Wicked Comet 2 part 2
Several hours later
The shores of Restwater, next to Mockbeggar hall, were full of boats, large and small which had been assisting Rich, Glinda and the crew of their steamer in recovering whatever they could from the Comet wreck.
A large marquee, one which was normally used for outdoor parties was now the place where wreckage from the downed plane and recovered baggage from the passengers were brought to after being unloaded from the boats.
Rich and Glinda had assisted wherever they could, after Glinda had put her summer dress that she had been wearing over her bikini before she boarded the steamer back on, Rich however was the most knowledgeable of the couple about Comets since he designed the darn things.
Rich was in said marquee and had his glasses on as he examined each and every piece of wreckage to find any possible clues.
"How did the Comet catch fire and crash like that? I'm sure that the safety features I built into the design would prevent such an occurrence!" Rich murmured to himself in concentration.
Glinda did her best to help, she had sent for some of Oz's best scientists to come to Restwater and help with the investigation.
She watched Rich work with such concentration that it slightly scared her although she would never let it show on the outside.
Rich had worked tirelessly to bring the Comet to life and on his dream to bring commercial air services to the masses for many years and to be confronted with its first fatal accident, well that would trouble anyone, especially Rich.
"Rich, you need to take a break." Glinda said to Rich in concern.
"I can't Glinda." Rich said as he took his glasses up and turned to face her. "The Comet's just had its first fatal crash and I can't rest until I find the cause. What if there's a design flaw or a mechanical failure that occured or even an intentional act. I have to know!"
"I understand that Rich, but you are going to make yourself seriously ill if you just work non-stop!" Glinda replied, trying to get to get Rich to calm down.
As she said that, a loud THUMP was heard as a particularly sturdy looking briefcase fell to the ground. Both Glinda and Rich whirled around to see it, but this briefcase wasn't ordinary. This one had a golden coloured lock, whilst normal ones were either silver or bronze covered. The covering of the briefcase was an emerald green and very subtly, a faint engraving of the coat of arms of the Ozian Government on one side, so faint only magic users like Glinda could see it. Rich knew what it was just by the look of it; he had seen many of them during the 'wicked years' and his life with Glinda.
"What in the world?" Rich and Glinda both said at the exact same time. They both knew that Ozian Government personnel and their luggage normally didn't fly on standard commercial flights. They normally flew on military transport Comets (a stretched and toughened version of the civilian mk1 Comet known as the Comet mk2 or Comet 2) or travelled by rail.
They both strode over to the suitcase; Rich picked it up and set it down on the table he had been working on.
"This feels wrong, handling dead people's luggage!" Glinda said in disgust.
"We are high end government officials aren't we? You are the leader of Oz. So we have full authority to open this briefcase." Rich replied and as an afterthought he said, "I agree with you about handling dead people's luggage"
And with that, he set to work picking the locks on the briefcase, which were supposed to be impenetrable but Rich being one of the smartest Ozians alive, managed to pick the locks in all about five minutes.
He flipped the latches and lifted the cover of the briefcase. Inside was an enormous wad of papers, obviously organised into a rough report. The cover read,
"Code Night Stalker. Target, Wicked Witch of the West, presumed dead. Top Secret"
Rich immediately slammed the lid shut and taped it shut.
"We need to get this back inside!" He said, his eyes wide and breath quickening.
"Agreed" Glinda agreed.
They both then got up and after Rich had cleverly hidden the briefcase inside his coat, which was draped on the back of the chair that Rich had been sitting on. Glinda and Rich both ran inside Mockbeggar hall, after giving orders to some of their security force to protect the marquee where the aircraft wreckage was, and into Glinda's private study.
The study was basically the same as the ones Glinda and Rich had back in the Emerald city. But this one was smaller, more intimate. No-one was allowed inside without permission from Glinda herself.
Once inside the office, Glinda locked it and Rich placed the briefcase on the desk. He quickly cut the tape off and opened the lid again.
With Glinda's help, the two removed all of the papers from the briefcase and began to search through them.
Clearly, the agent that had written this report had spent a long time carefully gathering this research which included maps with locations marked on them and photographs of figures which, at first glance appeared to be Elphaba.
"This can't be possible! Elphie is dead!" Glinda exclaimed in shock as she finished reading one set of papers.
Rich stayed silent as he busied himself with checking a large map which was full of all the locations that "Elphaba" had been sighted.
"Yes, puzzling isn't it?" Rich replied, after that he muttered under his breath,
"If this is accurate, Elphaba is in serious trouble!"
Glinda, who had heard Rich's muttering but not exactly what he said, turned slowly to face Rich and said,
"Rich, you know something don't you?"
Rich continued to read the map.
"What? I don't know anything about that Glin. Elphaba is dead and gone! We both saw it with our own eyes." He said to Glinda, trying to turn Glinda away from this course of conversation.
"Rich, I'm not as blonde as some think I am. You know something and I need to know!" Glinda snapped.
"Glinda, please just leave it" Rich warned his girlfriend.
"Richmond Julius Thropp, you will tell me right now!" Glinda shouted at Rich, using his full name which she knew would annoy him since Rich hated it when anyone used his full name.
Rich groaned in frustration as he let go of the map and hit his head several times on the table.
"Fine!" he grunted in frustration.
Rich got up and left the office, only to return a few minutes later with his packet of playing cards.
Glinda raised an eyebrow at this but refrained from saying anything.
"What I am about to show you must never leave the two of us" Rich warned Glinda in a low tone.
Glinda nodded and Rich opened the battered packet and pulled out a folded up note. Rich handed it to Glinda and she opened it and read it.
The note read "you can't bring me down that easily".
Glinda recognised the handwriting and she dropped the note as a hand went up to her mouth in shock as tears began to fall out.
"Is Elphie?" Glinda managed to say before she trailed off.
Rich moved over to Glinda and held her close.
"Yes, she is" Rich replied softly.
Then without warning, Glinda whirled around, her eyes blazing and slapped Rich across the face, sending him to the floor!
"What the hell was that for?" Rich exclaimed as he stood back up, holding his slapped cheek.
"YOU KNEW ELPHIE WAS ALIVE THE WHOLE TIME AND YOU NEVER TOLD ME!" Glinda screeched.
"IT WAS FOR THE BEST AT THE TIME! IF I HAD SAID ANYTHING, ELPHABA WOULD BE IN EVEN MORE DANGER!" Rich shouted back.
Glinda immediately quietened down as she realised that Rich was very right.
"We have to find her" Glinda said to Rich after both of them calmed down.
"We might very well have to. Any ideas?" Rich asked thoughtfully.
Glinda smiled as she looked to the open briefcase and said to Rich with an excited smile upon her face,
"We have all the clues we need right here."