Subj: DS: Smart Shadows 2
Date: 5/10/02 12:53:38 PM Central Daylight Time
From: Aesgaard

After leaving the Blue Whale Bar And Grill, Maxwell Smart headed back to the room he had at the inn. It wasn't much with that Burke Devlin character renting the entire top floor to start his business, but it was a place to sleep. As turned the corner for the main street, he pulled a cigarette out and poked through his pockets for a match. Nothing so far. He noticed a figure emerge from the cemetary entrance a few feet from him.

"Excuse me," He started a conversation. "Got a match ?"

"A what ?"

"A match to light my cigarette." Smart's eyes rolled down the cloak and old fashioned dress of this stranger, but his eyes noticed the wolf-handed cane.

He looked up into the man's moodful eyes.

"In winter, I wear my cardigan sweater." He replied to him.

"I beg your pardon ?"

"That's not it." Max thought again. "In winter, swans fly in a square ?"

"I'm not in the mood for this." The stranger was getting impatient as he started to grit his teeth. Max looked preoccupied as the shadowy person bared two sharp teeth.

"Swans fly east over Cardogan Square In winter !" Max replied outloud.

"There, I knew I had it !!" He looked up, but the other person had vanished!

"Maxwell Smart ? " Another voice was behind him. "I followed you from the bar." It was a woman carrying a wolf-handled cane. She had long black hair and had two blue eyes that appeared black on the dimly lit Collinsport street. "I'm Kathryn Parker, former KAOS Agent working with Control."

"Yes,,,," Smart looked around. "Did you see another man here ?"

"No, I'm afraid I didn't." She continued.

"You'll have to excuse me, I was told to expect a man." Max continued to the inn with her by his side.

"I told the Chief to tell you that." Parker claimed. "It works better in the event I'm replaced by someone else."

"What info can you tell me about Paul Stoddard ?" Smart was quick to get to work.

"Well," Parker started. "He was in the Air Force during the war, worked with Colonel Robert Hogan in Germany before returning to the states. A bit of an opportunist, he left the military just before he married Elizabeth Collins.

The marriage had been set up as a prenuptial agreement between their parents. They had one child, Carolyn Stoddard born July 16, 1946. Hogan continued to use Stoddard in assignments for his agency and lent him to Control on occasion, but then he vanished in 1948. No one was ever able to find him. His widow has hid herself from public view waiting for him to return."

"Sounds like a tv series," Smart sounded flippant. They both walked the wooden walkway outside the diner. "Was he supposed to meet anyone that night ?"

"You'll have to ask his widow." Parker answered. "Another thing, one of Stoddard's associates in the military was Jason McGuire. Tossed out for disorderly conduct, McGuire got work on a tramp steamer. He's in town too and staying at Collinwood with a William Loomis whom he met on the steamer line. Loomis has a criminal record."

"It just gets better and better." Smart borrowed her lighter.

"No one cares about Stoddard anymore." Parker took her lighter back. "Just find the microfilm. KAOS will be sending agents too, so you will be in danger. You can't trust anyone. Your life will be in danger every minute."

"And loving it !"

Dark Shadows is a Dan Curtis Production.