Detective Steel wore a frown as he picked up the phone. He rarely knew what brand of trouble would be on the other side, but this brand was unmistakable. Lapnisan Hotels and Resorts was one of the biggest names in hospitality this side of anywhere, and voice on the line was that of the big name behind it all: Kolmet Lapnisan.
The distress was evident in the tycoon's voice immediately, "Detective?""Hello?"
Years ago, the corporate ladder in the famed Pravigard Co. had stretched higher than their tallest building and Kolmet Lapnisan had flung himself right to the top rung by marrying the heiress to the company, right as her father received his two weeks notice on life, as coincidence would have it. Or, what passes for coincidence in a city with so many crooked quacks and money-hungry morticians.
"Yeah?"
"Hello Detective, This is Kolmet Lapnisan, head of-"
"Lapnisan Hotels and Resorts, I know. What l don't know is to what owe the great honor?
Within weeks Lapnisan Hotels and Resorts was up and running... running itself into the ground, that is. They were close to bankruptcy when the newly dubbed Fiona Lapnisan decided to start dealing in Martian antiquities. Nobody really knows how she got into it, but if you ask a professional nobody nicely, with creds in hand, they'll tell you.
Pravigard Hotels and Resorts had been the jewel of Hyperion's tourist industry, especially when it came to the elites who drop by and want to live in a skyscraper high enough the people of the city and their problems shrink down to ants, and Fiona found a way to roll that reputation over to the Lapnisan name, despite her husband's lack of cents.
"Believe me, Detective, I'd love to be flip about the matter, but I can't afford the time. You see, my wife has been missing for three days and I don't know what to do."
While the CEO was at a loss for actions, Detective Steel found his mind swimming with thoughts. By the end of the conversation, he had gleaned all the information he needed to set out on the hunt for clues.
First stop: The museum where Fiona Lapnisan's office had been left empty, and presumedly untouched, for three days.
What clues the detective discovered are still being learned by our sources, but his intuition lead him to investigate the office thoroughly, finding evidence of a subtle break-in and multiple clues that the burglar was involved in something much more important than any hotel, resort, or museum thief.
His wits carried him through clue after clue and a scrap on top of it all, but anonymous witnesses say he was last seen with a mysterious figure, walking away into the night.
This case is still being reported upon, but as far as its conclusion as far as investigation goes: CASE CLOSED.
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