Chapter VI: The Books and the Beautiful

Author's note: The opening of this chapter runs in parallel with the closing of Chapter V.

Although the final bell sounded at 2:30 in the afternoon at Anaheim Central, the Angels waited in the stands of the school's football and athletics stadium, poring over Sabrina's book of Old High German until enough students had cleared off the premises. Kelly, sensing that the three of them might be caught if they left the grandstand the same way they had ascended it, suggested: "There is another way to leave the stadium. Let's take it to avoid arousing suspicion, shall we?" The other two followed behind her in agreement to the visitors' entrance, where the receptionist asked: "What is your business here?"

"We're from the Charles Townsend Detective Agency," Sabrina began, "and we came to talk with coach Sigel about the incident involving his team captain, Sam Majerus, as I'm sure you have been apprised."

The receptionist was taken aback but remembered that Bosley had arranged the meeting. "Oh, of course. It's only 2:40, though, and you weren't supposed to meet with Coach until 4:30 today. But if you insist, take the left turn at the end of the hallway and follow the signs to the athletics office. Perhaps he will see fit to meet with you earlier than he intended, but the Pioneers do have baseball practice at 3:20. Could I get your names, ladies?"

"Sabrina Duncan is my name. My fellow-brunette here is Kelly Garrett, and the blonde is Kris Munroe. I tend to be the leader of us three, as our boss—who also founded and named after himself the agency—usually lets us handle the cases ourselves. Hence my decision to speak on behalf of my colleagues." Kelly and Kris squinted a fraction at Sabrina.

As the receptionist signed the papers and tore off visitors' badges for the Angels, Kelly could be seen and heard muttering a word that sounded like skíza. "Excuse me?" the receptionist asked as she looked up.

Sabrina turned and gave Kelly a countenance of disapproval before explaining: "Oh, just this morning I was talking with my colleagues about this dead language called Old High German, about which I happened to bring a book for no apparent reason. We arrived here a bit early, so we decided to read it while waiting until the schoolkids let out. Kelly and Kris seem to have taken interest in learning the language."

The receptionist finished her work and bade the Angels move along. As they did, Kris whispered to Kelly: "I think you cussed in that dead language."

A couple minutes later, the Angels entered the athletics office. As they were preparing to sit down to look over their questions, another voice said: "You must be from the Townsend Agency." The Angels looked about them and beheld a secretary seated just outside a door that read Head Baseball Coach. They nodded.

"Pardon our earlier-than-expected arrival," Kris replied, "but is coach Sigel available to talk with at this time?"

"Right now, he's talking with his team captain, Sam Majerus," coach Sigel's secretary answered, "but he won't be much longer. I'll notify him that you've arrived quite early and wish to get your business over with sooner rather than later."

As the Angels sat down to await their session, Kelly overheard a heated conversation between coach Sigel and Sam. It seemed to revolve around the tome that had been described all along. Meanwhile, Kelly felt the same old pulsation resuming in the back of her skull. She said: "I think Sam or coach Sigel wants to withhold the tome from our use. I hope they work out a release of information since the tome could very well contain evidence that we need to crack the case."

Just as Kelly was pondering these things, coach Sigel's secretary knocked on the door and spoke: "Pardon the interruption, but the investigators from the Townsend Agency are here and ready to meet with you." The secretary waved the Angels into coach Sigel's office. Seated at the coach's desk was Sam, and the tome was atop the desk.

Upon beholding the Angels for the first time, Sam was starstruck by their beauty and youth. "Have I died and gone to heaven?" he asked. The women giggled subtly.

"If such a place exists," Sabrina replied, "then you would be able to pass through impervious barriers like human flesh. Try me." Rather than fall for Sabrina's scoffing, Sam shook her hand before continuing: "The name's Sam Majerus. I play centre field for the Anaheim Central Pioneers, and as you are probably aware, I'm also team captain. Who are you, ma'am?"

"Sabrina Duncan. I guess you could regard me as the de facto leader of the agency, seeing as how our boss Charlie doesn't usually show up unless necessary."

"And who might these beautiful ladies be? I presume they are your associates."

Kelly, somewhat flattered by Sam's choice of words, responded: "I'm Kelly Garrett. I'm usually considered the enforcer of the agency, if you like, in that I've been involved in more fights than Billy Martin, if that rings a bell."

"And I'm Kris Munroe," said Kris, "and the only blonde employed by Charlie these days. As the newest member of the agency, I replaced my big sister Jill a couple years ago. She races stock cars nowadays and is trying to break the glass ceiling of NASCAR. In other words, she's an athlete like you, only involved in motorsports."

"That doesn't seem very athletic," Sam retorted. "I mean, sitting in a racecar and driving on a two-and-a-half-mile track? I guess you could say there's some strategy involved, though."

While Kris scowled somewhat, Kelly continued: "Anyway, we were here to talk with you, coach Sigel, about the incident involving Sam the other day. Has he disclosed any trauma from the flashback of his murdered brother?"

"He did express some unease ahead of Saturday's trip to University High in Irvine about it," Coach Sigel remarked. "I asked him if he wanted to sit out the game, but he insisted that he play, and he played well. Funny how that happens sometimes—you get shaken up by some disturbance only to kick ass out there."

"It does speak to a measure of resilience on his part. Tell me, what did he see in the flashback? Charlie notified us that when the murder took place, Sam and his family lived in Platteville, Wisconsin, and Simon Majerus's corpse was found near the Burger King. But that's all we know of what happened."

"I'm afraid he didn't want to spill the beans on the incident and what he saw. He won't talk with any counsellor because he says he might be advised to destroy or discard any materials like Advanced Dungeons and Dragons or Lord of the Rings, among other media. What you said of the circumstances of the murder is all we know."

"Well," Sabrina remarked, "being the nerd, if you will, of the agency, I saw Ralph Bakshi's adaptation of Lord of the Rings last fall. It was scary, to be sure, but sometimes it's what you need to cope with your biggest fears."

Kris added: "I agree that visualizing the source of your fear is good, but to get back to what we were discussing, have you reached out to Sam's manager?"

Coach Sigel sighed. After a pregnant pause, he spoke: "I have no responsibility about what happens beyond the walls of this school and the confines of my program. What are you talking about?" At this point, Kelly's psychic pulsation was becoming visibly irritating. "Is something wrong, Ms Garrett?"

"I was thinking that if the flashback took place at McDonald's," Kelly responded, "one of us should talk with Sam there when he's off his shift. That way, he can show the one who accompanies him the PlayPlace where it happened, and we might have an idea of what's going on with this sigil."

"If that's okay with you, Sam," coach Sigel said, turning to Sam, "you may choose one of these women to show the sigil in the PlayPlace so that your brother's murder-case may be solved after all these years. Whom do you trust?"

Sam knew he didn't trust Kris that much as yet. He was tempted to ask Sabrina to come to the Anaheim Stadium McDonald's sometime this week, but she seemed to be a bit standoffish to the idea—and as she clutched the knob of her head, Kelly's deep blue eyes looked on with a mother's concern. "Kelly," Sam said, "will you meet up with me at the Anaheim Stadium McDonald's to discuss these matters further? You seem the most anxious to ask me about what I saw."

Kelly smiled and nodded. "How does tomorrow night at 8pm sound?" she asked. Sam gave her a thumbs-up in reply.

"Very well," coach Sigel responded. "I hereby give each of you ladies a copy of this release of information, as well as one for John Bosley, who was kind enough to respond to my call regarding the matter."

Sabrina was gazing at the tome as she and her colleagues collected the papers. She asked: "I know you were going to give that back to Sam, but we will need to have it in case it contains clues about the case."

"As a matter of fact," coach Sigel remarked, "it's covered by the release of information whose copies you received. Sam signed it away to the Townsend Agency for the time being, although I looked at it a bit. I didn't understand what was written."

Kris looked perplexed by this development but assured coach Sigel: "We'll make sure it's taken care of and properly analysed." Then the Angels departed from coach Sigel and Sam and went back to Los Angeles.