My name is John. John Burb, former detective of SimCity's 1st Precinct, fed up with the raw brutality of city life. My wife, Jennifer, has family in one of the city's suburbs, Pleasantview. Her brother, Daniel, suggested we move to their hometown. What a good idea, I thought. A nice quiet place for my daughter to grow up. A sleepy little haven Jennifer and I can live out the rest of our days happily. But that's not what I was in for.
Word gets around fast in a small town like Pleasantview. The day we moved in I was visited by a meek young woman. She knew who I was, that I used to be a cop, and she wanted my help. Young Cassandra Goth wasn't much to look at. Maybe if she cleaned up her face, took down those childish pigtails and tried on a dress that wasn't made in the 1800s she might amount to something.
But the little thing was obviously upset. She said her mother had gone missing and that everyone was acting suspiciously. Her father, Mortimer Goth, refused to acknowledged the situation in the slightest, the police weren't answering any of her questions. She was supposed to be getting married soon, Ms. Goth said. She was adamant that her mother wouldn't vanish before the wedding of her own free will.
I tried to tell her I wasn't in the police force anymore. I tried to tell her I couldn't do anything even if I was a cop. That I wasn't even here when her mother went missing. But Ms. Goth said that's exactly why I was the only person she trusted. I had no inherent bias.
She then laid down a manila envelope full of cash. Five-kay just for listening to her story, she said. More to come if I'd look into her mother's disappearance. I leaned back and ran my hands through my hair. I didn't want to get back into this business. Best case scenario her mother did abandon her. Worst case she was laying in a gutter somewhere. No good outcome either way.
But that money could go a long way into securing that sleepy little haven for my family I was talking about. Jennifer and I didn't have much in the way of funds before the move to begin with. And we'd both been looking for work since we got here. Yeah, alright. I'd take the job.
I thought I'd ask Jennifer's family about the Goth woman first. Jennifer's brother, Daniel was an assistant coach, claimed he didn't know the woman or anything about her disappearance. But his wife, Mary-Sue, she worked at City Hall. She said she had to deal with the Goth girl, Cassandra, after her mother went missing.
“You didn't see her when she came into the office,” she said, gulping down a martini like it was going out of style, “she was crazy. Outraged that no one seemed to be taking this seriously. I told her- I had to tell her, her mothers marriage to Mortimer Goth wasn't a happy one. Psh, whose is?” Mary-Sue gave a hateful glance at her husband.
“Everyone in the police department just assumed she had finally abandoned her marriage. Her family. But Cassandra could not- would not accept this. I was sorry I had to be the one to tell her. But I didn't tell her that Bella was seen at Cassandra's fiance's house the night she disappeared.”
“How did you come by this?” I asked.
“There were witnesses, the Caliente sisters. They just moved into the place next door to Don Lothario.”
“Why didn't you report this to the Goth family?”
“I mean, that's rough, right?” Mary-Sue shook her head, “Bella had a lot more going for her than Cassandra and Don's a young, virile man who found her attractive. Why hurt the girl more than I have to?” I nodded. Aside from Mary-Sues parents it didn't seem like anyone had a happy marriage in this town. It made me appreciate my Jennifer. I was starting to understand why she moved to the city.
The next step was to confirm the witnesses statements. Which landed me on the sisters patio, with them in bikinis, taking in the sun. Now these young ladies knew how to accentuate their assets, if you know what I mean.
“We just got to town, we didn't know anything about this place,” Dina started.
“We'd met Don a couple times before. He's totally cute. We'd seen him with Cassandra, too,” Nina said, “but we didn't know the Goth lady was the mother.”
“She takes amazing care of herself. I couldn't believe she was that girl's mother.” said Dina.
“Right, not Don's mother, Cassandra's mother,” Nina interrupted, “that would be disgusting.”
I gave her a questioning look.
“He tried to make out with her,” Dina explained.
“Did he?” I said. Dina nodded like it was the big gossip topic of the week. Heck, for all I knew it could have been.
“But now that she's gone her husband is totally up for grabs right?” Dina said. Nina and I both frowned at her question.
“Hey, if he's single it's fair game. It's not like I'm making a move on him while he's still married,” Dina said innocently.
“Aren't you though? Bella Goth is still just missing.” Nina argued.
“You think she's coming back?” Dina asked.
“That depends. How did she react to Mr. Lothario's advance?” I asked.
“Poorly, she turned him away,” Dina laughed. Nina glowered at her sister. This information would certainly color Cassandra's views of her fiance. Now I understood why the police were reluctant to reveal this information to the family. And I found myself reluctant to tell Cassandra, too. But the fact of the matter was I still didn't know what happened to Bella Goth. It was about time I saw what was so special about Don Lothario.
“You the cops?!”
“No, not anymore.”
“Then I ain't got to tell you nuthen'.”
Needless to say Mr. Lothario wasn't very forthcoming when it came to the situation regarding his fiance's mother. Having been turned away at the door I took a moment to survey the neighborhood. At the end of the street a man feigned like he was grooming his yard. Maybe just a rubberneck, maybe something more. I walked over, introduced myself as his new neighbor and shook the mans hand. He introduced himself as Mr. Dreamer. I jutted my thumb at Mr. Lothario's place, “Not very friendly, huh?”
“Not to those of the male persuasion,” Mr. Dreamer shook his head.
“Bit of a slut?” I blurted. Mr. Dreamer blinked at me.
“Sorry,” I said, “city mouth, I'm sure I'll grow out of it.” Mr. Dreamer nodded his understanding. Bit of a prude, I thought.
“Yeah, used to be a cop, right?” Mr. Dreamer said, mechanically raking the same spot of grass for the last three minutes.
“Yessir, looking into the disappearance of the Goth woman. Not on the city payroll yet, but gotta keep those skills finely honed, you know what I mean?” I grinned. Mr. Dreamer frowned at me. He stopped raking, turned away and went into his house; leaving me rather confused on the sidewalk.
“He lost his wife not too long ago. The cops didn't take a good look into it. They didn't take a good look into the Broke murder either,” Coral Oldie said, looking out the window at her roses. It was a gray morning. Rain sounded a soft rustle in the streets. Mrs. Oldie was Mary-Sues adoptive mother, as gray as the morning with tired eyes and a warm smile.
“Cops don't seem to look into much around here,” I muttered. Mrs. Oldie nodded.
“Anyways, a new cop in town, looking into the disappearance of Bella Goth instead of the murders of his wife and Mr. Broke,” she weighed, “he's thinking that because the Goths are silly rich they're getting preferential treatment.” Now I understood Mr. Dreamers behavior.
“I didn't know he'd lost his wife,” I said, “Ms. Goth came to me the day I moved in. I don't know anything about this town.”
“Then you made yourself look like more of an ass,” Mrs. Oldie sighed. I suppose I did at that.
“But Ms. Goth is paying me to look into her mothers disappearance. I'm not even a cop here. If I was maybe I could look into his wife's murder,” I said. I didn't like being accused of preferential treatment. But I also wasn't a cop anymore. Young Ms. Goth was a paying client. Mr. Dreamer wasn't. And even if he was Ms. Goth came to me first. If I was going to take on his case I'd have to make this clear. Shit, when did I become a private dick?
“They both have children, too, you know. Mr. Dreamer and Mrs. Broke,” Mrs. Oldie calmly sipped her tea, gazing at her rose bush, “only those kids know their parents aren't coming home.” I took a moment to assess Mrs. Oldie. She was poignant. Somehow I admired that about her.
After visiting the Oldies Jennifer and I took in a quick flick and fooled around, harking back to our earlier years. One flaw I readily admit to is public displays of affection, witnessing or preforming. Afterwards we caught a late lunch on Main Street.
When I was a detective in the city I didn't talk about my cases with her. Our marriage was still new, I didn't want her getting that close to that part of me. Like I said, those were some pretty dark days and, after a while, it just became routine not to talk about it.
However here, I felt I should talk with her. It was her hometown after all and she had an insight into these people that I didn't. She vaguely remembered Cassandra Goth as a weird little kid, but she knew the Goths were big fish in the community. She was sad to hear that Darlene Dreamer had passed recently, and that Brandi's husband Skip passed away, too. She remembered being close with Darlene and Brandi in school.
“And Mary-Sue was always ambitious. It's one of the qualities Daniel loved about her,” she said.
“He doesn't appreciate it anymore?” I asked. Jennifer lowered her head sadly.
“She's a strong woman. I guess he didn't realize how he'd feel about himself in comparison.”
“Heavy... you said the Goth girl was weird. What do you mean?”
“She was a dreamer. I don't mean like Darren Dreamer, I mean she lived in her head. She had a rich fantasy life. Sometimes those fantasies seeped out into the real world. She was an only child for a long time, and her parents didn't have much time for her, so it makes sense.” Jennifer trailed off. I got the impression something happened once. And whatever it was Jennifer wasn't really comfortable with Ms. Goth afterward.
Rich fantasy life, huh? That might warrant checking out young Ms. Cassandra Goth. I looked at my watch. “Almost time to pick up Lucy from her first day of school.”