The Missing Girl

A mischievous grin spread on Irene's beautiful face. She looked alluring when she felt especially wicked.

The blond woman leaned backward while supporting her body with both arms.

"Who do you want me to kill, Monica?"

Dr. Laurent broke into a chuckle.

As expected of a field person in Die Rache, Irene did not waste time on empty talks.

"Oh, no. Not that bad yet. The daughter of one of my new friends went missing yesterday."

"Oh?"

Irene swung one of her legs over the other and pinned Dr. Laurent with a stare.

"Monica, we have no resources to find a missing person. You know that."

Unless they hacked into the international police department database of course. Mother did not approve of unnecessary efforts that might unveil their presence.

"I know," the doctor said. "But I have a feeling that this is not a regular missing person case."

"What makes you think that?"

Dr. Laurent shrugged in response.

"Woman intuition, maybe? I have a feeling that she is involved in something big, but I might just be wrong. I hope I am wrong," she decided.

"The way you say it makes it sound serious."

"Maybe, maybe not."

Dr. Laurent went around her desk. She then took a flyer out of her drawer and pressed it into Irene's hand.

"In case you come across the girl... please tell me where she is. That's all."

Irene gave the flyer in her hand a quick scan. It was basically a plea from a desperate mother to anyone who caught a glimpse of her child, begging them to give her any kind of information under a certain phone number.

The latest picture and name of the said girl were printed in big letters underneath.

Christiane Marchand, age 18.

She was an adorable girl with a beautiful smile.

"Christiane is a good girl," Dr. Laurent mused. "She doesn't involve herself with questionable people. On the other hand, she is a loner. Makes her an easy target."

"I can try searching for her," Irene offered.

"Don't go over your limit, Leah."

Irene pinched the flyer between her fingers.

"Are you sure that you do not need me to search for her?"

Dr. Laurent shook her head gently.

Irene pursed her lips. "In that case, I really need to pay for a treatment fee."

Irene reached for her wallet, but Dr. Laurent stopped her hand.

"You can pay me when you do have some information."

"Alright. I will keep her in my mind."

The first thing Irene did as soon as she got home was submit Christiane Marchand's name to Die Rache.

When the old timers at the organization heard that this was a request from their beloved doctor Monica Laurent, all of them agreed to keep an eye out for Christiane Marchand, wherever she might be.

Irene enjoyed the rest of the day lounging on her bed with her laptop and a notebook.

She still had to plan her submission to the competition.

What kind of ingredients to use?

What flower?

What fruit?

What herb?

Irene sprawled on all fours on her bed.

Aaah, after leaving the fragrance industry and her occupation as a researcher for three years, it was not at all easy to bounce back.

A sly smile laced her lips when she thought about the thick envelope that she anonymously sent to Primavera this morning.

Had anyone acted on it yet?

The blonde woman stretched herself and carefully rolled on the bed so that she lay on her stomach.

Laura Higgins was not a nosy person.

Unlike the J3 who were always on the look for something that could benefit them.

Janine Mayer would not let this opportunity slip by. Not if Irene did the entire work for her.

She printed out all the recent purchase orders and even did literature research to find papers that condemned the use of Charpillon Cherry Extract for human application.

Janine Mayer was a wicked one, but she was also very lazy.

She never liked to do the legwork by herself, and instead relied on others to help her.

Since she was determined to bring Laura Higgins down, she never once thought that she might be wrong.

Charpillon Cherry Extract recently made a breakthrough and became the core ingredient for the newest facial cream of an exclusive French brand.

The facial cream was due to release officially tomorrow, and this was not a well-spread information unless people specifically looked for it. Irene expended a lot of efforts to draft this trap for Janine.

The woman might take the case to either Mr. Collins or Chris Henderson.

Although Janine too used to lick Chris' boots in the past, she would not want to incur June's wrath for no good reason.

This meant that Mr. Collins was a much safer option. Besides, that man was very interested in flaunting himself to the higher management. What better way to do that than crushing someone under his shoes and bringing the carcass to the bigshots as some kind of a trophy?

If Irene was not mistaken, Mr. Collins would take the entire day to rehearse what he planned to say. At the same time he had to decide to pick Chris or Damian to submit the report to.

The recent events took the wind out of Chris' sails.

Mr. Collins would be dumb to rely on Chris for self-promotion purposes.

Tomorrow, he was going to meet up with Damian for sure.

After one day of rest, Irene was more than ready to watch the show.

Just when she was about to continue brainstorming for submission ideas, a notification arrived with a ding sound on her phone.

Irene craned her neck lazily and took a look at the message across the screen.

There was a message from Damian Henderson.

"Get well soon," it said.

Irene could not help but smile.

It was good that at least one person in Primavera thought about her in her sick bed.

"Thank you, Sir," Irene wrote back.