My Librarian is Missing!

[Martin Le Roux]

Chigaco Tribune's 30 January 1925 issue was a cliffhanger. It had very important information regarding Chicago's political movers and shakers of the day, but the 31st issue was missing. It was maddening. He had half a puzzle piece that needed to be dried out, but he had no press, or the other half. Martin had been laying low since returning to Chicago with Jude, who, so far, had managed to mostly keep out of trouble. He had a habit of doting too much on certain kine, but overall, had managed to behave better than expected. The hard disk Jude had formatted (mostly by accident) had only taken a few hours of data recovery. No harm would have been done anyway: Martin was nearly obsessive about making backups.

Things had gone smoothly, and although Martin wanted to be more social, keeping Jude safe was more important. But tonight, he needed the other piece of the puzzle, and it was possible Fiona might have it. The Malkavian slept at odd intervals, and seemed to be one of his sleep cycles. Martin left him a note.

A worked over black Subaru Legacy Spec. B was Martin's inconspicuous car of choice. The turbo flat four burbled to life. The sun had gone down only an hour prior. It was nice to be out of the house, if only for a brief time. Fiona's book store was not too far way. Unfortunately, Fiona was not there, and the newer clerk, although helpful, did not turn up anything of use. Martin tipped him a ten and decided to talk to Fiona herself. It was possible she had a copy of the paper tucked away somewhere, or knew where to find it.

Minutes later, he knocked on Fiona's door. He was dressed casually but stylishly. Arranged properly, he would fit in almost anywhere.

[Brigid Cassidy]

:: The door was opened, and Martin was assailed by Velvet Revolver at rock concert volume. He was greeted not by Fiona, but Brigid. With bottle in hand, she invited him in ::

[Martin Le Roux]

Brigid had good taste in beer, but from the scent of her skin, she had more than one already.

"Brigid!" He yelled. She rolled her eyes and turned the music down. If he was not dead, his ears would have been bothering him.

"Hello."

[Brigid Cassidy]

"Nice to see you again, Le Roux. Where you been hiding?"

[Martin Le Roux]

Martin sighed.
"Home." He said in a tone that made it clear he didn't really want to discuss it too much.

"Been keeping in the right amount of trouble?" He asked, with a half-smile. To ask Brigid to stay out of trouble was an impossible task.

[Brigid Cassidy]

"Nope, been a good little girl while Fiona's away." she said, settling back onto the leather couch with legs akimbo. She was a shameless flirt around Martin.

[Martin Le Roux]

"Fiona isn't here?" Martin frowned, and lowered himself into an empty recliner.

"England or France?" He asked.

[Brigid Cassidy]

"She left for Paris, but that was a week ago. Apparently there's something going on in London. Something about the Sabbat."

[Martin Le Roux]

"I know." Martin said and sighed again.

"So, mademoiselle, Fiona and her ombrez assez have left you behind to guard the tower?" Brigid liked it when he mixed French in.

[Brigid Cassidy]

"Yeah, but I've got Carte Blanche." she purred before taking a long sip from the bottle. Then her curiousity kicked in.

"Anything I can do for you?

[Martin Le Roux]

"Newspaper article, Tribune, early 1925. Someone went through a lot of trouble to bury it." Martin grabbed an errant remote and flicked it at Brigid, which smacked her the shoulder. She hadn't been paying attention and spazzed.

Martin laughed for the first time since Jude had tagged along.

[Brigid Cassidy]

:: She tossed a pillow back at him ::

"1925, huh?"

:: She stood up ::

"We can take a ride downtown if you like."

[Martin Le Roux]

"Not if you are driving." Martin stated firmly. The last time he had been on the back of one of Brigid's bikes he spent a night healing, after being scrapped up from the pavement. It wasn't Brigid's fault completely, but he wasn't exactly eager to jump on the back of a motorcycle again.

"I hope we're going somewhere other than the Tribune or any library in the city, I've checked all of them already."

[Brigid Cassidy]

:: Brigid reached over to the counter to collect the keys from their feline guardian, and downed her last gulp of beer ::

"Keys to the Kingdom." she said, twirling them on her finger. She took up her Hanzo sword before they left for the shop.

[Martin Le Roux]

Brigid had never really seen Martin drive before, and he was a little eager to get back at her a bit. He flipped a switch next to the fog lights, and a moment later the car idled much more loudly.

"Seat belt." He reminded her while his foot played a bit with the throttle, but stayed below 2000 RPM. Brigid obeyed, and Martin brought the car up to 5000 RPM. The turbo hissed audibly. He put the car into gear and lifted off the clutch. Four tires squealed against the pavement while the whole car squatted. Brigid was shoved violently into the seat.

One 15mph
Two 25mph
Shift. The exhausted popped loudly as a dash of unused fuel ignited.
Three 45mph
Four 60mph.
Shift...


Martin approached corner and tapped the brakes, loading the front end. His right foot working the gas and brake while his left shifted the car back into second. He turned the car left for a moment, and then hard right at the green light, allowing the car to pendulum neatly in the limited space. He worked the car back straight with the throttle and a wiggle of the steering wheel. The process continued until they were two blocks from Fiona's book store, and he flicked the switch again, making the car quiet again.

"Well, we are here."

[Brigid Cassidy]

:: Brigid ran her fingers playfully across the ceiling as she stretched, and turned to grin at Martin ::

"Foreplay."

[Martin Le Roux]

"Perhaps."

Martin was a little disappointed, but then, Brigid had gone through more than one motorcycle wipe-out. He smiled at her anyway.

They got out of the car, and weaved straight to the back of the store. Martin had been in Fiona's store room on several occasions, but never when she was not present. It felt a little disconcerting.

[Brigid Cassidy]

:: Brigid unlocked the doors and let Martin do his search ::

"Gonna tell me what it is you're looking for?"

:: Her curiosity was picqued ::

[Martin Le Roux]

"Early edition of the 31st of January 1925 Chicago Tribune. It cannot be the late edition, the article I'm looking for was heavily edited."

[Brigid Cassidy]

:: Brigid pointed to a stack of boxes on the west wall and joined in the search ::