Jesus Christ... I think Mass Vexations took over my life.
But anyway, we're back with this now, so let's hope I can update this a little more consistently.
Either way, last time we came to an agreement on Norman's end. Fun times abound with that. This time, we finally get to that one station we missed all those chapters ago; namely, the Kramers. You'll see... ;)
Anyway, here we go.
Chapter 10: Gordi Kramer
Scott drove the car, with Lauren and Norman sitting in the back while Lauren made sure Norman would be aware enough to drive the car by the time they arrived at the Kramer residence. Scott simply drove forward, knowing to look for an expensive house somewhere.
As they drove on in the incessant rain, Scott felt obliged to make conversation with Norman to help bring him back to the real world. And so, as he turned his blinker on, he glanced back at Norman through the rear-view mirror.
"So, how's it working over here in Philly?" asked the private investigator.
Norman shrugged at this. "It's ridiculous," he said. "I've seen so much rainwater here I hope I never have to come here for a case like this again..."
"It's only bad in the fall," replied Lauren as she glanced outside. "It's usually much better every other time of the year."
"I see..." said the profiler as he looked out the window. "We need to get Shawn Mars to the hospital as soon as we find him. If we find him..."
Lauren shook her head. "We'll find him," she said, her voice filled with a certain conviction. "We've got a lot more than anybody else on this investigation ever has."
"Lauren's right about that," said Scott as he pulled up to a rather large house. "We'll catch this guy, Norman. And then we'll make sure he pays for what he did to these children."
The profiler simply nodded at this, and then looked over to the house. "Well, there it is," he said. "The Kramer residence is right in front of us. Here." He fished through his breast pocket and pulled out an invitation. "You might want to take that. It'll get you in."
"Of course..." said Scott. "You feeling up to driving?"
"Yeah," said Norman. "I'm feeling much better now. I'll go talk to Gideon and I'll meet you back here, right?"
"That's the plan," replied Lauren as she stepped out of the vehicle. "What happens if you're behind?"
"Find a way back to the apartment," said the FBI agent. "If I don't find you here, I'll head back there so we can compare notes. And if you don't see me when you wake up tomorrow morning, assume that shit has hit the fan and you'll have to carry on without me."
"Got it," said the private investigator, nodding to Norman.
Scott stepped out of the car, followed by Norman. The FBI agent went to the front of the car and sat in the driver's seat, nodding to Scott. "Good luck, Norman," said the investigator.
"You too," replied Norman. "Be careful in there!"
With this, Norman shut the door and turned the gears of the car. He very slowly drove the car away, and while Scott worried for a second the car remained steady on the road. And so Norman drove away, leaving Scott and Lauren to investigate the Kramer house.
With this, Scott and Lauren both turned to the gated house. It was grand, with many guards outside. From within Scott could see a multitude of colorful lights shining within the house, such that it was a little garish against the rain outside. The yard was obviously very drenched, but Scott had a feeling this would not matter. From the multitude of cars that were laying outside of the gates, Scott guessed it would be a very loud party, and instantly he felt his asthma act up from the mere thought of it. The guards looked indifferent in their ponchos, but Scott paid them no heed as he approached. When he did, he flashed Norman's invitation in front of the guards, who wordlessly opened the gate. As it opened, Lauren and Scott nodded at this.
As they walked up to the house, they looked at each other. "So what now?" she asked.
"We find Gordi and ask him," replied Scott. "And I want you to be there. You're the mother, and if you see something wrong with the way he's behaving we can use that when we get back together with Norman. Getting to him... You might have to leave that to me."
Lauren nodded, holding her arms together. "You'll be careful, right?"
The investigator nodded. "Of course," he said. "Careful is my middle name."
"It didn't help that much with Jack," replied Lauren.
"True," commented Scott. "But it'll probably work better with Gordi here. Unless he calls his security, it won't be too much of a problem. I'm just hoping we can get in and get out with a reasonable amount of answers."
"So do I," said the mother. "We're so close now... I hope this lead helps us."
Scott was silent for about a second as they came under an awning in the driveway. He looked back to Lauren, cracking a soft smile. "It will," he says. "One way or another."
And the two of them walked up to the double doors that were at the entrance of the house. They looked to each other, looking for some reassurance that they could do this. And they found the assurance to do what needed to be done in each other's eyes. And this was good enough for both of them; they had been through a lot together, and from that point on they would do whatever it took to bring the killer to justice; and they would do it together.
With a slight nod, the two of them entered through the doors. As soon as they stepped inside, they were greeted by both a monumentally loud blast of techno music and the thick musk of marijuana in the air. This combined sensation caused Lauren and Scott to cringe at exactly the same time, but the two of them simply looked to each other before progressing on into the house. The mother's hands instinctively went to her ears, attempting to block out the noise.
The two of them advanced into the house, and as they moved they couldn't help but be a little alarmed at how everyone in the party was behaving. People were either making out wantonly on the many couches in the house, dancing drunkenly, or otherwise gallivanting about without any real purpose for doing so. Lauren looked around her eyes going wide as slowly her ears got used to the sheer volume of the music. She turned to Scott.
"Some party, huh?" she shouted at the top of her lungs.
"Yeah!" Scott screamed back, fighting against the volume of the music. "We should probably see where Gordi is!"
The two of them advanced into the house, past the swirling bodies and the stench of alcohol and sweat and marijuana. It took them a while, but they finally saw someone who didn't seem so badly off in terms of partying. She looked to be perfectly all right, if a bit buzzed, but she seemed sober enough to answer. Her eyes were wide, however, and Scott had the feeling she was just reaching her high. The investigator turned to the prostitute briefly before he looked down at the stranger and indicated her.
"Hey!" he shouted. "Do you know where I can find Gordi?"
The woman's torso moved to the beat as she regarded Scott and Lauren. With a dumb smile, she replied. "He's upstairs!" she shouts. "He never comes down to his own parties, and he doesn't let anyone near him!"
Lauren and Scott both frowned, looking at each other with confused looks on their faces. "What?" asked Lauren. "What kind of host isn't at his own party?"
"I don't know!" shouted the stranger in reply. "Why don't you go ask him?"
And with this, she resumed bouncing up and down on where she was seated. The two of them looked at each other before shaking their heads. They walked away from the stranger, examining the upper level of the house where it was visible from where they stood. They followed where they saw the architecture, and their eyes fell on a pair of guards presiding over an entryway to a set of stairs. Lauren and Scott both looked at them.
"I doubt they'll let us just go up to see Gordi," commented Scott loudly. "You got any ideas?"
Lauren looked around the party, seeing a man stumbling about. He was so far gone that the prostitute doubted he was still able to think clearly. She smirked evilly, and then looked to another man who looked to be in as bad a shape, if not worse. She looked to Scott.
"Get somewhere close," she shouted. "But not so close that they'll know something's up! I got this!"
With this, Scott raised his eyebrow, but did as he said, trusting that Lauren had the situation under control. But he stayed as close to Lauren as he could, in case something went wrong. With this, the prostitute approached the extremely drunken man. She got his attention by shouting something that Scott couldn't hear in the noise, but when Lauren started whispering into his ear Scott had a feeling he knew what she was inciting.
And indeed, when the man began lumbering towards someone else, Lauren winked at Scott. And before the investigator could throw a questioning glance, he saw the two men that were extremely out of it trading fisticuffs as only two drunk and high men could. They swung their fists wildly, but always missed their opponent. The man Lauren had talked to was the more avid of the two, but Scott was still quite surprised at this turn of events. The prostitute joined him quickly, and then Scott turned to where the guards were.
And sure enough, they saw the two guards leaving their station to stop the fight. Scott decided it was best not to linger, and so he and Lauren both shuffled past the opening where the guards had been to see a set of stairs. They quickly traversed it, looking behind them to make sure the guards hadn't caught on to Lauren's little bit of deceit. With this in mind, they quickly ascended the stairs, Lauren taking care not to stamp her feet on the stairway. Eventually, they made it to the second floor, well out of view of where the guards could have seen them enter. And then, they found themselves on a little balcony looking down at the party.
When they were both looking down on the party from above, they saw the guards were just finishing breaking up the fight. The two men were finally torn away from each other, and then the guards walked back to their posts, not noticing anything out of the ordinary. It was then that Lauren looked to Scott, nodding with a rather bright sparkle in her eye.
A playful smile came across his face as he looked at the prostitute. "Well, I didn't expect that," he said. "But still, I probably would've done the same thing in your shoes."
Lauren nodded. "I've dealt with clients that came to me drunk off their heads," she commented. "That's what you do sometimes if you really want to give them a good time."
Scott nodded at this before the two of them began walking towards a large set of double-doors right in the center of the room from where they were. "What did you tell him, anyway?"
Lauren's smirk could only be described as evil. "That the other man said that his mother was a whore who had AIDS," she said.
The expression on the investigator's face instantly paled, and then he looked down at Lauren, glancing out at the party below. "Remind me not to get on your bad side," he commented.
She shook her head. "You won't need to," she said. "You're already on my good side enough that I don't think you can get on my bad side."
Scott nodded at this. "The reassurance is nice," he said as they approached the double doors. "Let's go see about Gordi."
And with this, Scott entered the room, Lauren following behind as they beheld a rather spacious room.
When they entered, they found Gordi Kramer sitting on the couch, looking at an absolutely monstrous TV screen. Lauren frowned briefly at this as she entered behind Scott, the two of them entering the room to find a pair of lesbians making out on the couch an extremely short distance away from where Gordi was sitting. Scott frowned slightly at this, noting the less than perfect condition of the room.
Perhaps it was the cartoon that threw him off most, however; on the TV screen, there was a rather strange CGI cartoon playing about a chicken that got chased around by a whole bunch of chefs. The investigator found it a little bit disturbing that Gordi was watching the cartoon instead of attending his own party, but nevertheless the investigator knew something had to be done.
"Gordi Kramer?" asks the investigator.
The young man sat there, laughing his head off at the cartoon. He did not look as if he noticed Scott or Lauren's presence. The two of them frowned, stepping closer to the TV.
"Gordi Kramer?" reprised the detective a little louder this time.
"Sh!" Gordi was quick to silence them, pointing at the TV screen. "This is the best part!"
And then the chicken was seen rushing around the kitchen that the CGI cartoon took place in. After a brief amount of time, the chicken was thrown haphazardly across the room, landing right into a pot as it had just lost its head. At this, Gordi let out a long, singular laugh. Lauren simply shook her head at this, crossing her arms and frowning as she bit her lower lip.
"Gordi, we really don't have time for this," says Lauren forcefully. "We need to talk to you. Now."
Gordi finally acknowledged the two of them were there. It was immediately apparent from the way he looked at them that he was not too pleased with this arrangement. He sat in the chair, almost like a child would, and then frown and turned to the lesbians making out next to him.
"Both of you, out!" he barked forcefully, the two women looking back at Gordin in startled surprise. "I need to be alone."
With this, the two lesbians spared a brief glance at the two intruders before huffing in displeasure. They both stood up, giving dirisive looks to Scott and especially to Lauren as the two of them walked by them. Lauren felt an unshakable chill fly down her spine briefly, but she didn't have time to ponder on it as the two lesbians left soon after. When the door closed behind them, Scott and Lauren both turned their attention to the younger Kramer as he sat there. He turned briefly, looking at the two of them.
"What do you want?" he asked brusquely.
Lauren had to bite back the urge to reply with some snark of her own, although the fact that Scott had placed a hand on her shoulder helped. "I'm Scott Shelby," he says. "And this is my partner, Lauren Winter. We're here to investigate the Origami Killer case."
He turned to the two investigators, his expression indifferent. However, Lauren noticed that Gordi trembled slightly where he sat, and this only caused her expression to furrow slightly. The small man turned to face them, but his face betrayed nothing.
"I have nothing to do with that case," says Gordi. His visage was stony, but his voice trembled slightly in something that Scott couldn't quite grasp. Whatever it was, he was definitely afraid of something. "I don't know why you're coming to me about this case. I had nothing to do with it."
"Really?" asks Scott, crossing his arms. "We have other evidence that points to you. And apart from that, I'm no longer on the police force, so I can't arrest you."
"So you can't arrest me again?" asked Gordi, his voice slightly malicious. "Good."
Scott blinked at this, not expecting Gordi's questioning to come up. Lauren was more taken aback, though as she looked at him. She knew it was best not to ask in the middle of the investigation, however, so she simply remained silent. Good. At least she won't be asking questions yet. The investigator simply shifted slightly.
"It doesn't have anything to do with that," says Scott. "But..."
"It was a misunderstanding..." he said, his voice beginning to shake a little bit. "My father called them, and he cleared it up. And now, here we are. I'm telling you, I had nothing to do with the Origami Killer."
He looked at them with an indifferent expression, but the slight trembling in his hand was noticed by even Scott now. The investigator rose an eyebrow upon seeing this behavior. I'm not completely convinced about this... He looked down at Gordi, frowning slightly.
"I don't know," said Scott. "It'll take more than just saying that to convince me of your innocence. Besides, I'm not here because I think you did something. I'm here because you might know someone."
With this, the investigator stepped a little closer. "My investigation has pinned one man to be the Origami killer," said Scott. "His name is Simon Sheppard. I know your father had some assosciation with the Shepard family, particularly Simon."
Gordi nodded at this. "Yeah, we had assosciations with the Sheppards," commented the youth casually. "I don't think there's anything wrong with Simon, though."
"We have him as the most likely suspect in the Origami Killer case," replied Scott. "We'd like to know where he is. And after we get this piece of information, we won't be bothering you or your father anymore. I promise."
"Look, I... I don't know where he is," replied Gordi. The reply seemed very rushed to Lauren and Scott, and almost instantly they knew he was hiding something. They dared not say anything at all to this rushed reply, however. It's probably better if we entreat to his other emotions.
With this in mind, the mother shifted her posture slightly as Scott did the same, tilting his head slightly.
"Look, we're trying to save other children that could get killed by this man," said the former cop. "I promise you, we're not here because we think you did something. Just, tell us if you-"
"I don't know where he is." The reply was exactly the same as it was last time, only more rushed and a slight amount more desperate. Lauren picked up on the desparation almost immediately, but she kept her facial expression in check. "Please, I don't know anything. Ask daddy for that..."
Lauren could hear footsteps behind her, and she turned her head behind her to see a trio of rather burly security guards coming up behind the two of them. She lightly tapped Scott's arm as the boy gave an ever more frightened look at Scott and Lauren. This prompted Scott to glance behind him out of the corner of his eye to see the security guards behind him. He nodded briefly to Lauren, who nodded back imperceptibly. Well, we're on the same page about that...
"Now, I think you should be going," said Gordi as the guards advanced towards them. "If you don't have any more questions, that is?"
With this, one of the guards came forward and grabbed Lauren rather roughly.
With this prompting, Scott leapt into action. His hand came out, a fist striking against the one who had grabbed Lauren. The attacked stumbled back, letting go of Lauren as she pulled her arm away roughly.
With this, two of the guards came in and grabbed Scott by the arms, the investigator not sure what to do with this. However, Lauren made the decision for him as she ran to a small vase she had noticed just as Scott had been grabbed. She took a hold of the vase and threw it at one of Gordi's security, the vase shattering against his head as the guard that was hit let out a shout and stumbled back.
This gave Scott an ample opportunity to elbow him in the gut, the guard stumbling back over the couch and flipping over as his legs hit the back of it. The other guard was then roughly thrown by a single pull of Scott's arm. The guard lost his grip, stumbling forward as Lauren rushed in and tackled him to the ground.
The guard that was tackled to the ground thrashed about briefly, but the prostitute was quick to notice the nearby furniture. She grabbed a hold of a small little table that just so happened to be close by, and with all her strength she pulled the table down so that it crashed against the guard. The leg came right over his head, and Lauren managed to knock him out. Taking a deep breath in, all she heard was a punch before she turned her attention back to Scott.
The investigator was holding his own rather well against the small group of guards that had come in to escort them out. He had punched one away, and was now rushing for a guard who had pulled his gun out. In a few seconds, though, Scott had delivered a rather harsh chop to the guard's hand, which made him drop the side-arm rather quickly. Thinking quickly, Lauren grabbed the table she had just used to knock the guard out, tossing it at the guard that had been punched away. As Scott sent the guard flying over the couch and banging his head against the table, she whirled around, table in hand as Scott turned to the guard. With a well-timed release of the table, though, it sailed through the air, hitting the guard in the head. As he came down, Scott made sure to land some extra punishment with a punch to the throat.
The entire skirmish had only lasted a few seconds, but it had damaged Gordi's property a little bit. The guard that had flown over the couch from Scott's assault had broken a glass table with his head, and the shattered vase lay at Scott's feet as he looked at the ruins of the table from when one of its legs got knocked out by one collission too many with a man's head. Gordi sat there, his face showing he was absolutely thunderstruck at this turn of events.
Scott simply rubbed his hands on his trenchcoat. "Thank you, I think Lauren and I both know where the door is," he quipped. "Just so you know, we have a friend of ours talking to your father right now. So if we don't get it from you, we'll get it from him."
With this, the two of them exited Gordi's room, getting the hint that they had overstayed their welcome.
Lauren was getting pretty tired of the pounding bass that was just outside the room, anyhow.
They walked back out in the rain, realizing that they didn't have a ride back home as Norman hadn't arrived yet. This came as mildly disconcerting to both of them, but they knew that if Norman had been delayed there was nothing they could do about it. So Scott ended up having to call a cab to get them out of there, and the cab had arrived and taken them back to Scott's apartment. They had entered it, with Lauren now pacing around the couch as Scott brewed a cup of coffee for himself in the kitchen. It was taking unusually long for the coffee to come to a boil that night, but Scott had a feeling it might have had to do with the brew, which he understood from Lauren was pretty subpar.
He simply shrugged, taking a cup of the stuff anyway and stepping back as Lauren sat on the couch around where the coffee table was shaking her head. She bit her lower lip, and then brushed a stray strand of hair from her face.
Scott could instantly tell the problem. "It's Gordi, isn't it?" he asked.
"He just..." Lauren shook her head. "He was hiding something. That much is for sure."
"I think we could all tell that." Scott sat down on the main couch, nodding to Lauren with a pursed lip. "Is there something about it that's bothering you?"
Lauren let out a sigh, closing her eyes. "When... When Johnny was still alive..." Scott's eyes instantly widened as he looked at the woman. "He used to play with this group of people at the park."
"Whoah," said Scott, holding up his hand. "That sounds like very personal stuff."
"It's not that personal," replied Lauren as she crossed her arms. "And... it's just relevant to my feeling in this case. Call it motherly intuition if you will... but..." She shook her head. "One day, he came home bruised from something. He said he had tripped on something, but Peter never believed it. And he kept on coming home..." She closed here eyes, biting her lower lip. "We eventually found out that he had been being bullied. I did my best to comfort Johnny, but Peter went and beat up those bullies badly..."
She let out a soft sigh. "Johnny came home every day while he was being bullied with this look on his face... like he was hiding something," she continued. "Like he wanted to tell me something important... but he was afraid to." She opened her eyes again, looking right at the person she had been working with for the past two days. "Scott... the look on Gordi's face when we spoke to him at the party was almost exactly like the one Johnny gave..."
"So he's being threatened with something," said Scott. "Meaning that he does know where Scott Shepard is."
"And that he's being threatened into not telling where he is..." added the mother. "He's close... We just need to know where to look."
"Indeed," said Scott with a shrug. "I... I don't like that he's being threatened."
"Should we see him again tomorrow?" asked Lauren.
The former cop glanced to the side, holding the coffee mug in his hand before taking a sip of the bitter fluid. Finally, he shook his head. "That was our chance," said the investigator. "We'll just have to hope Norman's investigation turned up something. Because that's-"
Before he could finish his sentence, though, he suddenly heard a loud banging. "Scott, let me in!" a voice shouted frantically as he banged on the door again.
Scott nearly dropped his coffee in surprise, Lauren jolting slightly at the sound of the distraught voice. Quickly, Scott set his coffee down, not seeming to care that some of it spilled onto the coffee table. But he stood up and rushed to the door, and as soon as he had unlocked it and closed the door Norman came rushing in, looking like he had just run a marathon as he was wheezing very quickly. Scott quickly closed the door, locking it behind him as Lauren stood up. She guided him to a couch as Norman began to pant, looking at the two of them with disbelief in his face.
"Norman, are you all right?" asked Lauren.
"No, I'm not," he said, his eyes wide as he pulled the collar of his suit jacket close to himself. "I just had to run down a whole lot of city blocks in the hope that you where here. I've never run so far in my life." He shakes his head. "The fact that my nose was bleeding part of the way through didn't help, I guess."
The mother let out an exasperated sigh as Norman shook his head. "Why the hell were you running?" asked Scott.
"Gideon... It's a long story," said Norman. "But... to put it as simply as I can, he sort of brushed me off when I asked around. But he told me I shouldn't be looking into things I've got no business in..."
The investigator frowned at this new development. "Let me guess..." he said. "You found Simon Sheppard..."
"Yeah," replied the FBI agent. His expression was very morose, and he shook his head.
"But he's not where we're expecting him to be..."