Cherlynn Hearth: Wasteland Detective #1

HOW MS. HEARTH CAME TO BAKER STREET

Now, when Cherlynn Hearth first came to her now-iconic demesnes at the facetiously named 221 B Baker Street, she had no great wealth of specific information of the sort she later used to such great effect in solving mysteries and dispensing justice across the length and breadth of the Capital Wasteland.

Nonetheless, Lucas Simms told me that when she first walked into town, the course of a single afternoon saw the great bomb at its center rendered inert and the unlamented saboteur Burke dead by her hand moments before he would have shot the sheriff in the back. She spent the next day repairing the water plant and decorating the house she had accepted as a fee-on-retainer for her services to the town.

Her third day saw her explain to the Stahls about Leo's drug habit and embezzling. She had met and spoken with them less than half an hour before. Leo offered her his hidden stash of chems, only to have her suggest to Jenny that she sell them to the traders that passed by. No one had told her about them, either. She had inferred their existence from differing depths and sizes of hoofprints well-worn into area outside the gates.

Her meeting with Moira Brown left her agitated, but willing to issue “A trifling monograph” on Wasteland Survival on her behalf. Her forays into the near wastes had left her with a cache of weapons, including a remarkably well preserved six shooter of deadly aim and custom bore. Many Raiders found staring down its barrel to be their last living act.

Nova is fond of telling the tale of being present when she was introduced to Moriarty. Cher's eyes sparkled mirthfully, the thinnest of smiles playing about her lips. A honey-dipped voice thick with ironic amusement set the tone for all their future interactions. She is reported to have said, “You have got to be kidding me.” To this day, I am unsure he quite understands the joke.

Cher went back and forth to the environs of the Anchorage Memorial for more than a week, using stealth boys to study and write on the anatomy and habits of Mirelurks and Mole Rats. Likewise the old RobCo facility. She cleared the Minefield with an unbroken stride, having spent an evening watching the one called Arkansas go about his rounds instantly discerning his pattern. She reclaimed the National Archives for us all to use in the new Library system. And then, she came to Rivet City. That tale I shall relate to you next time, including how she and I finally met.