Tallula Quinn (19), Wanda's personal attendant

The new arrival had caught you at such a poor moment that it bordered on cliche-- your spent cock hung out of your trousers, still lined up with the body of the naked lady of the house. Wanda Croft wasn't showing a hint of shyness, either; her legs were splayed out to either side and her bare bottom sank into the shag carpet as she wiggled it comfortably. Her face held a teasing expression, biting her lower lip and daring the new arrival to ask just how far you'd gotten with her. At least the newcomer wouldn't think you'd **** yourself on Wanda... there was no mistaking her attitude.

You noticed a handful of details right away. Firstly, the woman in the doorway was a maid, presumably the one with the sole assignment of maintaining the third floor and attending to Wanda whenever she came up here. Her outfit made her profession quite clear. She was dressed in a high-necked black dress with a billowing white apron, which looked a bit strained across her plump belly. All of her features were pretty plump, actually, though not in a bad way-- her breasts and bottom were filled out to the ****, making you wish that she'd follow her employer's suit and throw her clothes off in a pink-eyed frenzy as well. Perhaps you ought not be thinking such things... you judged you were nearly a decade older than her. She looked legal, but only barely. The outfit seemed a bit short on her, perhaps owing to her unusually large size, and you could get a peak of her ankles as she stood with her knees knocking together. Her hair was red and frizzy, done up under a maid's kerchief, but only just barely; it spilled out all over the place like she was either inept at tying it up or otherwise, it was just too voluminous to do that way.

Next, you caught something odd in her expression. She didn't actually look fearful. In fact, she barely even looked surprised. What she did look was a little tearful-- small beads of tears had formed in the corners of each of her big, green eyes, threatening to drip down her round, freckled cheeks. Why would that be? Was she afraid that you'd done something to the mistress and you were about to do the same thing to her? Or was it something else?

For now, being a gentleman was more important. You quickly tucked yourself back up and raised both hands in a gesture that said "I'm unarmed and harmless" to calm her down.

Strangely, it didn't seem to stop her from sniffling. There was definitely a mystery to unravel here at some point.

"Come now. Stop being a baby. Haven't you ever seen a man's privates before, Tallula?" Wanda chuckled, giving a wry smile as she turned on her side and rested her head on her fist, digging one elbow into the carpet. You began to understand that the maid was a sensitive soul and the lady of the house was just the opposite.

"Oh... um... Y-Yes ma'am, but... it was just when one of the boys in school flashed them at me. Quite rude, they were," the maid spoke in a quiet voice with a hint of a Scottish accent, casting her eyes downward and shifting her feet uncomfortably.

Wanda laughed, but you cleared your throat and adopted a calm smile, hoping to indicate that the maid didn't need to embarrass herself any further. But how to even begin with what was happening here? How could you explain the events that had occurred in the study in a way that the maid would understand? You were amazed she hadn't shrieked for the other butlers yet. All at once, it occurred to you. Tallula hadn't even asked Wanda yet if she should get the others. Something was really fishy here, but it played in your favor; it seemed like what was happening here was actually in character for the lady of the house, to some extent. How could you even broach such a subject?

When in doubt, go with the honest truth. You told the maid you were a detective, brought here as a guest of Linda Catz at the invitation of Wanda Croft. You'd accepted a special invitation to join her here, at which point, she'd thrown herself at you as though under the power of some kind of spell. You only omitted the truth of the rings and the mysterious message Wanda had delivered on behalf of her new master.

"Oh. I was afraid that might have happened," the maid responded, gulping nervously with her eyes darting across the room. "I'll bet she really is hypnotized. Ms. Croft works with all sorts of t-terrifying artifacts that do that sort of thing, you know? Could be some sort of demon's possessed her. But more likely it's... it's a culprit inside the mansion. On account of how you all just arrived. A-And seeing as none of the others have... reported any strange goings-on... and I find you here... well..." Her eyes settled on you for a moment, then suddenly found an interesting spot on the carpet to settle on.

What you had predicted had come to pass: you'd been made suspect number one in a heartbeat. You assured the woman that you were no pervert or hypnotist. You were a simple detective and while you were here, you intended to make the situation right by getting to the bottom of the culprit's true identity.

"Oh! That's... very reassuring, sir." She clasped her hands together and gave a warm and pleasant smile that looked much nicer on her, adding a rosy glow to her cheeks.

You offered your name and asked for hers in return, although the lady of the house had already half-spoiled it.

"My full name is Tallula Quinn... I'm the third floor maid and p-p-personal attendant of Ms. Croft. Oh, that she should find herself in... s-such a state, in the brief time I nipped away. Mr. Waterbury will give me a proper tongue-lashing for this..."

"What state is that? Aroused? Horny? Sexually stimulated?" Wanda asked, causing the maid's face to grow redder with each taunt. Her fangs flashed in a toothy grin. "Join us, Tallula... You needn't wait for my master to claim you."

"C-Claim me?!"

"That's right. Every woman in this household will soon be-"

Before Wanda could finish that thought, you pushed Tallula back outside the door and slammed it shut, then barred it quickly with an unused candle-holder. It immediately began to rattle as the mistress pounced it, then began angrily cursing at you from the other side. It was actually surprisingly sound-proofed... No one would have found you in there with Wanda no matter how you rolled around on the shag, had the maid not gone looking for her mistress.

"Wh-What are you doing!? Why have you locked her in?" Tallula questioned, now looking terrified of you for the first time, wide-eyed and retreating.

The real reason that you'd keep to yourself: you didn't want the maid to hear that everyone was being hypnotized for your benefit, at least not yet. You wanted to get your arms around that mystery before anyone else had to draw their own conclusions.

The reason you gave instead: that you saw an opportunity to hide the hypnotized mistress safely away from other guests. It wouldn't do for her to break free of the study and start roaming around stark naked. You'd ask Eric and the others to come and retrieve her soon.

"Oh, no, sir. They're not allowed on this floor."

You questioned: certainly they'd ease up that rule in light of the circumstances?

"N-No ma'am. They know it's grounds for termination. I'm the only servant allowed up here. Guests are only allowed up invited so... so it's okay for you to be here, right this moment. But otherwise, no one! I'll have to deal with this myself, I suppose. Luckily, I'm a bit tougher than the mistress. I think."

Judging by her size, you thought that was likely. However, you did recall that the hypnosis-induced frenzy had made Wanda nearly strong enough to tackle you despite a huge difference in stature.

"Well... I suppose I'll get to it now. You can leave, Mr. Wolf, i-if that's quite alright..."

You shook your head, noting her surprise and concern at your refusal. Instead of heading for the staircase, you brought out your memo pad and pen. It was time for some old-fashioned detective work and no detective worth is salt would overlook interviewing the maid. You told Tallula that you were going to have to ask her a few questions.

"Oh. Okay. I'll answer everything to the best of my ability, then," she answered obediently, wringing her apron's white cloth fabric in her hands and trying-- failing-- to look you in the eyes. She was ever the shy type. You began to understand why her mistress employed her for this role... Wanda Croft did seem like the type that loved to bully others she held sway over. "J-Just, Ms. Langley did already... question me somewhat exhaustively..."

Another mystery. Who was this "Langley?" It was the second time you'd heard the name.

"Dee Langley... the other detective... You two don't know each other?"

You laughed. It wasn't as though all detectives in the world were aware of the others, like you all went to the same clubs or attended trade shows or anything like that.

She grew red-faced and apologetic once again, bowing hard with a tremendous heave of her swaying bosom. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry! I have such a small social circle, here on the island, I-I forgot..."

Sympathizing, you rubbed your arm and promised not to tease her about things like that. At any rate, whoever this Langley was, whatever questions she'd asked, those were all before the mystery even began. Whatever answers she'd extracted weren't going to be the same ones you were looking for.

"Oh. I suppose not, yes, sir." The maid shuffled her feet awkwardly, then backed a few more paces away from the pounding study door. "Let's be quick, though. I-I really do need to tend to Ms. Croft... Oh, she seems awfully wrathful, the way she's rattling on that door..."

A skinny little brat of a spoiled heiress and her overly timid maid, over a head taller, yet totally submissive... This was an interesting puzzle even before hypnosis entered into it. The gears in Linda's head were probably spinning so hard, smoke was coming out of her ears, deriving new characters for her stories based on this odd pair. If you ever wanted to go down and see Linda, though, you'd need to finish up here, in the third floor corridor. It would probably be good to let Tallula off the hook as quickly as possible, too, before her pounding heart caused her to faint.