by HoneyDog » Sun Nov 26, 2017 3:22 pm
Alice makes the short distance to Dr. Winside’s office. She knocks, and a voice invites her in.
Homer Winside is standing behind his desk, and invites Alice to sit down by indicating the chair opposite. He is of medium height, and is entering middle age. A man of modest appearance, his rather average features are offset with a shock of blond hair which seems to stick up directly from his head. Many people seem to get their eyes drawn to it when conversing with him, but he never seems to notice.
He is an expert on tropical plants, and is known for having a rather gruesome side, being very knowledgeable about plant toxins and their effects. The room is artificially hot due to the large number of orchids which dot the room, and Alice finds herself starting to sweat.
“Thanks for coming, Alice” he says, in a deep voice, as she sits down. “I want to get right to the point”.
He sits down and puts his hands on his desk, looking Alice straight in the eye.
“I want to ask for your help in finding one of my graduate students. He’s been gone since last week, when he went to do fieldwork to collect some fungal samples, but he had an important paper due three days ago, and should have been back for that. It’s behavior which is completely out of character for Albert, who takes his studies very seriously, and so naturally I became concerned.”
He pauses. “I know that this request may seem a little odd, but we know about your success in finding that missing journalist in Vermont last summer. We were all very impressed. I’m wondering if you could help me now. I contacted the police of course, but their attitudes were less than enthusiastic when they learned about Albert’s German nationality. There’s still a lot of bad feeling for some people, it seems.”
He leans forward suddenly.
“I must ask you to keep this in strictest confidence, Alice. Are you familiar with the name of Herbert West?”