Chapter 7: The Rundown

Conference Room
LSPD Headquarters
Rockford Hills
3:00 PM

With the identification of a suspect in both the murder of Jonah Zebedee and a series of perilous vandalism incidents involving the use of improvised explosive devices, Detectives Harrison and Xander were called into an emergency meeting with members of the police department's senior command staff. Also present at the meeting were Chief Sacco, Captain Gilligan, Lieutenant Wong, and Los Santos' Deputy Fire Chief, Mitchell Rankin, as well as various representatives from both the Mayor's Office and the University of San Andreas at Los Santos, commonly known by its acronym: ULSA.

Deputy Chief Rankin approached the head of the long conference table, his towering stature and presence acting as an unspoken gesture for everyone else to quiet down and begin the meeting. Rankin was a rather tall and tanned white man in his early fifties who was dressed rather sharply in his black LSFD dress uniform, complete with a well-pressed black suit coat decked out with brass buttons down the middle, formal-looking white cotton gloves on his hands, and equally well-pressed black pants and well-polished matching shoes. However, on this day, his dapper appearance seemed to be offset by his tired and worn face.

"Thank you all for being able to attend this meeting on such short notice", Rankin began as he addressed the entire room, "As you all probably know by now, the perpetrator of the three vandalism incidents that have resulted in several injures over the past two weeks has unfortunately escalated to murder. Earlier this morning, a fifty-two-year-old driver for GQ Postal by the name of Jonah Zebedee was found bludgeoned to death in the back of his truck while working his route in the South Los Santos area." Rankin's gaze then went to Lieutenant Wong. "I understand that your detectives have identified a suspect in this", he said to Wong, "Do I have that right, Lieutenant?"

Lieutenant Wong promptly and courteously stood from his seat and nodded in response to the question posed by the Deputy Chief. "Yes sir", Wong replied before turning his own look in Harrison and Xander's direction. "Would one of you like to address the room and elaborate for us, please?" he asked them.

Harrison and Xander spent a very brief few minutes quietly whispering amongst themselves before it was decided that the former would be the one to speak. As such, Harrison got up from his seat and made his way to the head of the table, at which point Deputy Chief Rankin stepped aside and gave him the floor.

Although he normally was the type of person who could be very uneasy about talking in front of a large group of people, Harrison produced an enlarged mugshot photo of suspect Peter Argus Hephaestus from the inner pocket of his leather jacket and held it up for everyone in the room to see.

"We have identified our suspect as one Peter Argus Hephaestus", Harrison began to explain, "He's a twenty-one-year-old white male with prior arrests for both attempted burglary and misdemeanor possession of crystal meth. We found his fingerprint on some drug paraphernalia at the old LS Paper Company. Based on that, the circumstantial evidence we've complied so far, and the small wealth of additional forensic evidence that was collected and processed by Miss Anna Barakova from the Crime Lab, we believe that Mister Hephaestus had been hiding out there and using the place as his makeshift crash pad and workshop both before and during the various incidents."

"What do we know about his background?" ULSA's Associate Dean, Maria Wilmer, asked. Ms. Wilmer was a white woman of medium height in her mid-fifties who was dressed very suitably in a dark gray pantsuit with white stripes, her graying hair tied into a neat bun on the top of her head.

Harrison flipped open the case file folder that he had in front of them and referred to it accordingly. "Peter Argus Hephaestus was born on January Twelfth Nineteen-Ninety-Two in Saint John on the US Virgin Islands", he began explaining, "However, he was evidently raised in and has lived here in Los Santos ranging from early childhood to now. His parents are Doctor George Zeus Hephaestus, who's a professor of Molecular Biology at ULSA and his mother is Mary Hera Hephaestus, who apparently is the manager of the You Tool hardware store out in Blaine County. The couple, by all accounts, has no other children to speak of."

"Work history?" Captain Gilligan asked.

"Peter Hephaestus' most recent tax records show his occupation as a 'hauler' for the Rogers Metal and Scrap Company for the past four years", Harrison replied, "From what I understand, that basically means that he went around to pretty much every business and residence in this area to collect their various recyclables. He would then bring everything back to their various company locations to be handled accordingly."

Gilligan nodded as she took in the information. "Duly noted, then" she said, "I'll have all the area patrols keep a tight watch around the three Rogers Metal and Scrap properties. I believe there's two here in Los Santos and one out in Blaine County. I'll reach out to Sheriff Burton in Paleto Bay and see if he can detail one of his units to that one."

"I think it's worth noting", Associate Dean Wilmer added, "Peter Hephaestus used to be a student at our university until his behavior resulting from his apparent substance abuse gave us no other choice but to expel him in the fall of Two-Thousand-Eight."

With that, Harrison traded looks with both Xander, Gilligan, and Chief Sacco before replying. "Is that right?" he asked, "What did he major in back then?"

"Well," Wilmer began explaining, "With all due respect to his father, Doctor Hephaestus, I never really saw Peter as someone who genuinely wanted to follow in his father's footsteps and become a biologist. He wasn't a very remarkable student, at least in the academic sense. Even as his grades started to decline, his father never seemed to allow him to change his major. He was also a member of the Alpha-Psi-Psi fraternity until his expulsion."

Chief Sacco shot up out of his seat in response to this. "I don't know if you were aware of this, Maria" he said to Wilmer, "The first bucket-bombing attack was at that exact fraternity house. You should put your campus security personnel on alert as soon as you can."

"Oh, my Goodness" a now very concerned Wilmer replied, "I'll be sure to do that as soon as I get back to campus. Our students' safety and security are our main concerns."

"Everyone", Chief Sacco interjected as he addressed the whole room, "I think due to the urgent nature of what's been discussed, we should adjourn this meeting for now and get back to work. Thank you for your attendance and assistance today."

As everyone hurriedly filed out of the conference room, Lieutenant Wong stopped Detectives Harrison and Xander at the door. "Have you guys had a chance to track down Peter Hephaestus' parents yet?" he asked them.

"We sent a Rockford Hills patrol unit over to the campus an hour ago to interview Doctor Hephaestus", Xander explained, "The officer I spoke to said that the good doctor had absolutely no idea where his son could be and that he hasn't seen him in about two weeks."

Lieutenant Wong raised an eyebrow in suspicion. "Okay", he replied with prominent sarcasm, "That doesn't sound fishy at all. What about his mom?"

"We were just headed out to Blaine County to see if we can catch her at work", Harrison said.

"If you don't mind my asking, Detective" Wong said, "When was the last time you visited Blaine County?"

Harrison shrugged his shoulders. "About five years ago while I was still with the Bureau, I guess" he replied, "Why do you ask?"

Wong rubbed the fabric of the detective's black leather jacket and grinned. "You may want to lose the jacket", he said, "It's about one-hundred-twenty-five degrees in the shade out there."

You Tool
Senora Freeway
Blaine County, San Andreas
45 Minutes Later

The local You Tool hardware superstore for essentially all of San Andreas was located beside the always-busy Senora Freeway in the very desolate and rural Blaine County. The county as a whole was a very unique locale, being surrounded by dry and barren desert on one side and lush green wilderness on the other. The almost dismal local population made the place an ideal destination for those looking to engage in outdoor recreation or hide from the law if one were so inclined.

Detectives Harrison and Xander pulled their unmarked gray Chevrolet Impala police car into the spacious front parking lot of the You Tool. As the two exited their vehicle, with Harrison having removed his leather jacket per the lieutenant's advice, Harrison supposed that the huge superstore, decked out in its signature orange and dark blue color scheme, looked more like one huge mirage in the shadow of the statuesque Sam Chianski Mountain Range.

The two detectives made their way inside the busy, crowded store and displayed their badges for the first employee they saw, a short dark-haired Hispanic man appearing to be in his mid to late 40's. His name badge read: "Nestor".

"Los Santos Police", Xander said, "Is there a lady named Mary Hephaestus working here today?"

"Miss Mary?" Nestor asked, his heavy Mexican accent showing clearly in his speech. "Oh yes", he continued, "she's our manager here. I'll go get her for you. Is something wrong?"

"Oh, not at all, sir" Harrison replied in a very reassuring tone, "We just need to ask her some important questions."

Nestor nodded and wandered to elsewhere in the store, presumably to find Mary. As they waited, Harrison curiously eyeballed all the different people milling about.

"Who knew a tiny county out in the middle of 'East Moose Pecker' would have such a need for a huge store like this?" Harrison observantly asked in a quiet tone.

"Hey", Xander replied in an equally discreet tone, "If building stuff with their hands keeps some people from getting intoxicated and breaking the law, I'm all for it, man."

Harrison nodded agreeably. "Right on, brother" he said.

Roughly 5 minutes later, a short-haired brunette white woman appearing to be in her early fifties, clad in a bright blue You Tool button-down work shirt approached Harrison and Xander. "I'm Mary Hephaestus", she said, "Are you the detectives looking to speak with me?"

Harrison extended a courteous hand to Mary. "Yes ma'am", he said, "I'm Detective Troy Harrison." After Mary reciprocated the gesture, Harrison motion to Xander. "This is my partner, Detective Adam Xander. We're with Los Santos PD."

"We don't have a lot of time, Miss Hephaestus" Xander chimed in very matter-of-factly, "So I'd like to get straight to the point if I could. Have you had any recent contact with your son, Peter?"

"He stops by our house in Rockford Hills every Sunday night to have dinner with me and my husband", Mary replied, "The last time we saw him was Sunday night. Two nights ago."

"How long was he at your house that night?" Harrison asked.

"From about five o' clock that evening to about eight-thirty", Mary said, "He seemed very anxious to catch the nine o' clock LST train back to South Los Santos."

"I see", Xander replied, "So he was staying in South Los Santos, then?"

"To the best of my knowledge", Mary said, "Yes. I'm just not sure exactly where he was staying."

"One last question, Miss Hephaestus" Harrison cut in, "Has your son bought any items from this store recently? Five-gallon paint buckets or fertilizer, perhaps?"

Mary Hephaestus gave a look of confusion in response, but both detectives immediately noticed that she was faking it. "No", she said in a deadpan tone, "My son has never been to this store since I've been here, and I've been here for almost eleven years."

Doing their best to hide their suspicion, the detectives each gave the woman a tentative grin. "Okay then", Harrison said as he handed Mary one of his business cards, "If you see your son again anytime soon, please give me a call. We'd like to speak to him about an important matter."

Mary nodded as she pocketed the business card and walked away, at which point Harrison and Xander turned around and promptly exited the store, walking across the parking lot to their waiting Impala.

"Did you believe any word of that?" Harrison asked as he opened the passenger-side door and slid into the car.

"Hell no", Xander said as he sat down in the driver's seat and shut his own door, "Mommy Hephaestus is definitely hiding something. We should take a look at her phone and bank records."

"I hear you there, bud" Harrison replied, "But do you mind if we do all that tomorrow? I've got a dinner date to get to in a little bit."

Xander grinned and turned the car's ignition over before carefully backing out of the parking lot. "Sure", he said, "You shouldn't keep a hottie like Anna waiting."

[A/N: In the next chapter, we'll get to go home with Harrison and our heroes to catch a little glimpse into how they spend their time off-duty. And yes, that includes Harrison's dinner date with Anna! Stay tuned!]