THE VENTURE CITY MYSTERIES
THE CASE OF THE ABSCONDED HUSBAND
BY DICK SPEED
Copyright 2012 by Dick Speed
Smashwords Edition
Name: Marshall Dukane
Age: 29
Occupation: Private Detective, former Military Policeman, US Marine Corps
Location: Venture City, California, United States
Marital Status: Single
Case: Absconded Husband
ONE
I was slightly irritated when my first appointment of the day arrived over an hour late. The receptionist rang my office and told me Mrs. Barnes had arrived for our scheduled meeting. I stomped downstairs but my annoyance soon calmed when I met Mrs. Barnes in the reception area. She was what nowadays is described as a “milf,” early forties, bleached blond hair, wide blue eyes, plenty of makeup, tanned skin and an ample bust, loosely concealed in a white colored, low cut top. I tried to keep my eyes at face level and found it difficult not to look her up and down. We briefly shook hands and I pointed the way to my office.
I closed the office door behind us and took a sneaky peek at her ass cheeks filling the skin tight jeans she wore.
“Please take a seat,” I ushered and noticed her breasts jiggle as she sat down.
I caught the scent of her sweet perfume and suddenly felt hot and flustered in the small office. Again I resisted the urge to stare at her cleavage. I gulped and tried to turn on the professionalism.
“How can we help you at Venture City Investigations, Mrs. Barnes?”
“Oh, please call me Cheryl,” the woman said. Her voice was soft and husky. “What was your name again?”
“Marshall…Marshall Dukane,” I answered, trying to sound cool.
“Well, Marshall, basically I want you to track down my husband. He disappeared about six weeks ago and I haven’t seen or heard from him since.”
“I’m sorry to hear that.” I tried to sound concerned.
“Oh, I don’t want the bastard to come back,” she sighed. “I just want to get in contact with him so I can start divorce proceedings. He’s emptied a secret bank account that he thought I didn’t know about and then disappeared.” She twiddled one of her dangly silver ear rings as she spoke and her gaze drifted to the wall behind me.
My eyes ran down to her cleavage again and lower to her broad, denim clad thighs as she sat cross legged in the chair. I couldn’t help wondering what Mrs. Barnes would be like in bed.
“The little shit was absolutely useless as a husband,” she continued. “He was always working, later and later,” she scowled. “We never did anything together and as for our sex life…ha!” She gave a mock laugh and shook her head. “That was nonexistent.”
I blew upwards trying to cool my face. The missing Mr. Barnes must have been mad to relinquish the option of getting between the sheets with this sexy woman every night.
“I called his work place, he’s a lawyer you see, and they haven’t seen or heard from him either.”
“Are you sure he’s still here in Venture City? Los Angeles and San Francisco are only a few hours drive away.”
“No he didn’t like the big cities. He liked it here in Venture. A big fish lawyer in a small pond he used to say. He’s made himself rich here but I want my half of the money, then he can drop dead for all I care,” she spat.
“Okay,” I said. “I’ll take the case on but as I said on the phone I’ll need some details about Mr. Barnes. Addresses of his work place, usual haunts and stuff like that.”
“I’ve already written down all the details,” Cheryl Barnes said, producing an envelope from her bag. “I’ve put some photos of him in there as well so you can see what the ugly bastard looks like,” she added.
I nodded. “Very efficient, Cheryl, I’ll get on the case today. You are happy with the daily fee we discussed on the phone?”
She nodded then gave me a slight smirk. “I’m willing to throw in a bonus as well if you find him.”
I smiled inanely, wondering what the bonus could be. My mind raced through all sorts of scenarios. We stared into each other’s eyes for a few seconds not saying anything.
“Okay, I’ll keep in contact and let you know how things are progressing.” I finally broke the deadlock.
“My cell number and home address are inside the envelope,” she said. “Be sure to call me.”
“Absolutely.” I gave her a smile.
We shook hands again and I followed her down the stairs to reception. I watched her ass cheeks bob up and down in her tight jeans as she descended. She gave me a flirty little wave as she went through the exit door and disappeared into the California sunshine. I blew out, relieving the sexual tension.
“I think she had the hots for you, Marshall,” Dana, the receptionist, said from behind me.
“You think?” I laughed nervously and quickly climbed the stairway back to my office.
TWO
I studied the contents of the envelope that Cheryl Barnes had given me. I put the photo of Mr. Francis Barnes next to the personal details his wife had written down and wondered what the hell had gone through his mind. He was 46 years old, a rich and successful lawyer from a wealthy family, well educated and affluent. His photo was a color headshot showing a chiseled jaw line, slightly tired but confident brown eyes, short graying hair and a slight smile. An unremarkable but slightly handsome face.
The list of Francis Barnes’s frequented places didn’t add up to much. The address of his law office was written in Cheryl’s neatly scrawled handwriting but the next venue simply had the word “Gym” with no supplied address. Great! There was only one place I could start the search.
I drove to the bay area of the city where Barnes’s law offices were located. I parked outside the building and watched the sailing boats bob around the clear blue sea for a moment before I went inside.
I was met at the reception desk by a smiling, dark haired girl wearing glasses and a tight green shirt that emphasized her huge breasts.
“Hi, how can I help?” she asked.
“Hi, my name is Marshall Dukane.”
“I’m Tiffany,” the receptionist giggled and pointed to a name badge pinned at the end of her enormous left tit.
“I’m a private investigator and I just wanted to ask a few questions about Mr. Francis Barnes.”
The girl’s smile immediately dropped and her eyes looked sad behind the lenses of her glasses.
“Oh, he was really nice,” she whined. “I’m so sorry he’s disappeared.”
“Can you tell me anything about him, places he went to, like the gym for instance?”
Tiffany drew a blank and shook her head. “I only knew him slightly but I did know he was having marriage problems. That was obvious. Hang on, I’ll call Jim, he was his friend.”
She buzzed through an internal phone number and explained the situation in hushed tones to the recipient on the line. I waited a few minutes while Tiffany asked me if I had a girlfriend and where I hung out in the evenings.
“Hi, I’m Jim Preece,” said a voice behind me.
I turned and saw a tall, thin guy with receding brown hair, probably in his early fifties, offering me a hand shake. I returned the shake. After more words of shock and disbelief about his disappearance, Jim Preece told me that Barnes used a gym on South Street, a couple of blocks from the office. I thanked him for his time and turned to leave.
“Can I have one of your business cards?” Tiffany called as I reached the glass doors.
I smiled, returned to the reception desk and handed her a card.
“You never know when I might want my own private dick,” she said and gave me a cheeky wink.
I drove to the gym on South Street and parked outside. I sat inside the car for a moment pondering how to ask the questions I needed answers to. People tended to clam up and be wary of law officials and investigators asking questions about citizens they knew. I decided to pose as a new gym client and see where the situation took me. I had a clean gym kit in the trunk I’d been meaning to use for a while. I still regularly kept in trim but my exercise regime had decreased since leaving the Marine Corps the previous year.
I wandered into the gym carrying my sports bag and was confronted by a young, tanned, blond girl dressed in a tight fitting vest and very short shorts.
“Hi, I’m thinking of joining the gym and wanted to check out the equipment before I make a decision,” I said.
“I’m not sure we can do that,” the girl said, looking confused. “Hold on, I’ll get the manager.” She disappeared into the back office.
I had the feeling I wasn’t getting anywhere with this particular rouse. The blond girl returned a few moments later, followed by a stunning oriental woman, dressed in similar attire.
“Hi, I’m Mizuki,” said the oriental girl, sweeping her black hair aside and offering a handshake.
Mizuki was slim and toned and the tight clothes accentuated her pointy breasts and trim thighs. Her dark eyes sparkled and she had a great smile exposing perfect white teeth.
I repeated my previous request and added that I was an ex-marine.
Mizuki giggled. “Of course you can try the equipment. Anything for the US Marine Corps.”
She showed me to the changing room and told me she’d give me a guided tour of the gym. I quickly changed, performed some warm up stretches and immediately got stuck into lifting some dumbbells. Around a half dozen people occupied the gym, grunting, gasping and sweating on the various pieces of equipment.
Mizuki walked over and stood watching me pump iron for a few moments.
“Wow, you do know what you’re doing with those weights,” she said. “How long were you a marine?”
“Nine years,” I gasped between lifts.
“You’re in really good shape.”
I turned to look at Mizuki and noticed she was looking me up and down, biting her bottom lip slightly. I thought I’d bite the bullet and fire off a little Q & A session now I had her attention.
“A friend of mine recommended the gym but I haven’t seen him for a while and was hoping to catch up with him,” I said. “His name is Francis Barnes, do you know him?”
Mizuki thought for a moment. “Oh, yeah, I think Nuno was his personal trainer. I’ll go fetch him and see if your friend has been here lately.”
“Thanks,” I said and watched Mizuki’s pert ass as she walked back to the gym office.
A Latino looking guy with a shock of black hair and a bleached fringe bounded over to me a few minutes later. He introduced himself as Nuno in a high-pitched, camp voice and told me he hadn’t seen Francis for a few weeks but knew he drank in a bar called “Pecker’s” on the corner of South Street after his gym sessions. Pecker’s Bar was going to be my next port of call.
I thanked Nuno and he skipped off back to the office. I made a token gesture of using some more of the gym equipment before I headed back to the changing room. I stripped off my gym kit and turned on the shower in one of the cubicles. I stepped under the water jet when it was hot enough and enjoyed the warm spray and the scent of the provided shower gel as I rubbed the sweat off my body.
“You didn’t hang around long,” said a voice.
I wiped the soap from my face and opened my eyes. Mizuki stood watching me, holding open the cubicle door with a sexy smile on her face. She had a small, white towel wrapped around her. Her eyes flicked up and down, studying my naked body.
“Why don’t you come in? The water is warm,” I said.
Mizuki dropped the towel, revealing her lean, taught naked body. My eyes scanned down to her bare breasts that curved upwards like bananas. Her large, brown nipples were slightly erect, pointing out at the tips. She had a small strip of black hair between her legs below a flat toned stomach. She stepped into the cubicle and closed the door behind her.
I immediately became aroused at the sight of a hot, wet naked girl. She moved closer and I slid my hands down her sides and around to her peachy ass. Her light brown skin felt soft and smooth. She placed her hands on my chest and rubbed in the soap before moving on to my shoulders and biceps.
“I can’t resist a man with muscles,” she whispered. “Especially a sexy ex-marine.”
Our faces moved closer together and we kissed, long and hard with our tongues lapping together. Her hand moved down and her fingers coiled around the swollen head of my hard cock. She moved her hand back and forth, arousing me further.
“What if someone comes in here?” I whispered, not wanting to be interrupted.