WfW ~ the case of the missing mignonette

 "Have you seen the news?"

 "What news?"  My partner's sister had burst into the office, and as usual, was speaking as if we already knew the topic.  When he and I started working together he gave me fair warning that she was overly dramatic and always had a bit of a "the sky is falling" personality.

 "Not now, sis!  We are right in the middle of an assignment."

 Angrily she threw herself into the chair next to his desk.  "Well, this is the assignment you should be working on!  It's all over the news.  There is a missing tourist!"

 We looked at each other and he raised one eyebrow at me.  "Missing from where?  What is there to see here that would attract any tourists to the area?"

 She huffed in annoyance at him.  "I wouldn't expect you to know about Reseda Odarata.  You are such an uneducated troll."

 Now it was my turn to raise an eyebrow.  "Reseda what?  Is that like a painting or piece of art or something?"

 "No, you large, brainless slug.  It is an herb, also called a mignonette.  But because of its value in certain French recipes, chefs come from around the world to find it here.  In fact, it is so valued that there is even a paint color named after it.  Reseda Green #6011."

 Her brother rolled his eyes.  "I'm not so sure that having a paint named after you is an automatic indication of fame or value.  But whatever.  Tell us more about this missing tourist."

 "He apparently came here on some sort of quest..."

 "To find this Reseda Odarata?"

 "If you had let me finish what I was saying!  No.  He came here because someone was blackmailing him!"

 "So... this has nothing to do with the herb?"

 She stomped her foot.  "If you would stop asking questions and let me finish talking you might understand!  He came here looking for a French woman named Mignonette.  There had been some sort of blunder at his restaurant in Paris, and her husband died from poison!"

 Both of us exclaimed, "Poison?!?!"

 "Shush!  Let me finish!  Yes, he was poisoned and everything was pointing to the chef as the suspect, but it wasn't him!  So he came here to find her and prove that it was her!"

 "And you know all this how?"

 "Well, I found his notebook on a bench down by the river.  It detailed everything!"

 "Show me this notebook."

 She pulled a small leather notebook out of her purse and handed it to her brother.  He flipped through several of the pages, stopping to read occasionally before something on the last page made him start laughing hysterically.  Handing it to me, I looked down at where he was pointing.  I began to giggle as I read it.

This book is the property of Alvin T Hickner, and details my ideas for the next multi-million dollar blockbuster movie made by Paramount.  I've dated these pages and keep copies in a safe deposit box, so you slimeballs who keep stealing my ideas are screwed this time!  I can prove that these ideas were all mine and will sue the pants off of you!

Participating in Words for Wednesday here at T. Powell Coltrin Writes blog