Chapter Five
This is impossible.
How to you track down someone who hasn't left a trace?
He has no credit card. He has no bank account. He doesn't seem to be employed and he
doesn't own any property. Short of actually running into him somewhere, it looks like
I'm never gonna find him.
Looks like I have to call in the Chaotix.
I hate calling in the Chaotix. It makes me feel like an idiot. I'm sorry, but the three
of them are so ridiculous that I feel like a failure when I have to call them.
They deliver the results, though, I'll give them that.
Reluctantly I pick up my phone and dial Vector.
"Yello?" he yells in my ear.
"Vector, how many times have I told you not to yell when you answer the phone? How many
clients have you scared off?"
"Uh…I'm not sure…"
"Well, stop doing it. You guys are always complaining that you're broke."
"Speaking of that…our rent's due and I don't have two cents to rub together…"
"Sell your headphones, your rent's not my problem."
"Darn it Charmy!" Vector yells. "I told you we couldn't afford to order that caviar on
toast last night!"
"Well how was I supposed to know?" squeals Charmy in a really shrill voice. "Knuckles
usually helps us out!"
"Not when you're scaring your customers away with your fish breath," I tell him. "But
guess what. I've got a job for you."
"YAHOO!" yells Vector, and I have to switch my phone to the other ear because I'm going
deaf.
"SHUT UP MORON!" I yell at him. "How you keep any customers is far beyond me."
"Sorry boss," says Vector. "Give me the deets."
"I need you to track down Sonic for me."
"Why, is he missing?"
"Kind of."
"Whereabouts do you think he is?"
"If I knew 'whereabouts' he was, I wouldn't be calling you, now would I?"
"Well I don't know, maybe you're busy."
"I'll keep looking, but you're going to be looking harder."
"Sure thing. Uh…could you pay us half up front, do you think?"
I sigh.
"Fine, fine. Just get started right away. This takes priority over anything else you
guys have to do, okay?"
"Oh sure, boss. We'll get started right after you hang up."
"Good," I tell him, and hang up.
I go outside and sit on a bench. I'm in Station Square (well, where else would I be?)
and I was using a payphone. I lost my phone again. I'm guessing I left it at Tails's
house.
I start wandering around the square, and I have no idea where to look next. I decide to
go to Amy's place. She's usually good for some cookies.
It takes me a while to get there, since I got on the wrong bus again by accident, but
after a while I get there and she happens to be home. (What a coincidence, huh?)
"Hi Knuckles!" she exclaims like she hasn't seen me in years. "How are you?"
"I'm alright," I say. "How're you?"
"I'm doing great," says Amy. "I'm going to work in an hour or so, but you can stay here
if you want."
"Thanks," I say. "Hey, have you made any cookies lately?"
"Why, yes I have," says Amy. "Would you like some?"
"Yeah," I tell her, and I sit on the couch.
After an hour or so of peanut butter cookies and small talk, Amy skips outside and
merrily goes off to work. I actually can't handle her for more than an hour at a time.
I'm just sitting there on the couch wondering what to do next, bored out of my mind, when
I see this stack of papers on the table. I'm a nosy guy who has no respect for privacy
whatsoever, so I pick them up.
"Hey:
I know I haven't written in a while, but I'm having this problem and I think you can help
me."
They must be the letters from her penpal.
Well, I'm bored, may as well give them a read.
"My new manager is harassing me."
Oh God. Poor Amy.
"He keeps asking me out on dates. I keep telling him no, and I try not to talk to him if
I don't have to. I'm not happy there anymore. He keeps telling me I'm beautiful and
that we should meet for coffee or something, but I don't want to. And I'm scared of
telling anyone because I don't want to lose my job. Is there anything I can do? Or do I
have to put up with this forever?
From Amy"
There's a paper folded around it and I take a look. It's the reply to the letter I just
read.
"Hey Amy!
I'm sorry to hear that he's treating you like that. But you know what? No job is worth
that. Don't compromise yourself for that lout, Amy. You have to tell someone, or you
have to find another job. From what you've told me it seems like you like your job a
lot, so I would suggest that you tell someone. Go to the owners, or the labour board.
You DO NOT have to put up with that. You have to know your rights in the workplace,
Amy. Please don't quit your job. Please don't give in to that jerk.
Sorry to hear about your problem! But it was great hearing from you. You should write
to me more often, you know!
From Maurice."
Her penpal's name is Maurice!
I spend a good ten minutes laughing over that one. I can't believe they actually still
name people Maurice in this world.
The rest of the letters are similar, a couple about Amy's life and how it's going, but in
the letters there is little to know information about Maurice himself. That seems a bit
off to me, but I guess it has a lot to do with the fact that Amy likes to talk, and can
do so nonstop without caring if anyone else has anything to say.
I must have fallen asleep on the couch because next thing I know there's a blaring light
in my eye and Amy's laughing at me.
"Is my couch really that cozy?" she teases me.
"Uh…yeah…" I say. "Yeah, that's it." Too late I realize I'm still holding the letters.
"Oh, were you reading those?"
"Yeah."
"He's so nice, isn't he? I know I should let him say a few things now and then, but once
I get started I don't really stop."
"Yeah, he's a nice guy for sure."
She frowns.
"You don't like him, do you."
"Well there's not much about him to like. And besides, his name is Maurice. You can't
like a guy named Maurice. There's automatically something shady about him."
"He's not shady. He's nice."
"You've never met him. Anyone can be nice on paper. It's face to face where people show
their true colours."
Amy sits down.
"Look, I get where you're coming from. But I think I'll trust him until he gives me
reason to believe otherwise."
"Okay then," I say. "If you insist."
Amy has things to do tomorrow and wants to go to bed, so I'm left on the couch by myself
again. I'm so stumped about where to look for Sonic next. Hopefully the Chaotix will be
able to help, because all I want to do is sit somewhere in a corner and wait until they
find him.
My phone rings and I rummage around for it. Look, they've got results already.
"What's up?" I ask.
"We've got a lead," screams Vector. I roll my eyes and put the phone on the table. That
way Vector can keep yelling and I can keep my hearing.
"Okay," I say. "You following it up in any way?"
"Oh yeah," says Vector. "We think we know the general area he went to."
"Really?"
"Oh, it was really simple," Vector says. "All we had to do was trace the phone calls
made from the Prower's place around the time Sonic left, and one was to the train station
in Station Square. That train doesn't make a whole lot of stops, so we can ask around
for him there. Or do more traces, if we have to."
"Vector, you're brilliant!" I say. "Why didn't I think of that?"
"Thank you," says Vector in a rare moment of humility. "We'll get on finding him right
away, boss, but the station's not open right now. Closed for construction or something."
"Oh God," I say, exasperated. "That damn station just opens and closes as it chooses,
doesn't it."
"Well it was closed every day except Tuesday last week," says Vector.
"Why was it open on Tuesday?"
"They were giving out free chips at the casino so all the train drivers went there."
"So it was open for like one run."
"Yeah, that's about it," says Vector with a sigh. "Sure makes getting to work on time
difficult."
"Vector, you live at the detective agency. How could you possibly be late for work?"
"Well I don't live at the burrito stand," says Vector indignantly. "And the only burrito
stand is 3 miles from here."
"You needed to get burritos that badly?"
"Listen, buddy, don't say no bad things 'bout my burritos!"
"Okay," I say, not wanting to get into an argument about the heavenly properties of
second-rate road stand burritos. "Just get on that as quick as you can, alright?"
"Sure thing," says Vector. "Soon as that station's open, we'll be there, bothering the
hell out of everyone who works there."
As far as I can tell that's an A+ reason for keeping the station closed.