Sifting through facts

As Sara finishes making arrangements to meet Kim, Kim exited her new apartment and walked down the nearly empty streets. She notes the near silence of the streets with a cock of her head. She nears the meeting place within a few minutes, curious about what Sara would like to discuss.

After changing the bandages on her hands, Sara headed out of her apartment. She had arranged to meet at the park, situated a short distance from her apartment. She rarely drove anywhere, and this time wasn't any exception. As she neared the park she surveyed the small green area, sighting out Kim and heading toward her.

"Hey," she greeted, and gave a curt nod.

"Hey Sara." Kim greeted, leaning against the trunk of a shade tree. "Whats going on with you?"

Sara gave a quick and easy shrug. "Nothing much," she smiled grimly. "I just needed to ask you a couple of things, things that came up pretty recently."

"How recently?" Kim leaned forward, plucking up a fallen leaf from the ground. She twirled the leaf between her fingers by the stem, watching your face with interest. "Is every thing O.K.? I heard the reporter got banged up good. Worse off than the flying Giant?"

"He's fine. Next time he'll be listening to orders a little better. He hired a PI to gather intel for us," Sara paused and studied Kim's expression. "The PI sent information to Chris that placed you at a courthouse that got burnt down." There was nothing in Sara's tone that sounded accusatory; rather she merely seemed curious to get the facts straight.

"A P.I.? He any good?" The leaf kept spinning evenly. "Still not sure why this needed me..?"

"The PI and Chris seem to think you burned it down, because a vampire was hanging around," Sara responded evenly.

Kim seems at ease, if curious to Sara's invitation to meet. She seems honest.

"What?" Kim blinked, sounded surprised. "When did I express an interest in arson?"

"Did you have anything to do with it?" Sara pressed, as she took note of the ease with which Kim stood. It was as relaxed as she'd seen her before.

"Uh... no." Kim replied, seeming surprised at the question. "Chris thinks I burned down that Port Huron courthouse? I saw it walking by and went in for a closer look. The citys getting pretty crazy."

Sara took a seat on the parkbench, perching on the back of it. "Yeah, figured. Someone's got their wires crossed somewhere," she sighed and shook her head in plain frustration. "Did you see any vampire activity at all?"

Kim hesitated for half a second, her mouth posed to speak but thinking better of it. "Look, I talked to the Priest last nigh and he talked me out of it... so when I saw this, don't jump to conclusions.." She prefaced. "But I saw that there were a few vans coming and going to it with out any actual security logos on any of them that checked out. Looks like my old job got filled, so I hung around to sniff out where the big Teeth was."

A flicker of relief passed across Sara's face upon hearing Joshua had spoken to her. At least someone could start carrying on with their lives; the Padre was good at that, making folk feel better. "And did you find what you wanted?"

"No Pasty came in and out that I could see. Four regular guards, but they met with this wierdo in the black van. He waves his hand, Guard gives some sort of report. No one goes in after 6 P.M. besides those guards. Thinking that whatever they're guarding is in that courthouse.they'd have to bring it food eventually- or maybe they forgot and the guards got tasty looking."

"That doesn't explain the fire itself though," Sara murmured, mostly to herself. "I don't know as much about 'em as you, but I heard they don't like being around fire. Suseptible to exploding an' all."

"No, fire tends to make them freak out on an epic scale. Screaming, fleeing - all sorts of unnatural crap happens. But I didn't hang around that night, so I'm not sure what happened. No scorched corpse, so whatever ate those guards is probably still out there."

"Great, another fuckin' thorn in my side," Sara grumbled sourly. "Look, if some PI guy was able to get your ID in order to hand it off to Chris, you need to lie a bit lower."

"Some PI guy?" Kim frowned. "Harpers are supposed to have bribed someone to hide who pays for things. How'd he even get my I.D.?" She reached into her pocket, checking her wallet. "My I.D.s legit."


"He ID'd you in general," Sara smiled dryly. "I need to check this guy out, anyway. I'll see what comes up."

"Whats the guys name?" Kim leans in. "I'd like to know whose eye fucking my history."

"Morgan. Something...Morgan Campbell," Sara reported.

"Morgan?" She tilts her head. "Name sounds sort of familiar. Like there was a story in the paper awhile ago.. but are you guys going to be working with him?"

"Depends what turns up, and how he can be useful," Sara responded. "We got enough fuckin' trouble working together with just the four of us." She shrugged slightly, considering. "There are factors t'consider - not least who got the information so wrong regarding your involvement...or lack thereof."

"Well, I'd tell you if I got high and burned down the court house." Kim grinned. "Side note? Vampires are hard to drink when they're on fire. Flesh peels like ..well.. its grosss. I saw it once and it was spectacular, but not good for blood junkies." She gives an annoyed sigh. "Especially blood junkies trying to kick the habit."

"You're on the right track," Sara replied sincerely. She could be nice sometimes. "But like I said, lay low."

"I think I'm going to spend the next fourteen days at my house studying updated child care laws. There's this thing I'm going to be going to.. Priest has my address if you need me for something. You guys take care, O.K." She stood, wringing her hands for a moment, uncomfortable. "I'd normally offer to kick ass with you; but I can't right now. I'd give you guys a call when I'm...better, I guess is what I'm trying to say."

Sara rose from the bench to move over to Kim. She extended a hand to the other woman, and nodded in the affirmative. "You don't have to explain anything to me. I understand - take your time. Do something normal while you still can."

"Thanks." Kim smiles, a brief, genuine emotion of gratitude. "Sorry for the punch before." She mimes a blow with a smile. "You're kick ass. You'll be O.K. with those guys."

Sara shrugged mildly. "Had worse," she smiled slightly. "Have a good life."

"Yeah," Kim grinned. "You too. See you around." the blonde turned and eased into a jog, heading north east. The opposite way of where she'd come; perhaps she was heading a roundabout way home.

Sara remained in the park for a few minutes longer, watching the world go by around her. But, she couldn't dally long. There were things to do. As she started walking back toward the road, she pulled out her phone to call Chris.


"Hello?" Chris answered.

"It's me," Sara stated by way of greeting. "Kim had nothing to do with the fire."

Chris frowns slightly. "Are you sure about that?"

"She had nothing to do with the fire," Sara repeated, her tone blunter. "Don't go callin' her either. She's getting her head straightened out, and doesn't need people investigating her every turn."

"Alright." He nods. "I think we should call a meeting."

"Already planning it. We need to maintain contact and pool our resources. Tell me more of what you know about Campbell," Sara instructed, her tone brusque.

"I haven't had time to look into him. But so far I've only been in contact with him through my online alias."

"What was on his resume?" Sara questioned. "I fully intend to check him out myself. I have contacts, but I want to check for any discrepancies."

Chris: "You know I never actually think I got a resume from him. I'll get back to you on that."

Sara sighed inwardly: maybe she was just more suspicious than most, but ti would have been one of the first things she would do. "Alright. You need to get hold of one, then. Did he give a reason for why he suspected Kim was the arsonist, or did you extrapolate based on bits of information?"

"She was at the scene of the crime, and definitely has motive. More to the point, if it wasn't Kim, then who was it?"

"Yeah, that was me extrapolating."

"Definitely." Chris agrees. "I've got some more info. But I think it'd be easiest to talk it out in person at the meet."

"Alright. Sounds good," Sara remarked calmly. "I'll find a safe place to meet, and send word to everyone."

"Alright thanks." Chris hangs up the phone.

Sara disconnected the call, and headed back to the apartment.