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Sorry about the absence. I hope to be back by September 15 October 6, with a full explanation. Or, at least, a decent excuse.
Elizabeth Panderson, Victoria Alcott, and Duncan Kilner all disappeared on or about the same day. Panderson's house had been burned down, obvious arson, but there were no trace of human bodies found. An apparent explosion had occured in her basement, although investigators failed to determine the cause or nature of this explosion. These days, the wall of chains they found barely qualified as kinky. Kilner's apartment had been cleaned with a an inhuman thoroughness.
Families of the three are offering rewards for any information leading to their whereabouts alive or dead. If there is a choice, the former is preferred.
Joseph and Marianne Hamilton, the world's tackiest swingers, continue to run the Panderson Real Estate Agency, with Elizabeth's mother's permission. The name has some clout in Boston. They retained Jessica Mirko as General Secretary, and Melissa Cheng as Special Secretary. She will work for the best-selling saleperson of the month. She has informed the Hamiltons she may leave any time soon, but has not made a final decision. Will Stetson decided to leave real estate. He needed a job more conducive to a clean aura, so he now works for Henshaw Tobacco. Well, it made sense to him. Kaylin Jackson continues to teach out of The Panderson Agency, and Banner O'Herlily is still a student.
* * * * * *
Banny and Lissa walked into Nicoletta's apartment. They both moved slower, as if they were tired.
Mr. Fwuzzums and Nicoletta had read the reports. Actually, Lissa could not bear to go over the events of the last week, so Banny wrote the two reports. The report he wrote for Lissa was twelve pages, with numerous observations and much-needed information about the enemy, including key facts such as the gonner is merely a duplicate of the human volunteer, gonners are not affected by religious symbols, and that there were at least three lineages, from three powerful gonners; The Virago, The Carnifex, and The Animus.
Banny's own report consisted, in it's entirety, of three words: This week suked!!!
Mr. Fwuzzums, the over-sized german shepherd, was convinced Banny did these things deliberately. Nobody could be like that by accident. Nicoletta, on the other hand, said he probably didn't mean it. Nobody would be like that on purpose.
"O'Herily, Cheng," said Mr. Fwuzzums, "we need to speak with you about your next assignment. Now, I know you are each in mourning, but there is still great evil out there. Besides, work is the best prescr-"
"Stuff it, Muttly," interrupted Lissa. "There's a candle-light vigil for the Townsends tonight in the park. We just came by to see if you'd want to go."
"For the what?"
Nicoletta closed her eyes, wincing. Of course, her eyes were hidden by dark glasses, but the rest of her body language conveyed her message. "The family killed by Duncan Kilner. The gonner. Allen, his wife Holly, nee Lang, and their child, Jenny. He was 24, she was 26, and the infant, fourteen months, I believe. He had j-"
"Stuff it, Rainwoman," interrupted Lissa. "The important thing is they're still looking for the killer. That's why Banny and I need to go. That's why you two should go."
"You and O'Herlihy already found the killer," said the dog. "You avenged them."
"Yeah," said Banny. "But their parents and their cousins and their friends'll never know. They gotta spend the rest of their lives thinking that that baby-killer is still out there."
"O'Herlihy, you know why you must keep your secrets secret. If the gonners find you, they will kill you."
"Besides," added Nicoletta, "what would you say? If you told then the truth they'd think it was a sick joke at best. Or they'd think that you were insane.You may even get arrested for somehow being involved, because you know too much."
Lissa said, "And that's just part of why I'm sick of this dog-crap! Never mind that nobody knows we save the world, we can't even tell the victim's families the bad guy's dead! We get beat up, nearly killed, I've been naked in front of strangers 'cause of this, I had to lie to my life-long friend, but that's okay, she wasn't really my life-long friend, she was just some God-damn zombie just using me to get to Banny's father! But I killed her first, so we have a happy ending. Well, screw the world, what's the world ever done for me? Corvair, hold out your hand. NOW!!!" She did. Lissa slipped the Ring off her middle finger, placed it in the other woman's palm, "Yeah, that's the Ring of Beneficience. I know I'm not Worthy, you know I'm not Worthy, The bad guys know I'm not Worthy, even the God-damned Essencia knew I wasn't Worthy. Maybe now you can find someone who is Worthy. Someone who wants this crap. As for me... I quit."
Banny took off his Ring, put in in Nicoletta's palm next to the other. "I quit, too. I'd get killed doing this alone without Lissa. Besides, it's just not fun anymore."
Go to Chapter 65: And A Memory Is All That Is Left For You Now
Go to Chapter 67: The Framing Device. Or Not
Bring your friends into the Gonspiracy! Tell them about
Banny
And
Lissa
and get their eternal gratitude, and a chance to win $10,000 and a Sony DVD Player, because using your friends for your own personal enrichment, and having them owe you for it, is the gonner way!
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Dave Lerner Stories (note that to use the mailto you'll need to edit it in your 'send to' window. I apologize, but I've already lost one address to spam, and if I get inundated again, I won't have time to read your letters.) - All Rights Reserved. Note that this includes images of the Tricryptogon, and the name "Tricryptogon".