Cass might have made a rash decision. This doctor fellow seemed alright enough, especially when word of his encounter with that Caesar jackal fuck got around. Not many wanderers got their own vehicle, either.
He seemed to be the safest way north, so she thought, why not travel with him? He could drive, and she could drink with no problem. Win-win.
Well, now he has gotten her and this shit-talking robot involved in a murder investigation not even five minutes into their stay at Novac.
Now Cass ain't a heartless bitch. This Boone fellow had been done dirty by life and seemed to be in need of a good day or two. Cass just didn't think they would be the ones to give it.
Hell, she hasn't had a good day herself in a long time. Cass hadn't really known her father all that much. He left her and her mother sometime when she was young, leaving Cass with nothing but her name and a damned heart disease. Her mom died soon after when she was a teenager.
Took some time, but she eventually made a name for herself and got into water trading: Cassidy Caravans, a company with her name. The thing meant everything to her, and now she was all that remained of it. Her crew had been wiped out by raiders north of Vegas.
She didn't tell the doctor this, but the reason she wants to go there is to find something that points to who did it. Some kind of clue or something. She needed this ‘cause it was all she had left.
If the doctor hadn’t cleared out the quarry, then Jackson would have never been forced to let the caravans leave. Even as a caravan of one, it was her own damned name keeping her at the outpost.
Funny really. Being shackled by your name like that.
Anywho, the weird doctor is responsible for getting her out of there, so might as well make him take her the whole way north. That was what she thought, at least. Fate has a funny way of fucking with people. Maybe if they could help this sniper, she could get help herself.
Here's hoping.
__________
Moooooo
Moooooo
It wasn’t a rooster, but the twin harmonized vocals of a Brahmin would do for a wake-up call this morning. With the sun up and people starting to rise, Franklin got ready for the day. For this investigation, he was giving himself a little bit of a handicap. He was only going to use the methods an average human could use.
That meant no using his forensic programs to analyze bullet trajectory or analyzing dust particles and tracing them back to some random cave in the mountains. Just some good old-fashioned sleuthing.
Novac has a population of around 100, spread across a couple dozen families and other residents. Farmers and ranchers provided food, scavengers used their technical skills to repair water pumps, and the rest worked service jobs. Not entirely self-sufficient, but the town was getting there.
“Alright, two investigations. A murder and a kidnapping/trafficking suspect. Let's start by interviewing the townsfolk, Wait! I can’t forget about my package thieves. They might have stopped by here so I should ask about that,” Franklin said out loud to himself.
Encouraging beeps.
“Oh shit! Didn’t see you there, Ed-E. Come on then my boy, mystery awaits.”
Franklin decided to pursue the case of the kidnapped wife first. Its trail might be colder than the homicide’s but it probably had more witnesses. The first person to check in with is the town's other sniper, Manny Vargas. He should be at his post in Dinky’s mouth.
Well, it would have been first but Cliff, the general store owner, was in the dinosaur at his desk.
“Ah good to see you again. Interested in getting any more of our fine figurines for your friends? I only got a few left,” Cliff was lying. He had dozens of the things in his back room.
“No sir, I am alright with what I have but seeing as how you see Boone every day I got a question. You know anything about what happened to his wife? I heard she disappeared recently.”
“Oh Carla? A couple of weeks ago she disappeared. No one has seen or heard from her since and if Boone has, he hasn’t told us anything. Why do you want to know?”
“Curious mostly. It's one of a few things weird about this town so I wanted to know. What was she like?” Franklin asked.
“I don’t really know much other than what other people have told me. We only spoke once when she came into the store. Left pretty quickly too. Her face looked like she was smelling something sour. The store didn’t smell too weird. Well weirder than normal at least,” Cliff said.
That could be because of all the old dusty rockets filled with radioactive jet fuel Franklin guessed. He would need to come get those soon.
“Thank you, Cliff. I am gonna go see Manny now,” Franklin said.
You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.
Polite Beeps.
“Have a good day, and to you too ball robot thing,” Cliff said and waved them goodbye.
Vargas was relaxing in a chair, eyes half closed when Franklin opened the door to the mouth. He was a light brown-skinned man with a thin mustache across his upper lip. His relaxed face changed into one of slight annoyance at someone coming to bother him.
“What’s going on man?” Vargas asked.
“Not much. Are you Manny?”
“Yup. What can I help you with?”
“Hopefully several things. You and Boone are the town's guards, right? On the west side of town, something killed a Brahmin with a big gun last night,” Franklin said.
“Yeah, we know about that. Not the first time too. Boone and I have watched that area but have been unable to spot who is doing it. We also have seen a bunch of feral ghouls coming from the direction of the old REPCON sight as well. Why do you want to know?”
“I am trying my hand out as a detective right now and Novac has a few mysteries. Next question, do you have any idea what happened to Boone’s wife who has gone missing?”
Franklin grew up with a list of over twenty or so jobs that he wanted to be. Teacher, detective, astronaut, explorer, sailor, and a bunch more. Scientist was just one of the ones he did first. He has had a few others over his life but science was what he considered to be his main focus. Helping people whether they were organic, mechanical, or made of data was his life's passion after all.
“I got no idea where his wife went. Good riddance I say. All she did was complain day in and out about the smell, or how remote we were out here. Me and Boone grew up together and this bitch was trying to take him away,” Vargas said hatefully.
“You do realize that sounds like motive right?” Franklin didn’t think he did it yet but Vargas wasn’t in the clear yet.
“Motive? Look when I heard she was gone I was happy, yes but I doubt she is dead. What probably happened is she left Boone and went back to Vegas. I hoped Boone would get over it but he hasn’t and now we haven’t really spoken in a few weeks. But shit, these things happen all the time. He will get over it.”
Franklin was tempted to use his nanites to confirm his heart rate and see if he was lying but that would break his handicap. For now, he was gonna have to work on instinct and his told him that Vargas might just be an insensitive jackass, but probably not a slaver.
“Alright, last thing then. Have you seen a man in a checkered suit?”
“Yeah, I have seen him. What do you want with him?” Vargas asked.
“He stole something from a courier. I have been hired to get it back,” Franklin said.
“Oh yeah? I can probably help you with that one but I need something done too,” Vargas said like he didn’t just give away other information for free.
Franklin was gonna reserve judgment till after he heard his request. “Alright, what do you want?”
“This town is nice, isn’t it? I have decided to call it home. The thing is, we don’t produce much here. Sure we got food and water but a lot of what we earn comes from the junk we sell. One of those places is the REPCONN facility to the east. We can’t go there now though because a bunch of ghouls moved in and prevent anyone from getting inside. So I need them gone or at least for the town to be able to scavenge again. Figure this out and I will tell you what I know.”
Vargas was asking a lot for information Franklin could probably figure out on his own. He could probably head north and find out where they went quicker than whatever needs to be done at REPCON. Vargas had gotten lucky though. Franklin really wanted to see what was inside the rocket testing sight.
“Deal. Thanks for the information, Manny. Hope things work out for you and Boone,” Franklin then left the man to his watch and exited the dinosaur.
Outside Cass was waiting for him. She looked annoyed and had a glass of whiskey in her hand.
“Drinking already, Cass?” Franklin asked.
“After the morning I just had you would be too,” she responded and took a swig of her bottle.
Concerned beeps.
Franklin looked at ED-E and then back to Cass. He didn’t respond because he wanted her to try and figure out what he said.
“What? Oh yeah, um. He said something about curiosity. No? Whatever it's fine. I spoke with the people who live in the motel. They all told me about how much of a bitch this Carla was and how they were happy she left Boone. No one knew she had been kidnapped so I guess this Boone guy didn’t tell anyone. Which I think that was a dumb idea. Just cause one of these people might have helped the Legion doesn’t mean they all did. He would have had better luck finding out who did it if he told people,” Cass complained.
She might have been right but that was Boone’s decision to make. They would have to find out who did it themselves.
“Perhaps, but it might have also made whoever did it hide any evidence they left behind. Now let us go talk to the people in town then,” Franklin said.
Novac had the same problem the rest of the world did, everything was covered in dust making the whole world seem a little brown. Franklin would often look at the sky for a bit as a palette cleanser.
“You see them to don’tcha? Them commie ghosts been testin' their rockets. Want to paint the moon pink!” An old man in rags said. His left eye was clouded white and he had a beard filled with bits of food and trash. The rags he wore were torn and stained by unknown fluids. His remaining good eye was moving quickly around, trying to make it seem like has wasn’t looking up.
“Not sure I know what you mean old timer. Who is up there?” Franklin asked. Cass and ED-E were right behind him looking just as confused.
“Doc, let's not bother this guy. He seems to have taken a few too many blows to the head,” Cass said.
Agreeing beeps.
“Ehh those quack doctors don’t know what they talkin ‘bout. My head is radscorpion proof. Those stings can’t pierce my skull. It's dense because of all the secrets I keep up here,” the crazy(?) man said.
Franklin knew that insanity was often a result of medical issues or a lack of access to proper medical services if you considered this world. Perhaps this old man knew more than one would think if you just took the time and listened.
“Secrets you say. What kind?” Franklin asked.
“Dangit No-Bark you done exposed yourself. Need to defend yourself now,” the man said to himself and then raised his fists into a boxer's stance.
“Easy old timer, I don’t mean you any harm. I am a bit of a wanderer and problem solver. This town has its fair share of unknowns. Maybe you can help me figure them out,” Franklin said. No-Bark lowered his arms.
“You’re not serious doc,” Cass said rolling her eyes.”This man is crazy.”
“Ha. This girlie don’t know how I got my name. It's No-Bark, cause folks around here know I got bite.”
Sarcastic beep.
“Hello, then No-Bark. I have a few questions for you. Do you know anything about Boone’s wife and why she disappeared? Also, do you know anything about the Brahmin that have been murdered by the farm on the west side of town?”
“Brahmin murder?” Cass asked.
Confused beeps.
“Why you asking ‘bout these two things? You think the molerat men and the Chupacabra are working together?” No-Bark said.
“No, not yet. What have the molerat men and the chupacabra been doing in town?” Franklin asked.
“The fuck are they both talking about?” Cass asked ED-E
Confounded beeps.
“The molerat men have risen from their tunnels to steal our women with promises of gold and designer clothes. They were sneakin around the motel and went into his room. Saw one go into the lobby too. Probably to take a crap in the john. Then there's the Chupacabra. It's invisible and has two heads. Folks told me I was crazy ‘bout it cause those holes it leaves behind have bullets in them. Fools didn’t know the thing was using an automatic weapon course. Big thing too. Has a big old backpack attached to it. Snuck up on it talking to another Chupacabra but that one was more invisible than the other cause I didn’t see nor hear that one.”
People probably ignore No-Bark because of his slight insanity but Franklin was quietly glad for it. The man saw more than most realized. The molerat men might be the Legion slavers investigating Boone and his wife. He said they went into the lobby huh? Franklin would need Cass to help him search for that later.
As for the cow murderer. The weapon described by No-Bark sounded like a minigun, as he suspected. The invisibility would explain why no one had seen them too. The theory of a second one was also confusing. What reason could they have to murder someone's cattle, and why with a minigun? Also, why did someone sell out Boone’s wife? Because she was bitchy? The investigations continue.