Having completed NaNoWriMo ’10, I’m going to share one section of my story here every Friday until you’ve read the whole thing. Hooray for easy update days! Enjoy.
Jocelyn was sopping up the last smudge of gravy with her last crust of bread as she finished telling her story. The flapjacks in front of her had disappeared, and were replaced with the stern visage of Detective Clark, who was listening intently to her every word.
“That was that,” said Jocelyn. “Mariana Paoletti and her people quietly disappeared from town, and the force demoted Detective Barrett in order to avoid inconvenient questions from the press. Word somehow got out that I was the one who worked the case, and next thing I knew, my building was condemned.”
Detective Clark folded his hands on the table in front of him. “You hadn’t told anyone about the case?”
“No, nobody. I worked it alone, and never spoke about it to anyone but the man in the big hat.” Jocelyn spent a moment looking at her empty plate, astonished at how much food she had eaten in such a short amount of time.
“So it must have been this man who passed the story along to the press,” Detective Clark concluded.
“That was my thinking, but I can’t figure why he’d do it.”
“And that’s the last major case you worked? Nothing since then?”
Jocelyn shook her head. “I had only barely been established here in town as it is. It was hard enough bringing in work, being a gal and all, but being forced to move across town certainly didn’t help any.”
“But you’ve been working off and on with Ted Holdren.”
Jocelyn nodded. “Yeah, he has work for me, here and there. He passes me the clients who can’t afford his rates. Keeps a finder’s fee for himself too, which I suppose is fair. It’s been keeping me fed, at least.”
“Has it?”
“No,” mourned Jocelyn, “I guess not.”
Detective Clark harrumphed again, then asked, “Miss Beauregard, had you ever worked with Ted Holdren before the Paoletti case?”
“No, not once. We’d spoken on a few occasions, and he was gentlemanly enough, but I don’t think he liked me very much.”
“And after the Paoletti case, when you were having trouble finding work, you went to him, asking for handouts?”
“He called me, actually,” Jocelyn remembered, “or, rather, his secretary Tammy did. A pet shop owner complained that his guinea pigs kept vanishing, only to reappear a day or two later all dirty and worn out. I discovered his son had been borrowing them, and taking bets at the schoolyard on guinea pig races.”
Detective Clark had a look on his face that told Jocelyn he was momentarily lost in thought, but she didn’t imagine he was thinking much about guinea pig races.
“Miss Beauregard, did it strike you as odd that Ted Holdren’s secretary would call you, his competitor, out of the blue and offer you a job?”
Now that was a peculiar question. Jocelyn had been so grateful for the case that she hadn’t given much thought to where it had come from, or why, and she said as much to Detective Clark.
“Have you considered the possibility that the man in the big hat didn’t work for Miss Paoletti at all? In point of fact, it sounds as though the two had probably never met.”
“Then who was he?” Jocelyn asked. Detective Clark just glared lazily at her in response. He didn’t need to answer. Simply asking the question herself caused a giant gear to click over in her head. “I’m a fool,” she suddenly said, exasperated. “He was never Mariana’s man at all – he was Ted’s!”
“That was my reckoning, as you were telling the story,” replied Detective Clark.
Jocelyn wrinkled up her nose. “Ted saw that Detective Barrett was gunning for PIs, and knew it was only a matter of time before he’d have something to use against him. So he decided to fire first!”
“In all likelihood, Holdren had done an investigation into Barrett’s affairs on his own time, discovered his affair with Mariana Paoletti, and just needed some way to break the story without his own name being connected with it.”
Jocelyn’s head slumped downward into her arms, folded on the table. “And along comes Jocelyn Beauregard, perfect patsy,” she whined. “Ted got what he wanted, then leaked that it was me who made the discovery. That way I’m left holding the bag, and Officer Barrett would destroy me and not him.”
When Jocelyn lifted her head her cheeks and ears were bright red from precisely equal parts anger and embarrassment. The scowl on her face tightened. “What’s worse, when he finds out I’m too stubborn to leave town, the rat just decides to string me along with infrequent nibbles. A lady detective with a stunted professional reputation, willing to bend over backwards to keep her doors open. Do you know he actually lectured me, last time I talked to him? He said, ‘Now Jocelyn, you know I’m always happy to help a colleague in need, but one of these days you’re going to have to learn to stand on your own two feet.’ What a snake! What a real cut-up, that Ted Holdren!”
“I’m beginning to see why he’s the most successful detective in town,” said Detective Clark, utterly devoid of any connotation whatsoever.
“Successful or no, you just wait and see if I don’t give him a piece of my mind,” Jocelyn threatened.
“You have to find him first.”
Jocelyn slumped back in her chair. Ted had been missing for a full day, now. “I don’t have any leads,” she admitted, “but then, I had a rough go at investigating the scene, with your boys crawling all over the place.”
Detective Clark nodded. “I can get you full access to Holdren’s office. Barrett will try to block it, but I’ll pull rank on him. He’s convinced you’ve already turned the whole scene over, you know, but given what I’ve heard here today I don’t believe you’re as unscrupulous as all that.”
Jocelyn suddenly felt bad about having to lie by omission, but no good could come of fessing up to breaking into Ted’s office now. Soon it wouldn’t matter, anyway; anything she found her first time through the building, she’d just say she found her second. With any luck, she’d be able to get into the basement and the upstairs apartment that had previously been denied to her.
Detective Clark counted out a few dollar bills and tossed them on the table. Jocelyn politely thanked Detective Clark for lunch, to which he replied, “It’s been enlightening for the both of us, I’m sure, Miss Beauregard. We’ll have a man on Holdren’s office around the clock; just let him know you have my leave to aid with the investigation, and he’ll let you in.” With that, he tipped his hat and left the restaurant.
It had indeed been enlightening. Jocelyn was no longer sure who to despise more: Max Barrett, or Ted Holdren.
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