Welcome to the OTF district of 1930's New York. Welcome to Alder Street. Welcome to the offices of KC investigates...

It all started about six months ago. I had just returned from lunch at the Diner. As usual, my secretary;Fran was at her desk. As usual, she was looking decidedly nonchalant. As usual, she was filing her nails...

"Mr. KC, letter for you" said Fran, devoid of all enthusiasm. "From who?", i replied. "Dunno. I was just sittin' here workin' hard when this letter slides under the door. So, i looks up and there's the shape of some woman in the glass. When i got to the door, there weren't nobody left in the corridor". I took the letter from Fran and went past her into my office. The envelope was a little strange-the sort of envelope that you dont see too often in the OTF district of New York-it was pink. And it was scented. Slowly, i opened the envelope, removed the letter and read through.

The letter said that this mysterious woman had seen my work on the Piraeus diamond case. Seems she must've been the only one. I hadn't had a client since then. She went on to say that she had a case for me. And that if I did well on it, she might have others. Best of all, she included my fee for the case! I got straight down to it... I was onto my seventh case for the mysterious lady. The letter arrived, as usual by way of Fran.

CASE 7 - The Case Of The Unpronouncable Name.

"Well done on last month's case. This month, i'm starting you on something different. Something closer to home. This month, you're case shouldn't need to have you leave the OTF district at all. There's this guy. He calls himself "Lzrman". The problem is that i have no idea how he pronounces it. I think it's "luh-zurh-man" but my gal-pal; Bette says its "Luz-reh-man". I'm at a loose end here, KC. I need to know this because I need some graphics designed and i don't want to offend him. I'll expect your results to the usual place at the usual time."

This was a hard one. Usually, the mysterious lady would give me some hints as to where to find the answer but this month, i was on my own. First, i called up an old pal of mine. He always seems to know who's who. He had this weird thing where he insisted on being called 2-1-2 instead of his real name-Paul. Broke his ma's heart, he did... Anyway, "2-1-2" told me that this Lzrman had a knack for graphic design. He had designed pictures for the OTF tourist board. I told him I didn't know the OTF district had a tourist board. He told me that wasn't the point. He went on to say how this Lzrman could usually be found in the Lzrwork office on Photo Shop Street.

So, my next port of call was the Lzrwork office. I knocked on the door and it slowly creaked open. The room was dark. So dark that it took my eyes about thirty seconds to adjust. In that thirty seconds, someone had sneaked up behind me, closed the door and guided me to a chair. The lights flashed on-brightly. Blinded, I wondered if this could be my last case for the mysterious lady.

"Who are you?", a voice asked from the white light in front of me. "I'm KC. I'm here to talk to Lzrman", i replied. "What?", laughed the voice. "My name's not "Luh-zer-man! It's pronounced Lazer-man!" "Oh... sorry. I think I might have some information about an upcoming customer of yours. But could you lose the lights first?", I asked. "The wha.. oh! That! Sorry! My assistant, Lzrwoman is just testing out lights for a play she's producing. Sue!..."

For the next few hours, Lzrman guided me through his creations. And i have to say i was impressed. Next time i get the office door redone, i'm going to him! So, i got the results to the drop-off point on time. I wondered what the Mysterious Lady would have in store for me for next month.

Another job well done...

If you have a question about anything at all related to OTF, email us, putting KCI in the subject line and we'll pass on the question to the Mysterious Lady. Please remember to include your CL & Handle - unless you'd prefer to remain anonymous. ;)