In the morning, bleary and a little stiff, Rat wakes to find Willie gone. The older man lives on his own on the streets, and although he may not always be sure when he is, he manages well enough. It's likely he wandered off to look for a breakfast handout or have a morning cigarette, which isn't a bad idea to Rat's mind either. The beach seems comparatively safe and calm, even if the pickings are thin. It is in a groggy but peaceful state of mind that Rat ambles out the side door with the broken lock and hunts his cigarettes for pockets.
Willie is lying on the ground in the sheltered spot between crates and broken down lobster pots, his head at a slightly awkward angle but his eyes closed as if in sleep. A moment's examination reveals it was a more gruesome end than something simple like a heart attack.
He could go, leave him here run to the Doc's house, and no one but them would be the wiser. Willie would go to the city morgue, and be cremated, ashes dumped in a city grave for John Does. No one but Rat will mourn Willie Strummer Thomas. Charlie is dead, if he ever existed, all the band is dead or supposedly left the city. Rat finds the lone police officer that keeps an eye on Shell Beach, and brings him back to the body. The warehouse will be off limits now of course, but it's hardly surprising to find squatters there. For a few brief hours Rat sits in the back seat of a police car, while they speak with him and carry the body away. He's not technically in custody, and after he's gone over what little he knows a few times, and his relation to the other man, he's not even a suspect. It will be a poor grave, but Willie will get a stone with his name.
When the police have taken Willie back to the city morgue, with all Rat's information in hand, he makes his way to Sarah and Dr. Schreber's house. The lights are all off and the place has an abandoned look to it. No one is home. His best guess is they're in the Nexus or with John, working on finding the murderer. There's nothing he can do but wander the streets.
Rat buys a bottle of cheap wine and finds a spot on the beach, and sits alone.
Willie is lying on the ground in the sheltered spot between crates and broken down lobster pots, his head at a slightly awkward angle but his eyes closed as if in sleep. A moment's examination reveals it was a more gruesome end than something simple like a heart attack.
He could go, leave him here run to the Doc's house, and no one but them would be the wiser. Willie would go to the city morgue, and be cremated, ashes dumped in a city grave for John Does. No one but Rat will mourn Willie Strummer Thomas. Charlie is dead, if he ever existed, all the band is dead or supposedly left the city.
Rat finds the lone police officer that keeps an eye on Shell Beach, and brings him back to the body. The warehouse will be off limits now of course, but it's hardly surprising to find squatters there. For a few brief hours Rat sits in the back seat of a police car, while they speak with him and carry the body away. He's not technically in custody, and after he's gone over what little he knows a few times, and his relation to the other man, he's not even a suspect. It will be a poor grave, but Willie will get a stone with his name.
When the police have taken Willie back to the city morgue, with all Rat's information in hand, he makes his way to Sarah and Dr. Schreber's house. The lights are all off and the place has an abandoned look to it. No one is home. His best guess is they're in the Nexus or with John, working on finding the murderer. There's nothing he can do but wander the streets.
Rat buys a bottle of cheap wine and finds a spot on the beach, and sits alone.
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