Huang proceeds up the stairs, following the voices.
From further in the house, a voice asks:
Voice: Who was it, James?
At the words "Mingxia's computer" Ming's eyes light up. Ming calls out ...
Ming: "Wait for me!"
... as she takes the staircase two at a time.
Thumpa thumpa thumpa. Ming nearly crashes into the back of Huang at the top of the stairs. Arthur, alone downstairs, looks around resignedly.
James Thomas opens the door to Mingxia's room. It's pretty much what you would expect from a girl of her age in a wealthy (but not ostentatious) household. There's an iBook on the desk, together with a few pieces of make-up and a large cork noticeboard on the wall with layers of photos of friends tacked onto it. School-books are scattered haphazardly on the bed, and the bottom drawer of a chest of drawers is open, revealing a selection of socks. There's a collection of CDs, mostly Cantopop, but with a scattering of European classical works and a couple of popular English bands. There's a pendant on the desk.
[i]Nic circles the room, his walking stick gently tapping every few steps. He first examines the photos on the corkboard, looking at every one, just to see if anything obviously out of place or odd appears in any of the photos.
After his exam of the stills, he pulls out his small magnifying glass to peer at the pendant. He turns it around and over, using his small knife blade.
Once he's convinced that he's familiar with the bauble, he moves to the sock drawer, and absently pokes through it, quietly whistling the theme to [/i]The Twilight Zone.
Nic: If Arthur comes up here and doesn't sniff out any bad mojo at work in the room, I think I'd like to check out the location where Mingxia disappeared. I'd like to try perhaps scrying the area to see if I can pick up anything on her. It'll be difficult, though, with as little info as I have to go on. Lemme know if you guys find anything, because every little bit of info helps.
[i]The photos seem to be mainly of Mingxia's friends, with a good smattering of ones of her (camera held at arms length style) with friends. School backdrops, some in parks, markets, that kind of thing. One friend features more than most; presumably the best friend mentioned in the dossier. Most of the photos are prints from a digital camera. There are some orb artefacts on one picture, but nothing spectacularly out of the ordinary.
The pendant is in the form of a small, red, cloth envelope. There's something inside- a lucky coin, from the shape of it. A leather thong runs from the top of the envelope so it can be worn.
The sock drawer reveals, well, socks.[/i]
Ming pulls on a pair of plastic gloves, then sits down to work on the computer.
[i]Huang comes over behind Nic, pulls on his own gloves, and examines the pendant. This kind of detail wouldn't even register on the radar of CIS, and it certainly wouldn't have caught his attention back when he was a regular cop, but considering that Huang, Ming, Arthur and Nic are now in the HKPD's "weird shit" department, this development merits a raising of the eyebrows from Huang.
And a grimace.[/i]
Huang: This pendant might be important. I might not be as versed in the weird shit as you or Arthur, but I know a potential lead when I see one. Arthur, see what you can make of this. And I'd like to know how long she's had this before she went missing.
He heads over to where Ming is currently at the computer.
Huang: What have you found so far?
[i]The computer is one of those funky Macs from about three years ago. It's not been well-maintained, software-wise, but it keeps running anyway.
There's no mail in the default mail programme, but on a hunch you point Safari at a few of the most common webmail sites and get stored login details for a hotmail address.
There's not much in there- gossippy messages with friends, forwarded humour, chain letters (although you note that none of the chain letters were forwarded) and occasionally making arrangements to meet somewhere. One passes on Mingxia's phone number- and in a flash of inspiration you notice it's a different number to the one in her file.
On the hard drive itself there's a big folder of pictures of her and her friends out and about, mostly at camera-phone quality. A quick skim doesn't show anything suspicious.[/i]
In the absence of Arthur for the time being, I'm holding off on the pendant- you might want to ask Nic instead.
Huang whips out his notepad and pen and jots down the number. This new set of phone records should bear a bit more fruit than the ones in the file.
Huang: How could CIS have missed this...? This has got to be a cell phone number. Though if it was with her when she disappeared...
He turns to James.
Huang: Your brother has most likely received a few cell phone bills in Mingxia's name that we will need to know about. I want you to find me the name of the service provider.
He turns to Ming.
Huang: When James gets back, I want you to call the provider and have them run this number through the database and see if you can find some phone records we can work with. It's a gamble, but I also plan on calling the number in question. One way or another, this should give us some more info on just what we're dealing with here.
He heads over to Nic.
Huang: Since Arthur is apparently busy talking to Aaron about what the hell's going on, it looks like you're the one who will have to find out more about this pendant. I want to know what it was intended for, any...traditions it might be associated with, how long Mingxia has had it, and if possible, who first sold or gave it to her.
James nods and heads downstairs.
James puts his head back round the door.
James Thomas: Um... Aaron says he hasn't received any additional bills. He seemed a bit surprised. Although he did say that Mingxia would have had enough pocket money to get one herself.
Nic takes a closer look at the pendant, unfolding the material, examining the chain, holding it up to the sunlight, and peering again with the magnifying glass. After about five minutes, he pockets the pendant to show it to Arthur downstairs. He pulls a photo of Mingxia off the wall as well.
Nic: While you guys check the phone and computer, I'll see if I can get a bead on Mingxia's location. I'll be outside for a bit. It's better if I'm not disturbed until I'm done.[i]
Nic heads downstairs, pulling a necklace out from under his shirt, and gently rubbing the smooth stone on the end, almost unconsciously. He heads out to the fish pond, and sits directly along the bank, laying his cane across his lap. Nic stares into the pond in a relxed manner, deepening his breathing.[/i]
Ming suddenly shakes herself back into the here and now, with the sneaking suspicion that she may have been unknowingly giving a running commentary of her findings from the computer delving ... her grandfather always said she had the concentration of an epileptic cobra. Shrugging, she pulls out her cell phone and starts calling the most popular service providers in the area, trying to match that phone number.
Out in the garden...
[i]As he walks across to the pond, Nic gently shakes the coin out of the pendant's bag. He notices a lock of hair knotted through the coin's hole. It's a dark colour, but with flecks of blue at the ends. Quite by chance, the photo he had taken from the board shows Mingxia and a friend with matching hair. Worth bringing to the attention of the others, at least.
Once settled, he focusses his mind on the task. At first, there is no sign anywhere, leading to concern that she is very distant, but after a few minutes Nic realises that it is not the case. Her location is being shielded by magic, and almost by chance Nic manages to slip past these defences and steal a quick glimpse of her. She appears to be sleeping, in a slightly uncomfortable position, in a dark room with a wooden floor. She's lying on a dirty pallet. The walls are bare concrete. {Sorcery AR: 20}
When Nic blinks himself back to the immediate world, he sees light glinting off something in the bushes on the far side of the garden, and hears the rustle of branches.[/i]
Meanwhile, in the room...
Mingxia manages to find the provider for the pay-as-you-go service on that number on the third try. The representative is not very helpful, promising a list of calls 'some time tomorrow'. {Police AR: 8}
With the phone company rep still making excuses, Ming turns to Huang and holds the phone out to him. If anybody can intimidate a petty wage slave into giving up the info, it's him ... Ming's heard rumors that Huang has made gang bangers cry in the interrogation room, calling out for their mommies. It's definitely time for a change in tactics here ...
Ming: Care to give it a try?
Inspector Huang sighs. He was hoping it wouldn't have to come to this.
Huang: If you insist. I'll try not to wake up Yunru...
Huang takes the phone from Ming, focuses his thoughts for a moment, and then...
Huang: My name is Inspector Ken Huang of the Hong Kong Police Department. Now, I understand that customers call you or come in all the time and you only have so much time with which to deal with them. But when someone from the police department calls you because he or she is trying to conduct an official investigation, such calls are to be given top priority -- especially when such investigations involve missing persons!
Now, the number that my assistant so graciously gave you is the cell phone number of a young girl who has recently gone missing. We do not know where this girl is, or if she's even alive or not, and we will not know unless we have the records of the calls that she made before her disappearance. And I suggest that you give us those records now. If you do not have access to these records yourself, then I suggest you call your manager or somebody else who does! Because I guarantee you, you do not want to have to explain yourself to this girl's family, or Superintendent Richardson.
And one more thing...sir. I want you to apologize to my assistant.
{Intimidation AR: 14}
Phone company peon: Ah- sorry, officer, er... normal procedure is to process the next day BUT I'll have it faxed to your office right away. Is that okay? Your fax number is? Thank you... Could you put your assistant on?
Phone company peon: I am very sorry for misunderstanding the urgency of the situation and can only promise that it won't happen again.
Ming to Peon: Thank you for your quick assistance. I'm only glad we were able to clear things up with your help, so that locating poor Mingxia is that much more likely. Please send that information to my email address at ...
Ming finishes her call, and hangs up. Then she holds up her cell phone, which is the latest Palm Treo.
Ming: It does everything except make coffee, and I hear they're working on a IR interface system that might even do that in the next generation ... I should be able to get that info as soon as it comes in, through my phone's internet link. Nifty, huh?
Ming grins in appreciation of such spiffy tech ... especially since the upgrades and custom mods she finished last week probably already make it better than the next generation will be, anyway. Then she pulls out a big transparent plastic bag, wraps Minxia's laptop in it, and stows it in her satchel for further investigation later.
Ming: Inspector Huang, you might want to issue a receipt for this to Mingxia's parents, and for the security tapes, too. Unfortunately, as your humble assistant, I doubt that I have the authority to do so, my multiple graduate degrees having not adequately prepared me for the intricacies of police bureaucracy.
As she walks out the bedroom door and downstairs to find the others, Ming's grin gets even bigger and you notice a sly glint in her eye that says "I'm dodging paperwork and getting away with it ... again."
Huang shakes his head with a smile and a sigh as Ming heads out. She just got him good, and he knows it. But still, who can stay mad at someone like her for long? Gathering himself, Huang heads out after her, with a mind to check out what Nic has found.
[i]When Nic blinks himself back to the immediate world, he sees light glinting off something in the bushes on the far side of the garden, and hears the rustle of branches...
Nic hops to his feet, peering at the bushes where the noise emanates. He slips the pendant and photo into a safe pocket.[/i]
Nic: Hello! HKPD! I hear you in there. Come out and speak to me.
Nic brandishes his cane towards the bushes, more in a beckoning manner than a threatening one.
Nic: I'm a nice guy, really, and you can help me out greatly. Let's talk.
Nic walks slowly towards the bushes.