Missions of the Retrieval Team - The Girl with the Silvery Smile

[davedove]

Scene 10


Isolation Ward, Great Hall of X Marks the Scot


Ms. Thrush and I had retrieved James MacMillan and his wife and directed them to the Isolation Ward that Dee had made ready for us. David had provided my team with filters that discretely fit inside our nostrils, enabling us to be in the room with the couple. I had explained the situation to the couple and they seemed most distraught.

“Do you mean that something we are doing is changing the behavior of everyone we talk to?” asked James. He seemed to be genuinely surprised.

“Not everyone,” I replied, “But that is generally correct. This seems to be caused by something in the air. Tell me, are either of you wearing some new cologne or perfume?”

“I’m wearing the same thing I have for years,” he replied.

“I’m wearing a new perfume,” his wife answered, “something I got at a benefit James and I attended.”

“Could we see it ma’am?”

“Of course.” She opened her clutch bag and pulled out a small perfume bottle. On the bottle, in pink letters, was the name ‘Emma’.

“Where did you get this?” I asked.

“It was a charity benefit that James and I attended. This was given out free to all the women who were there.”

I handed the bottle to Ms. Thrush. “What do you make of this?” I asked.

She took the bottle and examined it. “The perfume is called ‘Emma’, after Emma Ritchgarl. It’s a new fragrance line that bears her name.”

“And Emma Ritchgarl is?”

“You really should read watch the celebrity news more. Emma Ritchgarl is the daughter of the Ritchgarls, who made their fortune in the coffee shop boom. Her father was a major stockholder in Stellar Coffee before it went public. Emma is known mainly for being rich and partying with other celebrities. Recently, she has been trying to improve her image by putting her name on a perfume. She is also the major spokesperson for a new jewelry line.”

“Yes,” Mrs. MacMillan added. “There were also jeweled chokers being given out. I got one. I was told they were only given out to the first one hundred women attending and that I received the ninety-eighth one. I considered myself lucky to get there just in time.”

“Ma’am, do you mind if we examine the choker?”

She took off the choker and gave it to me. I passed it to Ms. Raven who began to examine it closely.

“Tell me James,” I continued, “When did you first get the idea to wear the feathered cap?”

“Why, I guess about the same time. This attractive young lady came around to each woman who received a choker to speak with her. Now that I think about it, when she saw my kilt she told me it would look really good with an Elizabethan cap, preferably one with a large pink feather. I’m not sure why, but it seemed like the perfect accessory.”

Ms. Raven broke in. “Look at this,” she said. She had opened the back of the choker, revealing electronic circuitry. “These are certainly not the standard for most jewelry.”

I turned back to James and his wife. “Ma'am, it looks like you were the unwitting carrier of something underhanded. We’re going to have to examine the choker and the perfume more closely. We may have found the source of our problem.”