Saturday, February 7, 2009

Wordzzle 49 and a great year to be born



10 Word Challenge: author, Wall Street, rage, lemons, channel changer, cookies and milk, candelabra, Pine Cone Motel, illusory, fluffer-doodle.

Mini challenge: war, wooden shoes, flabbergast, chimera, vodka martini



So you've decided to Wordzzle? Ok then, run on over to the Raven's Nest and check out the guidelines, read her stories, get on Mr. Linky and read the others, then take a chance at this one.

While here you'll be enveloped in the ongoing Wordzzle Series, "Laughlin." For those of you not familiar with the riverside Nevada town, it can best described as a small blue collar Vegas, back in the 70s.

This week's episode: The wonders of technology

The beauty of using the internet was the ability to access information from all over the world. Indeed, the power would flabbergast even the most technical minded of just a couple of decades ago. The current user of this modern marvel was focusing on the news in the small town of Laughlin, Nevada. From the user's perspective in Almond Bay, French Guiana, the small dusty gambling spot was a dim vision of the past.

It was interesting to read of the local murders and deaths there, having been the author of at least part of the mayhem. Too bad about Benny, just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. As for the other two murder victims, well, actions had their consequences didn’t they?

With that out of the way, the damage done by the Wall Street crisis took the user's attention just long enough to execute a couple of trades. Then it was cookies and milk before bed. Some stateside habits weren't broken easily in spite of the much more European feel and culture of French Guiana. The great thing about being here was the countryside of South America and the culture of France. The user would soon learn to finish the night off with a Vodka Martini in lieu of more pedestrian fare.

Half a world away, Captain Jenkins was briefing his team on the latest news on the two women found murdered in his town, not including the unlucky accident victims from the night before. He had spent the first part of the morning misinforming the media, including leaking that the young lady killed at the Denny’s in Needles had been registered as a guest at the Pine Cone Motel in Wickenburg and it was currently unknown how she came to be in the restaurant.

It would later be found out the girl in question was Eloise Pinkton not the deceased Eloise Pinckton. A very lucky break had alerted him to a likeness in names and allowed some diffusion of the media interest even if it was in reality a Chimera of great magnitude. Sometimes it paid to read the morning reports after all.

He would have the clerk explain it later as a small paper work fluffer-doodle, figuring the attention span of the widow would have lapsed. The father-in-law was another thing entirely. Jenkins had early and frequent communications with Domino Gilbretto and they worked together to save the feelings of the now widowed young Angelica. With that behind him he could now turn his attention to the briefing and the new data.

“Folks, I think most of you know Dan Griggs, he’ll be consulting with us on this case." "The identity of the first Jane Doe has been verified as Denise Fisher." Captain Jenkins went on to tell the group that she had been employed as the personal assistant to Connie Liplin. The second victim was presumed to be Connie Liplin, but positive ID had been delayed. It seemed there were no dental records available and the body had been mutilated externally and internally, including the removal of the fingers.

If both murders were connected and had been done by the same perpetrator, then the rage or psychosis that drove this individual had certainly escalated. This was the reason that Griggs had been brought on board. During his tenure at the Tacoma PD he'd been the lead detective on a serial killer case there. The odd thing was the similarity of the internal injuries. It could be coincidence, but it would help to have his expertise till leads were developed.

“We are going to work on the premise that we are looking for an individual or a pair of individuals responsible for both these murders” he continued. “At least that’s the working hypothesis at this point, given the injuries.” The captain finished out the meeting by splitting the group up into teams doing background on each victim, the businesses involved, the crime scenes and a tech guy to research national perpetrators. He concluded with the reminder that if more women were found there would be a good chance the FBI would come in with their own team as well. “Let’s get a grip on this before we end up with the Feds crawling all over our city folks.”

A few hundred miles away in Los Angeles the head of a major real estate investment syndicate lounged in luxury and splendor in his Malibu mansion. The stylish McMansion was tastefully decorated. There was not a cheesy candelabra in site. Having just hung up with the latest cause for concern, he picked up the channel changer and brought up his favorite program, “Californication” on the big screen. His private war on the dupes and chumps would have to wait for a while. Let them bask in the illusory security of their tiny little houses and meaningless little lives. There would be no making lemonade out of the lemons he had coming their way. Just a few more weeks and he could start in earnest to reap the rewards of his plan.

Currently; the Fed, Congress and the White House were attempting to stop the flow of new foreclosures and short sales, but unlike the little Dutch boy with wooden shoes who stuck his finger in the dike to stop a flood, no one would be able to stop the deluge of costs, fees, defaults and short sales coming. And he would be there to pick up the houses, malls, shops, stores, restaurants and raw land at rock bottom prices. Indeed in most cases he would be the only one who had access to these sweet deals. When you owned both sides of a transaction it was easy to control the outcome.

RT

10 comments:

Charlene Amsden said...

Bravo! I am loving this series!

Akelamalu said...

Another great instalment Rich. This really is a novel!

Dr.John said...

I love your character development. This does read like a detective novel and better than some I've read.

bettygram said...

I like this detective story. you do so well with the words they just flow in.

Raven said...

Interesting.... The plot thickens. I love your wordzzle novels and I still think you should try to get them published. I find myself hoping for a return of the villain (I'm terrible at names) from your last piece as the mysterious perpetator in Africa. Nothing like a mad genius who is a complex mix of good and evil to keep things interesting.

Dianne said...

I love the show Californication - just sayin'

Good stuff Rich

Richard said...

Quilldancer: Thank you kindly.

Akelamalu: Thanks my Wahini princess. You got on the ending in your wordzzle again this week.

Dr. John: Thank you sir, much appreciated.


Bettygram: I'm not sure it's a pure detective story yet.

Raven: Who says we won't have a mad genius?

Thanks to all for reading and commenting this week.

Rich

Alice (in BC Canada) said...

Ya... what everyone above me already said... Haha. Great writing.

Lu' said...

Richard that read very nicely, good job :)

Richard said...

Alice and LU: thank you and come again.