We sit in the car and I have a look on my face. If you’ve been on this road with me for a bit now, you know it means I don’t want to talk about something but am about to anyway.
“There is another person we really should interview,” I say.
“Who?” you might ask.
I take a breath, hold it, and then say, “Mickie.”
You might ask if I mean my Mickie, and I say, yeah, my Mickie. “Or that Mickie. Mickie Janely. Not mine. Never was.”
You don’t argue the point. Maybe you wonder, though, how she’s relevant to what happened to Wendy.
“Well, they were best friends back then. Kind of. As much as either of them could have friends. Mean assholes that they were.”
If you’re perceptive, you’ll say something like, “But you don’t want to do it, do you?”
Should you not ask that—either cos you didn’t think to or it just doesn’t feel right, not in character for you to do so—I’ll offer up, “I have mixed feeling about this.”
I shift in my seat, grab a smoke from the console, light it up.
“One the one hand, I would like to see her. I used to be deeply in love with this woman and thought we would have a life together.”
The smoke fills the cabin quickly, and I switch on the advanced air filtration system.
“On the other other, we were wild punks and basically kids. I didn’t think so then, but looking back, that’s the fact of the matter, I guess. And this woman is chaotic. Just like a fucking Tasmanian devil of rolling shitshow drama and hefty ordeals over the smallest things.” Between puffs, I clarify, “The cartoon character. Not like a real Tasmanian devil.”
You might ask if perhaps she has changed over the years, like I have.
I take a long pull on the smoke, think about it.
After a couple more, I say, “No. I mean, it’s possible I guess. But not likely. Not at all likely.”
Play procedures
You can offer to conduct the interview alone, and I will agree to it. I might complain about it and give you suggestions and things, and will maybe waffle on my decision, but ultimately I will assent. Should you be concerned that you lack the authority, I will issue you a temporary Ministry of Secrets aegis that will essentially confer my authority to you in this matter.
If you have a persuasion style trait, it is only moderately difficult to persuade me to either drop the interview or pursue it. If you don’t have a persuasion style trait but believe you should, you may add that to your character journal now.
At any time here forward, you can attempt a Clue-style suggestion—or an accusation, if you think you know who Wendy’s killer is.
I will go with you to the interview, I suggest that we write some questions down since you probably still have a thing for Mickie and might get distracted from the business at hand. Also, if she has something to hide she might try and come on to you so you loose your train of thought.