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Date: January 20th, 2001
Status: Private (Dick, Katie, Complete)
Setting: Selfridges
Summary: Dick investigates an unexpected discovery.


Dick had meant to get up early and be at Selfridges the moment the shop opened, but he'd viewed security videos of the place for most of the night and to his horror overslept. He hadn't even heard his alarm clock go off! How embarrassing!

Then again today was a Saturday and he hadn't been supposed to work at all. The surprising new developments in the monstrous cat murder were too important to ignore over the weekend, though, so at ten am Dick walked into Selfridges looking for the salesgirl he'd seen serving none other than the missing witness of the first murder on the video.

He could hardly believe that after several months trying to pick up her long cold trail Leandra Stravrou would show up again by pure coincidence. It looked almost as if the superintendent could have been right about her involvement in the case. This time her presence clearly wasn't a coincidence. The security camera clearly showed her leaving shortly after the new victim, then returning a while later.

Dick still wasn't willing to consider the poor woman a murderer, though. The victims had been torn up with huge claws and torn apart, for heaven's sake! That was neither a woman's style, nor would she have had the strength. No, as far as Dick was concerned it was obvious that Miss Stravou somehow knew or suspected the killer's motive and had expected him to attack the second victim. He wasn't quite sure whether she'd arranged to meet him or had only been here by coincidence, but most likely she'd intended to warn him.

Or she might be working with the murderer. If not she'd witnessed him kill twice now and knew or suspected his identity. The woman was either in grave danger, or a dangerous criminal. In either case Dick needed to find her as soon as possible, but unfortunately the security camera didn't cover the parking lot outside. If only it had caught the licence plate of her car! It was so much easier to find a car than a person.

Ah well, perhaps the salesgirl could help him. By now she should have been informed that the police wanted to talk to her.

Comments

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Katie wasn't sure what Dick was talking about, but she didn't mind if her new boyfriend was smarter than she was. He was cute and had a good job. As long as he was good in bed, she'd be happy.

She pursed her painted lips. "Well, Miss Stravou only wanted to experience red dresses and cream or gold coloured jackets. She wouldn't try on the ones I brought her but made me take her to the racks so she could pick out some for herself. She seemed awfully suspicious, accusing me of fooling her and things." Katie tried to look innocent.

"And her friend wanted to look at miniskirts. I think she might have been a prostitute," she added with a fake horrified look at the good detective.

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Dick had no idea how women normally behaved when buying clothes, but it was serious business to them, so trusting in somebody else's choice might not be popular. Most likely, he thought, the woman had been looking for something specific.

"Fooling her about what? The clothes' quality?" Was it customary to haggle in shops in Greece? Dick had never been there, but it was almost in Asia after all.

A TV-presenter and a prostitute seemed like an unusual combination especially considering the mention of a manor earlier. Perhaps the second woman was the mistress of the lord of the manor, though, desperately trying to hold his attention?

"Did they mention any names of people or places?" Maybe they'd talked about their boyfriends. That was a favourite topic among women after all.

[no-npc-here.livejournal.com]

"I don't know!" Katie protested. "I brought her what she wanted, but that wasn't good enough." The shop girl sulked slightly, lips pursed in a petulant pout. She crossed her arms over her chest, bringing more of her bosom into view.

Katie shook her head. "No, they didn't talk about anything interesting at all." She sounded disappointed. "Will you be able to find her?"

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Dick suppressed a sigh. He hated interrogating children, but then he was almost done with this immature young woman anyway.

"I'm sure you did your best," he offered. "And I'm very confident that we can find the manor they spoke of. If she is still staying there, we will find Miss Stravou. You have been very helpful, Miss Mercer, thank you."

He had to deliberately slow his pace as he fled from the tiny fitting room. Now back to the office to check what the lab had found out about the victim and set his team to find him a list of all army bases within a reasonable distance from London.

If they had established the victim's identity, he'd probably be spending the rest of the day informing and questioning the grieving family. Not something he looked forward to, but it wouldn't be proper to force such a delicate duty on a less experienced man. Perhaps there'd be time to go over the list afterwards.

Yes, it'd be a very busy day, Dick thought, Katie already forgotten.