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The story may contain sexual activities and situations that are to be read only by readers above the legal age of consent. All characters in this story are above the legal age of consent. The story is not to be read in locations where such stories are illegal. If you are not of legal age, or live in the wrong place, please do not read.
Author's note: This story is the prequel to the Sam Spade series.
Sam Spade: Case of the missing daughter
by
Kaereni
I have always hated pickup jobs. Next to staking out a motel and snapping shots of cheating men and women, pickups were the worst. And yet, a girl's got to pay the bills. Of all the types of cases, going and finding mommy's and daddy's little darling who ran away paid the best. Though inevitably, the little darling who never did anything wrong ended up being a demon spawn in reality.
I was sitting behind my desk throwing cards into my hat when the intercom buzzed. "Sam... A Mister and Misses Jameson are here to speak to you about their missing daughter," said a tiny voice from the box.
Sighing I leaned forward and flicked the talk button and said, "I will be with them in a minute." Standing I picked up the cards and my hat. As I tucked my hair up under the hat I could hear a man's voice asking why I did not use proper video intercoms like other people. It was right then that I decided I did not need the money that bad. I could always eat peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for a while longer.
Sitting down I leaned back in my chair and put my feet up on the desk before pushing the talk button and telling Rachel to send them in. It took only a matter of moments for the pair to rush in and stand before my desk. "You have to help us Mr. Spade, our baby is missing." The woman said franticly.
Looking from one to the other I said, "Please sit down."
"A woman?" the man said his jaw dropping as the woman sat down.
"Please Fred," the woman said pulling him down into the chair next to hers.
I listened as the couple assured me that their daughter Cindy had never been anything other than an angel and someone must have kidnapped her. Nodding sagely, I concluded that their daughter was an angel with horns and ran away. I let them babble on for several minutes before holding up my hand. "Let me see if I got this right," I paused and looked at them and finally settled on the man, "Your daughter, who found you two to be a thorn in her side for years finally got fed up and ran away. You in turn want me to find her and drag her back kicking and screaming."
I caught a ghost of a smile from the man before the woman grabbed his arm and stormed out of the office. A few moments later Rachel came to the door, peaked in and said sarcastically, "Hmmm, let me guess, you won them over with your winning smile and tone." She fully entered the room and sat down across from me before continuing, "Sam, you have not worked in over a week."
Taking my hat off and fluffing my hair with my fingers I said, "So? Are the bills paid with money still in the account?"
"Yes but..."
"No buts to it Rach. They were trying to feed me a line. Anyways, you know how hateful pickups are for everyone involved."
Rachel nodded, "I know, but I worry about you Samantha." She stood and went out to the outer office. Stopping at the door she looked at me and said, "Come to dinner tonight?"
I shook my head no, "No thanks hon. I am going to do a background check on the Jameson's." I smiled at her to take the sting out of my refusal. Rachel was a good dame and always tried to take care of me. While we had an exciting week in sunny Cancun, our relationship had never progressed past that vacation. It was not her, it was me, there was something that made me think I was cheating on someone every time we made love. I never could understand that feeling. While I did not think anything about a casual romp in the hay with willing partner, every time it threatened to become serious, I ran away.
"You're going to take the case even though they stormed out without offering it to you?" Rachel asked surprised.
"They will be back, trust me."
"If you say so Sam," Rachel replied disbelievingly before closing the door and leaving me alone.
While I liked to keep my office old fashioned and work out of the low rent district that did not mean I was a primitive. I pulled open a desk drawer and started typing a search on the couple who were in my office minutes before. When, several hours later, Rachel peaked in to tell me she was leaving I was deep in the personal files of the couple and their angel daughter.
It was near midnight when I finally sat back and thought. Opening the bottom desk drawer, I pulled out a bottle of Kentucky rat poison and a glass. Pouring a drink, I sipped it and thought about what I had read. It seemed, Cindy had been a good dame up until she reached her second year of high school. It was then that she went from an honor roll student to the bottom of the barrel. By the time she was a senior she had been picked up several times for sneaking into clubs and panhandling. Apparently the day after her eighteenth birthday she had had enough of her parents trying to control her life and lit out.
It had not taken me long to figure out where she had headed when she cut loose. She was going to the birth place of jazz to play her sax in a band. She had all but spelled it out in her web pages and correspondence with others. All I needed to do was go down to New Orleans and crawl around the underside of the city. Turning back to the hologram of her I shook my head sadly, no, she was not in a club playing a saxophone. Most likely she was in a whore house or working the streets.
