The Wild and Wacky Water Caper

Episode 8: Wacky Water?

"Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!"

Does? Does she have, like, a brain issue or something? I mean, I'm not trying to insult the poor girl or anything, but... You know? I mean, come on. Who just... who just constantly runs around in public yelling "Waaaaaa" all the time?

"Hey Cynthia?"

"Yesh?"

"Do we know who Wanda's parents are at all?"

"Nope."

Dangit. That's another issue I need to solve. This case is getting complicated, and adding Wanda into the mix would make it even more complicated if her running around was somehow related to this case. As far as I can tell, it isn't though, but it is weird all the stuff going on now all of a sudden.

I kid myself. Weird stuff's always going on. As someone who has to figure out and deal with weird stuff, weird stuff is always going on. It's pretty much a constant.

Anyway, on to the thing that we're actually doing right now. Cynthia and I have just arrived at the phar-market, and now we're going inside with this whole warrant in the hopes that we'll be able to figure out what medicine Mr. Swollenspepper was taking at the time of his death.

"Two of you now? I'll go get the boss." Clearance ran off to the back, and one Mr. Gerald Kimsblucker came back out.

"Is there any way that I can help you two fellas?" Gerald seems to be a decent man.

"I've got a warrant to see what medications Harvey Swollenspepper has taken. May we please talk in your office?"

"Sure thing. Say, I never quite properly made y'all's acquaintance. I'm Gerald Kimsblucker, and you are?"

"Oh! Sorry! Yes! This is my coworker Cynthia Walerston. We've been working together at the department for quite a while now. Officially she's on another case, but it's going nowhere so she's been helping me with this one to give herself a break."

"Oh okay," Gerald had a confused look on his face for a second. "Well, nice to meet you Cynthia Walerston."

"The pleasure's probably mine." We've still got a little work to do on Cynthia's pleasantries.

We headed into Mr. Kimsblucker's office and he closed the door.

"Alright, now what can I do ya for?"

"As you may recall from our previous conversation, a Mr. Harvey Swollenspepper unfortunately deceased after taking some medication. We looked into what prescriptions he had, but all we found was band-aids, which was weird. Anyway, we need to look into what all medications he may have purchased to give us a clue as to what he may have been taking the moment he died. Is there any way we can pull that up?"

"Well, he usually uses cash, so that would normally throw a bit of a challenge, but fortunately, he has a Tri-Care Corner-Card and he uses that all the time for the points, which would help immensely but..." Gerald stalled for a moment, but he was smiling. I waited another moment to see what he was about to follow that up with, but he just sat there and smiled.

"And?" I pressed on, but he just smiled.

"But... WHAT?" Cynthia couldn't take it anymore.

"That's the question I was waiting for." Gerald smiled some more, but finally continued. "But... none of that is really necessary because I can tell you right now what medicine was taking."

"WELL THEN SPILL IT!!!!" Goodness sake we've really got to work on Cynthia's manners a little.

"WHAT ABOUT MY MANNERS, HUH? THIS GUY'S HOLDING ON TO VITAL INFORMATION THAT MAY PLAY IN A LIFE OR DEATH SITUATION, AND HE'S JUST FOOLING AROUND WITH IT WHEN RECALLS MIGHT NEED TO BE MADE AND YOU'RE WORRIED ABOUT MY MANNERS? IF WE'RE WORKING ON ANYTHING, IT MIGHT SHOULD BE WORKIN' ON RATHERNOT'CHA MIGHT KNOW WHETHER 'YER TALKIN' 'R JUST THINKIN' SO THAT'CHA KNOW WHETHERNOT 'YA SPOKE?" Aaaaaaaaaand wow. The southern accent is back. Haven't heard that in a while. Come to think of it, I don't think it's ever affected her speech quite that much. I must have really stepped over a line.

"Guys! Calm it. I'll spill the info." Mr. Kimsblucker looked a little annoyed, but still calm.

"Get. To. It." Cynthia was quite upset.

"You're going to be a bit disappointed. The only medication that Harvey was on is aspirin. That's why it didn't show up on your prescription search. He had a heart condition, and so he took aspirin for his heart. I'm... sorry, by the way." Gerald continued. "Harvey was a good friend of mine and it pains me deeply to hear of his death. He... he always brought a lot of joy to the shop whenever he'd stop in. He had a odd sense of humor, always clean, but just off in a way that could really make you laugh. He was just really something, you know? He always had so much joy that it's just impossible to think of him without smiling, even though I'm full of sadness that he's gone. I'm really going to miss him, but I suppose I'm just wasting your precious seconds with all of this personal drivel." Gerald turned away and got up out of his seat, and began to walk away, smacking his desk as he went.

"Sir." Cynthia looked quite remorseful. "Sir, please. I'm sorry. I've got my own frustrations going on right now, and I took them out on you. That was extremely unprofessional of me, and I understand that you were trying to be helpful. In fact... you were quite helpful. Knowing now of his heart condition will really move this case forward, and... and I'm very sorry for your loss and very very sorry for my behaviour. I'm extremely embarrassed. I should have never had an outburst quite like that. I'm just... I'm just... I'll be quiet and just go now."

I've never seen her quite like that. I don't know what to say.

---~---

We left the store quietly and walked silently for a little while. Finally I managed the nerve to open my mouth.

"The situation with Richard bothering you?" I instantly felt unsure as to whether or not I should have asked that.

Cynthia broke down and cried. "It's... it's too much. It's just all too much. I joined the police force because I wanted to help save the town from... well... from bad people. You know how I initially worked with Avery, but then took him down? He was... he was part of a group, and I don't really feel very comfortable talking much about it, but I joined to help stop the whole thing and I just don't know if I can do it. I know they're eventually going to come for me, and I don't know who else, and I don't even know who most of the people in this group are, and my biggest fear right now is that since Richard now knows a little more of who I am... I mean, he doesn't know what all I've done, he... he only knew that I worked in a mustard factory and I wanted to keep it that way, but that failed and now that he knows that I don't work at the factory and that I work with the police, I'm afraid that he'll learn more, and I'm afraid that once he learns more, they'll come after him too. In fact, I worry that he's unsafe at the moment, and I just don't know what to do because I can't even find Jacob Hickleflour and if I can't even find one boy then what can I even do?"

I struggled for a moment, but then thought of exactly what to say.

"Cynthia. You've got to focus on the positives. You've got to focus on your victories and use those... future victories that are currently still problems to drive you. You stopped Avery Lablmeeister before he poisoned the town's mustard supply. You recognized that Richard might be in trouble and got him to a safe place before anything's happened to him, and he is in a safe place. You keep me driven and on task every day, and you've even solved a clue that I'm still in the dark on."

"Oh yeah?" Cynthia wiped away a tear.

"Yes. I've barely an idea on how Harvey's heart condition relates to his death. I mean, that came out wrong. Obviously I know that heart conditions lead to death, but it seems like you've picked up on something a little more here."

"Yes." Cynthia brightened up a little. "Yes I have. Um... remember that they found a lot of propofol in his system during the autopsy? I um... that relates. Though rare, propofol can cause death for people with heart conditions, so... there's a victory. And our... future victory as you put it... our future victory will be finding out why there was propofol in his body to begin with!"

"Yes, that will be our future victory, but right now, you need a break. Let's take a walk in the park to clear our heads a little and then we'll get right back on to this case." Occasionally I have good ideas.

"Yes, a walk in the park sounds good." Cynthia finally smiled.

As we entered the park I saw a water fountain, and proceeded to get a drink.

Wow.

What a chapter.

I... I don't even know what to say. Umm... join us next time for... um... future victories?