SPIDER WEB

WHAT IT IS

Sitting near the moonwalk on a vandal resistant cement bench watching the New Orleans tourists scurry along, Margaret Brookside enjoyed this version of the Big Easy. Tourists are generally an upbeat crowd devoid of busy schedules and deadlines and more intent on showing their tranquil demeanor. Some climbed into double decker buses, others boarded horse drawn carriages, and some just wandered around aimlessly, soaking up the vibe. Margaret chose this place to meet Samantha because the horses reminded her of home where a five minute drive would put you almost anywhere in Beaver County and wonderful horse country. Lost in the visual sea of vibrant colored t-shirts, shorts, hats and shoes, Margaret didn’t notice Samantha and two other women standing behind the bench she was on.

Samantha plunked herself down on the bench and quickly slid over to Margaret, pinning her against the cement edge of the bench. Jaden and Jaclyn, out of uniform and looking nothing like police women, stood behind the bench and studied the crowd, like police are supposed to do when on duty; but today they were not. The four women chatted among themselves while the reason for them all being in the same place showed up a half hour late. Cathy Jennings finally arrived with binders of INSECT memos and e-mails implicating a conspiracy between The Chaps and INSECT to carry out a “limited”extinction of all insects at Plot 82.

WHAT IT IS NOT

Davey Doucet generally does not worry about the why of an investigation.  When someone puts down good money for his services, he’s more than happy to oblige. In a professional sense he wondered why Slim Clemons wanted a complete work up on Miles Hobbson, but he was aware the two men had some arrangements in the past, and assumed additional relationships would exist going forward.

As Doucet dug deeper into Hobbson’s life, he found a number of oddities he was sure Slim would find interesting. There was absolutely no record of Hobbson before the age of twenty one. A house fire on Nevis not only resulted in the deaths of his adopted parents but all his school and church records were destroyed. He attended St. Theresa’s Medical University in St. Kitts at age twenty-three, dropped out after six months, disappeared from the island for several years then re-enrolled at age twenty-seven, only to drop out again. He entered politics shortly thereafter, rose to the position of deputy premier before being forced from office and finally showing up in the United States in his mid forties

Doucet’s next move would be to visit Nevis and find anyone who could remember the young Miles Hobbson.