Public Case #1: Arena Attack (part 2)

We decided to finish up that day with lunch. Ben decided he would try to find out what he could from his contacts about this list, while I was to go home and see what I could dig up on my computer. We would meet up together the next day and start our investigation. I caught a cab home, using the money Ben gave me to pay the fare.

The next day I had a full list in hand when Ben called me. As per usual, he called from the pay phone down the block, and would hang up if anyone other than me answered. He was paranoid like that. I didn't mind, mostly because he typically had reason to act however he acted, no matter how crazy it might have seemed.

"Sugoi," he said when I answered the phone. "You ready?"

"Yeah, I've got the list right here. There's some people here that are worth looking into, but most of them are clean as a whistle."

"We'll take a look at all of them when the time's right. Come on out, now. We've got investigating to do."

I paused. Going out with him was a rare treat. Typically I was just the home front support. Not as fun, but I knew I was young and a liability. That he wanted me to come along meant that what we were doing would be more casual and safe enough he trusted me to be there. Before he said anything else, I was already stuffing a backpack and grabbing my coat, bounding down the stairs two at a time in my hurry to get out to the street.

Ben was there waiting for me, smoking a dark clove cigarette and bundled up tightly against the cold in his thin jacket. When I approached, he put out his cigarette and flagged a cab, which both of us climbed into. Inside, Ben rattled off an address and we were on our way.

"Do you want to see the list?" I asked when we settled in.

"Yeah, sure, it couldn't hurt," Ben said as he settled into his seat. Today he looked a little more put-together, with his long hair at least combed roughly into place. It still looked a mess, but relatively it was neat for him.

I pulled out the folder that had all the information I had found and gave it to him. He looked through it, seemingly only giving it a cursory glance. I knew better, though. He was the quickest, smartest guy I ever knew, and when he looked over some bit of information he remembered it.

"All right, good work," he said as he closed the folder and handed it back to me.

"Where we going to first?"

"Well, I figured we'd check out the security at the arena, first. I don't want our client being attacked while we're busy working. Not to mention that there might be some other sort of clue left behind."

"You got permission from him, right?"

"Yeah, of course," Ben said. "All access to the entire arena. Rick's cool like that. Figure we'll drop in, snoop around, and maybe start our suspect investigation in the afternoon."

I nodded and watched the city go by from outside the car. The rest of the ride was uneventful, and we arrived at the arena shortly before noon. Entering the arena, we were met by Richard, who took us on a tour of the arena. It was mostly empty that day, with only a few maintenance men working on repairing several broken safety devices under the stage. Benjamin stopped and asked them a few questions about what had gone wrong. It seemed there were electronic triggers on all of the trap doors. They wouldn't open without a command from the electrical technician. Yet all of the controls had been smashed, defaulting the doors to a final metal safety latch that had been pried loose.

The only other people in the arena were a band occupying the largest dressing room back stage. When they entered, Richard made the introductions. "This is our current headliner, Marquis the Sad."

Ben nodded in greeting to everyone in the room. There were five guys, all around twenty by my guess, dressed in skinny jeans and t-shirts. As usual, I just kept quiet and made mental notes. It also helped that I had a mini-recorder in my jacket so I could get it all down later.

The lead singer, Peter Renauld, did most of the talking. "Oh, yeah, I know, this whole thing's been a real bummer," he said when asked about the sabotage. "We've had to cancel a show already, and it took us forever to get a slot lined up. We have another performance in a week, so we're hoping this'll get cleared up by then."

"Didn't you guys have the show?"

"Um ... yeah," Peter said, looking embarassed. Some of the other band members looked away. "But you're maybe the only person who saw it. So now we've gotta go out and do it the hard way. I tell you, Rick picking us up was hard, man. He's a big name now. The only problem is that below him you can't make any money. So ... it's tough breaks for everyone."

"So why are you guys here today?"

"Well, we were supposed to practice, but now they're busy with the repairs, so we're just sitting around hoping that they'll finish before we're chased off for other acts who are scheduled to practice."

"Richard's still holding the shows?"

"Of course. Gotta make money. He's trying to make it safe, and only call things off when something happens. We had the sound tech take a spill before our show, so we got cancelled. There's another band performing tomorrow. We'll see how that goes, I suppose."

Ben thanked them and we headed out. Richard showed us to the door, and told us to feel free to drop in and take a look around if they felt it necessary. And to keep him posted. Ben agreed and we were in another cab, this time heading for the first address on the list I had drawn up.

"So what do you think?" I asked him when we were under way.

"I think that we need more information. There's only a few people who seem like the type to resort to sabotage. It's going to be a short list. Ask them what they know, maybe do a bit of snooping, and we should have an answer in a few days. Time enough to save the Marquis show this weekend."

"You're in that much of a rush?"

"Well ... I want to go to the concert," Ben said. He smiled at me. I shook my head and turned off the tape recorder until we reached our next stop.