After the unpleasant encounter with Mr. Backhaus, the crew were ordered to return to the Rosanne to discuss the day’s events, and to figure out their next plan; but after meeting face to face with Mr. Backhaus, Elsie was left feeling quite dismal. Her mood improved after a kind thankyou and a kiss on the cheek from Tilly. That night, everyone gathered around the map table; including Elsie and the professor, Mr. Dunstan, Mr. Adams, and Doctor O’Donnell. Goodwin placed his hands flat on the table and said to Elsie, “So, tell us how your meeting with John Backhaus was.”
In response, Elsie drew back a little. “I should think it was dreadfully unpleasant,” she remarked. “That man is a snake, and you were right, he knows about Jack.”
“And now he knows we’re onto him,” Doctor O’Donnell added. “We shouldn’t have trusted him to play nicely in the first place.”
A shadow of grief and worry fell over Elsie. “Oh God, you don’t think he did anything to Jack, do you?”
“Obviously the information that Jack tore out of that sales log at Gamma Base posed some kind of threat to Backhaus Industries. Mr. Backhaus would have destroyed the information the second he got his hands on it, but as for Jack, who knows?”
“Even a man like John Backhaus wouldn’t go so far as to commit murder,” said Goodwin, before Elsie became too anxious. “Our goal remains the same. It is imperative for the sake of Jack and his sister, and our investigation, that Jack Heartwing is recovered. We just have to find out how.”
They all stood in silence for a moment, until Mr. Dunstan proposed an idea. “Oh, I know! Why don’t we get Mr. Adams in a room with Mr. Backhaus and get him to ruff him up a bit, you know, make him tell us where he’s keeping Jack!”
What followed was an exchange of uncertain glances. “Riley, that’s a terrible idea.”
And then Goodwin said, “Elsie is right, Mr. Dunstan. John Backhaus isn’t a man you can just beat up. He is one of the wealthiest men in Edith Post, and more likely the most powerful. The men of this city play at a game of ambition, they are quite ruthless, but even they have limits; John Backhaus, however, I am not so sure. We are treading on thin enough ice as it is. Our next move must be discrete, else we’ll find ourselves exiled from Edith Post, or perhaps worse!”
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