To the Rescue
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Just before you enter the Cannonball, you catch the sound of a woman's voice shouting from an alley just down the street. You rush over to investigate, and see a couple of large men hovering threateningly over a thin, middle-aged black woman. "I hope I'm not interrupting anything," you say, even though you mean exactly the opposite.
As you expected, the goons turn to face you. One steps in your direction, but the second man apparently doesn't like the odds and dashes off down the alley. As soon as the second man realizes he's alone, he also turns and runs. You consider pursuing for a second but then decide to make sure the woman is okay instead.
The woman assures you that she's fine, and introduces herself as Melody, the owner of Melody's Musictorium in the galleria shops. She says, "I don't think those guys were really going to hurt me. They're just trying to intimidate me. This is the second time this month I've had goons harass me on my way home. I'm not surprised, really. I've been under pressure ever since the owner of Jax Pizza gave me an offer to buy my store. Apparently he doesn't take it well when people say no to him. I'm just afraid if I don't give in eventually, he might do something even more serious."
You ask her why she hasn't gone to the police, and she replies "Oh, I've tried talking to the cops, but the ones around here are useless--they're completely under his thumb. I don't think they're bad, really. Some of them might be, but I think a lot of them are just happy that he keeps the neighborhood so quiet. So they overlook a little extortion here and there because it beats being shot at every night like they would be in just about any other part of the city. It's not just the police, either. Nobody else is complaining, because they're not the ones under pressure right now. I can't even get the local newspaper to print my letters asking for community support. My customers are sympathetic, but they're also afraid of what would happen if nobody was keeping the peace around here."
You walk Melody home and promise you'll see what else you can do to help her.
