The Case of the Mangled Millionaire

It's raining in Crystal Tokyo this morning. Not a cold, hard thunderstorm that forces everyone to find shelter and wonder to themselves if the sun is ever going to come out again. No, we get a gentle, soft drizzle that will gently soak the ground and be gone before noon.

Sheesh. Even the weather around here is sweet and good natured. It's not bad enough that I have to put up with clean streets, well-maintained buildings, happy citizens, and a very helpful police force. No poverty, very few homeless vagrants, and in this Burg, the term `Organized Crime' can only be used in the loosest sense of the term. It's a good thing Beryl never saw this - I think all the sweetness and light would have killed her in minutes.

And who am I to say such wonderful things about Crystal Tokyo? Name's Magnesite. I'm the best PI in Crystal Tokyo. All right, the only PI in Crystal Tokyo, but I'm still the best. Just your average former Youma-now-a-phychoplasmic-ghost-turned-PI....

It's a living, considering the alternative. I spent 700 years locked up inside a crystal, and when I was freed on Serenity's orders, I was given three choices. I could try to fit into this squeaky clean society, go back into the crystal, or fight the combined might of the Renegades and the Senshi and die. I wasn't ready to die, I sure wasn't about to go back into that crystal, so I chose the first option.

The problem is I need human energy to stay in a corporeal form. Without it, I fade away like a bad TV signal. I can't go around taking it at will, as that would certainly piss off all the Senshi, which I have found is not a bright idea. So, I have to work for a living, just like anyone else in CT. Only instead of being paid money, I get paid in life force. Lucky for me, because if I was a human PI dependent on money, I would have starved in this job a long time ago.

I deal mostly with divorce cases, suspicious spouses, missing property, with the occasional juicy case every so often to liven things up. I thank the Abyss that there's still some darkness in the human soul, even in a place like CT. I'm never going to be the Youma I used to be, but I'm not doing too bad, considering the alternatives.

It had been a good couple of weeks for business. I had finished a nice messy divorce case involving a woman, her husband, his mistress and her hairdresser. I'm still not sure how that will turn out in court. I did think the wife's attempt to drown the mistress by sticking her head into a large bowl of fruit punch during the husband's birthday party was amusing. Sort of restores my lack of faith in most of the human race. I also had a couple of tailing jobs that weren't worth the lifeforce energy I took for payment.

From my window, I was watching the people walking on the street several stories below my office, and waiting for the rain to end when I saw her. She was on this side of the street, coming towards the building I'm in. Every so often, she looked up in my direction, as if she's trying to see if I'm in.

She was tall, with a figure that would give most men a serious case of whiplash as they did a double take. A big black hat with a wide brim covered her face most of the time, but when she did look up, the face matched the figure. She wore a funeral outfit - a tight black dress, elbow long black gloves, black shoes, and a black purse.

Just as I started to turn away from the window, the woman's form blured for a fraction of a second, then adjusted itself again. Well, well, well. The person below is using a glamour, which means trouble for somebody in one form or another. I waited until the woman climbed the stairs leading into the building before I turned, sat down behind my desk and poured a large shot of scotch into my glass.

I picked up my glass and look at it. As I did so, my mind started listing people who can and do use glamours. Despite contrary opinion, glamour magic is still too new to be widely used. Only a few people in CT have good glamour magic, and most don't want to be seen anywhere near me.

The Senshi don't bother - they run the city after all, and don't need to sneak around. That includes my old nemesis, Rei, who is still convinced that letting me out of the crystal was a bad idea. Not that Sailor Mars - sorry, LADY Mars - needs any help in being pissed off at me.

The Renegades? More likely, but whom? Calcite? He's not even in the city right now. There have been rumors floating around that him and Minako had another one of their knock down, drag out fight a couple of months ago. That supposely resulted in several rooms having to be condemned and having to be completely rebuilt. If those two split again, it would really break my heart, if I had one - either physically or metaphorically.

Pyrite? Assuming you can drag him out of his lab, and that would take something serious, say the end of the world. Also, I doubt he'd go for the Man-eater look - the Mr. Spock or Bones McCoy look maybe, but not the femme fatale.

How about Pyrite other half, Azurite? Not likely. Sure, she'd go for the hourglass figure glamour in a heartbeat, but there's no way she'd voluntarily get with screaming distance of me. Besides which, she's got more than enough natural firepower to eliminate most problems that would arise, including me.

And while Azurite isn't willing to come near me, Titanite is more then willing to blast me on sight, no matter how far away I was at the time. When we were in the last days of the Dark Kingdom, she and I had a small misunderstanding - I was trying to kill her, and she didn't want to die. She wouldn't use a glamour to see me - she'd just come blasting in and turn me into a teddy bear, just like the one I have stuffed into a desk drawer.

That just leaves one person who could, or would, use a glamour - Margrave. She's the only one in this merry municipality I have any respect for. When I was released from the crystal, she took it upon herself to explain the new facts of life to me. Of course, she took great pleasure in informing me that I had gone from being an up-and-comer in the Dark Kingdom to a semicorpreal has-been, in only seven hundred years. Still, she's the one that pulled the strings that got me this office, position, and chance to stay clean in this asylum for the terminally happy.

I heard footsteps walking down the hall, and I could see a shadow in the frosted window of my door. I downed the scotch in one shot and placed the glass on the desk. It's times like this I wish I could feel the alcohol run down my throat, and settle into my stomach, but I don't have a real throat or a stomach. One of the items on the downside of being a psychoplasmic ghost.

I then put my feet on the desk, crossed my arms, and said, "Come on in, the door's unlocked."

The bombshell from the street walks in, looking scared. She glanced around the room, sniffing the air. Lucky for her that I ran out of cigarettes yesterday, so the air in here is somewhat breathable. Another blurring of the dame's form happened, but this time, it's more then a fraction of a second before it firms up again.

"Have a seat, Margrave," I said, waving to the chair in front of the desk. "And can you turn off that glamour? It's a major distraction."

"Only if you loose the fedora and trenchcoat."

"Sorry, no can do. Union regulations." That and that they are literally a part of me. Being a psychoplasmic ghost has some advantages.

She sat down, and the glamour faded, leaving CT's leading courtesan sitting in my client's chair, looking like a long tailed white Persian cat in a room full of rocking chairs. She suddenly glared at me, and I realized I've been narrating out loud again. It's a side effect of spending seven hundred years reliving every Bogie movie ever made. I still can't break the habit.

"What can I do for you today?" I asked, watching her. "Got another husband looking for dirt on his unfaithful wife?"

She shook her head. "Worse. I have a murder case for you to solve."

"Oh?" Now I'm really interested. Murder in CT is rare, very rare. I remembered a couple of years ago there was a shakeup in the city's police department because the number of murders for the year before had actually reached double figures. The press really ate that one up. "Who is the victim?"

"Quinton Kallion."

I let out a low whistle. "The millionaire? The head of KallionCo?"

"The same."

"Then why bring it to me? I'm sure there's a bunch of bright and eager police detectives down at the station waiting to handle this for you."

She leaned forward and stared at me angrily. "Because," she hisses at me, "he died in my place of business, while he was with me!"

Now, it's beginning to make sense. While I'm a PI to earn my energy, Margrave earns hers the old fashioned way, practicing the world's oldest profession. She enjoys what she's doing for a living, and she has more then enough eager clients for her services. I knew she had some high powered patrons, but I hadn't realized how high powered. "Was it a heart attack?"

"There isn't enough of the heart left to find out!"

I blinked twice. "Come again?"

"He was torn apart." Her words had the cold stillness of someone in shock. "One minute I'm leading him into the bedroom, the next, I'm looking down at my hands wondering where the blood came from."

Suddenly, other things click into place. Margrave's looking a lot twitchier than usual. Still, finding you just turned a client into hamburger is the sort of thing that can really upset dames. Definitely ruins the mood.

"If you're done with the brooding monologues can we get back to my little problem?"

"Sure doll, but what do you expect me to do about it? Open and shut case, you got a little excited and tore him apart. Maybe you can get away with manslaughter but ..."

"Dammit, I didn't kill him! I ..."

"Not on purpose, sure. Bad for business. But while my memories of the Kingdom are a little hazy, I seem to remember when Calcite worked for me he'd sometimes show up with your marks on him. Nothing he couldn't handle but humans are a lot more fragile."

"Idiot! I've been in business for centuries. Have you ever heard of any of my clients turning up dead?"

"No. For that matter if they did you'd never have lasted this long."

"Right. Nobody gets hurt...well not unless that's what they want and even there I know where to draw the line."

Makes sense but I'm wondering how she manages that. Like I said humans break easily and loss of control is something of a given. "So how...?"

"How do I manage it?" I nod and she tells me, "There's what I call a suppresser reflex...well, reflex is the wrong word as you have to consciously engage it. I think it's a leftover from Metallia's engineered evolution. Keep the breeding stock from tearing each other apart. Result is part of my mind stays in control and minimizes the biting and clawing. Accessing it is almost second nature to clawed types like me. I learned how to engage it pretty young but I had to teach Titanite..."

"Titanite? What's this got to do with her."

"Think it through, dolt. She's a Youma, her partners are human. Someone had to teach her how not to injure them and it never occurred to her relatives. Azzie and Pyrite never had the problem and while Calcite's self control kept him from injuring his human partners it never occurred to him that his sister was in the same boat. Idiot kept thinking of her as the sweet and innocent kid he watched over and didn't notice she'd grown up. So I taught her a few things."

That creates a few interesting mental pictures. "What exactly did you teach her ..."

"Get your mind out of the gutter! She got theoretical instruction not practical demos. Don't ever suggest otherwise!"

Hmmm, definitely a little twitchy about Titanite. Still, Polaris is her major defender so she can't get stories circulating that might alienate Titanite. Not after all this time conning her into thinking she's got a heart of gold.

"Okay so you've got some mental switch that keeps you from injuring a weaker lover. I take it you didn't have to worry about this with Calcite."

"Right. No more than he has to worry about Minako. Or vice versa."

"So you've been stuck leaving the switch on for centuries which must be aggravating. So last night you finally hit your limit, got fed up and switched it off. End result was you turned that poor slob into..."

"Dammit, I didn't! I've been framed. Someone used me to kill him!"

"How's that?"

"Someone shut down the suppresser. Maybe a psychic, maybe they used magic but they did it. They wanted to get rid of Quinton Kallion and turned me into their murder weapon."

"Interesting theory. So why not go to Rei and have her read your mind. That would establish you're innocent...relatively speaking."

She shakes her head. "Two problems. That'll only prove I believe that's what happened. If I've gone loopy then my sense of reality is gone and my memories can't be trusted. Besides I really don't want her in my head again."

"Could mean life or death."

"Yeah but not in the way you mean. That's the other problem. The reading would have to be done at a public inquest. Publicity is the last thing I need! Even if I get found innocent it's the charge that'll be remembered. How many clients am I going to get if rumors start that I might kill them? This could ruin me. I'm not ready to start getting old!" She's getting a little hysterical but stops and takes a deep breath.

When she resumes she's under control again. "Now, if I can prove I was manipulated and produce the real killer then this need not come to trial. I've got enough connections to get this quietly swept under the rug, same as that Adamite mess."

"That what?"

"Before your time and not important. That's where you come in."

"Why not tell your story to the police?"

"Because I have zero proof and can't trust them to investigate seriously. On the other hand, you owe me quite a bit which should motivate you."

I have to smile. "Except that if you get Flame Snipered..."

"...All your IOUs pass to Ti according to my will." She's smiling but I'm not anymore. I really don't want to be in debt to Titanite. She'd love an excuse to ruin me! Aren't they supposed to forgive and forget?

"I get the point. Okay, so if I find the killer..."

"I'll cancel all your debts for the 28th century."

"I was thinking more like all of them." I owe her quite a bit from when they brought me back plus a few favors this century.

"Not a chance." I study her and realize she's not bluffing.

Her life's on the line and she's not going to give and inch.

Hell of a dame. Makes me wish I was still flesh and blood.

"You're a real hardcase, lady."

"Takes one to know one, Maggie."

"However that crack just cost you another 25 years. Take it or leave it."

She glares at me before muttering, "Fine, solve this and we're clear 2700 to 2825."

I figure that's the best I'm going to get so I tell her, "Congratulations, you just hired the best PI in Crystal Tokyo."

"I just hired the only PI in Crystal Tokyo."

"Details. Now I'll just revise my contract, you can sign it and I'll get to work. While I'm doing that you can tell me about the late Mr. Quinton Kallion."

Time to get my brain in gear. So far, I'd say there are three possibilities. First, Margrave slipped up and is either trying to set up a good story or has suppressed the memory. Second, she's telling the truth and someone had it in for Quinton Kallion. Or, something that hasn't occurred to her yet, she's the real target and Quinton Kallion is just the innocent bystander. She's made to rip the guy apart and the Senshi fry her for it. Margrave is dead, the killer has what they wanted and no one is any the wiser. Question is who hates her that much...apart from many jealous wives and girlfriends.

Could be trickier than I thought. Whoever did it I'd better find an answer fast. The clock is ticking.

It takes me thirty minutes, and what was left of the bottle of scotch, to get all the details of the victim and the crime out of Margrave. She's less twitchy now, though I'm not sure if it's from the liquor or the fact someone's listening to her story. Margrave was hesitant about explaining her relationship with Kallion, until I gently reminded her that I didn't need to know ALL the details, just the important ones. With a little prodding from me, she lays it out for me, chapter and verse.

Quinton Kallion, age fifty-five, but the pictures I have seen of him in the newspapers made him look ten years younger. He had been CEO and president of KallionCo, one of CT's largest corporations, and a major business leader in the city. Wife's been dead for five years, so there's no jealous spouse hanging around to make my number one suspect. He has one daughter, age sixteen, who's away in Europe right now.

He'd been a regular of hers for the last three years, the first Monday of each month at ten o'clock in the morning, just like clockwork. Sometimes, he stayed and talked to her afterwards about things on his mind, and other times they never got past the talking stage. As I listened, I got the feeling that she really like this guy, and not just as a client.

Today was the same as every other visit. He showed up on time, and met Margrave in her reception room. She remembered leading him into her "Office," and him sitting on the bed, talking about a minor problem he'd been having with a department head. The next thing she remembered is she's kneeling next to the bed, staring at her blood covered claws, while what was left of poor Quinton was splattered across much of the bedroom. She only stopped long enough to tell her receptionist to call the police, then came it hightailing over here to spill her story before Rei and CT's finest could grab her.

I sat on the edge of the desk and looked at her. She looked calmer then when she'd come in here, but she still had an air of fear and confusion about her that I had never seen before. Unlike the others, Margrave's never really fit into the city's society, and she never will. Until now, she's used that incompatibility like a cloak of honor to thumb her nose at the city's high and mighty. But now, she realizes that cloak is full of holes, and the winter wind is coming.

She looked down at the glass of scotch in her hands and then up at me, frowning. "You've said some real stupid things in the past, but that has to be the dumbest thing I have ever heard you say."

I groaned. "I was narrating out loud again, wasn't I?"

"You got it." She downed the rest of the scotch in one go, and placed the glass on the desk.

"How much this time?"

"The entire cloak business. That's tacky, even for you."

"I'll keep it in mind." I picked up the now empty scotch bottle, and drop it into the trash can. The thud of the bottle hitting the bottom of the can was the only sound in the room for several seconds. "What exactly did Kallion talk to you about?"

She shrugged. "Business mostly. Plans the corporation was making, finances, some problems with a couple of projects the company was having, and deals he was working on. Sometimes, he talked about his wife and daughter, and how he missed them both."

"What about the last month or so? Anything unusual?"

She thought for a minute, then nodded. "He seemed a bit tense about a month ago. After I relaxed him, I asked him about it, seeing as he wasn't usually that tense. He told me he thought there was a spy inside his company."

"Oh?" That had some possibilities. "What made him think that?"

"He said that over the last couple of months, he thought that sensitive information had been obtained from KallionCo. Important project papers would disappear for a day or two, and turn up misfiled. Computer crystals containing important information would appear and disappear almost at will. Personnel would vanish for a couple of days, then turn up with no memory of where they were."

Better and better. I now have something I can work with.

"What type of information did he think was getting out?"

"That's what had him worried. He thought that the leaks involved several defense related projects KallionCo is doing for the Queen."

"Any suspects?"

Margrave shook her head. "If he did suspect someone, he never told me."

Before I could ask anything else, I sensed the oncoming presence of a Senshi. And only one of them would bother to come down here. I stood up. "Trouble."

She looked startled. "What?"

She found out several seconds later when Rei flung the door open and stormed in. She dressed in her Sailor Fuku, red high heels that combined impracticability with awkwardness, and a scowl that matched some of Beryl's better attempts. She looks at me, then at Margrave, then back at me again.

Rei relationship with me can best be described as caustic. She is convinced I'm responsible for everything that has gone wrong in the city in the last hundred years, no matter what it is. Every day I walk free and unblasted makes her just a little bit madder. Of course, since I'm not allowed to leave the city, she just gets madder and madder. Just the way I like it.

"Hello, Rei," I said mildly. "Come to hire me to find you a boyfriend with his own asbestos underwear?"

The look on her face gets even more impressive. "Don't press your luck, Youma," she hissed.

"Sorry," I replied. "I'm an ex-Youma." I looked at Margrave.

"See what I mean? She's getting testy with no one to use for

target practice - "

"SHUT UP!" Rei yells, loud enough to rattle the windows. It does have the desired effect though. I shut up. It takes several seconds for her to get her temper under control again, long enough for me to notice that Rei didn't come alone this time. There were half a dozen Special Security types standing outside my office, armed to the teeth, and ready to swarm in at the first sign of trouble.

When Rei did get her temper under control, her words were glacier cold. "If you say one more word to me, I'll haul you in with your friend here, and keep you locked up until you fade away. Understood?"

I opened my mouth to say something scathing, take one look at Rei's expression, and closed it again. That wasn't a threat from her, but a promise. I sat down slowly, leaned back, and put my feet up on the desk.

"I thought I would find you here," she continued, glaring down at Margrave, who's beginning to look twitchy again. I find that Rei does have that effect on people anyway. "I arrest you on suspicion of Murder," the Senshi continued formally. She placed a hand on Margrave's shoulder. "In the death of Mr. Quinton Kallion. Are you going to come along peaceably?" The way she said the last sentence sounded to me like she expected Margrave to say no.

Margrave looked at me for help, but I shook my head. "Go with her, doll," I said. "Right now you're safer in a jail cell then out running the street." She still doesn't look sure, so I said, "Remember what you said to me once about how we have limits inside the law, and so do the Senshi? Rei may not like you, but she won't do anything against the law to hurt you."

She nodded, though she's not thrilled with the idea. Neither am I, but she is really safer in a cell. All it would take is for her to turn up dead for the case to be quickly closed by Rei and the police department.

Margrave stood slowly, and turned towards Rei, arms held out in front of her. Rei quickly placed a pair of heavy duty handcuffs around Margrave's wrists, and signaled two of the squad outside the office to come in and take charge of the prisoner. The last I see of Margrave is her look of pleading in her eyes as the two police officers escorted her out of my office.

Her prisoner safely away, she turns her glare back at me. "All right," she said. "I want to know everything Margrave told you since she arrived, and I want to know it now."

I reached into a desk drawer, pulled out an unopened bottle of Scotch and a fresh glass. I placed the glass on the desk, open the bottle, poured a full glass, and finally looked up at Rei. "Sorry, I can't."

"Can't? Or won't?"

I picked up the glass and down the contents in one gulp. "Margrave's my client," I replied slowly, using my best Bogie sneer. "When she hired me, whatever she said to me became confidential."

Rei's face starts getting puffy. "She hired you?"

"Yep."

"I want to see that contract!"

I waved to the contract, still sitting on the desk. "I shouldn't let you see it, but I know you won't believe me until you do see it with your own eyes."

I had time for another glass while Rei read the contract, but she doesn't look any happier about it. I thought for a minute she was going to tear it up, but reason ruled, and she slammed the still intact contract back down on the desk.

"All right," she growled. "You win this round, but your time is coming, sooner or later. And when it does, I'm going to nail your hide to the wall." With that as her parting shot, she turned and stalked out of my office, not bothering to close my office door behind her. The rest of the Special Security goons followed her like baby ducks after their mother.

I listened to the entire group stomp down the hall to the elevator, before I went to the window and looked out. Two long back crysticars stood idling in front of my building. There were no sign of Margrave, or her escorts. A minute later, Rei came storming out of the building, surrounded by the goon quartet that had been standing outside my office. They all climbed into the first car, and both cars drove off into the rain and traffic.

I stood at the window for several minutes, deciding my next move. I knew, with a case this important, Rei was going to handle the investigation herself. Which meant she wasn't about to give me any assistance on this case. With Margrave in jail, one of my prime sources of information and string pulling went with her.

Have I ever mentioned I hate Mondays?

After some brooding, I realized that I was going to need someone's help. Someone with many high level connections, and was willing to help me clear Margrave. My list was very short to begin with, but there was only one person that fit the bill on both accounts.

And she wasn't going to be thrilled to see me.

Tough. The client comes first. Personal problems come later. All I have to do is get close enough to talk to her without getting pulverized.

I looked up into the cloudy sky. I'd like to think Bogie would be proud.

An hour later, I'm stalking through the offices of the Crystal Palace, watching people scurry here and there like rats in a maze. I was ignored by most of the office types, but one or two would watch me walk by them, and I could see the question in their eyes. Who is that fat man?

The few other times I've been in this place, I was always in disguise, and today's no different. I didn't want people to remember I'd been here. With my luck, word would get back to Rei that I'd been seen around this joint, and she would close me down before I even started. I didn't need her breathing down my neck while I tried to get Margrave out of this jam.

So, I went with the Sidney Greenstreet look for this run into giggles central, down to the Panama hat and white suit. Of course, most of the people today don't know who Bogie was, let alone Sidney. I wonder what the response would have been If I'd shown up as Cary Grant....

I found a directory near a pair of elevators, and scanned it until I found what I was looking for. Tenth floor. Seems she's moved up since the last time I saw her. Let's hope she's in a pleasant mood. But that elevator music has got to go - You would have thought Barry Manalow would have gone out of style by now....

I reformed myself in the elevator, so by the time I reach the tenth floor, I'm back to my old self, sneer and all. No one saw me as I strolled down the corridor, looking for the right door.

A large double door at the end of the hall pointed me in the right direction. LADY TITANITE: PUBLIC RELATIONS AND MEDIA LIAISON, it read in large and bold letters on the door. So, I'm now in the right place.

I straightened up my appearance, deciding the shabby look would freak out Titanite quicker then a more upscale look. I started by reforming the trenchcoat and suit so both were a bit darker and more stylish. Next, I made sure the fedora looked sharp. I thought of having a small card in the hatbrim that said PRESS, but I doubt anyone in this century would have understood. Finally, I went as far as absorbing the five O'clock shadow so I looked clean shaven. The things I have to do for a client....

I opened the door and stroll in. There's two desks flanking an inner door that said LADY TITANITE: PRIVATE. The room was decorated in modern pizzazz, with strong bold colors and accents. I think they did it up this way to impress the media types that meander in every so often from outside the city. All it did for me was make me ill, a neat trick considering my condition.

The desk on the right was occupied by a well-stacked red head who looked up as I walked in. "Can I help you?" she asked politely.

"Is the Boss lady in?" I asked in my best Spade growl. My senses had already supplied the answer, but I thought I should ask anyway.

"Yes, but - HEY!"

As soon as she said yes, I started for the inner door. She

managed to move quick enough to place herself between me and the

door. She stared up at me, her green eyes showing nothing but

politeness. "I'm sorry, but Lady Titanite is busy right now. If

you care to make an appointment -"

"I don't have the time, sweetheart," I replied, picking her up and placing her off to one side. "I need to see the lady now." Before she could say another word, I opened the door and walked in.

I had half hoped to catch the lady playing desk tennis with a young stud, but she was sitting behind the desk, shuffling papers, in prim and proper business suit. She looked up as I entered. "What is...." Her eyes opened wide as she realized who I was. "Magnesite!"

"I'm glad you remembered my name, Doll."

She stood slowly, and glared at me. "You've got five seconds

to explain why you're here, or I'm going to -"

"Turn me into a teddy bear?" I finished for her, as I sat down in a chair in front of her desk. It's been her promise to me since I was released from the crystal, should I step out of line. "Relax, babe. I've got a very good reason to be here."

"Which is?" She's mad, REALLY mad. Power is crackling around her like a runaway generator. She isn't the girl I'd tried to kill a long time ago.

"You can say that again, Mags."

Damm, Narrating out loud again! I ignored the Mags crack, and say, "I here because Margrave's my client, and she is in a mess of trouble."

Titanite relaxed slightly, but she still glaring at me.

"What kind of trouble?"

"She sitting in one of Rei's air-conditioned, richly furnished dungeon cells, on a charge of murdering one of her clients."

"Who?"

"Quinton Kallion."

I couldn't have provoked a better response if I slapped her. The energy around her vanished like the content's of a wino's bottle. She sat down slowly, and didn't look at me. "I don't believe you."

"Call Rei," I replied. "Better yet, call Margrave's place."

She duly called both places, finishing the second call just as a pair of overbred security types came barging through the door and bore down on me. I felt a hand come down on each shoulder just as Titanite said, "Leave him. Wait outside in case I need you."

The hands released me, and I watched the pair barge out of the office with the same energy as they came in with. They're probably upset they couldn't pound me some before they tossed me out. My metaphoric heart bleeds for them.

Meanwhile, Titanite is pulling herself together, so by the time I turned back to her, she's looking more sober. "Rei and Margrave's receptionist confirm your story. Why are you here?"

I relaxed slightly. "I need someone with connections on this one. Rei's going to do everything in her power to shut me out of this investigation. I need someone to counter her long enough to allow me to find out what really happened. You're the logical choice. None of the Renegades can or will help Margrave out of this mess."

She simply nodded. She saw my logic. "What do you want me to do?"

"For starters, I need to get into Margrave's office without Rei finding out. View the scene of the crime, and all that."

"I think I can arrange that. What else?"

"I need the autopsy report on Kallion."

"That's going to be tougher."

"I know. But Rei has her office wired six ways to Sunday against the off chance I'd drop in for a visit. I can't simply sneak in and look at it myself." I know, I tried sneaking into her office on another case years ago, and nearly got fried for my trouble. Rei's getting paranoid in her dotage.

"I'll try. Anything else?"

"Depends. How well did you know Mr. Kallion?"

"We met several times."

"Did he seem to be the type to jump at shadows?"

"No." She seemed edgy. "Why do you ask?"

"According to Margrave, Kallion thought there was someone inside his company who was sniffing around several special projects."

She became even more tense. "Did she said what projects?"

I shrugged and slouched in my chair. "Several defense related projects KallionCo is doing for the Queen."

If Titanite became any more stiff, I'd could use her as a doorstop. Well, well, well. I think I hit a nerve there. "Look, I'm not interested in what exactly what the Queen's got up her sleeve should someone big and ugly come knocking on the city's door. I just need to get inside KallionCo, and dig around. It's the only lead I've got."

She nodded slowly, but she looks far from happy. I don't blame her. Helping someone who's tried to kill you in the past isn't something she's really happy about. Then again, I not exactly thrilled about coming in here with my hat in my hand asking for her help.

"All right," she finally said. "I'll help you get into

KallionCo. But if you nose around anywhere else looking for

information on those projects, I'll turn you -"

"Into a teddy bear, yea. I get the picture. Your Brother was rather graphic about that when he gave me that stupid teddy bear." Talk about one track mind....

She looked calmer now. "OK, now that I've agreed to help you, tell me something."

"If I can."

"Why are you helping Margrave? She's not exactly a friend of yours."

"She's closer to being a friend then you Renegades."

She let that slide by. "What are you getting out of this?"

"Cancellation of all my debts with Margrave for a hundred and twenty five years." I looked at her. "And if Margrave ends up deceased, you inherit my debts, and there's no way that'll happen if I can avoid it."

Her eyes glowed, and I realized I may have just made a mistake telling her about Margrave's will. But she snaped out of it quickly enough. "That's fair enough."

"There's more."

She raised an eyebrow. "Oh?"

I hold up a finger. "First, there's a certain self interest here. If Margrave buys it, Rei will be all over me like a cheap suit. She does that, and I might as well pack it in for good."

"And the second?"

I gave her my best Bogie smile, and hold up a second finger. "I think she's innocent, sweetheart. Margrave's become too civilized to do something that stupid."

She nodded and stood up. "Alright, let's go so the scene of the crime."

That was unexpected. "Who's we?"

"You and I."

"Now wait, Kid -"

She slammed her hand on the desktop, and I heard something in the desk crack. She may look human, but she's Youma to the core. She's angry again, and she radiating power just like before. Touchy, isn't she?

"Let's get something straight, Magnesite," she ground out between clenched teeth. "I hate your psychoplasmic guts. That's not going to change anytime soon. The only reason I don't blast you out of my office is that won't help Margrave. So, I suggest that you refrain from calling me sweetheart, Kid, doll, dollface, babe, or any other archaic form of address. If you have to address me at all, I prefer Titanite, lady Titanite, or Polaris. I am also not about to let you out of my sight, if I can help it.

Do I make myself clear?"

Great, I just picked up a partner, one that wouldn't mind if I ended on a slab with a tag on my toe. Of course, I'd fade away long before that stage, but the image is still there. If I'd know this, I would have held out for more. It's times like this I wonder if maybe I should get out of the PI business, and open a nice quiet cafe somewhere. I sort of like the name `Rick's Dark Kingdom Cafe'. Well, someone said hindsight's twenty-twenty....

I sighed. Time to lay it out for her. "Will you do both of us a favor, and lay off the anger for a while? I once tried to kill you, and you can't forgive me, right? You hate me, despise me, wish I would melt away into the sewers. If I step out of line, I get teddy beared. I know all that, all right?"

This caught her off guard. "Er...yes -"

"Look, kid. I'm only going to say this once. I am not the same nasty overboss who bossed around Calcite, Pyrite, and Azurite back in the good old days. These days, I don't have much power. Hell, I don't even have a real body anymore! I am not much of a threat to anyone in the current power structure, except to that paranoid part of Rei's mind. The weakest Senshi can blow me away without working up a sweat, and you aren't the weakest Senshi by a large margin. Clear enough?"

"But -"

I cut her off again. "But nothing." I was on a roll now, the anger and frustration that had been building up in me since I been released finally finding a target. I stood up and leaned on her desk, and looked down at her. She returned my stare, and my estimates of her went up several notches.

"In order to get the life energy I do need to stay corporeal," I continued, "I have to work for it. By The Abyss, I have to actually work for it! I can't go around feeding on human life energy at will, not without having every Senshi in the city come down on me like a ton of bricks."

I think she tried to interrupt me again at that point, but I didn't give her a chance. "I'm not cut out for Margrave's line of work, so I'm stuck finding lost pets or spying on husbands stepping out on their wives. The closest thing I have to a social life is watching `The Maltese Falcon'. If our positions were reversed, I'd be ecstatic at your fall from power. I wouldn't waste anything more on you then the occasional gloat. I'm not worth your hate these days."

My words seemed to have an effect. She managed to get out a weak "I see."

"Look, Titanite, There's no way we're ever become anything more but life long enemies. But, right now, a mutual acquaintance is in a serious jam, and it's going to take both of us working together. It's time to act like an adult, and not a child. The first thing you can do is remember my name's Magnesite, not `Mags' or `Maggie'."

She stood slowly and glared at me. "I'll keep it in mind."

"Good." Add two more notches to my opinion of her. "When do you want to leave?"

"In a minute." I slouch back into my chair while Ti tells her secretary to hold all her calls, and cancel her appointments for the rest of the morning. She smoothed out the skirt she's wearing and glares at me. "Ready?"

I got up slowly. "You want me to lead the way?"

The smile she gave me wasn't pleasant. "You read my mind."

In the time it took us to go from Titanite's office to Margrave's lair, I was busy morphing from one form to another. I went from my usual appearance to Sidney Greenstreet in the elevator down, back to my own form in Titanite's car, and on the way up to Margrave's penthouse suite, I became Peter Lorre. Titanite watched it all without saying a word until I finished the last metamorphosis. "Your selection of disguises seems a bit old fashion."

I shrugged. "You should see my Claude Rains."

"I'll pass. How do you want to do this?"

"First, we'll see if Rei left some of her people to keep an eye on the place. If not, no problem, I'll just walk in and look the place over."

"And if she did leave a reception committee?"

"Then we go to plan B."

"I see your planing skills haven't improved any."

The elevator doors opened at that point, cutting off my snappy comeback. There were three people in the lobby, all of who turned to look at us as we walk out of the elevator. Two were CTPD uniformed type, looking big, tough, and bored out of their skulls.

They're trying to make time with Margrave's receptionist, a statuesque blond by the name of Veronica. Which is sort of like me trying to seduce Serenity - it's possible in theory, but a snowball's chance in hell in reality. What these two don't know is that Veronica is a lot smarter then they thinks she is. Margrave likes the people Calcite hires for her to be both intelligent and beautiful, and this girl fits the bill on both accounts.

She proceeded to show it immediately. "Lady Polaris!" she breathed in a voice that combines sweetness with a hint of empty headiness. "I'm glad you could come, and so soon!" Which is pretty good, considering Veronica was no more expecting us then she was expecting a brass band.

"Thank you, Veronica," Titanite replied with ease, as if meeting people standing outside a murder scene is something she does every day. She gave CTPD's finest a quick nod. "Good morning, Officers."

Both of the boys in blue suddenly look very uncomfortable, and I think I see a large sweatdrop form on each of their foreheads. Being in the presence of a Senshi seems to have that effect on people. It's almost as bad as groveling. After several seconds of uncomfortable silence, one of them said, "Good afternoon, Lady Polaris. Can we help you with something?"

Ti ignored the question by looking around the lobby, and nodding to herself. "Very...stylish. Make a note of that, Peter."

I'm a little slow on the uptake, and it takes several seconds to realize she's talking to me. I quickly pulled out what looked like a pad and pencil, but are really just a small part of me and started scribbling into it. "Yes, Lady Polaris," I replied in my best Lorre voice. "Excellent idea, Lady Polaris."

The two flatfeet still weren't sure what's going on, and neither wants to be the first to ask Ti. I guess hanging around Rei has cured them of curiosity. But Ti solved that problem easily enough.

"I am here," she said with a wave of her hand. "To pick up some items for Margrave." She turned and strode towards the door leading to Margrave's inner sanctum, with me trailing after her like any good syncopate would.

The cops now looked really nervous. The spokesman for the pair stepped forward. "But, Lady Polaris!" he said quickly. "Lady Mars has declared the Penthouse off limits to everyone."

Ti looked at the officer, and he started to squirm under her gaze. "Everyone?" she replied coldly.

"Yes Lady Polaris. There are several people in the city who might want to tamper with evidence at the murder scene."

"Did Lady Mars tell who these people were?"

"She just mentioned one - the Private Investigator calling himself Magnesite."

"Oh?" She placed both hands on her waist, stuck out a hip to show a bit more leg and stared at the cops. "Do I look ANYTHING like that dried up refugee from an old time movie?" she said in a low voice full of venom. "Or has the police department recently dropped their vision requirements?"

The poor cops start to sweat. Ti can be overbearing when she puts her mind to it, and she's not faking her anger. Of course, I have to stand there and take Ti's insult in silence.

"But this Magnesite can change his shape -"

Uh-oh. Wrong move. If Ti was angry before, she's now moved into towering rage territory now. The air suddenly became charged and Ti seemed to gain a couple of centimeters in height. As for me, I'm trying hard not to look amused at the entire event. Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed Veronica quietly slip out from behind her desk, and head for the elevator. Like I said, Margrave likes her people to be smart, and Veronica's taking the opportunity and getting out of Dodge as quickly as she can.

The cops are wishing they could the same thing themselves. They're backing away from Ti now, looking like a pair of animals caught in the headlights of an oncoming truck. Ti's not letting them off the hook, though. She advanced slowly, her words coming out in short, angry bursts.

"My name is Titanite...Lady Polaris to you...My brother is LORD Calcite, adviser to the Queen...I am a Sailor Senshi...I am here on official business...I am not that jackass, Magnesite...."

If the cops weren't convinced before she's the real article, they are now. The spokesmen nodded like his head was about to fall off. "Official business, Lady?"

"Yes," Ti hisses. "Now are you going to allow me and my assistant into the penthouse, or will I have to make my own entrance?"

"If you're here on official business....For the Queen, right?"

"Who do you think?" A nice Youma-like answer. Maybe she's isn't as civilized as she pretends to be.

"I think we can make an exception for the Lady...right, Joe?"

His partner nodded vigorously. "Sure, Mike," he croaked.

"She's here on official business, right?"

"I'm so glad I convinced you gentlemen," replied Ti slowly and politely. She turned down the power levels and the charged air in the room dropped like a stone. Five seconds later, there's no evidence of Ti's outburst. "Now," she said calmly, "can you let us in?"

The cops fell all over themselves to reach the door first. Ti followed them, and I continued to trail behind Ti, forgotten by everyone. The spokesmen started punching in a short combination into a small device attached to the door.

"What's that?" asked Ti, keeping a slight edge in her voice.

"A device that detects certain types of matter entering the room. Lady Mars borrowed it from Lord Pyrite."

"I see," replied Ti thoughtfully. "What type of matter?"

"Er...psycho...phyc...."

"Psychoplasmic?"

"Yes, Lady Polaris. That's the term that Lady Mars used."

Ti shot me a look of triumph, as to say `Aren't you glad I came along?' I gave her a shrug in return, as if to say, `I would have found a way in anyway.' But I'm thinking, as we pass through the doors, that Rei's isn't taking any chances with me tracking through her open-and-shut case. Well, ain't that too bad....

We found ourselves in Margrave's inner sanctum. Margrave once told me that she'd modeled this room on the one Beryl was rumored to have in her private quarters in the Dark Kingdom. As she explained it to me, Beryl had more then her share of paramours, and she had a special room she used to `entertain' those she decided were worthy of her attentions. Personally, I think Margrave just feeding me a line. Beryl never struck me as the type to worry about foreplay, as it wasn't her style. But, it's the type of thing her customers would accept without a qualm.

I think her real source of inspiration is Earth's history, namely that time historians call Greco-Roman. The room is circular with twelve Doric columns evenly spaced around the perimeter, with doors leading off to other rooms of the penthouse, hidden behind long purple drapes. On the far side of the room, opposite the door, there's a red velvet couch that Margrave used to greet her customers. Here and there, Margrave has these life sized nude statues of humans. I guess is supposed to be erotic, but all it does for me is make me wonder how the human race managed to survive for so long.

As the four of us walk in, I started looking around for any clues. The bedroom Margrave used for her business is on the right, and that's where the murder took place. I saw the curtain had been pushed aside, and there's a couple of strips of bright yellow tape across the door. There were some bloody footprints on the carpet leading away from the door. They're just the right size and shape to be Margrave's.

Ti strode over to the other side of the room, and flung the curtain aside to reveal another door. If I remembered correctly, that door leads to the other bedroom, dining room, and kitchen, none of which gets much use. "Have you completely search this place?" she asked authoritatively.

"No Lady Polaris," replied Mike, eager to keep that glare of Ti's off him and his partner. "We were just told to guard the entrance."

"Then I think it's time we did a through search of the rest of the penthouse, right? In case Lady Mars missed something?"

The sweatdrops come back again, as both cops tried to figure out a way to say no without incurring Ti's wrath again. They're still thinking when Ti takes the matter into her own hands again. "Very well then," she said. "Peter?"

"Yes, Lady Polaris?" I replied, adding some maniac to Lorre's voice. Both Mike and Joe turn to look at me, and I gave them both my best Lorre creepy smile. They turned away quickly, but I could see both now are tense and uneasy. Good.

"Stay here with the officers, and make sure no one else comes in."

I started nodding eagerly. "Yes, Lady Polaris. As you command, Lady Polaris."

Mike stepped forward. "Lady Polaris. If your assistant is willing to stay here, and not allow anyone else in these rooms, I think both Joe and myself should accompany you on this search of yours." And to get away from your creepy assistant, his expression added silently.

Ti considered for a few seconds, then nodded and said, "Very well." She looks at me. "Peter, if anyone comes into the lobby, let us know immediately."

I nodded my head again. "Yes, Lady Polaris. As you command, Lady Polaris." I saw both cops shudder at the sound of my voice, and I shook my head in contempt. If this was Bogie's era, the cops would have belted me over the head and tossed out of the penthouse on my ear, if I was lucky. But today's cops....If you gave them a madly giggling psychopath, they would have no idea what to do with him besides drive him to the nearest mental health center and drop him off with a smile and a lollipop.

"Don't mind Peter," said Ti, with a touch of suffering in her voice. "He's the first test case in a project to bring those recovering from mental breakdowns back into the mainstream again. Since I'm the one pushing the idea, I had to have one of these poor people in my office to show the world what were doing." I think she's been hanging around Azurite too much.

"I see," replied Joe. "Is he going to be all right out here by himself?"

"I should think so," she replied in a whisper, "as long as there's no cats about." She narrowed her eyes. "There are no cats about, right?"

"No, Lady Polaris. There are no cats about...but isn't Margrave a...catwoman?"

"Don't tell him that," whispered Ti. "He had an unpleasant experience with being thrown into a pit filled with cats when he was younger. Anytime he sees a cat, he freaks out. I mean, He REALLY freaks out."

As she's laying it on thick about my `condition', I started edging my way towards the door leading to the murder scene. I managed to look like I was examining a statue when the two cops glanced in my direction again. I can't read minds, but with the way these two were acting, you didn't have to be. Something to the effect of `please don't let the guy freak out on my shift, I couldn't handle it.' was plain on their faces. I though about giggling, then decided not to. No telling what that would do to the cop's self control.

"As you can see, he also talks to himself," continued Ti, pitching her voice to carry to me. "Would any reasonable person decide out loud if he's going to giggle or not?"

I was narrating out loud again! Sweet Metallia! I muttered to myself and wrote frantically in the notebook: Keep mouth shut when cops present!!!

Without waiting for the two nervous officers to give her an answer, Ti led them through the door and out of sight. As soon as the door closed, I reabsorbed the notebook and pencil, and moved quickly to the door of the murder room. The door's locked, but that doesn't stop me. I just make myself intangible and step through. On the other side, I became myself again.

Whoever was in here last was kind enough to leave the lights on, so it's not hard to see what happened here. The room is almost as large as the chamber outside, and done in the same style. The floor is covered by a white plush shag carpet, and I wondered if Margrave put it in to match her fur. There's a lot of splattered blood about, most of it on and around the only furniture in the room. A large, four poster bed standing in the center of the chamber.

That's my first stop. I glided over to the bed, careful not to step on any of the still slightly wet bloodstains flecking the carpet. Rei's people have removed the body, and most of the bedsheets, but not the mattress or the surrounding lace and curtains. Sloppy work. They're already convinced they have their Youma, and they're just going through the motions. Bad for them, good for me.

Most of the blood is on this side of the bed, meaning that Kallion was sitting here when he was hacked up. The mattress had been shredded with several long sets of claws marks. Most are lost in the overlapping blood soaked mess in the middle, but one set near the headboard caught my attention. A set of four evenly spaced claws about the length of my hand had cut deeply into the mattress. Something about them set off alarms in my head, and I looked closer at them. After several seconds, I realized what's wrong with them.

Margrave has five claws on each hand, not four.

Now that I realized that, other things about the claw marks became clear. Each gash was exactly the same length as the others, an impossibility with the way Margrave's hands are shaped. Also, the gashes are too deep to made by my client's claws.

My brain is now working in overdrive. Unless Kallion had very long fingernails, was missing a thumb, and had four equally long fingers, someone else had been in the room. But whom? And how did they get in?

I scaned the bed for other claw marks, but no dice. The rest of the bed is a mess, too much so to hold any other clue. Muttering a few choice Dark Kingdom curses, I quickly searched the room for any other signs that Margrave was the patsy for this crime. Near the far wall, I found more evidence, in the shape of a cluster of blood droplets half hidden by one of the wall curtains.

I glanced at where the bed is. That's a good three meters away, with no sign of blood on the carpet between it and the small grouping I've just found. Add to the fact that I'm on the opposite side of the area that's soaked in blood, and I don't think this small collection of Kallion's hemoglobin flew here all by it's lonesome. I checked the bottom of the curtain. There's some blood there, at the bottom of the hem, but the rest of the curtain is clean as a Nun's conscious. Sensing that I'm on to something, I pushed the curtain aside, and find another door.

The door is unlocked, and I find myself in Margrave's "Props room". The place is filled with racks of clothes, from all different times and places, along with accompanying props. Some of her customers aren't satisfied with a simple noontime quickie with an oversexed feline humanoid, even if she's using a glamour. No, they want to play dress up, feel the clothing as they take it off and imaging they're making it with a high school cheerleader, nurse, or....

I stifled a grin as I noticed that Margrave has a large number of Sailor Senshi Fukus neatly hanging on a rack, with tags attached listing the right glamours to use with each costume. In fact, there's a complete set for almost every Senshi...including Sailor Arcturus. I wonder how Azurite would react if she found out Margrave's been using Sailor Arcturus to fulfill some guy's fantasy.

The only Senshi that's missing from the group is Sailor Polaris. Interesting. Maybe Margrave isn't soft soaping Titanite after all. Or, what's more likely, Margrave's getting soft in her old age....

As I idly fingered the costumes, I wondered how many favors Margrave would forgive if I was to mention this to her....Forget that! You've got to get her out of this rap first, than you can wheedle your way out of some more of your debts to Margrave.

Looking down at the carpet, I'm rewarded with seeing several more drops of blood lying there. Interesting. Our voyeur came through here after the murder. I passed through the racks of clothes, until I came to a dressing table tucked in a corner of the room. There's a large bureau next to the table, with each drawer labeled in neat handwriting. The second drawer from the top, marked "IMAGES", has several drops of dried blood clinging to it - human blood. I doubt that's a coincidence.

I strode over and open the drawer. Inside, there's a large assortment of pictures of all types. They are all about the size of a passport photo, each is in it's own little compartment, neatly labeled so Margrave doesn't have to scramble to find the right one to complete her disguise. Each photograph is of a beautiful woman, of every type and description. I casually picked up a couple and glanced at them. Margrave sure knows what her customers like.

Margrave must keep this large a selection of pictures to perfect and improve her glamours. By using this setup, all she has to do is stare at a photo, memorized the face, then invokes the glamour. And in Margrave's profession, she invokes many glamours.

And that can lead to problems. Unless a glamour is used on a regular basis, it will have a tendency to break up. That's what happened to Margrave's glamour when she visited me - that, and the fact she was in deep shock at the time.

I pulled the drawer all the way out and placeed it on the table. I spot the bloodstained picture at once, sitting in the back of the drawer. Labeled "Prim school teacher - # 5234F", the woman in the picture looked like she was sucking on a lemon. Her dark hair was pulled back in tight bun, and she had on large pair of glasses. Still, her picture was far from ugly - she looked like the type of woman who would loosen up considerably after a few stiff drinks.

After mooning over the picture for a few seconds, I checked the rest of the drawer. Several other pictures had drops of blood on them. Only "Prim school teacher - # 5234F", had smears of blood on it, like someone with bloody hands had picked up the photo, stared at it, then tried to wipe the blood off it.

I memorized the title and number of the photo, then replaced the photo in its place, then slid the drawer back into its place. I might have found some more stuff, but I couldn't waste any more time looking. Ti and the officers must be on their way back to the main room by now. I've seen enough to convince me that someone's gone through a lot of trouble to put Margrave in CT's version of a hot seat - or more likely in this city, a nice warm and comfortable seat.

I ran back through the rooms, closed the door to the prop room, and made sure I left everything the way I'd found it. I quickly phased my way through the bedroom door into the inner sanctum, changed back to Peter Lorre, and reformed my notebook ten seconds before Ti and the two still jittery patrolman came strolling into the room. Ti had a small satchel slung over her shoulder, and a questioning look in her eye. "Miss us, Peter?"

"Yes, Lady Polaris." I waved at a statue. "But I found something to look at until you came back."

"Very good, Peter." She unslung the satchel and handed it to me. "Will you please take this and wait for me out in the lobby?"

I took the satchel and slung it over my shoulder. "Yes Lady Polaris."

I only had to wait a couple of minutes before Ti and the cops come into the lobby. We watched them lock the doors again, and reset Pyrite's sensor. Once they did that, Ti spoke to them again. "Remember what I said. Do not mention my visit here to anyone, including Lady Mars. You know how she feels about Margrave." She gave each a warm and dazzling smile straight out of Azurite's book of man-eating. "Good day gentlemen. Come along, Peter."

I follow her to the elevator, and neither one of us said a thing until the doors closed, and we were on the way down. "Well?" demanded Ti. "Find anything?"

"Enough to convince me that someone is out to frame our favorite feline Youma like a cheap oil painting," I replied in my normal growl. I outline what I'd found in several quick sentences.

"Now what?" she asked me.

"What's in here?" I asked, holding up the satchel and ignoring her question for the moment.

"Extra clothes for Margrave. That's my next stop - visit her in prison."

I nodded. "You best do that solo. If I go there, Rei may not let me out again."

"All right." She doesn't sound pleased. "Do you want me to pass along anything?"

"Ask her if she's used the 'Prim school teacher - # 5234F' image for any of her clients lately."

"I can do that. What are you going to do?"

"I'm going to do what every good private detective does at this point of the case," I replied loftily. "I'm going to talk to my snitch."

Every PI has their "confidential sources", or snitches. Most PI's have to rely on some half boozed rat faced lowlife for his information. But since I'm in this happy go lucky metropolis, my snitch is a tea toddler - literally.

So, after leaving Ti at the front door of Margrave's building, I didn't head for a nice seedy bar to meet my snitch. To tell you the truth, even the worst bar I've been in this city would get at least two stars from any entertainment critic. No, I head for the Sailing Star Tea Room, one of the more upscale places in the city.

I waited until I'm out of sight of Margrave's building before I become myself again. A twenty minute walk later, I'm heading in the front door of the tea room, looking for my snitch. I spotted him in his favorite booth, sipping some herbal concoction that he calls tea, but I call a waste of herbs and water. I threaded my way through the tables, ignoring the startled looks of the other patrons as I brushed past them.

He looked up from his newspaper as I slid into the booth across from him. "Magnesite," he said calmly, as if he's been expecting me. He's tall, slim, with blue eyes behind a pair of thin framed glasses, and short blond hair. I don't know a hell a lot about him, since it was Margrave who introduced us several years ago, but his information has been dead on every time I've needed it. Not that I've need it much....

"Comyn," I replied with a growl.

He returned to his paper. "What can I help you with today?"

"Background on KallionCo. Key people, any problems the outfit's been having lately, and I need it as quick as possible."

He nodded. Without looking up from his paper, he pulled out a fat envelope from inside his suit coat and dropped it on the table in front of me. "That should be everything you need."

I came very close to looking like some stupid cartoon character right then and there. I caught my jaw before it can hit the table, and quickly slot it back into place. Comyn watched the entire process with some amusement. "I take it you are surprised," he said in the same tone he'd used before.

"You could say that," I replied coldly.

"Margrave got word to me that she'd hired you, and mentioned your interest in KallionCo. It wasn't hard to deduce you'd come to talk to me."

I opened the envelope, and skimed the contents. The information I wanted is there, and more. One item catches my eye. "Quinton was looking to hire a couple of telepaths?"

Comyn nodded. "He was keeping it quiet, but my sources are certain he was within several days of hiring two strong B class telepaths to look into his security problem."

Interesting, very interesting. There are very few telepaths in the world, but a large number of them currently live in and around Crystal Tokyo, as Serenity doesn't persecute them. They mostly make their living as security consultants, intelligence operatives, police investigators, and mediators.

There are five classes telepaths fall into, ranging from the paranormal weak Class E to the powerful and scary Class A. Class B telepaths are rare, and could command hefty sums for their services. Only Class A telepaths could command more money and respect, not to mention a larger dose of fear. "So there is something to Quinton's worries?"

"Oh yes. I suspect another two weeks, and Lady Mars will be involved, and she has all the subtlety of an enraged elephant."

"Rei certainly throws herself into her work," I replied. "I just wish work would throw her back every so often." I repackaged the envelope and pocket it. "What do I owe you?"

Comyn shook his head. "Nothing. You're not the only one that owes Margrave favors." He caught my expression. "Not those type of favors, Magnesite."

I shrugged "I didn't say a thing."

"By the way, were you aware you were followed?"

That caught me by surprise, and I remembered why I hate to come to this guy. He would make a great spy.

"Thank you," he replied, and I slapped my forehead in irritation. If I don't watch it, that stupid habit of mine is going to kill me.

"Who?" I asked, ignoring my irritation for now.

"Two men at the booth near the door, dressed like a couple of cheap salesmen. They came in here right after you did, and at least one of them has watch the table like a hawk every single second."

I nodded. Damn! How in the hell did they follow me? "You think they're Rei's boys?"

"I doubt it. I don't think these guys have seen a shave in a couple of days, and you know how Lady Mars like to enforce grooming requirements."

"It gives her something to do when she's not out terrifying innocent hard working PIs like me."

"Do you want me to take care of them for you?"

"I'll do it." I stood up. "I need the exercise."

"Are you sure?"

"No, but that hasn't stopped me before. Later, Comyn."

I turned and walked away, making it a point to ignore the pair of goons sitting by the table. Once outside, I turned left and head back towards my office. Now that I know what I'm looking for, I spotted the pair tailing me easily enough when they come stumbling out of the Tea room. They looked around for several seconds until they spotted me, and started following.

Amateurs! They're thirty meters behind me now, and are being as subtle as an avalanche. They could pass for twins in a bad light. Both are about the same height, and build. One had a fawn colored suit, while the other one's suit was dark blue in color. Both the suits, and the guys in them, looked like they've been slept in for a couple of days, and they looked twitchy. Is everyone twitchy today, or something? Despite the cloudy weather, both of them are wearing sunglasses. I can't believe I missed these guys before.

Now that I've spotted the obvious tail, time to look for the sneaky tail. With a tail this conspicuous, there had to be someone else more subtle somewhere. It took several minutes of walking and looking into store windows to finally spot the other tail. He was standing on the other side of the street, thirty meters behind the twitch twins. His suit was a somber blue, and he had long white hair, but he stayed well back. He sort of reminded me of Kunzite, but Kunzite wouldn't let anyone else do his trailing. I can't ID him at this distance, and I don't want to spook him now.

An alley came up on my left. Time to get some answers. I waited until I'm passed the alley, before I turned suddenly, and duck into its neat and clean opening. I quickly stand against the wall, shift into the form of a trash can, and waited. Ten seconds later, both of them came tearing around the corner, skidding to a stop less then a meter from where I'm sitting. The alley is a dead end, and they're looking around, wondering where I went.

"Where did he go, Krikor?" the one in the Fawn suit asked.

He's had a funny accent that I couldn't place.

"Maybe he climbed a fire escape?" replied the other.

"Mr. Winter isn't going to be pleased if we loose him. Check the trash cans over there," the first guy directs. "He's got to be around here somewhere. He couldn't have just walked through a wall, or flown away."

Huh? These guys didn't know what I can do?

"Wait!" said Krikor. "Did you just hear someone speaking?"

"Yes," replied the other guy. "It came from that trash -

ULK!"

Fawn suit didn't finish his sentence because I sprang at him, becoming myself just before I nailed him a right cross Bogie would have been proud to thrown. Fawn suit goes down like a sack of rocks, and out like a light.

Before Krikor can recover his wits, I put him onto his knees with a hard shot in the stomach. As Krikor lies there on his hand and knees, trying to reclaim air, I lean down and grabbed him by his lapels and slamed him up against the alley wall, next to a trash dumpster. "All right, Krikor," I said, giving him my best Sam Spade glare. "You and I are going to play a game. I ask questions, you answer them. If not...." I slammed him against the wall again.

Krikor's in a bit of a bind, and he knows it. It's hard to looked scared out of your wits while trying to get you breath back at the same time, but he's doing it. "I can't!" he manages to get out. "He'll kill me!"

"And I'll kill you if you don't tell me," I snarled back. He's not one of Rei's boys - she wouldn't send anyone to trail me that was this stupid, without having several backup teams nearby in case things go sour. In fact, from this guy's accent, I don't think he's a CT native.

No police have shown up yet, so I doubt Rei's people are around here right now. But, that will change quickly. Already several people have passed by the alley, and a couple have stopped to watch the action. I didn't have time to mess around with these two.

A get a sudden stroke of genius. Since Krikor doesn't know what I am, let's see if I can scare him some, at least scare him enough to talk. I'm no fan of vampire movies, but I think something along this line might be my best shot.

By reforming my features a little bit, I now had fangs and vertical pupils. I also made the face more drawn to look like I'd been dead for a while. The trenchcoat became a cape, and the fedora got a wider hatbrim. I must have been doing something right, because Krikor's eyes bulged out of his head at the sight of me.

"I'll feed on your life force until you tell me what I want to know," I hissed. I heard a couple of screams from the people on the street watching, and I glanceed in that direction to see my audience is now into double digits. Luckily, the dumpster shields most of my body from the crowd, so they're not exactly sure what's happening.

I also spotted the white haired guy lurking on the edges, but he doesn't seem too concerned. In fact, he looks pleased for some reason. If these two don't have the answers, I'm sure he will.

Ignoring white hair for now, I fixed my glare back on the goon I've got pinned to the wall. If Krikor was scared before, he's far beyond it now. His eyes bulged out, and sweat is pouring off his face. "I-I doo-don't believe you," he gasped. "You can't be-b-be a Vampire."

I slamed him up against the wall again, and put one hand on his throat, and began to feed, just enough so he can feel it. His life force is stale, bland, and not too pleasant. It isn't hard to stop. "Not bad," I lied.

I released him, and he collapsed in a huddle, rapidly whispering something that sounded like prayers. While he's trying to pull himself together, I checked on fawn suit. He's still breathing, so I take the opportunity to glare at the audience again before I turned back towards Krikor. "Ready to talk?"

"I don't know anything!" the guy wailed, scrambling to his

knees. "I work for a guy called Winter. He told us to follow you

when you left the catwoman's building. That's all I kn-"

He stopped in mid sentence, and clutched at his head, screaming in pain. He started shaking violently, and his scream is hair raising, becoming more shrill every second. Blood suddenly poured out of his ears and nose, and he fell on his face. I don't have to be hit with a blackjack to know he's already dead. I glanced at Fawn suit. He's also bleeding from the nose and ears, and he is clearly deader then a doornail. What in the Abyss is going on here?

I heard sirens in the distance, getting closer. I couldn't stop to try and explain this. With Rei's current mood, I'd be sitting in the cell next to Margrave before I could say "Saint Chandler". I kept the eyes and fangs, turned and ran straight at the half a dozen people standing at the mouth of the alley, waving my hands above my head like I coming to get one of them for my next meal.

I have to give CT's citizens credit. They took one look at me, and scattered to the four winds. One guy did try to grab me, but I tossed him aside, and charged off down the street. I saw the white haired guy half a block away, and I thought he looked pleased for some reason, but I didn't stop running.

I slipped into another alley, changed to the form of an elderly man, and continued on my way. Several police crysticars roared past me, sirens screaming. I felt a Senshi nearby, just before another police car came into view. It shot past me, and I saw Rei in the back seat, scowling. Then the car made a hard right, and was gone from view.

Just what I needed. Hells, if she's involved, I'd better disappear for a while. I don't know how good a description Rei's people will get from the onlookers, but it won't take her long to find a way to pin it on me. So, the office is out, as are the other few places I haunt with any regularity. I needed someplace to hole up for a while and think.

Two hours later, I'm strolling in one of the several hundred parks scattered across this city. Now, I looked like a civil servant, paunchy, balding, and none too bright. The park is almost deserted, but I didn't relax my guard any. No signs of either the white haired guy, or Rei's bloodhounds, but I had to keep moving.

Still, the parks weren't high on Rei's `Places to look for Magnesite when I want to nail his hide to the wall' list. She knew I hate the sun, trees, lakes, grass, and all the happy people in and about these wastes of good building space. She would get around to scouring every park, but not before I had a chance to think things over.

I found an empty bench and sat down. Several pigeons came swooping in, expecting a meal from me. After several minutes of poking around on the path in front of me, they went flapping off in search of easier prey. I ignoreed them, and concentrate on my own problems.

I started with the deaths of Krikor and his friend. The chances of them dying naturally at that same minute, apparently from the same cause aren't worth trying to figure out. So, someone killed them. Made sense. But how?

Poison gas? Possible, but not probable. Since I don't breathe, gas wouldn't have an affect on me. But only the two hoods died, while several people standing less then three meters away weren't harmed. How about simple poison? The old false tooth with cyanide bit? Definitely not. Fawn suit was unconscious, and Krikor was too busy blabbing to remember a tooth. Cyberware? Doubtful, considering those two weren't worth the air they breathed, let alone the cost of implanting such equipment.

One other method came to mind. I leaned back and consider it carefully. A very strong telepath can induce a cerebral hemorrhage in a person to kill them quickly. A very strong telepath could also....

I remembered something Margrave said to me that morning. "Someone shut down the suppresser," she had said. "Maybe a psychic, maybe they used magic but they did it. They wanted to get rid of Quinton Kallion and turned me into their murder weapon."

*Maybe a psychic....*

Of course! So many things clicked together in that minute, I almost got dizzy. The trouble Kallion was having at his company! Somewhere inside KallionCo, a telepath was working as a spy. Who else could influence people to leave important project papers and data crystals lying around so they could be picked up and copied? The personnel who would vanish for a couple of days, then turn up with no memory - deep scanned for data, unless I was a complete idiot.

Of course, Kallion went looking for telepaths of his own - and the telepathic spy found out. Having a couple of class B telepaths nosing around the company would expose the spy very quickly. So, the spy (or spies) had to eliminate Kallion, but do it in such a way that didn't bring Rei and her goons down on KallionCo. At that point, there wouldn't be any way for the spy to avoid the scans of the Internal security telepaths.

So, our mental madman found out about Kallion's weekly little get together with Margrave, and decides to use Margrave as the fall cat in this scheme. He gets into Margrave's rooms early, blanking Veronica's memory just long enough to slip past her. He holds up in Margrave's "prop room", and waited until Kallion and Margrave are engaged in business.

Then, he project himself into Margrave's mind right when her mental defenses are at their lowest, and shut off the suppresser. Margrave goes berserk, Kallion is tuned into lousy sushi, and our happy little telepath waited until Margrave came running to me, blanking Veronica's memory again on the way out. After that, he strolled out of the building, projecting the Prim school teacher image to anyone he met.

Now that I had a theory, I attacked it mentally, looking for holes. But why the two different sets of claw marks? Maybe Margrave wasn't as vicious as our friend thought she was - maybe our spy had to lend Margrave a claw, so to speak. It wouldn't be too hard to blank Margrave's memory for the few minutes he (or she) needed to finish off Kallion. And an up close and personal murder like that would leave the murderer somewhat noticeable. That would explain why the Prim school teacher image was used - Even a blind man would be suspicious of someone with blood all over their clothes.

The more I wrestled around with the theory, the more it made sense. With Margrave's background, it would be a perfect frame-up. Kallion's dead, Margrave in jail, and nothing to connect the event to our spy inside KallionCo. Nothing except a nosy PI by the name of Magnesite....

Suddenly, I gave myself another mental kick. Of course! Krikor and friend! They weren't trailing me, they were the bait in a trap to take me out of this case! And I fell for it!

A sudden flash of understanding exploded across my thought patterns. The white hair guy wasn't a tail, he was a telepath! The sudden thought of becoming a vampire, he must have planted the idea in my mind.

To cause the deaths of two people by cerebral hemorrhage by telepathy that quickly requires a lot of mental energy and being near the victims. Despite the lurid tabloid tales, no telepath can kill someone who's across town with a simple thought, not even the really scary Class As. If that was true, we'd have a murder rate like the rest of the world's, and there would actually be something for people to argue about....

No, these murders had to have been committed by our telepath up close and personal.

I was really angry now. I had been played far a sap! Our white haired friend had set me up to take a rap as good as the one Margrave was facing. Eliminate the one chance Margrave's got by setting me up for a couple of murders in broad daylight. Rei can toss me into the slammer, pop me for good, or have me on the run. No matter what happened, I couldn't go to the police with my theory. Which meant I'm left with Titanite as my only ally.

I might as well be dead.

That's what I think until I spotted one of the free use phones not too far away from the bench. These phones are scattered across the city, usable by anyone. Each phone has a small box attached for donations, but payment is not a requirement to use the phone. I don't know why Serenity insisted on this idea of free phone service, but I'm not complaining any. I need to get ahold of Ti, and I didn't have any cash to use a regular pay phone.

I picked up the phone, and ask the operator for Lady Polaris's

office. Without delay, the operator put me through. The Redhead

answered the phone. /Lady Polaris's office./

I used my Lorre voice so the receptionist won't recognize my voice. "Is Lady Polaris in?"

/Who's calling, please?/

"Peter. We met on the elevator today. She left something in the elevator, and I'm calling to tell her I have it."

/One moment please./

Ten seconds later, Ti picked up the phone, and I can hear

power cracking through the line. /All right, Asshole,/ she

snarls. /What the hell happened in that alley? Rei's got people

scouring the city for you, and unless you have a hell of a good

answer, I'll make sure she knows everything that happen this

afternoon, including this phone call./

"Nice to hear from you too, Kid," I replied in my normal voice. "Now, are you going to accept Rei's story, or are you going to listen to mine first?"

She's calmer now, but there's still plenty of anger there.

/Go ahead./

I tell her everything that happened from the time I left her to right now, leaving out only my small snack of Krikor's life force. She wouldn't understand, and I've got enough problems right now without having my only ally gunning for me. There's nothing worse then a Youma with a strong sense of morality....

Ti said nothing until I finished. /I see./ she said. /It

makes more sense then Rei's report./

"Rei can be inventive at times. Did you get the autopsy report on Kallion?"

/I did. You were right, there were two different sets of

claw marks on the body. One set's definitely Margrave's, but the

other..../

"No identification, right?"

/Right. And Margrave said she hasn't used the `Prim school

teacher' image in months./

"That's how the murderer walked out of the building."

/Huh?/

"We're dealing with a Class A telepath. I've got a theory to run past you. A theory on what really happen in Margrave's rooms this morning." I outlined my theory, including the setup against me, taking time to point out where it fit the few facts I did know.

After I finished, she said grudgingly, /Makes sense, Too much

sense for my taste. Now what? You're up to your eyebrows in

trouble. Rei wants your head on a platter./

"That's nothing new. Rei has always wanted my head on a platter."

/Be serious. If you're in jail, Margrave's chances of

getting out of this take a nosedive./

"I know. Listen, I need you to do some things for me."

She sounded exasperated. /If I can fit them in my very busy

schedule, and doesn't violate the law./

"Relax Doll, violating the law's my department. I need you to check on the names and whereabouts of all class A and B telepaths currently in the city, especially anyone named Winter."

/Can you tell me why?/

"Because if my theory is right, and those two new additions to CT's morgue died of induced cerebral hemorrhaging. It would take at least a strong class B telepath to effect such an event twice within seconds. And people that strong are few and far between."

/I can do that. Why are you looking for someone named

Winter?/

"Because that's the only name Krikor managed to spit out before his brain developed a continual leak."

/Any idea what this Winter person looks like?/

"I spotted a guy hanging around that alley that could be a good candidate. Reminded me of a younger Kunzite, but without the ego."

There's silence on the other end. I sighed and shook my head slowly. Still haunting nightmares despite being dead and dust for nearly a thousand years. "Relax, Kunzite's deader then last week's news. I said the guy reminded me of him. I didn't say it was him, OK?"

/OK,/ she replies tightly. It's strange that a guy who's been dead for nearly a thousand years still has the power to make people quake. Hell, I was him for a time, long ago, and I'm still not sure what the secret of his power was. I kinda wish I had that power, but with the way I am today, I doubt that anyone a thousand years down the road from now is going to fearfully twitch at the name of Magnesite. Laugh themselves silly maybe, but cause people to become silent and fearful? No.

While I'm pondering, she regained her complete self control.

/I can get that list of telepaths. What else?/

"The autopsy report on the two stiffs in the alley. I'm betting two bottles of CT's finest Scotch that they each died of a cerebral hemorrhage."

/I'm not betting with you on anything, but I should be able

to get ahold of the report./

"Fine. I still need to get inside KallionCo. That's where the mastermind of this plot works."

/Assuming that you're right about the theory of yours. You

have little proof, and a lot of speculation right now./

"I know, I know. But it's the only thing that fits the few facts we do have. Unless, you think Margrave actually did it."

/You know I don't./ She managed to sound insulted. From the rustle of papers, she sorting through a stack of them for something. /I think I've found a way to get you inside KallionCo.

Is tomorrow morning too late?/

"Perfect." That gave me time to do some serious reading of the stuff Comyn gave me. "How are you going to get me in?"

/There's a group of overseas investors due in late tonight.

They're supposed to tour KallionCo tomorrow. I've been tapped to

be their tour leader. I'm sure I can slip you in with them./

"Where overseas?"

/All over. With the right look, you'll pass as a

businessman./

I liked her thinking. "Look, I'd better go. When and where should we meet tomorrow morning?"

/My office, nine O'clock. And don't you dare show up in a

trenchcoat and Fedora./

"Sounds like a plan. Until then, Dollface."

/I'm not Dollface!/

"You are in my book. Bye." I hung up before she could reply, and strolled off into the cheerful sunny afternoon.

The next morning, I arrived at Titanite's office ten minutes before 9AM, using my Sydney Greenstreet form to get into the building. As before, I was ignored by the scurrying packs of bureaucrats all around me. But when I reached the elevators, the first hint that this wasn't going to be a good day when I felt the familiar presence of an oncoming Senshi.

"Not now," I muttered, glancing up at the floor indicator above the elevator's doors. Only one was descending, and that one just starting down from the tenth floor. I jabbed the up button harder then I had to, and hoped my Senshi sense was wrong for once. Something told me I wasn't going to be that lucky. My mental money was on Rei being her usual grouchy self. Knowing her, she found out about Ti's little trip to Margrave's place yesterday.

One thing about Rei that makes her charming is her determination to nail me to the wall for something, no matter how small. She's gone so far as to watch every Bogie movie she could find, just so she knew the appearance of every actor and character I could disguise myself as. While nearly everyone else, with the exception of the few real Bogart fans that do survive in this merry megalopolis, wouldn't know Sydney Greenstreet from Mary Astor, Rei could ID me easily.

The doors opened on another car across the hallway from where I was standing. Moving as quickly as I could, I plowed into the elevator car, finding myself with several other passengers who were surprised as how fast I could move my bulk. Muttering a few apologies, I moved all the way to the back of the car, and pulled my hat low over my eyes.

Just as the doors started to closed on this car, the car across the hall opened its doors, and Rei popped out, followed by two uniformed goons. Her eyes gleamed dangerously, a sure sign she was in her usual unpleasant mood. I just managed to see her made a hard right turn and stalk away, before the doors closed completely. She never looked in my direction. I patted my forehead with what appeared to be a silk handkerchief, and made a remark about the weather. The other people gave reserved, but friendly replies, and that exhausted all conversation for the few seconds we were onboard.

Because I had company, I had to stay as Sydney for the entire ride up. Because I'd seen Rei, I decided to get off on the ninth floor. After exiting the elevator, I causally walked down the corridor, found the stairwell, reformed myself into Caesar Romero (Let's see Rei try to ID me now), and climbed the stairs to the tenth.

The stacked redhead was behind her desk again, but there were a pair of suits quietly sitting in the corners of the room, trying to look like they were reading, and doing a poor job of it. The only thing these two were missing was PROPERTY OF REI HINO stamped on their foreheads. They gave me the once over, but since Caesar never did a film with Saint Humphry, I doubted they would recognize me.

I strolled over to the desk, smiled at the redhead, and said, "Excuse me Miss," I said in a fair imitation of Caesar's voice. "My name is Luis Samuel Falcone. Could I please speak with Lady Polaris?"

I must have caught her flat footed, because she actually giggled. "One moment please," she replied huskily, and dialed into Ti's office. The two flatfeet not hiding their suspicions as they glare at me, either because they think I'm a threat, or because I was making more headway with the redhead then they had.

Ten seconds after the redhead hung up the phone, Ti came stalking out of the office, a look of curiosity on her face. Her eyes widen slightly as she saw me, but she recovered quickly. "Mr. Falcone," she said pleasantly, stretching out a hand to greet me.

On a flash of inspiration, I took Ti's offered hand and kissed it. I felt her hand and her arm tightened, and waited for a second to see if she'd blast me. She didn't, and I released the hand. I stepped back, and winked at her.

"I must apologize for this intrusion," I said smoothly. "But my transport was late getting me here to this wonderful city. Not knowing your schedule for the day, I needed to see you on an important matter."

"Of course," replied Ti, just as smoothly, but I could see she was slightly annoyed. "I can spare you a few minutes." She turned and walked back into her office, with me trailing behind her.

She waited until she'd closed the door before she turned and looked at me. "You idiot!" she said in a low voice. "Those are Rei's men out there!"

I went back to my normal form. "I know. I spotted Rei on the way up."

"She doesn't know you and I are working together - yet. But she did find out about our little trip to Margrave's penthouse yesterday, as well as my interest in Kallion's autopsy report." She gave me a half frown. "She's also looking for `Peter,' so I'd advised you not to use that form for a century or two."

I nodded. "Rei may be in a constant state of PMS, but she is smart and efficient at her job - just don't tell her I said that, OK?" I occupied one of Ti's chairs. "What did she talk to you about?"

"She said I was interfering with her investigation of Kallion's murder. I told her she wasn't investigating, she was railroading Margrave." She stopped for a second. "It got abusive after that."

"Wish I'd been here to see that." I would have PAID to see two Senshis get into a good old argument. That's something that would warm my...well, you know.

She gave me a glare that was on a par with one of Rei's better glowers. I didn't know if it was because it was the crack about missing the argument, or I was narrating out loud again. After several seconds of basking in that glare, Ti stalked over to her desk, and sat behind it. "What happened to you after our conversation yesterday?"

"I spent the rest of the afternoon on the move, switching forms ever so often to confuse any possible tails. Being my old self was out. By now, Rei probably had my description out to every doughnut eating member of CT's finest, down to the individual hairs of my five O'clock shadow."

"You're right." She picked up a sheaf of paper off her desk, and gave it to me. I glanced at them. Yep, every actor or character I'd used over the last several decades was there, as well as several that I hadn't used yet. Caesar wasn't among them.

I looked up at Ti. "How did you know that was me out there?"

She gave me a long suffering look. "Your not the only one who's watched black and white movies before. I recognized you as Caesar Romero as soon as I saw you."

Made sense. Ti had spent some time watching other things on TV besides Anime. Never thought of her as an old time movie buff.

"I'm not," she said suddenly, and I shook my head. Thinking out loud again. "Where did you spend the night?"

I smirked. "The last place Rei would look for me, but that's need to know, and you don't need to know."

Her eyes narrowed. "You don't trust me, do you?"

"As much as you trust me, sweetheart." That made her flinch. "Which means if you put all that trust between us into a thimble, you'd still have room left over for the thumb."

She was silent for a moment, with gave me time to think. As long as I could help Margrave, Ti would work with me. The second I couldn't, Rei would sweep down on me like a vulture wearing red high heels. So, I wasn't about to tell an old enemy where I'd spent the night.

The floor below Margrave's penthouse was a nice place to hold up for several hours. Margrave had told me once that the entire floor was empty because everyone had moved out within six months after she'd set up her new business. Seems the people working on that floor became more concerned about listening to her and her clients testing the mattress upstairs then they were putting into work. After a couple of weeks of intense discussion (read much yelling and screaming on everyone's part), Margrave agreed to pay the rent on the entire floor below hers, and the companies who were there agreed to move.

The result was there was an empty floor with plenty of furnished offices I could hide in until the morning. Building security doesn't bother patrolling this floor, and the cleaning crew comes in only once a week, so I figured I was safe for a while. I spent most of the night reading over the large amount of information Comyn had put together.

Ti shrugged and looked at me again. "You mentioned yesterday that you had gone to see your snitch. Did he give you anything useful?"

"Plenty. I just don't know how useful it'll be."

She glanced at her watch. "You have fifteen minutes before the rest of the tour group arrives. Start talking."

I pulled out the package of cigarettes I'd picked up earlier, but a stern glare from Ti forced me to put them away again. I started with a financial report Comyn had somehow obtained, showing that Kallion was in sound shape in the area of money. And considering the size of the outfit, a well-run operation. There were several large sums of money put into special projects that were nothing more then codenames, but it all seemed to be above board and straight forward.

Next was a summary of Quinton Kallion's contacts with the two Class B telepaths he wanted to hire. Ti nodded. "Another reason why you wanted the list of class A and B telepaths in the city."

"In part. What did you turn up?"

"There are four Class A and seven Class B telepaths registered in Crystal Tokyo that are currently in the city. None of them match the description of the white haired guy you saw yesterday, and all eleven had perfect, air tight alibis. None were within five kilometers of the alley during the time you were playing Dracula."

"I doubted our boy would send up a flag reading Here I am - murdering telepath." I thought for a minute. "Speaking of which, what about any telepaths with the name Winter?"

Ti gave me a small smile. "On that, you may have something."

"Oh?" I tossed the papers back onto her desk. I got up, went over to the small liquor cabinet on across the office from Ti, and pour myself a drink. "Spit it out."

"I checked with CT's Intelligence Division. They have a file on a telepath called Winter. And he's a bad boy."

"You have contacts within ID?" I asked surprised. CT's Intelligence Division is the ones tasked with spying on everyone outside the city. Unlike Rei, the head of that outfit keeps a low profile, and his people take the cue. Officially, ID doesn't exist, but there are stories and rumors floating around that if half of them were true, they could have work for Beryl with no problems, and done a better job of invading the Earth then the Four Horsemen of the Incompetent did.

She ignored my question, so I returned to my seat, glass in hand, and slouched into it. "I'll bite. How bad a boy is this guy Winter?"

"Depends how you define bad." Ti flipped through a folder on her desk. "Let's see...multiple counts each of Industrial espionage, sabotage, murder...." She paused, and without looking up, passed over another folder to me. "Speaking of which, that's the autopsy report on your playmates from the alley. You were right on the money with the cause of death - both died of a massive cerebral hemorrhage."

I glanced over the report, confirming Ti's words. "Rei's seen this?"

"She has. But it hasn't changed her opinion of you. She thinks you're guilty of something."

"She thinks that every time I exhale, I should be cited for air pollution. And I don't even breathe."

"Poor guy," replied Ti, with no trace of sympathy. She went back to her papers. "Where was I? Ah, here we go...forcible removal of confidential information by telepathy, and those are the crimes he's known to have committed. He's on the top ten most wanted list in eight countries, and has been sentenced to death in abstaintia in four others. Even the StarHunters are looking for him."

I took a swallow from my drink. This had the makings of being a classic needle in a haystack. "Any pictures?"

"Nope. He's also camera shy."

"Known associates?"

"Two. Both telepaths. And yes, these two have pictures to go along with the name." She passed over some more papers, and I glanced over them.

The first was Modron Anderson. The picture showed a striking blonde with green eyes and a dazzling smile. She looked like the type of dame that attracted danger like a magnet. I glanced at the rest of the file, and she definitely attracted trouble. Her list of crimes was nearly as long as Winter's. "Nice girl," was my only comment.

I looked at the second folder. Josep Herwin was the exact opposite of Modron in looks. His picture showed an ugly puss that looked like twenty miles of bad roads. His record was even worst than Winter's - this goon liked to inflict pain. From what was there, Winter used this guy as his muscle. Talk about beauty and the beast.

I tossed the files back onto Ti's table. "Who do they work for?"

"Anyone who can afford them. Winter's a freelancer industrial spy, one of the best in the world."

"That defiantly added weight to my theory about a telepath working inside KallionCo."

"But not enough to convince Rei."

I took another sip from my drink. "Most of the products KallionCo makes might interest a rival, but not to the point of hiring this guy Winter. He's expensive, right?"

"Very."

"Not worth the time and effort to hire for a simple case of industrial espionage." I finished the drink and looked at Ti. "But those several defense related projects KallionCo was doing for the Queen...." I let it hang for several seconds.

Ti looked grim. "That has to be the reason for all this."

"But why?" I asked. "Serenity isn't an aggressive type of leader. Those defense related projects would really be defensive in nature, plus anything like that would probably be geared to be used in conjunction with the Senshi's powers."

"Which wouldn't make them too useful to those power mad types outside the city," remarked Ti dryly.

Several thoughts suddenly reformed into a theory, and I voiced it. "But suppose Winter was stealing the data from the projects because someone wants to duplicate the work. Not for their own use, but to study and figure out a way to neutralize these new defenses?"

Ti closed her eyes for a minute, and she looked troubled.

"You know what you're suggesting?"

"A future invasion by someone whose decided CT will look good with their flag flying over the Crystal Palace." That was a scary thought to the CT citizens, one they lived with every day. There were too many countries, large and small, near and far, who would love to claim CT as their own. The only things barring them from realizing that goal was the combined firepower of the Senshi, that honking great crystal that turned the Dark Kingdom in memories, and magical defenses that could shake off 20 megaton nukes like a dog shaking off water. The city may be soft in the middle, but that's a very hard shell surrounding it.

I stood up. I was wandering too far from my main purpose now, namely getting Margrave out of the slammer, and back to her nypho self. "Leave politics to those who enjoy them, I have a client to rescue."

She looked up me. "Wrong, Psychoplasmic breath. WE have a friend to rescue."

I sighed. This was defiently going to be a long day....

By the time the tour group showed up, Ti and I had hammered together a plan of sorts about our trip to KallionCo. We decided that I'd go as Caesar, go in with the tour group, then slip away at the right time and look around. Ti was prepared for this part of the operation. She passed over several pictures to me.

I looked over them slowly. They looked like a hardened band of thieves. "Who are these clowns?"

The smile on her face was almost gleeful. "Trusted employees of KallionCo. I figured that you might want a face less obvious there your own mug when you go wandering around the building." She glanced down at her watch. "Time to leave, Mags. Change back to Caesar and let's go."

The bus trip out to this place was like most things in CT - quick, clean and efficient. I sat all the way in the back and waited for the bus to have a flat tire, run out of gas, have an accident, or SOMETHING unpleasant to happen. The rest of our merry little group of corporate sharks talked amongst themselves, oblivious to the rest of the world around them. Ti sat all the way in front with a couple of fresh faced kids from Public Relations who'd been dragooned into the role of chaperons. At least they didn't play Barry Manlow on the radio on the way there....

Forty minutes later, we pulled up to a ten story tall building was part of an enormous business complex in a suburb of the city. To me, the building itself looked like a clash of old world charm and modern design in which both sides had lost. A large sign in front of the building stated in big bold words:

KALLIONCO. HELPING PEOPLE BY BRING MAGITECH TO THEIR LIVES. I

think we found the right place.

I was the last one out of the bus. Ti stood by the door with an honest to Metallia clipboard in her hands. She glanced at her two aides who had the task of keeping the group together going up to the front door before she looked at me.

"Nice place," I remarked to Ti as I walked by her. "Where's the rest of the company?"

"This entire complex IS the rest of the company," she replied tartly.

"Oh," I shot back. "How are we going to play this, sweet-cheeks?"

I saw her jaw tighten, the steel clipboard began to buckle in her hands, and her face became red. "One more remark like that," she said in a low voice, "and Margrave or no Margrave, I will use the biggest mallet I can create to squash you, then take your liquefied remains and fabricate as many teddy bears as I can out of them. I will then mail most of them to every corner of the earth, plus shoot a couple into space just for the hell of it. Do I make myself clear?"

I gave her a smile. "Has anyone told you you're beautiful when you're angry?"

At that point, the clipboard crumpled in her hands like a piece of paper. I walked away quickly, hoping she'd control her temper before she'd carry out her threat. One of her aides stood by the door, looking puzzled as I approached. "Is anything wrong?" he asked.

I gave him a smile. "She wanted to have dinner with me," I said, putting as much of Caesar as I could into my voice. "But I declined her invitation, and she is not pleased. I suggest we do not mention this small incident to anyone. It would be embarrassing to both myself and her."

The kid nodded solemnly and opened the door for me. By the time Ti regained her temper, I was mixed in with the other suits.

So, there I was, part of a flock of suits that came bustling through the front door of the KallionCo building on that Tuesday morning. Ti and her people were running around the suits like dogs herding sheep. The suits were talking amongst themselves in half a dozen languages, while Ti strode over to the front desk and quietly chatted with the security guards posted there. I hung around the edges and took in the lobby.

Ti was right about me not standing out amongst the suits. There was upwards of thirty people in the group, with women making up a third. They were from all the world, so me as Caesar Romero looked like a South American. I just hoped that no one tried to have a conversation with me in Spanish - the only words I know of the language aren't uttered in polite company.

The lobby was large and impressive, if you like your lobbies clean and sterile. The place was big enough to play a pro baseball game in. Besides the occasional potted tree, stiff back chairs here and there, and the sporadic wandering employee, this place had all the life of an undertaker's convention that had just been told someone had discovered the secret of eternal life.

It all reminded me of the Dark Kingdom, and I felt homesick for about five seconds. Then reality stalked across the lobby in the form of a gorgeous brunette. Long legged and well proportioned, the somber business suit she wore did nothing but accentuate her figure. The type of girl that would move monks to question their vows and married men to question their commitments to their wives.

"Yes, Yes. I agree with you," whispered a guy standing next to me. "But not so loud, the sounds carry in such a large lobby."

My jaw s