curiousers under way

Part 20 - Mr Bragg is Missing

I woke up the next morning, stumbled to the bathroom and looked out of the window at a magical scene. The houses, trees and bushes, coated with hoarfrost and scintillating with a billion tiny facets of light, faded into a ghostly white fog.

Nobody was doing anything about the weather . . . again. Sun spot activity was way down (indicating the start of the cyclical little ice age) and some looney's were try to prevent us feeding plant life with carbon dioxide in an attempt to stop the climate warming up. I was about to crawl back into bed and hibernate when Pacman growled and the front door bell rang. I could hear Grandma snoring so I assumed I was the only person in the house awake and answered the door.

A big, shifty looking man, wearing a dirty green parka and work boots, was waiting on the porch holding a desk top computer under his arm. 'Hi, you must be Ziff . . . I'm Scott McLean, Ottawa Police Service.' He looked down at Pacman who was sniffing at his boots. 'I was in the neighbourhood so I thought I'd return Eric Bragg's computer . . . He's not going to pee on my boots is he?'

'Sure,' I said. 'Come on in. Don't mind Pacman, he loves smelly boots.'

Scott kicked off his boots, followed me upstairs to Mr Bragg's tiny office and replaced the computer alongside the monitor. 'I can smell coffee,' he sighed as he reconnected the cables. 'I would love a cup right now.'

'Emma must be up. You'll have to ask her.'

'Emma?' Scott asked. 'I thought Eric Bragg lived alone.'

'Emma can explain.' I took him to the kitchen.

'Emma, this is Scott,' I explained. 'He is with the Ottawa Police Service and he is wondering if you live here.'

'Pleased to meet you, Scott,' she said. 'Beryl and I are friends of Eric Bragg. We are looking after his apartment while he is away. Would you like a coffee? I just made a pot. Some cookies?'

'Emma you are a delight.' He grinned. 'I'd love some.'

He unzipped his parka and sat down at the kitchen table. 'Emma, I assume you know Eric Bragg's been reported missing. I don't suppose you know where he is.'

'No. He didn't tell us where he was going,' Emma replied. She was looking at Pacman who was wagging his tiny tail hopefully. She teased him with one of his favourite sausages before placing it on the floor. Pacman's tail and jaws went into overdrive.

'Two spoons of sugar, please Emma,' Scott said. 'Thanks.'

He dunked the cookies rapidly one after the other into his coffee and just managed to get them into his mouth before they fell apart.

'I met Rico when I picked up Eric Bragg's computer,' Scott said to me. 'He told me you used it.'

'Uh-huh,' I replied reluctantly. 'He let me use it for home work.'

He sipped his coffee and looked at Emma hopefully. 'These cookies are superb, Emma, I don't suppose you could spare a few more?'

I jumped up and put two more on a plate. There was no way I was going to trust a cop with Emma's entire batch of home made cookies.

'Ziff, who is this character, Murga?' he asked suddenly.

Oops, I thought again. 'I don't really know.'

'Do you know much about computers?'

'Some.'

'Did you know there are no deleted files on the hard drive?'