A cry for help?

Another gem from my inbox today:

Dear,How are you doing today? I am sorry i didn't inform you about my traveling to Africa for a program called "Empowering Youth to Fight Racism, HIV/AIDS, Poverty and Lack of Education, the program is taking place in three major countries in Africa which is Ghana , South Africa and Nigeria . It as been a very sad and bad moment for me, the present condition that i found myself is very hard for me to explain.I am really stranded in Nigeria because I forgot my little bag in the Taxi where my money, passport, documents and other valuable things were kept on my way to the Hotel am staying, I am facing a hard time here because i have no money on me. I am now owning a hotel bill of $ 1000 and they wanted me to pay the bill soon else they will have to seize my bag and hand me over to the Hotel Management., I need this help from you urgently to help me back home, I need you to help me with the hotel bill and i will also need $1500 to feed and help myself back home so please can you help me with a sum of $2500 to sort out my problems here? I need this help so much and on time because i am in a terrible and tight situation here, I don't even have money to feed myself for a day which means i had been starving so please understand how urgent i needed your help.I am sending you this e-mail from the city Library and I only have 30 min, I will appreciate what so ever you can afford to send me for now and I promise to pay back your money as soon as i return home so please let me know on time so that i can forward you the details you need to transfer the money through Money Gram or Western Union.Looking forward to hearing from you soon.Best RegardsTharmini

I understand these things are bulk-sent, and everyone gets them, otherwise why would they get to me? A real person in this situation would write to friends and family first, not to total strangers. Still, you know me, ever the caring one. So I went to Nigeria (Nigeria? How transparent can you get?), grabbed the sender of this e-mail, who had been tracked down for me by the Sparrow, and flew him to India, where he was promptly arrested for fraud.

That's the fun thing about having a private aircraft and lots of money, I can do that.

The British Museum Case - 6

Miriam unfastened the silver broach that fastened her long black cloak and took off the all-enveloping black garment. As Miriam removed her cloak, I realised exactly why she wore her hood. Her hair was purple, not dyed, but naturally purple. It was long and curled slightly, but it was definitely purple. Her eyes were blank white orbs that glowed gently, and her lips were purple as her hair was - what was more, that wasn't lipstick!

"That.. is why I cannot reveal my face," she said.
"Sunglasses," I replied practically. "What happened to you?"
"I... I was born like this. My father was the leader of a cult that practiced black magic, and he wove spells around me in the womb. From those spells I derive my power - but that power terrifies me. I am cut off from the rest of the world, only Shianna is my link here. I must find her."
I sensed her desperation and I smiled.
"Okay, let's go to the British Museum, Miriam."
Miriam put her cloak back on. I assumed that she felt more comfortable wearing it with other people around. Fair enough, her eyes made her look pretty odd. Everything else could be carried off as cosmetic, but not those eyes. They seemed to look into your soul.
"I... I unsettle you." It was not a question. She knew how I felt, and she was telling me.
"Yes. I'm sorry..."
"It is an effect I have on people. I am quite used to it now."
She wasn't, but I wasn't going to press the point. She seemed the sensitive type.
"Now we shall return to the museum."
"Better make it a quiet corner outside," I warned. "The police may have closed it due to rampaging mummies."
Scruff laughed. Miriam simply opened a portal and stepped through. We followed, not knowing what we might find on the other side.

Legacy of Fraud

This morning I found this in my e-mail inbox:

FROM THE DESK OF: K. A. Adam (Esq.)
ADAM CHAMBERS+SOLICITORS,


NOTIFICATION OF BEQUEST
On behalf of the Trustees and Executor of the estate of Late Engr. Lukas Jonas
Würth; I once again try to notify you again by this same email address on the
WILL as my earlier letter returned undelivered.
I wish to notify you that Late Engr. Lukas Jonas Würth made you a beneficiary
to his WILL. He left the sum of USD$15,100,000.00 (Fifteen Million One Hundred
Thousand Dollars) to you in the codicil and last testament to his WILL. This
may sound strange and unbelievable to you, but until his death was a member of
the Helicopter Society and the Institute of Electronic & Electrical Engineers.
According to him this money is to support your humanitarian activities and to
help the poor and the needy in our society. Please if I reach you this time as
I am hopeful, endeavor to get back to me as soon as possible to enable me
conclude my job. Kindly reply through this email: barr.adamcamber@gmail.com
and
include to your contact list.

Yours in Service,
K. A. Adam (Esq.)
Email: barr.adamcamber@gmail.com

Now call me a suspicious little blonde in a cat costume, but I didn't think it was genuine. First of all, if it was, it would have had my name, Jane Hill, in it, not just 'you' all the way through. In fact, it didn't have my name in it at all, not even in the 'To' line. Secondly, I'm not exactly poor and needy. My pal the Sparrow tracked the e-mail using her amazing cybernetic abilities, and I dropped in on Mr. Adams at his office in Craven's Inn (one of the seedier Inns of Court in London). I used Emily's amazing interrogation abilities (threatening him with a particularly vicious dagger. Well, crook solicitors aren't known for being brave) to discover Adams' plan, which had been to take huge fees from his victims and then claim that the legacy had been eaten up by court fees or contested by relatives of the non-existent millionaire. Instead of which he's in jail in Wormwood Scrubs, and struck off for good, which serves him right for thinking he could get something for nothing.

I love it when that happens. In other news, I'm waiting for a vital piece of new hardware to be delivered before I get back to recording the British Museum Case, but watch this space. Meanwhile I've got to watch Royal Mail, who've probably lost my new toy. And I'm not happy that the Green Man's old girlfriend hasn't finished getting over him yet.

Oops!

Sorry for the great gap in posts, but Emily used my router for target-practice, and Scruff then managed to accidentally infect the system with a virus she created to take down the Serbian Mafia.