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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-9-2008 04:44


**New York, Obelisk Headquarters, 1452 hrs (local)**

Osberta Rudisill, the Agency Clerk at Obelisk Inc., walked into Clift’s Office in the basement of the Converted Bank at the Agency’s Headquarters with a pile of papers. As always, she seemed crossed with Clift. “Mr. Garrett here are a few telegrams and some reports that arrived from our London Field Office �" Emergency Response Unit...”

Clift was a bit too busy to notice her growing frown as she put the pile on his desk. “Thank you Mrs. Rudisill.”

Osberta stopped at the door and turned to Clift. “Mr. Garrett, your Barry Grant investigation is starting to strain the Agency’s resources.”

Clift raised his head. “Oh?”

“I have more important and interesting work I could be doing, which would be more lucrative to Obelisk. I suggest you ensure the Barry Grant case brings in as much money as your effort and absence from Obelisk is worth. I should speak to Mr. Von Victor if I feel my own efforts are being wasted!”

Osberta left without giving Clift the chance to respond. Clift sighed nervously: there was some truth to her complaint. He was hoping that his extensive work on the Barry Grant case was not affecting the Agency as a whole, but he did seem to be straining resources... Perhaps a call to Betty was due for a report and request for payment of some expenses.

Clift put these administrative thoughts aside and started reading the reports and telegrams from London.

Nov-9-2008 04:57


**New York, Obelisk Headquarters, 1917 hrs (local)**

Clift had spent some hours going through different pieces of information: The recently arrived reports and telegrams from London, his notes from meeting with Dr. David Adams and the information he gathered from Shanghai and The Closers.

“Well, Dr. Adam's information is immaculately correct.” Apparently, the information Clift gathered showed that Ms. Andrea X is indeed semi-retired as a detective, and living on a small estate in Surrey, England. His sources have informed him that she is not receiving any visitors with the exception of her fellow Agency members of the Hitchhikers.

Miss Violet Parr, similarly, seems to have retired and could not be located in London by anyone.

Mrs. Franks, however, was serving her fifteen-year sentence in Aylesbury women’s prison in Buckinghamshire, England. Apparently she was indeed arrested in China shortly after Barry disappeared and extradited to England. Her charges were endless but included larceny, theft, fraud, assault, slander, libel and forgery charges. Two of the assault counts were against an Officer of the Realm.

Her health reports were not that great either. Apparently life in prison did not suit her well and she was having immense difficulties adjusting.

Clift needed to speak to one of these three links to Barry Grant since he got all the information he could get from Dr. Adams who assured him that Breitkat Pfeiffer and Sahira Quadir had no further information on the case.

Miss X would be difficult to get in contact with as Yoyofoshow previously warned. Miss Parr seems to have disappeared from London and Clift had no contacts in Delhi whatsoever.

It seemed that a visit to Rebecca Franks, no matter how unpleasant, was inevitable.

Nov-9-2008 15:27

Entering the dingy basement office, Jesse found Clift sitting at his desk and staring off into space with a slightly frustrated expression on his face. "Mr. Garrett, we should talk a bit."

"Oh! I mean yes. Sir. Yes Sir." Clift cleared his throat and glanced nervously about the floor of the tiny room before reestablishing eye contact with the Obelisk director standing in his doorway. "What is it, Mr. Hunter?"

"Mrs. Rudisill has, in her sideways manner of speakin', expressed some concerns about your performance here at the agency. I've looked over your reports and... I'm going to ask you to clean out your desk, Mr. Garrett."

Nov-9-2008 15:27


Clift jerked as if slapped, then immediately flushed bright red and began shuffling pieces of paper around on his desk - making little piles. "Yes, yes, I understand..." he stammered, "I've been away... and not here... where the agency is. And the Grant Case, my work... "

"Your work," Jesse cut in, "is more than satisfactory."

"But then why...?"

"You're not being let go, Clift. You've brought valuable contacts and clients to the agency, and your case closure rate is excellent. It is true that your travel expenses could be tightened up a bit, but Osberta isn't really concerned about that."

"Oh." It was almost a question.

"Osberta has been with us since the beginning. In addition to record keeping, she considers herself something of our Guardian of Honor. A reckless rookie can be quite expensive, both to our finances and our reputation. For this reason she can be a bit cool toward new agents."

"Yes," Clift winced, "I may have caught the tiniest hint of that."

"So clean out your desk. You're moving to an office on the second floor."

Clift was confused again, and willing to say so. "I don't understand how that changes anything."

Jesse grinned. "Your work speaks for itself, it just doesn't speak TO anyone. The new office is a bit more visible. Let Mrs. Rudisill watch you work and she’ll come around. Take a lesson I learned in the Army, son: It’s not always what you do; sometimes it’s what you’re seen doing.”

“Ah! I see.” Whatever his director said next was lost; a realization was coming to fruition in Clift’s mind. Everyone had been so helpful in the Barry Grant case that it had never occurred to Clift Garrett that he may have been led around by the nose. A friend and brother goes missing and it takes a year and a half for anyone to show enough concern to hire a detective? Why now? “Maybe Betty owes me more than the cost of a few tickets,” Clift mused.

Nov-9-2008 19:06

Reese Withers entered the Tricky Mister for whats been a very long time. She heard from her cousin, Makensie Brewer, that a young detective was looking for Barry Grant. She didn't know he disappeared in the first place, and was very concerned with this.

She walked in, went straight to the bar, and asked Cyrus if he knew of a young detective by the name of Clift Garrett, who was investigating Barry Grant's disappearance.

Cyrus says, "Yes, as a matter of fact, I do know him..or Ive atleast seen him here. With your cousin, Mak, actually, just recently" Reese nods, and says, handing him a business card, "Will you please have him contact me, when you see him next?" Cyrus said, "Sure will" , and he tucked the card in his pocket.

Reese was Barry's first gal, and had she not left like she did, who knows what could've happened between them....so, it was only natural that she be concerned over someone who still remained dear to her heart.

Walking out, she breathed in the cool night air, and said, in a whisper, "Oh Barry", and she walked on into the night.

Nov-10-2008 04:27


Clift walked jubilantly into his new 2nd floor office.

He had just come back from an important meeting with Betty, Barry’s sister. Betty, though a very gentle and fragile creature, managed to firmly prevent Clift from successfully gaining any answers of information out of her concerning the reasons and motives behind her long wait to employ a private detective on her brother’s case. On the other hand, she was very willing to cover all his expenses and give him some more money for his planned trip to London.

They discussed Mrs. Franks briefly since she was the object of Clift’s trip to London. “I myself have always preferred Andrea to Rebecca. Of Barry’s women friends, Andrea seemed to be the most serious about him… somehow.” Clift recalled Betty saying.

Osberta Rudisill has lived up to her reputation of efficiency and competency once more. The office was ready for use, and all the new paperwork was already piled neatly for his use and review.

As always, Clift eagerly sifted through the available papers looking for anything new to do with the Barry Grant case. Soon enough, he came across a very interesting letter. It was addressed to him from a Miss Withers:

“Dear Mr, Garrett,

I've heard from my cousin, Makensie Brewer, that you are investigating Barry Grant's disappearance? I am very saddened to hear of this. You see, before I took off, from the agency him and I belonged to, I was Barry's first gal. You didn’t know that did you?

Well, now you do. My biggest regret is leaving, and not knowing what could've been between him and I. He was very dear to me, but some personal things in my life, took me away. He still is dear to me.

*more*

Nov-10-2008 04:35


I hope you can find him.

I will do anything to help.

I'm not one to fall head over heels over anyone, but, there was something about him....and I wouldn’t mind crossing paths with him again. So please...find him.

I hear that you talk a lot to my dear cousin, Mak. She is quite a lady, isn’t she Mr. Garrett?

Keep me posted...or Makensie will, whichever.

Sincerely,

Reese Withers”


***


Clift handed Mrs. Rudisill a letter. “Mrs. Rudisill, this is to be sent to Miss Reese Withers at the shown address… here…” Mrs. Rudisill nodded and took the letter. “I would also like for you to arrange for me to travel to London sometime soon.”

“London you say?” Osberta feigned a lack of interest. “Any specific case I could mark down for that trip?”

Clift decided to change his strategy with her slightly. “As you know Mrs. Rudisill, I have no contacts in London currently. My value to Obelisk would increase should I start doing some work in London and make some contacts over there.”

Mrs. Rudisill smiled at that and turned back to her work. “Very well then.”

Clift trapped his sigh of relief until he entered his office again and shut the door very tightly behind him.

Nov-11-2008 00:39


**London, Chez Fromage Restaurant, 2146 hrs (local)**

Clift Garrett was wearing his best, most expensive dinner suit.

Although as a detective he wasn’t making much money, his days on Broadway have amassed him enough income to still be able to indulge himself every once in a while.

Tonight he stood outside the Chez Fromage, a fondue restaurant popular with tourists, waiting for his dinner date, Miss Makensie Brewer. His ship had arrived during the evening time and he quickly checked into The Oasis and left to meet Ms. Brewer for dinner.

This time, Clift has paid in advance for a set menu in order to ensure that Mak doesn’t offer to pay on his behalf again. Clift looked down at the embarrassing bouquet of white and pink carnations in his hand, ‘it will have to do’ he thought.

As Clift waited for Makensie to show up, his mind went to his planned meeting with Mrs. Rebecca Franks tomorrow noontime, at Aylesbury women’s prison in Buckinghamshire, England. He wondered what kind of woman he was going to meet, and was very interested to see why she had the effect she did on Barry.

He would be on his guard though, since “Becky’s” importance to his case was not to be taken lightly.

Nov-11-2008 06:53

Yoyo's Ocean liner pulled into port through the thick London fog. He grabbed his canvas bag and walked to his agency's London task center. It was going to be an eventful trip.

Nov-11-2008 11:26


A purple gloved hand gently tapped Mr. Clift Garrett’s left shoulder.

Mr. Garrett promptly, and defensively, turned around with a startled look on his face to see a tall, slender young woman with light olive skin. It was difficult not to notice her long dark hair and light eyes. The woman was also slightly smiling at him.

“Good evening Mr. Garrett, although I suppose we are well into the night.” She looked up and her purple gloved hand retracted to gracefully adjust a large lilac coloured hat.

She was curiously dressed in a mauve crepe day dress and bravely wore lavender coloured court shoes in the streets of London. She held an indigo velvet purse in her right hand, an amethyst necklace sparkled around her neck and a violet scarf was wrapped tightly around her shoulders. She looked directly at him, smiling again, having readjusted her large hat. “I believe I can be of help to your widely inquisitive investigation.”

Clift Garrett, mentally drained and physically tired, forgot his manners in uttering three single words: "...And you are?"

“Oh, how rude this must seem to you. I believe we have not been properly introduced. Allow me to introduce myself.” A very polite, bright smile illuminated her face. “I’m Miss Violet Parr.”