Despite how LITTLE my brainwaves worked when thinking up possible plots on the last
chapter, I went ahead and started on the NEXT one. One of these days, Common
Sense will win out over Masochism. Just as soon as Masochism gets rid of the whip.
Anyway, I think that all the people are extremely OOC, which, really, begs the question,
"Why am I continuing?". And then I wonder why I'm asking myself questions, and that's
usually when I go take a nap before the arguments start inside my head. But what about
you guys? Do they seem insanely OOC? Or is it believable? I've always thought that any
personality trait is acceptable, as long as you give a good background for the change.
That's always been my big draw to AU - I get to play around with the characters lives,
and try to justify why they have such gaping flaws (but in Mamo-chan's case, his flaws
are already crater-like). And then of course, I know I'm a good writer if people think that
the person STILL seems like their beloved Usagi or Rei or Mako or whomever. But I
dunno. Give me your thoughts. Please? Please and carrots?
slr_europa@yahoo.com
http://www.geocities/slr_europa/
AIM :: SeeShelliRun
*********************************************************************
Strip Search, 2/?
By Sailor Europa
"Well, well, well…." I mumbled, pulling an expensive pair of binoculars from the
bag that sat next to me. I leered carefully 500 feet in front of me, where the tiny little
Miata was parked, third space from the left in the gravel lot, a good 45 minutes from the
Rinkfort home. "This case might not be a complete waste of time after all."
I waited, on the off chance this was a fluke scenario, to make sure that she
wouldn't come out five minutes after entering, before I began using the zoom lens on the
camera. After a good ten minutes had passed, I grinned as I screwed the attachment on
the automatic body and began recording the beginnings of the case. I made sure to get an
extreme close-up of the license plate, and some basic shots of the car next to a pick-up
(nice little suggestive picture), and eventually, using the wide-angle, a full shot of the
door, neon sign, and the precious little Mazda, wrapping everything together nicely.
I debated on whether to stick around for the wife's exit. These things were always
up in the air. If she was having an on-going affair, then she might have only gone in for
quick drink with this guy, and would, at one point, leave with him. Or, she could also be
the continual infidel, who only goes to flirt, giggle, tongue, and top the night off with a
quickie in the woman's bathroom. If it was the latter, she would most likely be a while.
And more than likely, he wouldn't be able to get any evidence of her with another guy.
However, if she was meeting a specific man, it would any minute now. And hell, it
wasn't an uncommon occurrence for the actual event to take place in the back seat of a
car. The case could be over before it even had a chance to get anywhere!
I tapped the dashboard, biting my bottom lip in thought. I glanced at the digital
green lights on the silent radio; 11:49. I decided to give her until a quarter after midnight
before I called it a night.
I took a good look at the environment surrounding me. The seedy atmosphere
certainly didn't seem to fit the image the wife of a professor was expected to project.
When she could have gone to four star restaurant, she had instead chosen a hick bar,
complete with huge four-wheel vehicles out in the parking lot, and loud country music
blaring so loud on the inside that even I was slapping my knee to the beat. I was surprised
as it was that she was even stepping out at all, let alone at a place like this.
Of course, the contrast to her everyday life might be her exact m/o for choosing
this bar over someplace nicer. In many cases, that was just what the adulterer was looking
for; a change of pace.
I glanced back at the clock; 12:18. I shrugged and stretched uncomfortably in my
seat, yawning aggressively. I shook off the exhaustion and plugged the key into the
ignition once again. I grinned involuntarily, knowing that tomorrow would NOT be a dull
day.
*****
"Yes, that's right Mr. Rinkfort…." I began, only to be interrupted for the
hundredth time during this phone call. I sighed, and mouthed off silently into the phone,
rolling my eyes, secretly glad I had opted NOT to meet the man for lunch to discuss my
findings. I had developed my film early this morning, when I admit I am not usually at
my best, and had actually considered driving down to deliver these in person to him.
Lucky for me coffee tends to bring me to my senses.
"Yes….Yes." I answered, although for all he knew, he was talking into a wall,
seeing as how I couldn't get a word in the conversation edgewise. I was beginning to
realize why Serena liked to roam…..
"Yeah, I have the pictures in front of me right here." I nodded into the phone. He
took a couple deep breaths and calmed down, allowing me to get a little more input on
the situation.
"Well, from where we are now, we actually have a lot of options…." I began,
before he cut me off once again. I gritted my teeth until my jaw hurt to keep from barking
into the receiver. "I was just going to TELL you what they were…." I sighed.
"Well, we can go in with some hidden camera's and try to catch her in the act. I
have a few contacts who can set up a bartender, or a dance partner to get in some pretty
good evidence." I listened patiently as he went off on another tangent and studied the
surroundings of the bar in the picture. The seediness of it was amazing; primal logs of
wood made up the railing of the porch and the door frame, leading to a creaky, unsteady
and unsafe plank floor that lead downwards to the even scarier looking steps. I shook my
head, wondering how the termites could have missed this place.
"The downside of that is that with hired help they are limited to the places they
can go." I sat back up and stretched, cracking my neck in the process. "Yeah, well, I had
my own suggestion, if you don't mind." I listened to him gripe and bitch and moan some
more. 2 more eye rolls, an annoying itch and five minutes later he let me explain.
"We send someone in to try to tempt her." I sighed as he started again. "Well,
we'd try the most two most obvious types of men: one who is almost a carbon copy of the
spouse, and someone completely different. And then we work from there, if need be."
"Who would I get?" I tapped my Harvard U pen against my desk and stared up at
the ceiling in thought. A grin suddenly broke out all over my face.
"I think I might know just the person…."
*****
"You're making me go out in THAT?"
I sighed, exhausted, as I threw the suitcase back onto the motel bed. I wrung my
face in my hands and shook my head.
"Look, Andrew, we need someone who looks relatively like her husband." I
tossed the pair of glasses angrily towards him, and he just snatched them up, irritated.
"And right now, I don't have the funds to hire someone to do the job well." I smirked.
"So I'll settle for you."
He pouted. "Thanks for the vote of confidence." He picked up the white button
down and matching sweater vest and scowled in disdain. "I can't believe you want me to
go out looking like some Dungeon's and Dragon's reject." I laughed.
"Don't let Mr. Rinkfort here you say that." I chuckled incessantly as I lifted up
the high-water khaki's. "I did a good job on this though. Looks like I might have raided
his closet." Andrew shook his head.
"Who in their right mind would want to? Bill Gates?"
"Just put the outfit on, and I'll give you the plan, OK? Honestly, no wonder
you're still single. You need to pull that pole outta your –." He slapped me in the back.
HARD.
"I'm SELECTIVE." He stated proudly.
"No, you're anal retentive." I snorted, flopping into the chair next to the window.
He just gave me the evil eye. I smiled back innocently and pulled the mic and battery
from my pack. I threw him the kit and I yanked out the accompanying earphones and
tested the volume.
"OK, now here's what I think we should start out with." I said, snagging the
phones so they hung around my neck. Andrew's head tilted in my direction as he
wrapped the wire around his torso and attached the miniscule mic to his undershirt. "We
can't have you be TOO much like her husband, or she might get a little leery of you. So
just, play it cool. You talked to this guy; try to get inside his head. Or we might as well
call this a night right now."
"For God's sake Darien, I've been doing this as long as you. I know what I'm
doing here." He snapped, pulling the button-down dress shirt on angrily. I rolled my eyes.
"Whatever." I replied. "Just be careful."
He tugged on the sweater vest finally, and completed the ensemble with a pair of
thin, wire frame glasses perched on his nose.
"Am I snooty enough for you?" He asked, obviously displeased with his attire, as
he did a little turn to model the outfit for me. I laughed.
"Can I call you Pip?"
"Funny." He scowled. "Can we just get this over with?"
*****
"Well, that was a total bust…." Andrew snarled angrily as he stalked up to first
double bed in the motel room and fell face first into the faded floral bedspread. I sighed,
dejected and upset at the events of the evening. Things had certainly turned out NOT in
out our favor.
"Yeah, I guess the carbon-copy wasn't exactly what she was looking for…." I
stated, yanking off my leather jacket and tossing it on the back of the plain desk chair. I
sat down with a flourish and laid my chin in my hands. "Guess we'll have to try plan
B…."
"Well, thank GOD that doesn't involve me….." Andrew sat up and practically
ripped that glasses off his face in disgust, and threw them against the wall before laying
back down. "I had the urge to order a Shirley Temple and discuss chess moves all night
long. I think this wool has some sort of weird power over me…."
"Maybe you're just coming out of the Nerd closet, Andrew." I grinned. But under
the nights circumstances, and the way the taller man was glaring at me, I could he wasn't
in the mood. "Sorry, wrong time." I mumbled.
"Yeah, tell me about it." He groaned and rolled over on his back. "All I want to
do is sleep and forget I was ever put in this position." He slowly turned his neck so that
he was facing me, and stared me down, unblinking, for a good 2 minutes straight. "And
believe me, Dar, you owe me BIG time after this." I scoffed.
"You've gone under cover before, Andrew. It's part of the job." I stretched and
then shrugged, confused. "What got your pants in bunch over tonight?"
"You mean besides having to dress up like the white Steve Eurkel?" He asked
incredulously. "Which, to me, was bad enough." I laughed.
"Yeah, besides that." I flopped down in exhaustion on the accompanying bed and
stared at him in earnest. "I didn't have a front row seat, I wanna hear all the details."
"Geez, shall we give each other facials and share international coffee's too?" He
snorted. I shook my head and chucked a pillow at him, which he promptly caught and
placed under his head. "I just don't enjoy being rejected, that's all."
I couldn't help myself. I laughed. HARD. I could only imagine the daggers he
was shooting me, but at the time, I was too busy rolling around on the bed in hysterics to
notice.
"YOU weren't being rejected, genius!" I managed to cough out, in between
chuckles and hiccups. He glared unhappily at me before beginning to watch the wall
intently, the same look of malice etched on his face. "You were playing a part, there's a
difference."
"Besides, this was just a teaser, to see if she would take the bait." I shrugged, after
I had composed myself and stifled the last few giggles for his sake. "She might not even
be an infidel at all." I rolled onto my back, and pulled my hands behind my head. "So you
see, you might not be hopeless after all."
"Gee, you're certainly generous with the compliments tonight." Andrew bit back
sarcastically over his shoulder as he strolled into the tiny, beige bathroom to change.
"So come on, Andy, tell me more of your little run-in with Mrs. Rinkfort!" I
shouted, ignoring his sensitive streak. "Was she wearing a ring?"
"Yeah, as a matter of fact she was." He answered, his voice muffled through the
slightly closed door between us. I sighed. This case HAD been more interesting than I
had originally thought, but it was beginning to feel like a roller coaster ride. Just as I was
beginning to have hopes for the possibilities this case could take on, things dropped down
to mundane again. I was beginning to understand why Mr. Rinkfort always looked like he
was on crack….
"Damn." I muttered, whipping my exhausted face with my hands. Andrew walked
out, looking much more relieved, in his normal relaxed jeans and thick sweater, blonde
hair still a wreck from the evening. "I really thought this case was going to be going
somewhere…."
"So what's the next plan?" He asked, dropping like a stone onto the bed, pulling
his shoes on.
"Well, since dressing you up like a little professor didn't work, we head towards
the other extreme…." I trailed off, squinting out the window as I absently watched the
cars speed by the urbanized area.
"Find ourselves an oversexed playboy?" He asked. I could just hear him smirking.
"Maybe not quite that bad," I laughed. "But something to that effect, yes." I took
a deep breath and exhaled slowly, wondering who I could get to play such a part. I
blinked a couple times in thought and then sighed. "Definitely built a bit more physically,
preferably with a darker tone…." My mind clicked with prospective images, trying to
figure exactly who would be enough of an opposition to the Professor to contrast him
correctly. "Bit more cool…to a fault, even." I stated.
"Sarcastic, maybe?" Andrew added. I was too distracted to notice any change in
his previously annoyed voice. "Tries to keep to himself, but help but be Mr. Charming,
out of habit?"
"Yeah…."
"Dark, jet black hair," He had become a bit more positive of his opinions, and I
perked up, paying closer attention to his words. "Dark blue eyes?"
"Yeah." I mumbled, nodding as a tiny smile slid onto my face. "That's perfect,
Andrew." I turned to face him and shook my head. "How did you come up with that?"
The smirk on his face could have said it all and he leaned back, chest puffed up and out,
eyes not even bothering to conceal their amusement.
"I'm lookin' at him."
**********************************************
Well, I wasn't planning on leaving it this short, but Ely convinced me that this was the
PERFECT cliff-hanger, and since it's been a while since I left ya'll hanging on a limb, I
figured I was overdue. HAHAHAHAHA
Feedback, please? PLEASE?! I'll beg if I have to....
slr_europa@yahoo.com
http://www.geocities.com/slr_europa/
AIM :: SeeShelliRun
(
geocities.com/slr_europa)