CaptainWacky
I want to smell dark matter
My friend, the great consulting detective Dr Dave, had first met the lady who called herself Miss Tisiphone Adler (who could say what her real name was?) some three years previously. He had been contacted by a prominent and corpulent judge on the matter of some pictues Miss Adler, then working as his gorverness, had managed to acquire. He claimed that Adler had drugged him and manipulated him into a compromising position. Dr Dave shot me a wry smile at this obvious untruth. After taking the pictures Adler had fled to the sanctuary of a local brothel.
Dr Dave had been amused by the details of the case and described its coming resolution as "some light afternoon work." No man had ever bested Dr Dave, so the chances of him being outwitted by a mere female were astronomical! He had alighted to the brothel, easily resisted the charms of its ladies, and confronted Tisipone Adler. She said all she wanted in exchance for returning the pictures was for the judge to treat his children more kindly. A likely story! Dr Dave had asked what she REALLY wanted. She stepped close to him and whispered in his ear "I want you, Dr Dave."
That had shocked him. But my friend was not easily rattled, and recovered in a moment. Previously he had arranged for I, posing as a client at the brotherl (I had to sleep with four ladies of the night as part of this work!), to light a small fire. When one of the prostitutes shouted "FIRE!" into Miss Tisipone's room her eyes had shot to a panel on the wall. Dr Dave had smiled, knowing that was where the pictures were contained. Later that night he snuck back into the brothel, disguised as an old man (in his disguise he refused to sleep with girl after girl because they were "too young, dearies!") and went to her room. He took a package from her panel and left.
Later he and I had opened it together, wanting a look at the photos for ourselves. But they were not there. Inside there was a note which read: "My dearest Dr Dave, you may not believe this but you are the finest man I have whispered to in all my life. Would that I could spend more time with you, but by now you will have seen that I have what I wanted: your casebook. I know you always carry it in your breast pocket close to your heart so I picked that pocket while whispering to you. Don't worry, I have no evil intentions...just naughty ones! Your clients are rich and powerful...I could use those types of ally. I will make myself invaluable to them. They will pay me back in whatever way I desire. And they won't even know they're doing it. As for the photos? Don't worry, they will remain safe and secret...as long as our friend the judge treats his children with the utmost kindess. I will know if he does not...as I said I have my means. Perhaps I shall see you again in a year...or three. Miss Tisiphone Adler."
Dr Dave had staggered back and tried to sit down, but missed his chair like Kirk in Star Trke 3. I had offered a cocaine pipe but he refused. He simply repeated one phrase over and over again. Sometimes he said it with anger. Sometimes with joy. Sometimes with whimsy. Sometimes with....what I can only describe as arouasl.
"The woman," he had said. "THE WOMAN!"
In truth I had been disappointed by my friend. Being bested by a female? The shame of it! That had been my first thought. But over time I had come to terms with it. After all, if there are such singular men as my friend Dr Dave (perhaps the MOST singular man of all) then it stands to reason there are similar exceptional and singular women. And it must have been that Miss Tisiphone Adler was the most singular woman of them all. A magnificient creature, I had to admit. Mentally hardly even a woman at all. But still, I always felt a flush of anger whenever I thought of her. My friend might not have shown it, but he had been embarrassed by her. And there is no worse thing that can happen to a man at the hands of a woman.
And now, in the shadow of our greatest triumph - the arrest of the Chinaman himself - she was back. And as I stared into my friend's deep, wise eyes I honestly could not tell if he was happy, sad, angry, excited...or some perverse mix of them all.
TO BE CONTINUED
Dr Dave had been amused by the details of the case and described its coming resolution as "some light afternoon work." No man had ever bested Dr Dave, so the chances of him being outwitted by a mere female were astronomical! He had alighted to the brothel, easily resisted the charms of its ladies, and confronted Tisipone Adler. She said all she wanted in exchance for returning the pictures was for the judge to treat his children more kindly. A likely story! Dr Dave had asked what she REALLY wanted. She stepped close to him and whispered in his ear "I want you, Dr Dave."
That had shocked him. But my friend was not easily rattled, and recovered in a moment. Previously he had arranged for I, posing as a client at the brotherl (I had to sleep with four ladies of the night as part of this work!), to light a small fire. When one of the prostitutes shouted "FIRE!" into Miss Tisipone's room her eyes had shot to a panel on the wall. Dr Dave had smiled, knowing that was where the pictures were contained. Later that night he snuck back into the brothel, disguised as an old man (in his disguise he refused to sleep with girl after girl because they were "too young, dearies!") and went to her room. He took a package from her panel and left.
Later he and I had opened it together, wanting a look at the photos for ourselves. But they were not there. Inside there was a note which read: "My dearest Dr Dave, you may not believe this but you are the finest man I have whispered to in all my life. Would that I could spend more time with you, but by now you will have seen that I have what I wanted: your casebook. I know you always carry it in your breast pocket close to your heart so I picked that pocket while whispering to you. Don't worry, I have no evil intentions...just naughty ones! Your clients are rich and powerful...I could use those types of ally. I will make myself invaluable to them. They will pay me back in whatever way I desire. And they won't even know they're doing it. As for the photos? Don't worry, they will remain safe and secret...as long as our friend the judge treats his children with the utmost kindess. I will know if he does not...as I said I have my means. Perhaps I shall see you again in a year...or three. Miss Tisiphone Adler."
Dr Dave had staggered back and tried to sit down, but missed his chair like Kirk in Star Trke 3. I had offered a cocaine pipe but he refused. He simply repeated one phrase over and over again. Sometimes he said it with anger. Sometimes with joy. Sometimes with whimsy. Sometimes with....what I can only describe as arouasl.
"The woman," he had said. "THE WOMAN!"
In truth I had been disappointed by my friend. Being bested by a female? The shame of it! That had been my first thought. But over time I had come to terms with it. After all, if there are such singular men as my friend Dr Dave (perhaps the MOST singular man of all) then it stands to reason there are similar exceptional and singular women. And it must have been that Miss Tisiphone Adler was the most singular woman of them all. A magnificient creature, I had to admit. Mentally hardly even a woman at all. But still, I always felt a flush of anger whenever I thought of her. My friend might not have shown it, but he had been embarrassed by her. And there is no worse thing that can happen to a man at the hands of a woman.
And now, in the shadow of our greatest triumph - the arrest of the Chinaman himself - she was back. And as I stared into my friend's deep, wise eyes I honestly could not tell if he was happy, sad, angry, excited...or some perverse mix of them all.
TO BE CONTINUED
