[Irn0rchid]

"That's odd, I wonder why she would care about that particular piece? Oh well, can't ask her without revealing what I know." <<Okay, we can discuss it this afternoon.>> "Or maybe she'll tell me as part of the 'next phase'..." she grins to herself.

When the other two appear she shakes her head at Robin, Why so many spoilers? Let her find things out herself!" Patting the couch on either side of her, "I've got to go meet the client at 2 but we've got lots of time to play till then."

Miss Coulter is in the other thread.

[Mercy Merchant]

Wednesday  13 June 2075  0800  Elaine's House


Elaine's skill at the game is improving and she seems to have a lot of fun with you.  Just before 0800, the cook comes in to say that breakfast is ready in the dining room and Elaine smiles and thanks her, before setting her controller aside and standing up.  As you all head to the dining room, she says, "So you are going to meet your employer this afternoon?  I hope that the meeting goes well.  I wonder what the interest is in the pottery besides its monetary value.  Hmmmm.  Will you be gone long enough for me to go get some shopping done?"

[Irn0rchid]

"Im curious about that as well. I've been trying to get more info out of her but she's been cagey about it. Hopefully she trusts me more now, but we'll see. You should have plenty of time for shopping, I might need to run some errands myself as well." "Maybe I'll stop by Tiny's and see how that order is going..."

[Mercy Merchant]

The conversation at breakfast is mostly about the different tactics needed for different characters to do well in the game.  Near the end of the meal, Elaine gets a call on her 'link and you receive one on yours.  >>Rachel.  Ni Ni here.  I have an update on Howard that I thought you might want to have before our meeting this afternoon.  He was seen at the airport in the international concourse, but has since left to return to the city somewhere.  My operative at the airport was not able to follow him, so I do not know if he is headed back to his house or to someplace different.  I have good reason to believe that his employer is looking for him and is a bit upset at something.  Perhaps he also received a note about the fakes.  In any case, please be cautious.<<

Elaine laughs out loud as she places the commlink on the table.  "Howard is pissed.  He asked if I had placed some sort of hold on the joint account and seemed surprised to find that I had.  He told me to lift the hold and I refused.  He sounded downright angry and almost apoplectic.  He said that he needs that money for a stake in another country and will send for me when he is settled.  I told him I would think about it.  He then said he needs some of his things but does not want to come by the house to get them.  He ill send me a message in a couple of hours to let me know where to take them.  I have no intention of lifting the hold on the account as I do not trust him to send for me, but what do you think I should do about the things he wants?"

[Irn0rchid]

<<Ah, that is good to know. Thank you.>>

Smiling as Elaine recounts Howard's troubles, Rose responds, "Well, did he say what it was he wanted? If it's something innocuous I have no problem arranging for a vehicle to deliver it to him if it means we don't have to deal with him here. If it's more complicated than just clothes and such, well, then I'm not sure. Either way, giving him access back to the money without some sort of assurances for your future seems like a bad idea..."

[Mercy Merchant]

Wednesday  13 June 2075  0810  Elaine's House


Robin nods in agreement and so does Elaine.  "Oh, yes dear.  I have no intention of lifting the hold on the account at this time.  There has never been much love between Hoard and me, but even less now.  I have a strong feeling that he is planning on leaving the country and was hoping to take as much money with him as possible.  But the things he asked for are simple enough; clothes, a razor, some other toiletries.  He did ask for one odd thing, though.  There is a porcelain bank in the storage room downstairs.  We got it on our honeymoon.  It caught our attention as something to symbolize our union.  We put a few nuyen and some of the local scrip in it as a sort of seed for our future.  Some future, eh?  Anyway, he lost interest in it about a year after we were married and had it moved to the storage room on the pool level.  Never wanted it since so I cannot think why he would want it now."

[Irn0rchid]

"Porcelain is a little too close to pottery for my tastes. Howard doesn't strike me as a sentimental guy, so why would he suddenly be interested in this now? Maybe we should take a look at it and see if he's stashed anything inside in the interim?" Rose finishes off the the crepe on her plate and wipes her mouth. "We've got some time before he calls back for an answer, right?"

[Mercy Merchant]

After everyone is finished with breakfast, Elaine leads the way to the lower level.  The pool is inviting, as is the hot tub bubbling away near it, but she walks to a door in the side of the room, which opens on a large storage space.  A number of things line shelves or are stacked in orderly piles against a wall.  Elaine stands in the center of the room for a bit, trying to remember where the bank is, then smiles as she moves to a chest near the fall wall.  Opening it, she rummages about inside before lifting out a porcelain piggy bank decorated with Hawaiian leis and a faux grass skirt.  She smiles and sighs.  "This was supposed to be symbolic of our relationship and I guess it was.  My married life was just like this poor pig; stored away somewhere, waiting for someone to come find me.  Well, let's see what is in it."  She turns the bank upside down and removes a plug from its belly before turning it back over and shaking the contents on the floor she is kneeling on.  Quite a few nuyen in currency notes and some sort of scrip are removed as well as some coins and a key.  Elaine picks the key up and says, "Well, I think we may have figured out why Howard wanted the pig, but I am not sure what this goes to." 

Robin has been counting the money and whistles.  "Wow.  Must be at least fifty large here, Elaine.  This seems a bit more than just tossing a few nuyen in."

"It certainly does.  Let me see.  Hmmm, yes.  Well, this is far more than we put in when we bought it.  A second reason for him wanting the thing back."

[Irn0rchid]

Rose lets out a little gasp when they enter the pool room, "Why didn't you mention this was down here?! We could have been using the hot tub this whole time?" Slightly put out, she follows Elaine into the storage room and idly peruses the abandoned accumulation of stuff as Elaine looks for the bank. "Why did you guys even have all this stuff if it was just going to sit in this room?" Interrupted by Elaine's discovery, she walks over to look at the pig with the other two. "A key? Any idea what it's for? And that's not an inconsequential amount of money, but surely he's still expecting to get access to his joint account, so the key must be what he's really after..." Rose stops and thinks for a moment, "This whole business keeps getting more and more interesting. I'd love to see what that key goes to, but is it worth dealing more with Howard? Would you rather just be rid of him, Elaine? We could give it to him and hope he goes away, or we could try and trick him and see what it opens..." She grins a little, making it obvious which option she is in favor of.

[Irn0rchid]

Robin smiles.  "I did tell you about the pool down here, remember?  I
said that Elaine and I had been in the pool."

Elaine nods at your suggestion. "No, 50,000 is not a trifling sum,
but I do agree that that it is perhaps the key he is more interested
in, and I would like to know what it goes to.  What do you have in
mind?"

[Irn0rchid]

"Well I blame you two for distracting me then. You should have reminded me!"

"I was thinking that supplying a fake key and bugging the pig would get us some more information. We'd have to let him have the fifty thousand though if we didn't want him to know we'd tampered with things. I should be able to make a copy of that key that would pass visual inspection but not actually work. He can't have seen it too often if it's been stored down here for any length of time."

[Irn0rchid]

Elaine gives you a puzzled look.  "But that is just it.  I had thought
it was on the bottom of the chest, but it has been years since I
looked for it and I just thought I had been mistaken.  But there was
only about 200 nuyen and a few dollars of the local scrip inside it
when I last saw it in the bedroom.  He has been adding to it and I
have no idea when.  I had thought he hated the thing and had it put
down here just to appease me because I rather liked it."

[Irn0rchid]

"So you think he's been adding to it periodically instead of just stashing once and leaving it? That could be, but I doubt he'd remember what exactly a key looks like. The alternatives are just give him the key, or keep it all and ask him straight up what it's for. You're already deadlocking him on the joint account, so that wouldn't be much different, but I don't think it would really gain anything. You could say you're keeping it because you were the one that liked it and see how he responds."

[Mercy Merchant]

Wednesday  13 June 2075  1015  Elaine's House


Elaine smiles.  "That sounds devilishly clever, Rachel.  Thank you.  I think that is precisely the line I will use when he calls back at noon.  So, do we just wait or do we try to find out what the key might be fore.  It does not look like a safe deposit box, because I have one and it is very different.  I don't think it opens anything here at the house or he would have just come back for it, so perhaps at one of his apartments?"

[Irn0rchid]

"It might be something there, but what? And at which one? I'm afraid if it's not something located here it's going to be really hard to figure out what it goes to. Do you have access to his apartments? Isn't that where he takes his lady friends?" Rose reaches out her hand for the key and takes a look at it once Elaine hands it over. "Doesn't ring a bell for me. Robin, can you run a search on the design and see if there's any info on what kind of lock it might fit?"