AAcme Detective Agency:

It's the middle of the night. I am in a strange room on a rough cot. The sights and sounds of the past 24 hrs swirling behind my eyeballs. I am so exhausted but have awakened to strange noises in the night. Screams, furitive scratchings in the walls, a coarse guttural expletive followed by deep silence. By the light of a red neon sign I put pencil to paper in an effort to convey our story. Mine and Chrissy's.

I want to thank you both Fall and Mimzy for your kindness in giving me this room and joining me in my search for my lost sister. I know nothing of places like this having lived my life in boarding school in England followed by the Highlands of Scotland. I 'm a long way frae Suchihall Street now.

My Mother was trailer trash from Arkansas. My father English. I can't imagine a more mismatched pair but I suspect it had something to do with the strange sexual magazines I once found in an old chest. Rubber, handcuffs, and other things I won't mention near my dear fathers name. Mother treated him poorly and he doted on her.

I was born in Arkansas then Chrissy came along 20 years later we were living in a highland cottage. She missed the rise and fall of our fortunes but was treated to boarding school by fathers will. I grew up in the lap of luxury in England wanting for nothing. Chrissy had the cottage and her school and ner the twain shall meet. She was embarrassed by our mother and took great care to project an image of wealth and privilege to her school chums. We never met her friends. When I contacted them in my search they never knew Chrissy had a brother never mind a mother in Scotland.

See mum died. She was burnt to a crisp by that hatefull little Chihuahua Mimsy. I'm sorry. Yes the dogs name was Mimsy after a story in an old book mother loved. "Mimsy Were the Borogoves". I don't think it is coincidence the first person to offer their kind help in my search would be named Mimzy which is in the name of a a movie adaptation of that old story.

I say the dog was hateful but Mum loved that wee thing. it knocked over her space heater in an effort to get warm in the cold Scottish night. Mother was three sheets and many blankets to the wind and never woke up. We hope, although there is no real way to tell as the thatched roof of the cottage created an instant bonfire seen for miles in the ink black night.

Chrissy, this is what you need to know about Chrissy. torn between the shame of a desolute mother and a distinguished father, the Scottish highlands and the nightclubs of London, the beacon of the High Scottish church and the pull of the rain drenched pavement through an opiate haze.

Chrissy married for fun, excitement, kicks. Fathers estate who funded Chrissy's explorations of the dark side threatened to pull her funding but it didn't stop her. She said she was in love and married a mercenary soldier named Denton. No first name or is it last. Within a month he showed up missing and Chrissy moved on without shedding a tear. On to Peter Santiago. Peter was from Poland, pale thin with deep set eyes he could have jumped off of the pages of an Ann Rice novel except for the fact he had no manners or culture. I think he introduce Chrissy to heroin but he never seemed to be apart from a bottle of Grand Marnier cognac. He is still alive I think but i don't know where. Maybe they are together although her friends say she hates him.

Her friends who contacted me through email with a bogus return address say she is with a policeman from Hathian City! they say he is a policeman because she showed up to school after three days trying to conceal a set of handcuffs still attached to her right wrist. She looked gaunt yet filled with fire. She was exhausted and had what appeared to be rope burns on her neck. Out of concern she was driven away from the school. They wanted to help her and told her how stupid she was. It didn't work and now no one has seen her in three weeks.

With Mother deceased Chrissy is my only family and I will not give up the search for her. Aided by my two new friends Featherfin Fall and Mimzy Runningbear we will track her down as God is my witness. Sow