Mr. Private Eye

An unexpected gift from a secret Santa arrived, it was December 19^th, almost Christmas time, and that was Shawn´s first thought when that gorgeous 20-year-old blonde entered his office.

He had been working as a private eye for quite some time, but business was not as buoyant as he would like. The past week he had no other choice than firing Anna, his young secretary owning her money that he didn´t know how he was going able to collect.

New York City was a big city, and he thought it could be the perfect place to start his business, “Mr. Private Eye”, he had called it displaying his terrible lack of imagination, creativity wasn´t his strong point. He had rented a small single room ramshackle apartment in East Harlem that he had turned into a small office. He was offering the smaller fees on town, but he wasn´t anyone´s first choice and most of his assignments were about searching missing pets or discover infidelities. Not what he was expecting to do for a living when he graduated from criminal school twelve years ago.

At 35 years old, he was losing hope of becoming a fighter against crime, he was surviving out of remorse since he had the chance to be a cop and blew it. A terrible mistake costed him his career, a rushing decision that sent to jail an innocent man while the guilty was never found. He was expelled from the force and backlashed by everyone earning himself a terrible reputation. Since then, his life has been falling down an endless slope of downhill.

He was living times of misfortune, and for that simple reason only, he felt lucky when that beautiful blonde set foot into his office. It wasn´t a lustful thought or something related, it was just a feel of joy because something beautiful finally could sneak into the ugliness of his life.

The girl was wearing an intoxicating perfume that filled the entire room. Shawn was soon under the spell of that scent. The girl's name was Brigitte, a French student who was majoring on international business in NYU that year with the hope of living the American dream that she had grown up fantasizing through American movies.

Before waking into the office, Brigitte knocked on the door asking for permission, waiting for her enchanted host to give her permission to take a seat.

“Can I come in, please?” -She politely asked with a strong French accent.

“Sure, make yourself at home.” -Shawn replied under the influence of the pheromones of that intoxicating perfume.

Drawing an innocent smile on her face that couldn´t hide a serious expression of extreme concern, she walked into the office, carefully looking around the austerity of the room. There was only a desk, some chairs and a diploma on criminality hanging on the wall.

She sat down while a thin thread of music with the theme of "Not for me" performed by Chet Baker was playing on an old radio.

She was wearing casual winter clothes, a blue sweater with the logo of her college written that couldn´t hide the generous size of her breasts and some tight blue jeans that shaped the circumference of her curves.

Despite her casual clothing, she projected an aura of elegance that seemed to come from another time when life was much more sophisticated.

“How can I help you, miss?” -Shawn asked her while lighting a cigarette with the erroneous idea that it would make him look more serious and professional.

“Could you not smoke, please?” -She politely asked him, trying at all costs not to sound rude. “I really dislike the smell of tobacco.”

Confused and believing he had made a mistake, Shawn put out his cigarette, apologizing to his young potential client.

“Sorry, you know, I actually quit some months ago, but I guess old habits die hard.”

“Is okay, sorry for my impertinence. My father is an avid smoker, and my grandpa died of lung cancer, so I have no sympathy for such a nasty habit.”

“You´re right, is a terrible habit. But I don´t think you came that far just to give me health advice.”

“How you know that I come from far?”

“I can tell by your accent, I guess by your sweater that you are a foreign student.”

“I suppose it was so obvious.” -She chuckled not giving him credit for his guess.

“My name is Shawn Roper. May I know your name?”

“I introduce myself, my name is Brigitte Marceau, I´m a French student attending NYU. I´m majoring on international commerce.”

“You must be smart.”

She smiled, slightly lighting up her sad face, entertained by the comment, to continue with the story:

“The reason why I’m here, is because I want you find a missing person.”

Shawn was surprised to hear the reasons for her visit. As soon as he saw her, he immediately thought that it was a new task to find a missing pet.

“A missing person? Someone close to you?”

“A man.” –She said with conviction looking the detective in the eyes before handing him a photo of a handsome young man in his thirties hugging her from behind. Shawn looked at the photo carefully, letting out a slight sigh, feeling envious of that man´s luck for being loved for such a deity.

“Is he your boyfriend?” - he asked, raising his gaze above the photograph.

She seemed to hesitate for a few seconds, searching for a correct answer.

“Kinda of.”

“You´re not sure?”

“I´m sure of my love for him.”

“And what about his love for you?”

“He only knows how he feels towards me, but I could feel he loves me very much.”

“And what happened to him?”

“He disappeared four days ago.”

“Four days ago? That´s not a long time.”

“We had an appointment but didn´t show up. I tried to reach him on the phone, but it was impossible. I went to his home, and nobody was there.”

“Maybe he left town.”

“I don´t think so.”

“I assume that you guys’ don´t live together.”

“No, we don´t.”

“So, it wasn´t a steady relationship?”

The question seemed to upset her, and her reply was somewhat abrupt.

“We are in love! He would never dump me, if that´s what you´re suggesting!”

“Sorry, Miss, I just need some feedback to see if I can help you. Did you report it to the police?”

“Of course I did!” -She replied, lowering her gaze in discontent. – “But they barely listen to me. They were concerned that he could be a scammer that could have taken money from me and disappear.”

“And that wasn´t the case?”

“Of course not!” -Angrily replied some bitter tears. “He´s not that kind of person!”

“You got to understand it, Miss. Out there there´s so many heartless people waiting in the shadows to take advantage of people´s good intentions.”

“I´m telling you is not the case, okay?!” -She angrily insisted.

Shawn shrugged, leaning back in his creaky chair.

Everything pointed to the fact that this was the typical case of boy meets girl, and after getting what he wanted from her, he disappears. It was the most normal thing in the world, and it also happened the other way around.

“How long you know each other?”

“We met in September.”

“September? That´s not a long time for knowing someone that deep.”

Again, that statement did not sit well with the girl, who insisted on beatifying her lover.

“Shawn, you´re my last choice! So please if you´re not willing to help me, just tell me and I will find someone else!”

That confession made him feel a bit miserable. He was someone’s latest choice once again and that thought always made him feel like a failure.

He tried to hide that bitter feeling, and got up again, resting his elbows on the table, fixing his gaze on hers, continuing to ask her for more information on the subject.

“So, tell me what do you think it happened to him?”

“I don´t know.” -She sincerely confessed with a deep sigh. “That´s why I´m here.”

“Was he involved in some shady business or something?”

“Not that I know.”

“What he does for a living.”

“He´s a freelance reporter and also works in an animal shelter.”

“Did you go to the animal shelter looking for answers?”

“I did, they said they haven´t seen him in a week.”

“Was he investigating some shady case or something?”

“His work was merely about animals, but maybe an accident happened, maybe he has amnesia and doesn´t know how to go back home.” -She speculated.

“Can I know his name?”

“Aaron Rodney.”

Shawn noted down the name in a notebook.

“Someone else is missing him?”

“He had no one here, he was all alone. Except for me.”

Shawn sighed Knowing that it was going to be difficult to make her accept the version of the story that seemed the most plausible for him.

She probably fell for a jerk that only wanted to get into her pants. The same old story.

“Look, girl. I´d like to help you but…”

She didn´t allow him to finish his sentence handing him an envelope with an indecent sum of money that made Shawn´s heartbeat goes fast. That money could fill many of the holes that were making his life sink. That made it impossible for him to refuse the offer. It was an unexpected Christmas gift that he couldn't refuse, and Brigitte was a secret Santa.

“Is that enough money for you to take the assignment?”

Shawn gulped, and nodding he continued with his interrogation trying to hide from her how desperate he was for collecting the cash.

“You know, Brigitte, is Christmas time, and I´m a bit busy with so many important assignments…” -He blatantly lied… “But I´m going to help you to find out what happened with this guy.”

“You really going to do it?”

“Yeah, I’m going to need all the information you can provide.”

“If you need more money…”

“No, no, money is enough. I just need more information, addresses, phone numbers, everything you can provide.”

“Can you promise me something?”

She asked him with shy tears falling from her eyes ruining her eye line.

“If it´s on my power.”

“Can you bring him back for Christmas day?”

“I´ll do my best.”

“Thanks!” - She shouted effusively, getting up from the chair and giving the detective a strong hug that left him with a slight neck pain for days.

“Sorry”- She apologized believing that stepped some boundaries blinded by hope.

“Is okay, girl. Don´t need to apologize, is Christmas time, and tokens of appreciation are always welcome.”

“There´s just one thing.” -She said taking advantage of his kindness.

“What is it?”

“There´s someone he left behind and I can´t keep him on my school room any longer.”

“I thought you said Rodney was alone.”

“Wait a second.” -She said, before going outside, bringing in her arms a small white dog.

“His name is Kobe. It Rodney´s dog. A small white cute dog wearing a yellow collar on his neck with his name written on it.

“He told me to take care the dog for him for a few hours, but never returned to pick him back.”

That statement made Shawn's idea about the case take a 360-degree turn. There´s no way an animal love would abandon his dog like that.

“Wait, wait, you want me to keep the dog here?”

“Please, just until we find him.”

“I know nothing about dogs.”

“Is okay, you just need to give him some love.”

“I´m not good giving love neither.”

Shawn was beginning to regret accepting her assignment, but the envelope full of notes was the best reason to keep on going with the task.