Instant Freeze

The Black Bat Bar

The Black Bat Bar had indeed originally been a speakeasy. When prohibition ended in Ontario, it then became a bar and nothing about its look had changed since, save for the addition of the bat decorations. As Henry, Katharine, Ku and Miao entered the place, they found Zac Riel and Marion Malka questioning the Black Bat's owner Yvonne Sayegh, a picture in Zac's hand and one of those instant cameras in Marion's.

As Henry's father Alphonse was friends with Deputy Police Chief Ned Malka and Chief Administrative Officer Louis Riel, Henry was very much familiar with Zac and Marion, they were his friends and Katharine had even met them the day prior when they were all at the police headquarters.

Zac and Marion were both thirteen years of age. Zac was a wiry, black-skinned boy standing at a height of five feet and two inches, making him still taller than Miao. He was black-haired and brown-eyed and currently dressed exactly like Henry. Marion was of black, Afghan, Arabic, German and Scottish ancestry with neck length red hair, glasses and an attire consisting of a white blouse, a yellow jacket, a yellow knee-length skirt, white tights, orange shoes and a yellow cloche hat with a red band about it. She was the exact same height as Zac and had a build that was between athletic and slender.

Yvonne Sayegh, the twenty-year-old niece of Alfredo Khan, making her absurdly young to be owning an establishment. She was a girl of African and East Asian heritage with the build of a dancer and a height of five feet and four inches. She was a short-haired redhead with green eyes wearing a white top, a red skirt, white shoes and glasses and being paralyzed from the waist down she was in a wheelchair.

Seeing Zac and Marion, Ku commented: "Seems we aren't the only one looking for Beatrice Gore."

"We'll see." Said Henry, stepping forward and uttering: "Hello, Zac, Marion, Yvonne. Who is being searched for? Beatrice Gore?"

"Seen her." Replied Marion. "She is as green-skinned as Kyle Johnson... or should we call him Mr. O'Connor? The person we are looking for is also green-skinned."

"Do you think that green-skinned woman we saw at the reading was Beatrice, Henry?" Katharine inquired.

"Couldn't have been, Katharine." Replied Henry. "According to the math, Beatrice is twenty-four while that woman looked more like she was thirty-six."

Handing the photo that he was holding to Henry, Zac said: "This is who we are looking for."

Henry, Katharine, Ku and Miao all looked at the photo. It depicted a comely woman of twenty-five years with dark hair. Due to the picture being black and white there was no telling what her eye or hair colour was supposed to be, nor even the colour of her clothing, however due to a veil covering her eyes even if the photo been in colour, they would not have been able to tell what colour they were. All they had was that she was green-skinned.

"Three green-skinned women in Actaea..." mused Miao aloud. "Do you think they are in league with one another?"

"Actually, we can count four." Commented Henry. "I saw Julie Tuttle in the crowd and she is green-skinned too."

"In my experience, dear..." began Yvonne. "If a villain isn't some racial supremacist, be they black or white, their skin is typically green, they usually have some abnormality about their appearance beyond the green skin and their attire usually makes use of a black, green and purple colour scheme, sometimes blue instead of those three."

"She was wearing purple." Stated Marion. "Blazer, gloves, earrings, pillbox hat, skirt, gloves, shoes, blouse, everything was purple!"

"Excuse me, I haven't made introductions yet." Stated Henry. "Katharine, Zac, Marion, you three know each other. Zac, Marion, these are George Sheung Ku and his sister Alexandra Sheung Miao, my neighbours. Ku, Miao, these are Marion Malka and Zac Riel, the daughter and son of our police chief and chief administrative officer respectively. Katharine, Ku, Miao, this is Yvonne Sayegh, owner of the Black Bat Bar. Yvonne, this is Katharine Sharp, my close friend and I've already introduced my friends and neighbours."

Once the "How do you dos", curtsies and handshakes were all out of the way, Yvonne said: 'I've never seen her before in my life. Even with her eyes obscured, I still wouldn't recognize her, I've never met a woman who dresses like that. All purple and with a veil attached to a pillbox hat? I can assure you I have never seen anyone with that sort of fashion sense. As for Beatrice Gore, she was in here last night asking around, looking to know if any of my patrons knew anything about something called the 'Attestation of Moloney.'"

"Who is this 'Moloney person and why is their attestation so important?" asked Miao.

A wonderful question. Henry had never heard of a Moloney, be it locally or across the globe. He had a feeling that he would come to know the appellation better in days to come.

"Sorry, Miao. Can't say I've ever heard of such a person." Apologized Yvonne.

Sighing, Ku pulled his picture of Beatrice Gore out of his pocket and lamented: "My latest lady is a crook! Oh, woe is me!"

Henry could only stare with wide eyes while Katharine asked: "Miao, is your brother always such a ham?"