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Oct-28-2008 02:14


...

“He’s just gone!”

“What do you mean gone?”

“I mean gone, detective, disappeared without a trace.”

“Barry Grant? Gone?”

“…”

“And what do you expect out of me?”

“What should I expect out of you?”

Nov-14-2008 12:42


The train had left Aylesbury railway station and was now moving at full speed on its way to London, Paddington.

Miss Violet Parr waited a few more minutes before getting up from her seat and making her way towards the first class carriage. As she entered, she felt quite at home and she recalled the days when first class treatment had always felt like home. With a smile on her lips, she quickly scanned the lavish carriage before finally locating Mr. Clift Garrett. Unfortunately, the seat opposite him was occupied and so was the seat next to him.

Miss Parr resigned herself to taking the seat right behind Clift’s, giving him her back. She cleared her throat, turned her head slightly and -though she felt like an utter ninny- spoke up. “Good evening Mr. Garrett.”

Clift turned his head slightly, then pushed himself up on his chair, turned, tilted his head once more and looked down towards her. He smiled, sat back down and spoke. “Good evening, Miss Parr. And what are you up to this ‘good’ evening?”

“Well Mr. Garrett, I…” Violet stuttered a bit in reply. She did not expect Clift to be teasing her forwardness. On the contrary, she expected him to be intimidated by it. “I… actually need to speak with you, privately.”

“Miss Parr, this whispering back and forth on a loud, speeding train is as private as it gets. Especially since the elderly couples around us seem to be sleeping.”

Violet felt very awkward speaking to Mr. Garrett in a whisper over her shoulders. She felt quite absurd speaking to anyone at all without looking at them directly, but somehow she felt safe in her current situation -after all no seemed to take notice of them. She spoke clearly. “Mr. Garrett, I know what you’re up to.”

Clift amused himself. “What am I up to?”

Nov-14-2008 12:46


“I have heard so much about you and your Barry Grant investigation through various friends and contacts. Though I am willing to help upon your request, I am actually here to warn you away from investigating Barry’s past rather than aid you in uncovering more information about it.”

“Miss Parr, I appreciate your worries and sentiments, but I assure you that I know exactly what I’m doing.” Clift’s tone included the vanity of a new detective, never broken before. “I come from a strong detective background and am a member of an influential agency, working under the tutelage of a powerful detective. I cannot envision any harm coming my way.”

‘The poor dear boy,’ Violet thought to herself, ‘who would ever send him on a mad hunt after Barry… after all this time, in spite of all these dangers.’ She took a breath then spoke. “Mr. Garrett, I do not doubt your abilities, nor do I doubt the experience and influence of your colleagues and affiliates. But matters always seem to get complicated around Barry.”

“You seem passionate about this, are you speaking from personal or professional experience Miss Parr?” Clift asked somewhat crudely. There was a hint in his question that she felt was distasteful.

Violet felt a little insulted by his insinuation, but she swallowed and answered his question. “Mr. Garrett, Barry and I were always good friends and colleagues. However, our friendship never crossed any lines, and neither did our professional comradeship. If you doubt all I say, I ask you not to doubt this truth.”

“I don’t know you Miss Parr,” Clift said, somewhat apologetically, “I don’t have any reason to doubt anything you say, but your warnings seem a bit melodramatic, I know we’re detectives, but Barry couldn’t have gotten himself into this much trouble.”

Nov-14-2008 12:49

Miss Parr sighed. “Barry always found it hard to stay out of trouble... Though it would have been so much easier for him to make friends and keep them if he hadn’t.” Violet Parr cast her mind back. She then shook her head into the present. “I just do not believe you fully understand what you will be getting yourself into Mr. Garrett. A word of warning from someone who experienced more than you did in this world of detection: If Barry has disappeared out of his own accord, then -knowing him- he would not want to be found. If he disappeared out of someone else's accord, then there is no telling what would happen to someone on his trail.”

“Ticket please!”

Violet was suddenly startled by the passing conductor. “I beg your pardon?”

“Your train ticket, Madam.”

“Oh yes, I’m sorry.” She fumbled through her purse. “There you go.”

The conductor looked at the ticket and then his very suspicious gaze fell once again on Miss Parr. “This is not a first class ticket, Madam.”

Violet Parr realised she had, once again, overstayed her welcome in the first class carriage. There was only one course of action before her, as always. She attempted feigning surprise as realistically as possible: “Oh, really? But that’s absurd!”

Nov-14-2008 19:16

Li Qin Gao, Barry Grant Associates' clerk, headed home after closing up the office. It was the end of another long and uneventful day. She lost track of how much time had gone by since she last saw any detective cross the threshold of BGA. She didn't care that much. Since the disappearance of all detectives, her job became much easier. She didn't have to straighten up or clean up after them. She stopped dusting awhile ago and only had to buy food for one, herself. She didn't have to keep track of who was borrowing what from either the locker or the cash box. Life was pretty good.

It was only recently that she started feeling a little lonely and wondered if it was even worth coming back anymore. Her boss had made a provision for her that she should keep working until the money in the safe ran out. She knew she had a job for a long time to come but she started to wonder if it was worth showing up everyday. After all, no one had been by in a very, very long time.

As Li Qin was walking home trying to decide whether she should go back and just clean out the safe or not, she decided to head over to the toy emporium to see what toys she might be able to buy her nieces and nephews with all the cash she knew was in the safe.

As she neared the store she passed an alley. It was deep, dark, and the parts she could see were dirty and piled with garbage. She could just make out some other shapes that resembled legs lying on the ground but didn't feel it was necessary to stop to confirm that assumption. Just as she passed, she thought she heard a faint moan from deep within that alley.

*more*

Nov-14-2008 19:17


Li Qin stopped dead in her tracks. That moan was of a certain masculine register that she had not heard in a long time. It was similar to the masculine register that she enjoyed hearing so long ago. She turned slowly and headed back to the alley and looked into it. She waited a few moments to let her eyes get used to the darkness and then she was able to make out human torsos attached to some of those legs.

Then she let out a gasp. At the end of one pair of legs, she recognized the pair of High Class Two Tones she use to shine everyday despite the dirt and grime that covered them. As she ran over to those feet she heard another identical moan and saw it came from the man attached to the Two Tones.

"MR. BARRY!....."

Nov-15-2008 01:09


“She’s with me.” Clift got up from his seat and stood between Miss Parr and the ticket man, taking hold of Violet’s hand.

He turned to Violet and winked. “Sorry darling, my mind must have been pre-occupied when I purchased your ticket.” He paid the difference to keep Miss Parr in the first class carriage, and a further fine for 'his own carelessness'.

He sat opposite Violet Parr and let go of her hand. His soft features hardened a bit and his facial expressions went dead serious. “Miss Parr, you have spoken a lot in the past few minutes. Yet you managed to give me nothing but answerless answers all along. If you are indeed willing to cooperate like you claim, then I need some information: clear, direct and open.”

Violet shifted in her seat with certain unease. She realized that Clift had just saved her from humiliation and that she was now trapped. “What exactly do you want to know Mr. Garrett?” she said plainly.

“I want to know who told you about my investigation, and why have you followed me from London to Aylesbury. I need to know where Barry Grant is right now, and what you know exactly about his disappearance.”

“Well, I just had to-”

Clift cut her sentence. “Don’t tell me it’s to warn me, Miss Parr. You and I both know you’re here because you know something. Now, what is it that you know?”

Nov-15-2008 05:14


Miss Violet Parr recomposed herself, having been caught off guard by Mr. Garrett’s sudden dryness in speaking with her. She was not used to dealing with the more direct type of detectives. Though Miss Parr has been assertive and even aggressive herself in the past, she always felt more comfortable when charm was being used.

Nevertheless, she smiled politely. “Mr. Garrett, please let me thank you first, for being such a gentleman during the conductor incident.” She sighed. “There was a time where I could travel first class legitimately all the time.”

“Was that the time when you knew Barry Grant?”

“Oh yes it was.” Violet looked Mr. Garrett’s anticipating eyes. She recalled what it felt like to be a new detective on a case. She maintained her smile throughout her speech. “I have given you my warning and I will now answer all your questions, as promised. Yes it was during the time I knew Barry Grant. He was a gentleman and most definitely a charmer. He always felt like a brother to me and although we met only once during our careers as detectives…” Violet Parr stopped.

She could not believe that fact: Violet has indeed only met Mr. Grant once throughout her career as a detective, in that hospital room where she introduced herself to him in the few minutes she had before leaving. The rest of her communications with Mr. Grant took place over letters, telegrams and various notes and parcels. Miss Parr could not believe that someone she considered so close and dear only saw her once.

“Continue please, Miss Parr.”

Nov-15-2008 05:18


“Right.” Violet turned her attention to Clift once more. “When I was younger, a member of my family was murdered, my aunt Arabella Arundel, and I was a prime suspect. Barry Grant was the detective hired to solve the case, and though I had no alibi he overlooked that matter and finally proved my innocence. I was indebted to him and had to warn him when I came across some information that I believed was related to his case against HYDRA.”

“I warned him when he was in the War Department’s hospital, although I was breaking into a classified facility. I had heard Mr. Frank Georges, noted criminal mastermind and previous owner of the Marquee Theatre, threaten to kill Barry. Later, my investigations and prying, with the help of my good friend Detective Christopher Keller, now retired, and the help of various other friends including Ran, Yoyo and Dr. Harrelson, revealed that Frank Georges had intended to end my life all along rather than Barry’s.”

“It turned out that due to linguistics, I misunderstood my name for Barry’s when it was uttered. I also discovered that Aisha Georges, the Arab wife of Frank Georges, is my birthmother. I was devastated: The woman whom raised and loved me all my life was not my true mother! It explained a lot, she was always a little harder on me than she was on my siblings. I had always believed that it was simply because I was the only girl in the family and she had favoured the boys. Of course, that could still be true, but I will now always wonder if it is.”

A single tear ran down Miss Parr’s cheek. Clift offered her his handkerchief, but she gently declined and used her own purple one.

Nov-15-2008 05:21


“I disappeared shortly afterwards, leaving my good friends behind in Shanghai. I never heard from most of them again.” She swallowed nervously. “I went to Shangri La and spent months there, meditating and calming myself. I re-emerged composed, smiling and happy once more: At peace with myself and all others. Of course, I never wanted to see the likes of Frank and Aisha Georges again, but I managed to somehow wish them well.”

“I returned to London. As my train reached Victoria Station, there was a huge explosion and a woman who sat opposite me throughout the journey was killed. My detective instincts kicked in and with the help of my good friend Yoyo, I started investigating her death and the train explosion at Victoria.”

“This was followed by a series of unfortunate events: my brother Leopold lost his job due to his leaking of information that I needed from the Yard. My father, Sir Albert Parr, was taken ill. I stopped working and retired as a detective and started living off my savings. Leopold lost his London apartment and moved in with me. I kept all this from my parents and my savings were now supporting the both of us.”

“Did you tell your mother and father about your discovery? About her not being your real mother?” Clift was intrigued.

“No, I did not tell a soul. Very few people know and I intend to keep it that way.” Violet was somewhat distressed. “It is not easy, Mr. Garrett, to be a child of two different cultures -especially if one culture has taken over control of the other. It was always difficult growing up half British, half British-Indian, but I had made peace with my English and Indian backgrounds. I had no energy or desire to realise and accept the truth of being half English and half Arab. I decided to entirely ignore my discovery and not burden my father with any guilt or regret he may already feel because of it.”

Nov-15-2008 05:25


Clift gave Miss Parr a few minutes of silence, before starting once again. “Miss Parr, you still haven’t answered my questions about Mr. Grant.”

“Yes, how foolish I must seem to you.” Violet spoke with a degree of embarresment. “I cannot control the direction of my thoughts or speech at times.” She gave him a broken smile. “Barry’s disappearance came shortly before or after mine, I can’t remember which. However, I can tell you this: It caused a lot more of a stir than my disappearance did. I don’t know where he went, I never encountered him during my time at Shangri La with the Tea Steepers, nor during my time in London after I returned and kept a low profile. He may have disappeared due to personal issues rather than professional purposes. I do not believe that he disappeared whilst working on a case. Something happened, something that may have upset him and lead to give up detection altogether. I am not exactly sure what. I honestly do not know.”

“You’ve answered once question Miss Parr,” Clift pressed on. “I want to know who told you about my investigation, and why have you followed me from London to Aylesbury. I need to know where Barry Grant is right now.”