The Adventures of Will Irving: Automaton Trouble

Chapter 12

Will, Max, and a young man wearing a white lab coat exited a building and stopped near a large ground sign that read: "Automata Innovations".

"Thanks again for the tour, Sam," Will said as he shook the man's hand.

"No problem," Sam replied. "I'm just glad you were finally able to take me up on my offer. I'm sorry I couldn't be of much help though."

"That's ok," Will said. "If you get any news about Dr. Ferryman, just give me a call at the office."

"Of course," Sam agreed. "Be careful out there, Will."

"I'll do my best," Will replied as he turned to leave.

"Thank you for the tune-up, sir," Max said to Sam as he put his hand out for a shake.

"My pleasure, Max!" Sam said as he shook Max's hand.

Sam watched as Will and Max returned to their car. As Will drove away, he waved goodbye out the window, and Sam returned the gesture.

"Mr. Townsend is certainly an agreeable chap," Max said a few moments later.

"Yeah...Sam and I go way back. Aside from you, Hank, Emily, and Jennifer, he's probably the only person I know I can trust," Will stated. "Oh, and Anne and Alastair too."

Will and Max drove for quite some time until they eventually pulled into the parking lot of Millie's diner.

"Hmmm...I don't see Hank's truck, but we're a couple minutes early," Will stated as he checked his watch.

"Here he comes now," Max said pointing toward an old truck that had just turned into the parking lot.

"Perfect timing! Come on, let's go," Will said as he exited the car.

Will and Max walked over and met Hank just as he was getting out of his truck.

"Well, gents, fancy meeting you here!" Hank greeted.

"Four o'clock on the nose!" Will said with amazement as he tapped his watch. "How do you always manage to do that?!"

"Tell ya..." Hank began.

"Later," Will interrupted, finishing Hank's sentence. "Yeah, yeah, I know...always later."

"Hehe...come on, let's eat!" Hank said cheerfully as he put his arm around Will's shoulder.

As Will, Hank, and Max neared the entrance to the diner, two men dressed in suits and ties exited. The taller of the two men noticed Will and then elbowed the other man, nodding in Will's direction. Both men stopped and waited to meet Will and the others.

"Oh, great," Will muttered under his breath when he saw the two men waiting.

"Well, if it isn't Irving," said the taller man, taking a toothpick out of his mouth and flicking it into a nearby bush.

"Dante," Will greeted with a hint of disdain, and then he turned to greet the shorter man. "Grayson."

Detective Clyde Grayson remained silent but gave a nod.

"Hank," Detective Nick Dante greeted with a nod.

"Fellas," Hank returned.

"You guys solve any big cases lately?" Clyde asked sarcastically.

"Yeah, just now actually. For the past few weeks, I've been getting calls about plants dying all over the city. Seems that in every case, toothpicks were found near the dead plants," Will stated as he shot a smirk at Nick.

"Smart ass," retorted Nick. "Why do you even bother, Irving? You're a damn lousy shamus. Your old man wasn't much good either, but he was a damn sight better than you. Do us all a favor...Stay home and play with your metal doll, and let us real detectives take care of business!"