Monday October 17th 1977 11:27 A.M. It was a cold, wet and rainy day in October. I was busy Listening to Come Together by The Beatles on my radio and putting some bullets in my mag when my phone started to ring. I had planned to take the day off and spend some time with a couple of buddies of mine. My buddies travel light and there fun to have around. One travels in a holster, the other in a flask. My name is Samuel Ownby. But what other people call me is another story.
"H-hello?" A worried voice said through the phone. The dame's voice sounded like someone running their nails across a chalkboard. But it meant I had a case. She sounded like a case herself but I don't choose my clients.
"Samuel's private eye office, how can I help you?" I said turning the radio down. "Is this *sniff* Samuel Own buy?"
"It's pronounced Own bee…" I said tapping my finger nails on my desk. Nobody seems to get my last name right. I guess I must be special. "What can I help you with miss...?"
"Serena Tsukino and I *sniff* need someone to help me."
"Great…" The last thing I wanted this morning was a case. But the dame was very persuasive. And the sound of greenbacks slapping across my palm is music to my ears any day. Besides, I have two Bills to pay. Bill my probation officer and Bill my bookie. "So what's the case?" I said calmly. "Well my husband Darien Shields is a FBI agent and I think he might have been kidnapped!" She started to cry heavily. The dame's cries where hitting octaves usually reserved for calling dogs.
"Ok, ok just calm down Serena and tell me how this all happened from the start." I said grabbing a pencil and paper. "Ok…well it all started five days ago, Darien just got back from work and he was really nervous for some reason. He told me something happened at work and we had to leave town in the morning. But when I woke up he was gone and there was, was blood everywhere!" Serena started to cry again. "I know this is hard for you Serena. but is there anything else that you think might help? anything at all?" She went quite for a few seconds. "Well…I remember that he had a suitcase when he came home, but the thing is he doesn't own a suitcase."
"Hmm…ok Serena, I'll help you. Stop by my office tomorrow at 1:45 so I can ask you some more questions ok?"
"Ok, thank you…Samuel." *click* "Great…well there goes my weekend." I said taking off my glasses and rubbing my eyes.
My name is Samuel Ownby, Age 21, Scorpio, 5 feet 7 inches, Blood type A, Black hair Hazel eyes, Weight 155 pounds. I've been a private eye for three years but all the blues in town say I have the skill of a thirty-two-year-old. Working in Chicago Illinois, one of the meanest places in the US is a tough job. But then I'm a tough guy. Some people don't like an audience when they work. Enough of them have told me with blunt instruments that I'm a phrenologist's dream come true. If my work was as good as my aim, I'd be on easy street. But instead I got an office on 31st street and a nasty relationship with a string of IRS agents.
I decided I would look up Serena and Darien's files to better understand this case. I got up and went down stairs to the lobby to see my secretary. "Michelle? do we have a file on a Miss Serena Tsukino?" I said walking down the stairs. "Well I just updated your files yesterday so let's take a look, shall we?" She said giving me a smile as she started to look through her files.
Michelle Kaioh, Age 19, Pisces, 5 feet 10 inches, Blood type O, Green hair, Light blue eyes, Weight 146 pounds. I met Michelle at a local comic book store four years ago. and we've been friends ever since, she needed a job right after high school, and I needed a woman's touch on my file cabinet. so things worked out for the both of us.
"Here you are Mr. Ownby." Michelle said handing me the File. "I already told you to call me Samuel. where friends, no need to be formal."
"And I already told you that I would call you Samuel when you take me out on a date."
"Are you still on that?" I said talking the file from her hand. "Maybe…" Michelle said as she sat back down at her desk. I shook my head as I started to walk back up the stairs. I get to the top of stairs and look down at her. "Maybe I might ask you out on a date when you stop flirting with every guy (and girl) that walks through that door."
"Well I can't help it if every person that walks through the door finds me interesting." Michelle said with a cocky smile. "…Whatever." I said as I walked into my office hearing a faint giggling sound.
I sat down at my chair and opened up Serena's file. Serena Tsukino, Age 16, Cancer, 5 feet 5 inches, Blood type O, Blond hair, Blue eyes, Weight 125 pounds. Works part time at the school. Lives at 213 South 2nd street. Married Darien Shields 76, no children. There was no info on Darien. I'm guessing because he's a FBI agent. If I'm going to get any info on Darien, it's going to have to come through Serena.
It was only 12:33 so I still had the whole day ahead of me. I told myself I would call it a day for today. I had no cases for today so I figured I would go home and watch some T.V. Just then Michelle came through the door. "Mr. Ownby, Mina wanted me to remind you of your date today at 3:30." Michelle said with one had on her hip. "Great, just what I need today." I said rolling my eyes and getting out of my chair and grabbing a necklace off of the table.
"Having a date night with Mina? Such a lady's man Mr. Ownby..." Michelle said smiling. "I already told you Michelle, where not dating. she just needs a little help with her School fair." I said locking my office door. "Ah huh, sure she does." Michelle said smiling as she followed me down the stairs. "Anyway, just lock up after 6:00 ok?" I said as I walked out the front door. "Ok…Mr. Ownby." Michelle said with a grin on her face. "Ha ha, funny." I said sarcastically while closing the door. *click*
"Well next stop, Mina's school, I just hope she doesn't pull something like last time…" I said with a worried look on my face. It was 12 blocks to Mina's school. So it would take a while to get there. So I put on my necklace and started my walk to Mina's school.
Mina Aino, Age 16, Libra, 5 feet 7 inches, Blood type B, Blonde hair, Blue eyes, Weight 131 pounds. Mina and me grew up together in Chicago and went to the same school. When Mina was six, she wound come to me during lunch break and hide behind me because boys would try and pick on her. And we would always play after we got home. She even helped me with my homework from time to time. But her mom never liked me. I never knew why though. She's been hanging out with me lately at the office. During lunch break she would come over to my office and see me. And Mina likes to walk home with me when she can. But now Mina is starting to get feelings for me. Last time she told everyone that we were dating so she could get with the in-crowd. I don't mind playing along with this game with her. but I don't need people thinking things about me and her. It's not as weird sense we grew up together, and this Chicago. Which means you can get away with anything that doesn't have to do with Murder or drugs. Clearing my mind, I arrived at the school. "Now all I have to do is find Mina…" I said to myself as I opened the front door to the school.
Monday October 17th 1977 3:22 P.M. After looking in Mina's class room, I started to look around to see if I could find where Mina was. She wasn't in the cafeteria or the library or the gym. I started to think to myself where would Mina go to, to wait for me. Then it hit me like a 45 slug. I knew where Mina was. I started to jog to the school garden. *A few minutes later*
Walking up to the school garden door, I grabbed the handle. I was about to open the door when I heard someone singing. I smiled to myself. There is only one person I know that can sing that beautifully. I opened the door to the sight of Mina sitting on a bench in the middle of the room. She did not notice me come in the door. Mina was sitting there wearing a yellow shirt and a red ribbon in her blonde hair that goes down to her hip. And she had on a white skirt and black and orange shoes. I walked slowly up behind her and listened to her sing.
Mina was singing a song I used to hum to her when she was little. When Mina had a long and hard day at school from being picked on, I would sneak over to her house and climb up her tree and craw into her window and hum her to sleep in her bed at night. Now she sings that song whenever she thinks of me. "laaaa la la la laaa, la laaa la la laaa la laaaa la laaa…laaa…"
"Well it seems you've gotten better at singing that song Mina." I said smiling. Mina gaps and turns around. "Samuel!?, when did you get here?" Mina said with a happy look on her face. "A few minutes ago, I see you still sing that song." I said smiling. "Ya well it's a lovely song…and it reminds me of you." Mina said blushing. "Thanks Mina…well shell we get started with setting up your school fair?" I said getting up. "Oh ya, I almost forgot heh, heh. Follow me Sammy!" Mina said as she took off jogging towards the door. "I thought I told you to stop calling me that!?...Mina?...great." I said rolling my eyes as I followed Mina out of the room.
Mina lead me to the cafeteria where everybody was getting ready for the school fair. "Mina!" A voice said somewhere in the room. I looked over at the kitchen and saw Mina run over to a girl. They talked for a few seconds and then Mina came back. "Ok Sammy, were going to work out here on the floor and then go to the kitchen and help them cook." Mina said pointing to the tables in the middle of the room. "Ok Mina, lead the way." I said smiling. Mina started to walk over to the tables as I followed right behind her. I helped move some tables and put up some banners and a few other things. I then helped Mina cook the food since she was not allowed around anything that might shoot a projectile.
Monday October 17th 1977 7:27 P.M. After we finally got done with everything in the cafeteria, we walked to the one of the tables and sat down. "Man I'm tired, I need to get home and rest my back up." I said rubbing my back. "Well everything is done, so I guess we can go home now. come on Sammy. I'll walk you home." Mina said with a smile on her face as she got up and started to walk over to the door. "Ok." I said as I got up and followed her. We left the school and started walking towards my house. Mina lived only a few blocks away from my house. so she goes the same route I do.
"Thanks for helping me today Sammy, it would have took me 7 hours to get everything done by myself and I couldn't have done it without you."
"Sure thing Mina, I was happy to help."
"So Sammy, did you think of a nickname for me yet?" Mina said looking at me with a smile. "Sorry Mina, not yet."
"Awww." Mina said sighing. "Don't worry, I'll think of one soon, I promise ok?" I said putting my hand on her head. "Ok Sammy." Mina said with a smile on her face. I couldn't help but let out a smile too. Mina always knew how to make someone smile.
Mina starts to fidget with her hands. "Is something on your mind Mina?"
"Well…tomorrow's Tuesday. and I was wondering if you're not busy, if you would like to go with me to the Observatory tomorrow night at 9:00?" I stopped and looked at Mina. She had such hope in her eyes. Part of me wanted to say yes. but I knew I shouldn't be getting her hopes up and playing this game with her. And I had a case tomorrow anyway. "Mina…you know I would love to but I can't." Mina looked like she saw a ghost. "Oh, ok then…" Mina said looking down at the ground. "I'm sorry Mina, but I have a case tomorrow so I can't go." Mina just kept looking at the ground. "Mina?"
"…It's ok Sammy." Mina said lifting her head up with a smile on her face. "I understand, you have a job after all and I need to stop keeping you from your work." Mina's smile said she was happy but her eyes where telling me a different story. We started to walk again down the street.
"So what's your new case anyway Sammy?" Mina said with her hands behind her back. "You know I can't tell you that." I said looking at her. "Aww come on Sammy, Pleaseee?" *Mina makes puppy dog eyes* "Will you stop doing that!" I said looking away blushing a little. "*Sigh*…fine, but don't tell anybody ok?"
"O.." Mina said smiling. "So what's the new case?"
"A girl named Serena said her husband went missing a few days ago and she thinks he might have been kidnapped in their house."
"Serena?...Serena Tsukino?"
"Ya, do you know her?" I said with a confused look on my face. "A new girl named Serena Tsukino just transferred to are school three days ago. She's really nice once you get to know her, but it was kind of hard to because she was so shy and sad and she would not tell anyone why. but I guess I know why now." Mina said looking up at the night sky. "Oh ok." I said. Mina was about to say something else when we got to the front steps of my house. "Well I'll see you later and you be careful tomorrow and be safe, ok Sammy?" Mina said with a worried look on her face. "I will. night Mina." I said opening my arms to give Mina a hug. But Mina had another way of saying goodbye. Mina grabbed my hands and jumped up and gave me a kiss on my forehead. "MINA!" I shouted while my face was turning red. Mina just giggled and ran away. "Mina…what am I going to do with you?" I said smiling and rubbing my forehead.
After calming down, I went into my house and put a nice T-bone steak in the microwave. I went into the living room and plopped down on my black couch and took off my necklace and gun and put them on the table and turned on the TV. "We are coming to you live from the New York international airport where international drug dealer Jadeite the 3rd was taking on board a plane heading for Chicago Illinois to face laundering and murder charges." *Ding* *I get up and walk over to the microwave* "Jadeite will be arriving at the Chicago airport late tomorrow night." *I sit back down*
"In other news, the mysterious Sailor warrior showed up again last night stopping a gang of thieves from making off with over 50,000 dollars at a local bank in town, nobody was able to get a picture of this mysterious figure as she disappeared over the rooftops, will we ever find out who this masked fighter is? Only time will tell, back to you Tim." As I'm sitting there eating, I'm wondering what could be in that suitcase that Darien had. I just hope that Serena will be able to shed some light on this case tomorrow afternoon. And who was this mysterious girl that looks like a sailor? Lately she has been fighting crime in town and she's getting more popular by the day. I looked up at the clock and saw it was 9:43. I had to get to the office tomorrow at 10:00 to get everything ready for my meeting with Serena. Putting my plate away, I headed upstairs to my room tired from helping Mina at School today. After brushing my teeth, I got in my pajamas and got in bed, put my glasses on my nightstand next to the phone and turned out the light and drifted off to sleep…
"…Samuel…you must save her…*click* *BANG!* "Aghh! *Pant, pant, pant* *puts hand on forehead* *pant, pant* "What the hell?" *pant* not again…" I said falling back onto my bed. The last couple days I've been having this same dream that keeps giving me chills down my spine. It always ends the same…it always ends with a killer…
*ring, ring* *ring* "Hello?" I said rubbing my eyes. "Good morning Mr. Ownby."
"Michelle!?" I said a little surprised. "I was just wondering what you wanted me to tell Serena when gets here in 45 minutes and you're not here."
"What!?" I looked over at the clock and saw it was 12:57. "Shit! I'm on my way!" I said as I hung up the phone. I grabbed my glasses and got dressed as fast as I could. I put some toast in the toaster and put on my necklace and gun. I grabbed my toast and put it in my mouth and headed out the door for the office.
Tuesday October 18th 1977 1:31 P.M. Running through the front door of the office, I leaned against the wall gasping for air. *Pant, pant, pant* I put my hand under my nose to stop it from bleeding. "Good morning Mr. Ownby." Michelle said not looking up from her papers. "Michelle *pant* did *pant* Serena call?" I said walking up the stairs to my office. "Yes she did, she said she will be here on time at 1:45." Michelle said. "Ok…I'm going to *pant* get my stuff ready." I said walking into my office.
I sat down to catch my breath and cleaned the blood from my nose and hand. I looked at the clock. It was 1:33 so I had ten Minutes to get my stuff ready. "This is going to be a long day…" I said to myself while grabbing a pencil.
*ten minutes later* I heard the ding of the door as someone came into my office. "Hello there, how may I help you?" I heard Michelle say. "Hi I'm Serena Tsukino and I have a appointment today with a Mr. Samuel Ownby?" Serena said looking a little shy. "Ah yes he is waiting for you, just go up the stairs, you can't miss it." Michelle said with a smile on her face. "Thank you…" I started to hear footsteps coming up the stairs. So when a young blonde girl opened my door, my heart did a few calisthenics and I asked her to sit down.
She was wearing a long blue dress and a white T-shirt, she was also wearing white gloves. Her hair was really an eyeful. She had a ponytail on each side of her hair and they went down to her hip. "Thank you for coming Mrs. Tsukino." I said shaking her hand. "Please, call me Serena." She said taking a seat in front of my desk. "Ok. Serena, are you ready?" I said holding my pencil and notepad. "Yes, I'm ready."
"Ok, first of all tell me how you met Darien shields."
"Well I met Darien two years ago when I was just 14. I bumped into him on the street outside the local arcade in town and it was love at first sight. we started hanging out more often and soon we felt it was time for him to meet my family. my mother loved that I was seeing someone but my father said I was too young to be falling in love and that he was much too old for me, it didn't help at all that he was a FBI agent too."
"How old was he when you first met him?"
"Darien was just 19 when I first lad my eyes on him."
"So right now he is 21 correct?"
"Yes."
"Ok…I need to know what Darien looks like."
"Well he's about 6 feet 2 inches, he has black hair and blue eyes and he weighed…I think about 170 pounds."
"Thank you Serena." I said not looking up from my notebook. "Ok, so tell me how the both of you got married."
"Well after convicting my mom that I would be happy with him and I would still go to school, she singed the paperwork and my dad…I had to trick into singing the paperwork."
"Ok…so have you lived here in Chicago all your life?"
"No, we moved here from New York."
"Ok, so do you know anyone that might have a grudge against Darien?"
"No, he kept his work to himself so that I would not get hurt by anyone." I saw her eyes start to water up. "Did you go to the police yet?"
"Yes, they said there working on it, but I don't have a good feeling about them."
"Well this is Chicago so I don't blame you."
"No, it's not that, it's just…I have a bad feeling about these people that took him." Serena looked out the window and notice it started to rain. "Ok Serena just one more question for now. why did you choose me out of all the P.I's in town?" She looked me in my eyes and said something at I will never forget. "Because your friend Mina told me about you."
The tip of my pencil snapped off. "What?..." I said looking dumbfounded. "Can you escort me to the door Mr. Ownby?" Serena said standing up. "Uhh, ya…sure." I got up and opened the door and started to walk down the stairs in front of Serena. "So why did you pick me? because Mina Said so?" I said getting to the bottom of the stairs. "She did more than just tell me about you." My heart started to race a little. "Really?, Like what?" I said opening the front door. "Like you are the kindest and most loyal person in the city and that you always like to help people weaker then you, and that you treat every girl like there a sacred treasure." Serena said walking out the front door. I couldn't help but let out a smile. "She a very lovely and beautiful girl Samuel, Just make sure your there for her ok?" Serena said looking at me. "Of course, Have a nice day Serena."
"You to...Samuel." *ding* I walked over to Michelle's desk and sat down next to her. "What am I going to do Michelle?"
"About what?" She said not looking up from her papers. "About Mina..." I said taking off my glasses and rubbing my eyes. Michelle stopped and looked at me. "Mr. Ownby, you need to stop playing this game that you've been playing with her for the past few years, but I'm not going to tell you how to live your life."
"Ya I know that and I do care for her, but...alot of problems would pop up if anything where to happen between us. I do love her but...I..." I put my head in my hands. "...Samuel, look at me..." I looked up at Michelle. "Mina loves you more than any other boy she has ever seen, she loves you because of all the love and care you have giving her in the past ten years, Mina said those things about you because it's the truth."
"I know...but I just don't know if I feel the same way about her the same way she feels about me." It went quite for a few minutes then Michelle put her hand on my shoulder. "Samuel...the heart is the most mysterious thing about a person, it can make us fell so warm and happy or it can cause us extreme pain for years...you need to figure out how to tell them apart and then you will have yours answer." I looked up at her and smiled. "Thanks Michelle..." I said putting my glasses back on. Michelle just smiled and went back to work. "Well I better get started on this case." I went back up to my office and grabbed my necklace off the table and headed for the door. "Hey Michelle, can you call Mina and tell her to meet me at my house Monday night at around 7:00?" I said opening the door. Michelle gave me an uneasy look. "Whyyy?"
"I just want to talk to her."
"...Riiiight..." I just looked at Michelle for a few seconds. "Ok, I'll tell Mina." Michelle said. "Thank you Michelle." I said closing the door. I stepped onto the rainy sidewalk and looked around. "Well Let's get to it..."