Adrienne and Gloria quickly go through the desk drawers, trying not to disturb the contents too much. But they find nothing else of any interest. Gloria tries to log on to the laptop computer, but has no luck trying to guess the password.

"This is really frustrating," grumbles Adrienne. "We know Veronica is up to something here besides running a cab company, but what? We just can't find any proof!" She kicks the desk in a rare show of temper.

"Hmm, maybe, maybe not," mutters Gloria. "But I do think we should get out of here. We've pushed our luck coming in here so let's go now."

They quickly leave the office, pulling the door shut behind them. Gloria peeks out the front door, then signals for Adrienne to follow her out. She manages to get the latch to engage again, then quickly runs after Adrienne back the way they came. They just manage to disappear in the shadows when the cab comes roaring back down the street and squeals to a stop in front of the taxi stand.

"Wow, that was close!" utters Gloria, as they slip into the alley toward the bike. "Lots of fun tonight! Haha! OK, let's get out of here!" Adrienne, who has had enough 'fun' to last the rest of her life, quickly agrees. The drive back to Vicki's club is fairly uneventful, but Adrienne figures that she only has one life left by the time they pull into the parking lot.

They meet Vicki back inside the club and Adrienne carefully describes the details of of their little adventure to her. While she's doing that, Gloria searches around for a pencil, which she uses to carefully rub on the paper she took off the pad in the cab office.

"There," she states, "Now we have a copy of what was written on that top sheet. The person who wrote that should really take a course in anger management; the pen must have made grooves halfway through the pad!"

She hands the paper to Vicki, who looks it over for a couple of minutes before handing it back quickly, like it was soiled.

"All those large amounts of money listed there with those names," Vicki mutters. "I only recognize one of them, Il Lupo. I've heard rumors that he's a very nasty character and has some Mafia connections. My God, just what has Veronica gotten herself into, associating with people like that?"

"I don't know any of the names on that list," Gloria muses, "But all those junk cabs sitting in that garage make me very suspicious. I would have loved to have a peek into that computer and look at the books if they're kept there. I bet you'd find those cabs still listed as generating income to cover some massive cash input! Can you spell 'money laundering'? Also a long list of expenses for those cabs, bills from shell companies owned by her associates. That's how they would get their nice squeaky clean money back, minus Veronica's cut of course."

"Oh my Lord," states Adrienne, "Do you really think so? I suppose that would make sense! What a thing to be able to use against Veronica!" Turning to Vicki she says, "Oh, I'm so sorry that you had to find this out about your sister, if any of this is true."

Vicki waves it off. "Don't feel sorry for me. I wrote her off long ago. It's shocking to hear this speculation, but not really surprising, considering the way she throws money around and the way she behaves. Now I know it's late and Gloria wants to get to her party, so let's leave this for now. I'm going to do some checking around on my own."

She takes the paper back from Gloria and hands it to Adrienne. "You better keep this, it might be useful though it's not hard evidence. Now I'm going to send you to an aquaintance of mine who I think will find all this very interesting. I'll call ahead and set up a meeting for you tomorrow evening. Wear something dark and mysterious, she'll love that!" She hands Adrienne a card with only an address on it and then gets Adrienne's phone number.

Adrienne changes quickly and joins Gloria again. As they leave, Adrienne says to her, "Thank you for your help tonight. What we've found has given me something to work with, though I'm not exactly sure what happens after this! I dread going to work with that woman tomorrow, knowing what I do now!"

"Hey, no problem!" says Gloria, hugging Adrienne. "I wish you luck. Who knows, maybe we'll meet up again sometime." She hops on her bike and soon vanishes into the night, leaving Adrienne to walk home alone with her troubled thoughts.

 Tuesday morning finds Adrienne back at work on the art work for the children's books. She didn't sleep very well, kept awake by thoughts of her trip to the taxi stand and what they found there.

By eleven, she's beginning to think that Veronica isn't going to show at all when she comes sailing in, ready for another shortened day at work.

"Well, I hope you're not wasting any time getting those illustrations done," she mutters, her thoughts clearly not anywhere near the workplace.

Adrienne manages to remain outwardly calm in spite of her desire to blurt out all she now suspects about this woman.

"Everything is still on schedule," she manages to get out. "I still figure I'll be done by tomorrow evening." She didn't bother mentioning that she had been spending half her time answering Veronica's calls. Some callers even thought she was Veronica so Adrienne just went ahead and answered their questions, based on what she knew of the business. She thought that with a bit more experience, she could probably take over completely, considering how little work Veronica actually did.

"Alright, just keep cranking that stuff out," Veronica says over her shoulder, already heading for the door. "I was going to punish you for dressing too smartly against my orders, but those silly glasses make you look like a nerd, so all is well. Haha! I'll be gone for the rest of the day. Lots of, er, client meetings to take care of. Get to work!"

Adrienne collapses against the desk after Veronica breezes out, relieved that she has the rest of the day to herself. She doesn't have to sit on her secret knowledge all day while having Veronica make all those consistently nasty remarks at her expense. The ringing phone gets her attention. As she goes to answer it, she wryly thinks, "An executive's work is never done!"

Much later near the end of the day, a refined looking elderly man pokes his head in the door. "Is Ms. Deville somewhere around the building?" he asks.

"Er, no," Adrienne answers, wondering who this fellow is. "She told me that she would be gone all day, visiting clients."

"Is that so?" he states, looking irritated, then sees what she's doing. "Oh! I see you're doing the preliminary illustrations for the Simpson account, the chidren's books! I'm impressed, this is very good work! I didn't know we had another graphic designer stashed away back here. By the way, I should introduce myself. I'm J.W. Hardin, CEO of Pendulous Publications."

"Oh, er, pleased to meet you, sir!" stammers Adrienne. "I'm sorry, I didn't recognize you!"

"Yes, well, if you see Ms. Deville before the end of the day, tell her I want to see her immediately." As Mr. Hardin turns to leave, he says, "By the way, Ms., er, Duhamel, since you're new here, do you know about our policy concerning tomorrow? We encourage all employees to wear a costume to work on Halloween. It's good for staff moral I suppose! Must be off, see you again soon!"

"OK, I'll see what I can come up with for a costume!" Adrienne calls after him. To herself she thinks, "Funny, Veronica never mentioned that! I suppose she wanted me to look bad in front of all the other employees. Well, to heck with her!"

Veronica never returned to the office that day, which didn't bother Adrienne a bit. "I hope she gets in trouble with the big boss, if she isn't already!" she muses. "Mr. Hardin didn't seem pleased that she wasn't around the office."

She leaves right at five o'clock, wanting to leave enough work undone to stick to her plan, uncertain as it was. She gets home and is making herself a quick meal, when the phone rings.

"Hi Adrienne, it's Vicki. Are you ready for your meeting tonight? I've found out a thing or two that might prove to be useful to you. My contact will fill you in when you get there. Don't forget to wear what I suggested!"

"Uh, OK. I'll be leaving soon," Adrienne says, wondering about unknown contacts and mysterious meetings at all hours of the day or night. "All this 'cloak and dagger' stuff and now Halloween on top of it is really stretching my wardrobe to the limit!"

She rushes through her meal, then drags out an old suitcase with a few dark items in it. "Good thing I kept this stuff from my Goth period. Who knew it would come in handy again some day!" She quickly covers herself in black velvet and is soon out the door, on her way to another rendevous.

After an hour walk and some help from her well used map, Adrienne finds herself in an area of upscale homes. "A strange area for a secret meeting," she thinks, "But everything about my life has been strange since arriving in this city! Hmm, here's the address on the card that Vicki gave me. It's a classy looking place; now I'm really getting curious!"

Adrienne climbs the step to the front door and knocks. Soon she hears someone approaching. The door opens a crack and a single eye peers out at her. "Ya? Vat do you want? You have appointment with Mistress?" a rather androgenous voice demands.

Feeling a bit disconcerted by the cold greeting, Adrienne stammers, "Uh, I was supposed to come to this address for a private discussion with the, ah, Mistress. I hope she knows that I was coming."

"Hmph! Vell, come in and I vill enquire about this with Mistress." The door is opened just enough for Adrienne to slip inside and confront her questioner.

"Wow!" she wonders. "Does everybody I meet in this weird city have some kind of secret fetish or lifestyle?" Standing before her is a person about 6 feet tall, dressed all in female rubber clothing and nicely made up, but obviously a crossdresser, according to Adrienne's practiced eye.

"You vait right here. Do not move!" He/she minces off in five inch heels toward a doorway to one side of the elaborate room Adrienne finds herself in.

"Well, sister or not, that is one rude bitch!" she thinks, getting annoyed by her treatment so far.

She hears some murmured conversation, then footsteps approach. "Hans say I haf customer. I haf no appointment booked tonight!" an oddly familiar voice rings out. A woman in a long latex gown sweeps through the doorway. "Who bother me on private evening... huh? Bloody Blimey!! It's Veronica Deville's sissy maid!"

Adrienne, shocked by the sudden shift in accent, as well as the realization of the woman's identity, reels against the wall. "Oh my God! It's Lady Demonika! I've really screwed the pooch now!"

Adrienne can't think of a thing to say to cover her presence here at the home of her nemesis. She turns to bolt for the door but Hans the CD is in her way.

"'Wait a moment, luv!" calls Demonika. "Don't be in such a 'urry to run off. Are you the person Vicki Deville sent to see me? If you are, you're the last person I expected to see on my doorstep! Took me by surprise, you did!"

Adrienne slowly turns back to look at Demonika. Without the mask and the bulky black rubber dress, she seems smaller, not at all like the evil woman who had treated her so callously at Veronica's party. How could this lady have tossed her around so easily and tied her up like a neat little parcel? And what was with that weird Eastern European accent that disappeared so quickly? This woman was obviously English. "Lady Demonika? Is it really you?" she asks, totally puzzled by all this.

"Oh yes, dear, it really is!" Demonika says, chuckling a bit. "Now why don't you come in and have a nice cup of tea? I think you and I have some interesting things to chat about. And by the way, you can call me Penelope. The 'Lady Demonika' personna is only used for my private 'guests'... and for other reasons that I will explain."

"Hans dear, since you appear to have taken some liberties with my wardrobe again without permission, you may go and prepare tea for us. There's a good fellow!" As Hans slips away, Penelope continues, "He's really a sweet person, but doesn't like to be seen dressed by strangers! Now come and sit down and we'll discuss your recent adventures. I know about the parts involving Vicki, but I think there's a lot more to your story than that!"

Adrienne gingerly perches herself on the edge of a chair, ready to run like a deer at any reappearance of the Lady Demonika she knows and fears. She starts her tale, haltingly at first, but Penelope helps her along with a few well placed questions and soon she is smoothly babbling along, likely helped by the brandy Hans brought after the tea. When she gets to the evening in Veronica's dungeon, she almost breaks down, but Penelope urges her to continue until it's all out.

"Well well, that's quite a fantastic story," says Penelope, looking distracted. As Adrienne opens her mouth to insist that it's all true, Penelope continues, "Don't worry, Adrienne! I believe all of what you have said, not just because I happened to be part of it. I'm involved in this a tad more than you might think. Now I'm going to trust you and hope you'll keep what I tell you secret, because it could cost me my life if certain people found out about my inquiries."

"You see, I'm actually a private investigator based in London and I was originally hired by a very wealthy British couple to try and locate a missing daughter. What I first thought was a simple runaway case has turned out to be much more than that. The young lady disappeared while touring North America with friends. Right in this fair city, as a matter of fact, which is the reason I ended up here."

After a sip of brandy, Penelope continues, "After doing some preliminary investigation, I thought it prudent to get undercover quickly. You see, I soon found out this girl was hardly the first to vanish here. There have been many disappearances in this area, and not all, er, strictly female! Many transsexuals and a few CD's have vanished too. I have found out there are several dangerous characters running a thriving drug trade locally, and are also involved in white slavery. There are indications many of these girls are kidnapped and smuggled off to private brothels in South America and also the Far East."

"I met your friend Vicki one day while checking clubs in the area and we hit it off immediately. She told me the story of Martha, which led me to believe the lovely Veronica is somehow involved in all this. It's not likely she's one of the top people, just a social climber seduced by the easy money that's obtained by laundering drug money. I also believe she scouts for people like Sarah and yourself as potential fodder for the sex trade. You see, there are many varied tastes in this sad old world!"

"Oh my God!" Adrienne blurts out. "So that's what all this is about! You think we're going to end up in some sleazy crib on the far side of the world? That's just horrible! How could anyone do such a thing to another person?"

Penelope continues, "I have been trying to find out more about these people by attempting to work my way into Veronica's little circle of friends. I think my cover as a professional domme is working well, since I really am a lifestyle dominatrix, as you have discovered, my dear! Hehe, it also generates some extra income, which pays the rent on this lovely house. But my clients are becoming impatient and are pushing for some sort of results. They don't realize how dangerous this could be for me, but I must come up with some sort of lead soon."

"When Vicki called, she told me some interesting things about growing up with Veronica. It seems she always loved having secrets and was totally fascinated by an old wall safe located in the former servants quarters on the third floor, where she stashed all her private things. Vicki also told me that Veronica was an avid diarist and wrote down every little detail of her life. Since she had a poor memory for numbers, she had the original combination changed to something easy for her to remember, her birth month and day, plus the house number, 11-21-33. The silly girl wrote it down and Vicki found it one day and easily remembered it, since it's her birthday too. So we're hoping she hasn't changed it since."

"Now this is where you come in, luv," Penelope says with a little grin. "I would like you to find that safe and try to get into it, because there's a good chance you're going to find a diary with all sorts of details written in it that could help me, and also yourself and Sarah. It's a gamble but we must act immediately, especially since I think you two are about to vanish! I would prefer to do this myself since I'm invited to the big party tomorrow night but I have other pressing, er, engagements tomorrow that can't be put off. Plus I don't know the layout of the mansion and you do. I think this will have to be done quickly and efficiently, and there won't be time for me to wander around the place aimlessly."

"I don't want you to show up as Adrienne the sissy maid tomorrow night! Veronica will keep you too busy running around until the guests leave, then I fear you will be bundled off and never seen again. You are going to go alright, but you're going show up as Lady Demonika! I have an appropriate outfit ready for you and you'll use my invitation to gain entrance. There should be no problem! What do you think of that?"

Adrienne sits there stunned, her mouth hanging open. "I can't possibly do that! I don't look anything like you and I sure can't talk with your accent! It just won't work!"

Penelope answers soothingly, "Relax, my dear. You must realize that Veronica has no idea what I look like. I've always been masked and you will be too. And speaking in my assumed accent won't be very hard with a bit of practice. I chose it deliberately because it's so rough and hard to place. Just tell her that you caught a cold!"

At that moment, Hans returns with a large bag, which Penelope hands over to Adrienne, whose mind is still whirling over the outrageous plan that's just been laid out for her.

Adrienne pokes through the contents for a minute then wonderingly holds up a long stocking made of latex rubber. "Oh Lord," she whines, "I have no idea how to get dressed in this stuff! It must be like trying to crawl into a balloon!"

"Oh, it's not really too hard, just use lots of that talcum powder in the bag. But be careful, it can tear. Who knows, you could learn to love it! Then perhaps you could join Hans and I for a bit of fun, hmm? Would you like to try it on now?" Penelope inquires sweetly, starting to peel off the gown to reveal rubber undergarments.

"Uh, ah, perhaps another time," Adrienne stammers, edging toward the door, not really knowing what to think of Penelope's invitation. "If I'm going to actually do this, I'd better get some rest. It will be a long day tomorrow."

"Well, think about it, my dear. The invitation stands!" purrs Penelope, taking Adrienne by the hand and pulling her close as they move to the door. "Well, run along if you must! Good luck darling, please be careful tomorrow night!" She gives Adrienne a parting kiss on the cheek as she leaves.

"My God," Adrienne thinks on the way home, "What an incredible day! I start the day working on a kiddy book and nearly end it in a sweaty threesome with a couple of rubber fetishists, one an English private eye and domme who just sweet talked me into an impossible task! If my life gets any weirder, I'll have to write a book about it! That's if I have a chance after tomorrow night!"