AlanBernard

Arm of Justice: Grimsborough's Reckoning (Open and Accepting Applications!)

"Oh, Shaun tried to smash our bank's window with a garbage bin once! Not only that, it wasn't even justified, business is tough on everyone and we had to make amends with the market in order to move ahead with Greene Banking," Harriet would reply. "I doubt that he ever harmed an employee, but seeing as what he did to our window, although it only caused a crack, forced us to rebuild 2 of our windows. To put it simply, Greene Holding's offer to the Eastfield stall owners was very generous and stubborn people like Shaun, who turned down such a large monetary offer are only getting in the way." She seemed to be a bit emotionless over the market, but decades of working behind a counter or taking clients had certainly dealt its pain upon her care for other people.

Just as she concluded her little aside, Jones entered the bank, passing the owner of the license plate to Charles. "As far as I can tell, this Scott Greene fellow is just another outsider, but I've heard about his name before. His marriage with Aileen was broadcast on live TV, since he's set to become the heir of the Greene fortune once Alden and Paul Greene pass away. Oh, and the note...Alex got back to me on that just as I was jogging back to the market, telling me that Shaun's the only person who could have wrote that message." Just as he was about to turn out of the bank with the decisive evidence in hand, a strange man was looking at the bloodstains of Henry's body at the park, wearing a garish brown overcoat over a camouflaged shirt, colored in such a way so that he would be undetectable within a swamp. "What the..." Jones trailed off, carefully walking towards the grey-haired man who had yet to notice the presence of these two officers.

Arm of Justice: Grimsborough's Reckoning (Open and Accepting Applications!)

Jones went off to quickly check the plate for its owner as Charles closed in on the bank, asking for Mrs. Harriet before receiving her just 5 minutes later, as she left the back of one of the many offices of Greene Banking to confront Charles again. "Well, I certainly didn't expect for you to come back so soon," Harriet commenced as she approached Charles. "I presume that you've already arrested Shaun, we and the bank have had a bit of an aggressive history with him." This was certainly something interesting that Charles could press on, while Jones was still scanning through a list of plate numbers on the police database, before finding out that the plate in question belonged to Scott Greene, one of Greene's sons and an up and coming businessman. Logging that information, he would begin to walk back to the bank, although this would take him some time.

Arm of Justice: Grimsborough's Reckoning (Open and Accepting Applications!)

Charles didn't even need to request that, as several SWAT officials immediately moved into the area under the presence that the criminal could be nearby, beginning a hard sweep of the local area to ensure that the killer would not get away. "Either Shaun set that bomb up before he was arrested or someone else did, but our second bomb isn't too far off from Greene Banking. If the bomb happened to be explosive, he could certainly have set it up in the first available car, but what's strange is that it didn't manually detonate," Jones commentated, as the officers collected the bomb and moved out. He took a snapshot of the plate number of the vehicle, which read "SC0TTG", before Ziegler approached the two, certain that he was no longer in any danger and using Jones' voice to find his way.

"All I've got for you is a small lead, but just before Henry went up to the park, he gave me this picture," Ziegler mystified, as he passed a black and white photo from his pocket to Charles. "Henry just gave me this picture and told me to hold on to it. He mentioned some "ghost from the war"...and he left..but he seemed so agitated as he went up to the park. If he sincerely was a part of the bomb attack or if this was some unfortunate accident, I can understand his agitation, since he was only minutes away from detonating his bomb, but from what I can tell, he just appears to be another victim." Writing all of this down, Jones returned to his investigation, telling Ziegler that they'd be in touch if they ever found any evidence on the photo. "Right and while we're here, let's get a statement from Harriet about the victim. If he had any beef with Greene Banking, I'd imagine that she'd be the first to hear about it," Jones continued as he began to scan the photo in great detail.

New Objective: Talk to Harriet Meadows at Greene Banking.

Arm of Justice: Grimsborough's Reckoning (Open and Accepting Applications!)

The bomb would continue to tick down as Charles gave it a large toss, watching it sail through the air as its timer continued to clock down to its xenith. Jones would clench his teeth as it soared upwards into the air, higher and higher...

2...

Some people on the streets noticed the bomb and ducked for cover as the bomb sailed into the sidewalk after reaching the peak of its' height, an airbone explosion all but guaranteed...

1...

And as the bomb eventually ticked down to its final second, Jones and Ziegler held their ears and breath, Jones ducking behind the car to prepare for that inevitable explosion of exposure...

ERROR

"Wait, h-huh?" Jones commented as the bomb slammed down into the ground, smashing its metal plating and lighting a tiny fire from a mechanism on the side before it finally subsided, proving that their bomb either malfunctioned from the toss or was stranger than they had initially thought. Jones gave it a few seconds to make sure he was completely safe before examining the bomb, carefully picking it up and rotating it, noting the tiny contraption that did activate but was extinguished soon after, checking the wires and finding out that they were all in place, solid as ever.

Arm of Justice: Grimsborough's Reckoning (Open and Accepting Applications!)

Charles' efforts would certainly be rewarded, as the trunk swung open as the broken lock struggled against his force before being thrust out to the side, sent colliding to the curb as Jones looked inside, swishing his way through some spare blankets and grocery bags until he came face to face with another bomb. Its appearance was certainly different from the first one, boasting an LED screen with a timer and no green paint, signifying to Jones that the paint on the first bomb must have meant something. However, reality suddenly as he blurted out, "Holy crap...we found the bomb!" he would scream, pointing to the bomb, with ominous wires trailing inwards and outwards of it as he turned it over and saw what was illuminating the back of the car, as Ziegler took note of Jones' voice with his excellent hearing and took a few steps back, not sure if he was in danger and would be caught in the blast. "A-and according to this timer, we don't have much time left to stop it, look! There's only..."

3...

Arm of Justice: Grimsborough's Reckoning (Open and Accepting Applications!)

A dark-skinned man with dark sunglasses that concealed his eyes, a white paper hat and an apron with a mustard stain on it was standing at the hot dog stand when Jones approached it, as he immediately recognized him as the owner of the stand. "Ziegler, I'd like for you to meet Charles right now, but we have to keep things brief. You called the police about a potential bomb threat, right?" Jones asked, checking around the area to see if a bomb was nearby. Ziegler quickly replied, "Exactly. As far as I can tell, blind people always have better hearing and senses, so my instincts told me that there was a bomb coming from a car over there...one that's had its ignition on all day." A quick search was all that it took for Jones to realize that the car was actually off and the ticking noise was coming from somewhere else, quickly detecting it from the trunk. However, the trunk refused to budget as the car lurched for a bit, Jones calling out, "Charles! Help me over here, I have no idea how long this bomb will stay disarmed!" as he tried to pop the trunk off of the car.

Arm of Justice: Grimsborough's Reckoning (Open and Accepting Applications!)

"Well, I remember the one time that I nearly worked with Tony, but that was way before he started snooping around and becoming a mob boss, you see. He actually used to be an informant, but he quit to go against the law with his dastardly ways," Jones commented as he sent off a few pictures of the contracts to the forensic lab to be copied and sent back to him in a hour. Just as he was about to suggest going to the park for another search, Ramirez was already giving Jones another frantic call, as Jones picked up the receiver. "GUYS! We've got a situation! I received a phone call about a potential ticking bomb by the hot dog stand, you've got to get there, quick!" Ramirez blurted out, as Jones immediately started off into a run, preparing himself for a long run to the potential bomb threat. "Come on, Charles, it looks like we should be more careful as to what we wish for!" Jones called out, putting the phone away and preparing to run to Alfred's hot dog stall to intercept the bomb before it's too late.

Bomb Alert on Grimsborough: Chapter 2:


New Objective: Get to the hot dog stand and speak to the stall owner who reported the bomb!

Arm of Justice: Grimsborough's Reckoning (Open and Accepting Applications!)

"Ma'am, we'll settle any business we might have with you later, but why exactly did he have a meeting with you?" he inquired, holding out a notepad to collect her information. "All he said was that he had some important documents to show me, but he told me to meet here just about now," she commented, as her cameraman leaned in for a closer shot of the documents, which Jones abruptly grabbed. "Apologies, but these are police property, ma'am. We'll have to have them checked and screened before we can pass them off." "If you ever do, make sure that you get them to us as soon as possible, our information might be able to help your investigation. Look...here's my phone number. If you ever want to make the trade, call me and we can meet just about anywhere," she inaugurated, passing Jones her phone number on a sticky note. With that, they walked off and out of the market, just as Jones concluded his investigation. "I guess that would be about it, but hang on..." Jones would pause as he got a phone call from someone, picking it up.

"Yo, it's me, Alex! Sorry about not being able to get to you on your last case, but as far as I can tell, Nathan here wants to tell you all about the body as soon as I tell you about what I found. I took a look at the prints you found and it perfectly lines up with a pair of orthopedic shoes, the type that people who get their feet twisted would wear and according to this match, your victim's shoe size didn't line up with them at all. We even took a look at the bomb shards that you picked up and found tiny traces of green paint on the sides, plus a bit more of Shaun's DNA if you ever needed to put him under some pressure. Right, and your bomb switch? Coated in his prints, top to bottom, with no one else's prints to be found," he would conclude, passing the phone off to Nathan as the more formal coroner got in contact with the crew. "Well, I took a look at the body and...didn't find too much. The bomb's been blown into so many pieces that I couldn't find exactly what bomb it was, so unless you had a bomb expert on the scene, we're straight out of luck. As for the proximity, though...you're going to be looking for someone with hearing issues, especially if this person was 30 feet within the range of the bomb! Anyone who has hearing issues should be considered a suspect, especially if you have a true killer who wanted to watch it go off, as it was especially loud from what I can tell. Finally, the blood's a perfect match with Shaun's, which should clear up any doubt. We'll call back once we get some information on the writing to confirm our suspicions." Nathan finally hung up, leaving the detectives with a lot of room and new evidence to work with. What would Charles' initial theory come to?

Arm of Justice: Grimsborough's Reckoning (Open and Accepting Applications!)

"Surely we will, there has to be something that could assist us in these drawers..." Jones commented, taking a look underneath the counters of the market until he came across one more object, a strange letter that he would pick up and read. It appeared to have single-sided tape stuck on it, as he read over the crudely written note. "Leave Eastfield Market, you scum...or I'll blow you all up! Are you sure that Shaun's not our guy after that?" Jones asked, as he sealed the note into a bag and sent it off to forensics for a handwriting analysis, just to be sure. "Considering the explosive threat he just made, no pun intended, Shaun really should've used magazine cutouts instead." Just as he was about to dig deeper, a reporter immediately charged into the scene, with a microphone that Jones didn't recognize, her bearded cameraman closely following behind her as he dutifully captured her speech with a fancy Nikon camera. "Hello? Sorry to bother you, I'm looking for Henry Crosby," the reporter replied, being dressed in a black suit and her hair cut in a bob cut. "We were supposed to meet here like half an hour ago. Are you friends of his?"

Arm of Justice: Grimsborough's Reckoning (Open and Accepting Applications!)

"Indeed, I wouldn't even be shocked if Shaun had already set up a spare bomb to catch us off guard," Jones muttered, as he walked towards Henry's stand, which was famously named "The Henry and Cooper Crossing." As he walked towards the back, he would find a satchel made of cloth, taking a closer look at it as he carefully opened it, checking to see if it was just another trap and another bomb, but the lightness of the bag caught him off guard and confirmed his suspicion that it was safe. Inside, he would find a folder, with a similar logo on the front cover to the contracts that he had found at the stock market last week. "What's this...? I didn't think we'd hear from Alden Greene again so soon!" he questioned as he flipped through the pages, easily deciphering the relatively simple terminology that was only addressed to Henry and Shaun. "The documents show that he's trying to buy the Eastfield Market stalls... I bet he wants to build a new Casino, or some other lucrative business," he minded, before giving them over to Charles.