can cook up something that gets him arrested, preferably along with Louise. No, unlikely. I'm starting to see why they felt compelled to grab Regina," he admits.