Calatonia Chronicles II
V - Collateral
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New Moon Theater
A still Miss Crawley, oxygen mask and neck brace in place, was rolled into an ambulance.
Buster Moon, eyes red and raw, suit unkempt, watched as they carted away one of his closest friends and one of the closest persons he has to family.
The police secured the area that was now declared a crime scene now that signs of sabotage had been confirmed. They had been examining the accident scene for the past hour.
Buster wrung his hands as the ambulance drove into the distance.
Feeling the constant vibrations of his phone, Buster went to work on beginning the grueling procedure as the bearer of bad news.
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Uptown Calatonia
Nooshy and Porsha stood against a wall, watching from a distance as the shadowy figure slinked away, having discarded his work clothes for a discarded coat and hat, thoroughly disguising himself.
The girls might've missed him if they hadn't tailed him so closely.
"This might be tricky," Nooshy said. "We don't know if he's got company, so this coming to a barney is too risky. Besides, mum'll kill me if I even try."
Porsha cocked an eyebrow. "Barney?"
"It means a fight."
Porsha felt her phone vibrate.
Nooshy peeked around the corner of the alley.
"Ok, he's going in that abandoned flat building. I'll message mum and she'll call the calvary."
Porsha did not answer. She was silent as the grave.
Turning her head, Nooshy took notice and became slightly alarmed by the horrified look on her surrogate sister's face as she looked at her phone.
"Porsh? What's wrong?"
"Noosh," a distraught Porsha said, looking at her phone. "Look at this."
She handed the phone to Nooshy.
The young girl looked at the cell and gawked as she saw an article on a social media site stating, "Freak Accident at New Moon Theater. Betty Crawley Falls. Injuries Critical."
Nooshy felt numb as her eyes became huge with shock. "Wha…wha…what?"
"They said the catwalk above the stage fell. They're suggesting sabotage."
Nooshy looked up at Porsha. "It was him, that bloke. It must've been."
Porsha looked to be filled to the brim with guilt and dread. "It's as much as if we did this."
"What?!" Nooshy cried, but took care to keep her voice down. "What are you-?!"
The conversation was interrupted when both Nooshy and Porsha's phone went off.
Looking at each other, looking bewildered and startled, they fished out their phones and now they looked intimidated.
"It's my mum," Nooshy said grimly.
"And mine," Porsha said, equally grim.
Suki Rosemary Lane, or rather Suki Rosemary Crystal, Porsha's godmother, now full-fledged mother.
The girls answered their phones, none too quickly as it felt like time slowed down.
"Hello?" they both said.
The following sounds exploded from both phones.
"PORSHA RODRIGUEZ CRYSTAL!"
"NOELLE ANN WRIGHT!"
"WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING?!" Both mothers shouted in unison.
"Uh mum, we can explain," Nooshy said, deeply shaken.
"Never mind that!" Noelle Sr snapped. "Where are you?! You better not be tracking that bloke that hurt Miss Crawley!"
While Nooshy was getting chewed out, Porsha endured her own fair share.
"Porsha! Didn't what happened in New York teach you anything?!" Suki bellowed.
Porsha smiled nervously, feigning innocence. "That it's better to act than to sit on your butt?"
"Porsha…" Suki said warningly.
A high pitched bark could be heard over the line.
"Hush Dixie. Even the dog agrees, Porsha. Whatever it is you're planning, stop it now."
"Mom, I didn't know about what happened at the theater," Porsha protested. "Only that this guy was up to no good. We followed him but not too closely. And we know where he is right now."
There was a pause before Suki continued.
"…Where?"
Nooshy apparently came to the same conclusion with her own mother.
"Twenty-two Rykers Avenue," Nooshy said into the phone. "Big, ugly building next to a dollar store. Can't miss it. Thanks mum." She then looked thoroughly spooked. "I'll keep that in mind. Love you mum. Cheers."
Both girls hung up.
"We wait and don't move," Nooshy said.
"Gotcha. You think Miss Crawley's ok?" Porsha asked, sounding worried.
Nooshy firmly but uneasily as though stubbornly shaking off a chill. "She's a tough old bird. She'll pull through."
"I hope so."
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WAP!
"Ow!" A young man, barely in his twenties, black of hair and scruffy looking.
He rubbed his stomach. "What was that for?!"
"Do you know what you have done?!" snapped a deeply gruff voice.
"I did my job!"
SMACK!
Now his nose was bleeding.
As the kid covered his face in pain, an enormous figure stepped out from the shadows.
A heavily muscled grey-haired man in a suit and tie, a jagged scar across his lip, and a black eye patch.
"Your job was to sabotage the theater in a way that sends a message! That Moon and his people are still being watched! I did not tell you to cause an accident! And now an old woman may be dead! Now Cosgrove and his people will retaliate with extreme prejudice!"
"So what?! Let them try! We can wipe them out once and for all!"
The grey-haired man grabbed the young man by the throat. Actually, his massive hand was wrapped around his entire neck.
"You…you…you are a stupid, foolish boy!" The grey-haired man snapped. "Now it falls to me to salvage the mess you made! Don't ever pull a stunt like this again, or I'll send you back where I found you!"
A look of mortal terror fell upon the boy's face.
The giant of a man liked it.
"Yeah…" He said with a predatory drawl. "I hear you were the judge's favorite."
The young man was sweating before. Now he was crying.
The giant laughed cruelly. "Pathetic."
00000
"What's taking them so long?" Porsha said, looking past around the corner, where the building was just down the street.
"Who knows." Nooshy was doing handstands to pass the time. "All we got to do is keep an eye on the place. Keep the calvary updated."
Porsha went rigid as she looked around the corner. "Someone's coming!" She whispered fiercely in alarm.
"Quick, hide!"
Porsha and Nooshy made themselves scarce, having collective experience on disappearing fast.
Nooshy hid behind a curtain hanging from the fire escape.
Porsha hid underneath an abandoned car.
They held their collective breaths as a slinking, whimpering figure dragged himself down the sidewalk past the alley.
It was the same lean, dark-haired young man that fled the theater, just before the sabotage caused Miss Crawley's accident.
Nooshy blinked in bewilderment as she took in the guy's features.
Now where have I seen you before?
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"She's your daughter, Noelle."
A smirking Carmen Juarez Santiago Desinov, a Spanish woman, in a long black coat and lace-up Doc Martins, slightly below average height, with deeply tan skin, blue-azure eyes, and long curtain-like black hair stood on top of a building near uptown Calatonia, just a few blocks from the building in question where the saboteur fled.
Her partner stood just a foot away, a phone to her ear, was a severe Noelle Ann Vivace Wright Sr. She was just a few inches shorter than Carmen and also clad in a long black coat with lace-up Doc Martins. Her snow white hair with flecks of black in it was tied back in a bun.
The lines in her face were far more defined as she was angry, quite angry.
"Just get the plod here, on the double man! The sooner the place is secure, the sooner I get my little girl home!"
"And Porsha," Carmen said.
Noelle Sr ended the call.
"Let's get moving," she said, stepping on the roof's curb.
"We're not waiting for the police?"
Noelle Sr grinned. "When have we ever?"
00000
Once they were sure they were alone, Nooshy and Porsha came out of hiding.
"Where the heck are the cops?!" Nooshy snapped.
"Who knows? Maybe they got held up." Porsha put a finger to her lips. "Keep your voice down. That kid might come back."
"That kid…" Nooshy said, more to herself than to Porsha. "Why can't I remember him? I swear I've seen him before."
Porsha stared at the street dancer. "Huh?"
"Nuthin'."
00000
Downtown Calatonia - Calatonia General
Bandages wrapped around her head, only her one good eye visible, Miss Crawley laid in her hospital bed, sound asleep.
Buster Moon, Eddie Noodleman, Rosita Witherspoon, Gunter Kroll, Meena Hattrick and Ash Johansson sat by her side, all with grim, sad faces.
Johnny was not with them as he went out to look for Nooshy and Porsha.
"How could I have allowed this to happen?" Buster said, tears in his eyes.
Rosita took Buster by both his hands. "You allowed nothing of the sort, Mr Moon."
Meena, an enormous plump girl with grey hair, bowed her head. "Poor Miss Crawley."
Ash, who was anxiously twiddling her spindly, spiky hair, placed a hand on Meena's massive one.
"She'll pull through. She's stronger than he looks."
"Are we going to have to move her?" Gunter asked in his thick German accent, a plump short pink-skinned man with a blond bowl cut. "I mean, it's like, we've been having a lot of bad luck with hospitals. This is why I don't like going to the doctor."
Eddie Noodleman, a man of below average height, lean, with a white wool-like afro and coal-black skin, raised his head to speak.
"Nana said that she has an escort prepared to move her into her house."
Gunter smiled, but it was a weak one. "Ah, that's good."
"Wait, what?" Buster asked. "When was this arranged?"
"Seven minutes ago," Eddie said. "He'll be here any minute now."
"Who will?"
The door swung open suddenly and the present members of the Moon Troupe to semi-panic and prepare for the worst.
Meena stood up quickly, overturning her chair, boulder fists raised, although she was almost hyperventilating and sweating.
Ash was much the same way, except she had brandished a pocket knife from her red jacket.
Gunter, yelping in fear, got into a kung fu stance, fists at the ready.
Buster, Eddie and Rosita however stood in front of Miss Crawley, shielding her with their bodies, terrified as they were.
Former Spetnaz Ivan Desinov and former French Legion Pascal St. Clair stared at the group with looks of surprise.
And then regret.
"Told you ve should've knocked," Ivan said.
Pascal looked unimpressed. "And I told you to open the door more gently."
"Uh…hello?" Eddie said.
Pascal looked happy to see the grandson of his lady love. "Eddie, bon!" The Frenchman jubilantly approached the gamer, took his face in both hands and kissed both cheeks.
"Nice…to see you…too," Eddie said, slightly uncomfortable.
Rosita looked stricken. "Ash, where did you get that knife!"
Ash, feeling caught, hid the knife behind her back. "What knife?"
"Ash…"
"Ok ok, I bought it, just in case like."
Rosita put her hands on her hips. "And what else?"
Ash smiled, terribly anxious. "A…taser?"
Rosita smiled brightly. "Good."
"Huh?"
"All the better. I want you all to be safe."
Ash cleared her throat as she put the knife away. "How's training with Mrs Wright?"
Rosita puffed out her chest proudly. "Magic!" She said in a thick British accent.
"Looking scary there, Meena," Gunter said, sounding impressed, still shaken and in his fighting stance.
Meena, flustered, shaken and still in a stance as well, smiled shakily. "Th-th-thanks."
Ivan shook his head in amusement. "Ve should go now."
Buster gulped, twiddling his fingers. "Agreed."
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Nooshy, grimacing in pain, struggled to support herself as her furious mother tugged her by the ear.
"Of all the hair-brained ideas, not nearly as foolish as what you pulled back in New York, but still! Following someone suspicious you know nothing about, Nelly?!"
"Ow! Hey!" Porsha cried as her own ear was accosted by Carmen. "I thought only Mama could tug my ear!"
Carmen gave the taller girl a lopsided grin. "Suki is not here and I have her permission to do so."
"Ok! Ok! We're sorry!" Porsha and Nooshy shouted in unison.
Considering that the discipline was satisfactory, the girls' ears were released.
"I think that will do," Noelle Sr said. "Now down to business. Can you describe the boy who left the theater, just before Crawley's accident?"
Rubbing her sore ear, Nooshy searched back in memory.
"Well, skinny, average, pale, black shaggy hair, and a scar across his chin."
Noelle Sr cocked an eyebrow. "You got all that? At nighttime? Just from him passing the alleyway?"
Porsha blinked. "Didn't you say you saw him before?"
Nooshy turned on Porsha, startled and alarmed. "I practically whispered it under the city noise! How did you hear that?!"
Noelle Sr craned her head. "Am I missing something?"
Nooshy bowed her head in defeat. "I…I recognize him from somewhere. I remember him having that scar. But I don't remember where or when exactly."
"Hmm," Carmen said thoughtfully. "Do you remember his name."
Nooshy rubbed her temples, scrunching her face as she tried to force herself to remember.
And failing.
"I…I can't…." she said with terrible effort. "I can't remember."
Noelle Sr placed a comforting hand on her daughter's shoulder. "All in good time, love."
Then she grabbed her daughter hard but not enough to hurt her as she forced her to walk forward.
"Let's go."
"Whuh-hey!"
Carmen grabbed Porsha by the arm and dragged her along.
"What are you doing?!" She practically screeched.
They turned a corner in the alley and there was a parked black pickup.
Johnny's truck.
"Oh," Nooshy said in realization.
"In the truck, girl," Noelle Sr said sternly.
One moment, the girls were momentarily stunned.
The next, they were in the truck and leaving.
Johnny said nothing as he kept his eyes forward and on the road.
Nooshy sat in the passenger seat while Porsha sat in the back.
The street dancer looked at her fiancé nervously, taking note of the distant look on his face and how he hadn't yet said a word.
Porsha said nothing. She simply sank into her seat, electing to stay clear out of this.
"Are you mad?" Nooshy asked, feeling extremely humbled.
"Now why would you think that?" Johnny said evenly, eyes still fixed on the road.
It was not a question.
Nooshy bowed her head. Great.
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Noodleman Manor
Ivan carried Miss Crawley, who slept on a medical cot, up the winding stairs of Nana's home.
"She'll be safe here," Nana said. "I promise."
"Thank you Nana," Buster said, wringing his hands. "And who will tend to her when she needs…"
"My personal physician will see to her." Brandishing her ever present fan, Nana knelt down to Buster's level. "You should go home, Buster, and get some rest. There's nothing more you can do."
The diminutive showman lowered his head as he rubbed his grey-blue hair back. "She saved my life."
Nana wrapped her arms around the much smaller man and he clung to her. "I know."
…..
NEXT CHAPTER: Bad Cop, Bad Cop