Lincoln "About the distraction, I doubt it. Who would want a trophy and if they wanted something big, they would have to search for it, meaning they would still be in the house. Are they willing to take that risk?" But he had noticed something. "What was in this case?" he asked David, who was the closest Stanfield. "There was something in here before, I remember..."
Stella "I think you need this more than I do." After being comforted by the kind Roland and brought to stand by her dear friend Eddie, Stella took a deep breath. Her tearful gaze fell on the young woman in front of her, with chestnut curls like her own. Giving a grateful smile, she accepted the handkerchief. "Thank you, darling." Stella said softly. Without a second thought, she lay the cloth over her bare shoulder to soak up the blood. Oddly enough, there appeared to be no glass lodged in her skin. At least luck hadn't failed her. With her wound taken care of, Stella looked again to the woman, hoping to distract from the brutal conversation. "I don't believe we've been formally introduced," She said in her usual bubbly way. "I am the Stella Stanfield, and you?"
David was about to respond to the Lady in Red when he turned and looked at the case due to what Lincoln said. David stared at it for a moment and shrugged. "Huh the locket's gone." He said walking up to the broken glass and other things. He looked around it for a moment.....no sign of the locket. "I guess someone took it." David said standing up with a blank look as if he didn't care about it. "As for what's on Peabody street I'm not sure. I don't go there to often I'm pretty sure its a lot of housing though."
Piper: Toys With her wound taken care of, Stella looked again to the woman, hoping to distract from the brutal conversation. "I don't believe we've been formally introduced," She said in her usual bubbly way. "I am the Stella Stanfield, and you?" "Piper Anne Rhodes. My mother knew your father." She replied, not about to cause anymore havoc with the truth about her connection to the family. Walking over he said, "For god's sake! Put the man back in his coffin! This is no time to be poking at his corpse! Did anyone see who fired the shots? Anything at all?" Lincoln exclaimed. He also glanced over the trophy wall. "Are any of your valuables missing? It could have been a distraction to make off with something," he asked, directing the question to the Stanfields. Piper toyed with her little Bot as she moved toward the trophy wall. Glass crunched beneath her heels as she flicked through the pictures. The Bot had gotten a number of photos before smacking into the back of David's head. One of them caught Piper's attention, a haunting image of Stella, her fingers pressed against a glass case. The only glass enclosed item among all the treasures on display. She looked down at the glass fragments beneath her shoes. Carefully she picked up a sliver. Definitely not part of the lights or the shattered chandelier. The case had been smashed. The shooting was a diversion. David stared at it for a moment and shrugged. "Huh the locket's gone." He said walking up to the broken glass and other things. He looked around it for a moment.....no sign of the locket. "I guess someone took it." David said standing up with a blank look as if he didn't care about it. She turned to face the Stanfield twins. "What's the story behind the missing locket? Why was it kept under glass?"
"He seems awfully disinterested in something that was inside of a glass case, something that was stolen probably in the same time span as the shooting." I thought, I looked over at Stella. "Ms, would you like me to take you to a room so then you do not have to see such a gruesome sight such as this?" I asked, I had another motive for asking to do this... I had a hunch and I must ask her about something, I remembered that when she arrived she had said something, I had migrated near the Stanfield's during that time...
Eddie Cartwright Eddie looked around, Stella seemed to be taken care of, she looked as if she was in good hands. He then turned himself away from the coffin he had laid Mr.Stanfield in. He soon then turned back to where everyone else seemed to be headed, over to where the lock was supposed to have been taken. "Yes, please explain why this lock is so important? And why someone would want to take it, does it have any significance other than what it is worth?" He said with his hat pressed down on his head, he was getting more into stuff than he usually does. Being around adults makes him feel as if he needs to be grown.
Lincoln "Huh the locket's gone." He said walking up to the broken glass and other things. He looked around it for a moment.....no sign of the locket. "I guess someone took it." David said standing up with a blank look as if he didn't care about it. Lincoln was puzzled by his reaction. "What was the locket? What was it's significance?" he asked. "It's value?" It always came to value with Lincoln. And anything that someone was willing to crash, literally, a funeral for was something with value. Either monetary or intrinsic, it was something valuable. If David Stanfield was missing that, perhaps he wasn't as brilliant as everyone said he was. Or he was hiding something...
Stella Stella caught the girl's name briefly before her attention was turned again to the conversation. The locket...missing? Her head spun as more information was thrown at her. She'd seen the locket only moments before the shooting, how could it be gone? "Ms, would you like me to take you to a room so then you do not have to see such a gruesome sight such as this?" Stella turned towards a suited man, his voice she'd recognized from his large input in the conversations. Piper turned to face the Stanfield twins. "What's the story behind the missing locket? Why was it kept under glass?" Stella glanced from the man to Piper, and back to the man. "No sir, I feel I should be present for these matters, seeing my father's locket is involved." Her voice cracked just a bit at the mention. Stella faced the young woman as many others echoed her words. "That locket has been in my family for generations...locked under that case to be seen, not touched. It's value unknown, but priceless to Father. No matter how much I pleaded, absolutely no one was to wear it." Stella's curls bounced as she tossed her head. "To think someone has committed such a crime! Whoever has done this will be answering to me!" Her brow furrowed; she gave a thorough glance over the ones present.
A new person has arrived and killed the moment Many sirens started blaring outside and they were obviously the police and ambulance. The police in this world were different they were often off duty. They were by no means lazy it was just crime was a rare thing in this world though lately things seemed to have been getting quite violent on the streets lately. First the murder and now this. The cops were also more trusting in this world of people in general. Though it was odd as everyone expected the police to burst in the door the sirens stopped in front of the house for about 10 minutes and kept moving. Suddenly the double doors swung opened and a man walked in. He was at least 19 or 20 and like everyone else just about he was dressed in a black suit but he was also carrying a bouquet of roses. He wasn't very tall in fact he was probably the shortest man in the door his hair wasn't combed like the other men. Well it was but it was poorly done. He had long features on his face which didn't exactly make him handsome but he was certainly attractive enough in some areas. Everyone knew him. His name was Eugene. He wasn't famous on a Stanfield level he just happened to be known as that person people avoided. Not because he was dangerous but because....well....he was.... "Hey guys how's it going! I'm here for the funeral!!!!" He continued smiling without noticing the body or the ruined home. "There were a bunch of cop cars outside. But I handled the problem told them that they had to have the wrong house. They said something about a shooting but I was like NAAAAAW ain't no shooting here because this is a funeral and then I talked to them and then they got mad for some reason and left." Eugene skipped into the room and looked down at the body. "Awww man I thought this was a closed casket funeral! I would of worn my floor funeral tux if I knew we were having this kind of ceremony." What he said probably made no sense to anyone but he was making perfect sense to himself. He then paused and looked around. "Boy I thought the turn would be bigger and man did you guys have a party or something?????? I mean seriously because if so I wanna breaks something to." ........he was extremely annoying.
Eddie Cartwright Eddie watched the biggest idiot in the world walk through the front door, and Eddie wasn't even that rude of a guy. Though, this gentleman was completely and utterly insane, or just very very stupid. Eddie had seen him once before, and actually liked the guy a bit, though his actions in this situation were highly unnecessary. "Agh!" Eddie complained. "We could have needed those cops, we have two detectives, but I mean all the help we could get would have been nice! This is all wet!" he griped. Eddie wasn't too angry at the guy, he was disrespecting Mr.Stanfield, but he was just stupid. Though, Eddie could sympathize, he used to be stupid also. Like the time he let a bookshelf fall on him, because he wasn't listening to instructions. Oh, being ten was fun. he thought thinking back to his dumb days, with all his injuries. He soon caught himself and looked up at the man his entire neighborhood knew, Eugene.
I sighed quietly as the man entered and told us what he did. "...We called those policemen." I said sighing quietly, I noticed Stella's voice crack at the mention of the locket, I looked over at her. "Ms. Stanfield, if I remember correctly you were over at the trophy case at the time of the shooting correct?" I asked, I had noticed when the wound was being wrapped up she didn't have any glass embedded into the wound, which seemed very strange to me, how did she get wounded without even having the tiniest sliver of glass left in the wound?
Kubi had given up on figuring out which animal did it. "No dog did this, alligator maybe but, that doesn't make any sense." Then some else came in. "Oui! You stupid or something? Why you send away cops? No this is no party you empty head." Kubi then went on a rant in a completely foreign language for a couple seconds before going back to plain butchered English. "Some one call them again."
Stella and Lester At the sight of Eugene, Stella rolled her eyes. A year without hearing about him was far too short... "Ms. Stanfield, if I remember correctly you were over at the trophy case at the time of the shooting correct?" The suited man again approached her. His persona reminded her of the pestering media who frequently questioned her about ongoing roles. The thought of the life she left back in California was comforting. "Yes Sir, I was admiring the locket after all this time. Brings back many memories to me of my childhood, growing up in this house." Stella sighed, shaking her head. ------ Lester found a very distraught Mother in the library, having to escape the smothering crowds of people. With a few comforting words, he dropped Ruthie into Mother's healing hands. Walking back to the visiting room, he heard the faint noise of sirens...but they sounded away from the house. The opposite direction. Lester muttered curses under his breath; this funeral was a disaster in the simplest terms. When he finally entered the room, he was met with the remaining members of the funeral company. Lester groaned when he noticed a newcomer...Eugene, that rascal. What was he doing here? With his blood-pressure ascending, Lester put the thought aside and focused again on his father's corpse. It lay open in the casket. He risked looking at it and grimaced at the brutal appearance. This scarred body hardly resembled the loving father he had grown to admire.
Lincoln "Mother F-" he stopped himself before he said it out loud. He still thought it though. Who the hell had invited Eugene? He reached over his shoulder and tapped his bot, made a gesture and directed it to snap photos of the whole hall, especially the body and the broken display case. He also had it snap pictures of everyone there, discreetly of course. Information had value, and there was precious little of it to go around at the moment. Then he himself scanned the room once more, checking for anything else that he had missed. Anderson Investment House of New York, Lincoln's New York investment firm, owned a company called Fidelity Mutual based in Philadelphia, which in turn, owned a Chicago based company called Madison Securities and Risk Management. It was a prominent insurance firm in Chicago, which so happened to own the Stanfield's Home Owners Insurance Policy. And to Lincoln, that meant one thing... This fiasco was costing him money. That chandelier was crystal, at least a hundred thousand dollars in damages already... and that was before the theft of the locket, which he was sure was extremely valuable, given it's place of prominence on the mantle. If the perpetrator was found, and the locket with him, that was money that didn't have to be liquidated. And, in all honesty, there was a part of Lincoln that was intrigued by this whole thing, a part of him that wanted to know what had happened to Stanfield and why the locket had been stolen. It was not a large part, but enough to give him a little push. Then he made another gesture and the bot dialed the police again and sent them a report of what happened and the address. Hopefully no spoiled idiot would send them away again.
"So you must have seen someone else that was suspicious nearby, after all the locket was the thing that was stolen." I said, I crossed my arms, I had some suspicions toward her and David, she was closest to the case and he didn't seem to care about it at all, a family heirloom.
The police had been called again but oddly enough the cops didn't respond this time instead it was only the ambulance workers. They came in with various equipment for medical purposes of course. "Where are the injured?" Was the first thing asked but he then saw the various wounded people and got to work on them. Including patching up Piper a little better and taking care of everyone's bumps and bruises. Eugene cocked his head at seeing them as if he was confused but continued to do what he was doing. As nobody was looking his way the boy made off up the steps of the mansion by himself.
Eddie Cartwright Eddie watched as the the moron seemed to be somewhat handy, even if he was bound to cause some anger. Eddie watched as the ambulance took all the hurt away, it seemed as most of the men were just fine. Tonight was a true night of shock. He sat on one of the chairs in the room that was a mess, he looked over to the ambulance, Stella and everyone else. They all seemed fine, but as him, most of them looked as if they wanted to get to the bottom of this. Except David, never David
Eugene The young man called Eugene had slipped away from the group for a reason. He didn't come to the funeral just to mourn or annoy people. In fact neither. The cops had actually been planning to come in. But one quick call to his dad was all he needed to send them off. But as searched the upper levels of the mansion he couldn't find it. His face turned red but kept the smile on his face. He didn't actually talk the cops away he was Eugene came back down the steps as the ambulance drivers left along with the injured.
Lincoln Lincoln looked around one more time, spotted Eugene heading up the steps, and nearly called after him. But, instead, since he'd already decided that he would like nothing more than to get out of this place and find a drink, he decided against it. Instead, he turned to Lester and looking up the steps said, "Looks like Eugene is up to something, I'd keep my eye on that fool if I were you. My condolences about your father. And I'm sure that everything will sort itself out soon enough. Good day," he said with a friendly nod, masking the disdain he felt towards his 'competition,' and then turned to leave. Then he had a thought and stopped near Red, as he was calling her in his head since he didn't know her name. "Can I drive you anywhere?" he asked politely.
I looked at Eugene and sighed. "Eugene what were you doing up here? You weren't messing with evidence were you?" I asked, I tended to ask that question quite a bit whenever he was around...
"This is a crime scene?" Eugene actually asked surprised. He was certainly there for suspicious motives but he wasn't actually aware that a shooting at taken place. "What happened? Did someone like let fireworks off in here?" He asked smiling as cheerful as ever. His eyes though kept going around the room. But finally settled on Joe's face. "I mean honestly I just came here for the funeral. Sort of a small turn out though."
Eddie Cartwright Eddie sat there and thought, Eugene is such a retard. He looked at the situation, he wondered what they would do next.
The night had ended with a lot of unanswered questions as everyone went home. Of course everyone said their goodbyes and left with racing minds. Like who stole the locket? Why had the police been so sloppy after speaking to Eugene? And of course Richard's murder went unsolved? ------------------------------------------------------------ As it got later and Eugene walked home he brought up his Bot and it floated in front of his head. He opened up the hologram board and dialed a number. The person on the other end picked up. "Eugene did you get it?" The man on the other end asked. "Dad bad news. Someone shot up the funeral." He said. There was a long pause on the other end of the line. "Ah fuck! Shit if he doesn't get it soon I'm a end up like Richard. I was hoping not bring the other officers into this but I might have to." He said fear in his voice as he finally responded. "Look dad just tell him I'll find it and if he doesn't have that damn locket by later this month I'll let him skin me alive." Eugene replied. His father the chief of police sighed from the other end. "Fine I'll try to convince him but I don't know if he'll take." Eugene said some more words and hung up. He had work to do. ------------------------------------------------------------ Later That Night The man sighed annoyed as he argued with the girl. "Look I think you're over reacting." He continued. "She doesn't need to find out anything." His voice was cold. The girl crossed her arms, her eyes filled with concern. "You're making this more difficult than it needs to be! It'd be better for her to know the truth." He shook his head. "No you're wrong. If she finds out what's in that thing then its just going to be more pain for her....for us. Besides that monster already got Richard and he's clearly up to something with the police. I got ride of the locket so he couldn't get to it." He sat down in the nearest chair he could find. "The only issue is keeping the locket away from her and trying to stop him." The girl sighed and started to pace, pointing a finger in the man's direction. "You shouldn't have taken it...you should have let her have it! Truly this could all be solved and he could be stopped if she knew. I believe she's strong enough." He groaned. "But she's happy here! Do you really wanna take that away from her?" He asked seriously. The girl stopped in mid-step, worry crossing her face. "She may be happy, but she deserves to know where she belongs, where she's needed! We are the ones in the wrong for withholding the truth from her. It'd be best if she finds out now by us...or else find out, by him." "Look I'm not telling her and good luck trying to convince her yourself." He said before standing up. "We've got a good thing going here better, far better then the other times and I ain't letting you or that freak fuck it up!" He shouted before storming out of the mansion doors. "Well, I don't care what you say, coward! I'll tell her myself, I'll get her to see and not you, or him are going to stop me!" She yelled after the man, although he was already gone. The girl clenched her fists, turning her back. "She needs to know..." ------------------------------------------------------------ Day 2: Morning The night had passed, but questions still remained in the minds of the funeral attendees. Stella could barely sleep herself, tossing and turning, as the events played in her dreams. Who took the locket...and most importantly, why? Finally giving up on her usual beauty sleep, Stella arose early and freshened up in her personal bathroom. While dressing into a gorgeous gown of sea-foam green, she came to a decision. She would find the culprit herself, she'd bring them to justice. But she couldn't do it alone. No, she would need the help of many. After applying a generous amount of red lipstick, Stella gathered up her things and pulled out her Bot. With a tap into her contacts, she found no more than two numbers from the ones at the funeral. She wasn’t always one to keep in touch… She’d have to work for this, it seemed. Careful not to wake her family, Stella descended the wide staircase. Silently she walked into the library where the funeral guest book sat on the mahogany desk. Stella made her way over to it, pulling open a drawer for a pen and pad of paper. Her heels clicked softly as she scanned the many bookshelves for what else she needed. The yellow pages, filled with Bot-numbers from all over Chicago While the sun rose in the sky, Stella recorded most numbers from the ones who had stayed after the unfortunate turn of events. Her Bot hovered over her shoulder the whole time as if watching her. With a content sigh, Stella finally gave her Bot another tap and sent out a friendly call. “Hello darling, this is Stella Stanfield. I’d like to present you with an offer of partnership; a partnership in the case of my family’s missing locket. I feel that it is only best to retrieve the locket and find the culprit who put many in danger. Further proceedings will be held at the Stanfield Mansion at precisely noon. The choice is yours, but I do look forward to your presence.” One after the other Stella made the calls, each response different than the last. Though, she was certain every person would arrive. She could feel it in her heart that they would do what was right.
I had left the funeral, as I was driving home my mind was bombarded with so many questions, 'Why did Eugene show up', 'Who took the locket', 'Why was Mr. Stanfield killed', 'Who killed him?', 'Who shot up the funeral, why', the only thing that I was sure of was that locket must be the heart of this mystery... I parked my car outside of my home, I got out and walked inside, I turned on the lights and looked around the empty room. "I'm home." I mumbled to myself, knowing no one would answer me. "My day was fine... someone shot up Mr. Stanfield's funeral..." I said, I paused for a response that I'd never receive. "No, I was perfectly fine, I'm glad that you two decided to have an interest in the well being of your son, instead of just running off to god knows where without so much as telling your child where you're going, parents of the year." I said, sounding more agitated, I sighed annoyed and walked up to my room, I walked inside and lied down on my bed, I stared at the ceiling. "Tomorrow, I'll check out Peabody St. then I'll go check up on the Stanfields..." I mumbled to myself, I shut my eyes, that night I was having dreams about all sorts of possibilities of how the crime was committed and who had committed them, and with what... I woke up the next morning and got up, I went to the bathroom, took a shower, got dressed, went down to the kitchen, prepared a quick breakfast, ate, brushed my teeth, cleaned up, and then I went out to my car and drove to Peabody St. I might find something out if I searched carefully, even if the police and several bystanders had trampled the scene there MUST be something that they missed, and I won't stop until I found and memorized every single detail of the crime scene.
But if isn't that a familiar face we got here... thought The Valentine. Although he isn't a detective, he may be easily above the rank of one when is about gathering information. Hence he was there, checking the crime scene. It's unknown how, but this man managed to gain enough trust from the cops to freely take a look. Perhaps he bribed them, not with money, but information to solve certain cases. So when Joe appeared, he was already there, not waiting for him of course, but he still greeted him, as if he were to be an old friend. Yet he knew about him, perhaps as much as an old friend. "Isn't this a coincidence?... no, technically isn't... I wonder!!! Am I lucky to have your presence again in front of me??, or is perhaps an omen of something ugly to come... You know the say right?... Detectives show when something is gonna happen..." Said with a carefree tone, and offered his hand to the man
