Death in the Water

The Mysterious Albino and the Detective

As the albino walked away, Henry stood up and exclaimed: "Wait, a minute! Who are you?"

The albino turned with a raised eyebrow while Katharine uttered: "Henry!"

"No, no, it is fine, Miss." The albino gave a friendly smile and said: "My name is David, not just 'David'. My given name, middle name and surname are all 'David', so kind of just 'David', but not like I am just someone with one name, like Madonna or Cher. I work for Evangeline Agassiz, the head of the Carson Organization."

"Yes, an organization that has existed for sixteen years, but has had no headquarters until it started getting one built this year with the museum here in Actaea." Commented Henry. His father had told him what he had discovered about the Carson Organization and there was certainly something suspicious about it.

"The museum my dad is helping build." Commented Katharine.

"Who even is this Evangeline Agassiz person?" Henry asked. He had heard of her, so had his dad. She was this mysterious head of the organization whom people rarely saw, even recluses were seen more often than she was.

"A Frenchwoman from the upper class." Answered David. "She was living in London before coming here, her father was a fashion designer back in France before he went out of business. Anyway, I really must get going. Good day!"

As David walked away, the three walked back to their belongings. As they walked, Katharine said: "I would if her father was the owner of that Agassiz fashion house that went out of business eight years ago. I read an article about fashion houses that were lost recently this decade."

When they reached their belongings, Henry gave a sigh of relief when he saw the digital phone was still there. "If she is his daughter, then she is." Picking up the digital phone from Miao's towel, Henry began to dial his house's number. A mysterious organization, a wyvern that had been dead sixty-eight years rising from the dead, an alien and the Men in Black, a prehistoric marine reptile appearing in the river, what was next? Finishing dialing, Henry held the phone up to his right ear. After the answering machine picked up, he sighed and said: "Someone must have called the house, I'll try to reach my dad in a bit."

Sighing, Miao fell to her knees and commented: "Guess that just leaves us having to wait for the police to come."

Taking a seat upon her towel, Katharine put on her sunglasses and looked up at Henry with a smile. Moving over a bit, she patted the spot next to her. Returning the smile, Henry sat next to Katharine on the towel. Together they stared out at the river. Everything looked quite nice, that tree that Carchemish's skeleton had been beneath aside, but the Peloneustes had not swam back this way, so that was definitely good. Marine reptile and the Man in Black's shadow aside, the day was nice. Sure, it was the hottest summer on record and it would be hotter as the day went on, but besides that everything was nice.

"Excuse me!" Looking to their right, the kids saw a young woman. Henry knew her well, the twenty-nine-year-old Detective Ming-Na Akhtar, the reformed teenage punk.

The three kids stood up and Henry greeted them with: "Hi, Ming-Na! Nice that you could come."

Ming-Na, an attractive, athletic woman of Chinese and Iranian heritage with red hair and brown eyes and wearing a red, knee length dress, high heels, earrings and an orange belt, gave a friendly wave as she looked at Miao. "You must be Miao. It is a pleasure to meet you." Then looking to Katharine, she asked: "And who might you be?"

"Katharine Sharp."

"Nice to meet you. So, where might this monster be?"

"In the river, I'm surprised you didn't see it." Henry answered, crossing his arms.

"I didn't see anything." Said Ming-Na. "It must have moved to a different part of the river, might even be beneath the bridge. I will take a look, if I see this creature, I'll call animal control. Go enjoy the day, see a movie, be kids, you shouldn't waste your summer like this."

Thus did Ming-Na walk away to begin searching the portion of the river that Actaea bordered.