Over the past two weeks, Kurt and Anna have been investigating the death of Isaac Cymbalisty - and now they've found the culprit.
Anna got hold of a copy of the restricted 'Ceretin 6 paper', which showed that there was one obvious anomaly in the Ceretin 6 trials. Evidently, someone wasn't taking their medicine.
Then Kurt discovered that the anomaly was Miranda. She'd saved up the tablets and used them to kill Cymbalisty. Miranda realised that the game was up and tried to make a break for it - but Kurt was hot on her heels.
Podcast Transcript
Welcome to Perplex City.
Last time we spoke, Kurt and Anna were investigating the death of librarian Isaac Cymbalisty. Since then, their investigations have been making good progress.
Anna and Kurt found a surprising ally in the form of social butterfly Tippy Ankron. Tippy isn't known for her generous attitude, but she was happy to give the Cube Hunters a password for Helix Hesh's private files - in the hope of them digging up some dirt to blacken his name. Tippy does not take well to romantic rejection.
But Hesh's files instead revealed a copy of the Cognivia shareholder report, which hinted that the trials for their latest generation of Ceretin are having some serious problems. Cymbalisty died of what looked like an overdose of black-market Ceretin. Could the two facts be connected? Does Cognivia know more than it's saying? And just what kind of 'problems' are disrupting the Ceretin 6 trials?
With Miranda away visiting her parents, Kurt has had time to look into the situation. In particular, he and Anna are keen to get hold of a recent 'Ceretin 6 research paper' - but it's only available to professionals in the cognitive enhancement industry.
Fortunately, Anna found someone who could help. Oistin Meade was an Academy researcher who was desperate to study the psychology of people on Earth. He also happened to have access to the Ceretin 6 paper.
Anna offered him the chance to test Earth's Cube Hunters, on condition that he hand over the Ceretin 6 paper afterwards.
----
Oistin's approach to the experiment was, to say the least, eccentric. But after three bizarre tests, he published a summary of the results in the Sentinel, giving him the publicity he craved. And at long last, he gave Anna the Ceretin 6 paper.
It made very interesting reading. In particular, it revealed that one participant in the trial had been showing no reaction to the new drug - and that was why Cognivia were suffering such delays.
Kurt promised to look into this anomaly. And what he found was shocking.
The anomaly was his girlfriend, Miranda.
At this point, Kurt had to make a confession to the Cube Hunters. He had been lying on Miranda's behalf. She'd told him that she had Barrow-Feld syndrome, a stigmatised and degenerative brain disease. She claimed that she had been going to Cognivia for treatment and Kurt, like a gentleman, agreed to keep her condition secret - even though one of her sessions had coincided with the death of Isaac Cymbalisty.
When Kurt used Miranda's password to access the Cognivia trial data, he realised that she hadn't been taking the Ceretin 6 - she'd been hoarding it before using it to poison Cymbalisty. Miranda was a murderer, and Kurt had been her unwitting accomplice.
Miranda knew the game was up. She dumped her key and tried to flee the city. But this time, Kurt was one step ahead of her. Reluctant to have her arrested, he reported her to the police as a missing person. This ensured that any sighting of her on public transport would be reported directly to him.
So now Kurt's very personal manhunt has begun. Miranda is still somewhere in the city, and he wants to know whether it was all a lie - or if she ever felt about him the way he felt about her.
There's only one way to find out. Play on.
----
Now visit PerplexCity.com to discover more.
