Chapter 3: House of Sticks
The sun was peeking through the windows of the police station, into the office of former Arson detective Cole Phelps. He looked out the window, his mind still reeling from his decision to quit the force. It was his last day on the force, and he was packing up the rest of his things at the station. He turned from the window to the assorted items on his desk. He moved his hand over the various mementos he had collected from the previous desks he had worked on. He picked up a shrunken head prop, a reminder of his days on the traffic desk.
"Ah," he said to the head, "bringing me into the dark underworld of Hollywood". "Thankfully we caught the bastard".
He placed the head into the cardboard box he was using to pack, located by the side of his desk. He picked up his book containing the poetry of Percy Shelley, reminding him of hunt for the Black Dahlia killer.
"Shame he was never brought to justice," he told himself, "and shame the department was corrupt enough to not do so".
He was still sore about having to keep the identity of the killer a secret, even though he had killed him. There were now five innocent men who would have to live with the stigma of being considered a murderer, only escaping justice due to misplaced evidence. He placed the book in with the head, turning his attention to a small box. He picked it up. It would have once contained surplus morphine from the war, but the drug had been confiscated. Cole still kept the box as a memento from his days on the Vice desk, before they were cut short due to news of his affair leaking out.
"An example of the L.A.'s seedy underworld" he said, "I still wonder about how those photos got to the press, though".
He stuck the box in with the other mementos, and grabbed the final item, a mosquito lamp from his latest desk. He and Herschel believed that the lamp was being used along with malfunctioning heaters to start the fires they were investigating.
"We're going to find the bastards that use you" he said as he placed the item in the box. He picked up the box and left his office. He walked through the halls of the station, passing by other cops. Some said their farewells in insincere ways, obviously still hating him for the affair, while others were actually sad to see him go. He passed through the doors of the station into the parking lot. He walked over to Herschel's car and placed the box in the back seat, then climbed into the driver's seat.
"What's our first stop?" his partner asked.
Cole checked his notebook. He was allowed to keep it even after quitting.
"California Fire and Life Insurance" he said, "We need to find where Lou was working when he was killed".
He pulled out of the parking lot and started driving towards their destination.
California Fire & Life Insurance
10:50 AM
They arrived at the insurance building, a skyscraper, and found Elsa waiting for them in the lobby. Herschel would stay behind when they went to find the location of the construction site. After asking for the floor number, they went into the elevator to get to the building's top floors.
"We will need to find an insurance investigator in order to find out where Lou was killed" he told her after the doors had closed.
"So what is your plan, Cole?" she asked.
"There is an old acquaintance of mine who works here," he said, "an investigator by the name of Jack Kelso"
"And you think this Kelso will help us" she said.
"Me and Jack weren't on the best of terms," he said, "but I believe he will". "If Jack thinks there is something fishy going on, he will help you to the best of his abilities".
"I hope your trust in Mr. Kelso is well-placed" she said.
The elevator had arrived at its destination. The doors opened and Elsa walked out first. She turned to the right to Kelso's office as Cole waited near the elevator, so that Kelso couldn't easily recognize him, but so that he could still hear the conversation.
"Mr. Kelso?" she said.
"That's what the sign on the door says, Miss" he replied.
He saw her hand him the cheque for the settlement. Kelso glanced over the paper.
"There is no need to come to the office, Miss Lichtmann" he said. "If you accept the settlement, all you need to do is sign here"
"I don't accept the settlement" she said.
"What do you mean you don't accept?" he replied, "I think your pushing your luck, lady". "This seems to be a ridiculously generous settlement. A 200$ policy with a 20 000$ payout, you should…"
"I don't want the money" she said, "I believe there was foul play regarding my friend's death, and I have hired a private investigator to look into it"
"Then why did you come here, Miss Lichtmann?" he asked.
"I would like to find out the location of Lou's death" she said.
"I may be able to give you some information from his file, but that may be pushing my luck" he said, "I think I would like to see your private investigator first".
Cole chose that moment walk into Jack's office.
"Jack" he said.
"Cole" the man replied, "I thought you were on the force, at least, that's where you were the last time we saw each other"
"I quit" he said.
"So then, I suppose you want to see Mr. Buchwalter's file" Jack said, "I'm afraid I can't let you".
"Come on, Jack" he said, "Something big is behind this death. Since when is a settlement ten times the amount of the policy? This settlement is to cover something up, isn't it obvious?"
Jack thought for a minute.
"Well, I suppose if the beneficiary of the settlement wants it" he said, as he got up and started looking for the file.
Jack eventually found it and laid it out on his desk, opening it for all to see. Cole turned it to get a better look at the various documents involving Lou's death. He saw a blueprint for a house; no doubt the one Lou was working on. He found the name of the subdivision and the coordinates in the top right corner of the blueprint. He tapped them with his finger.
"Seems we got the location we were looking for," he said, "Thanks Jack".
"No problem, Cole" Jack replied.
Elsa left the office while Cole finished glancing over some of the other documents in the file. He was about to leave when Jack stopped.
"Cole," he said, "if you need any help with this or want to talk about what happened in the war, just call me."
"Thanks again, Jack" he said.
"The platoon's men should stick together" he replied.
As he was walking out, a young woman approached him.
"Excuse me, Mr. Phelps" she said, "Mr. Benson, the head of the company would like to see you upstairs in his office"
He thought it strange that the head of an insurance company would want to see him, but decided to see the man anyway. He headed up the stairs and saw offices lining the walls, with one office clearly more exquisite than the others. He guessed that office was Mr. Benson's. He walked over and opened the door, seeing a man in a blue suit placing what seemed to be a golf club in an umbrella stand. The man turned to him.
"Hello, Mr. Phelps" he said, "Didn't expect you up here so quickly".
The man walked over to Cole and raised his hand for a handshake. Cole obliged.
"Curtis Benson, head of California Fire & Life" the man said, "Nice to meet you".
"I don't see why you requested to see me, Mr. Benson" he said, "I'm pretty sure that heads of companies don't spend most of their day meeting with regular clients"
"Well, Mr. Phelps, you are a special case" Benson said, "It isn't every day that a client brings in a private detective to investigate a death". "I was wondering what you think you are going to find".
"I believe the construction company was using sub-par materials, Mr. Benson" he said, "The use of which lead to Lou Buchwalter's death".
It was then he saw it, a look of fear quickly flashing across Benson's face. Cole wondered whether or not the big settlement offered to Elsa was due to pressure by Elysian, hush money. He made a mental note to see how Benson and Monroe were linked, whether they had any combined business interests.
"Well, Mr. Phelps, I wish you well in your endeavor" he said, his voice stilted, as if he didn't know what to say.
Cole easily guessed that his words were insincere, and may be quickly followed up with a call to Leland Monroe, or another powerful person.
"Goodbye, Mr. Benson" he said.
He left the office, heading down to the elevator. He descended to the ground floor with the location of Lou Buchwalter's death, ready to begin the investigation.
A/N: I felt the need to keep this part of the case similar to how it originally was, so to give background to later meetings between characters. It would be underwhelming and indicative of bad storytelling if certain important conversations from the game happen between characters who have never met before, which is a reason I didn't like the Jack/Monroe conversation in the original game. Thank you to everybody who is following or has favourited the story, and especially to the people who have reviewed it. Please review, and see you at the next chapter.