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Trixie Belden and the Anthrocon Mystery
Chapter 5
By Kinsfire
Trixie Belden and the Anthrocon Mystery
Chapter 5 - A Deeper Understanding
Dennis scowled. "The problem comes down to telling you why. It’s fairly safe to say that the person who broke in is not here in the room, since we saw him or her going out the door to the outside stairs. Thing is, I don’t know if he or she is alone. I hate to distrust any of you, but for my own safety, I have to."
He took a deep breath. "You’ve all realized, those who’ve been following this for a while, that it has something to do with my fursuit." He chuckled a humorless chuckle. "When you see it, you’ll realize that calling it a fursuit is something of a misnomer." He shook his head. "I so badly want to trust you all with what’s wrong, but I can’t. Only two other people at this convention know exactly why I’m here." His brow furrowed. "Well, three, actually."
There was a knock at the door. When he opened it, he was faced with hotel security and Brian Belden. "Ah, Brian! Diana’s on one of the beds." He looked at hotel security.
A grim faced woman said, "We got word that there was an attack on a guest. What happened?"
"Well, as we came up the elevator, we saw someone shoot out that door at the end of the hall, and my roommate was lying on the ground, coughing. Apparently, whoever had broken into the room sprayed her in the face with some sort of ammonia compound." He shrugged. "That’s all I know, and what she told me. If she’s willing to talk to you, feel free to ask further questions."
He walked over and sat down heavily in one of the suite’s chairs, then looked over at hotel security. "Sorry, ma’am. I’m in a little pain, my friend was attacked, and someone broke into my room. That’s still no excuse to take it out on you. Please forgive me." Her eyes registered some surprise, but she smiled and nodded, and then turned back to Diana.
Galadrion walked over to him. "Anything I can do to help, Dennis?"
"Actually, yeah. Could you grab me a couple aspirin and a can of soda from the fridge? The aspirin are in the bathroom."
Smiling, he nodded, and a few moments later, came back. "Ah, blessed pain relief!" Dennis chuckled. Popping them both and swallowing them dry, he then popped open the can of soda. "Don’t know if it’s true, but I’ve heard that Coke helps aspirin work better."
"It’s the caffeine," Galadrion responded. He was silent for a moment before asking, quietly, "Why three? First you said two, and then amended your estimate."
"Well, David," Dennis chuckled, "There are two guests here that I am positive know what’s going on with this situation. One of them because I told him about it. The other knows for a different reason, but I’m aware of that, and expecting it. The third is the bad guy. He or she may not know exactly what’s happening here, but he or she has a damned good idea. Of course, it could be more than three, but three’s the minimum."
Trixie’s eyes were focused somewhere between the two men talking as her mind wandered. Interesting, she thought. That means that he has no problem with Evan knowing, and he’s certain that Evan isn’t the bad guy. She frowned. Could he be wrong about that? It’s a perfect way of getting at whatever you’re interested in; seem trustworthy, and then betray them. And if whatever it is Dennis is hiding is lucrative enough, then anyone could be a suspect. Heck, even Dennis could be arranging for a buyer for this whatever-it-is. She frowned. That way lies madness. He drove himself off the road, almost killing Honey and breaking his own leg?
Evan and one other are the people that he trusts, and then there’s at least one other person, who just hurt Diana. Looks like my work is cut out for me. She broke out of her reverie to see Dennis smiling at something, and David blushing furiously over something. "What did I miss?" she asked.
Dennis looked at David before saying, "I’ll explain in a bit, Trixie. Promise."
"You know I’ll hold you to that," she chuckled, remembering to put just enough spin in her voice to keep the girlfriend pretense going.
"I look forward to it," he said with a leer.
Keeping a smile on her face, she frowned inside. That’s not the Dennis I remember. There was nothing behind that. It’s like he’s dead inside.
In short order, everyone decided to head to their own rooms, in order to give Di a little breathing room. David was the last to go, since he’d been talking with Dennis, and Trixie led him to the door. She noted that his face reddened again.
"Why do you do that?" she asked him, puzzlement evident on her face. "When it has something to do with me, you seem to get embarrassed. Why?"
He reddened even more before finally trying to answer. Dennis chuckled. "Take it into the hall, you two. Might be easier."
As they both stepped into the hall, they could hear Di asking, "Why do you do that? You know it gives people a bad impression of you." They didn’t hear his answer as the door closed.
Galadrion was obviously steeling himself for something. Finally, he looked at her and started to speak. "Feel free to call me David, before we go anywhere else. My real name is David Adrian. As for why I blush around you; well, I’ve always been attracted to smart women. Your being pretty doesn’t help either. I know you’re going to ask me questions at some point, so can we come to an agreement to respect each other’s intelligence? I certainly respect yours, and I might very well ask you questions that make you think, as well."
She smiled as she realized that he was actually talking to her left ear. "I agree to respect your intelligence, Mr. Adrian. I’ll admit that I’m not used to being thought of as pretty, so I’m not sure how to deal with the blushing."
"I’ll deal with it the best I can, Miss Belden. And please, call me David. Mr. Adrian is my father."
"I’ll call you David if you call me Trixie. Deal?" she asked with a grin, sticking her hand out. He grinned in return and shook on the deal.
"I’ll do my best to focus on what you’re after, rather than on you, Trixie, but...uh..." He reddened yet again, and then laughed. "Well, you can see how well that worked."
She laughed as well. "Want to head downstairs, and maybe hit the Denny’s next door? Maybe you can relax if we just get a couple sodas and talk. Especially since I doubt they’ll let me into any bar this hotel may have."
"I can agree to that." He walked over to the door to the outside stairs. "After you."
As they sat down in the Denny’s, Trixie was surprised and pleased as David held her chair for her without blushing. He’s a natural gentleman. Don’t think I’ll draw attention to what he just did, or else he’ll start stuttering again. She chuckled internally. I’m not used to that, to be honest. He’s attracted to my mind, just like Dan, and just like Dan, he seems to think the package the mind comes in is worth looking at. She shook her head. Looks like I may have to start changing the way I think of myself. She looked up to see David looking quizzically at her. "Sorry. Woolgathering."
"What an odd phrase," he responded with a wry grin. "Wouldn’t you think that someone actually gathering wool would have to think about the task at hand, rather than letting their mind wander?"
She chuckled to herself. "Maybe in the beginning, but I’d imagine it becomes second nature after a while, and you can think about whatever you want to. Actually, as I understand from my oh-so-verbose brother, woolgathering came from the act of tracking down the extra pieces of wool torn off by bushes. Aimless wandering sort of thing, and grasping at effectively meaningless things, since you get so much more from shearing them that picking it off the bushes is useless." She laughed again. "He found an online etymology dictionary."
He pulled out a PDA and turned it on. "Online searches can yield some interesting finds. So, Dennis tells me you’re a detective, and that I can expect to be questioned by you at some point. I guess this looks to be as good a time as any other. Problem is, you don’t know whether or not I’m the dangerous one you’re looking for."
"I have to trust that you’re not, basically, or hope that, if you are, that you make some kind of slip up that I can catch." She smiled. "If I had a flashlight, I could shine it in your face and start asking questions, if you thought that would help you answer them." She nodded at the PDA. "Going to take notes?"
He laughed. "The flashlight’s not necessary. All I ask is that you respect my intelligence. I already respect yours, if even half of what Dennis has said about you is true. As for the PDA, well, I talk with my hands, and this is a way to keep from getting too loud, so to speak."
She nodded, and then realized what he’d said just before. "He talks about me online?" she asked, obviously surprised.
"He talks about the whole group, this ‘Bob-Whites of the Glen’ that you’re part of. He thinks you’re all pretty damn...forgive me, that was uncalled for. Please accept my apology."
"Don’t worry about it. I won’t be offended if you say it again. What were you saying, though?"
"Still, I am sorry for it. As I was saying, though, he thinks that the entire group is special; a force to be reckoned with when focused. He also says that the driving force behind that focus is sitting at the table with me." As he spoke, he busied his hands, one holding the PDA, and the other writing. His eyes never looked to the PDA.
She sat back. "He’s said that about me? I don’t think I’m that...well, special."
David smiled. "Obviously, he does. You’re the sister he never had, although I think there might be an undercurrent that’s decidedly unbrotherly there."
She laughed. "Given what he told me when we showed up here, yeah, I’d say you’re right."
"It’s the girl in the hospital who’s tearing him up, though, isn’t it?" he asked. "She means a lot to him, and for some reason, he can’t go see her. He’s not the...well, I’m not sure how to explain it."
"Maybe you can explain it by explaining the space around it. What do you think of him? What might be different about him now?"
"I like him; I wouldn’t be his friend, even online, if I didn’t," he responded. "He’s got rough spots, but we all do." He chuckled for a moment. "I think furries, especially, seem to have them." He paused to think again. "He’s sometimes a bit quick-tempered - maybe too over-sensitive at times - but that comes from being an outsider mostly. I’d say that overall, I trust him."
"Overall?" Trixie asked, eyebrow raised.
"I don’t know. He’s a little too...I don’t know. Maybe too smooth describes it best." He chuckled again. "Then again, that could be jealousy speaking. I’ve never been able to do the kind of things he can do without thinking about it. I guess you could say that I’d trust him at my back...but not with my sister." He laughed outright. "Not that there’d be much chance of that - he’s one of my friends; that’s a strike against him right there."
She laughed with him for a moment, but became serious quickly. "He’s already got a girlfriend, anyway." I hope I’m not lying about that. Quickly frowning, she asked, "What could be so important that he’d be willing to come to a convention, rather than be by her bed?" She added, murmuring, "Assuming his very presence wasn’t scaring the hell out of her."
David’s eyebrows rose when he heard the quiet comment, but he answered the question she’d asked, rather than the entire statement. "I don’t know. I have a hunch that it’s bigger than just this convention - I can’t see Kynsfyr blowing off someone as important to him as she must be for just this. But that’s just a suspicion, based on what I know of him from chatting online. What it might be - I don’t know. But if I’m guessing right, it’s the reason he’s here - Anthrocon is just a cover."
"Really!" Trixie breathed. "I won’t ask what that might be, because you either know and won’t tell, or are like me, and don’t know. I will ask if you’ve got any suspicions. We know it has something to do with that suit of his." She found herself mildly annoyed that she couldn’t read what he was writing. He wrote fairly fast, based on the gentle TK’ing noise as the stylus tapped the screen.
Galadrion frowned for a few moments before answering slowly. "This is pure speculation, understand. I’ve been very careful not to discuss that costume with Dennis, because my employer is known to get a little grabby with things their employees might have collaborated on. Most of the costumes here incorporate electronics of some type or another - mostly home-designed. Well, there are a lot of problems to overcome. Size of circuitry and motors, heat dissipation, noise, ease of repair, power supplies...and a lot of people could be interested if some amateur makes a revolutionary breakthrough."
"How do you mean?"
"Well, this is just an example - as I said, I know nothing of his suit - suppose someone came up with a new low-weight, long-lasting battery, with or without increased output? Who might be interested? NASA - it’d do wonders for their spacesuits - and maybe more than that. So anyone who supplies electronics for the space program is going to be interested too. To say nothing of car manufacturers - something like that would be a godsend for anyone designing a practical electric car. Shoot, the battery people would be lining up to talk to the inventor! Lots of big ideas that have shaped our world have come from amateur inventors - and Dennis knows it; we’ve talked about things like that in the past. And it may not just be batteries - I don’t even have a clue how many man hours have gone into circuit design and other things for the costumes you’ll see here. There are some ingenious people in fandom. An example - did Dennis ever tell you about the robot wolf that somebody made one year? That was a costume someone created - an anthropomorphic wolf robot with a cockroach pilot. It was astonishing, and there were some questions I heard as to whether or not the guy who built it had actually managed to build a remote controlled robot."
"Cool! Blue and silver thing, right? I remember the pictures. So that sort of thing might explain Federal officers being here at the convention?"
He blinked. "The Feds are here? Wow. That might be the reason, but it might not be. Nothing really obvious comes to mind. Maybe someone here is a VIP in real life? If so, I haven’t heard about it - not surprising, really."
"Why isn’t it that surprising?"
"Dennis has mentioned that ... um, let’s see, what was his most polite reference to it - ‘that fershlugginer Vanity Fair article’?" When she nodded, he continued. "Well, given that, can you really see someone like, oh, say John Ashcroft admitting he’s a furry?" He grinned a wide grin, especially when he could see that she was contemplating it.
She shook her head to clear the image that came to mind, giggling. "That’s just wrong, on so many levels." She continued to chuckle. "I was just seeing him with bunny ears."
David blinked again. "You’re right - that picture is just wrong." He chuckled. Still smiling, he said, "Pray continue, Miss Marple."
"Nah. I’m too young, for one thing, and Agatha Christie had a tendency to tell you the vital information about the mystery as the character was solving it, so that you couldn’t actually get there before the character. Can’t be Nancy Drew, either. Not rich enough, and all her villains were obvious, because they were the ugly ones in the stories." She saw David open his mouth, and forestalled whatever he was going to say. "No, you would not be one of the villains in a Nancy Drew story."
He looked pole-axed, and actually stopped writing in his PDA. "Thank you," he finally replied, and she noticed that he sat up just a little straighter.
"While I’ve got you confused," she laughed, "let me ask you another question. Why might someone force them off the road?"
He blinked at her for a few seconds, and then laughed. "Nicely done, but it needs work. Very well done, actually. Seriously, though, it’s a tough question, because I have no idea how smart ‘they’ might be. If they’re not that smart, or if they haven’t thought things through, they could have just been looking to stop Dennis and your friend - Madeleine, I believe? They might not have thought about how likely it was that they’d crash, and how badly hurt they were likely to be." He paused, scowling. On the other paw - um, hand - Dennis and Madeleine may not have been their targets...or their main targets. In that case, they may not have cared whether or not our friends survived, as long as that car stopped." His words trailed off as if he had more to say, and his face reddened again, only this time it was obviously deep anger.
I wonder what he’s capable of right now, Trixie thought to herself. He looks like he’d be willing to kill someone as callous as what he just described. She watched as he closed his eyes, and could see the anger draining away from him.
"Not good to let myself get that angry when I have no real outlet for it," he answered the questioning look Trixie was giving him. "Best to just ground and let it flow away from me."
"Not to get you angry again, but I have another question in the vein of the previous one. Can you think of any reason someone might want him dead or injured? Obviously, this is assuming that forcing them off the road was the primary target - more precisely, that they were the primary target."
"That’s a given with that question, but it’s best stated. I can’t think of any reasons that I would consider sane. Jealousy, possibly - does she have any ex-boyfriends who might want him gone?"
Trixie snorted. "Sorry, David, but I just can’t see my brother trying to kill Dennis, especially with how long it took the group, him included, to get the Dennis and Honey - uh, Madeleine - together after the mutual break-up."
"Okay, that one’s out," he laughed. "Pretty nickname. Where’d it come from?"
"She’s a honey-blonde with a disposition as sweet as honey. You tell me," Trixie chuckled.
"I hope I have the chance to meet her. Back to your question, though. I can’t think of anyone in the furry community that holds that kind of a grudge - heck, for that matter, I can’t remember hearing about him dating anyone in the furry community. To be honest, there are furries, and those who are fur fans. I’d say he’s probably the latter. Be that as it may be, I can see some of them wanting him embarrassed, but actual harm...that’s out of character for this bunch."
After a moment’s thought, he continued. "It could be financial, though. Dennis has had some good ideas, in some fairly lucrative areas. He’s dropped a few hints about this costume, and if I’m reading between the lines right, there are some revolutionary ideas incorporated into it. To someone in the right industries, that could be worth a lot of money." He grinned a rueful grin. "Or none at all. Like me; I’ve signed an agreement with my employer; anything I work on while I’m working for them, they get first refusal on...and I’ve never heard of them refusing anything. That’s why I’ve been careful to keep from even asking certain questions...I’d hate to get a friend’s work taken away from him." After a moment’s thought, he finished with, "Given the choices that come to mind, I’d guess that probably ‘they’ve’ got some sort of financial outcome hoped for."
Trixie frowned as she thought about what seemed to be her last question for him. "I know that most of these people are your friends, but is there anyone here you know of that you think could do this sort of damage to him?"
He sat back in his chair, thinking deeply for several moments. "I’m trying to see the group I know from a completely outside point of view. My thought is that if it was someone that I know, then it started as a prank that snowballed out of control...but I can’t reconcile that with pushing him off the road. Amusingly enough, the person who edges out everyone else as being most capable of doing this is Dennis himself." As Trixie started to open her mouth, he said quickly, "I’m not saying that he’s behind it, or even that I think he’s capable of doing it. Of all the people I know, he is the one least unthinkable about doing it, but the level of anger I think would be required would be phenomenal. But I reiterate that I can’t really see any of our bunch being involved." He sighed. "I really don’t want to think that something like this could be tied to the fandom. We’re already enough of a fringe culture; I don’t want to go through another D&D-Satanism battle."
"Agreed," Trixie replied with a grimace. "Dennis got us into roleplaying, and explained how some people look at it. I can definitely understand not wanting to be explored like that. You’re already lied about in the media."
"Thanks for being so open-minded, Trixie. So, was I any help in figuring things out?" He smiled naturally at her.
She smiled back. He’s so much more at ease with me now, once he got past thinking I’m pretty. "I really need to assimilate what you’ve said." Her eyes opened wide, and in mock horror she gasped, "Oh no, my brother has infected me with circumlocution!"
From behind David came a voice. "Cute, Beatrix. Quite endearing." Mart came around within David’s view, while Dan, Di, Jim, and Brian stood near the door. "Might I enquire what your intentions toward my sister are?"
As David began to blush and opened his mouth to respond, Trixie looked at Mart and said, "Well, we were going to go looking for Dan and Di and go off somewhere and do unspeakably interesting things together, just the four of us, if you catch my drift." As Mart’s jaw dropped, and his eyes widened, she began to giggle, while David blushed even more furiously as he laughed along with her. She leaned over and kissed him on the cheek and whispered, "Thanks for the compliment, David." He turned so red that she thought he might pass out. "Seriously, though," she said, sitting back in her seat, "I need to think for a while. You gave me a lot of good information. If you want, you can stick around and learn a little more about us BWG’s." Got a chance to look at that PDA finally - I’m flattered. He’s describing me and the way I move; the way my expressions change. He’s quite the poet. No, the descriptive for what he’s writing is prosaic, isn’t it? Either way, I’m definitely flattered.
"Maybe tomorrow, if I have a chance, but it looks to me as if they were looking for you for a reason." He motioned to the waitress, and in one of nature’s great mysteries, successfully got her attention on the first try. She came over with the check, which he quickly grabbed and paid for. "Just being a gentleman, dear lady. I had an excellent time conversing with you."
"Well, I’m paying for our next set, David. I’d like to talk to you when I’m not solving a mystery."
Before David could react, Mart interjected, "Alas, dear sir, it seems that you shall never share another round of sodas with my sister, then." He was so over the top in his delivery that even patrons two seats away began chuckling. "Seriously, Mr. Adrian, we do want to talk to her. You are welcome to stay, though."
"As I said to her, it’s David, or you can call me by my fursona name, Galadrion - I’ll answer to either. It’ll probably be easier on your group if I’m not around, so that you don’t have to stop and explain things, and you don’t need to worry about what you can say around me. I’ll run into all of you later, though." With a grin, he made a circle with his right hand’s thumb and forefinger, put it to his eye, and said, "Be seeing you," as he dropped his hand, and left the restaurant, chuckling. Mart and Di started chuckling as well.
"We were thinking about heading over to the hospital to check on Honey. Want to come along?" Jim asked.
"Try and stop me!" she replied. "I can tell you guys some of what I’ve learned on the way there. How’s that sound?"
"Like a new you," Di said. "You and Honey always seemed to work these out yourselves. It sometimes seemed as if we were just along for the ride." Her smile as she said it took any possible sting from the words, and Trixie knew that it was true.
"Well, for one thing, my partner is in the hospital, so I certainly can’t talk to her about it, can I?" she laughed. "Besides, I need someone to bounce my harebrained ideas off!" They left the Denny’s chuckling. headed for the vehicle.id="Layer 1">
Beatrix "Trixie" Belden, Mart Belden, Brian Belden, Dan Mangan, Diana Lynch, Mr. and Mrs. Lynch, Matthew and Madeleine E. Wheeler, Mr. and Mrs. Belden, and Madeleine G. Wheeler copyright Random House
David "Galadrion" Adrian, Shirh Khan (Kaye), Clint "Concolor" McInnes, Evan "Cateagle" Mayerle, Mike "Old Gray Raccoon" Regan, Dorothy "Catspaw" McComb, Keith "FawkesFyre" McComb, MeJeep are used with permission, and are copyright and trademark their parents.
Any others not so mentioned are copyright 2003-2004 Keith E. McComb
Any resemblence to other people, living or dead, or situations is purely coincidental, and no harm is intended.