Ben Hansen
"Okay, how?" Ben asked, all too aware that a vein on his temple was throbbing with rage.
"Well, it all started thirty years ago..."
"You're 18."
"Okay, it all started two months ago, back in chinatown. I'd won a free DVD of City Hunter, or so I'd thought."
Tom had apparently been accosted by a group of thugs in an alleyway, led by Craper. Craper, the mastermind behind several recent crimes, had wanted Tom to join his cartel because of his connection with the best private detectives in town - and Ben & Hugh's thing, too. Knowing Tom's tragic love of Hong-Kong action, he'd sent the letter saying that Tom had won the DVD and waited in the alleyway where it said it could be picked up. Ben was amused to notice that the alleyway was the same one that had been recurring in this story for some time. Tom had had a choice between joining or being beaten with wifflebats, and not knowing how ridiculously soft wifflebats are had made the wrong choice.
"Thanks for sharing," Ben said absently, leafing through his notes.
"No worries," said Tom. "Hey, can I have a drink?"
"I've only got this full can of Solo™ that Hugh threw at my head a while ago," said Ben, pulling it out of his pocket and absently fingering the mark it had made on his forehead.
"No thanks," said Tom. "To be honest, I don't like that commercial filth. Hugh says it's made with the world's best lemons, but I never saw good lemons growing in the Chernobyl rubbish dump."
"Tell me about it," said Ben.
"Okay. Well - "
"Figure of speech. Now, let's all go to Orwent and meet our good friends Hugh and Craper."
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