{ASS} New: "Double Cross" by DG [4/9] (Erotic Detective Story)

[diony...@hotmail.com]

"Double Cross"

A Frank Stern Mystery

Š 1999 by DG (diony...@hotmail.com)

Chapter Four
------------

I followed Sergeant Martinez out of the Busy Bee dry cleaners and
into the bright sunlight. I had briefly considered refusing to
cooperate, but you just can't win that game, especially if you're a
private dick. Besides, I was curious to know what they wanted.
I got into the passenger side of the white Ford LTD, which was
easily recognizable as a police car without the decals and light bar.
They still haven't quite figured out the plainclothes/undercover thing
yet when it comes to cars.
"Who exactly wants to talk to me?" I asked as we pulled out of
the lot.
"Detectives Rank and Callahan."
"Wonderful. So Rank has nothing better to do than to stake out
my office. What sort of lame excuse did he give for hassling me?"
Martinez gave me an apologetic glance. "I'm really not supposed
to say anything."
"So Tina Callahan made detective?" I asked.
"Yep. Just last month." He gave me a sidelong look. "Say, you
got busted a few months back, didn't you?"
"Who, me?"
"Yeah, I remember hearing about something. A private dick busted
for indecent."
"Stop playing around Martinez. I know everyone in the Fourth is
aware of all the details. Thanks to my buddy Barry Rank."
A grin appeared on his face, which he quickly smothered. "I got
Rank's side of the story, yeah. I wouldn't mind getting your side."
I sighed. "There's not much to tell. I was on the job, working
an adultery case. I had the wife's lover's house staked out, and I
hit paydirt. They were going at it in the bedroom with the light on
and the shade up six inches or so. I was taking pictures from my car
from about twenty yards away. Then I got greedy and decided to go in
for some closeups."
"Uh-huh. Rank didn't mention you were working a case."
"I'm not surprised. Anyway, it just wasn't my night. A beat cop
had spotted my van parked on the street in a nice area and run my
plates. When it came up as me, Rank drove out himself, snuck up on
me, took pictures, and then arrested me for trespassing."
"And indecent."
"That came later, when the lover understandably decided not to
press charges."
Martinez shook his head. "Between you and me, I think it was
shitty what he did with those pictures."
I didn't say anything. Rank had caught me dead to rights with my
dick in my hand under the bedroom window, and had taken Polaroids.
That much I couldn't really fault. But then he had put the Polaroids
up on a bulletin board over his desk, complete with my name and a
funny caption contest that everyone was encouraged to participate in.
My face was flushed just thinking about it. The fact that he had been
forced to drop the indecent exposure charges because of the stunt had
been a very small consolation.
"If it makes you feel any better, he got an official
reprimand," Martinez told me. "Didn't do his career much good."
I hadn't known that. In a sense it was bad news. Guys like
Barry Rank never blame themselves for anything bad that happens to
them. Now he would have it in for me even worse than before.
Martinez pulled into the precinct house and stopped in front of
the entrance.
"I'm just droppin' you off, Stern. See ya later."
I got out and walked into the modern brick building. Tina
Callahan spotted me from her desk and waved me over. I had dealt with
her a few times over the past few years, and we were on friendly
terms. She was a petite woman about my age, with light blonde hair
and eyebrows and Nordic features. She was very sharp and very
ambitious, and I wasn't surprised to hear that she had been promoted.
She and Rank were an odd couple indeed.
"Hello Frank." She stood up and shook my hand. Her grip was
surprisingly strong. "Thanks for coming in. Let's go somewhere we
can talk."
She led me down the hall to a pleasant, brightly-lit room with
comfortable chairs arranged around a formica table. This was where
they questioned witnesses and took complaints - suspects were
interviewed in slightly more grim surroundings. Although I hadn't
done anything illegal recently, I was still relieved.
I took a seat and eyed Tina as she sat down next to me and
carefully arranged her short skirt. She had very nice legs. In fact,
she was more attractive than I had remembered, having seen her only in
uniform before now.
"Congratulations on your promotion, Detective."
"Thanks. The best part is getting out of that ugly uniform," she
said with a smile, as if reading my mind. "How's business these
days?"
"Picking up a little. I'm keeping afloat. So what's up?"
She glanced up at the clock on the wall. "Barry should be here
any minute. Why don't we wait."
"So you and Rank are partners."
She nodded, not meeting my eyes. "Yeah. You know, you don't get
to pick who you work with when you first make detective."
That was a pretty clear statement of what she thought of Rank,
and I had to grin. I found myself wondering whether Tina Callahan had
contributed to the caption contest.
Rank walked in, carrying stack of folders. He's a thickset,
jowly man in his fifties, with a nose like a potato. He was wearing a
wrinkled brown suit and a stained tie. His macho persona surrounded
him like cheap cologne.
He made an ominous show of closing and locking the door, and then
he leaned his back against the wall and said "How's my favorite
pervert?"
I saw Tina cringe out of the corner of my eye. I didn't say
anything.
"Let's get started," said Tina, her voice neutral and
businesslike. "Stern, a woman named Claire Ingleford, a well known
actress, was seen entering your office inside the Busy Bee dry
cleaners about an hour ago. We're interested in finding out what why
she was there."
"To discuss a business matter."
"Don't play games with us, Stern," said Rank. "What did she
want?"
I said "Are you aware that as a licensed private investigator,
I'm not required to divulge private information about a client unless
you show due cause?"
"We're aware of that," said Tina quickly, before Rank could say
anything. "Had Claire Ingleford been your client previous to today?"
"No."
"Had you ever met her before today?"
"No." I was skating on thin ice, but telling the truth.
"Bullshit," said Rank. You're telling me this famous TV star
just waltzed into your grimy little office and hired you out of the
blue?"
"I was pretty surprised when she knocked on my door, I'll tell
you that much."
Tina smiled. "I'll bet. Can you give us some idea of the nature
of her case?"
I shifted uncomfortably on my chair, unsure of what to do. If I
told them the truth, I ran the risk of having the undeveloped film of
Claire confiscated by the police. Bye-bye to the two grand. On the
other hand, I could get in big trouble by holding out. I had an
uneasy suspicion that Claire had complained to the police about my
taking pictures of her, in which case they knew everything.
"You put me in a difficult position, legally speaking," I said.
Rank let out a snort, which I ignored. "If you could tell me why
you're interested in the activities of Ms. Ingleford, that would be
very helpful. For example, if I knew she was a suspect in a criminal
investigation, that would untie my hands and let me cooperate."
The suggestion that Claire was a criminal suspect was meant to be
a bit of ridiculous hyperbole, but to my surprise Tina and Rank
exchanged a serious look.
"All right," said Tina. "A man named George Cahn was found shot
and killed in his home outside San Diego yesterday. Mr. Cahn was a
well-known producer of adult movies. He was also Claire Ingleford's
ex-husband."
I knew that spouses and ex-spouses were always potential suspects
in murder cases. Suspecting Claire seemed a little far-fetched, but
the police liked to cover all the bases.
"So the San Diego police asked you to keep an eye on Claire for a
few days, see if she did anything suspicious," I said.
"Right," said Rank. It was first remotely civil thing he had
said to me. I realized that although it was good police procedure,
the fact that they were tailing a well-known actress who wasn't an
official suspect wouldn't make for good publicity. Rank must be
eating his guts out with curiosity over how I was involved.
"Why are you smiling?" asked Tina.
"When your boy Martinez showed up right after Claire Ingleford
left, I figured you guys must have been watching me. It never
occurred to me that you might have been following her."
Rank said "We got better things to do than follow you around
waiting for you to jerk off."
"Jesus, Barry," said Tina, giving him an annoyed look.
I had a sudden thought. "You said Cahn was killed yesterday,
right? When?"
Tina opened a folder and said "In the middle of the day. The
body was discovered at 2 pm, and he had been dead for maybe an hour."
"In that case, I can tell you that Claire Ingleford didn't do it.
I saw her here in LA at about that time."
"Did you now," said Rank. "Where was that, exactly?"
"Sparkle Beach."
They exchanged a significant look.
"I guess you heard that story before," I observed.
"That's what she told the San Diego police when they called her
to tell her ex-husband had been killed," said Tina. "We haven't been
able to find an eyewitness yet, though. Until now, I guess."
"Sorry to rain on your parade, but I definitely saw her on
Sparkle Beach at about 1 pm yesterday. So did dozens of other
people."
"I guess that settles it, then," said Tina with a shrug.
"Hang on," said Rank. "That don't explain why she was at Stern's
office. Maybe she was hiring him to be her alibi."
This was so idiotic that Tina turned away from Rank to hide a
smile.
"If I didn't know better, I'd think you were out to get me,
Detective Rank." My tone was light, but I was worried. I didn't see
how I was going to be able to avoid mentioning the pictures, now that
they had bearing on a murder investigation.
To my surprise, Tina said "At this point, I don't think we can
ask Mr. Stern to violate his client's privacy. Claire Ingleford can't
really be considered a suspect any longer."
This hung in the air for a moment, and I held my breath. Rank
scowled at Tina and finally mumbled something under his breath and
left the room, slamming the door behind him.
"Thanks," I said.
She gave me a wry smile. "Come on, I'll give you a ride back to
your office."
I followed her out to a side lot surrounded by a chain-link
fence, and we got into another Ford LTD, this one blue. The interior
was hot from sitting in the sun, and we rolled the windows all the way
down.
I said "As long as I'm your new best friend, maybe you could fix
some parking tickets for me?"
She laughed. "How much money did I just save you? I want half."
I had to smile. "So you know?"
"I talked to some people on Sparkle Beach this morning. A couple
people told me they heard a guy was taking pictures of Claire
yesterday, and ended up getting chased away. Then she shows up at
your office."
"OK, but why did you protect me back there?"
"First of all, because Barry Rank is an asshole."
"No argument there."
We were on the highway now, and she was weaving expertly in and
out of traffic, sitting very straight on the seat to see over the
dash. I could see the muscles flexing in her right leg as she worked
the pedals, and I decided that Tina Callahan was probably a lot
stronger than she appeared at first glance. I noticed she wasn't
wearing a wedding ring, although I was pretty sure she had been
wearing one last time I had seen her.
"What you may not know about Rank," she continued, "is that he's
lazy. You didn't hear that from me, of course. This isn't our case,
we're just helping out the San Diego people. So despite the fact that
it's a juicy murder case with the potential for credit all around, he
can't be bothered to put in any extra effort. Rank was out sick
yesterday, and I worked up a whole plan on how we could attack the
case. But this morning he gives me a whole speech about how we should
just stay out of the way, let the San Diego guys handle it."
"I'd think Rank would jump at the chance to break a big case."
Tina shook her head. "No, he's just counting the days until he
can retire with his pension. He's got this bodyguard thing going on
the side - he hangs out with Hollywood has-beens like Edward Burke and
Rod Steiger, telling them cop stories and making them feel important.
Rank told me these guys don't even get recognized anymore in public,
but they still like to move around with a bodyguard - an ego thing."
"I see. So you're going to look into Cahn's murder on your own?"
She shot me an appraising glance. "I'm not going to get anywhere
on my own. I've got a full caseload, and people looking over my
shoulder. But if you're working for Claire, maybe we could help each
other out. Share information, I mean."
"Ah. That explains the ride. I was starting to wonder if you
were trying to pick me up."
"Stern, if I ever try to pick you up, you'll know it right away."
"I'll remember that. Anyway, I'm not working for Claire, I'm
just selling her the pictures. Why on earth would she hire me? If
she's involved in the case in some way she needs a lawyer, not a P.I."
"I guess I see your point. Are you going to see her again?"
"Tonight. I'm supposed to bring the pictures by and collect."
She thought this over for a little while. As we pulled into the
lot in front of my office, she said "Can you make a copy of the
pictures for me?"
"Sure."
"Also, I want to hear how your meeting with her goes tonight.
Can you call me afterwards? I'm in the book."
I got out of the car and shut the door. Through the open window,
I said "There's something you're not telling me, isn't there?"
She gave me a sunny smile. "Take it easy, Frank."
"Yeah, you too. Thanks for the ride, Detective."

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Comments are welcome.

DG
diony...@hotmail.com
DG's Story Page: http://baird.pair.com/dg.htm

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