Bumping for 2024. Happy Thanksgiving!
Lorig and I cooked up a fluffy little mystery for you for Thanksgiving. (She wore padding this time so as not to be bruised by bouncing ideas flying her way.) We hope you enjoy it!
Disclaimer: I do not own Moonlight or any of its characters.
Characters: Mick, Beth, Josef and an OC.
Rated G
Thank you Barnabas for the perfect story banner!
Follow That Freshie – A Thanksgiving Mystery
Chapter 1
“Mick, come in, come in!” Josef smiled broadly, beckoning to his friend.
“I’m not interrupting anything am I?” Mick asked hesitantly, eyeing the fresh-faced strawberry blonde at Josef’s side.
“No, no, of course not. Mick, this is Kylie. She was just leaving.” Mick nodded at the young woman who smiled shyly at him as Josef ushered her towards the door and gave her a quick peck on the cheek. Mick noticed a sudden change in Josef’s demeanor as soon as the door clicked shut.
“I take it that little introduction was staged for my benefit?”
“PI skills as sharp as ever, I see.” Josef motioned Mick to sit in front of his desk as he walked around behind it and sat down. Picking up a folder and tossing it across the desk to Mick he added, “I want to hire you to follow her.”
“What?” Mick was stunned.
“You heard me.”
“But why? Just let her go if she’s not to your taste.”
“Oh, her taste is exquisite.” Josef grinned and licked his lips.
Mick rolled his eyes. “Then what’s the problem?” He picked up the folder marked “Kylie Jenkins” and started leafing through it.
“She disappears every Saturday night.”
Mick raised an eyebrow. “So? That’s it?”
“I want to find out what she’s up to.”
“Why don’t you just ask her?”
Now it was Josef’s turn to roll his eyes. “Because then it would seem like I cared.”
Ah, and there’s the rub, Mick thought to himself.
“My freshies are allowed to leave the mansion of course. They all sign a contract and they know what will happen if they reveal our secret.”
“Does she stay out all night?”
“No, she usually leaves in the late afternoon and returns between nine and ten at night. If I specifically request her for a Saturday evening she stays, but then is gone on Sunday at the same times. It’s very peculiar.”
“How long has this been going on?”
“I hired her four or five months ago,” Josef replied leaning back in his chair. “She’s been doing this from the very beginning.”
“Hmm, so it would seem to be a pre-established pattern.” Mick sighed. “Okay, Josef. I’ll look into it. Though I do think you’re being a little paranoid.”
Josef’s face relaxed. “Thanks, Mick.”
As Mick walked through the foyer on his way towards the front door, a small group of Josef’s freshies approached him. One of them hesitantly stepped forward and spoke up. “Mr. St. John?”
Mick stopped. “Yes?”
“We wanted to ask you something. We’re worried about one of the girls,” she said nervously.
“What is it? You’re Taylor, right?” Mick recognized her as one of Josef’s more long term girls.
“Yes, that’s right.” She looked at her friends for support. “Well, we think she’s stealing food, but we don’t know what she does with it or where she goes. It always seems to disappear on weekends.”
“Have you told Josef about this?”
“Oh, no! We don’t want to get her in any trouble. She’s so sweet and we really like her.” The other girls nodded enthusiastically. “We’re just really worried about her and are afraid something is wrong.”
“I see,” Mick said thoughtfully, eyeing the group. “What’s this girl’s name?”
“Kylie Jenkins.”
Suddenly Josef’s case became a lot more interesting.
MLMLMLMLML
Back in his office Mick flipped on his computer. PI 101: Who, what, where, when, why and how. And I already know "when". He ran the standard background checks on Kylie Jenkins first. What came up seemed straightforward enough. Nothing out of the ordinary here. He delved a little deeper. The internet - what a great invention, he mused as he clicked away. Whoa…what’s this? Half an hour later Mick sat back in his chair and sighed. Well, we have “who” and he checked it off on his mental checklist. Then he picked up his phone and placed a call.
“Mick, what do you have for me?”
“Josef, where did you find Kylie?”
“She was working at The Moonlight Club.”
“You hired a club freshie?” Mick was surprised. Josef didn’t usually take second hand into his private reserve. Mick sensed Josef’s hesitation over the phone.
“Well, she had only been there a couple of weeks,” Josef rationalized. “She had that fresh off the farm kind of appeal and she tasted divine.” He felt his fangs elongate just at the thought.
Fresh off the farm? Mick smiled at Josef’s choice of words. If you only knew.
Josef continued. “I offered her a position as one of my girls the very same night.” He began to chuckle. “Do you know she almost turned me down? She said she could only take the job if it paid more than what she could make at the club.”
Mick laughed. “I guess the Kostan name didn’t ring a bell with her, huh?”
“Apparently not,” Josef sniffed. “I told her it would most assuredly pay more than she was making at the club.”
“So what kind of background check did you run on Kylie before you moved her into your mansion?”
Again, Josef hesitated. “Well, actually, I didn’t.”
“What?!”
“I figured The Moonlight Club had already vetted her and I decided on the spur of the moment that was good enough for me. There was just something about her, a kind of mystique mixed with innocence that just rocked me. I didn’t want her to become jaded from club life. So I took the chance.” Josef sighed. “What did you find? She’s an escaped ax murderer posing as a Sandra Dee wannabe?”
Mick laughed again. “I’ll let you know when I complete my investigation. I was just wondering where you found her. But I don’t think she’s an ax murderer.”
“Well, that’s a relief anyway. Keep me posted,” and Josef hung up.
To be continued...
intriguing ... 