silverbellelj: (Sims - Myshuno Win)
[personal profile] silverbellelj
Prompt: Someone being accused of being a socialist/communist ([livejournal.com profile] leilia)
Characters: Howie Alcott
Rating: PG
Summary: Howie gets quite the surprise at work.
Notes: Canon. This specific scene may not appear in the legacy itself, but Howie does work for the Sim version of the FBI, and someone is going to be accused of being a Simmunist (communist).
Word Count: 632


Howard Alcott got up from his desk and began to walk around his small office to stretch his legs. Well, it was really his injured leg that was bothering him. After sitting at his desk since early that morning and listening to the rain pelt the small window all day long, it was no wonder that his old war injury was acting up. Deciding that maybe a fresh cup of coffee would give him the kick he needed to plow through the last few hours of his shift, he pulled all the papers off his desk and locked them in a drawer before heading towards the elevator which would take him down to the cafeteria.

Upon his arrival, he noticed that he wasn’t the only one with the idea that coffee was the solution to a dragging afternoon. Nodding to several of the other men who were seated at the tables in the room, he paid for his coffee and decided to take it back upstairs. It wasn’t as if he would talk to the other people in the cafeteria anyways. It was one of the hazards of his job; there wasn’t a whole lot of camaraderie. Then again, it was probably to be expected, considering the fact that he was an FBI agent assigned to investigate suspected Simmunists in the greater Portsimouth area.

He smirked ruefully as he reentered his office. No one, not even his wife, knew exactly what he did for a living. They knew he worked for the FBI, of course, because of his involvement with intelligence on the ship during the war but no more than that. Howie reflected that his father would probably be proud of him, rooting out the Red scourge from Simerica, but in order for him to do his job properly he needed to keep exactly what he did under wraps. People tended to act differently around someone who caught Simmies for a living, he’d learned.

As he perused the files of suspected Simmunists active in the city, there was a knock on his door. He looked up to see his boss, another manila folder in hand.

“Sir?”

“I’ve got another one for you, Alcott.”

Howie suppressed a groan. “For every one I’m able to close the file on, I get two more in return.”

“I know you’ve got a more than full plate, but this one is connected to some of the others you’ve been investigating, so it made sense to add him to your case load.”

Howie got up and accepted the folder. He opened it, and gasped in shock when he saw the name and photograph staring back at him.

“Something wrong?”

“I know him, sir. Our families are friends. Have been for years.”

“Well, that should make it easier to investigate him, shouldn’t it?”

“Yes, sir.”

Howie was left alone in his office to review the rest of the contents of the file. His boss hadn’t been kidding – this guy had connections to everyone else that he was already investigating. In face, Howie was surprised that the name hadn’t come up before. But it still didn’t make sense. Of all the people in Simsfield, he was the last one Howie would have suspected of having Simmunist sympathies.

“It could just be a coincidence that he’s friends with all these other folks,” Howie mused. “I hope that’s the case.”

Looking at the clock, he realized it was time to go home. He locked the files up in his desk, formulating a plan for his latest investigation as he did so. Normally, he did his best to prove a Simmunist connection. In this case, he was going to try his hardest to disprove such a connection.

“I hope it’s not true. If it is, it’ll kill his wife, the poor thing.”

on 2013-10-12 09:15 pm (UTC)
Posted by [identity profile] biglenny.livejournal.com
Uh oh! Finding out that a friend is accused of being a Communist isn't good news at all.

on 2013-10-13 03:50 pm (UTC)
Posted by [identity profile] silverbelle1220.livejournal.com
No, it's not good news at all.

on 2013-10-13 12:40 am (UTC)
Posted by [identity profile] lilycobalt.livejournal.com
I suspect that no good can come of this :( Howie seems fine with his job, with perhaps a few misgivings that he doesn't even acknowledge, but now it's not leading him down a good path.

on 2013-10-13 03:58 pm (UTC)
Posted by [identity profile] silverbelle1220.livejournal.com
No, no good will end up coming from this. I think Howie's a bit blinded by the idea of doing something for the "greater good." Of course, we all know what can happen with that.

on 2013-10-13 02:53 am (UTC)
Posted by [identity profile] rosefyre.livejournal.com
Oh dear, this is not going to be good...

on 2013-10-13 03:58 pm (UTC)
Posted by [identity profile] silverbelle1220.livejournal.com
Nope, not good at all...

on 2013-10-13 02:51 pm (UTC)
Posted by [identity profile] jens-sims.livejournal.com
Oh dear I've got a bad feeling about this. I feel like this is going to end up causing more than few fights among family members. :(

on 2013-10-13 03:59 pm (UTC)
Posted by [identity profile] silverbelle1220.livejournal.com
Yeah, a bad feeling is probably warranted. It will certainly put quite a bit of strain on some relationships, that's for sure.

on 2013-10-13 06:24 pm (UTC)
Posted by [identity profile] leilia.livejournal.com
Sigh, yeah not of the good. I have an idea of who this could be although that could just be me. Guilt by association is going to suck. Because really are you supposed to go to everyone you meet "are you now or have you ever been a communist/socialist?" I mean how do you slip that into conversation over the grill?

I look forward to seeing how this plays out.

on 2013-10-13 11:43 pm (UTC)
Posted by [identity profile] silverbelle1220.livejournal.com
I'm curious to know who you think it is, because you tend to be fairly spot-on with predictions. But it is going to suck, either way. McCarthyism was quite the witch hunt, and it's going to have an impact on everyone.

on 2013-10-15 02:59 am (UTC)
Posted by [identity profile] katmiesterk8.livejournal.com
Uh-oh. This is not of the good. *shakes head slowly* Not at all. I'm interested in seeing how this plays out.

on 2013-10-15 02:34 pm (UTC)
Posted by [identity profile] silverbelle1220.livejournal.com
No, not good at all. This will be in the next 1-2 chapters, so hopefully you won't have to wait too long.

on 2013-10-16 05:40 am (UTC)
Posted by [identity profile] katee412.livejournal.com
I really enjoyed how you evoked the secrecy his role entails and his emotions when faced with a suspect being so close to his family.

I look forward to finding out who it is!

on 2013-10-16 03:34 pm (UTC)
Posted by [identity profile] silverbelle1220.livejournal.com
Thanks! Howie's kind of getting a kick out of the "secret agent" thing for the moment. But it's not going to be easier looking into someone he knows.

I look forward to playing this plot out.

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