Rumors

Elanor quickly turned around. She watched as a mechanical leg appeared from behind the fake beach bar.

'Shouldn't you be upstairs at the party instead of chasing employees through the building?' a voice said.

Another mechanical leg appeared.

'Although I must say you were not very successful in that matter,' remarked the voice, which sounded female.

'I didn't expect this night to get any more interesting after the show was finished,' said the Duchess of Juno, as her mechanical sedan chair emerged from behind the bar. From up-close she looked pale and much frailer than she had appeared to be earlier this evening, when they saw her downstairs in the lobby. Her black dress seemed to swallow her like a rising flood. But there was a certain gleam in her eyes. The orange gradient cocktail with the yellow paper umbrella, striped straw and stack of fruit on a toothpick she held in one hand seemed slightly out of place. Her other hand was holding a handbag-sized Flux Zapper.

'Don't worry,' she said when she saw Harry looking at it, 'it was only set to stun.'

Elanor noticed how the Duchess did not put her weapon away but kept it in her hand. She took a sip from her drink through the straw, which seemed to require some effort. Then she asked again what was going on. This time, Elanor decided to actually give her the rough details about them being detectives pursuing someone who was possibly involved in a murder case. When she heard about this, the Duchess seemed almost delighted; she directed the two detectives to get drinks from the barkeeper robot and made them lie down in two of the deck chairs. They actually didn't mind doing this after the long chase. Meanwhile, the fake waves kept gushing on the fake beach and Mr Pospishil gently started to snore.

The duchess put her zapper away. 'So tell me more, why did he do it?'

Elanor took a sip from the peach-coloured liquid in her glass, 'Oh, no, no, we don't know if it was him. And really, we shouldn't even talk to you about it! It's an ongoing investigation.'

The duchess looked slightly disappointed. 'But this sounds so exciting! I have never been involved in a police operation of this kind.'

Harry put the shell of a coconut from which he was drinking down on the little wicker table next to his chair.

'And why,' he said, 'if I may ask, are you not at the party yourself?'

The duchess waved her hand,'I am not fond of the attention, but I still have business to do with Mr. Stevenson and was asked to wait here for him.'

Harry swallowed a bite of pineapple, which was sticking on his coconut shell.

'Mr Stevenson?' he asked.

The duchess laughed. 'Of course, everyone only knows him as Valentine.'

Elanor was about to put her glass away and get up as she said,'Well, thanks a lot for the drinks, but I suppose we have to get going. We are not here to have fun, you see?'

But Harry waved at her to sit back down. He took a sip from his coconut shell and said,' Do you know Valentine well, if I may ask?'

Elanor sighed, 'Oh Harry, I know you are a fan, but now is not the time...'

But the duchess cut her off, pointing at Mr Pospishil, 'I don't think he's going to be running away from you anytime soon. It is not easy to know Mr. Stevenson. Does anyone? I am not sure. He has perfected his show. But I assure you there are things nobody knows.'

Harry looked up at her, she seemed to be enjoying this. 'What things?'

The duchess laughed again. 'How should I know? He doesn't tell! But,' and at this the legs of her sedan chair folded beneath her so she was at eye level with Elanor and Harry, 'there are rumors...'

Elanor had quite enough of this dramatic speech. She replied impatiently, 'Who would have thought? A famous man who doesn't tell the public everything he is doing all day. Is that really worth talking about? You yourself are not exactly an open book, if I may say so.'

The duchess neatly draped her black dress around her in the sand before she answered, 'Oh, that is right, indeed. And that is why I know you can find many things if you dig deep enough. And I have heard the same is true of the Stevenson family. They dug quite deep themselves.'

Elanor did her best not to roll her eyes and stay patient, but Harry seemed to be very interested in what the duchess had to say.

'So, what did they find?' Harry asked, 'a treasure?'

The duchess nodded. 'Youcould say that. A really big one. Maybe the biggest there is to find. And you know what happened then?'

Elanor wanted to get this over with. She sighed, 'What?'

The duchess laughed. 'They lost it! Isn't that amazing? Took what they could and then forgot where it was buried - or that's what I've heard.'

Harry looked puzzled. 'Are you serious? Is that true? What happened, exactly?'

The duchess shrugged/ 'Oh, who knows. As I said, that's what I've heard. By the way... seems like your friend is waking up. Also, I think I have to go now, I have an appointment.'

With this, the duchess' sedan chair rose from the sand again. She left her glass at the bar and with a short wave and farewell she left the room. Mr Pospishil started to stir.

Elanor sighed again and got up. 'Well,' she said, 'that wasn't helpful at all.'

Harry nodded,' you could say that. But you know... we could really use a bar like this at the station.'

Tavaron

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