/usr/games/writing: The P.I. Prompt

[silveradept]

So I’d been kicking around in the back of my head a writing prompt from loweko that said “Describe the femme fatale that walks into a private eye’s office to investigate your death or disappearance”, and I was having some trouble with figuring out how to go about it. Well, I finally found my angle, so I thought I’d give it a shot.

She wasn’t bad, as dames went. Good legs, nice smile, but the way she was dressed would have made June Cleaver scream and take her shopping for something more fashionable. She seemed shy at first, checking the sign outside my door, as if she were trying to make sure she’d come to the right place. Once inside, she seemed even more confused, but eventually, she approached me. The first thing she did was lay twice my normal fee on my desk.

“You’ve got my attention.” I said.

She opened her mouth to speak, which gave me a good look at her pearly white teeth and how they related to her nice lips. If she were a regular customer with this kind of money, I could see it being both profitable and easy on the eyes to take her cases.

“I want you to find the nice librarian who disappeared yesterday. That other, older woman is such a bitch. I’d rather sit and look at him, and count each of his freckles, than look at all of her zits.”

I knew, form that moment forward, this dame was going to be trouble. So I decided to head her off at the pass.

“One, he’s [age redacted]. You’re not old enough for him to notice. Two, I think you need to talk to my dad about this one. After all, he is the chief of police, and I think he’s already on the case.”

I knew that eventually, I’d be dragged into it, anyway, but I thought it would be best to give Inspector Brown a chance at solving things. He got touchy whenever I went off on cases that looked dangerous.