Avery hung up the phone and set it down. She looked out the small window of her flat at the sun setting behind the buildings of downtown. She tried to suppress a giggle, but she failed. A wide smile filled her face as she thought about the silliness she had set in motion. Seriously, who would ever hire two private investigators to follow one another?
***
Mickey set down his phone and stared at it. He shook his head and sighed. Times were tough, but this just wasn’t making any sense. When he first got the call, he was excited for the business. Of course, most of his calls were dead-ends, but every time the phone rang, he hoped it would lead to a case and, of course, to getting paid for a case. It sounded like a simple case of a potential cheating husband as the voice on the other end of the line explained what she needed. But when she named the target, Mikey knew something was up.
Slane was a new guy in town. He was also new at the private detective business, Mickey was sure. But still, Mickey knew the name because he saw when Slane’s application for a license was approved just a few weeks back. It was a big town, but Mickey felt the need to keep an eye on the competition. But when Mickey asked the woman – he looked down at his notepad to see her name, “Avery,” – why she wanted Slane followed, she suddenly became evasive. Something was up, but Mickey didn’t know what. Why would some random woman hire him to follow another private dick?
He was suspicious and that’s why when she asked about rates he quoted her double the usual rate. Somehow, he wasn’t all that surprised when she accepted without an issue. Either this skirt was loaded or there was yet another angle he didn’t know about yet. He rolled his chair back as he made his way to his feet: he was going to find out what this chippy was up to and how he was supposed to be involved.
***
Slane sat on the stoop, watching the foot traffic make their way towards their homes. He nodded his head, he knew he had some easy money coming soon. He wasn’t in limbo any more, he was out and had a mark. Following the cheating husband was always easy. He pondered just talking to the bloke and hitting him up for some money so he’d make some scratch on both sides of the deal.
He leaned back against the steps and wondered when he should get moving. All he had right now was a name, but he was sure he could find more when he was ready. He thought it was a little odd the rag on the phone didn’t give him an address, but if he followed the wrong “Mickey Hammer,” that was going to be her problem, not his. Heck, if he got lucky, maybe he’d get some good snaps of this trimmer that he could sell on the side to some site that paid for such things. He stood up and nodded to himself, thinking for sure this was going to be some easy money.
***
Avery walked over to the window and looked outside. She could see a few cars two floors below, probably filled with people heading home or maybe to work. She wondered what it would be like to have a regular job where you went in at the same time and left work at the same time every day. It did not sound like fun, but there were so many people that did that all the time, it was kind of depressing. Before she could get too sad, she turned on a speaker and dialed up some upbeat music. She was smiling again and had completely forgotten about making the phone calls earlier…
