Right at this moment Jess walked in.
"I didn't miss anything did I?" she asked and I shook my head.
"No, I was just doing a bit of trading. I haven't gone up to see Manny yet." I explained honestly.
"That's good. Would have been awkward to have him say whatever he was going to say twice." she said relieved.
"Well how about you then? Interested in some souvenirs?" Cliff asked her hopeful.
"What kind of souvenirs?" she actually asked looking curious.
"Well we've got the Dinky the dinosaur T-rex mini's, those are our bread and butter. Then there's the Repcon rockets, glow in the dark. Just don't drink the stuff in them." he said with a salesman's smile.
"I'm good." she said shaking her head.
Cliff just sighed but accepted the answer for what it was. We both headed up the short set of stairs and opened up the the door at the top. It led out onto a sort of small balcony inside the t-rex's mouth overlooking quite the distance. On the balcony stood a roughly mid twenties looking Hispanic man with a red Barret and a sniper rifle strapped over his back.
He turned around to see who had walked up here but clearly wasn't expecting us.
"What's going on man, er, and girl?" he asked with a laid back but puzzled expression.
"Looking for a few bad seeds that passed through here a few days ago. Bloke with a checkered suit and some Khan's. Was told if anyone saw them it was you." I said calmly.
"Those cats? Yeah I might have seen them, might even have heard where they were headed. Question is, what's that information worth to you?" he said with a calculating gleam to his eyes.
"A little light on caps at the moment. Any other way we can work this out?" I asked knowing he wasn't actually after caps.
"Glad you asked. See we've been getting feral ghouls wandering in recently. I'm pretty sure they are coming from the old Repcon site up the road. Trouble is Boone and I can't leave without the town being defenseless." he said leadingly.
"And that's where we come in right?" Jess said with a resigned sigh.
"Yep, don't care how you do it. So long as those ghouls are cleared out of the area I'm happy. And then I'll tell you whatever you want to know." he said calm but firmly.
Jess looked at me and I just shrugged.
"Fine. We'll head out tomorrow to clear out those ghouls." she said before turning to leave.
"You mentioned a Boone? Who's that?" I asked causing her to pause in her tracks.
"He's the other sniper. I take day shift up here and he's night. We used to be pretty tight. Then his wife up and went missing, haven't spoken since." He said sounding a little upset about it.
"If his wife went missing what does that have to do with you?" Jess asked confused.
"It's no secret that we didn't get along. Argued over most things really. Had a pretty big one right before she disappeared. Boone might blame me for it. It's not my fault though so I'm sure he'll come around eventually." Manny said confidently.
"Disappearance? And that doesn't strike you as unusual at all?" I asked and he shrugged.
"This is the wasteland man, people go missing for all manner of reasons all the time. As far as anyone knows she could have just chosen to leave without saying anything." he said bluntly.
"Makes sense." I said with a nod before leaving.
"Why'd you bring up Boone anyways?" Jess asked as we walked down the stairs.
"Call it a hunch. Something tells me that disappearance is suspicious. I bet Boone knows something and that's why he's not talking with Manny. I'll check it out tonight while you rest just in case it's nothing. If it is something I'll let you know." I said grinning.
"You just want to play detective don't you?" She asked deadpan.
"Maybe a little?" I said sheepishly.
"Ugh, whatever. Just let me know if you actually find anything worthwhile." she said rolling her eyes.
Getting into one of the sealed rooms wasn't all that hard. I just waltzed up and plucked the boards out with my armors handy super strength before picking the lock. The room itself was dusty and smelled a little funky because of the very dead and very much bones now person who blew their dome off in the recliner.
"Why did it have to be a room with a corpse?" Jess asked no one in particular.
"To be fair there was no way of knowing until the room was opened." Adam pointed out.
"I know, doesn't mean I can't complain about it." she retorted.
I didn't bother with propriety and just patted down the skeleton before tossing it into the bathroom to be forgotten. From this search I earned the key to this room, a few nine millimeter rounds and a matching pistol for said rounds. Beside that little dark spot though the rest of the room was basically clean and good to go. Though unfortunately it was pretty clear that the skeleton was only passing through Novac originally as the suitcase was light and the room barren of all but the hotel provided essentials.-
Jess and I got to work shaking off the dust on the bed and pillows before I rolled my bike into the room to keep anyone from getting any funny ideas about it. I ended up napping for most of the remaining daylight hours while Jess played cards with herself. When the darkness came I quietly slipped out of the room and headed for the t-rex. The shop inside was empty and in the mouth a new person was standing with a body that just screamed tension.-
"And you must be Boone." I said grinning to myself.
He whipped around in a hurry as he was clearly distracted and hadn't heard me arrive. Like Manny he too had on a red Barret but also sunglasses and a tank top with cargo pants and boots.
"Jesus, do you have a death wish!?" he exclaimed in surprise.
"Not particularly, though you wouldn't be able to kill me while I was in this armor anyways." I said casually.
"What do you want?" He asked with a deep frown.
"To help mostly. Heard your wife dissappeared and thought I'd offer to look into it." I said calmly.
"Not dissappeared, taken. But I don't see how that's any business of your anyways. No, wait. Maybe you are exactly what I need. You are new here, no one knows you, knows to guard against you. Just a face moving through. Fine. Here's all you need to know. Someone in Novac sold my wife to the legion, I don't know who but I want them dead. Take my Barret and bring whoever did it out in front of the dinosaur while wearing it on the nights i'm on shift. I'll take care of the rest." he said as he pulled off the red headpiece and handed it over.
"Shouldn't take me long since I have a feeling I know who did it. Need to go collect some evidence first." I said casually before leaving the mouth and then the t-rex itself.
(A/N: I do have a Pat if you would care to read ahead and potentially get a vote on future stories if you choose T2.
pat reon.com/pat reon_loskro
Just remove the spaces.)