|
Post by demikara on Sept 2, 2019 10:28:14 GMT -6
"I came to the downtown station when you were arrested. I can go swing by Arianne's house. Do you know when the judge will be ready? I can probably come to the court room then. I'm dressed for my shift, but that should be fine." Given she generally wore a dress and tights for her shift, she'd be surprised if there was any problem with what she was wearing.
Aerilyn swallowed and looked around. "Are you going to be okay? do you think they'd let me back to see you?" She'd much rather do that than be out here, truth told. Why had he taken the wrong car? This was ridiculous, it was just a misunderstanding. It was going to be okay. She bit her bottom lip and waited for him to answer. She wouldn't learn anything if she just kept asking questions.
She had to know though. Was there even going to be time to swing by Drulović's house?
|
|
|
Post by Ylanne on Sept 2, 2019 10:32:09 GMT -6
Ahmad shook his head, shifting weight from one foot to the other. He tried to keep his voice as low as he could, hoping other people around wouldn't overhear him, though it was probably a pointless exercise since at least the police were recording all calls out. "I don't know. It's not like I've had this happen before!"
"It's going to be at least another couple hours," the Jhoryn woman said helpfully beside him, speaking with a noticeable accent from her homeworld.
"Yeah, another couple hours," Ahmad repeated for Aerilyn's benefit. "I don't know. I guess the afternoon sometime. It's barely 11 now." Another moment, then, "Shit. I need to call the office. Can you drop by the director's house and check? See if it looks like she's, I don't know, sick at home, or something. She's not answering anything but maybe her phone took a swim. Wouldn't be the first time it's happened. God, I really want my phone right now. It has all my games!"
|
|
|
Post by demikara on Sept 2, 2019 10:38:05 GMT -6
"It'll be fine. I'll get you phone for you too, you addict." He can't be that bad off if he was complaining about not having his phone The relief in his voice was palpable. "I'll check on the director too. It's going to be okay Ahmad." it had to be. she headed to where she had parked and smiled, playing with the end of her hair.
"Knowing her, the phone took a swim. She hates it." For good reason. People were constantly calling her. Aerilyn would go mad if she had to deal with that many phone calls. She had pulled guard duty on Drulović before, as one of the only guards the other didn't manage to lose. The wife of her deputy director was as close to a compromise as her husband's boss came.
"Don't worry about her. I'll track her down, and you'll see both of us at your hearing, okay?" Assuming she was allowed into the courtroom. She had no clue how court worked or anything like that at all.
|
|
|
Post by Ylanne on Sept 2, 2019 10:43:37 GMT -6
"Great. Just please try to ignore the fact that I've definitely been puking." Ahmad resisted the urge to do so yet again, and, leaning against the booking officer's desk, stared longingly at the trash can next to it.
The Jhoryn woman chuckled, and Ahmad glared, resembling an offended kitten.
"I'll see you later. I'm okay. I think. Just kind of panicking because I really don't want to be in jail, and I'm afraid someone's going to shank me. Or, um, worse. Definitely worse. I'm definitely afraid of worse."
There was a particularly imposing Hrgilth male staring directly at Ahmad from the holding cell's bars, and the look in that Hrgilth's face did not suggest to Ahmad anything even remotely resembling friendship, courtesy, or kindness. It was the kind of look a great white shark might give to the next seal it had selected as lunch.
Ahmad swallowed. He would definitely not mention this part to Aerilyn. The last thing he needed was for her to end up right beside him in central booking.
"All right. I love you. Good luck."
|
|
|
Post by demikara on Sept 2, 2019 10:47:14 GMT -6
"I love you too." She entered her car and smiled, and she knew the grin made it through the line. "And if someone shanks you dear, I have a plasma rifle for a reason. So don't worry too much." She would take care of it with Gambit's Bar levels of violence. No one fully sane worked there. "Stay safe." She'd make sure he was okay. But first his fool self had to go through court.
At least it wasn't her arrested. That would have been the opposite of fun. They'd pat her down and end up calling extra cops just to deal with the weapons. Him being arrested was a much quieter affair. She let the phone hang and a rolled her eyes.
"My husband is such a silly man." No one would shank him in holding. Probably. And if they did, she'd take a plasma rifle to them so all would be well again. sh took off to Drulović's house intent on finding the director. If nothing else, the other woman would find the entire situation hilarious.
|
|
|
Post by Ylanne on Sept 2, 2019 10:53:33 GMT -6
The violet paint on Drulović's townhouse apartment had faded a bit since the last time Aerilyn had dropped by. The old woman's prized azaleas had wilted a bit by the steps to the entrance, their leaves shriveled and drooped, projecting sadness onto the tiny, straggly lawn. When Aerilyn came to the door, she would see the lights off, and find the door locked (a rarity here). A few envelopes sat in the mailbox, addressed to I Kagan, the name Drulović tended to use when seeking to go without recognition. That name wasn't a secret, but it helped a bit to preserve a small amount of quasi-anonymity.
The car Drulović drove sat idle in the driveway, the doors locked, and no personal possessions visible inside save for a small icon hanging on a chain from the rearview mirror. No neighbors were visible, and only a few cars eased slowly by the street without stopping.
|
|
|
Post by demikara on Sept 2, 2019 10:58:09 GMT -6
Aerilyn peered in the windows and frowned. The car was there, but it didn't look like the other was actually home. The locked door was unusual, and she frowned as she took in the stack of mail. The car had been locked as well, and not broken into. Luckily, the house was not air tight, and it was the work of a thought to use her magic to check the air currents in the house.
If she was there and moving, she'd know. Hopefully there would be enough for Aerilyn to sense. she hadn't tried this before, so didn't know if she'd be able to tell if there was breathing. That would be the trickiest part. "...i dont have a key. Would Ahmad?" Probably. The question was where was it. Probbaly with his things, with the police.
|
|
|
Post by Ylanne on Sept 2, 2019 15:32:14 GMT -6
As Aerilyn surveyed the front of the house, a car slowed to a stop, then pulled into the driveway two over from Drulović's unit, cutting the engine. A young woman, not much older than Aerilyn herself, emerged, looking over at the woman in the beret and red jacket. The neighbor was dark-skinned and chubby, with red hair falling in tight curls around her shoulders, leaning on a rainbow patterned cane in one hand and holding two paper bags of groceries in the other.
"You looking for the old woman?" The neighbor waved, but didn't move any closer. "I'm Angharad. I know I've seen you around before, but it's been awhile. You work for the government, don't you?"
|
|
|
Post by demikara on Sept 2, 2019 18:01:23 GMT -6
Aerilyn turned and smiled to the neighbor and offered a wave. "Hi Angharad. I'm Aerilyn. My husband works directly with her and we're concerned. She hasn't shown up in some time, so we're worried. Have you seen her?" She didn't quite work for the government but her husband did. She much prefered her work. Aerilyn headed over, giving up the door for a lost cause. Arianne probably had gone ahead and proofed the place from entry, so there was no use grabbing some idiot from Gambits and putting them to work.
The benefit of working in the biggest dive bar of them all, was that Aerilyn knew at least three people who could pick a lock. The majority would rather go ahead and shoot it down, but there were a few calmer heads among the regulars.
|
|
|
Post by Ylanne on Sept 2, 2019 18:29:53 GMT -6
Angharad had started turning her key in her own lock, but stopped, frowning. "No, actually, come to think of it, I haven't seen her." The last time Drulović had been at the house had to have been a few days ago. Angharad tilted her head to the side. "I think she was last here Sunday. Assumed she was out for work or something, maybe offworld. Is something going on?"
|
|
|
Post by demikara on Sept 2, 2019 18:44:53 GMT -6
"That's what I was hoping to find out." That was it. She was breaking in. All she needed was a strong enough air current and she could fix this problem entirely. Well, that and creativity and a clear view given she was going to be doing this blind and had never done this before. Breaking into her husband's boss's house. This was going to be incredibly illegal. The things she did for love.
"You don't happen to have a spare key do you? I'm pretty sure my husband does but he's a little held up right now." Very held up actually. This was going to be fun. Aerilyn offered a polite smile and tried not to think of hitting her husband upside the head for being dumb enough to get arrested in a car he shouldn't have even been riding. How did he even mistake his car for a different one entirely? Was it at least the same model?
|
|
|
Post by Ylanne on Sept 2, 2019 19:02:25 GMT -6
Angharad was already shaking her head. "No, I don't have a copy. But she does leave the spare ... " She cocked her head. "I'm not sure at all that I should be sharing this. There've been some shootings near here before, all involving the old woman somehow. Sorry, I can't help any more than I already have."
She turned the key in her lock and stepped inside.
The air currents in Drulović's house were still, stagnant. No evidence whatsoever of motion or life stirring.
|
|
|
Post by demikara on Sept 2, 2019 19:44:34 GMT -6
She had a spare and that was all Aerilyn needed. She glanced around, looking for a possible fake rock or some sort of plastic garden rock or frog or rabbit. Something small to hold a fake key. Frustrated, she ran an air current over the top of the door, though given the director's height, she sincerely doubted that it was there. she also checked under the mat, assuming she hadn't found it yet. There was a spare. And there had been shootings nearby, though hopefully not recently.
This is why Arianne was supposed to have security of some sort. Because she was a giant target and she had been taken before and they all knew it. Stubborn old woman.
|
|
|
Post by Ylanne on Sept 2, 2019 20:32:19 GMT -6
After some searching, Aerilyn would eventually find Drulović's key, tossed carelessly into the middle of one of the wilting azalea bushes, hidden mostly by the blooms themselves.
The old woman had left it there as a taunt, some act of defiance.
The apartment inside was much as Aerilyn had last seen it, sparse, impersonal, with few trinkets or creature comforts. No dishes sat in the sink. No coat lay over the chair. Nothing moved.
|
|
|
Post by demikara on Sept 3, 2019 7:13:14 GMT -6
In the azalea bush. The director was nuts. Aerilyn walked through the house looking for some sort of sign, something. "Director?" She called out, checking each room methodically. There was no sign of her and she bit her bottom lip, checking the bedroom in hopes that there may be some sign that she had left, given there was no sign she had remained. Did they other go off world? If so, she'd need a different set of resources to try and track her. And those resources meant her husband needed to be out of the jail cell he was currently in.
"Arianne?" Where was she? Aerilyn checked for any missing clothes, any sign that a suitcase had been packed. Where the hell was her friend? This was looking worse and worse. At least she knew the other hadn't fallen down and hurt herself, or something like that. At this point, she was more concerned that the director had run off willingly.
|
|