Amy and Overkill, Tasty Burger, Holly and E.56th, Commerce City, 3:07 PM, July 30th, 2075

Amy turns to Overkill, "well this shows a clear connection between the two events where this man shows up. You should prepare a picture that shows the van for when she comes back. If she ID's it, it's one more clue pointing in the same direction."

When Claire comes back, Amy says apologetically "I'm really sorry to have disturbed you by bringing back painful memories. But there's one last thing that I would like to ask you before we leave, do you think this is the van that you saw?"

Amy and Overkill, Tasty Burger, Holly and E.56th, Commerce City, 3:10 PM, July 30th, 2075

Claire's face is red and her eyes puffy, but she looks at the image that Overkill is displaying. "I think so. The color is the same, and it seems to be the same one, yes."

Amy and Overkill, Tasty Burger, Holly and E.56th, Commerce City, 3:12 PM, July 30th, 2075

"I guess that's all I have to ask you. Thank you so much Claire, I know this was difficult. I hope you will put this terrible incident behind you. Good bye."

Having nothing further to add, Amy and Overkill walk outside. "Well, that was pretty convincing, don't you think?"

Amy and Overkill, Tasty Burger, Holly and E.56th, Commerce City, 3:12 PM, July 30th, 2075


"You came off as well-organized and professional," Drave replied while marking a few files on the case in his AR display. "Good follow-up questions, you covered all the points I would have asked on. Ausgezeichnete Arbeit, Meine Liebling."


"Even though we got all the verification to make the connections to the other murders, I would still like to Hack into their system and get our crew a copy of that security footage. But I would actually prefer to wait until we can bring one of Grease's cars, to give me a safe place to do my work discreetly."

Amy and Overkill, Tasty Burger, Holly and E.56th, Commerce City, 3:13 PM, July 30th, 2075

"Good idea! And yeah we can come back later."

Considering what the next step should be, "I guess we can go towards Grease and Jack now, since we were to wait for Grease before continuing the investigation. It shouldn't be too long until they're done."

Manuel Residence, Leyden Street, UCAS Sector, 3:05 PM, July 30th, 2075

While Jack and Brandy are speaking in the living room, Grease wanders down the hallway, using the distraction to search the rest of the house. Wandering into the kitchen, he looks around, poking through the cupboards and closets.

Either the mother and child have enormous an appetite for Schlitz synthol, or this is in fact where Officer Manuel lived.

Hurriedly checking the room as he hears Jack announce he'd like to look into the kitchen, Grease sees what appears to be a paystub amid a pile of paperwork on the table. He quickly reaches for it, but his arm jolts a paper towel holder, knocking it over the knife rack, which, since it is precariously perched near the edge of the sink, falls over with a clatter - the heavier butcher's knife falling on top of a glass bowl, shattering it with a loud crash.

Wincing, Grease barely has time to glance at the "pay stub" and realize it is an invoice for their trideo service, shoving it behind his back as Brandy hurries into the room, Jack in tow.

"What happened?!?" Brandy looks at Grease questioningly, a frown on her lips.

Manuel Residence, Leyden Street, UCAS Sector, 3:05 PM, July 30th, 2075

Grease's eyes widen, and he mimics a pose of complete remorse. "O. M. G. I am sooo sorry! I was trying to figure out where the garbage disposal switch was. I am so clumsy sometimes!" He laughs, shaking it off. "We can of course pay to replace the bowl. The stuff in here is so nice! Jo-Jo, did you already ask about buying the furniture?"

Using his DNI to send a message, he quickly texts Jack.

<<@JustJack [Grease]: We have to ditch this bimbo and figure out a way to talk to the widow. Maybe I go upstairs while you check out the yard/basement?>>

Manuel Residence, Leyden Street, UCAS Sector, 3:05 PM, July 30th, 2075

"Of course, dear, I always ask about the furniture..." Jack replied. As he was speaking, Grease's text message popped up on his image link. Without a DNI, the ork was unable to respond via text, so he merely nodded and winked at Grease while Brandy was focused on the elf and his mess. "Our apologies for the accident, Brandy. By chance does the house have a basement?"

Manuel Residence, Leyden Street, UCAS Sector, 3:08 PM, July 30th, 2075

Brandy looks a little upset at Grease, but is mollified by his apology. "We'll see if payment is necessary, certainly if you buy the house, I'll compensate the owner for the bowl." She gives a little laugh. "If you can just leave that there, I don't want you accidentally cutting yourself on the glass."

She turns back to Jack at his question, "Yes it does, and it never takes on water. Let me show you." She moves toward a door set in the hallway, and opens it, motioning for Jack to go first. "Umm, Henry, can you come too? I think it might be easier for me to answer all your questions at once." She doesn't look like she is thrilled with the idea of letting Grease wander off on his own again.

Manuel Residence, Leyden Street, UCAS Sector, 3:08 PM, July 30th, 2075

Jack picked out the ARO for the basement lights and flicked the switch. The ork headed down the stairs without waiting for Brandy, figuring Grease could be the distraction this time; he was doing a good enough job as it was. Arriving at the bottom of the stairs, Jack took a good look around, looking for signs over Officer Manuel.

Manuel Residence, Leyden Street, UCAS Sector, 3:08 PM, July 30th, 2075

The basement is partially finished, with the area immediately at the bottom of the stairs a playroom, with a tridset and console, plus a bunch of toys that have been hastily swept aside, ostensibly for your visit. Taking advantage of the distraction, Jack sneaks around to the non-finished portion, and sees a bunch of boxes marked "Jimmy"

Manuel Residence, Leyden Street, UCAS Sector, 3:08 PM, July 30th, 2075

Grease recoils at the suggestion. "Down there? No thank you! All those bugs and dirt, that's Jo-Jo's area. I'll go check out the upstairs; I know what I'm looking for up there. Jo-Jo knows more about the mechanical, he can ask about the heat and whatnot." With that Jack sashays out of the room without giving Brandy a chance to respond, and heads for the stairs going up.

Manuel Residence, Leyden Street, UCAS Sector, 3:08 PM, July 30th, 2075

With Brandy still at the top of the stairs, Jack took the opportunity to sub-vocalize to Grease.

<<@Grease [JustJack] Keep her occupied, find a way>>

Jack rushed over to the boxes and looked for any clarifying markings before starting to rifle through them.

Manuel Residence, Leyden Street, UCAS Sector, 3:08 PM, July 30th, 2075

Stopping in his tracks and rushing back to the basement door, Grease gently grabs Brandy by the shoulder, turning her away from the Basement door. "Oh! Oh! Before I forget! I wanted to talk to you about schools! We want to make sure the home has value going forward; Jo-Jo is a bit of a handyman, and we'd hope to fix it up and sell it again after. Would you be available to do that? We aren't working with a Realtor currently..."

<<@JustJack [Grease]: Will do. Let me know when you're done by calling her down there; then I can go upstairs.>>

Manuel Residence, Leyden Street, UCAS Sector, 3:08 PM, July 30th, 2075


Relieved that Grease is not barreling around the house, potentially disturbing the owner, Brandy settles in to a well rehearsed routine. "I'm glad you asked. Schools here are very good. If you will look here..." She pulls up the relevant data from her commlink and displays it in AR for the two of them to look at.

Manuel Residence, Leyden Street, UCAS Sector, 3:10 PM, July 30th, 2075

Unbuttoning his shirt sleeve, Jack twisted the cuffs to allow him to manipulate the boxes without leaving prints. He went into the finished portion of the basement and activated the trid, turning the volume down to cover any noises he might make. Quickly grabbing a box labeled Work, the ork started rifling through it. He sub-vocalized to Grease again:

<<@Grease [JustJack] Give me a head's up if she starts heading down>>

Manuel Residence, Leyden Street, UCAS Sector, 3:15 PM, July 30th, 2075

After spending a few minutes talking about the local school system, Ms. Simmons says, "Henry, we should really be checking on Jo-Jo, the basement is very clean, as I'm sure he can attest to." She beckons Grease to follow her, and starts to walk downstairs.

Mentally forming the words to his message, Grease quickly sends:

<<@Jack[Grease] Time's up, Jack - she's on her way down.>>

Amy and Overkill, Tasty Burger, Holly and E.56th, Commerce City, 3:13 PM, July 30th, 2075


Drave checked the time, "Indeed, but lets make sure we take our time getting there, we don't want to interrupt them. I will send them a message telling them we are ready and to let us know when they have completed their tour of the house."


<<@Jack, Grease: "We have finished checking out the Hawthorne scene, and am sending you the pic one of the witnesses identified as the shooter; it would seem that Lynx is definitely our guy. I will return to retrieve a copy of the security footage when we have one of your cars available. Let us know when you have completed your inspection of the Manuel place; then we can meet up and head to the Wright murder scene.">>

Drave sends the pic along with the message, then pulls out his E-cig and patiently waits to hear back.

Manuel Residence, Leyden Street, UCAS Sector, 3:15 PM, July 30th, 2075

With Grease's text message lighting up his image link, Jack quickly grabbed a folder at random and closed the last box. Tucking the folder in the small of his back, he adjusted his jacket to cover the folder and returned the box to its place. He moved back into the finished portion of the basement. buttoned his sleeves, and picked up the trid controller, flipping through the channels. As Brandy and Grease reached the basement, Jack said, "The room has a fun setup for parties. I was wondering though, do you know if there is an outlet behind those boxes over there?"

Jack pointed toward the stack of boxes in the unfinished portion of the basement that he had just gone through, figuring Grease would notice them.

Manuel Residence, Leyden Street, UCAS Sector, 3:16 PM, July 30th, 2075

Brandy looks in the direction Jack indicated. "I believe so, let me check." She walks over past the boxes, and takes a closer look. "Yes, there is one over here. Do you have any other questions about the basement? As you said, it is great for get-togethers, or as a playroom."

Manuel Residence, Leyden Street, UCAS Sector, 3:16 PM, July 30th, 2075

"I don't think so. It looks very clean, not even any sign of bugs." Jack placed a strange emphasis on the last word, although whether he had a fear of them or was trying to imply something else is unclear. "What do you think, Henry?"

Manuel Residence, Leyden Street, UCAS Sector, 3:16 PM, July 30th, 2075

Nodding, Grease smiles at Jack. "Yes yes, it's very clean down here. Did all the mechanicals check out to your satisfaction? I wonder if we should check out the rest of the house. I want to see what's upstairs."

<<@Jack[Grease]: If we want to talk to the widow, we need to pull the Realtor away again. We could try to interview her with the Realtor there, but it's much trickier. Can you think of any reason we'd need to talk to the owner?>>

Manuel Residence, Leyden Street, UCAS Sector, 3:16 PM, July 30th, 2075

Jack frowned at Grease's text message. He, in fact, had no clue how they could manage to score an interview with the homeowner, with or without Brandy present. With that said, he decided to just go for broke.

"Brandy, how soon is the family planning to move out? I noticed the boxes marked Jimmy over there, so it looks like Mr. Manuel already has his things packed. At least, I assume it's Mr. Manuel. A few of the boxes are marked as 'Work' and judging by the toys, I assume none of the children are old enough to be employed." Jack scratched his chin for a second then continued, "To be honest with you, we would probably flip this house if we did buy, so timing becomes a major issue when our capital is tied up so much. It's one of the reasons why we would prefer to buy the furniture with the house. Most of the improvements we might make, like finishing the rest of this basement, wouldn't really impact the furniture situation too much."

"With that said, while I'm sure we could find a Realtor who could easily sell the neighborhood," the ork said with a meaningful look at the dwarf, "it would really help if we could speak with Mr. & Mrs. Manuel about any idiosyncrasies or less obvious things that might need to be addressed before we put it back on the market. The price is already well within reason, so we're not planning on nickel and diming here, but I'd rather know how much of a project I was getting into..."

Manuel Residence, Leyden Street, UCAS Sector, 3:17 PM, July 30th, 2075

Brandy looks at Jack and Henry shrewdly and says, "I'm not really supposed to bother the owner, but here's what we can do." She pulls up a e-document on her link, and slides it over to Grease's 'link.

"Let's sign this agreement, letting me represent you for the next 90 days. I'll go upstairs and talk to the owner, and persuade her to answer your questions. If this house is to your satisfaction, then we can go ahead and make the sale. If it turns out you want to go in a different direction, then I can make that happen."


She presses a few more buttons on her link, and then her name, photo, and SIN appear on the document. After several seconds, a 'Verified' stamp appears on the form next to her ID.

Manuel Residence, Leyden Street, UCAS Sector, 3:20 PM, July 30th, 2075

"That sounds reasonable to me, but Henry here gets to make those decisions. Excuse me for a moment, I need to head outside and make a call. I'd hate to get to my appointment and find out it had been cancelled or rescheduled. I'll meet you all on the first floor. Honey, can you unlock the car please?"

Jack headed back up the stairs and out the front door. Arriving at the car, he opened the door, sat down, and closed the door. Removing the folder from the small of his back, he slipped it underneath the seat. Selecting Grease's number from his AR display, he called the elf.

<<@Grease [JustJack] I grabbed a work folder with our guy's personal notes, but haven't had a chance to look through it. There were several more in the boxes, but no good way to get them out. Do you have any listening devices we could leave in the house? Maybe if we accidentally rile up the widow, she'll call someone and let some things slip. In case you haven't checked the text from OK, it looks like we have another confirmed connection between two of the incidents. Alright, go ahead and lock up the car, I'm coming in.>>

Jack exited the vehicle and walked back to the house. He typed out a quick text to Overkill.

<<@Overkill [JustJack] We're familiar with the photo since it's the one we got from our contact in the Hub, but thanks for confirming the connection. We're about to talk to the owner now, hopefully be done in a few>>

Walking back into the house, Jack spotted Brandy and Grease and said, "Are we ready?"

Manuel Residence, Leyden Street, UCAS Sector, 3:20 PM, July 30th, 2075

Smiling back at Brandy, Grease holds up a hand. "Whoa whoa whoa; I'm not sure we're quite there yet. We haven't even seen the upstairs yet! There are some serious questions about this property, and we can't really consider signing an agreement before we find out the details. These are questions we'd ened answered before we could even start an agreement like that. Isn't that right Jo-Jo?" Grease beams at Jack, a loving smile for someone who he clearly holds dear.

Manuel Residence, Leyden Street, UCAS Sector, 3:20 PM, July 30th, 2075

"I don't think she's being pushy, baby," Jack consoles Grease. "This kind of thing is usually just a formality. But since we've just met, do you mind if we take the time to review this contract before accepting it, Brandy? I can look it over while we speak with Mr. and Mrs. Manuel..."

Manuel Residence, Leyden Street, UCAS Sector, 3:22 PM, July 30th, 2075

Brandy looks hesitant, but seems to be swayed, caught up in what appears to be such a loving couple's exchange of affection, along with a desire for a larger customer base. "Alright. Jo-Jo, why don't you look it over, it is fairly boiler-plate. I'll go upstairs and see if Mrs. Manuel can answer some of your questions." She heads up the stairs, her business skirt showing her legs to good advantage, and walks down a short hallway and knocks on the door.

Jack examines the contract, "It seems straightforward enough - its as she says, fairly boiler-plate in language." After a brief wait, Brandy appears again at the top of the stairs and motions the two of them to come up.

Jack and Grease climb the stairs, arriving at the landing and seeing three doors, two bedrooms and the bathroom in between them. Mrs. Manuel is standing outside her bedroom door with Brandy next to her. "Henry, Jo-Jo, this is Maria. Maria, the gentlemen have some questions for you about the house."

Manuel Residence, Leyden Street, UCAS Sector, 3:22 PM, July 30th, 2075

"Hola Mrs. Manuel, it is our pleasure to meet you. Your casa is beautiful. If we were to purchase the house, our plans at the moment are to update a few things and resell it if the market is right. Because time becomes a factor in that circumstance, we did have a few questions that we wanted to ask you. Our apologies for disturbing you, Brandy has been fantastic, but we think these are things only the owners could answer."

Jack mentally took a deep breath, silently berating himself for what he was about to do. "We noticed that Mr. Manuel had already packed up his belongings in the basement and appears ready to move out. Is the rest of the family prepared to do that as well? The quicker we can get to work, the more able we would be to adjust to market fluctuations."

Without pause, he continued, "Also, we noticed the window and carpet in the living room area that needed replacement. We hope that was nothing more than neighborhood children playing pranks, but we would need that to be replaced or credited against the sale price. Additionally, I would like to speak with whoever performed routine maintenance on the house over the last few years. It's hard to pick out areas that need to be addressed on a quick walk through, but it would be very helpful for flipping the house. Was that Mr. Manuel or someone else?"

"Finally, how attached are you to the furniture? We might want to purchase it if the price is right."

Manuel Residence, Leyden Street, UCAS Sector, 3:23 PM, July 30th, 2075

As Jack climbed the stairs after Brandy, admiring the view, Grease slipped his hand into his pocket, took out one of his microdrones and flicked it across the room. The drone deployed its wings at the last second, swooping off to go hide some where in the house.

"Well, my husband passed recently, and, I'm sure you understand, it isn't something I would like to talk about. My son and I can be gone quickly if the sale goes through - even faster if you are buying the furniture as well." She looks downstairs at the living room. "We've gotten several estimates for replacing the window, we can take that off the price of the home, if you can't wait. The new carpet should be here on Saturday."

"I can't help you with regards to the maintenance, Jimmy used to handle everything around here." She looks sad, with a hint of anger.

Manuel Residence, Leyden Street, UCAS Sector, 3:23 PM, July 30th, 2075

When Mrs. Manuel finishes her story, Grease is in tears. "Oh my god- I am so, so sorry. We had no idea! Oh, and to think we were going to haggle about money at a time like this!" Brandy frowns at the suggestion, and Grease continues.

"I can't even imagine losing.. oh.." Grease turns and buries his face in Jack's shoulder briefly. "Please, I am so sorry. Jo-Jo, would you grab me something for my eyes?" Grease breathes deeply, his eyes wide with sympathy.

"To lose a father and husband.. How did something like this happen?"

Manuel Residence, Leyden Street, UCAS Sector, 3:24 PM, July 30th, 2075


Maria moves and puts a hand on Grease's shoulder. "There, there honey, its okay, I'm not mad. I've always known that Jimmy was in a dangerous line of work. Now, why don't you go to the bathroom and wash your face, you look like a wreck." She gives his shoulder a little squeeze.

She leads him to the bathroom, and then steps back to give him a little space. She turns to Jack and whispers, "Such a sweetheart, any emotion he feels he just shows it, doesn't he?" As Jack nods, she continues, "Listen, you both seem like very nice gentlemen, I'm happy to sell you the house, and truth be told, I want to get out of this place. Jimmy wasn't happy here the last few months, and with him passing, well, the less said the better."

Manuel Residence, Leyden Street, UCAS Sector, 3:24 PM, July 30th, 2075

In a low voice, Jack replied.,"Yes, he does have occasional problems with control in general, but we all certainly have our challenges." Bringing his voice back to a normal volume, Jack cut to the chase. "I really do understand you not wanting to discuss your husband's passing but based on what you said about him working in a dangerous job and the damage we saw downstairs... I hate to ask this, but was he murdered here? I really don't want to bring up difficult memories, but that would really impact our ability to resell this house. I understand that you don't necessarily have to tell us this, but there are plenty of neighbors around here we can ask."

Manuel Residence, Leyden Street, UCAS Sector, 3:24 PM, July 30th, 2075

Maria's face hardens a little, something around the eyes showing, perhaps fear or anger, or both?. Then she says, her voice cold, the words seemingly rehearsed, "Yes, someone shot my husband here a couple weeks ago. I was in the kitchen with my son at the time. Neither one of us saw anything or heard anything apart from the gunshot. He was dead by the time I go to him, and was unable to tell me anything at all. If you will excuse me, I'm sure Ms. Simmons can handle any further questions, I should get back to my son."

Manuel Residence, Leyden Street, UCAS Sector, 3:25 PM, July 30th, 2075

"Thank you, Maria. Mis simpatías." Jack said nothing else while he waited for the bereaved widow to leave.

After Maria departed, he turned to Brandy. "I imagine you weren't planning on telling us about that... It's understandable. I'm sure you can understand that we're almost certainly not going to buy this house now. People are unhappy enough when they find out someone died of natural causes in a house, it's going to be even worse if they find out it was from unnatural causes."

Turning to Grease, he said as if thinking out loud, "I don't really even know how we could even try to sell this house. I mean, maybe if it was obvious that Mr. Manuel had been specifically targeted. Otherwise, people are going to really worry about the overall safety of the neighborhood, particularly with children."

Manuel Residence, Leyden Street, UCAS Sector, 3:25 PM, July 30th, 2075

Brandy has puts her hand over her face and massages her temples with her thumb and middle finger as Maria walks away. "Ok guys, I can see how this might dissuade you from buying the home. However, things happen - and lightning never strikes twice in the same place. I can pull the crime stats for this neighborhood, it is actually very safe..." She manipulates her commlink for a moment, and the statistics appear before Jack and Grease.

Manuel Residence, Leyden Street, UCAS Sector, 3:25 PM, July 30th, 2075

Looking with a concerned face over at Jack, Grease messages him.

<<@Jack [Grease] Bug planted. You good to go? Doesn't seem like we're going to get more out of the widow.>>

Manuel Residence, Leyden Street, UCAS Sector, 3:25 PM, July 30th, 2075

"Thank you for the information, Brandy. I'm sure you'll understand that given the information, Henry and I would like to do a little more digging into the neighborhood and this incident before we considered committing to anything."

Jack's eyes searched out the chronograph on his image link and he sighed, "Oh dear, I do need to get going. I have an appointment with a client coming up in an hour or so and need to prep for it. Thank you for showing us the house, Brandy. Henry and I are going to look into the area a bit more and determine if this house would be a good fit for our portfolio. We apologize for disturbing Mrs. Manuel. Had we knows the circumstances of her husband's passing, we wouldn't have pried. We will call you when we make our decision."

Turning to Grease, he said, "Are you ready, cariño?"

Manuel Residence, Leyden Street, UCAS Sector, 3:25 PM, July 30th, 2075

Taking Jack's arm, Grease smiles widely at Brandy. "We'll be in touch." As they walk out of the home, Brandy can overhear Grease stage-whispering, "it's probably HAUNTED!"

Manuel Residence, Leyden Street, UCAS Sector, 3:25 PM, July 30th, 2075

Brandy follows the two down the stairs. "Ok, I can see your minds are made up on this house. If it turns out you change your mind, or want to look at another house, let me know - you have my number." As they exit the house, she closes the door, shaking her head.

Manuel Residence, Leyden Street, UCAS Sector, 3:30 PM, July 30th, 2075

Wiping the tears from his eyes, Grease nods towards Jack. "We'll drive around the block, then I can transfer you to the cab so you can go to your meet. We'e got the bug in there, so I think if she's hiding anything or makes any calls we'll know about it. We should leave it there about a day, but after that if we don't get anything I'll pull the bug out to use elsewhere; I've only got 2 of those."

As he starts to drive, Grease messages the rest of the team.

<<@Team[Grease]: Didn't find out much more from the widow. Got a bug planted in case she's hiding anything. Going to drop Jack off for his next meet. He did manage to grab some documents that may be valuable. Amy, Overkill; where do you want to meet me next?>>

Manuel Residence, Leyden Street, UCAS Sector, 3:30 PM, July 30th, 2075

"Sounds good. Thanks for letting me borrow the cab." Jack said as Grease pulled away from the Manuel residence. Reaching under the seat, the ork grabbed the folder and his pistol. Holstering the pistol and holding up the folder, he said, "I've still got some time to kill before my meet, so I'm going to look through this while I wait. If I find anything interesting, I'll text the team. When I get done with my meet, the cab will bring me to wherever you are, right?"

On E80th Avenue, UCAS Sector, 3:30 PM, July 30th, 2075


Drave looked up and saw Grease's message in his AR display, and responded

<<@Grease: Don't worry about the widow, it was a longshot. Meet us at the Mi Pueblo Market on E80th Avenue. We can proceed from there to the scene.>>

Drave then changed directions on his motorcycle and headed to the Market.

Manuel Residence, Leyden Street, UCAS Sector, 3:30 PM, July 30th, 2075

Grease nods at Jack. "Sure, just tell it where to go and it'll take you there. Message us when you get out of your meet and we'll tell you where we are."

<<@Overkill [Grease]: Got it. Meet you there.>>

The Backseat of Grease's Taxi, UCAS Sector, 3:35 PM, July 30th, 2075

Jack slipped into the backseat of Grease's Taxi. The speaker system came to life as he eased into the seat, the taxi asking him in a voice sounding somewhat like a mechanized version of Grease's, <<Where to today, ma'am?">>

Jack growled. "Sir... it's sir." Frowning at the fact he was arguing with a drone, the ork tried to let it slide and said, "I need to get over to McCormick's Seafood House at the corner of E. 72nd and Grape Street by 1645. I know it's basically right around the corner, so go ahead and drive around randomly a bit within a square mile area. Don't attempt to cross the border..."

<<Acknowledged, ma'am. Please buckle up and enjoy the ride. For your listening pleasure, here is the newest single from Eliza Starr called Magic Eyes>>

Jack planned to have words with Grease. Wishing he had dampers or a select sound filter to eliminate the sound of the radio, the ork began to undress in the backseat. Removing his suit jacket, pants, shirt, and shoes, the ork gathered them up as neatly as he could, even though he planned to bring everything to a laundromat before wearing the suit again. Two days in this heat had started to build up light stains from sweat and grime. Pulling out a white short-sleeve, button-up collared shirt with a light blue circuit pattern along the back and shoulders, a pair of dark jeans, a black belt, and black dress shoes, the ork did his best to slip into the clothes within the confined space of the backseat.

Once settled, Jack placed his suit and shoes into the clothes bag Amy had given him. He also placed his Streetline Special in the bag inside his suit jacket, hoping he wouldn't need it at the restaurant. Activating his comm, he rebooted the device to clear it in advance of his meeting. Grabbing the folder, Jack finally buckled in and started flipping through the contents, Eliza Starr's voice accompanying his inspection.

Amy and Overkill, Outside Mi Pueblo Market, UCAS Sector, 3:45 PM, July 30th, 2075

As Drave and Amy pulled up outside the Mi Pueblo Market, Drave's eyes quickly began scanning up and down the street. The file on the Wright murder that Ramirez had given them was a little thin, they weren't even sure where on the street the shooting took place.

As he helped Amy off the back of his Falke, Drave saw Grease pulling up in his Bentley. He waved him over, and once Grease had strode up and joined them, Drave raised a question. "Now, Meine Kameraden, where to begin? We don't have many details on this one, we are not even sure what shop she was shot in front of. The best plan I have come up with so far is to canvas the various regular shopkeepers and vendors asking about the event. Odds are that the murder of a Lone Star Officer out in the street will make a lasting impression in the memories of those who were nearby when the shooting happened."

Outside Mi Pueblo Market, UCAS Sector, 3:45 PM, July 30th, 2075

Amy follows along and meets with Grease. "I agree with Overkill. One of the vendors will know where it happened. That'll be a good start."

Outside Mi Pueblo Market, UCAS Sector, 3:45 PM, July 30th, 2075

The three runners stand in the market parking lot, looking up and down the street. Most properties seem to be commercial, Johnny's Bike Shop, Joe and Joe Junior's BBQ, Stingray's Fetishes and Foci, and the like.

Physical and AR signs hawk the store's wares, proclaiming sales, specials and "Don't sleep on these deals!" Foot traffic is sparse, with most people at work this early in the day, but there are a fair amount of children roaming around, especially near the various eateries.

The vehicles in the road are a mixture of cars, both old and new, and light trucks, each moving along with the Gridguide™. As the runners decide where to start, a sleek, shiny Lone Star Cruiser moves down the road. It is one of the newer Chrysler Nissan Patrol-3s - the newer models that hit the streets in the early '70s. It slips in and out of the traffic as other vehicles slow to let it pass.

Outside Mi Pueblo Market, UCAS Sector, 3:45 PM, July 30th, 2075

Amy panics at the sight of the patrol car. "Drek the government's on to us. What am I doing here? I have to hide. Grease, let me get in your car!" She's looking around as if there was an imminent threat. "Quick! I'm a SINless in a fraggin' patrolled zone, what was I thinking!"

Outside Mi Pueblo Market, UCAS Sector, 3:45 PM, July 30th, 2075

Grease shrugs. "I wouldn't get bent out of shape about it. I've got an unregistered pistol on my person. Overkill has several hundred thousand nuyen worth of illegal electronics. Patrols like that are mostly looking for crimes in progress, or suspicious behavior."

Grease gives a thin smile. "Such as someone panicking when they see a police car."