To: 
From: "Jay  P Hailey" 
Reply-To: trekcreative{at}yahoogroups.com


Title:Water Dictatorship
Author: Jay P. Hailey (JayPHailey{at}tic1.net) Series: Vista City
Part: 04/11
Rating [PG]

The next morning Angelo walked into the downtown precinct of the LAPD.  His
Vista City badge was once again prominently displayed.  Again, no one gave
it a second look and he had total access to the building.

Angelo took the elevator up to the fourth floor and walked down the hallway
to the far side of the building.  That was where the Investigations
department of the downtown precinct was housed.  Not too much had changed
there since Angelo and Marcus last stepped through the doors on their way
out.  It was Angelo's first visit in two and a half years.

Angelo walked onto the old office work floor and saw Anderson and Franks
hard at work at their desks.

Angelo walked up to them and said  "Good morning."

Anderson looked up and became very serious.  Franks started to grin merrily.

"Well, Detective, what brings you down here?"  Franks smirked.

Angelo put his file of photocopies on her desk.   "I was digging around and
I came up with a couple of things that might interest you."

Anderson said  "I thought I asked you to lay off this thing."

"He's not the type."  Franks said.

"Sorry, I'm not."  Angelo admitted.

"Okay,"  Anderson conceded.  "One thing.  You're a visitor,
here.  This is our case.  You are assisting us, not the other way around. 
Do you read me, Detective?"

"Sure."  Angelo said.  "I don't want to cause any trouble."

Franks snickered.  "Sure you don't."

"What have you got?"  Anderson asked.

 Angelo gave them a run down on his data.

"Well, that's interesting."  Anderson said when he was through. 
"I wonder how it relates to the wife's death?"

"I don't know, yet.  It's just one or two pieces.  We can make more
sense of it after we get more pieces."  Angelo said.

"We don't even know if the wife's death was foul play.  The current
theory is that it was an accident."  Franks said.

"True.  The pieces may line up that way.  We don't know until we have
the pieces in hand."

"Ahem."  Captain Brown said.

Angelo turned to see his old supervisor standing over him with a
characteristically sour look on his face.

"Hello."  Angelo said.  He wanted to say annoying things to his
old boss but found that he was still locked into the role of straight man. 
Marcus was the one who would make the snide comments, and then Angelo would
keep a deadly straight face that sent Brown through the roof.

"Well, if it isn't Ex-Detective Mancuso."  Brown said.  "I
thought I made it plain the last time. You aren't welcome here."

"Actually, I'm still a Detective."  Angelo said.

"Not around here you're not!  What makes you think that giving cows
parking tickets qualifies you to come in here and bother my
Detectives!?"  Brown yelled.  Brown's yelling was legendary in the
downtown precinct.

"I had some information that might be valuable in the Aiken-Marlowe
case." Angelo said.  "I was reporting it to the police.  That's
what citizens do, isn't it?"

"Citizens?!  You think you're a citizen?  You're a goddamn peeping
tom, that's what!  Mr. Marlowe's the citizen around here.  He brings in
money and jobs and good press that this town sorely needs.  I won't have
you chasing people around digging up skeletons out of their closets for no
good goddamn reason.  Is that clear!?" Brown shouted.

"It was just some background data, chief."  Franks said. 
"Detective Mancuso just saved us digging it up today is all."

Brown whirled on Franks  "Oh, is that so?  What, are you taking fuck
up lessons now?  Let me tell ya, Detective Mancuso is the one to talk to
about that!"

"Captain, don't you think you're taking this a little too
seriously?" Anderson asked.  He had a resigned look on his face. 
Evidently Franks and Anderson were Brown's favorite targets now that Angelo
and Marcus were no longer there.

"Seriously?  SERIOUSLY!?  You don't think that maybe World War Three
is serious, Anderson?!"  Brown screeched.

"World War Three?"  Franks asked.  She was grinning at Angelo.

Angelo rolled his eyes.

"This man and his maniac slacker of a partner invaded the Russian
Consulate and shot the hell out of it!  They killed five Russian citizens
and injured fifteen others including the Russian Consul!  We're lucky they
didn't nuke Los Angeles!"  Brown yelled.

"We thought they had Anya Donovitch in there."  Angelo explained.
 "We thought her life was in danger."  It was an old story, and
Brown never listened, anyway.

"Hot pursuit doesn't count for RUSSIA!!" Brown thundered.
"They could have held her up to the damned window and strangled her in
front of your eyes and you still weren't allowed in!  I told you so
repeatedly before you ever went in there!"

"Well, you don't see the Russian Mafia smuggling drugs into L.A. too
much anymore."  Angelo said.  Some times it seemed as if Brown forgot
who were the bad guys and who were the good guys.

"No, but now the Russian Military has a goddamn ICBM targeted on my
ass!" Brown yelled.

"What happened to this Anya person?"  Franks asked.

"We don't know.  She wasn't there.  With her gone, our whole case fell
apart.  That's why Brown was able to get rid of us."  Angelo said. 
"The other times we were able to bring in enough evidence to convince
everyone. That time, the witness skipped out and left us holding the
bag."

"This time you had to face the consequences of your actions, you mean!
Where's Marcus, Angelo.  I never did see one of you without the other one.
Sometimes I wonder about you two."  Brown asked.

"He's out finding himself."  Angelo said.  Marcus had shacked up
with a pretty young girl and was now following her on her quest to find a
UFO in the desert.  Angelo didn't see any reason to mention this.

"So you come around here to corrupt more of my detectives with your
idiotic ways!?  No!  Absolutely not!  Get out!"  Brown pointed
dramatically at the door.

"You think he's going to corrupt us, Chief?"  Franks laughed.

"You think you're so Goddamn smart, Franks, well you're off the case,
both of you!"  Brown thundered.

Anderson threw down his pen in frustration.   Getting taken off a case was
black mark on his record that would not fade, even after Brown had his
inevitable heart attack.

"You think that this fuck up is funny, now you know the punch line!  I
have the last laugh!  This is MY department!  Fuck with me and Angelo will
have to find you a job on the cattle rustling detail up in cow town, 'cause
you won't be working in L.A. anymore!"  Brown turned to Angelo.
"Get out of here cowboy, or I'll give you a reason to walk
funny!"  With that he scooped up Angelo's file and stomped back into
his office.

-*-

After eating lunch and taking time to calm down, Angelo went down the
street to the skyrise that housed the headquarters of the LABN.

"May I help you Sir?"  The receptionist asked.

Angelo showed her his ID.  "I'm doing a background investigation about
the network.  Who can I speak to?"

The receptionist looked thoughtful in a pretty, decorative way.

A young oriental man came up to her desk.  "Gena, I'm dying, here.  At
least say you'll do lunch with me."  He dropped to the floor. 
"I'm begging, now. Please."

The receptionist's eyes rolled.  "No."  She said.

"But I'll be worth billions!  Aren't I worth a few minutes of your
time?" The young man pleaded.

"Mr. Chee, this is Detective Angelo Mancuso from Vista City."  Gena said.

Chee looked up from the floor.  "Hi."

"Hi."  Angelo said it as if he spoke to prostrate men all the
time.  Chee looked all of fifteen years old.

"He wanted some background information on the network."  Gena
said.  "Would you speak to him, please?"

"Only if you say you'll have lunch with me."  Chee challenged.

"Okay,"  Angelo said.  "You talked me into it."

"Not you, her."  Chee pointed at Gena's feet.

"I'm buying."  Angelo said.

"Oh.  Okay.  Are you coming, Gena?"  Chee scrambled to his feet.

"Sorry Shane.  I'm on duty.  You go tell the nice man what he wants to
know."  Gena said.

"All right.  I'll talk to you later, Gena."  Chee said.  Angelo
could almost see the pink hearts of adolescent lust dancing around Chee's
head


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