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Famous Cases | Historical Tales | Vampires | Zombies |
Date: December 17, 1973
Place: The Federal Vampire and Zombie Agency, Detroit Office
Background: Christmas 1973 is not expected to be a happy one in Detroit. An economic malaise exacerbated by the Saudi oil embargo and resultant gas crisis has hit the Motor City particularly hard. Americans are turning their back on Detroit's gas guzzlers in favor of a new breed of automobile personified by Honda's fuel efficient Civic. Detroit's auto business, once the flagship industry of America, is rife with plant closings and layoffs. To make matters worse, crime and racial tension has led to a white flight from the city, creating large swaths of abandoned neighborhoods, veritable urban ghost towns. Amid the squalor and despair, vampires take root. It seems that they represent the only growth industry in Detroit.
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| The Fisher Building |
The Case: Ring-ring. The familiar, two-tone sound awakens you with a start. You paw for your clock and note the time: 3:12 am. You hurry through the chilly house and pick up the special red phone reserved for FVZA business. At the other end of the line, the gravelly-voiced Night Watch Commander informs you that a vampire attack has been reported in the Detroit suburb of Grosse Pointe. You're to report to the scene with your gear, prepared for an assault.
You hang up the phone and think, Grosse Pointe? The tony suburb, home to auto executives and country clubs, is the last place you expect to find vampires. But killing vampires is the same, whether it takes place in a tenement or a mansion, so you throw your gear into your '71 'Cuda, coax the balky motor to start and ease the big car out into the frigid night.
By the time you arrive, the street has been cordoned off and several agents have set up a command post. They brief you as you change into your assault uniform. Apparently, an auto executive named William Fannon attacked his wife and children in the dead of night. Fannon's wife Trudy has already been taken to the hospital to be treated for neck wounds and blood loss, while the children managed to escape and are holed up at the neighbor's house. Mr. Fannon is believed to be still inside his house. Two local police officers who were first on the scene went into the house and never came back out.
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| Scene of the crime: the Fannon home |
You and your fellow agents head off to a favorite greasy spoon to plan the day ahead.
Interview Trudy Fannon, the wounded woman, at the hospital
Get the autopsy results for the deceased vampire, William Fannon.
Go to William Fannon's place of employment and talk with his secretary, coworkers, etc.