From: Teo <johannes@lls.se>

Sorry to have kept you waiting.. (for those of you that did) and sorry to do
this too soon (for those of you who hate the story and wish I would go 
away)..

But ... It's time for...


Dangerous knowledge pt 4

	"Are you allright?", the voice came to me through infinite layers
of cotton. Slowly I managed to open one eye and look around. 
	It was a hospital. Funny how you always know you are in a hospital
right away. I knew out of personal experience of course, I'd been here so
many times that they had even given me my own personal bed, but still
there was something about hospitals that made you instantly aware of what
they were. Maybe it was the way they mixed peach, yellow and off-white
with such effect or the way the smell of all the medications in the ward
seemed to build up in the corners and never go away. I don't know. Maybe
its the feel of sheets that are made primarily for comfort, the comfort of
the staff that is.  Whatever.
	Having stated the obvious, my analytical mind bent itself to more
demanding tasks. Someone had spoken. It had been a woman. It had sounded
as if she was fairly close-by. Additionally, someone was blocking the sun
from the righthand window and there was an occasional creaking sound
beside me.. Conclusion: Someone was sitting in a chair by the bed. Having
deduced the situation thus far I decided that the most succesfull course
of investigation was to turn my head right and see who it was. 

	"Are you allright?", Riahanna asked again.
	"Uhm.. yeah.. I think so.", I wasn't really but that is one of the
questions a private detective can never answer truthfully. That and: 'Do
you know who did it yet?'
	Riahanna looked at me with concern, "Do you know who did it yet?",
she asked. 
	"No, but I have some promising leads.", I knew it. One day and they
expect you to have cracked the case. Too much television I say.  I even
had one client who insisted that I ask my mother for advice. I had to
empathically tell her that my mother was no writer and that she wouldn't
know a clue if it got stuck in her hearing aid. 
	She was quite offended and threw me a line about how I didn't have
the proper respect for my elders. I ended up cracking the case but along
with my pay I got three videotapes. I never bothered to look at them and
recently I used them to record reruns of Kojak. Ok, so Telly Savalas isn't
all that good, but Angela Lansbury makes me weep in frustration.
	My eyes fell on the clock on the wall and I sat up straight.
	"What day is it?"
	"Thursday."
	"I've been out cold all night?", I tried to figure it out but
failed and stopped trying, "Got an appointment in two hours. Gotta go.", I
sat up and went over to the cupboard where they keep my clothes while
Riahanna tried to work up enough coherence to protest. 

	As I put on my hat a nurse came into the room carrying a bundle of
sheets on her arm. Ria looked at the nurse gratefully as if she was the
cavalry come to save the day, "Nurse, tell mr Teo to go back to bed. He's
been shot, he needs his rest."
	The nurse smiled sardonically, "Leaving us already, Teo?", she
asked giving Ria a look of sympathy, "It's no use dear, he won't listen.
Why do you think I drugged him the minute he got in? It was the only way
to get him to stay the night, well not the only way but my husband
wouldn't approve."
	Ria threw up her hands in despair and looked at me with big eyes,
"Please, Teo. I wouldn't want anyone to get hurt on my behalf.", her lower
lip first began to pout and then to tremble. I almost gave in but I
steeled myself.
	"Sorry, Kid. A detective's gotta do what a detective's gotta do.
Besides, somebody shot me, this is getting personal.", I straightened my
rumpled coat and noticed that someone had cleaned it and stitched up the
holes in the shoulder area, not a bad job considering that the clothpatch
for the back came from a lightblue bedsheet. Maybe I should consider
making my whole coat that color. 
	I turned at the door, executed a quick bow in the direction of
Riahanna, opening the door behind me at the same time, and turned to walk
out. Before I had cleared the doorframe someone, dressed mostly in
leather, grabbed me and threw me into the opposite wall of the corridor.
	"You stay away from her, you motherfucker!!", someone bellowed.  In
my dazed state the only thing I could think of was that the voice seemed
familiar. Standing over me the unknown assailant showered me liberally
with spit, "If I see your asskissing face around her again I'm gonna smash
it in, understand?!"
	I blinked up at him and started to say something inane when
Riahanna shot out of the door and slapped him in the the face, "Dex! How
dare you hurt him?! He's just trying to help me!", there was more but she
pushed him into a nearby room to continue the argument. 
	Dex, eh? So that was the boyfriend. I decided that he had some
problems to work out, but I didn't have time to help him. Slowly I stood
up, checking that nothing had been broken or dislocated. I listened at the
door for a while but couldn't make out what they were saying. I shrugged
and walked away. I wasn't feeling diplomatic and since my car with all
probability was parked in some garage somewhere pending repairs, I would
have to take a cab. I was beginning to feel sorry for Riahanna. This
expense account was going to be a doozy. 

	The cabbie was the silent kind so I took the opportunity to think
through the case again, but unless some of the facts had been rattled out
of my brain when I was shot nothing had changed. The lawyer was still my
best shot. Slowly the violent tune playing on the radio ate up all my
concentration. It was one of the new bands with the weird names. Limestone
Bludgeon or something like that. The lead singer launched into another
chorus and suddenly I listened with more interest. So that was where I'd
heard the voice before. Dexter the third, king of non-commercial
rock-music. That explained the leather... and the vocabulary I decided
after listening to the second verse. 

	The offices of W and Z were located in a rather
impressive building in steel and glass. Riding up in the elevator you
could look out over the nearby square and the imposing statue of Mayor
Erehwon standing in the middle. The area around the base of the statue was
filled with groups of people waiting for friends before going to the pub
or the movies. From this height they looked like small insects scrabbling
about a giant father queen. It made me feel quite superior and suddenly I
understood how lawyers think. I was no longer sure I wanted to meet one.
	A small digital bellsound told me that I had reached my floor. 
After a final look at the small creatures below I shuddered and walked out
of the elevator. Mr. Ws office was the third door to the right or
rather it was the room connecting to the office. Behind a broad desk sat a
young woman reading a rather thin book called the Principia Discordia and
generally ignoring the work piling up on her desk.
	She looked up at me and smiled, "You must be mr. W's two
o'clock. Walk right in.", I did. 

	Mr. W's office was expansive and covered in plush carpeting. 
Along one wall stood an oak desk with a highbacked chair behind it and in
the middle of the room was a pooltable with a tall lawyer behind it.
	"Come in mr..", he said uncertainly, "I'm sorry but my secretary
only wrote down your first name."
	"I don't have a last name. If you want to be polite you can call me
mr. Teo, if you want to appear friendly you can call me Teo, just don't
call me mr. Detective. I hate that."
	"Well then Teo, come in. Seven in the corner pocket.", leisurely he
potted the ball just as he called it, "What was it you wanted to talk to
me about?"
	I stepped in through the doors and they automatically closed
behind me, "As I explained to your secretary on the phone, I am a private
investigator hired by miss Riahanna to find out who has been sending her
napkins of a threatening nature. I believe that the answer to the puzzle
lies in the nature of her inheritance from her great-uncle Omnicynic."
	Mr. W stepped away from the pooltable and chalked his cue,
"Hmm.. that is a problem. As you are no doubt aware wills are
confidential. I may not reveal any of the contents.", putting away the
poolcue he walked over to the desk and sat down in the highbacked chair,
"I suggest we engage in some smalltalk about general things instead."
	I sat down on the edge of the desk and looked at him, one eyebrow
raised, "Such as?"
	"Such as oh.. I don't know.. disappointment.. there are some people
I know of who will be disappointed in about a weeks time.", he smiled
broadly and so did I.
	I sank into the chair opposite him and put my feet up on the desk,
"Okay, mr W.", I said, "Let's talk about disappointment." 

--

Teo
MalkaviAnarch