I'm back. It has been almost a year since I came on the website, but I'm starting to write my stories again. I'm starting things off by rewriting one of my old stories. I hope you enjoy the rewrite. Here's chapter one.
The Case of the Celebrity: File C. part 1
It was a nice spring day with average temperature, and the sights of flowers blooming in the garden of the old run down two story beige house. In the Chaotix Office, Vector the Crocodile lay on the couch of his messy living room. He was sound asleep with not a care in the world despite the trash scattered around the floor.
Usually, the crocodile would be listening to music as he relaxed, but for now, he was enjoying the solitude with his employees away. "My favorite noise," the big croc said nearly a sleep. "Silence," he said drifting away in a deep relaxed slumber.
Vector's relaxation was cut short with a blast of music coming from upstairs. Vector, wide awake fell to the ground with a look of surprise as the sound of pop music erupted from the ceiling. Vector rose from where he crashed and looked up angrily. He immediately knew the origin of his ire. "Charmy…" he growled.
He marched up the stairs furious, glaring at the door where the sound played behind. Opening the door, he was immediately greeted by a blast of sound that caused Vector in a cartoonish fashion fall back. Fighting off the sound, he saw Charmy watching a small TV. Charmy wore a white T-Shirt that said I heart Ginger as he cheered on, watching a red haired girl on TV in a green tank top and yellow skirt sing a pop song of some kind. Vector didn't know what the lyrics were, as he was too furious to listen.
"Charmy!" Vector growled angrily entering the room. Between the cheering and the loud television, he couldn't get through to the bee. Thinking quickly, Vector noticed the television remote on a small red desk and reached for it. As soon as he grabbed it, he pointed it at the television and pressed the mute button, silencing the television.
Charmy, upon realizing what had happened to his television panicked for a moment, then turned around noticing a furious Vector glaring at him. "Do you mind?" the little bee asked. "I am watching Ginger Lee Veronica."
"What's a Ginger Lee Veronica?" Vector asked angrily.
"Only the greatest person of all time," Charmy replied with excitement pointing at the screen of the muted television.
"What's so great about her," Vector asked. Charmy turned to him as if to ask are you kidding me.
"She's the world's bestest singer." Charmy replied. As Vector thought about giving Charmy a grammar lesson, Charmy looked at the screen with hearts in his eyes. "It's like she's like an angel groomed by Aphrodite, polished by Freyja, refined by Hathor, and given a glow of radiance and charisma by Eros."
Vector gave the bee a long stare. "When were you into mythology?" he asked the bee whom most likely did not hear him.
Out side of the building was the team spy, Espio the Chameleon. Espio sat on the porch meditating. It was a lovely spring day as Espio sat in a trance with his eyes closed and cross legged, escaping the troubles that followed from his compatriots.
Just as he was enjoying the silence of his solitude, something out of the ordinary caught his attention. Espio woke from his trance as he gazed upon a white limousine. Somebody came out and walked towards the Chaotix building.
"May I help you," asked an interested Espio.
s
Inside the building, Vector and Charmy were fighting over the remote control, making the television loud and mute with each struggle.
"Will you turn it down?" Vector yelled at the small bee. He managed to wrestle away the remote, and then turned down the volume in hopes of pacifying them both. "While I'm usually the first to approve of a good pop song, I was in the middle of beginning a wonderful nap which you interrupted with your lack of volume control."
"But you should be glad I woke you up," Charmy said trying to reach for the remote. "After all, you need at least eight cups of music and goodness of the great Ginger Lee Veronica."
"You don't measure music with cups." Vector yelled. "Never mind, just get your lazy stinger up and do something worth while."
"But I only had nineteen cups," Charmy said.
"I thought you said you needed at least eight," he asked irritated pointing out the logic error.
"I can never have enough!" Charmy exclaimed.
"How can you even have cups?" Vector asked the bee who still paid no mind to his existence.
"It's a secret," Charmy replied taking out a card. "You have to be a part of the super secret Ginger Lee Veronica fan club to know." He showed him a card with the words Super Secret Ginger Lee Veronica fan club.
"When did you join this club?" Vector asked.
"I'm a founding member." Charmy proudly said, his chess puffed out.
"It's official," Vector said shaking his head. "You're gone."
"For Ginger," Charmy sighed with hearts in his eyes. "I would disappear. How dose Ginger Lee the Bee sound to you?"
"You are aware that you two will never happen?" Vector asked the bee curiously.
Charmy looked at him with sadness in his eyes. "Why not," he asked sadly. "Just because she is older then I by eleven years, eight months, nine days, four hours, six minutes, and forty three point twenty one seconds older than me don't mean she is out of my league."
Vector sweat dropped as he stared at the bee. "I'm afraid to ask." Vector thought, but asked anyway. "Let me guess, that fan club of yours?"
"Yes," he said happily.
"You make me sad." Vector said sarcastically. "Allow me to sum up some good reasons. One, there's also the fact that you have no money and mooch off me, albeit you are still a kid, but that reason was already covered. Two, not only are you two not in the same age group, you two aren't even the same species. And for the grand finale, there's no way you two can meet. You live in this rickety house with me and Espio while she probably lives in a fancy neighborhood like the Thorndykes' place. She's probably guarded 24/7 to keep creepy fan boys like you away from her so you can't meet her, and she won't meet you because we live in the crappiest part of town in the crappiest house in the neighborhood, and there's no way someone like her would come to a dump like this."
"Party Pooper," Charmy said hanging his head down upon hearing the cruel truth.
"Lighten up kid," Vector stated. "I know it's hard, but the sooner you realize the truth, the better."
At that moment, the two heard Espio call to them from down stairs. "Vector, Charmy, we have clients."
"Tell them to wait," Vector yelled back irritated.
"They came in a limousine." Espio said back knowing what would call Vector down.
"We're coming," Vector said cheerfully with a sing-song voice. "Now remember what I told you." Vector said the young detective changing his tone. "Keep all this Ginger Lee Veronica nonsense to yourself and come out of your little fantasy world." He grabbed Charmy and ran down stairs.
"I apologize for keeping our money," he started but then corrected him self. "I mean, our client waiting." He noticed two individuals standing before him, one a young teenager, another a grown man in his late forties wearing a business suite.
"I wonder who it is," Charmy said. "But who ever it is must be a complete…" he stopped when he saw her. Standing to the right of the man with a business suit was a skinny red haired beautiful human girl in a long overcoat and sunglasses. She removed the glasses, revealing her eyes, green, sparkling, and familiar to Charmy.
"Vector, Charmy," Espio said introducing their client. "This is Miss Veronica, she has a case for us."
Charmy's face lit up. "Ginger Lee Veronica," Charmy said out loud.
"Huh?" Vector asked in disbelief.
"You know her Charmy?" Espio asked. His question was ignored as Charmy began to immediately revert to the fan boy personality he showed earlier.
"GLV," Charmy said the acronym of her name excitedly. "Here, in our office." He hovered around the nervous idol with amazement and joy.
Vector is surprised as well. He stood there in disbelief. Just a few minutes ago, he was making a speech about how she would never come to a neighborhood like theirs. Skeptical, he ran upstairs without a word and ran back down stairs with Charmy's small television, plugging it into a wall, adjusting the antenna, and placing it on the table. Everyone but Charmy, who was still mesmerized by the supposed idol in their presence, stared at Vector curiously.
Finally, Vector got the TV set up and turned on with the channel of Charmy was watching earlier on the screen. "This is you? This is really you?!" Vector asked.
The girl cleared her voice, then matching word for word, sung the exact words her counterpart on the screen sang. In complete sync, the two singing voices were singing in perfect unison, matching tone for tone, pitch for pitch. All doubt left the room. The girl was who she claimed to be.
"It really is you," Charmy exclaimed confirming his beliefs.
Vector was overcome with joy was well, though for different reasons. His eyes lit up with dollars signs seeing her not as an idol, but a rich client. "Hello ma'am," he greeted politely. "Come, have a seat," he lead her to a couch in the living room, wiping away garbage then ushering her and her associate to sit, which they accepted, though the man in the suit was a bit hesitant. "May I make you some tea, coffee, cocoa, a blanket maybe?"
"Do you think they're victims of a house fire?" Espio snarked.
"No thank you." she replied to Vector.
"I would rather just get down to business," said the man wiping his face with a handkerchief. He did not have much of a presence compared to the young pop-star, Vector noted his nervous mannerism, which made the crocodile believe the man had little comfort being in a neighborhood like this, probably believing in some of the stereotypes associated with slums. He also noted no ring non his finger implying he is not married, Vector did this as a habit, being a detective made vector to take note of even the most seemingly insignificant details and save them for later, like how Miss Veronica appeared either embarrassed or nervous.
"My name is Mr. Jasper, Miss Veronica's manager." the man introduced. "The reason why we're here is because you came highly recommended from a neutral party."
"The great Ginger Lee Veronica wants our help," Charmy asked happily. "You bet we will."
"But," Vector interrupted. "What about pay?"
"Of course," the manger continued. "We will pay whatever fee you wish."
"Then we are at your service." Vector said already thinking about how to spend the money. "What may we do you for?"
"We explained the case to your associate." the manager stated.
"I will explain," Espio assured. He took out a sheet of paper. "Miss Veronica received this letter here in the mail about a month ago." He began to read. "Dear Ginger, I am your number one fan. I have all your CD's and never miss a show."
"So it's a fan letter," Vector interjected. "What's so and about that?"
"Let me finish," Espio instructed continuing with the letter. "I also notice you all the time. I see you doing everything. I see as you walk in the park." Then Espio put a picture on the table. It was Ginger in a Sunday hat walking in the park. "I see you going swimming." Espio put another picture on the table. It was Ginger in a red two piece swimming suit sun bathing by a pool. "And I especially like seeing you when you sleep." He put another picture on the table. It was from out side a window into a bed room. "I love you Ginger. I must and will have you. I always get what I want, and you will be no exception. You will be mine. Sign your secret admirer."
A long silence filled the room. Then Charmy angrily spoke up. "That big dummy head." He yelled. "How dare him. He thinks he is Ginger's number one fan. Everyone knows I am her number one fan."
"Do you even understand what this letter is?" Espio asked. When no answer came, he replied rather annoyed, "It's an obvious stalking case."
"Yes," Mr. Jasper said. "The studio is very concerned. Many of these photos were taken on the lot where it's suppose to be secure, yet this person managed to get in and take these photos. Even after security was increased, these photos and letters kept coming." He pulled out from a briefcase more letters, bundled together and wrapped in a rubber band. Vector took them and looked them over.
"Do you have any suspects?" Charmy asked taking the situation seriously for the first time.
"Miss Ginger gets letters from fans all the time." Mr. Jasper explained. "There are occasionally a few weirdoes who send letters like these for sick thrills, but none with photos like these. We're taking this seriously because for some reason, he's able to get on the studio lot, take these pictures, and actually leave these on her trailer's door step despite the increased security.." The man wiped his forehead with a handkerchief. "The police couldn't do anything because of the lack of evidence."
"When did all of this start?" Espio asked.
"Two weeks ago." Mr. Jasper respond.
Vector, who had been silent for a while, finally spoke up after silently reading the letters. "Right now, what you'll need is to both be protected and have someone collect clues." Vector said. "Here's what we'll do. Charmy will be your body guard, Espio will watch you from the shadows, and me, I'll gather clues. This gut might be difficult to catch, but I assure you, we will get him."
Miss Veronica who had been more silent then Vector looked like she was about to respond, but her manager responded for her. "OK, if it will find this person, then yes."
"Then it is agreed," Espio said. "We shall start first thing tomorrow morning, right guys?" The two other members nodded.
"Me, Ginger Lee Veronica's bodyguard." Charmy thought with hearts in his eyes, thinking about him in Ginger's trailer.
He thought of protecting Ginger with here life. "Don't worry fair lady; I will protect you with my life."
"Oh Charmy," Ginger said. "Thank you ever so much my prince. Please accept these a zillion kisses from me." She gave him a kiss on the cheek.
Vector also lost in thought. "Me, this rich broad's detective." he thought with dollars signs in his eyes.
He thought of Ginger giving him a bag full of money. "Take it Detective Vector. The world's greatest detective deserves this money.
Vector hugged the enormous bag of money happily throwing some dollars in the air and letting it him. "I'm rich, rich I tell you." He proceeded to laugh and frolic about as joyfully as a school boy.
The two were still in their own little world. Espio and the two clients got a little nervous with their silence. "OK," Espio said averting attention away from them. "I think we have everything we need. Call us if you have any concerns."
"Of course," Mr. Jasper replied getting up, with Miss Veronica following. "I have a lot of expectations from you gentlemen."
"Don't worry miss," Vector assured her snapping out of his little world. "The Chaotix detective Agency is on the case."
Miss Veronica, who let her manager do all the talking spoke up for the first time in a while. "Thank you." she politely thanked.
"And please," Mr. Jasper said before leaving. "Don't tell anybody we were here. The last thing we need right now is a scandal."
"Our lips are sealed." Vector assured. He then turned and noticed Charmy on the phone."
"No, bigger news then that," Charmy told the person through the phone hyper. "Bigger… bigger… bigger… not that big, but still pretty big. OK fine, I'll tell you. Gauss who came to the Agency… no, it's…" Charmy was stopped by Vector hitting him on the head.
Vector took the phone from Charmy and spoke in it. "Sorry, wrong number," Vector said hanging up the phone.
As the two left, Vector plopped himself back on the couch in thought. "So, what do you think?" Espio asked. "You believe it's a prank?"
"No, this person is serious." Vector said having gone over the case files. "This person is clearly a stalker, but I don't think it's for the reasons we believe."
"What's that mean?" Charmy asked.
"The letters all seem a little too generic." Vector explained. It's like they were all written to be as creepy as possible. Most stalkers who write for affection wouldn't write a letter that creepy. No, it's like whoever wrote that letter thought about how to make the letter as creepy as possible. It's like they were trying to make Miss Veronica as uncomfortable as possible." Vector stated to his associates. "This person is purposefully trying to scare Miss Veronica.
To be continued…