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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Old Drew Id" data-source="post: 1258857" data-attributes="member: 12175">Episode II – Session I - InvestigationEpisode II – Session I - InvestigationThe front door to AAA Investigations had one of those copper cowbells hung just over the inside of the frame, so the door hit it and it gave out a loud clang as Willie stepped inside. That cowbell always annoyed the hell out of Willie. He had told his cousin Gerald a hundred times to get rid of it. A private investigation agency is not a f***ing quickie-mart. When he entered the front office, it was empty. At the sound of the bell, and perhaps from the aroma of the greasy sack of barbeque ribs that Willie was carrying, Gerald emerged from the back office, looking hungry and mean. He was buttoning his pants up, from his usual habit of unbuttoning the top button of his pants whenever he sat around behind his desk, to give his beer belly room to relax. Willie rolled his eyes as he handed over the ribs, “Smooth look, cousin. What if I had been a client? That the kind of look you want to give off?”“Oh, like you got room to talk, Mr. I-come-in-when-I-damn-well-please? You’re just lucky I was in the mood for some ribs. Now sit yo ass down and shut up.”Willie was about to ask when his cousin was ever not in the mood for ribs, but he decided to skip it. He had already decided, as soon as he could get the money up, he was done with this place. His cousin was an alright guy, really. Hell, he had given Willie a paycheck when he needed it. But Willie had seen how the place was run, and he knew he could do better. For starters, he wouldn’t put one of those stupid cowbells over the door. Gerald led the way back to his office, where he sat down at his paper-covered desk and tore into the bag of ribs like something off of the nature channel. Before Willie had even sat down and finished unbuttoning his jacket, Gerald was already elbow deep in grease and barbeque sauce. He looked up at Willie with a stern look and a mouthful of food. “I need you on the job tonight, Willie. Looks like we gonna need you all night, ‘til it gets done.”Willie rolled his eyes, “Alright, now you’re starting to sound like one of my lady friends….”Gerald ignored the comment and instead just focused his attention on using his tongue to pick some rib meat out from between his teeth. He glanced down for a second at his sauce-covered hands and then used the back of his left hand to shove a photograph forward from a stack of similar photos laying on the desk. He nodded for Willie to take the photo as he said, “Every agency in town is looking for this guy. We gotta be the one that finds him.”Willie studied the photo for a moment, committing the details to memory. It was a blow-up of a black-and-white image, probably an ID card photo kept on file somewhere. It showed a forty-something thin white male, with gray hair and glasses. Once he had it secure in his mind, he stuffed it into his breast pocket and pulled out his notepad. “What ya got on him?”Gerald shook his head. “Not much. Name’s Doctor John Hudson. Works for an outfit called Research Genetics Incorporated. They’re the ones looking for him. Apparently the company has lost its doc.”Willie jotted the details down into his pad. He glanced up again with a sudden professional tone. “Embezzling?”Gerald shrugged. “Don’t think so. Anyhow, they can’t find him. They said he may have gone crazy. They’re offering cash money to get him back. We’re dropping every other case right now, and putting everything on this.”Willie raised an eyebrow. “You put Mike and Johnny on it too?”Gerald nodded, “Hell yeah!” and inhaled another mouthful of ribs.Willie grinned despite himself. There must be some serious cash floating out there for Gerald to have put everyone on this. But Willie knew Mike and Johnny, and he knew what they were capable of. “The haven’t called in with anything, though, have they?”Gerald stopped chewing and frowned at his cousin. “They got an eight hour head start on you. But no, they ain’t called back in with any leads yet.”Willie nodded. “Got anything else to go on?”Gerald recited a suburban address which Willie copied down. “That’s him home address. They got the house open for you if you want to go check it out.”Willie chewed his lip. The address was deep in Mountain Brook, the city’s richest neighborhood; so the doctor was apparently pretty well-paid. But he spoke aloud the other thing he was thinking, “Well, if every agency in town has been through the house looking for clues, there won’t be anything there left to find.”Gerald growled back, “well, there might have been if you had come in earlier when I called you!”Willie countered, “Don’t you make me call Gramms and tell her how you’re trying to get me to skip out on church!”Gerald bellowed, “Get your ass out of my office!”Willie stood up, straightened his coat, and headed back out into the front office. He sat down at the receptionist’s computer and speed-dialed a phone number with one hand while he keyed in a web address into the computer with his other. The internet connection in the office was as slow as Christmas, but Willie was used to it. He entered his search into the website and waited for the results while he made his phone call. The phone answered after one ring, “This is Johnny.”“Johnny? Willie here. What you got so far on this John Hudson? I figure you already ran the background on him.”“Willie. About time you got to work on this… Alright, guy’s got a medical degree and another one in genetics. Been working here in town for ten years. Got his home address here, but that’s a dead end--”“Yeah, I kinda figured that already. Anything else?“ “Not much…he’s into hunting, judging from the stuffed animal heads at his house. And he had some pain meds in his bathroom cabinet. Nothing heavy, though.”“Hmmm…alright, where are you now?”“Staking out the house.” Willie could hear the boredom in his voice.“Where’s Mike?”“Staking out the research place where this guy works.”Willie imagined the same response from every other agency in town. “And I suppose there’s a dozen other guys out there too, huh?”Johnny chuckled, “At least that many. I figure if this guy actually shows back up here, we’re gonna have a brawl seeing who gets to bring him in.”Willie doubted the good doctor would simply return himself safely home at this point, considering the manpower that was out there, unsuccessfully looking for him. He made a decision, “Johnny, forget the house. It’s a dead end.”“That’s what I said! But Gerald told me to stay put.”“Forget that. Listen, can you get back into the house?”“Sure, but everybody has been through there---”“I know, but here’s what you’re gonna do. Go back to his medicine cabinet. Get those pain pills you saw, and get the name of his doctor. Then go check in with that guy. You might get some info from him, but if not, you can at least stake out his office. If this Doc Hudson did go crazy, he may have checked in with his doctor before he left.”“Alright, worth checking out, I guess.”Willie agreed, “It’s a long shot, yeah, but better that just sitting there waiting with everybody else. Anyhow, call me back if you get anything.”Willie hung up as the search results finally returned on the web site. The email address that Joe had given him was from <a href="http://homepages.ihug.co.nz/~dcandmkw/ge/biosteel.htm" target="_blank">jack_sanders@rgi.com</a> so Willie had just pulled up a search on who owned that domain name. The search results made him quickly curse and slap his own forehead. After another second, he was out the door and making another call on his cell phone, this time to Brother Cooper.</blockquote>

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