Snippet #2386364

Oakland, California

Near the edge of the city, a small private detective made both his home and his office out of a small flat on the first floor. The detective's name was Paul Sato, and he had quite the reputation in the area for a humble, shy appearance that was rumored to conceal fiery resolve worthy of the finest medieval samurai. The comparison irritated Sato, however, who did not like to be defined by his heritage, and he adamantly westernized himself, indulging in only a few parts of his cultural heritage, mostly holdovers from his childhood, like his habit of addressing people by last name, or something he found convenient now, such as eating rice, which was easy to cook and more nutritious than the crap he saw other detectives eat while he was at Western PI. Of course, that was mostly when he was busy with work and had to stay in his home-office.

Of course, it would be that at the moment he left his office for food, the work line rang. It rang until it died, since he was not there to pick it up. He therefore did not notice the caller until the caller grew persistent, and drawing on some knowledge not available to public clients, called his cell phone. He felt it vibrate in his pocket while he was on his motorcycle, and groaned as he realized he needed more time to pull over and answer. He let his phone ring out as he made his way to the restaurant. To his surprise, the call came again, insistent. He growled to himself as he pulled the phone out at the restaurant, but composed himself enough to answer the unnamed number. "Yeah?" He abstained from his business greeting, given that he wasn't expecting a business call from a stranger who called his cell, as opposed to his work.

"Hi Paul. You remember me, right?"

Sato froze. Of course he remembered that voice. Nathan Columbus. PI extraordinaire, mysteriously vanished with no trace and no reason. He had perplexed Western PI for years, and as far as Sato knew he had never been found. "Columbus? How did you g-"

"I'm not going to answer that kind of stuff, Paul. Let me just give you my request. Don't ask what happened to me. Don't try to trace this. Just go to Bodega Bay. There's awful stuff happening there, and I think you can get to the bottom of it."

Sato sighed, exasperated. "Look, Columbus, I can't just go and work on this. I'm in private work, you know that. I need money."

"I can arrange that." the voice sounded oddly cryptic. Was there an implication? "How much does Western charge nowadays?"

Sato's eyebrow raised despite the circumstances. Columbus should have known from Sato's area code that the man had left Los Angeles permanently. "I'm not with Western anymore. I'm solo. I charge about $200 per day. I'll bump it up to $300 for the location. Expenses too, that's not includ-"

"Fine. I'll wire six hundred advance to your office right after I get off the phone. I've got the money and goddam do I need you on this case. Get up there as soon as you can." The line closed after that. Paul looked at the phone's screen to confirm that the call had ended, blinked, then walked inside. He ordered a cheeseburger to go, and while he waited dialed again, this time to someone he knew. Who was hopefully not busy right now.

"Hey sweetie!" The feminine voice was surprisingly cheerful, and he smiled despite himself.

"'Lo Maureen," he responded before cutting straight to business. "Listen, about Friday..."

"A case come up? We can do a different time," she responded quickly.

Sato grimaced. "No, it's a bigger problem. I just got all but forced into a case in Bodega Bay. I'm not sure what's going on, but some guy I used to work with wired me double my usual rate in advance, and he won't take no. I'm going to be out of town until I don't know when."

Maureen's voice subdued quickly. "...Oh. Will you be able to call at least?"

"Oh sure, definitely. I shouldn't be occupied all the time there...I hope not anyway. I'll call you when I can to update you. I might even need your help depending on the type of case it is."

"I dunno, hun, I don't think you'd be called out there for insurance fraud. You've probably got something exciting up there."

"If you say so. Anyway, I'll call you later, I need to eat before I head out. Love you!"

"I love you too. Bye."

-Call Ended-

Just then, Sato's cheeseburger came in. He ate it outside the restaurant as quickly as he could, chasing it with several swigs from his water bottle, then put his helmet back on and remounted his motorcycle to power out as quickly as was legal.

He stopped by the office only long enough to grab his pistol from its locked case, along with ammunition and a pack of travel items for an emergency like this. He left and locked his office after that, quickly getting back on his cycle and riding out. Within minutes he was on a highway headed for Bodega Bay.

Within an hour and a half he found the town.