The Investigation

This is novel length my friends, so if you're not into reading a lengthy story this won't be something you'll enjoy. This is the correct, edited piece. For those of you who take the time to read the story in it's entirety I thank you. I hope you enjoy the story as much as I did writing it.

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Jade glanced around at the destruction in front of her. Her apartment had been ransacked, destroyed was a more fitting word she was thinking. All of her furniture lay broken and ripped apart, scattered about the apartment. Even the mattress's on her bed had been ripped to shreds.

"Miss London do you have any idea who might have done this?"

It was one of the policemen who were investigating the break in of her apartment who had asked her the question. A detective Jones.

"I don't have a clue why anyone would do this. Nothing seems to be missing so I'm at a loss as to why," she told him.

"Whoever did this was looking for something. This wasn't a robbery Miss London, they were searching for something."

"I don't have anything of real value, I'm not rich, I'm not famous, so I don't have a clue what anyone could be looking for."

"What type of work do you do Miss London?"

"I work as a personal assistant to Mr. Henry at Halverston's."

"What is Halverston's and what exactly do you do for Mr. Henry?"

"They give appraisals on rare and old artifacts and arrange for auctions if the clients are looking to sell their items. Mr. Henry is an expert in old documents and manuscripts. I set up appointments for the clients who have something they need appraised. I make all his appointments, arrange for the auctions, make all his travel arrangements, log in all the items that he is appraising, things like that."

"So most of the things that come into Halverston's is expensive then?"

"Yes, very. Some things have been valued at millions of dollars."

"Do you ever bring anything from work home?"

"No, everything is always locked in the vaults at the end of the day. Anything that has been checked out has to be returned by six pm each night. If something is not returned on time the building goes into automatic lock down. Until all items have been returned to the vaults no one can enter or leave the building. Each item has to be signed out and witnessed by at least three others. When something is returned to the vault, the same procedure is taken."

"Is your boss appraising anything right now that is of extreme value?"

"Yes and No. He is working on some old manuscripts that are supposedly written by Mark Twain. Until they have been documented and certified that they are genuine they have no value. If they are found to be the real item then they would be worth millions to collectors."

"What about a avid collector that just wants the manuscripts? Could someone be trying to steal them for their own personal pleasure?"

"Well yes, anything is possible."

"Do you have somewhere you can go tonight Miss London, the crime unit won't be finished here for some time?"

"Not really but I can check into a motel for a couple of nights and I will need to let my insurance company know about this."

"Good, I'll give you a call if I have more questions. Here's my card with my office number and cell number, if you think of anything you might have forgotten please call me."

Jade checked into a motel then called her insurance company who would be sending someone tomorrow to investigate her claim. The officer had let her pack a overnight bag with some of her clothes and toiletries before she left the apartment.

Everyone had already heard about the break in before she got into work the next day. The police had been there questioning her boss and other employees since seven am.

"Jade I would be scared to death if that had happened to me," her friend Amy was saying.

"Well I have decided to find someplace else to live. It is rather unsettling knowing that someone came into your home that easily. They destroyed everything in the apartment, even all of my dishes had been swept out of the cabinets and were broken. God only knows how long it will take my insurance company to settle with me and I have to replace everything I own except for my clothes."

"Do you have somewhere to stay until this is all over?"

"I'm staying in a motel for now until I can find another place."

"Jade why don't you come stay with me? I have an extra room in my apartment and I would love the company. Before you ask, no, it wouldn't be a burden either."

"Are you sure Amy? That would be wonderful and give me time to find another place."

"When can you get the rest of your things?"

"The police told me it would be a couple more days then I could have permission to go back into the apartment."

"Ok, we'll go pick your stuff up from the motel after work and you can move in tonight. I'll wait for you in the parking garage when we get out of work."

"Thanks Amy, you're a life savor."

After work the two women drove to the motel to pick up Jade's things and to let her check out of the motel. Then Jade followed Amy back to her place. Amy had gotten another key made for Jade on her lunch hour so Jade would be able to come and go as she pleased.

They talked into the late hours trying to figure out why someone would break into Jade's apartment. Neither one of them could think of one reason that was even plausible.

"It was probably all a mistake, they must have gotten the wrong address and this was all just a strange quirk of fate," Amy was saying.

"I sure hope so Amy. I went to one of those all night Laundromats after I left my apartment that night to wash all my clothes, it unnerved me that some stranger had been touching them?"

Two weeks had passed since the break in. Jade and Amy had become even closer friends. It was Friday night, on the way home from work they decided they would go out on the town and have some fun for once.

While Amy was dressing for their night out she thought back to how she and Jade had struck up their friendship. Amy had just gotten a divorce a little over two years ago and that is when she and Jade had become friends. One night while they had both been working late they had struck up a conversation in the lunchroom. They had decided to keep each other company the rest of the night while they worked on their projects.

Amy had told Jade about the dissolution of her marriage. She had been married for eighteen years before her husband left her for a younger woman. Amy had been devastated when he left. Their only child was still at home getting ready to start college in the fall. In their divorce settlement the only thing she asked of her soon to be ex husband was for him to pay for their sons college education. She signed off on their home that was paid for and let him keep it. She and her son left with nothing but their clothes and personal items.

Her son still wouldn't speak to his father, he had been deeply hurt when his father had walked out on them. The hurt became even deeper when he had heard that his father and his new wife had a new baby. Amy told Jade that he had felt like his father had tossed his first family out into the garbage so he could go out and make a new family.

Jade's only marriage only lasted a little over two years. It took her some time to see that her husband was nothing but a user and liar. When she had finally realized that, she waited for him to leave for work, then calmly packed her things and left. She had left him a note telling him she was leaving him and that he would be hearing from her lawyer shortly.

Jade looked fondly at her friend while she put the finishing touches to her makeup. Amy had short black hair that accentuated her pretty face. She had violet eyes that were her best feature. She was the first person Jade had ever met with violet eyes and they were striking. She always noticed how men would always be drawn back to her eyes when she was talking with them at work. At forty six Amy was still an attractive woman.

At the same time Amy was making the same comparisons of her friend. Jade was aptly named, her eyes were the color of deep jade, she had long eyelashes that added to the beauty of her eyes. Her hair was the color of deep mahogany and hung past her shoulders in soft waves. She was taller then Amy at five foot seven while Amy was five foot five. Both women were on the heavy side, while Amy had the more voluptuous and curvy body, Jade was more rounded and plump. Amy knew that Jade had no idea just how beautiful she was.

After dinner the women decided to stop in a local bar for a nightcap before going home. The bar was full of people enjoying themselves. Both women had always enjoyed coming here, it was a fun bar and not so loud that you couldn't talk to those you were with.

"Look around Jade, everyone here looks to be with somebody and here we sit two women very much alone." She had said that as a joke but Jade could hear the underlying loneliness in her words. The one thing she knew about her friend with certainty, was that Amy was not the type of woman to be without someone in her life that she could love and care for. She had that nurturing kind of soul that just reached out to everyone around her. You could see how much she was loved by her son and her sisters family and she loved them just as much.

Jade has been content to be on her own since her divorce ten years ago. After her bad marriage the only relationship she had after her divorce had ended badly. She decided she would rather be alone then to trust another man again with her heart.

Men had a way with saying all the right things you wanted to hear but meaning something entirely different. "I love you" means just long enough to get in your pants or get what I need from you." "Or trust me babe I really want to be with you." At least until my wife finds out about you." Jade just didn't want to deal with all the lies and deceit anymore. She was tired of being the only one who was honest in the relationship.

She had one brother who lived in California, their parents had died when she was thirty. The only family she and her brother had was each other. They could only manage to see each other once a year when Jade would go visit him and his wife on her vacations.

"Excuse me ladies, do either one of you play pool?"

The women looked up at the man standing next to their table. He was tall, not bad looking, his hair was spattered with gray, he might be in his early fifties or late forties. He was smiling down at them waiting for one of them to respond to his question.

"I don't but Jade does," Amy replied.

"Hello Jade, I'm Chad," he said offering his hand to her in a handshake.

"Hello Chad, this is my friend Amy," pleased to meet you.

"Look, I wanted to shoot some pool but the only table I could get on they want to shoot partners," he said pointing to a table where a couple was waiting to start the game.

"Thanks for asking me, but I'm here with my friend and I don't want to leave her alone, but thanks for the invite anyway."

"Why don't you two come and join me at my table while you and I shoot a game with this couple, I have a feeling we can take them," he said smiling down at Jade.

"Come on Jade, I don't mind joining him and would love to watch you two beat the pants off of them," Amy said standing.

"Well alright then, just one game though, ok?"

"Your on, let's go get them."

The women took their drinks and went over to his table. After everyone was introduced to each other they began their game. Jade was a pretty fair player and they managed to beat them with them having just one ball left on the table.

"Come on you two, you have to give us another chance, how about the best three out of five games then we can call it quits?"

"What do you say Jade can we give them a run for their money?"

She looked over to Amy who was shaking her head yes."Sure, why not."

The other couple won the next two games, then Chad and Jade managed to win the next one, leaving them with the tiebreaker as the last game. It was touch and go for awhile but Chad and Jade managed to clear the table leaving them with four balls left on the table by the time Jade sank the eight ball.

Chad insisted on buying them another drink as they sat and talked. He told them he was a financial planner for one of the big investment companies there in town.

Amy was telling him the type of work they did, then asked him how long he had been in the city.

"I've only lived here about a year. I transferred here from California, I was getting tired of being shook awake all the time. I kid you not, each day I would wonder if all of sudden I would find myself living on an Island."

They both laughed at his reference to earthquakes and the possibility of California breaking away and becoming an island. Amy excused herself to use the restroom leaving Jade and Chad alone to talk.

"Please don't think I'm being forward but are you seeing anyone Jade? I only ask because I would like to invite you to dinner sometime."

Jade was surprised, she didn't have any idea that he might be interested in her, other then the games of pool they had played together. He just didn't fit the type of men who have asked her out in the past. He was more sophisticated, more polished, then the hard working men who usually asked her out.

"I'm flattered Chad but I really don't date to much and right now just isn't a good time."

"I would really like to get to know you. Has anyone ever told you what fabulous eyes you have? I've never seen anyone with green eyes that dark."

Jade could feel the heat rising in her cheeks, she wasn't used to such compliments and it always made her uneasy when someone gave her one, especially a man. She had learned that men usually tell a woman anything that she might want to hear in order to get something they wanted from her, and that usually meant sex.

"I'm flattered, I really am, but as I said, I don't date."

"Jade I would just like your company for dinner with nothing expected from you, I promise you. It's been a long time since I wanted to get to know someone and even longer since I've shared a meal with a female."

"Sorry I couldn't help but overhear. Jade why don't you go out with him, he said he only wanted company for dinner, and besides, it would do you good to go out for once."

"See, even your friend thinks it would be a good idea, come on what could be the harm in having dinner with me?"

"I'll tell you what, I'll give you my number, you can call me next week and I'll let you know if I have any free time," she said writing down her cell phone number on the back of her business card.

Jade had forgotten about the dinner invitation until Chad called her the following week. They talked for about twenty minutes until he had finally got her to agree to having dinner with him on Saturday night. He had asked for her address to pick her up. She told him it would be better if she met him at the restaurant because she would be working late that night with an auction.

She had lied to him about the auction, she was still uptight and cautious since the vandalism of her apartment, she didn't want anyone who she had not known for a long time to know where she lived.

Chad had wanted to take her to Emil's restaurant, a classy place uptown, but she suggested they meet at Jim's bar and grille. She told him they served great steaks and seafood so he had agreed to meet her there at seven thirty.

"I was afraid you wouldn't show up," he told her, leading her into the bar.

"Why would you think that?"

"Well, you weren't exactly excited about having dinner with me to begin with. I thought maybe you might call at the last minute to cancel."

"I wouldn't do that Chad, that would be terribly rude of me. I wouldn't want it done to me, so I wouldn't do it to someone else."

"Good, glad we got that sorted out. Would you like a drink before we order our meal?"

"That would be nice, I'd like a glass of Tequila Rose over ice please," she told the waiter who was taking their order.

"I have to ask, what is that stuff? It doesn't look like any Tequila I know?"

Jade had to smile as she looked at the light pink drink sitting in front of her. "Well it does have Tequila in it, only it's strawberry flavored. It's one of those cream drinks like Bailey's, and all those other cream flavored liqueurs. It's a totally chick drink," she told him smiling.

"The first time we met you were drinking whiskey, I remember that."

"Sure was, Black Velvet with diet coke, and in the summer when it is really hot outside I love a ice cold beer as well," she said grinning at him.

"You're full of surprises Jade, a woman who drinks whiskey like a man, even enjoys a beer like a redneck in a bar on a Saturday night, then she turns around to become totally womanly by drinking a what did you call it, a chick drink?"

"Guess you could say I'm multi faceted."

"That you are Ms. Jade, that you are," he said lifting his glass to her in a salute.

Jade had enjoyed her day out with Chad, she had almost forgotten what it was like to have fun, to share that with someone. They had been going out for six weeks now and she felt happier then she had in a very long time.

The police were still looking into the vandalism of her apartment but officer Jones had told her it would be next to impossible to find out who had been involved. He told her that he too was beginning to think that it had been a mistake from the beginning. That whoever had broken into her apartment had obviously gotten the wrong address.

Chad asked Jade if she would mind if they stopped at his apartment so he could change his clothes. He said he was going out of town for a couple of days and wanted to leave as soon as he dropped her off at her car. Once inside the apartment he left her in his living room while he went to change clothes.

"Do you have any idea how beautiful you look standing there with the moonlight shining down on you?"

She was standing out on his balcony when he came out of his room. She turned around when he spoke to her. He had never made a move on her since they had began dating. He had been nothing but a complete gentleman the entire time. She knew as she looked into his eyes that was about to change.

He pulled her tight to his chest, his eyes never leaving hers, looking for any sign that she might push him away. His lips touched hers in a soft fleeting kiss. She was still in his arms, not moving, but not pulling away from him either. He placed his lips on hers again slowly caressing her full lips with a searching kiss.

His lips were soft and gentle upon hers, she felt her arms reaching around him, holding him close to her body. She could feel the strength in his arms as he pulled her even closer. His chest was firm across her breast, his arms like steel vices, locked tightly around her, preventing her from moving away. It had been such a long time since she had felt a mans lips on hers seeking admittance and an even longer time since she had felt the stirring of desire within her.

Her kisses were tentative at first as he tried to fuel her passion. Her kisses were sweet, yet knowing, he felt his desire increase as he deepened the kiss. Her body was all soft and warm pressed up against his, making his cock swell.

Jade could feel his cock pressing against her belly. For just a moment she stiffened in his arms, then her body became soft and pliable again. She wanted this, she needed this closeness, she needed to feel the passion that was growing within her again. It had been to long, way to long, since she had felt this hunger. She wanted to reach for the highest peak on the mountain, to feel the excitement of having reached her goal, to have her breath taken away from her after having scaled that mountain of sexual fulfillment once again.

He deepened his kisses, they were more passionate and demanding. His kisses told her in no uncertain terms that he wanted more. She returned his fevered kisses with as much ardor as his, he knew without a doubt that he would have her in his bed before this night was over.