The Jungle Blade Mystery Act 2

Notification, I've had to repost this as the first posting of it was a mess, the problem is every time I start a new line it jumps by two, while this post is by no means perfect it is at least readable I hope

                           Nickel & Dime Productions, proudly presents Radio Days

               Starring Donny Wayne as Karl Timperman & Mary Coyne as Esther Labelle

          If you like tails of daring deeds & high trills go somewhere else, if not then stay tuned. 

Esther, looking hopefully at Karl "What now ?"                                                                                         

 Karl, after a moment's thought "Give me a second to go over the list again Esther as I thought I recognised a name on it" as he went down the list, Karl " Here we are Lambert Bradshaw"                      

Esther" Who's he ?"                                                                                                                                     

 Karl" You know Esther you really need to stop letting strange men into your house" & then gave her a wink before adding "It's not who he is but what he is that interest me, he's an antique dealer & a dodgy one at that, he's got a shop down near the waterfront, come on we'll take the Subway, there's a station round the corner"   

At this hour of the morning the Subway was very busy but at the next stop they manged to get a seat & Karl filled Esther in on Lambert Bradshaw.                                                                                                  

Karl" While I don't believe Bradshaw has anything to do with the missing blade to be honest Esther, as he's no problem with buying things that come his way off ships that come into the docks without any questions asked, this would be too close to home for his liking but he always has an ear to the ground & might be of some help to us"

Esther "But why would he want to help us Karl ? as he seems to me the kind of person who doesn't do anything if there's nothing in it for him"                                                                                                    

Karl" You're not far wrong there Esther, but luckily for us Bradshaw & I go back a long way & over the years I've put a lot of business his way, so if he can help us, I'm sure he will"

By the time the train pulled into Lower Dock station the time was coming up to 9;20 AM & with it been only about a 7- or 8-minute walk, meaning they should arrive just as the store was opening but cutting through an alley way, they were confronted by 3 men.

One of the men with a nasty looking grin on his face "Well well well what have we got here?"               

 Karl "Look buddy we don't want any trouble"                                                                                              

Same man" Well if you just give us what we want there won't be any, isn't that right lads"                      

Karl knew were this was going & as the 3 men advanced pulled out his Colt 45 & fired over their heads which coursed one of the men to duck back behind a fire escape, following his lead & much to Karl's amazement Esther reached into her bag & taking out a .22 & also fired, the result of which seen one of the men dive into a nearby doorway.

 

The third man however was unfazed by the shooting & charged towards Karl, but another shot from Karl pinning off the ground just in front of his feet gave him second thoughts & he ducked back behind the fire escape beside his mate, but as Karl & Esther turned to leave, they emerged again & made towards them once more.                                                                                                                        

Karl again fired into the ground just in front of them again, but Esther put a slug into one of their legs & he fell to the ground in agony, at the sight of his falling friend the other one turned & ran off down the alley.

Karl turned to a very shuck up looking Esther & taken the gun from her now shacking hands said "Come let's get out of here before the cops show up & we have to start answering questions we don't want to"                                                                                                                                                         

 As they left the alley Karl asked "Tell me you've got a license for this thing Esther ?                               

 Esther" I have but I never thought I'd use is, in fact that's the first time I ever fired it"                             

 Karl" Well for someone who's never fired a gun before that was some shot putting a slug into that guys leg"                                                                                                                                                                

Esther" I was aiming for the ground like you did, I hope that man will be alright I didn't mean to shoot him"               Karl laughed at this & giving Esther a quick hug said " I'm sure he will as a .22 is really nothing more than a peashooter, so forget all about"

 

Back on the street they made their way through the last of the morning commuters, it would take them a bit long to reach the shop this way but Karl hoped that it would mean there would be no further incidents. That indeed proved to be the case & with the time coming up to 9.50 am they reach the store, but when they stepped inside, they were amazed to find no one there & the place in complete disarray with many items mashed on the floor.

Given the place a quick once over tells Karl all he needs to know, there has obviously been some kind of a struggle in the shop & as the till still has money in it whatever the season for it it wasn't a robbery. Stepping outside Karl notices a young street Urchin hanging around at the start of the alley between the building with the store & the one next to it.

Walking over to him Karl" You've been here long kid ?"                                                                         

 Kid" Maybe, maybe not"                                                                                                                           

 Karl taking out his wallet & picking a dollar from it "Would this maybe help you to remember ?"          

Snatching the dollar from Karl's hand, Kid "Been here long enough"                                                         

 Karl "Long enough to see anything interesting ?"                                                                                        

Kid "Maybe, maybe not"                                                                                                                           

 This time taking out a 5-dollar bill & holding it high enough so that the kid couldn't snatch it,          

 Karl "These 5 bucks are yours if you can tell me anything, I might find interesting kid"                                 

Kid "Just after I got here, I heard loud voices coming from the shop, like as in an argument, then there was the crashing noises & a few minutes later two man came out through that door into the alley dragging the owner of the shop, they put him into the back of a van & drove off"                                   

 As the kid reach out for the money Karl pulled it back.                                                                              

Karl" Did you recognise either of the men ?"                                                                                              

Looking longingly at the 5 bucks & realising that his hopes of getting more was over, Kid "Yep one of them, his name is Bob Mc Coy, he works at Harris warehouse a couple of blocks from here on the waterfront."                                                                                                                                                                   Karl handing over the money "Thanks kid you've been a big help"                                                                                                                                  

To be continued.

.  

Designers note, I'll try keep this one shorter than the last one, but there are a few things to cover.            I'll start how the story move forward, the last episode end with what's called the advance the story scene, after that you have a travel scene, this could be just moving around the city you're in or heading off to some far-off place, but when travelling there's always the risk of a confrontation.

                

This became the case so we'd the scene in the alley, the antagonises could be working for the big bad but in this case were not, after playing this out we were into another advance the story scene, what need to be done had been & where it would take place had been worked out before the travel scene.

The time of the day & the area meant there would be 3 PEF's, but as none of them turned out to be of a danger to our hero's I didn't interact with them, but one was indeed a street Urchin, so after yet another no defining moment & no show of the person of interest I decided to use the street Urchin as a way of moving the story on.

That's it for this post, as always, my thanks for dropping in & if you'd care to leave a comment it would be welcomed:)