Evolve or Die! 9.

I got some sleep while Scruff and the Sparrow were doing their networking, googling, and whatever it is the Sparrow does. Emily went out on the prowl, looking for clues. So I was up bright and early, while Scruff and Emily were tired and irritable.
Which is particularly scary with a thirteen-year-old Outsider, believe me.
My big event that day was the re-scheduled Natural History Museum event. Me and Scruff, keeping our eyes and ears open.
My first stop was Diana Dickson. She knows people, and I wanted introductions.
Diana was pleased to see me (she usually is, except for the time with the cursed Egyptian scarab, but that's another story).
"Jane! Do you want to meet some more of my friends?"
"I need introductions, yes."
First up was a white-bearded man called Andrew Lansdale, a biochemist. He shook my hand warmly and smiled.
"Miss Jane Hill! I remember your father when he was a lad. I was so sorry when he died. And you're his eldest daughter..."
"I'm his youngest," Scruff said. Trust her to do that.
"Lilian Hill!" Scruff blushed.
"I prefer to be called Scruff."
"I see. It certainly suits you. So, Jane, what are you doing now?"
"Being very rich. I'm sort of a patron of Diana's, which is why I'm here."
"Ah. Professor Williams!"
I was hardly prepared for the attractive redhead in the expensive suit who hurried over. I say 'in', I mean it in the loosest possible sense (I can be catty if I want to be, I'd have looked horrible in the thing).
"Andrew?"
"This is Miss Jane Hill. Her father was at school with me - in a lower form."
"I'm Scruff," Scruff introduced herself. "I'm Jane's younger sister."
"Professor Coral Williams. I'm a zoologist. I'm glad to see you here."
"I support some of Diana's work," I explained. "Collecting specimens, preserving species."
"So you're not just one of the idle rich?"
"No, I'm very much one of the world's useful people," I smiled. I can be nice when I want to, even to women wearing clothes I disapprove of. "What do you do?"
"All sorts of things, Miss Hill. I'm an admirer of Professor Richard Dawkins. Evolution is such an important subject, and for ignorant religious people..."
"Not all religious people are ignorant," Lansdale interrupted her. "Jane's grandparents were very intelligent people and members of a Baptist Church..."
"Really? And you, Jane?"
"I'm a member in the same Church, despite Scruff," I joked.
"Oh, well. Dr. Flagg says she's certain religion's a delusion. Magic, religion, it's all the same sort of thing. There's no more truth to the Bible's stories of Jesus' rising from the dead than there is to the claims of Egyptian and Indian magicians!"
Diana and I exchanged significant glances. Diana's very open to belief in things beyond our reason. Ever since a mummified cat came to life and attacked her. As for me, I have a black smoky Emily at home to prove that Ghul's magic was real.
I hoped we were getting somewhere.