Chapter 6: Investigation

Drake dumped the ton of brochures and the employment forms on the table. Who did she think she was? He rifled through the papers. A boarding school? In Australia? Then he'd never know what Gosalyn was up to. He dropped it on top of the stack. Wait. He picked it up again. "Day school too?" He flicked through the pages.


"Good morning, DW." Launchpad came in through the front door into the kitchen, and Drake started awake. "You forget to go to bed again?"
Drake stretched. "I ... have a lot on my mind." He pushed away the litter of papers. "I'm going to go ... get cleaned up. Good morning sweetheart." He hugged Gosalyn, coming down the stairs.
"Hey, dad." He headed up the stairs.


When he came back down, Gosalyn was an emotional livewire at the kitchen table. "Oh, dad, what are you doing? You're going to send me to a boarding school on the other side of the planet?" She sobbed.
"No! It's also a day school." He grabbed the brochure and pointed to a paragraph, "It says so right here. Anyway, I was just thinking about it. They have good practical classes. Sweetie, I'd never send you away to a boarding school." He grabbed her in a fierce hug. "I'd never part with my little girl. I just thought maybe there was a better school out there for you."


He sat her down on the chair. "You know what, kiddo," he began in a friendly voice. "I want to go do some investigating, and maybe you can help me. Your ... powers of investigation are almost as good as mine."
"Oh, yeah, so who are we investigating? Zombies from outer space?"
"No Gosalyn, we defeated them last summer, remember?" Her face dropped.
"Oh, yeah." She crossed her arms. "I still can't believe you managed to beat them off with Bushroot's mutant cabbage patch army." She giggled. Drake shrugged.
"Anyway," he picked up some of the pieces of paper, "this is Hamil Corp."
"Gosh!" Launchpad exclaimed. "Everyone knows who these guys are! They're the biggest networking business. They go right across the world."
"Incidentally, they're also vampire central."
Launchpad gulped. "V-v-v-vamp ..."
"Vampires? Keen gear! Neat."
"Do you mind if I ... s-sit this one out, DW?"
"Yeah, no problems, LP, it should be a piece of cake, anyway."

"Wait a second, only the last few weeks have you been talking about vampires, and if there are vampires in St Canard, wouldn't you have met them long ago? Since you're always out there after dark?"
"I've been told most of them don't ... uh, you know."
"Come on, dad, have you ever heard of a vegetarian vampire?"
He shrugged. "So? That's what I want to investigate."
"You think it could be true? Good vampires?"
"Negaduck is still alive. I'm willing to believe it. If it's true. But I want to find out for certain. And I've got a personal invitation."
"More like personnel invitation," Gosalyn snorted. "Looks like an unsigned employment agreement to me. Don't you dare sign your soul off on this one!" He grabbed the piece of paper away from her.
He gulped, "what, do you think I'm stupid or something?" He eyed her as she blushed.

"I've learned my lesson dad." She insisted, and then waved the school brochure at him. "Obviously they're trying to bribe you with expensive schools and ... stuff."
"Malduck said they offer all their employees these things." He narrowed his eyes at Gosalyn. "Look, do you want to come and investigate these guys, or do you want to spend the day with Launchpad?"


Later That Day...

In her favourite news reporter trench coat and hat, Gosalyn followed her dad and stepped in through the glassy entrance of the Hamil Corp building into what seemed like a different planet. "Gee, this looks like a five star hotel on Mars, not an office building."
"Agreed." They walked over to the central reception desk. Gosalyn kept a step back so that she could still see the clerk's face.
"Could I get your name, sir?" The man said in a pleasant voice.
"Drake Mallard." Drake announced himself also in a pleasant voice. Gosalyn rolled her eyes and decided to do a perimeter check of the huge foyer. But her father caught her collar and kept her beside him.
"Nuts." Gosalyn wriggled free of her dad's grasp and stood still with crossed arms.
"Hum." The receptionist commented.
"I was ..."
"Please take a seat. There'll be someone along to escort you to the CEO's office in a few minutes."
"Uh, thanks."


Drake and Gosalyn stepped away and walked into the lounge area. It was really weird; a large piece of extra shaggy carpet just floated on the glossy floor, with a few chairs a fern and coffee table. "Gee, dad, the CEO? What were you up to yesterday, anyway?" Gosalyn rifled through the magazines. Fashion, science, gossip, gardening. A disappointing turnout for vampire central!
"Well, I kinda got roped into it."
"Is this something to do with your clothes going black?"
"Gosalyn!"
"Or what about the time somebody walked right through you?"
"This is not the place, Gos." Drake hissed in a low warning voice.
"Okay, okay. Sheesh." She tapped her foot silently on the fluffy carpet. "This carpet is way new. I can still smell the factory off it." She looked intently at the chair seams. "These are brand new, too." Gosalyn reviewed the foyer again. "Someone died in here."
"Yes, I was told." Her dad murmured. "It was the work of a criminal." Gosalyn frowned.
"I'm beginning to see the picture on this."
"Ooops, time to change the channel."
"Seriously, dad, vampires don't make a mess. Not being destroyed. And I mean what a waste of blood. They'd have no reason to do that, either."


She stared at the receptionist several metres away. Was he a vampire? Maybe, maybe not, she realised. There was no way of telling without performing some actual tests. She took a step towards him on the thought. And her dad had grabbed her and lifted her up. "Hold on, little lady." He turned around and put her down facing the opposite direction. "We have to do this properly."
Gosalyn was about to be cross, when she saw a man in a black and blue uniform coming towards them. "Well, I think this one's for us, anyway."

"Good afternoon. Sorry about the delay, Mister Mallard."
"Oh. Hi." Mister Mallard shook hands with the suspicious security guard.
"Hi there, I'm Lawrence." The duck introduced himself to Gosalyn in a mild tone. She debated on giving her full name, but decided Lawrence already knew her father's secret identity.
"I'm Gosalyn Mallard." Lawrence smiled. "I didn't catch your last name, Lawrence." Gosalyn said politely. Was this guy a vampire? Keen gear, this was exciting!
"Oh? Lawrence Eider, at your service. If you'll just come with me." They stepped into the elevator. "As I said, I'm sorry for the delays. We've just started a full diagnostic screening. The precinct had different protocols, so it's still a new thing for me."

Gosalyn opened her eyes wide. Talk about blowing previous conceptions out of the water! "You were a police officer?"
"After my mum."
"So what did you do wrong?" Lawrence Eider, the suspect in question, laughed.
"I spent a few years on the beat, I never did anything wrong. But recently I came to feel a little ineffective. Then I got this job offering. I figure, if you gotta stop something, you'd better shoot straight and stop the thing, not pause and pander to politics and policies. This was an excellent opportunity for me. I don't regret it."
Gosalyn sighed. "Brother. I'm surrounded by alliteration alligators."


Moral/Overview: A "Normal" person is just someone you don't know very well.