Bella Noir (Finished)

[peachy123uk]

Spoiler:

who is pregnant Dina or Bella and is Darlene Dreamer the mastermind of the heist.

Yep I think we are all hooked

[108sims]

Spoiler:

So Dina could have been the one with the baby. I wonder if she's hiding anything else?

[Strawberry]

Bella Noir
Season 1, Episode 20 Dina's Baby

WARNING:
Very adult situations. Not like nudity or gore, but still very sad things.

Spoiler:

Jennifer and Nina talked in hushed voices to themselves for a while while I fetched Lucy from Brandi's
downstairs and made her an afternoon snack. I didn't want to get this wrong. I'd been wrong about so
many things already. Accusing Lothario of murder, of Dreamer producing the forgeries... I even
misjudged old Doc Herb. Was I getting sloppy? Maybe... Hopefully, I was just out of practice.


Eventually the two came out of the sitting room and said their goodbye's. Jennifer walked Nina to the
door, then came to the dining room and sat with us. She was very subdued.
"Well?" I said, perhaps too hastily.
"I'll tell you after dinner. I'm a little tired. I think I'll try to take a nap," she didn't wait for a reply and
went into our bedroom, closing the door behind her.


I looked at Lucy with frustration. As for the rest of the investigation I thought it was time to grab my
guts and address matters with Mr Goth. I was growing tired of pussy-footing around. His daughter
gave me a job to do and I'd be damned I let him get in the way of that. Not after what she went
through as a child.


I let Jennifer rest while I attempted to make dinner for us. I readily admit she is the better cook. I'm
afraid all I could manage was a box of macaroni and cheese. I gently woke her up when it was ready.
Her eyes were puffy. Maybe from the nap, but I suspected something else. Afterward we went into
the bedroom again.


"Dina isn't who Bella was going to see her last night," she said with confidence.
"So she wasn't pregnant?" I followed up.
"She was... But she lost the baby before she and Michael moved back to Pleasantview. And... she
can't have any more. Michael saw to that," she said with a disgusted sneer on her face.


It took me a moment to realize what she meant. When it finally dawned on me I took her in my arms.
What the hell is wrong with this place? With these people? That's what Doc Herb meant when he said
he took care of her. He saw to her medical needs after what she'd been through with Michael. I felt
sick. Sick for what Dina had been through. Sick for Jennifer who had grown up in this community.

The themes in this episode are extreme but I'm not sure if it breaches the code here. If it does and it needs to be taken down I completely understand and won't be upset.

[ciyrose]

Oh my.....

Spoiler:

Poor Dina. How does that play into everything though, and who had the baby? I'm back to wondering if baby was code for something else.

[peachy123uk]

Spoiler:

sad but things did happen and still does today. I thought Bella said that just to keep Alexander to keep his nose of Bella's business

[Strawberry]

Bella Noir
Season 1, Episode 21 Mortimer Goth

Spoiler:

It turns out Mortimer Goth had been keeping a close eye on my movements. He appeared to have his
thumb on the whole town and I'm sure it was evident to him that I didn't take his advice on leaving
matters alone. When I went to see him that Sunday morning he was not cordial.


"Why are you doing this to my family? We have been through enough!" he said.
"It was never my intention to meddle in your affairs, Mr. Goth, but I've been hired to investigate your
wife's disappearance and in order to do that you and I are going to need to have a talk. I can certainly
appreciate that you're used to being treated a certain way, but in this case, I'm going to have to insist
that you cooperate, because maybe, just maybe, I'll be able to find her and bring her back to you."


Mr. Goth looked me dead in the eyes and I looked right on back at him. I wasn't backing down this
time. And when he came to realize it he deflated a little and calmed down.
"Of course you have a job to do," he gave a tired sigh, "I'll do what I can." I tightened my lips.
"I have questions that could be quite.. delicate in nature," I prepared him.


"I've known my wife all of my life," he assured me.
"So you knew her family? Her... brother?" I followed up. He frowned at me.
"A fully and wholly deplorable man," he said.
"So I've come to understand," I returned coolly, "What was their relationship like?"


"It was hell for her," he began, "Even growing up she hated being home and always came over to my
house. She used to say my family's house was like a fantasy wonderland and she was Alice. It was
wonderful seeing it through her eyes. I've loved her since I was very young. I wanted to keep her safe.
On her part, I'd say it was just the quickest way to get away from him... And we weren't unhappy.


"She even did me the honor of bearing my children."
"So she was definitely afraid of him," I said, trying to keep him on track. He nodded.
"Were either of them involved in the SimCity art thefts from a few year back?" He nodded again. I
was dumb-founded but pressed on, "So there was a connection to Skip Broke and Darleen Dreamer?"


"Mrs. Dreamer," he said, remembering her, "she was such a lovely woman. Incredibly demure and
gentle. Yes, she was the artist. Skip was often hired as the security guard. My Bella played a gallery
curator or some such expert. Michael was the brains. Precision jobs," he actually said it with a hint
of admiration.


"But why? You and Bella, excuse me for saying so, are so well off."
"None of them wanted to," he tried to explain, which I found incredibly hard to believe, "Well, Skip
had a penchant for making bad decisions, and I think he might have actually considered Michael a
friend. Darleen was going with Michael at the time, but when he left her for some dancer in the city
she came back with Mr. Dreamer. Can't blame her, knowing how he treated women."


"And Bella?"
Mortimer gave me a look of concern, "He knew she was perfect for the part. And... you just didn't say
no to him if you knew what was good for you."
My God, I thought to myself. And really. What else was there to say?

[peachy123uk]

Spoiler:

is Michael the mastermind and somebody killed him? Was it Bella or Mortimer? exciting

[108sims]

Spoiler:

Poor Dina!

So many things revealed. Michael sounds like he was completely horrible. I'm guessing he's behind Darleen and Skip's deaths (and possibly Bella's). I wonder who finally offed him?

[peachy123uk]

Spoiler:

maybe the whole town was in the plot to killing Michael off

[Strawberry]

Bella Noir
Season 1, Episode 22 Garden Chat

Spoiler:

Once the shock had worn off and Mortimer offered me to his garden chair I could resume with my
questions.
"When did Michael move back to Pleasantview?"
"About a year ago."
"So he wouldn't have been living here when Mrs Dreamer was killed?"
"No, he wasnt."


"Perhaps he was in town visiting, do you remember?" Mortimer shook his head, "I don't remember."
I was surprised, "But you seem to keep such close tabs on the goings on here."
"That didn't start until after Mrs Dreamers death, I'm afraid. At the time I didn't even know about the
robberies." Ahh, I came to see, "So when did you find out about them?"


Six months ago, when Bella went missing. She told me everything. I... I thought she was ashamed of
what she'd done for Michael. And despite owning up to what she had done she couldn't... face me."
I could see the man's heart breaking all over again. I gave him a moment to collect himself before
continuing on.


"So you knew about the robberies. Did you also know about the blackmail?" I asked. He looked at me
with shock, "Blackmail?" he repeated.
"Skip Broke was being blackmailed. If Bella wasn't bringing the money to Dina, perhaps she was
bringing it to him." Mortimer looked at me in total confusion.
"You didn't know about the money," I gathered.


"Why would she bring money to who-Dina, you said? That 'dancer'?" he said as if the woman's
profession was prostitution. I couldn't help find it amusing.
"She's Michael's widow," I explained. He stared at me slack-jawed for a moment. Apparently, he wasn't
as in the loop as I was lead to believe.


"That poor woman," he said finally.
"You have no idea," I said, agreeing with him. We said our goodbyes shortly after. It struck me as
interesting that Darleen and Michael were an item all those years ago. Jennifer did say he had a
jealous streak. Perhaps he didn't take kindly to her getting married and raising a family. The trouble
with that theory was that of course he didn't live in town yet.

[108sims]

Spoiler:

If Michael didn't have anything to do with Darlene's muder, I wonder who did?

That's surprising that Mortimer didn't know about Michael and Dina.

[peachy123uk]

Spoiler:

ok who did what, with who, how and when?

[ciyrose]

Spoiler:

Man, the twists keep coming. Poor Mortimer, he thought he was so in the loop and has just had a bunch of new information thrown at him. So is Bella dead, or did she just leave of her own accord because she was too ashamed to go back home? I wonder who the money was for now....was there a final "job" for whoever Michael had been working for and that's what the 'baby' was? Still so many questions.

[Strawberry]

Bella Noir
Season 1, Episode 23 The Pond

Spoiler:

After meeting up with Mr. Goth it was time to check in on how Mr. Lothario was recovering from his
party yesterday. Hard to imagine it was only yesterday. Of course he wasn't very pleased to see me,
but he wasn't rude once I reminded him what we discussed. I told him I still had some questions. For
instance, how did he learn about the art heist?


Apparently one night Mr Broke was in much the same state as Mr Lothario was yesterday and told Mr.
Lothario everything. The blackmail started shortly after. I followed up with was he also blackmailing
Bella Goth. Lothario admitted to trying, but Bella was made of sterner stuff. He even made a special
deal with her, some crude attempt to sleep with her in loo of her paying and she rebuffed him. His
pride wounded, if you can call it pride, Lothario went out and developed a relationship with her
daughter to spite her.


I then asked when the last time he spoke or saw Mr. Broke was.
"He told me to meet him at the usual place, at the park on the bridge, but when I got there he was
already dead."
"What, you mean in the pond?" I asked. he nodded. I asked if he was sure.
"Look, that's where we'd meet. I'm sure."
"But his body was found in the pool at the plaza," I argued.
"Then it was moved," Mr Lothario said matter-of-factly, "He was in the pond that night."


The distance from the pond to the pool wasn't very far, granted, but you had to cross a town street
to get there and the pool was a lot more public than the pond, why would anyone move it there? So
it could be found right away. But why risk being seen? Another realization about Doc Herb came to
me amid my questions. Why he gave that strange look when I asked about Skip's death. It must have
been the water. He knew the water in his lungs wasn't pool water.


Come to think of it. Everyone else in the community had accepted that Skip and Darleen's deaths
were accidental. It was Coral who put it into my head starting out that they were murders. I left Mr.
Lothario standing in the street and ran to Old Doc's little cottage, finding Coral sitting by her usual
window, with her usual cup of tea, gazing at her usual roses. She knew. She had known everything,
from the very beginning.


I asked her why she didn't just tell me everything when I first got here. She looked at me sadly.
"People don't listen to you when you're old, young man. Even when you're the only nurse and doctor.
Herb tried telling the police about the water, but they wouldn't listen."
"But he wasn't exactly forthcoming about Dina," I retorted.


"What happened to that girl is privileged information," Coral snapped back. It was the only
passionate thing I'd ever witnessed from her, "You think she wants everyone in town knowing what
happened?" She had me there. Living through it was bad enough. Having a whole community know
about it... I told Coral I was ready to listen now.

[peachy123uk]

Spoiler:

so Coral already knew everything, but what happened about Dina?

[ciyrose]

Spoiler:

Oh man, Skip was in the pond and not the pool? If Don didn't kill him, who did? And if Don wasn't blackmailing Bella, then who was the money for Was it to help Dina after whatever all Michael did to her? I suppose that could make sense, she was probably in a pretty bad way.

[108sims]

Spoiler:

More answers and more mysteries! I wonder who killed Skip and moved the body. I'm interested to see what Coral has to say. I hope it doesn't come back to bite her.

[Strawberry]

Bella Noir
Season 1, Episode 24 The Matriarch

Spoiler:

Now that Coral knew she had my attention she excused herself to make a phone call and us a fresh
pot of tea. When she returned she asked me what I'd learned during my investigation so far; she
didn't want to waste her breathe if she didn't have to.


So I went through everything I found out. About Cassandra and Michael, the art forgeries, the heist,
the blackmail. About Dina, though I was a bit reluctant about that. About the strange circumstances
around Skip's death and a rumor about a baby, but there were no new babies in Pleasantview.
"Then you don't know anything about the first death," she came to understand.


"I know Darlene and Michael used to date. I know he could be very jealous, but I also know he wasn't
living here at the time of her death," I explained. Coral sipped her tea as I went on, "And I asked
Mortimer if he knew if Michael had been in visiting since I thought he kept regular tabs on things in
town, but he didn't remember." Coral smiled at me with amusement.


"Mortimer. Oh, he does keep tabs on some things, but there are elements of people he's too high bred
to go rummaging through," she said.
"And you?" I asked.
"The clinic offers me truth. The nitty-gritty of it. For instance the baby was Brandi and Skip's but
after his death she miscarried."
"Like Dina? That poor woman."


"Procedurally they weren't the same. Herbert suspected Brandi had a hand in her miscarriage, but we
can't prove anything and frankly I can't blame her if she did. She's already a young widow and single
mother of two. The cost of a funeral and a new baby? They'd be on the street. Besides, she's a strong
minded woman and hard-working. I dare say she's already over the whole ordeal."


I was aghast, but Coral continued on, "Darlene was a different matter. She'd always been gentle and
shy. Our little rabbit. But after Michael she had developed acute nerves and intermediate paranoia.
Herbert had been treating her for years. How Mr. Dreamer tolerated that for all those years is a
testament to their love if I do say."


"Are you saying she did it to herself?" I asked, jumping ahead.
"No, she didn't have the courage for something like that. And by fire? That's even more out of the
question. This will sound strange but, paranoia aside, she was actually quite happy. Darren was
attentive and just as gentle as she was."
"Then how?" I asked.
"I will not be rushed," Coral shot me a scathing glare.


However, just then the door bell chimed.
"Ah, those will be our guests," Coral said rising from her chair.
"Who is it?" I asked, curious as ever.
"Patience, young man," she said tiredly, "Just sit down and wait."

I made too many mysteries that need answers, I promise I'm trying to wrap this up, guys. There were supposed to only be 25 episodes in the series and that's totally out of the question now. But we are nearing the end! Definitely under 30!

[peachy123uk]

Spoiler:

I love the mysteries, so Darlene was paranoid but she didn't kill herself, Brandi had an abortion, and so did Dina. And who is the mystery guest.

Still keeping me hooked.

[108sims]

Spoiler:

I wonder who's going to show up. Interesting that the baby was Baby Broke. I wonder who killed Darlene?