the last one last job, part 7: enter serendipity

based on an original proposal by Prof. Dan Leo

script by roy dismas and roger "peg leg" wilson

illustrations by eddie el greco and roy dismas

for previous chapter, click here

to begin at the beginning, click here

serendipity sanchez had come up through the ranks quickly, and at eighteen, was the youngest detective in the san francisco homicide division. she had never been afraid of hard work, and now she plopped a report down on mona's desk as thick as a pile of newspapers hot off the presses with an extra in 1939. a report on the zombie negative 5.748 murders. that mona had requested sixteen hours ago. mona ran her thumb along the edges of the report. "this looks very impressive, sanchez. before i get into it, can i ask you one question?" "of course." "the last percentage number we had for one perp was 64.7 - something like that. i gave it to the media. " mona looked at serendipity. "is that number up or down?" "up." "how up?" "to 89.2." "i see. and what's your number for coming up with this 89.2 in a week?" "i don't give a number in a report - i would say about 10 or 11 percent." mona looked out the rain-streaked window at bryant street . "that's not very good." serendipity stood a little straighter. "you asked me - that's what i think." "of course i want you to tell me what you think." mona continued looking out the window. "the d a and the chief of police are very interested in this case." "that's only to be expected," serendipity answered. mona turned back to serendipity. "and as usual are free with their suggestions." serendipity made no reply. "suggestions like bringing in somebody from outside. just as a quote consultant unquote." "no way!" mona smiled. "of course it's not up to us to decide. if the chief wants to bring somebody in… but i talked them out of it. for now." "thank you." "oh, i didn't do it for you. i hate bringing outside people in, at any level. it just confuses things." mona rolled her eyes a little. "especially when you consider who they were thinking of bringing in." serendipity was a little confused. surely mona didn't mean… "you mean…" "dave turner." "dave turner! that asshole!" "yes, my feelings exactly. all right, sanchez, while i'm looking at this report - " mona paused, and glanced at the first page under the cover page. " i see we are off to a good start, using code z-5 instead of the whole zombie whatever…" "yes, i saved some paper that way." "while i am reading it you can start trying to find our friend z-5. you have code orange for everything, don't bother with any more reports until i ask for one… contact me at - " - mona took her own phone and quickly programmed it - " maz-5, got that?" "maz-5." "good. let's get on it, so we won't have to worry about dave turner or anybody else." mona looked back down at the report lying flat on her desk. serendipity turned and left the office. she walked rapidly down the hall. "dave turner!" she thought. she had had one encounter with dave turner and it was enough. but she was almost relieved. it could have been mack treacher. *** report on the series of possibly linked homicides : 150-3- dupre, 150-24-wardell, 150-33-gomez, 150- 47-chancellor, 150-48-jane doe, 150-66-john doe, 150-67- martindale. link code (within this report only) : z-5 prepared by: serendipity sanchez, detective, homicide part 1: homicides considered individually 150- 3 - dupre p 2 150- 24 - wardell p 33 150 - 33 - gomez p 61 150 - 47 - chancellor p 94 150 - 48 - jane doe p 130 150 - 66 - john doe p 141 150 - 67 - martindale p 149 part 2: consideration of possible connections p 190 connections p 191 statistical analysis p 203 part 3: probability of 2 - 7 perpetrators p 207 probabilities p 213 part 4 : probability of single perpetrator p 218 part 5: effect of media coverage/involvement p 230 summary and action plan p 247 mona prided herself on reading every word and every number in the reports she got. it was one of the reasons for her rise to head of homicide. but maybe she needed a cup of coffee first. *** a few short blocks away, mack treacher's face lay flat on the counter of the booth in the 953 club on 7th street. boom boom shifted mack's head so he could breathe a little easier as he slept. "he's not coming around," she told ashlee. "he's just going to have to sleep it off." ashlee checked the time on her phone. "i don't know if i can wait for that. i have to be…" "honey, it doesn't matter where you have to be. just go. i'll take care of him." "are you sure?" "yes. give me your number. if i get anything useful out of him i'll let you know." "i got a couple of coaches coming in with a playbook. i told them i'd meet them at the airport." "already? they don't waste any time." "no, not if you are first round. even- even if you are only number eleven." "all right, just go then." "i can trust you?" "of course. if you can't trust me, who can you trust? i work for the bugle. truth is my business." "all right." ashlee got up quickly, and after one last look at mack with his head down on the booth, headed for the door. as soon as she got outside, her phone rang and she took it out. she had expected it to be from the london broilers coaches she was going to meet but it was from serendipity sanchez. finally calling her back. 8. dupre

the last one last job, part 6: "you never know"

based on an original proposal by Prof. Dan Leo

script by roy dismas and roger "peg leg" wilson

illustrations by rhoda penmarq and danny delacroix

for previous chapter, click here

to begin at the beginning, click here

"really?" boom boom took another sip of her drink. "what about - the professor?" the professor! it took mack a couple of seconds to realize that boom boom had asked him about the professor. if boom boom knew about the professor, then who else knew about him? "you know about the professor?" "you might be surprised what i know," boom boom replied. "it's the twenty-first century," ashlee added. "everybody knows everything. well, almost everything." mack blinked a few times. "but not about the professor. the professor couldn't do what he does if everybody knew about him." "you mean like - what he did in -" "don't say it!" mack shouted. the bartender looked over at him. the customer at the bar kept staring straight ahead. boom boom laughed. "okay, mack, calm down." mack took a deep breath. he looked a little embarrassed. "dad," said ashlee. "everybody knows about the professor." "they do? how?" "he's featured prominently in all the books about you." "books?" but mack looked as if he was starting to remember. "yeah, the books about your adventures. that used to be best sellers - " "but," added boom boom, "not so much any more." "who wrote them?" "dave wilderberg wrote them," said ashlee. "you remember dave? he used to come over to the apartment in ghirardelli square back in -" "oh, yeah, yeah. used to drink the imported japanese beer." "yes, i can remember tripping over the boxes full of empties on my way to school in the morning." "he sure could drink some imported japanese beer." "yes he could." "and these books, they were about - " "the professor, his time machine or whatever he called it - going back and forth to ancient egypt and mars and all that -" "jeez - i hope none of it was true -" "don't worry," said boom boom. "i don't think anybody believed any of it anyway." "i guess it's okay then." mack rubbed his eyes and then looked around. "i could use another drink. just one more." boom boom signaled to the bartender. "no problem, mack. one more, two more, three more, whatever it takes." the bartender came over and boom boom ordered another whiskey for mack. ashlee looked straight ahead and took a sip of her orange juice. "that's enough about dave wilderberg and ancient history," said boom boom when the whiskey was delivered and the bartender back at his post, "let's get back to serious business. the zombie 5.748 murders. they don't wrong a bell at all?" "he's already said twenty times they don't," ashlee snapped. "just checking. i mean he is sobering up. a little." the lone customer at the bar now got up and left. he headed straight to the door without saying anything to the bartender or looking over at mack, boom boom and ashlee. boom boom turned and watched him go. when he opened the door they could see that the rain had picked up again, and a little wind and rain blew into the bar. "that guy look familiar?" boom boom asked. "not to me," said ashlee. "what guy?" asked mack. "excuse me," boom boom called to the bartender. "yeah?" the bartender came quickly over to the near end of the bar. he pretty obviously enjoyed getting close to boom boom and even more to ashlee. "you know that guy?" boom boom asked him. "the one that just left?" the bartender hesitated. "no. i never saw him before." "you sure?" "not one hundred percent. but i don't think so." "you got a lot of regular customers in here?" "not so much. it's not really what you call a neighborhood bar." boom boom looked around. the place was pretty bleak, didn't exactly have a warm homey vibe. "huh. so who do you get?" the bartender shrugged. "i don't know. just people coming and going. sometimes it gets busy at night." "o k thanks. what's your name by the way?" "carl." "pleased to meet you, carl. i'm bella beauregard, i write a column for the bugle." "oh yeah, right." "you read it every day of course." "um - almost every day." "i bet you are more of a standard guy." "well, they -uh -" "have a better sports page, right?" "well, they do! but you know, people bring papers in and leave them here so i read them when things are slow. so i see your column." "that's cool, carl. say, if you read the papers, you must be aware of the vampire 5.748 murders, right?" "yeah, i read some stuff." "any thoughts on it?" "um - not really. he sounds like a pretty bad guy, i guess." "indeed." "i could use one more drink," mack interrupted. "just one more." "sure," boom boom agreed. "bring him another one," she told carl. carl went to get the drink. "let's make this the last one for real," ashlee said. she had finished her orange juice. "we'll just be getting him totally drunk all over again. if he can walk, let's find someplace else with no temptation, like a coffee shop." boom boom shrugged. "we can go up to my place - if he can stand up and you can get him there." ashlee thought a second. "fine with me." boom boom changed the subject. "that guy who left - he was in an awful hurry." "was he?" "looked like it to me. maybe he heard us talking about the vampire. maybe - he was the vampire." "you never know, do you?" ashlee agreed. she looked over at carl behind the bar. "maybe he's the vampire. he seems interested in our conversation." "i think he's interested in you." "but you never know, right?" "no," boom boom agreed. "you never known do you, dad? - fuck!" mack was face down on the counter of the booth again. 7. enter serendipity

freedom rider thrown from his horse

by bob brady

illustrations by eddie el greco and konrad kraus