Yara Ashour (30), another collector of occult artifacts

You thought you might find the rest of the guests together in the lounge-- it seemed like a sensible enough place for everyone to gather and a pleasant place besides. In the morning, the sunlight would come warm through the tall lattice windows, though they currently offered a view out into the darkness and moonlight instead, looking out to a path that winded towards the beach. The overhead lighting coming from the fixtures in this room was ironically much better than in the study, making the lounge the better option for long spells of reading. A number of leather chairs surrounded a coffee table near the windows, and a row of couches and low tables lined the space near cabinets full of what might be artifacts, various unusual shapes of sculpted clay, twisted metal, and embedded gemstones. You imagined they were more conversation pieces than the jewels of Wanda's collection, if she'd left them out here visible, protected only by such ordinary glass shelves.

It struck you this might be the ideal room to assemble the others in for an important discussion regarding the culprit later. For now, your hopes that the rest of the guests would all be in one easily accessible place were dashed. The room's occupants were two women, seated at the coffee table. The one closest to you, bearing a rich brown skin tone wrapped in extravagant gold colors, gave a quick signal to the other woman, a tall, muscular lady with a much lighter complexion. The other woman gave a gruff nod, then exited the room without looking at you. She didn't seem like the friendly type...

That said, the remaining woman was all smiles. Her long and straight black hair reminded you a bit of the lady of the house, although hers was ornamented with a gold hairpin that held her hair into a broad and lengthy ponytail. The ends were also wrapped up in gold bands. It looked like a considerable part of her income had to be tied up in just her wardrobe and accessories. Her outfit consisted of a gold, tube style dress with a belt of wrapped black-and-gold woven fibers. The top of the dress was open in such a way to show the top-sides of her massive breasts, which bobbed in an eye-catching way with each of her exaggerated gestures, threatening to spill themselves out of their ill-fitting casing. The dress was tight all over, partially from the make, partially because she was pretty thick all over, from her bosom, to her ass, to her thighs. Gold bangles jingled at each of her wrists and her ankles as well. She'd come wearing open-toed, high-heeled sandals, clearly not the cheap kind you'd be fine getting sandy. Each of her nails was painted the same extravagant gold as her clothing, including those on her toes.

Finally, the most eye-catching feature of all: the upper half of the woman's face was covered in a gold mask, styled like the beak of a bird, with wide-open white eyes that hid her real expression somewhat. The lower half of her face was expressive enough to make up for it. Her brightly painted lips were perpetually parted in a big smile, revealing a slight gap between the front two teeth she'd never seen fit to close through surgery she could clearly afford.

"Pardon Brunhilde! She's not exactly a people person," the woman in gold urged you, giving a nod towards the kitchen where her companion had just exited. "But I am! I am very much a people person, or so I like to think. I'm a collector of occult artifacts, much like Wanda. Perhaps you know of me already?" she offered you her hand, with the fingers pointed downward. It didn't seem like she was expecting a handshake, but something else.

Tentatively, you grabbed her hand from the underside, then did what you figured she was expecting, awkward as it was: you kissed the upper side of her hand, just past the knuckles.

Her already broad grin showed even more toothy for a second with her obvious delight. "A gentleman!"

You laughed, then explained you were hoping that gesture would make up for your lack of knowledge. You had no idea who she was, but then, you barely knew who Wanda Croft was. You were an outsider in all of this.

"Quite alright, my good man. I am Yara Ashour, the closest person the Croft family has to a rival, I'd wager. I keep them company at the lonely precipice of what one might achieve in our field of expertise, ho ho ho! My own collection is in Egypt. People come from all over. I'm not a recluse like dear Wanda, quite the opposite; I allow everyone a gander at my extensive collection. You really must see it all some time, I insist!"

She was sure enthusiastic in her sales pitch. You laughed awkwardly, telling her you'd try to find a time, but that work kept you awfully busy with domestic cases. You weren't the type who traveled often, nor took vacations, for that matter.

"And yet someone has talked you into one this week, I see... You're the friend of Ms. Catz!" she reasoned, putting on a self-satisfied smile while she crossed her arms beneath her heavy bosom. "Mmm, I wish I had arm candy like you to spice up the trip. I don't think Brunhilde counts. She's my bodyguard, if I didn't mention. Very devoted to her job! Not much of a talker. You'll find that out when you speak with her, I'm sure."

It didn't seem like she was ever going to get around to asking, so you made your own introduction: Malcolm Wolf, detective.

"What a handsome name, hm hm. For a handsome gentleman!"

She never seemed to turn off the flirting. This reminded you of a certain someone, currently locked in the third floor study. You decided to go ahead and get that out of the way, telling her to remain calm about the incident that had occurred, then describing the details as much as you could manage within the realm of good taste.

You couldn't see the expression of her eyes, given her mask, but her open-mouthed laughter was hard to mistake for anything else. Her feelings towards the incident were quite clear.

"Oooh ho ho ho ho! That's rich! The world's greatest collector of mesmeric items has herself been mesmerized! Couldn't happen to a more fitting person, I'll say! Oh, dear Malcolm, you've made my whole week! Not to worry: warping her behavior to fit someone else's whims can only improve it, I dare say!" Yara tittered on. You thought she might be taking a moment to scan around the room with her eyes, watching out for Eric Waterbury or one of the other butlers. "You didn't hear it from me, but the woman's a snob, always lording over everyone and everything. And for what? There's no reason for her to be so proud. She's practically just out of her diapers and got everything she owns from mommy. That's why her collection doesn't impress me much."

You smiled and nodded along, noting that the woman was providing pretty significant ammo for why she might be the one behind the hypnotizing act, given her obvious jealousy for Wanda Croft's circumstances.

"In all things, I strive to be just her opposite: self-made, personable, and down to earth, speaking to everyone no matter what their station. I'd never lock up everything I own on some private island and invite only a select few to see them."

It was quite a thing, a woman calling herself a salt-of-the-earth type while dressed up in that much golden jewelry. You told her that you were happy to hear she was handling the news so well, given the danger she might find herself in. Wanda's story wasn't just a one-off-- it seemed likely that the culprit intended to target others on the island in some fashion. The invitations, this week at the manor, and the woman's unique instructions all seemed to indicate that the game had only just begun.

"Oh ho... I'm not worried about that," she smirked, tapping two fingers to her temple. "You see this mask I'm wearing?"

As though it was possible to miss it.

"I'm experienced with artifacts just like those Wanda surrounds herself with, remember, darling? I came prepared, just in case my rival decided to try any funny business. In truth, I thought that was the purpose of her invitation: to take control of my mind and my collection in one fell swoop." A smug smile came to her face and her words whistled slightly through the gap in her teeth. "This mask acts as a nullifying **** to any and all attempts at mind control, mesmerism, or whatever else you want to call it. It offers me complete protection, guarding my precious, precious brain."

You had to admit, that claim did make you pretty curious. It also made her even more suspicious. If her knowledge of magical artifacts really was that extensive, it wasn't a far leap to imagine her making use of the Ring of Ursa Major... For now, that she was practically begging you to ask her some questions, wearing that goading grin of hers.

The lounge was empty, apart from you two. The fact that she'd dismissed her bodyguard made it a perfect time to handle her interrogation however you saw fit.