The Three Dames

The Case of The Three Dames and Alan Carr, PI!

 

The Three “Dames”

            By: Zack Ellafy

 

Alan Carr was just like any other PI, bored. He wished he had gone to the police academy and became a cop, yeah you had to do paperwork and you had to rise up in the ranks to get the better jobs but anything’s better than this. He was tired of looking after women whose husbands wanted to know if they were cheating and visa versa. It was lousy work. Every once and a while he got a “private” session with one of the wife’s who came into his office, but not often. He always wished for the cliché, the beautiful woman coming into the office, crying and asking for help because of a brother, father or husband who was kidnapped or some other reason. A REAL case, a real good paycheck as well. It was the 21^st century though and the “old” ways were gone. PI’s were used as divorce catalysts or for finding missing people, no more adventure, no more pretty “dames”. He didn’t have the usual cute secretary; he had Jim Norris a friend from High School handling his appointments. Alan’s business was doing well though he was just overworked. He wished he could take a vacation and maybe actually find a girl to fall in love with. But no can do for the bored PI.

            It was a cloudy day in Denver and Alan was getting ready to go home to his apartment. He was doing the usual, drinking a glass of Jack and reading the newspaper, the radio was on tuned to a sports station. He always liked to relax before closing up. He was saying goodnight to Jim when they both heard racking at the door. “Tell whoever it is to go away and learn how to read!” The sign on the door said to make an appointment before 4 and it was going on 5 o’clock. He used the last three hours to do paperwork or in case of today go home early! Hey, he was the boss. When Jim got to the door and opened it there were three beautiful “dames” in the doorway. Each one had a different hair color and wore the usual standard fair, tight blue jeans, perm hair, but there shirts were different. The blond had on a black blouse, “nice” was what came to Alan sexy but nice. The red head wore a blue see through tube top with a black bra. The brunette was the most conservative of the lot wearing a white blouse not see through and not tight. Jim started to shout “Mr. Carr isn’t available right now and he wishes that you could learn how to…” “Thank you Jim, It’s all right I have a few minutes”. “Come sit down ladies, what can I do for you?” Alan moved another chair into the room and the ladies sat down. What beautiful creatures Alan thought with there blue eyes and round curvy bodies. It might be my lucky day Alan thought. “Hey Mister why are you smiling?” The blond spurted out. “Oh I was just thinking of a funny joke, what do you want to see me about?” “Are you really a Private Investigator?” The red head said straight faced. Well looks like we got a couple of Einstein’s here Alan thought when the brunette spoke up. “What she meant was will you keep this matter secret and…private?” She said it with a smile, the brunette had class, Alan liked her. “Well if I didn’t keep it private I would have no business, so what’s up?” “Well we want you to find our sister.” Alan began to think, oh great another missing person case when the brunette said to his delight. “We think she may have been kidnapped.”

            Alan began with the usual questions. When was the last time you saw her? Who was the last person to see her? Where was she the last time she was seen? Why do you think she was kidnapped? The answers were the usual. Jasmine the red headed one was the last one to see her when they went out for dinner last week. The sisters found out the last one to see there sister was Mrs. Hamlin the 70ish year old neighbor of Shana the missing girl. The answer to the kidnapping was interesting, no one saw anything, and there wasn’t a ransom, but a message on Georgia the brunette’s answering machine saying that she was fine and not to worry about her followed by a car door slamming and someone yelling. Alan had to ask the obvious maybe she got away for a while? But the sisters told him about Shana’s trashed apartment and car. He asked one more question. “Who do you think kidnapped her?” the sisters all looked at each other and replied without missing a beat “Her boyfriend”.

            After Alan got the personal information from the girls they looked a bit shook up and asked for some of his Jack. Alan told them to help themselves and when the blond went to grab the bottle it split all over his desk. “Oh I’m so sorry!” “No its ok I like my desk smelling like alcohol reminds me of who I am.” “I can clean it up” Georgia said politely. Alan was beginning to like this girl. “No it’s all right I’ll get it”. Alan pulled out a roll of paper towels from the bottom drawer of his desk and began to mop the Jack off the table top and the floor, when the world went black. Alan woke up in the middle of downtown Denver with homeless people looking through his pockets. Alan almost got mad but realized nobody had taken his wallet or credit cards just his cash, all a hundred dollars of it. He looked through his pants trying to find fifty cents to call Jim. Luckily he had two quarters in the “Coin Holder” in his pocket. He called Jim to come and get him. When Jim got to him Alan told him to head straight to the nearest coffee shop. The ladies had done a number on him. He thought they might of used the bottle but there was no blood, maybe they did it just didn’t break. When Jim and Alan got back to the office it was in shambles, papers and folders all over the place. “The names they gave me are probably fake”“Did you get the license number on there car?” “I got it and it seems there from California.” “California?” “Make sense the way they acted.” Jim and Alan started to pick up the office when Alan decided enough was enough. He decided to call on his friend on the police force.

            Lieutenant Montoya was a friend of Alan’s from High School, they even had a thing once but that was along time ago. They both through High School nurtured each other’s love for crime and there dreams of fighting it. She was the smart one though. Montoya looked up the plate number and found it belonged to a Shana Vera. Must be the sister’s car, Alan thought. Why would they take it? “Did Shana have any sisters?” “Yeah she did three others, why?” “Oh because this looks like this is turning into a jealousy case, thank Montoya.” Alan started to leave when Montoya yelled “When are we going to go to dinner again?” “I’ll see you later Monty!” Alan said as he rushed out the door. He decided to head to Shana’s work to interview some people there, he had a home address but he would check it in good time, besides he’d put down money she wasn’t there. Shana worked at a “Gentleman’s” Bar. It was mentioned on the sign and it was really just a regular bar that was high priced and had a lot of good looking ladies severing the place. He walked the bar trying to find someone to talk to when another bartender a girl waved him over. “Hey are you looking for Shana?” “What if I am? Have you seen her?” “I saw her last night, she left with someone.” “Okay…who?” Mellissa the bartender seemed nervous. “Well if I told you and it got out she might not ever work here again.” “Well who was she?” Mellissa looked surprised that Alan could get to that conclusion so quick. Well it was the only other option to a man isn’t it? “Well what was her name?” “Her name was Jennifer…Jennifer Perez.”

            Jennifer Perez also worked at the bar. They had been lovers. Alan was starting to get confused and excited. It wasn’t making sense. Three sisters go looking to get help from a PI and two women go missing from last night. Alan checked Jennifer was missing too. Alan also found out that Shana’s father had been a senator from California but had passed on about 7 years ago. Shana decided to move out here and her sisters had decided to stay, but they were here now. Jim called on Alan’s cell while Alan was having a drink. He was his own boss anyway. “Alan, hey I picked up the office, a couple of things are missing.” “Well what was the other case I was working on?”

“Something about a Mrs. Miller?” Jim Asked. Mrs. Miller another lady he had some private interaction with but what did she have to do with anything? Wait. She wanted to find her daughter. Her name wasn’t Shana though it was…it was, he couldn’t remember. But he had a hunch. He rushed over to Shana’s apartment to look around the ladies didn’t leave him a key but the door was wide open. Alan walked in to a mess. He walked through the living room and down a hall to the bathroom. The sisters hadn’t mentioned the dead body of Jennifer Perez in the bath tub.

            Jennifer looked like she was drowned and the cops confirmed it when they got there. Hey he had to tell them or he could go to jail. He wanted to find these ladies now. He wanted to know why there sister’s lesbian girlfriend and an old client had something to do with each other. He knew Mrs. Miller had disappeared as well about two years ago, probably dead. Alan headed over to Jennifer’s house to see if there was anything to find. Nothing he could see. There were pictures of Shana and she was a beautiful blonde woman, with blue eyes hung around by the computer and such but no mess, no signs of entry. Alan believed the answer was with Mrs. Miller. Alan went back to the office and found the copy of the file. C’mon you didn’t think a PI would not have thought of this problem? He told Jim to tell everyone he was away. He went to her house which looked like it was in order but there was no food in the fridge and no wear in the bed. Alan realized his hunch was right when he saw Shana’s picture on the night table.

            Shana was the girl he was supposed to be looking for last time. But the trail had gone cold when she left California, he last heard of her in Vegas. She must have changed her name. The sister’s last name was Miller! He got on the phone right on away and found out that three Millers were at the Motel 6 in Boulder. He remembered Mrs. Miller inviting him to come to her house in the mountains. In a town called Frazier. Alan was out the door before his thought came out. Shana’s mother had changed her name to her maiden when Dave died and so did the others but not Shana. They went to Alan because they had found out that he had slept with her and took the file so no one could know about Mrs. Miller’s search for her daughter. And I bet the sisters were the reason for there mother’s disappearance and also the murder of Jennifer. I bet the sisters were not happy to hear about there sister being a lesbian. He drove I-25 to Boulder in 20 minutes and took the mountain road to Frazer. It would take Alan about an hour and he turned on sports radio. When he pulled into Frazer he got a burger from a ma and pa café and asked the local mail office where if any mail went to a “Miller or Vera”. The clerk told him yes to both and at the same place. Bingo. He went over as fast as he could. When he arrived it was around six pm and the sky was turning twilight. He parked the car at the end of the driveway and walked the 100 feet to the house. The lights were on. It sounded like they were arguing. “…have to kill that girl?” “C’mon, Georgia that was gross!” “Well thanks to you we have a murder on our hands instead of kidnapping a family member, which no one would have known about!” “Whatever that was sick” And to think Alan liked these dames. He worked his way to the big picture window in the kitchen to try and find a way inside. He saw that the screen door had a hole big enough to put his hand through and get through. He slowly opened the door and went into the dark abyss of the basement to see what was down there. When he got there he heard a muffled crying. He went into the laundry room and saw Shana bound and gagged on a pile of clothes. Alan rushed over and took the gag out of her mouth. “It’ll be all right Shana, your safe.” But for the second time the world went black.

            Alan woke up and saw Mrs. Miller standing over him. "Oh I'm sorry, I didn't mean...I thought..." “It's all right, just tell me what the hell is going on.” “Well the sisters upstairs found out that there father had given most of the hard cash to Shana and put the rest in a trust for college for the rest, well they didn’t like that idea.” “And let me guess if she dies, they get the money.” “You got it” Mrs. Miller said shaking her head. Shana managed to whisper “And they killed Jennifer because they thought she was disgusting!” she started crying. Before Alan could stop her the “dames” had heard. They started coming down the stairs. “I told you once before you old hag if you touch her you’re going to get beat and stop crying Shana your disgusting. It was the red head. When she got to the bottom of the stairs Alan hit her in the head with an empty jar. The others followed. Alan hit the lights. The blond was at the head and was walking down slowly. “Jasmine are you down there?” “Jasmine?” Alan Shouted “Come and get me!” When Samantha and Georgia ran into the basement Alan hit Samantha and knocked her out but not Georgia, she was able to get a shot off.

            The bullet grazed Alan’s side, onlysomew a flesh wound but it hurt like someone decided to pour fire on him. She was hiding here in the shadows. Alan listened to hear some sign of where she was. He threw the bottle into the back of the laundry room and Georgia took it she shot at it. Alan leaped at the light and grabbed Georgia. She let the last four shots out into the air. Georgia rolled on top of him and hit him in the head with the butt of the gun and started to strangle him. She was laughing. “I hope you liked being a disgusting pig, sleeping with an older woman!” “You and my sister both deserve to die you disgusting little….” A scream rang out. Mrs. Miller had helped Shana out of her restraints. She charged Georgia, grabbed the gun and hit her sister with it. That didn’t knock her out but the ten to fifteen punches to the face did it or at least got the fight out of her. Alan told Shana to call the police. Mrs. Miller and Alan tied the sisters up while they waited for the cops. Alan was proud of himself he finally got to do something worthwhile he even help solve an old case and help a girl who had some messed up sisters. Too bad he probably wouldn’t get to much money. He was promised from the sisters 10,000 dollars to find her. That would pay quite a few of the bills. When the cops arrived Alan stayed until midnight with questions and statements but went back to bed. He was opening the office late tomorrow!

In the early morning Alan called Jim and told him to stay home they weren’t opening until at least two. He had to get his twelve hours. When Alan got to the office Jim was already there. “There’s a package on your desk.” “I wonder what it could be” Alan said with a smile. He felt horrible and had a headache but all he could do was make the best of it. He walked into his office and started drinking his coffee he decided to take a rest from Jack for a bit. He turned on the radio and looked at the package. It was more of an envelope that a package but there was nothing on it but his name is cursive. He opened it and read the letter inside.

 

Dear Mr. Carr,

     Shana and I would like to thank you for all that you’ve done for us. We started to think how we could repay you and all we could think of was money. When I first came to you I offered five thousand for finding her and you did, plus we heard that Georgia, Jasmine and Samantha offered you ten thousand and we decided to pay it for saving us. Enclosed is a check for fifteen thousand dollars for every thing you’ve done for us.

 

                       Thank You So Much,

                                                              Shana and Kalee Vera

 

 

“JIM!”, “Jim we’re closed for the day!”

Author's Note

This is another first draft and am excited to hear what people think needs work or is not needed.

Reviews

[sk8tagirl95]

Great and fun read. Good characters. All in all a lovely read!

[Brandon Meyers]

Cool man. I followed the story well and enjoyed your characters. There are quite a few grammatical things that jumped out at me, and I'd be glad to offer some help if you'd like, but overall, it was a fun read. Nice job!