The Noel Files: The Case of the Perilous Panty Pit
By CD-B2 (Seedee-Beetoo)
ο 2010 by CD-B2
My name is G.T. Payde. I'm a private detective; I specialize in finding the "unfindable" and solving the unsolvable. I'm the best there is at what I do, but sometimes what I do isn't pretty. Still, if you've got a tough problem, I'm the tough that'll solve it for you β for a price.
*****
I was at the end of a very long day. I was working a case that had me trailing some low-life thug that I was hoping would lead me to a mob boss the cops had spent months looking for. I had gotten close, but the thug went and got himself picked up by the feds. I'd have to find another way to get at the boss.
I'd just poured myself a stiff drink, lit up a well-deserved Cuban and put my feet up to rest when someone knocked on my office door.
"It's open," I said. I didn't get up, but my hand went to my shoulder holster. I keep my insurance policy there. A second later,
she
walked in. I'm used to women in trouble showing up at my door, but the vision that stood in front of me was unlike any woman I'd ever seen before. She was tall, blonde and drop-dead gorgeous. She wore a lady's business suit that was so impeccably tailored I knew she had class, style and, most importantly, cash. Her hair, wavy and perfect, fell over one eye. Her dazzling blue eyes shone above her fine cheekbones and her full lips glistened with deep red lipstick.
"Mr. Payde?" she asked. Her voice was throaty and sexy β the kind of voice that gets a man's attention right away. The drink in my hand wasn't the only thing in the room that was stiff. I had to secretly adjust myself before I could answer.
"That's what it says on the door," I said, playing coy. No sense in giving up my advantage so early in the game. "What's it to you?"
"I need your help," she said. Her posture β and her diamond necklace β implied that she was someone who was used to getting what she wanted.
"Sister, everyone who walks through that door needs my help. Question is: can you afford it?"
She reached into her purse and tossed something onto my desk. It was a roll of bills that would have choked a horse. I know I nearly choked when I did a quick count. It beat my usual rate of $125 per day plus expenses all to hell.
I sat up in the chair and motioned her to sit down across from me. When she did, the aroma of her perfume filled the room. It was spicy, with hints of leather and something enticing that I couldn't place. I've got a good nose for trouble and that's what I smelled: trouble with a capital Blonde.
"You've got my attention, Miss..."
"Fatale. Noel Fatale," she responded and sat down with a sensuous grace that
really
got my attention β and sent a pleasant shiver down my spine and into my Johnson. "That," she pointed to the cash, "is a down payment on the job I'd like you to do for me." She slowly shifted in the chair and I caught the sound of legs encased in expensive stockings rubbing against each other. My mind wandered to places a "good" private eye never went. Well, I wasn't a "good" private eye, and thoughts of stocking tops, shiny high heels and Agent Provocateur panties flooded my mind. Wait. Panties? Why did I think of panties?
"Mr. Payde? Did you hear me, Mr. Payde?" Her voice brought me back to the here and now.
"Sorry...it's been a long day. What did you say?"
She raised a perfectly shaped eyebrow and an enigmatic smile flashed quickly on those luscious lips before she answered.
"Someone has stolen a family heirloom from me and I want it back. I asked around and the word is you're the only person who can find it for me. Would you do that for me, Mr. Payde?" She leaned forward, allowing me a view of cleavage so stunning I couldn't help but think how wonderful it would be to just rest my face in it. The moment passed, but not before I felt a bit of drool collecting in the corner of my mouth. I wiped it away as casually as I could but I knew she'd noticed. Those ice-blue peepers of hers didn't miss a thing. Again the smile played across her lips.
"That wad of dough guarantees I'm on the case, lady. It also guarantees I'll find your chotchke. What's it look like?
"It's a bird, Mr. Payde. A black bird."
Now it was my turn to raise an eyebrow.
*****
Three nights later I wasn't making a lot of headway on finding the bird, but I did find out a bit more about my mysterious client. She was sole heiress to a family fortune that was almost twice as old as the U. S. of A. She'd recently moved to the city and bought a whole high-rise just for herself. She funded several research companies and charities, donated to all the museums and kept out of politics. She wasn't married nor did it seem she had anyone who shared her bed.
My mind was whirling with questions. Why was I even thinking about her bed? Why couldn't I get Noel's face out of my mind? Why did my Johnson jump to attention whenever I thought about her? And where the hell was that damned weasel?
I was in my car on this rainy evening, waiting in a seedy part of town across the street from the office of a private accountant I had found out did some work for some people who did some work for one of Noel's charity events. I didn't like what I found out about him, so I figured he could be the break I was looking for. I hoped I wouldn't have to break him too badly, though.
Soon enough, he came slinking down the steps of the run-down brownstone and headed off into the drenched night. I jumped out of my car and tailed him discretely, never letting him out of my sight. It was a boring trip and my mind wandered back to Noel's red lips and intoxicating scent. I seemed to smell it here, on the street. I shook my head to clear it and followed the accountant into a run-down apartment building. The weasel had gone home to his burrow. I waited ten minutes before I made my way upstairs to the twelfth floor. I banged on the door.