Edge of Darkness - Powered by vBulletin Edge of Darkness - Powered by vBulletin
Ended
Watch
1 - 10
DISPLAYED
34
POSTS

Please Allow Me To Introduce Myself

Page 1 of 4 1 2 3 4 Last
  1. #1
    Jmiland1's Avatar


    Beyond the gleaming white hall and the door of Authorized Personnel is... a hall. Of course it's a hall; offices and lobbies and halls are the Lego bricks this building is made out of. It's a dim walkway, the artificial lights not quite making up for the lack of windows (with all the twists and turns this must be right in the heart of the ziggurat), and the light seems to be soaked up by the thin carpet of forest green and the Government Gray walls.

    Suit doesn't answer, instead following the hall as he hums softly. There's seven doors here, three on each side and one at the end; the six side-doors lead to small offices, easily seen through one large window next to their doors. Right as they enter, Simmons and Rizzo pass an empty office, the lights off. Ed Miller, the placard on the door says, and below that Office of Risk and Insurance, Management.

    Three of the offices are not just dark, they're vacant--the desk and chair covered in sheets to keep the dust off until such time someone claims them as their own. The other two offices are occupied, and their owners (a 30ish woman with honey-dark hair and a young black man in a dark suit) watch the agents go by before lowering their gazes to their workstations.

    At the end of the hall, Suit opens the door to the last office and flicks the lights on. "Have a seat," he says, settling into the chair behind his desk. He still hasn't given a name, but it's easy enough to read on the door:

    Sterling Pruitt, Management


  2. #2
    Fractured's Avatar


    Rizzo's gut burns, kicking acid and bile back up the old man's throat as the Suit continues the tour without answering the federal agent's question. Frank swallows the rage back down his gullet- it can't accomplish anything yet- and continues to follow him into the heart of the Commie ziggurat. Frank points out the empty office of Ed Miller to his partner as they travel, takes a quick look at the employees in attendance, but the arrogant SOB leading them commands most of the old detective's attention.

    He makes a note of the name on the plate at their destination, but doesn't assume that the man behind the desk is Sterling Pruitt. Or if Sterling Pruitt even exists, really. Rizzo thinks it sounds like an alias. He takes the offered seat, wondering if he and Simmons have fallen further down the rabbit hole than they were prepared for. He looks across at their host for a moment and smiles. Question-Mark-Pruitt had tried to confuse them, set himself as their superior by not deigning to answer any questions, now sits here silently, hoping to let the federal agents fill the quiet and ignorance by putting their cards on the table.

    But that's my game, Rizzo thinks indignantly. "No lights on in Ed Miller's office. We're looking for Ed Miller. Where is he? Why have you brought us here, Mister-Maybe-Pruitt?"

  3. #3
    Player of the Month
    6
    GB82's Avatar


    Tim sat down in the offered seat and began to wonder just what was going on. Then something clicked in his head and he smiled. Didn't like getting played but still he could admire the professionalism. He doubted for a second that Ed Miller even existed, wondering if it was just some code name used by whatever agent was out in the field. The piss poor trade craft from the Denny's, the easy trail, the runaround and the long walk to this back office so it would be impossible to remember the whole route. He was waiting at the elevator. Tim smiles.

    "So this is the meeting."

  4. #4
    Jmiland1's Avatar


    Sterling smiles as he settles into his chair with a relaxed sigh (an eyebrow quirking up, though, at the "Maybe" Rizzo inserts in his name) and reaches over to pop open a minifridge and open up a Diet Coke. That done, he finally seems to acknowledge the two men he's been leading around for may as well have been hours.

    "This is the meeting," he confirms with a nod. "As for Eddie, he's out doing field work. We're not always deskbound bureaucrats. Now Ed, he... well, he fucked up, not to put too fine a point on it," and he spreads his hands out as if to say and that's why you're here now. "But hell, he's just a kid. Got to give him another chance. And at least we had enough of a head's up that we can try to do this right." He smiles. "Soda?"

  5. #5
    Player of the Month
    6
    GB82's Avatar


    "No thank you." No Tim wasn't afraid that there would be something in the drink, he just didn't really like diet coke. Still the Special Agent had to admit that it fit with the whole image of the place, it was bland and yet different. "Yeah attempting to bribe Federal Agents in a booth at the local Denny's is rather flagrant, you had to know that we were going to trace the plates of the car and end up here." He almost says, you must have wanted us here in the first place but holds his tongue.

  6. #6
    Fractured's Avatar


    Frank feels like he's a step behind Simmons on the uptake, so the old man resolves to shut his rusty trap until he figures out whatever the hell his partner has. "No, thanks," he says to the soda, then, so abruptly he actually succeeds in interrupting himself, "Wait, 'try to do' what 'right'?" Well, okay, after that, he shuts up.

  7. #7
    Jmiland1's Avatar


    Sterling nods as he listens to Tim, sipping his cola. "Yes, I would have known," he says. "Which is why I wouldn't have done it in the first place, and would have stopped him if I knew that was how he was going to handle things. And why Ed's not allowed to do direct interviews for a good, long while.

    "So. You came here to, I'm guessing, arrest Mr. Miller. But you're not going to do that,"
    Sterling says as he looks from one agent to the other. "I'll tell you that right now. But I don't want you to go away unhappy." He leans forward slightly and uses the line salesmen have used down through the ages:

    "What can we do to make this work for you?"

  8. #8
    Player of the Month
    6
    GB82's Avatar


    Tim takes a few seconds to try and get a read on the man. When somebody tried to offer you a deal it was good to try and learn whatever you could about where they were coming from. He didn't want to start thinking about what chips to throw into the pot until he knew more about what kind of hand the man in front of him was holding.

    2 suxx on not being frustrated, 3 suxx on Empathy

  9. #9
    Jmiland1's Avatar


    There's obviously something sinister, or at least cagey, about Sterling's motives and operations. After all the man is hidden in a veritable bunker and his job seems to include bribery on at least a semi-regular basis. He sidesteps questions and he drinks diet soda. Denmark is definitely rotten, here.

    But looking at the man's face and body language, Tim isn't really picking up any subterfuge. He's the manager whose dimwit trainee has spoiled your burger order; he's the guy on the car lot who wants to make a profit on the deal but needs you happy so there's a deal at all. Either he's a great liar (not altogether unlikely, if Tim's suspicions of the man are correct), or he's honestly embarrassed that a little SNAFU has become such an issue.

    On the other hand, if he just wanted to smooth things over, there was no need to show these Federal Agents his secret hideout.

  10. #10
    Player of the Month
    6
    GB82's Avatar


    Tim takes another few seconds to consider his words before speaking. "Well we want to solve this case, a child died and most of the authorities who would normally be handling the investigation have seemed to been playing hot potato with the whole case. It's landed in our lap and it's our duty to speak for that kid, since nobody else seems to be willing to do that." It was a notion he'd picked up for sharing hours with all those Homicide detectives on joint investigations, the idea that when someone died and another was responsible someone had to speak for the dead. Tim loved that notion, loved the moral clarity of behind it, loved how it filled a person with purpose and the willingness to brave crime scene after crime scene, night shift after night shift, shitty coffee, multiple marriages and divorces and more paperwork than was probably done in this whole building.

    "I wouldn't mind also knowing why we got tossed this case, how your office knows so much about it and our unit and the big WHY. Why the offer? If Eddie knew that much about me, if he'd seen my file and performance reviews, why the heck did he try and bribe a "stubborn Special Agent with a habit of not knowing when to quit on a case"?" Tim always thought that was one of his good qualities.

Page 1 of 4 1 2 3 4 Last
Closed Thread
     

Similar Threads

  1. Introduce Yourself
    West
    The Living Room
    • 317
    • POSTS
    • Mar 26th, 2024
  2. May I Introduce...
    Forn Clakes
    Statler and Waldorf
    • 2
    • POSTS
    • Sep 29th, 2014
    • 28
    • POSTS
    • Jul 21st, 2012