It was a cool and relatively quiet morning. The offices of Curran & Harvey Private Investigators (CHPI) was practically noiseless as there was little work to do. Darren Harvey sat on his comfy sofa, leisurely scanning the headlines of the morning’s paper as he sipped his blazing hot coffee. He was very relaxed, ruminating on the irony of the case he had just concluded with his best friend and partner, Stanley Curran. It had been very lucrative and they had made 3 times their usual exorbitant fee. He shook his head as he recalled the details. CHPI was a private investigation outfit that handled cases for very high profile clients based strictly on referrals. They did not advertise. The last case has been pretty complicated.
Their client had been a millionaire who had brought a case of business fraud and missing funds from his multi-million dollar corporation. Darren and Stanley had eventually found out that the millionaire had perpetrated the fraud himself and had hired professionals to frame one of his young managers. When asked the motive for framing the young man, he had broken down and blubbered like a baby. The manager had apparently seduced the boss’s only daughter and broken her heart and he had wanted to punish the young man by ruining his career. The millionaire had to settle for just dismissing the manager and had been charged an astronomical fee for sending Darren and Stanley on a wild goose chase.
Stanley walked in and sat opposite his friend. They exchanged pleasantries and began to share a light banter about their last client. They always enjoyed such down-times between cases and times like this were few and far between. Suddenly they heard raised voices from the lobby and they both looked at each other knowingly. They guessed another obnoxious rich person had walked in without a referral and had gotten angry after being turned down by the receptionist. They were both jolted out of their relaxed postures by the unmistakable sound of a woman weeping and rushed out to the lobby in perfect sync. They both stopped short at the sight of a woman sitting on the floor, weeping uncontrollably.
Darren who was the softer of the two men, rushed to her side to console her while Stanley asked the receptionist what had happened. The reception looked worried and confused as she explained that the young woman had no appointment nor referral and she had told her she couldn’t be attended to, only for the woman to breakdown in tears. Stanley turned back to the young woman and watched with a frown as Darren put an arm around her shoulder, comforting her and urging her to get up and stop the weeping. She looked up and both men simultaneously drew in sharp breathes. She was the most beautiful, exquisitely delicate looking woman they had ever seen. She looked innocent, hopeless and in despair all at the same time. This was one very scared woman and her fear was palpable. “Help me please”, she pleaded in the sexiest, huskiest voice they had ever heard.
To Be Continued…..