SUSPICIONS, PART SIX

Nick stopped by the Bay City Herald newsroom: "Hi, Chris. Can I use your terminal?"

"Sure - why?"

"I want to trawl the internet for anything I can find on the Lumina Foundation, the guy who runs it, Jordan Stark, and his flunky, Margaret Allen."

"Do I smell a story?" said Chris.

"That depends on what I find out."

****

"What is this?" Entering his office, Joe almost tripped over the suitcases and cartons piled on the floor.

"It's every possession of yours I could find!" said Paulina, "I don't want anything left in the house that might remind me of you!"

"What are you talkin' about?"

"I want a divorce!" ( :-D !)

"A divorce? What for?"

"Adultery! With Amanda! My own sister!"

"Oh." said Joe, "Look, Paulina, you kicked me out, and then Amanda threw herself at me! What was I supposed to do?"

"You were supposed to say 'No thanks, I'm married to your sister'! And what was your excuse after I took you back?"

"Amanda never meant a thing to me! " said Joe, "You're the one I love!"

"Why would you betray someone you love with someone who never meant a thing to you?" said Paulina, "That doesn't make any sense at all!"

"Blue-Eyes -"

"Don't call me that! Don't talk to me at all! You'll be hearing from my lawyer!" said Paulina.

At the door, she paused for one last shot: "By the way, YOU may be the father of the baby Amanda is carrying!"

****

"The Lumina Foundation keeps a very low profile." said Chris. "That may mean they're being financed by the CIA. Everybody knows intelligence agencies have been trying to find a way to use psychic powers for spying since the Fifties."

****

Meanwhile, Grant had consulted an electronics expert.

"Any attempt to pick the lock on that shackle causes an alarm to sound." the man said.

"There must be some way to get it off!" said Grant.

"Well, it might be possible to mask its' signal - "

"But, wouldn't That sound an alarm?"

"Not if we replace it with an identical signal!"

"Do it!"

****

"Here's a reference to Jordan Stark!" said Nick, "He wrote a book called Beyond Imagination - in 1798!"

"Unless the dude is two hundred years old, it can't be the same Jordan Stark!" said Chris.

****

"Heah!" Lila held out the ring to Zack. "Rachel's weddin' ring!"

Zack looked at it; there were initials engraved inside the band. "MW?"

Lila was prepared: "Mary Winstanley!" she said, "Carl's Momma! It was Her ring! Ah kept mah end of the bargain - now you keep yours! Make Matt marry me!"

Zack handed her a stack of envelopes , each with a familiar name written on it: Matthew Cory - Rachel Hutchins - Lila Roberts -

"Whut is this?" said Lila.

"The first step in keeping our end of the bargain." said Zack, "You deliver them, and Our Work can begin!"

****

"Let's see if there's any reference to Margaret Allen anywhere." said Nick, fingers dancing across

the keyboard.

"DESIGNER GENES, Time Magazine, June 12,1982: Dr Sigismund Hockheimer claims that, by combining the DNA of specially selected sperm donors, he can guarantee the birth of a baby with genius-level IQ , plus whatever other artistic or scientific talents the mother desires. So far, his California Institute For Human Improvement has implanted twenty super-foetuses in women who have paid him ten thousand dollars each for the privilege of bearing them. Dr Hockheimer denies that he is trying to produce a Master Race: "I am simply trying to provide society with natural leaders. What is wrong with that?" Margaret Allen, one of the successful implantees, says that her daughter Deodata ('Gift of God' ) will have remarkable psychic powers when she grows up."

There was a photograph of a young blonde woman, holding an infant.

"That's the same Margaret Allen who works for Lumina." said Nick, "She hasn't changed much .."

****

Two men in suits appeared at Felicia's door. "Agent Hill - Agent Thomas - INS"

"That's short for Immigration and Naturalization, isn't it?" said Felicia.

"Correct." said Agent Hill (or maybe Agent Thomas) "We're looking for Sergei Radzinsky."

"Why?"

"He entered this country on a tourist visa - which expired six months ago!"

****

"I don't know if I can go through with this, Tito." said Remy.

"Peaches, don't tell me you've broken the First Rule of Grifting and fallen for a Mark!"

"No, I haven't!" said Remy, "I just - I'm tired of lying and cheating all the time!"

"What do you want to do - be a waitress for the rest of your life?"

"No! But - "

"Peaches, we're not like Them! We're superior! You know that! So we're entitled to take anything we can con the sheep into giving us! And Nick Hudson is one of the sheep!"

"Okay, Tito, but this is the last time! After this, I'm going as far away as I can! Alone!"

"Whatever you say, Peaches! I hear New Zealand is really nice!"

****

"Amanda and Joe?" said Gary, "Who woulda thought it?"

"So, how do we find out whose kid Amanda is havin'? " said Cameron.

"I guess we wait until it's born, then get a DNA test done." said Gary, "Same as Josie."

To be continued