Oak Tree Mall is the largest mall in Lytton, CA. In 1988, during the time of Jessie Bains' escape from Lytton City Jail, this was also Lytton's newest mall. It is located on 300 East Rose Street, between 9th and 10th. The mall has a large parking lot out front, and many reflective windows obscuring its interior from outside.
After his escape from jail, Jessie Bains arrived there with hostage Luis D. Pate in the latter's blue corvette, which Bains left in the parking lot. He then stole a black station wagon belonging to Camille Rogers. Traffic officer Calvin Haines spotted the Corvette, notifying detectives Sonny Bonds and Keith Robinson to come investigate it. Officer Haines then found Mrs. Rogers, who informed the officers about the stolen station wagon.
A few years later, after her marriage to Sonny Bonds, Marie Bonds began working at this mall. One night, while walking to her car in the parking lot, Marie was stabbed and almost killed by Michael Bains in retaliation for his brother's death.
Bains Car Switch[]
On the morning of his escape from Lytton City Jail, Jessie Bains arrived at the Oak Tree Mall together with his hostage, jailer Luis D. Pate. Bains was driving Pate's blue Corvette, which he had stolen during his escape.
Parking the corvette in the parking lot, Bains quickly broke into a black Chevrolet compact station wagon parked nearby. He moved Pate to the new car, and drove away.
A few minutes later, officer Calvin Haines of the Lytton Police Department's Traffic division passed through the area. Spotting a blue Corvette in the lot, he immediately radioed the LPD Dispatch, who in turn notified detectives Sonny Bonds and Keith Robinson. The detectives rushed to the scene and began examining the abandoned car, in which Bonds discovered the empty holster that had once contained Pate's service revolver.
While Detective Bonds was busy examining the car for clues, officer Haines was approached by Camille Rogers, the local woman whose Chevrolet had been stolen. Bonds questioned the woman, learning several details about the car; and Robinson reported those details to Dispatch. Haines and Bonds correctly surmised that the car had been stolen by Bains to throw the police off his tracks. That car was later encountered at Cotton Cove, and was finally abandoned by Bains at Lytton Airport later that day.
Marie Bonds Stabbing[]
Trivia[]
Keith Robinson claimed to be quite familiar with the Oak Tree Mall, complaining that his wife had been spending half of his paycheck there.
Locations[]
- Zak's Key Shop
Behind the scenes[]
The mall's address is not provided anywhere in Police Quest II, despite being one of the few locations visited in that game. The address comes from Police Quest III, where it plays a much more important role. However, the driving script in Police Quest II, which calculates the unmarked car's position on the map (which is never displayed in-game) indicates that the Mall is much further north of Rose street, closer to Oak Street or even Palm Street.
The driving map in the Police Quest Remake shows a much larger multistory mall on the block between 7th Street, 8th Street, Peach and Rose. It cannot be visited in that game. Due to its proximity to the location of the Oak Tree Mall in PQ3, this is assumed to be the same mall.