One more time. You sent the infant with the victim, and when they failed to show up at time; you phoned him
Yes
The victim failed to answer, and eventually someone did. You recognized the voice at the other end as your mother. That you haven't seen since you were a teenager.
No, a young adult. I wanted to tell her that I'd finished university, and I kind of wanted to see her.
Right. And you had contact with her this whole time. Sent her letters but no phones or meetings?
No. I mean, yes. I phoned her right after Catherine....
The infant?
Yes... yes.... I phoned her and told her that she'd become a grandmother
How did she react?
She didn't seem very interested, even if she'd told me when we met that she wanted to become a grandmother.
She told you she wanted to become a grandmother?
Yes.
And you just jumped up and did as she told you right away.
Well, yes. I mean, not right away. It just seemed like....
...You researched the possibility of spermdonors as means of getting pregnant before it happened naturally.
Yes.
So you tried giving her a baby because she told you to
Well yes, but no. It just seemed like a good idea.
The suspect mentioned it, and a woman as young as you just decided right there that it was a good idea?
No, that's not how it happened.
But she mentioned it, and you just decided t
...yes...
This was the place. This was one of the few places possible lowly sims like herself could access. Aino wasn't sure what she expected to find; but a clean and tidy place had been far from the expectations. A thin layer of dust covered the surfaces, and no gore or iffy scents that could reveal what had happened here. Someone had done an excellent job cleaning this place.
A woman wearing a thick layer of makeup was with her; the ravenblack hair was far from a natural colour. Why Patricia Miller had let her into the appartment was beyond Ainos comprehension, but she claimed to be a resident.
So this is the place. Aino stated the obvious, since she'd asked to see the specific one. Usually she'd never call for someone she didn't know and ask to be let in like this.
She nodded somberly: Yes, this is the place the entire Hemlock family was found dead.
Did you know them well? She kind of wanted to ask about the cleaning without seeming nosy. For some reason Aino was expecting some large, elaborate plan to hide evidence, so she eased her way into it.
Not very, I live on another floor.
Oh, I thought you were a close friend since you had the key. So no extended family then, or they would've had the key. Atleast that's how she assumed it worked.
I'm on the board. Ainos heart sank a bit lower before the woman made it even worse: We had an extra meeting after their unfortunate deaths for practical reasons, and I was the one given access.
This is where they found the mother, Patricia said; still using that somber tone. Either it was her usual speechpattern, or she was beeing respectful. Aino noticed how much softer she spoke than usual. She'd thought that Cats recent disappearance would keep her constantly agitated and stressed out, but as soon as she'd set foot in Bridgeport she'd calmed down. At times it felt like she really was watching a movie.
It's very empty
The investigators took some of it, but the rest was taken care of by the cleaningcrew.
Did Patricia just admit to hiring someone to clean away all the evidence? This could well be the break she was waiting for: Cleaningcrew?
Yes. Patricia looked at her: Someone has to clean up all the blood and remove the furniture. There were three stonealtars in here, so they had to crush them to rubble to get them out.
So the "cleaningcrew" was a legit one then. Most sims knew what it meant when someone had stonealtars in their home, but Aino was rarely fully aware of her surroundings. Even less now than she'd ever been before: Altars?
Yes, altars. The Hemlocks were vampires. Some sims around town claimed they were trying to restore the old world order to Bridgeport.
Clearly this woman was quite the original, so she humoured her. And every little bit of information could help: The old world order? Aino didn't believe anyone who tried making vampires seem evil, but the investigation had shown that the Hemlock mother, Morrigan, definitely had something to do with this. What if...
In the old days, immortal vampires allegedly ruled over this city, and preyed on the mortals; keeping sims locked in their homes at night. There's a story about how they were cursed into mortality.
A demonlord bound to a puppet, murdered the love of an emperor of evil. Or so the story goes. The emperor cursed all the supernaturals; stealing their life away as the demonlord had done to his beloved.
Was it possible? Could there be any truth to the story? Had mum gotten herself involved in something that out of this world. She had told those stories about starving dead sims, could this have something to do with this?
Patricia closed down her thoughtprosess: Nonsense ofcourse. Curses aren't real and neither are demonlords or living puppets. She showed a bit of emotion for the first time: How are they supposed to be able to terrorize an entire city, when that... monster did this all on her own.
That monster. She meant mum.
She'd nearly fallen into her mothers web of lies again; as soon as someone mentioned some horrorstory, she always had that moment where she tried believing Skuld. That was how mum had been able to get the Hemlocks help. Lifting a curse sounded like something a desperate clan of vampires would be willing to try. And if anyone could remove a curse, it would be mum. She'd played them like the grandmaster of schemes she was.
But she'd wanted Catherine to; a child like it was taken straight our of some bad horrorstory. No doubt she'd made up some elaborate story about why it had to be her and not just any child.
They found the daughter and the dad in the bedroom. I'm sorry. Patricia grabbed her stomach. I'm not feeling well. I... I'm just supposed to show sims around to make it seem like this place is still considered high demand. It's an expensive place, and the building loose quite a bit of income from it staying empty. But I can't keep doing this, I'm sorry.
Aino had just been let in to make it seem like someone would buy it; it was just an attempt to make it seem like a desirable place to lure out potential buyers. To make them think it could be sold any second; despite what had happened there. She almost felt a bit sorry for Patricia.
Let's go through this one more time.
Why aren't you looking for her? I've been her for hours.
We are miss, but right now we need to focus on you; so you claim your mother phoned you.
Yes.
And she claimed that she'd followed you that day.
Yes.
So your mother was watching you, but you didn't notice her?
No.
You didn't see your own mother? In a small room? With large windows?
...No...
You expect us to believe that? You have to admit that it seems unlikely.
...Uhm... yes?
What about the girls father? Did he help you?
That's not.... no.
Leaving the skyscraper, Aino checked up Patricia. As far as she could tell, the woman had been telling the truth. All information from the board were on public record; including finances and future plans. She'd had to pay a bit for access to the information but it had been worth it. Patricia wasn't even remotely suspect.
Nothing had shown up, just as expected. But, she had to atleast try to doing something.
The food she'd ordered was cold; she wasn't even hungry but hadn't wanted to sit here without ordering something.
It had been a pointless trip, but no one else was doing anything. They just kept talking to her and weren't even looking for her baby. After just a few days of search, they'd started thinning the ranks. Deep down she was certain they weren't looking anymore. But it couldn't be possible. But what if it was?
One more time. You went over to the victims house to find the police already on the scene.
Yes.
And that's when you told them about the infant.
Yes.
According to the log, you didn't tell the operator about the infant.
He was busy trying to get the operator to believe him.
The babys father "forgot" his daughter?
She's not his.
What?
He's not the father.
So you have a newborn with another man? And this man knows that?
No.
So he helped you do this.
That's not... no.
She'd just left to look around, even if they had told her not to leave town. Aino was far from as dumb as the investigators, she knew searching in Jericho was pointless. Catherine and mum weren't there. By the looks of things though, they weren't here either. What was she going to do now? What was the next step?
Mum was to smart to hide somewhere obvious. Or maybe she was so smart that she hid somewhere obvious, because she assumed noone would look in those places.
It took a long while before noticing the woman that sat at the table. Her and the man was law enforcement; picking them out of a crowd was easy. Maybe they all took fashionadvice from the same sim. She'd seen more than enough of them in a lifetime anyway.
The woman had one of those faces that looked like she walked around feeling deep compassion for everyone in need. Had to be hard beeing taken serious at that. Usually Aino would've been nervous, but the entire trip was strange. She could barely take in anything; the sounds or even the cold. Even talking to Patricia seemed like it had never happened.
Are you Aino Mallory?
Yes.
From Jericho?
Yes. She remembered to answer clearly, and not nodding. Because they tended to get a bit irritated at that for some reason. The other golden rule was; keep saying no. Just the word:no. Don't explain, don't elaborate; No.
I'm going to have to ask you to come down to the station with us.
Walk us through this one more time. The man you were with, was not the father.
No.
Where is the father?
At his place I guess?
Do you think this is funny.
No... no I don't think this is funny.
Who's the father?
... I... I don't know.
You don't know who the father is?
No.
You don't know who fathered your daughter? Are you sure it wasn't the man you were with that day?
Yes.
How can you be sure, if you don't know who the father is?
She doesn't look like him.
Then who does she look like?
Not him.
You got quite the attitude on you. Who's the father?
I don't know.
You do know. Who's the father?
I don't know.
So the father is involved and you are trying to protect him.
No.
It wasn't an interrogationroom atleast. Aino didn't think she could've handled that again.
I assume you know why you're here
Because she'd left town when the police had told her not to: No
She looked at the computer, clicking it a few times before looking back at her: According to my information, your father and stepmother were victims of a crime, and your infant is missing. I assume that's why you're here in Bridgeport?
Guess she wasn't as secretive as she thought. Instead of answering Aino stared at the plasticplant in the corner. It had codwebs on it.
Officer Perez continued: You're not under arrest, so you're free to leave anytime obviously.
Yeah, sure. Leaving after "free to leave" was code for "difficult to work with and probably has something to hide".
Perez tapped on the computer again: As far as I can see, we haven't found anything significant to the perpetrators whereabouts. But we are pretty sure we've found everyone that was involved. The few that were still alive, but there was no need to tell this girl that.
Was that supposed to mean something to her? They should've found out before anything happened.
I've been informed there's a lawsuit filed against you.
What? A lawsuit? She was barely even aware of what that was, other than someone wanting simoleons from you. Like what had happened after mum was arrested. But she hadn't been involved in that prosess at all: For what? Leaving town?
A few more clicks from the keyboard, and Perez answered still looking at the screen: No. From the missing infants father. It seems to be about witholding parental and visitationrights. Neglect of a child, and compensation for everything that has happened to his mental health as a result.
How is that possible? Aino bursted out without thinking. Then she remembered to stay calm, it was best to stay calm: I mean, I don't know who the father is.
The clicking started again, and a bit after Perez answered again: From what I can see, the fathers name isn't on the birth certificate. But there's still a lawsuit, so we are looking from you; since no one has been able to deliver the papers to you.
Don't they have to actually give me the papers face to face, for it to count?
It doesn't work that way.
After closing the laptop, Perez elaborated a bit: Listen. We don't actually go around actively hunting down sims that has lawsuits going on. It's not my job. But an old classmate from university asked if we could keep an eye out for you, and I'm always happy to help.
She had to mean Lucrecia, it wasn't anyone else it could be. How did she know anyone was suing her? On the other hand, she had to be down at the courthouse a lot. And courthouses were full of lawyers. If someone sued her, her own lawyer would be contacted. Maybe she shouldn't have kept her phone off after all.
I'm sure you understand, that your daughter most likely is dead.
There it was again; what she tried avoiding to think about. But the investigator was wrong, because she couldn't be dead. That would be unfair, and she'd been unfairly treated in life. So by the rules of destiny, no more bad things could happen. Thus, Catherine was alive.
Clearly this guy isn't doing this because he cares or because he want's simoleons. He wants to make you go bankrupt. I've seen sims commit suicide for less than this, and he's obviously a prick. What other type would've pulled this stunt in this situation?
Perez leaned a bit forward, trying to put a bit more weight behind her words: The best chance you have is that it either gets dismissed, or that he'll withdraw it. But for that to happen, you have to have something on him. Between you and me, it doesn't have to be entirely legal. Not that I condone anything illegal ofcourse. She'd just seen more than enough sims walking a very fine line: I'm just mentioning that sometimes, something questionable might be worth mentioning.
The problem was that she didn't have anything on him. She couldn't prove anything. Other than him beeing a big bully, and she hated him and hoped he died.
She heard the clacking sound of typing again: Look at that face. You can clearly see he's a prick. How does a sweet girl like you end up with a creep like that? Ofcourse she knew why. It seemed to happen quite a lot: So how did you two meet? You and this.... man? Perez had decided she had to try to be a bit more professional again.
Mum killed his dad.
Excuse me?
Aino repeated herself a bit louder: Mum killed his dad. The woman who....
Yes, I'm aware of that. Perez interrupted. The entire town knew the long history of the fugitive: You can't have been more than a toddler or child back then.
We were toddlers. But he was still mad about it. And mum was in jail.
So he took it out on you instead.
Aino nodded again, trying to keep her head clear.
But how did you end up pregnant by him?
Not this again, she didn't want to think about it. It was a chapter from her life long gone by now: He's big. And strong.
I bet, Perez nodded: He's a footballplayer, from what I understand.
And he's very angry. Doesn't respond very well if you fight back.
So he raped you?
Yes.
Do you want to press charges?
No.
Very well. I think I might have found something, that could help you with the lawsuit then.
Like what? No one cared anyway. Would think an officer knew that. He'll just shake off any accusations anyway, they always did: I doubt anything is going to help.
Perez ignored her negativity: Looking at the investigation of your daughter here, you were with a man the night your daughter was abducted. A Daniel Wong.
Yes.
Is he a friend of yours?
Aino nodded.
And the other guy is a footballplayer in the same city?
Yes.
Are you a footballfan?
No.
Because from what I see, the captain of the Jericho footballteam is Angela Wong; and she's listed herself as your friends sister on social media.
So? Footballclubs let murderers and pedos play, but Aino figured it was best not mentioning it. Perez seemed like quite a fan.
Her scores are really good... unlike this guys. I mean, his aren't bad, but far from as good as hers. You'd be surprised what a team will do to keep it's stars. Maybe, and this is just a suggestion; maybe you could mention that he either pulls the lawsuit or you'll tell. He'll know that his team will throw him out, rather than risk their captain leaving.
I don't think that'll work.
Maybe not. Perez said. But there's a lot of simoleons at stake. And to put it a simple way; she's worth more to their team than him. Football is all about business and making simoleons.
Maybe it would work? Not that she had any thought Daniels sister actually cared either, but no one said she had to be told. From what she got the entire idea was to make Kol think it was a risk for him.
We see this all the time. Women protecting the men in their lives, over their children.
No, I'm not protecting anyone.
It's always a terrible thing to experience.
I agree, just terrible.
You're more invested in protecting him, than her.
No.
Hello. Yes, I understand. A longer break followed, as she tried not stepping on any cats. They had flocked around her as soon as she came home, and barely left her side. It got a bit crowded in bed that way: Yes, I was expecting that. The investigation still wasn't over, but they had stopped searching for her daughter. Just like that. There were no clues, but she was presumed dead.
Her lawyer was at the other end of the phone, and had news for her.
Are you sure? Gilbert started rolling around on her foot, removing any other scent a cat might have left on her. He had to make sure to keep his property in check: Okay. Well, atleast that's good. Thank you. Yes I'll call you if anything else happens.
Aino had already filed the lawsuit, with the rest of her important papers.
Kol had withdrawn the lawsuit without giving any real explanation as to why. But she knew why. Her lawyer had just told on the phone that Perez idea must've worked. The important thing was that he was out of her life. The bad news was ofcourse that the police stopped looking for her daughter, and she couldn't afford hiring a PI. This was it.
Atleast she was no longer a suspect in the case, and neither was Daniel. Or even Kol. They'd figured out that mum had operated on her own.
She was gone, and there was nothing she could do than following her lawyers advice; try to move on. For now, Aino just felt sick to her stomach.
---------------------------------------------
poses: IMHO, AG, Sunny,
I love them missing sims :)
So incase anyone missed it, nothing exciting happened in Bridgeport. Nothing is suspicious, or extraordinary. They just can't find Skuld, which was kind of the point. And Aino won't go away on some reckless adventure. She's going to move on with her life. But yes, she was a suspect for a while, but not anymore. Because that's just how things are in simnation.
And if anyone thinks the darkhaired interrogator looks familiar, he's Odins halfbrother and looks almost identical to him.
Thanks for reading
And sorry for the long absence. I don't really have an excuse other than school
