Jack Tracer Mysteries: The Strange Evening

Investigate along with the hardboiled detective, Jack Tracer, as he unravels the mysteries of the body.  Can you guess the disease?  Leave your guesses in the comment section below!

Get this and get it straight, disease is a sucker’s road, and those who succumb to it end up in the gutter, the hospital, or the grave.  It happened like this…

            All I wanted was a little bit of peace and quiet after an exhausting day on the job.  Just one uncomplicated evening with a refreshing drink in hand to cool down from the heat spell we’d been enduring, but apparently it was too much to ask.  Fate had something else in mind for my time that evening. 

            Sounds were not strangers in the thin walled apartment building I called home, but that night something about them in particular caught my attention.  It was a strange sort of pounding that was rattling the board beneath my feet, almost as if someone had turned up the sound on their radio.  Realizing that my dreams of a quiet evening would quickly go down the tubes if the ruckus didn’t stop, I opened my door to investigate.  Then, that same sense of something that had drawn my attention to the noise earlier suddenly made me decide to take a more cautious approach.  Crouching down, I peeped through my slightly cracked door and listened.

Thump, thump, thump, thump, thump… “Oh, cut out the racket over there!” a voice called out from across the hall.  Thump, thump, thump, thump, thump … “If you don’t turn that down, I’m going to come over there and turn it off for you!”  Thump, thump, thump, thump, thump … “Ok fine, if that’s the way you want it bub, here I come!” 

Then, a figure burst into the abandoned hall with a look of annoyance on his face and strode over to his neighbor’s door.  “Open up T or I’ll bust my way through!” he shouted again.  No answer greeted him.  Trying the door, it opened easily.  “T, are you in here?  T?!  Oh, oh no, T what have you done?”  Slowly backing up into the hall, the man furtively looked both ways and hurriedly made his way to the stairwell.  Curious, I decided to follow the agitated gentleman while I had him in my sights.

Finding a nearby telephone booth, the man forced his shaking fingers to dial while beads of sweat trailed down his face.  I couldn’t get close enough to hear who he spoke to, but the bit of conversation I did overhear was enough to raise my suspicions even more.

“Yeah, I’m tellin’ you straight.  It was pounding and pounding.  All I saw in the room was a record player with Symphony of Life on repeat and a note that said, ‘Catch up if you can!’ … uh huh…. Yeah… I swear Boss, it had Code Name 3 and 4 written all over it! … uh huh… Are you sure?  This whole thing is making me nervous what with all the hunger and weight loss gangs on the loose! … yeah… alright… Ok, I’ll check it out Boss.” 

In his hurry to leave, the man left the phone dangling by its cord and high-tailed it out of there.  Knowing he was my greatest chance at figuring out this mystery, I jumped in my car and trailed after him.  He led me all the way to the outskirts of town to a building with the symbols AAI on the side.  AAI…  Adams Apple Incorporated… what did they have to do with this mystery? 

Wanting to see if there were any reports of strange activity at the station, I called in and let Detective Johnson know I was on a case.  He quickly informed me they had been receiving reports all night from the neighborhood watch about crimes like fatigue, flushing and even hair loss.  Then, he said those fateful words, “Oh and Jack, the controller just called and said that levels of insomnia and systolic BP are running high.” 

Suddenly, all the pieces began to fall in place and I realized what we must have on our hands.  Preparing myself for the inevitable conflict, I stepped out of my car and followed after the shady character.

…To be continued…

Think you know what caused Jack’s unease?  Care to hazard a guess?  Leave your thoughts in the comment section below, then tune in here to find out what happens next in The Strange Evening.