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Hmm, apparently the groundwater had already affected the man's garden, or at least that's how the man was seeing it. "Sir, are you claiming that the health of your roses has something to do with a suspected dumping? If you could answer my questions it'll help me get to the bottom of this more quickly and I'll see what I can do about your roses."Please Answer the Question, 2suxx
Maybe the man with a love for his garden did not like the phrasing or tone of the question, because his expression took on a note of suspicion. Probably because in the old films, people were supposed to be suspicious of the Feds.
"How'd I know you're not just humouring here, son?" he questioned directly. His hardening gaze switched to Samuel just once, and then returned to Jaeger. "Because I take chemical dumping seriously, suspected or no. And the newspaper says something weird is going on across the road."
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Jaeger sighs inwardly. Maybe he expected too much from the citizenry, that everyone was just as eager to solve the city's problems as he was. The guy was old, he paid his dues to society and now he just wanted his small little world to stay just how he liked it. He could try placating to the man, but that would take time and he'd probably end up paying out of his own wallet just to get a testimony that might just be useless. He could try bullying the man, but that wasn't his style. The agent pulls out a cigarette from his pack and lights up in front of the man, drawing in slowly, making the man wait for his response. Jaeger looks the man in the eye, scrutinizing him to see if he might be holding something back or if Jaeger was just wasting his time.
It doesn't look as though the man is jerking Jaeger around; he just wants something done, and it sounds as if he's been messed around on the same issue.
The old man stood, arms crossed, and waited for Jaeger to surprise him with something insightful.
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"Alright look," Jaeger finally says, "I'm just an investigator on this, that's all I'm here to do. If you want to file a complaint to the city you contact the Sacramento County Environmental Health Division. They're the guys that handle that sort of thing. Here, I can even give you the number to call them. I'm fairly sure they don't have a policy to reimburse residents for environmental issues that are not the directly the cause of city projects. But if we find out who did it they're obligated to release that information and you're welcome to sue the pants off them."
Jaeger waited to see how the man reacts, whether his answer was a suitable suggestion. He believed it had been the Sacramento Office of Emergency Services that had contacted DHS initially about the incident, but he was pretty sure they didn't do complaints.OOC
"Yeah..." the man nodded, clearly only actually listening to the part when he would actually be able to complain to someone who wouldn't have a choice but to listen. "Yeah, I'll do that." This time, his response was a little more enthusiastic.
Jaeger probably had the man right where he wanted him. Now, if he had any useful information that would be even better.
"So, what was it you wanted to know?"
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Now they were getting somewhere. Jaeger didn't allow himself to smile, but he was glad the man's needs were at least satisfied to a point that they could get on with their discussion. "Have you seen any suspicious characters coming to the lake at night, any large trucks or vans even that might have driven up to the lakefront?" He spoke steadily and clearly, and maybe projecting just a bit louder in case the man had a hearing problem so the question would sink in.
"Well, we get tourists driving past sometimes. Going out on the boats, you see. Some of them just park across the road - blocking my view! Can you imagine the gall? Anyway, they stop and take photographs of the water and all that. I mean, none of them are suspicious but I'm just making sure I tell it like it is, you know?"
Currently, all of his long speech was said in roughly one, rambling breath. It very much appeared that the old man had a tendency to drift slightly off track, in the manner of someone who enjoyed the sound of their own voice - and would get back to the point sometime that week.
"So, as I was saying-," the man started up again, once he had drawn breath. "People come past now and then; but a few of weeks ago I saw a rambler coming through in the dead of the night. I was outside walking the cat at the time; I wasn't the one acting suspicious here. I called out to ask him what he was doing that time of night, and he straight on ignored me!"
As if, even for a journalist, he was completely unaccustomed to dealing with a career rambler, Samuel blinked a couple of times and show Jaeger a quick sidelong look.
Though he did not actually say anything - because it would have been rude to point out, in front of the old man, that he sounded like he had a nut loose - Samuel's mouth formed a small 'o'. He looked faintly overwhelmed by the old man's splurge. In a slightly anxious way, he fiddled with the strap of his camera as it hung around his neck.
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Walking his cat? Lynx listened carefully, ignoring the minor details, though doing his best to construct an image in his head of the witness's perspective. A rambler coming through in the dead of the night, another possible witness or the perpetrator...
"You say a rambler, like someone who was talking to themselves? Not like the car? Do you think you'd be able to describe him for me, hair color, clothing, body type?" Lynx would take out his notebook and pen for this to write down the details as they were given to him. Too bad it wasn't the car, those would be real easy to track down since they were considered classics.
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