110. Caught Out

Warning: bad photoshop work ahead and lame pictures!

Barnacle Bay...

A block away from Tamsyn’s cabin, John and his wife, Sandra, were watching the evening news when he had an epiphany.

“That’s where I know her from!” He cried excitedly as he stared at the identikit sketch of Tamsyn Smith, also known as Sasha Nielsen, the same woman he knew as Joanne Brown.

“…Civilians are asked not to confront the woman. She is dangerous and may be armed…Anyone with information should contact Detective Jonah Kensington on 011 362 0209 or they can call J.D. Summers, the Starlington’s spokespersons, on 037 811 5307…”

“You know her? How do you know her?” Sandra glared at her husband, wondering what shady business he was into to know someone as heartless as that witch of woman.

“She’s our new tenant,” John smiled slyly, his pupils heavily dilated by now as he thought of all the things he would do with the reward money.

He’d always wanted to take Sandra on a nice holiday abroad, a Safari in Kruger National Park, somewhere in South Africa. Yes, the weather was warm and nice around this time and the game was breathtaking. He’d heard his friends talk about Africa and the wilderness, and he wanted to experience it for himself. Maybe they could move on Cape Town after a few weeks, take in the Table Mountain. Or maybe they could hit all the hotspots in Johannesburg. The possibilities were endless in Africa!

“Take down the phone numbers,” with a clap of his hands, John snapped out of his daydream and rushed his wife to get a move on.

“This had better be good John!” Sandra grumbled under her breath as she rummaged through the drawers on the sideboard, looking for a pen and piece of paper.

“011 362-” John, in an extremely loud voice, recited the numbers flashing on the screen.

“I’m not deaf you know!” Sandra clucked her tongue, a sign she wasn’t pleased.

She’d never seen her husband so excited and she planned on getting to the bottom of his sudden happiness. She didn’t know what had happened, but she knew their situation had changed, and it had a lot to do with that sick woman on the news, the same one she’d just learned was their new tenant.

John was on the phone as soon the news bulletin ended. Detective Jonah’s number was engaged. He imagined everyone was lining up for the reward money. But if he had sat down long enough, and calmed himself down, he would have remembered there had been no mention of a reward prize.

After numerous attempts to get through to the detective in Bridgeport, John gave up and tried the family’s spokesperson. He bit back a string of expletives when he went straight to his voice mail service.

“John, please tell me what’s going on?” Sandra asked for the fiftieth time.

“Something big.  I promise when this is over, we are going on a Safari.” He kissed her quickly on the cheek and made his way to their bedroom.

Sandra followed him and watched him change his clothes and pack a small bag, hitting him with questions, but not getting any answers.

“I’m going to Bridgeport. Don’t tell anyone about our tenant. Visit her. Keep her occupied. Make sure she stays in her cabin, and do her errands if you must, but she mustn’t leave her cabin. If anyone sees her there goes our chance of a Safari, do you understand?” His tone was dead serious when he said this last bit.

He’d just made up his mind about the trip to the big city. He had all the proof he needed to claim the reward money, he had the copy of the con woman’s new ID document and the lease she’d signed. If that wasn’t enough for the cops to take him seriously he hoped J.D. Summers would.

“You’ve never left Barnacle Bay.” Sandra pointed out, hoping that a reminder about his limited knowledge of the world would change his mind. She had a bad feeling about this. It was all so sudden, so rushed. She didn’t see why they couldn’t just report the nasty woman to the police.

“There’s a first time for everything. I need to do this.” John replied, hoisting the backpack on his shoulder. Sandra glared at him, not saying anything, silently begging him not to leave, but John wouldn’t back down. He had seen their future and it had never looked rosier than it did then.

 “I don’t want to be a fisherman forever. And I know you don’t want to be a kindergarten teacher forever, do you?” When she didn’t answer, he gave her a long, lingering kiss, banishing all her fears and worry.

“I’ll be back before you know it,” he told her just as he reached the door.

It wasn’t until he was at the bus station and the adrenaline was starting to leave his body he realized what he was getting himself into. The little money he had in his wallet wouldn’t go a long way, he had no frigging clue where Bridgeport was, or how to find Detective Jonah and the Starlington’s spokesperson.

As he waited for the bus to Bridgeport, he was tempted to go back home and forget the reward money and the Safari in Africa. Forget he ever saw anything. But then he thought of that poor family. Being a father himself, he couldn’t imagine going one day without knowing where any of his children were…

Meanwhile in Bridgeport J.D.s phone started ringing soon after his cell phone number was announced on the news bulletin.

It seemed everyone wanted to cash in on Devon and Eloise’ misfortune, in the past hour alone, he’d received thirty phone calls from people claiming they knew where the baby was. Most would only talk if there was a reward prize.

One shady business man in Twinbrook sounded promising. He claimed he’d done some fake paperwork for Tamsyn, but he wouldn’t come to Bridgeport.  If push came to shove, Carla and Gabe would go to him but they were still waiting on Devon and Eloise to decide how much money to put up for the reward. Eloise’s parents had offered to pitch in, Leigh too, but Devon was hesitant about accepting their money, he was already heavily indebted to Krisis for bringing the trackers on board.

J.D. took down Shark’s number, the business man in Twinbrook, and promised to be in touch with him as soon as they knew more about the reward prize...

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And time for some fun stuff...

In Season 2, the band was in studio working on their fifth album, After Dark, which was due for release mid March '11 but with Blake going missing, the album release has been postponed. However...K-Infinity has unveiled the album artwork. So without further ado, here it is:

Track List

1. A Love Since Forgotten
2. If I Had Two Hearts
3. Keep on Raining
4. So Epic It Hurts
5. If Only I Had Known
6. Subway Glances
7. Roland Forbearance
8. It Ends Now
9. I Won't, if You Will
10. Feeling Cheated

K-Infinity fans,  keep your eyes peeled for THE invitation to the mother of all album release parties, so get your simselves ready to party it up with Bridgeport's numero uno vampire band!

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Credits: The newscaster was created by none other than the awesome Jill. She not only makes gorgeous sims, but she writes amazing stories too, check out A Clockwork Heart, her latest project. If you haven't read it, you don't know what you're missing!

Jill, thank you for your awesomeness!