Wild Stories 2- Unexplained Happenings

Chapter Fourteen: Noose (Thin Blue)

The next meeting took place in the Hawke Inn. Adams sat awkwardly on a chair in their room, Wild and the others on the beds.

Wild was lying on his stomach, head in his hands and kicking his legs in the air. Jack tried not to find it endearing and failed entirely.

"So... this is what me and Jack found." He patted himself down for the papers, before remembering that he didn't have them.

He reached into Jack's pocket for the papers, paused, apologised for turning him into a human handbag, and handed them to Adams.

"As you can see, Mary found a lot of evidence to suggest that the Flowers aren't as sweet as they seem. And apparently we can't trust Ubel, try to contain your shock."

"I see." Adams said, flipping through the documents. He sighed and threw them onto the side table.

"Well. I'll have to contact Division about this, if I'm going to go over Ubel. We only have her word to go on, so far."

"You can't deny it's suspicious. If we prove Susie's innocence... I reckon Ubel planted that necklace."

"Why would he do that?" Adams asked.

Wild frowned. "To use as a bargaining chip. 'You agree to date me, I'll drop the charges.' That's how people like him work, trust me."

Jack gave him a concerned sort of glance, which Wild tried to brush off with a smile.

"Anyway... we need a plan."

Till groaned and thumped her head back against the wall.

Wild jumped up and everyone in the room looked at him with surprise. "I forgot, Jack we both forgot, we're idiots! I mean not you really, I must be rubbing off on you. Oh I'm a terrible influence."

"What are you talking about?" Asked Adams fiercely, trying to get his heart rate back under control. Maybe his doctor had been right about that blood pressure thing.

"The swiss army knife!" Jack gasped and face-palmed internally.

"Jack said that Mr. Flower had been limping. Whoever attacked Mary is responsible for the disappearance of her swiss army knife, probably because she stabbed them with it." Wild looked from Adam's to Till, and saw the moment it dawned on them.

"Well. Time to take Mr. Flower in I suppose. Alert Dr. Quantum, we'll need her to confirm that the stab wounds are consistent with a swiss army knife."

"But Ubel. He might throw a wrench in the works."

"You let me worry about him." Till said casually. She gave Jack a conspiratorial look that he very much did not like.

"We'll handle it."

Oh no, thought Jack.

"But I'm wondering about the necklace." Said Till. "What did it look like exactly?"

"Um, it was a gold chain that had the word 'Best' on it. But I saw a flash of gold when Susie was pushed into the cop car. It seemed like she was still wearing the necklace."

"A gold chain that said "Best"... that's an odd thing to wear. Unless someone else is wearing a necklace that says 'Friend'." She said, looking around the room.

"Right? Come on, I want to check something." She hoisted herself off the bed and walked to the door. The men glanced at each other curiously and followed her.

They got to the receptionist's desk and she picked up the picture of Mary.

"You see? Mary's wearing a matching gold chain necklace that said "Best" on it.