Chapter 9: Good News and Helpful Leads (Part 1)

LSPD South Central Station
Mission Row
The Next Morning
8:00 AM

Detective Harrison, dressed in his leather jacket, a plain white cotton shirt, blue jeans and white sneakers entered the lobby of the LSPD's South Central Station to find somewhat of a heated scene. His partner, Detective Xander was engaged in a very intense exchange with two smartly dressed men. A dark-haired man with a sleek buzzcut dressed in a three-piece charcoal business suit was the first person that Harrison could hear from where he stood.

"Detective Xander", the man said, "From the looks of things, it looks like you arrested my client last for doing no more than conversing with some of his acquaintances in the public area of an apartment building."

"For the second time, Mister Hawthorne" a frustrated Xander replied, "Your client was engaged in a marijuana deal in that apartment courtyard. And again, I'll reiterate that it just so happened to be my apartment courtyard! The whole thing went down not thirty feet from my apartment door!"

The second man, who had very neatly gelled blondish hair and was clad in a white business suit, seemed to be on Xander's side. "This incident falls within the criteria of the plain view doctrine, Hawthorne. The District Attorney's Office will be going forward with the case."

"That's your prerogative, Mister Ginsberg" Hawthorne said to the second man, who was apparently a prosecutor whose last name was Ginsberg. "However," Hawthorne continued, "I wouldn't expect Mister De Santa to want to go to trial on this. No judge in Los Santos County is going to want to devote an extended amount of time on a half-ounce of stale weed. Enjoy the rest of your day, gentlemen."

The bluntly spoken man, who evidently was some time of defense attorney whose last name was Hawthorne, then made his way toward the lobby's double doors, passing Harrison along the way before exiting the station.

Harrison, meanwhile, gave a nod of salutation to Xander and he walked further into the lobby. Noticing this, Xander reciprocated the gesture as he shook hands with Mr. Ginsberg.

"We'll do the best we can on our end, Adam" Ginsberg said, "But as much of a shmuck as Hawthorne is, he's right. He's probably going to be able to get Jimmy to plead to misdemeanor possession."

"Well," Xander said, "You can only do what you can do. Thanks, Matt."

The two men then parted ways, with Matt Ginsberg exiting the building, at which point Harrison walked over to his partner.

"Morning, bud" Harrison greeted warmly.

"Hey Troy" Xander deprecatingly replied.

"If I may ask", Harrison said, "What the hell was that about?"

"I arrested a young kid named Jimmy De Santa for buying weed from the Ballas at my apartment building last night", Xander began explaining, "That defense attorney that was trying to bust my balls was Jasper Hawthorne from Walsh, Hawthorne, and Schmidt. It's one of the biggest criminal defense firms in town."

"Who was the other guy?" Harrison asked.

"Matt Ginsberg", Xander replied, "He's a Deputy District Attorney for LS County."

"Alright", Harrison said, "Then, respectfully, my question is this: why do you seem to be jockeying for this kid Jimmy to be sent up for a bid at a hellhole like Bolingbroke Penitentiary for a miniscule half-ounce of weed? A kid that young doing even a short stint at a place like that could come out much worse than when he went in. I mean, I know I'm new here to Los Santos, but I think we both know that, bro."

A defeated Xander sighed, briefly closed his eyes, and hung his head before nodding agreeably to Harrison. "Yeah", he said, "When you're right, you're right, man. But this makes the third time that I've busted this kid. I busted him twice before for relatively the same shit back when I was a patrol officer."

"So", Harrison replied, "You're thinking with San Andreas being a three-strikes state, you could lock the kid up so he'd learn his lesson and stop running around South Los Santos like the spoiled little wannabe gangster turd he is?"

"Essentially", Xander said, "Yes. But you had a point about him most likely coming out worse than when he went in. Plus, with the whole three-strike thing, I could've potentially ended up locking the poor kid up for life for an infinitesimal amount of marijuana. That's not very fair, is it?"

Harrison shook his head. "Not at all, bud" he replied, "My suggestion is that you call your man Ginsberg back at the DA's office, tell him that you've had a change of heart, and have him ask the judge for leniency in the Jimmy De Santa case."

Xander nodded and patted his partner on the back. "Sounds good", he said.

This pleasant exchange between the two partners was promptly interrupted when the lobby's front desk officer, Nina Lopez, called out to Xander.

"Detective Xander?" Lopez called out.

Xander turned his attention to Officer Lopez. "Yeah, Nina?" he inquired, "What's up?"

"Officer Michaels just called in", Lopez began explaining, "He said that a citizen called in a sighting on Peter Hephaestus in Strawberry."

Harrison raised an eyebrow with significant attentiveness. "Where exactly in Strawberry?" he asked.

"The old Wings of Truth Mission on Elgin Avenue", Lopez replied, "It's next to the Vanilla Unicorn strip club."

Wings of Truth Mission
Elgin Avenue
Strawberry
20 Minutes Later

Harrison and Xander parked their unmarked Chevy Impala police car in the alleyway beside the very derelict Wings of Truth Mission. After exiting the vehicle, they soon encountered Michaels and Officer Steve Gwendolyn at the entrance to the old mission. Officer Gwendolyn was a tall white man in his early thirties with his brown hair stylized in a very precise military buzzcut. The visible military tattoo on his right arm signified his time in the United States Marine Corps.

"Hey Dakota", Xander greeted before turning his gaze to Gwendolyn, "Hey Steve."

"Adam", Gwendolyn said with a salutatory nod.

"Steve", Xander said as he gestured to Harrison, "This is my partner, Detective Troy Harrison. He's our new Senior Detective at Homicide." He then pointed his gesture toward Officer Gwendolyn. "Troy", he continued, "This is Officer Steve Gwendolyn. He works with Dakota on patrol here in South Los Santos."

Gwendolyn extended a hand to Harrison. "Pleasure to meet you, sir" he said, "Welcome aboard."

Harrison grinned and reciprocated the gesture. "Thank you, Steve" he replied, "But there's no need to call me 'sir'. Despite my spiffy title, I'm just a detective like everybody else on the South-Central station's second floor."

"Noted", Gwendolyn said.

"What can you guys tell us about this supposed Hephaestus sighting?" Xander asked.

"As you guys both know", Michaels began explaining, "Captain Gilligan ordered all patrol officers to canvas South LS for any trace of your suspect, Peter Hephaestus. LSPD's non-emergency tip line got a tip about half an hour ago from a citizen who wanted to remain anonymous. He said he recognized Hephaestus from the Weasel News bulletin that was on earlier and pointed us to this place."

"It used to be a mission shelter for the homeless", Gwendolyn added, "The city closed it down in Two-Thousand due to a potentially toxic black mold infestation."

"Were you able to clear it?" Harrison asked.

"Well," Michaels said, "Because of all the black mold in there, we didn't want to run the risk of inhaling the shit, you know? So, we asked the LSFD Hazmat guys to swing by and go in with their protective suits. They've already come and gone. There wasn't anybody inside, but they did say there wasn't much in there but a handmade wooden work bench, a dusty old metal folding chair, and an unrolled map of the ULSA campus."

A metaphorical light bulb went off in Harrison's head. "Adam", he said, "Didn't that lady from the university say that Hephaestus used to be a student there?"

"Yep", Xander replied, "And his dad's a Molecular Biology professor there, too."

"What if ULSA's been our guy's big intended target the whole time?" Harrison asked.

Xander nodded. "We shouldn't take any chances", he said, "I'll get on the horn to ULSA's campus security and put them on alert. You call Chief Sacco and fill him in."

Harrison nodded and took out his cell phone to make the call. Xander, meanwhile, turned back to Michaels and Gwendolyn. "I need you guys to take a ride up to Richman and scout out the campus", he said, "Link up with the campus security people and start evacuating the classroom buildings and clearing out all the outdoor public areas. I want that whole campus locked up tighter than the Mayor's ass."

Isaac Newton Science Building
University of San Andreas at Los Santos
Picture Perfect Drive, Richman
2:00 PM

Dressed in an unremarkable heavy black hooded sweatshirt, grease-stained jeans, and ragged black work boots, Peter Argus Hephaestus started to make his way up the front steps of the Isaac Newton Science Building on the vast campus of the University of San Andreas at Los Santos. Two fully filled cans of gasoline were in his hands.

He was halted at the front doors by campus security guard Dante Miller. Miller was a portly but fit African-American man in his forties, dressed in a brown and beige security uniform. "Hey man!" Miller authoritatively called out, "You can bring those things in here!"

The guard's insistent commands were suddenly silenced when Hephaestus struck the man upside the head with one of the heavy metal gas cans. Miller fell sideways onto the landing of the stairs, knocked out cold.

"You aren't in charge here anymore", Hephaestus coldly said as he made his way further inside the building.