Postby KP Presents » Fri Jun 15, 2012 5:38 am
Saturday, 11 am, The Cabot Residence
“Thanks again for allowing us to use your house for the party, Veronica - given what Cindy wanted, there was just no room at our place.”
“It’s not a problem, Dorothy - the more the merrier.” The two women were sitting in the breakfast bar, talking as Amy walked in with Anne and Suzanne. “How are the girls?”
“Getting ready - and I’ve got to admit, Alexa has been very creative indeed with her outfit. I take it one of the girls is coming as Kim Possible?”
“They are,” Cindy said as she walked in. She was wearing a long sleeved yellow top over a pair of shiny black leggings, with her feet in a pair of red shoes. Her mother had fixed a black cape with a red lining to the collar of the dress, which hung to just above the black belt that hung loosely on her hips, and she had a black hood over her head with a peak like jester’s cap, her black hair sticking out from under the front.
“Thanks for the outfit, Aunt Suzanne,” Cindy said as she spun a black eye mask around her finger, “I never would have thought of something like these.”
“I loved the books when I was a girl,” Suzanne said with a smile, “and I used to wear that to fancy dress parties. I’m glad it fits you now. You’d better get going - your guests will be here soon.”
“Talking of soon,” Anne said as she looked at her watch, “Have we decided who it’s going to be?”
“No,” Amy said with a sigh, “so I guess it’s time to draw straws.” She took three straws out of a box, and using a pair of scissor cut one in half.
“Whoever draws the short one,” she said as she held the four in her hand, the ends level. One by one, Veronica, Dorothy and Suzanne drew a straw, as Amy opened her hand to show the one that she was left with.
“Right,” Anne said as she stood up, “You’d better come with me and get ready...”
Saturday, 11.45 am
“All right, you two girls have fun now.”
Natalie’s mother held the door open to allow Natalie and Heidi to climb out of the car. Natalie was wearing a mid-length purple dress, with matching strap shoes, tights in a lighter shade of purple and one of her mother’s silk scarves tied in a band loosely round her neck.
Heidi, unusually for her, was dressed fairly smartly, in a long sleeved yellow jumper and a purple tartan print pleated skirt with a yellow belt round her waist. A pair of purple brogues was on her feet, and a simple silver locket round her neck.
“So, are we going to tell them today,” Natalie said as she waved goodbye to her mother.
“Let’s see what happens,” Heidi said with a smile. “After you, Ms Blake.”
“No, after you, Ms Drew,” Natalie said, laughing as the two girls walked to the front door and rang the doorbell.
“Hey there,” Cindy said as she opened the door, “Glad you could make it. Mum’s got some drinks sorted out in the front room.” The three girls walked into Veronica’s large front room, where Dorothy was pouring some drinks into glasses.
“Welcome, ladies,” she said as she handed Heidi and Natalie a glass. “When the others have arrived, then we can begin.” As if by cue, the doorbell rang, and Cindy left the room, only to return with the two new arrivals.
Jannifer was wearing a cheerleader outfit, consisting of a cropped purple sleeveless top with red trim, a pleated purple skirt with red trim and yellow inserts in the pleats, a pair of red ankle socks and white sneakers. She also carried a brown canvas bag over her shoulder, and her red hair was styled to flow down her back.
Alice was wearing a red t-shirt with a white stripe across the centre, and green combat pants. Her normal dark hair was covered by a blonde wig, with a pigtail sticking out at either side, and she was carrying a large book with her.
“All right then,” Cindy said as she closed the door, “Let’s all have a drink and see what’s going to happen next....
The four women were sitting round a television screen, watching the assembled group as they sat round talking.
“Purrfect,” Andrea said as she stroked her chin, “Simply purrrfect.” She was wearing a form fitting black body suit, with a leather belt hanging loosely round her waist, and black ankle boots. In her hair were perched a pair of cat ears.
“Calm yourself, dear,” Alexa said as she played with the edges of her long black wig. She was wearing a black and green bodysuit, with one black boot and one green one on the opposing coloured legs. “Wait until the tape is shown, and then we can move out.”
Chloe sat to one side, her finger to her chin as she watched Cindy. “The birthday girl is dressed as one of my favourite heroines,” she said as she started to finger the string of pearls that were round her neck, sitting on top of the jumper part of the twin set she was wearing with a tweed skirt. “It will give me the greatest of pleasure to ensure that she is kept - occupied for some time.”
“Soon, girls,” Joanne said as she turned up the volume, “very soon...”
“Ladies,” Dorothy said as the five girls sat down, “You have been invited here because your help is desperately needed. Some of you know each other, but please, take a moment to introduce yourselves.”
“I’m Nancy - Nancy Drew,” Heidi said as she made a little curtsey.
“Kim Possible,” Jannifer said as she waved the pom-poms she had taken out of her bag in the air.
“I’m Penny Gadget, and I hope agents of KLAW are nowhere round,” Alice said with a defiant stand.
“Daphne Blake - pleased to meet you all,” Natalie said. “And who are you,” she said as she looked at Cindy, her eye mask firmly fixed in place.
“You may call me Fantomette,” Cindy said with a false French accent, which made Chloe giggle as she watched; “I’m the scourge of villains everywhere.”
“Well, thank you all for coming today,” Dorothy said as she switched on the television and took a DVD out of a case. “We have asked you here because we - well, I’ll let the Controller explain.” She opened the DVD player, slipped the disk in and pressed “Play” on the remote. The screen went black, and then the silhouette image of a person appeared.
“Greetings, sleuths,” an electronically masked voice said, “You have been asked to attend today to find and rescue Lady Amelia DuBonet, a leading philanthropist in this local area. Yesterday afternoon, she was apprehended by a gang of four masked women, and we believe she is been held captive somewhere in this very building. We received this communication two hours ago.”
The screen changed to show a woman, dressed in a long silk gown, tied securely to a chair with ropes around her legs, midriff and arms. A canvas hood was covering her head as she tried to look round. As the picture continued, a female voice that the girls recognised as Joanne said “You have six hours to raise one million dollars in cash, or the lady will be a tramp. We’ll be in touch.”
As the scene went back to the silhouette, the altered voice said “We only have four hours left - and we need your help to find Her Ladyship. Please, do your best to find her, but be careful - we have reason to believe that the gang have hired four master villainesses to try and thwart any attempt to release Lady DuBonet.”
“That’s our cue,” Joanne said as the four older girls stood up. “Move out and good luck.”
The five looked at each other, and said as one “We’ll find her.”
“Excellent - my assistant Dorothy will be here if you need help, but tread carefully, and good luck.”
“You heard the Controller,” Dorothy said as she turned off the player. “You have until four o’clock - good luck.”
“So how do you want to handle this,” Cindy said as she turned to the others. “It’s a big house, but Heidi - sorry, Nancy and I know something of the layout.”
“let’s split up,” Natalie suggested. “Kim, you go with Fantomette - she may be able to help you out. Penny and I will go with Nancy. You start upstairs, we’ll look downstairs.”
“Meet back here in one hour,” Cindy said as she looked at her watch, “And look out for each other.” The five girls nodded as they turned and left the room, Jannifer and Cindy heading up the staircase as the others went into the kitchen.
“Something smells nice,” Natalie said as the three of them walked into the large open area.
“Must be something for later,” Heidi said quietly, taking a magnifying glass from her handbag. “Spread out and look for clues.”
As she examined the work surface, Alice walked over to the fridge and looked in.
“Peckish?”
“No - just looking for - hello, what’s this?”
Heidi looked over as Alice picked something out of the fridge. “What is it - one of her ladyship’s jewels?”
“Nah - just discovering your aunt loves fresh pineapple,” Alice said as she held a dish up for Heidi to see. “You need to eat right, right Daphne?”
“Hmm - sorry, be with you in a minute,” Natalie said as she saw a red thread, similar in colour to the gown on the bound woman, running across the floor. Rubbing her arms, she slowly followed the thread towards a large door that led to the cellar.
“I wonder if she’s down here,” she said to herself as she put her hand on the door handle, but before she got a chance to turn it the door opened and she was dragged through by two pairs of arms.
“Did you say something, Daphne?” Heidi said as she turned and looked at the slowly swinging door. “Daphne? Daphne, where are you?”