Play@YSDC

"I believe I would." Milly gives the best description she can in terms of features, height, build, complexion, scars, etc. She mentions the leather coat and dreadlocks and the fact that he was naked (with an erection) under his long leather coat. And she mentions the scalpel.

"I struck him in the face with my bag and bloodied his nose, so you might get some DNA evidence by the elevator in the lobby. The injured man said he had struck him in the face, I believe. His name is Magnus Urqahart -- the injured man -- Scots, I think. He might have taken my taxi to hospital, mightn't he? He had a knife protruding from his shoulder."

The Landezpolizie nods. "We'll check the hospitals, ma'am. Did Magnus explain why he was leaving? Or what his connection to the deceased or to the two tenants were?"

"He said he was tired of waiting for help. I think he met Gemma and her friend -- I've been introduced to him, but I don't recall his name -- and came back here with them to... uhm... socialize. Then they found the injured -- dead -- woman and were attacked by the intruder. I think it was Gemma's friend who accidentally stabbed Magnus in the scuffle.

"Here's my card. That's my number at the studio and that's my mobile number. I'm a longtime resident at the Adlon Kempinski. I'd like to go home now. I'm all in."

"Thank you," says the landespolizei, accepting the card. "I can understand that you're tired but do you have any means of contacting either of the three people you mentioned?"

The other fellow busily talks in a low voice into his radio.

"Dammit!" exclaims Milly, "I'm such a dope. Here, yes, Gemma's number is right here in my received call file."

She flips open her phone and displays Gemma's number for the officer to copy, then hits "send."

"I'm afraid I don't know any way to contact the two men," she says as she waits for Gemma to answer, "As I say, I don't really know them.

"Come on, Gemma, pick up," she murmurs as the ring continues.

Someone at the other end picks up but the voice sounds very far away, as though the signal were faint and kept dropping in and out. "Milly ... no ... I know what you ... just don't try to ... just listening ... it can hear ... go home. Just ... home ... a room ... don't listen to them ... in the clubs ... I'm sorry ... hour passed ... tell ... sorry."

Milly clicks the phone shut. She feels like all the warmth has drained from her body and knows she must look pale. She shivers.

"I'm not sure the call went through, officer, the connection kept fading, but it sounded like Gemma's voice. I don't know."

She bows her head and fumbles the phone into her bag after letting the policeman copy down the number.

"Anyway, you have her number and I've told you all I know. I'd appreciate you calling me a cab so I can go... home."

Milly is struck by the thought that she has no home and no one to make a home with and...

She won't let herself weep in front of these men.

"I understand," says one of the police officers. He makes the call and tells her it will take ten minutes for the taxi to arrive.

"Thank you so much," Milly says, "Is it possible someone could wait with me in the lobby? I'd really like to get away from this flat."

"Of course," said the officer who had been talking to her. He heads down to the lobby with her until her taxi arrives - which is about the same time as the kriminalpolizei (detectives) and crime scene technicians arrived. Then he sees her safely into the taxi.

"Where to?" asks the taxi driver.

"Take me to..." Milly hesitates, remembering Gemma's warning on the phone not to mention where she was going. "Cafe Lebensart, please."

When they reach the cafe, Milly pays off the taxi and steps inside. To the maitre d' she indicates that she is looking for Herr Magnus's party. Assured that there is no guest there by that name, she makes the excuse that she must have misunderstood the location. She has a pretend conversation on her mobile, smiles at the maitre d' and leaves the restaurant. She crosses the Wilhelmstrasse to the Hotel Adlon-Kempinski and goes up to her room.

She security locks her door, leaves a wake-up call for 7:00 a.m., showers and goes to bed. She doesn't take an Ambien.

She awakens Friday morning after a dreamless sleep.

Milly orders eggs and kippers and coffee from room service and meditates until it arrives. After eating, she goes down to the hotel gym to work out and feels really good by the time she gets back to her room. There's a discreet knock and she opens the door to find nothing there except a sealed envelope. Inside she knows are her amphetamines and she wonders who "Jaeger's" courier might be.

She showers and dresses for a relaxed day. Then she calls Daniel Carter's office. "Is it Miss Chiang?" she asks the voice that answers, "Milly LeCrique here. Would you please email me a list of tonight's guests? I want to make sure I recognize everyone I'm supposed to. Do you know if Miss Chaikovskaya will be present?"

"She should be there, yes," says Miss Chiang.

The list that she is emailed includes:

Timothy Wells.
Francesca Morletti.
Alexander Lozynsky.
Nicolai Lebedev.
Arnold Crawford.
Daniel Carter.

And a number of press agents and other important people.

Milly is overjoyed to see that Timothy Wells is on the list. She immediately dials his mobile number to arrange lunch today.

She spends the time before lunch Googling the others on the list.

Timothy answers the phone after a few seconds, his happiness to hear from Milly again evident over the line.

"Milly! Long time no talk, how are you? I hope the place you're staying at is better than mine . . . you'd think the production companies would think to provide for their employees, wouldn't you? Self-important bastards. I'm staying at some hole in the wall place, very 'economical' if you catch my drift. But where are my manners? I'm not letting you get a word in edgewise."

"Dear man, it is wonderful to hear your voice. You wouldn't believe how much I've missed you. There's not a single person worth talking to at Ophidian, I promise you. Meet me for lunch? Malzcafe in Veteranenstraße? And we'll get you a room there -- I'll take care of it until I can talk some sense into those dickheads in the finance office. And I had an experience last night that you must hear. Until noon then? Wiedersehen!"

Milly commences her research.

<ooc - her research should get her the character sheet info on the attendees?>

Timothy laughs at her mention of a night-time experience. "Am I sure I really want to hear about that experience, Milly? Anyway, I'll see you at Malzcafe, goodbye!"

He hangs up the phone.

Unfortunately, in her first hour, she can only seem to find web sites in Russian when she makes her search

"What the fuck?" mutters Milly.

She shifts the subjects of her search to George W. Bush and Madonna to see if it's some glitch on her connection. She also tries connecting directly to Wikipedia on her original subjects -- Timothy Wells, Francesca Morletti, Alexander Lozynsky, Nicolai Lebedev, Arnold Crawford, Daniel Carter -- to see if Google is the problem. She then tries switching from Firefox to IE.