The Ming Poodle: Chapter II

Hugh Hamilton

"Do you think we can trust her?" Hugh said when the door finally closed.
"Possibly, although those names she gave us are mighty suspicious, in a cheap joke kind of way," said Ben.
"Indeed," offered Hugh thoughtfully. "But you never know; some people are unfortunately named."
"But Craper and Buttes? That's unlikely."
"I guess."
"I mean I don't know much about Buttes, but it seems people have generally avoided the name Craper since Thomas got his fifteen minutes of fame," Ben added.
"But at least we get one priceless item a week," said Hugh.
"Still, it's rather strange."
"That's a good thing, you know. It means there's a chance of this case spiralling out of control and being something big and important; something so big and so important that we will get threatened regularly and told that 'we're in too deep'," Hugh enthused.
"You're an idiot," Ben dribbled.
Hugh sighed reservedly then reached for the recently acquired Maltese Falcon. He inspected it carefully.
"You know," he began, "this doesn't look much like the one in the film."
"Well she didn't actually say it was the one from the film," said Ben.
"I assumed the one from the film was the only one."
"Who knows? There could be thousands of Maltese Falcons flying around."
Hugh shrugged and carefully placed the priceless item back down on the desk. He reached again for the Solo™ can but found it empty. He sighed once more. Ben clapped his hands suddenly.
"Where do we start?" he said.
"I suggest we find out something about Nelson," replied Hugh.
"You mean Craper?"
"We should avoid such jokes."
"Why? we don't have any better ones."
"I do."
"Do you really," mocked Ben.
"Yes," said Hugh sharply.
"OK, shoot."
"Alright, lets see... Ah, I know! Uh... yeah. Well, there's this guy and uh... he... uh... bumps into a pole! and, uh, the Pole says 'watch where you are goin’ next time' (except in Polish of course)."
"Sure," said Ben. "Good."
He gave Hugh an unimpressed look then quickly disappeared through a side door. Hugh heard the furious scribbling of a pencil before Ben remerged looking uncomfortably casual. He flashed a weak smile then sat down slowly. Hugh smiled back confused.
"OK," said Ben, "let's find out about Nelson."
Hugh nodded and both men rose to their feet and walked out of the room.