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Oct-6-2009 15:36

Things don't always go as you would want them to go. I looked at the dead body of 26 year old Carol Fisher. She had been mutilated by someone. Stabbed a total of seven times and then shot once in the head. The local police knew who the killer was. The problem was finding him. They had a name. They had proof. They had physical evidence that linked him to the crime and witness evidence. It was enough evidence to put him a way for life.

I was worned that he is a master of disguises. He can disapper with the blink-of-an-eye.

Detective Thomas McDonald looked at me when I was finished examining the body. "I heard about your reputation around here."

"What about it?" I asked

"If you can catch our killer, Charles Craig, I can promise a handsome reward." he replied.

I thought about it. Money. I needed money real bad. I was behind on rent for both my apartment and my office. Money is good.

"Fine. I'll take it," I said and I left back for my office. I reviewed the background and case file of Mr. Craig. This wasn't going to be easy, that was for sure. I decided to make a phone call to a few friends of mine to see if they would be interested in making some decent money in helping to find a killer who could blend in to even the smaller crowds.

It was dark and there was nothing I could do for the night. I'd have to start in the morning. So I went home for the night to get some sleep. The next morning, went to my office to make a call to a few friends to see if they'd be interested in making a few dollars in helping to find this killer.

Oct-29-2009 14:31

I was sitting alone in the back of the bar mulling things over, and had just gotten up to leave when a man bumped into me. “Watch it,” he said. My eyes narrowed. I gave him my “I’m gonna kill you” look, and he turned and ran. As my stilettos made rapid clicks on the sidewalk, I saw something that made me pause for a second. “Who is that in the distance?” I thought to myself, straining my eyes. It looked like Marc…but it couldn’t be. What would he be doing in London? As the man ran around the corner and into what I knew to be a deserted dead-end alleyway, I smirked. I swiveled to a stop, pulled out my gun, and aimed down the alley. It was empty. “What the hell? Where did he go?” I murmured to myself as I looked all around. There was no trace of him in sight. Even more annoyed now, I turned to go over and find out if it was really Marc I had seen before.

A couple of minutes later, as I approached him, I could clearly see it that it was Marc. “Hey,” I said, ad clapped a hand on his shoulder. “Gah!” he yelled and jumped about a foot into the air. When he turned around and saw that it was only me, he relaxed a bit. “Jeez, calm down. You look terrible.” I said, backing up a little and surveying him. “What are you doing in London, anyway?” Marc proceeded to tell me the whole story.

“Wow, it looks like you’ve got a lot on your hands here,” I mused. “And I think I’ve seen the guy you’re after. It’s the jerk I was just chasing down the alley when he suddenly disappeared into nowhere. Hey, let me help you guys find him. I need to bash that guy’s face in.” Knowing better than to question my motives, lest he come to injury himself, Marc gulped, and then agreed. “Come with me,” he said, and proceeded to lead me back to the hotel to meet the others.

Oct-29-2009 18:17

Molly inclined her head slightly at the newcomer and smiled. A thought had just occurred to her, and she was working out the details furiously in her head.

Charles Craig had been hired by her ex-husband to assassinate her. She had assumed the job had been put off because of the teams pursuit, but what if he would take the shot...if given the chance?

She took a drag on her cigarette and thought. It would be a tricky trap to rig; one miscalculation and she would be nothing but a murky shape at the bottom of the Thames and a few extra 0's added to Craig's bank account. The thought of being killed didn't bother her so much; she was under the distinct impression that she really wasn't much use to anybody and hardly anyone would miss her if she were gone, but she was afraid of the prospect of great pain, and off gumming up the works for the case that her friends had worked so hard on.

"Tricky, tricky..." she murmured to herself, and every set of eyes in the group swiveled to her. She raised her head and smiled.

"I've had a thought," she began, and proceeded to tell them of the hit, while leaving out all the information about her connection to Billings, and how they could possibly use it to their advantage.

"Do you think using that could work?" she asked, looking to Heim. He seemed the most practical. If anyone could take such a piece of information and twist it to their advantage, it was he.

Oct-29-2009 18:29

Now there was six of us. Riza Hawkeye, Molly Maltese, Nellie McKinzey, Heimlich VonVictor, Charlie Cain, and Myself. Molly told us all that her ex-husband had put a hit on her, and hired Craig to carry out the hit.

"So what do we do now?" I asked my self. I asked this question over and over and over again in my mind. As we sat there discussing, it came to me. The simplest thought of all.

I was lost in my thoughts puffing on my pipe when the idea hit me.

"I got it!" I yelled and jumped out of my seat.

"Got what?" Heimlich asked.

"Think about it, Heim," I said, "Charles Craig is notorious killer. We have been chasing him since New York and have ended up here in London. He can't go back to New York because he has no where else to hide. Molly's ex-husband, Billings, is here in London-" I was cut short by Heimlich.

"So if we find Billings,-"

"Then we find Craig!" Molly cut in excitedly.

There it was. Our first big break in the case.

"Molly?" I asked. "Do you know where we can find Mr. Billings?"

Oct-29-2009 18:37

Molly tried with supreme effort to control the spasm of unexpected pain that crossed her face and instead smiled tightly. The others looked side-long at each other; every single muscle in her body seemed to have stiffened up until she sat as straight as a pole.

With a self-deprecating laugh, she ground her cigarette out in the ash-tray on the table rather violently and dusted the ash off her fingertips. "I haven't been able to locate Jack since I saw him years ago, gentlemen. That would have been right before he of course, torched my apartment with me still in it..." she smiled at them, but her eyes were steely. She felt an unexpected flash of anger towards all of them; she had wanted to keep Jack out of this. He was her own personal score to settle. "But I'm sure the Green Hand would know of his particular organization, I advise Charlie to waste no time in asking around. Now if you'll excuse me, I have some things to follow up on, when you have news, you may come by my hotel room."

Standing up abruptly, she stalked off and disappeared around the corner, already lighting another cigarette.

Oct-29-2009 20:23

Molly got up and left us all. We knew that Jack Billings had something to do with Craig and the murder of Carol Fisher. Why else would he be running to London? We also knew that he had put out a hit on Molly. She was now a walking target for Craig. He could be anywhere in the city, watching us all make our move. But where to find him?

Jack Billings wasn't going to walk up and introduce himself, that was obvious. There was only one thing to do. And that was to ask around.
"Charlie? I want you go find out what you can about Jack Billings and Charles Craig. Find out if the Green Hand knows anything about where they might be hiding."

"Will do," Charlie said. He then got up to leave to begin his investigation.

"Charlie," I called out and he turned around. "No funny business." I said to him.

He knew what I meant. And then he vanished in to the city's crowd.

"What about the rest of us?" Nellie asked.

"We stick together. Charlie knows what he is doing. Every instinct in me as told me to let him go to them. As much as I don't like it, I have a good feeling about this. The Green Hand might know something." I said.

"I think we should pay a little visit to the bar. All the crooks hang out in there, and if we're lucky, we'll find out something about Craig and Billings" I said.

The investigation was underway once again. This time, we had something.

Nov-1-2009 18:57

Molly sped around the corner, already lighting another cigarette mechanically. She was headed towards the library. Samantha Brown was a avid researcher of the worlds secret societies; her thesis about the Priory of Sion had won her awards. If anyone had any idea where to find the ringleader of the small rabid anarchist off-shoot of the Hellfire Club, it would be her.

Molly sailed through the front doors and immediately took note of the browsers before approaching the front desk where her old friend sat. She raised her eyebrows inquiringly, but Molly simply shook her head and penned a question on a blank slip of paper lying on the table before sliding it over to her. She read the question, once more looked around at the patrons of the library before flipping the paper over and scrawling an address on the back. She handed it to Molly with a nod; there was an odd look of resignation in her eyes, as if she knew this day would come.

Molly sailed out with a smile and consulted the paper outside. It gave the number of a residence on Lionsgate Road, which was mere blocks away from the library. She hurried there at almost a dead run, and before she knew it found herself before a stately manor.

Molly bit her lip, trying to decide how to approach when Fate and two thugs intervened. She was literally left in the dark as a black bag descended over Molly's head, and two henchmen lifted her, snarling, "your trail was so easy to follow; what kinda detective are you?"

Suddenly she was hurled rather unceremoniously on a hard wooden floor, and the bag was whipped off her head. She winced at the sharp pain in her knees but then realized she was staring down the barrel of a gun, attached to a very familiar hand, an arm, a chest, a face...

"Now, now, is that anyway to greet your wife?" Molly asked Jack Billings dryly.

"Ex-wife." he retorted with a cold smile.

Nov-1-2009 20:50

With Molly and Charlie gone, that left Heimlich, Nellie, Riza, and myself. But where would we begin?

Of course, we could go to all the major places wher people claim to have an alibi such as the podiatrist, tea merchant, the bar getting drunk, the barber, etc.

But not everyone in London would know about Billings or Craig. We'd have to dig deeper. Molly was the only one who knew Billings personally. The only other place we could go that I could think of was City Hall into the Hall of Records..if London even had a Hall of Records.

But the question was, what if they didn't? Where would we look if they didn't have a hall of records. That was what bugged me. If anything, I knew that Charlie could take care of himself. But Molly was a different story to me. She left in quite a hurry and it bothered me.

After a short discussion about where to begin, we decided to go back into the hotel and talk to the little man behind the counter. I didn't know his name. But of course, he was cooperative.

"Jack Billings..I have heard of him. But where to find him, I'd start by asking around in down town." He said.

"Where at down town?" I asked.

"Ask around through the people. They'll know more about him than anyone else." he said.

So we left and went strait for down town. (Contin..)

Nov-1-2009 21:01

In less than an hour, we made it to down town London. It was full of people; both civilians and mobsters. I'm sure that some were under cover detecitves just like us. But one thing caught my eye. It was a creepy looking character standing in the corner of an alley way watching all of the people.

We approached him and he quickly took out his badge but had it hidden only to where we could see it.

"Easy," Heimlich said, "We're on your side."

"Prove it," the officer said. All of us pulled out our badges and licenses to show him and he holstered his gun.

"You all got a lot of nerve coming on to this side of town," the man said. But there was something about him that made me suspicious. He had an American accent.

"We're looking for this man," Nellie said holding up a picture of Billings, "have you seen him?"

"Funny that you ask. I've been chasing that same exact man from New York. He's in a lot of trouble if you ask me. He's being charged with 2 counts of-"

I cut him off and said "Look, we don't have time to listen to what he's being charged with. We're looking for him and a high profile killer by the name of Charles Craig."

There was a silence before I spoke up again. "You're American..what's your name?"

"Brian Flannigan..I come from the upper west side of New York City. I used to be a doctor. But now I do this for a living. I can help you find Craig, if you let me have Billings and take him back." He said.

It was a tough thought. But in the end I decided it was a fair trade. In all honesty, I didn't really want Billings. It was Craig I was after, and that was who I was going to get. With one more member added to our team, we now had an advantage over Craig and his pal Billings.

Nov-1-2009 23:46

"You say tomato, I say tomahto." Molly shrugged, and then just to annoy him, straightened up and smoothed the front of her skirt, acting totally unconcerned by the gun he was pointing at her. "How have you been, darling? Married anyone lately? Burned any rich heiresses out of their homes? Literally?"

He frowned slightly. "Your wit was always one of your greatest shortcomings as my wife."

"Oh indeed." Molly said conversationally. "And your inability to keep your hands out of other peoples belongings, or keeping your gun...holstered, were yours."

He slapped her, an imperious expression on her face, and even though she staggered, she righted herself quickly and grinned at him with an impudent smirk. "Temper temper, darling, you wouldn't want your neighbors to see you quarreling."

He motioned quickly, and the two henchmen appeared, securing her arms firmly. He half-circled in front of her restlessly, aiming first at her heart, then right between the eyes and back again. She let her head drift to the side, as if bored, and watched him with frank amusement.

"Come on now, darling, your friend Charles Craig hasn't got all day left." she said, and then to infuriate him further, began tapping her foot. He looked utterly astounded, and then laughed, swooping in to kiss her on the mouth. She drew back and spit on his face.

"Really, Jack. Do TRY to control your raging passions." she said in tones of great disgust as he mopped off his cheek.

Nov-2-2009 19:46

"Brian Flannigan?" One of the men asked. He couldn't have been forty years old yet.

"Yes." Brian said.

"Brian Flannigan.....Brian Flannigan...where have I heard that name before?" He said.

"You got me" I replied with a smile.

After a moment of silence, he snapped his fingers. "I got it!" He said excitedly. "You were that doctor that quit after the mafia tried to get you to rule a murder as a suicide and you refused. It was in the paper. I remember reading it." He said.

Then he stuck out his right hand for me to shake. "The name is Marc Lacrimosa, Private Eye. These here are some of my new friends. I'd like introduce you to Nellie McKinzey, Heimlich VonVictor, and Riza Hawkeye." Marc said.

Brian shook hands with all of them. "Now," he said, "I have been following Billings from New York. I have an idea where his hideout is here in London. I was just thinking of the best way to bust through the door when you all showed up." Brian said.

"Where at?" Heimlich asked.

"Glad you asked", Brian said, "Its right on the other side of the building in front of us. It's a small appartment. I've been watching Billings for sometime and it seems that he's been going in and out of there for quite sometime. Care to check it out?" he asked them.

Everyone nodded. Then they left to check out the possible hide out.