Vic Cross, PI

Chapter 4

Scheming your way into the most secure house in Arch City is no easy task. Vic regretted the number of favors she had to call in but finally landed on a plan that was likely to get her where she wanted without getting her arrested or dead. Hopefully. Through the rumor mill; mostly a plumber in Shangshi and his sister-in-law; she'd discovered Nicole Quinn was shopping for an interior designer in the months leading up to her disappearance. This had caused a bit of a stir due to Quinn snubbing the larger firms and looking for an independent 'free spirit' to do the work. And Vic was going to be just that. According to her sources, Nicole hadn't settled on someone before she disapeared. She was banking on Anthony Quinn's desire to keep his wife's MIA status under wraps to get her through the door. With no way to confirm her story, she should be gold for a few "measurements" of Mrs. Quinns' private rooms. Hopefully.

4:00 that afternoon she stepped from the yellow cab and into the shadow of the Quinn mansion. The cab was another regrettable expense but she doubted even a struggling interior designer would be caught dead in her beater. This was normally the type of racket she'd take days to plan, refine, and coordinate, but that wasn't an option this time. Still the outfit she'd thrown together looked suitably eccentric yet classy enough to pass. She always kept a few nicer things around for jobs that required undercover work, although she detested wearing skirts where a quick exit might be needed. And having her hair down made her itch. The rest of her ploy would rely on improv more than anything else.

The elderly man who answered the door reminded her of a character from a Holmes novel. He even had the proper sneer and held the lapel of his pressed waistcoat just right when he disdainfully droned, "may I help you?"

Vic flashed her most vapid smile, "I have an appointment today to take measurements." When lying your way through a tricky situation it's always best to keep the details slim and the tone light.

"We have no appointments today." He began to close the door.

"Mrs. Quinn said it was very important I got started today. I'm sure if you ask her...," the door was opened again abruptly, "She certainly said today was the day for the measurements. I'm sure of it..." Vic made a show of pulling a datebook out of her large floral bag and flipping through the pages. "I'm new in town you know, well, fairly new. It's wonderful of Mrs. Quinn to give me this opportunity. I'm terribly excited and I just know today was the day...," She discreetly watched the man become more flustered as she nattered on. Finally, he opened the door completely and stepped to one side.

"If you would step into the foyer please," he pointed to a low bench along one wall, "please sit while I alert the lady of the house to your arrival." Was he trying to call her bluff or was he unaware that the woman was missing at all? Keeping it from the public was one thing but keeping it from staff would be much harder. She wondered how far Anthony Quinn was willing to go to keep his wife's disappearance a secret. She continued to smile stupidly and look around in wonder as she sorted new information. The doorman slipped away down another hall.

He returned much quicker than she expected and with the owner of the house himself in tow. Vic was happy she hadn't tried to slip away in his absence. Anthony Quinn was a surprisingly plain man for all she knew of him. His sandy hair was cut short and he had too little chin to be called handsome and his expensive suit was drab and unadorned. His grey eyes gave away little but she found the smile he turned on her slightly unsettling. The holes in her plan were suddenly very clear.

"It's a pleasure to meet you Ms. ...?"

"Maple. Victoria Maple." She took his offered hand.

"I understand you had an appointment today with my wife but she has sadly slipped out on some unexpected business. I'm sure you understand..." Well, at least Vic hadn't raised any alarms yet. She'd been banking on someone in the house being familiar with Nicole's designer hunt.

"Oh, no problem at all Mr. Quinn. I assured your wife I wouldn't need her here for this phase of the process. I simply need to take some brief measurements of her rooms. Nothing that can't be done without her here. I shouldn't need to consult directly with Mrs. Quinn for a few weeks at least." Vic held her breath. Either this worked or they'd tell her to reschedule three weeks from never and see her to the door and she'd be behind the eight ball. Hopefully, the promise of in and out and then no contact for weeks would be enough.

Whatever Tony Quinn's was thinking his smile never faltered. "Well, I'm sure we can accommodate that," Vic didn't bother to hide her sigh of relief. It would be unnatural not to be nervous around this man. She also noticed the brief look of surprise from the doorman. Seems he at least was aware of his mistress's disappearance. "I'm just so glad my wife was able to finally settle on someone for the job. She's been searching for so long and just informed me recently of her decision." Vic widened her smile in response to his fake compliment. "I'll have someone show you to my wife's apartments." He gave a quick nod to the doorman and abruptly left.

A slim young woman with far too much nose appeared and quietly led the way up two flights of stairs and down a long carpeted hall. Everything in Quinn's home was ritzy, from the gold inlaid vases to the shining bronze fixtures. The personal apartment of Nicole Quinn was no exception. Vic was ushered into a room that could easily have graced the pages of a magazine collecting dust at the local doctor's office.

For show she pulled a notebook and tape measure from her bag and began to pace around the room making meaningless notes. The woman, who had sharply introduced herself as Anna, watched her with disinterest. A few attempts at small talk were met with noncommittal grunts so Vic gave her up and focused on anything Logan might have missed in his original search.

There were three rooms off the main bedroom; a bathroom, a spacious sitting room, and a walk-in closet. Every room had the same pristine, unlived in air. Oh, there were clothes in the closet, toiletries on the sink, and throws on the sitting room chairs but they were all arranged too perfectly to be anything but show. Someone wanted these rooms to look lived in and had done far too good a job.

On a side table in the sitting room, there were several books neatly stacked. All but one looked like it had never been opened. It was a leather journal. Anna was busy staring curiously into the hall and Vic took the opportunity to slide it out and open it on top of her notebook. She was immediately disappointed, however. Every golden lined cream page was completely blank. Just another prop it seemed. Unfortunately whatever had distracted Anna lost her attention again. Vic had to retreat deeper into the room and was considering slipping the journal onto another shelf when something on the front cover caught her eye. A handwritten inscription.

For dreams

– Nadia

Nadia. The same name from Nicole's datebook. She left the journal hidden in her own notebook and walked to the door. These rooms were going to get her nowhere, might as well take a little risk. Anna was standing by the open door to the hall watching her.

"Do you know Nadia," Vic asked lightly. Surprise crossed Anna's pointed face before she answered sharply.

"She doesn't work here anymore." An employee? That's certainly not what Vic expected.

"It's just Mrs. Quinn mentioned her once or twice while we were planning."

"I bet she did," Anna snorted. She was now giving Vic her undivided attention and clearly knew something interesting about this Nadia. Well, as her father used to say, 'quiet was for Captians and corpses'.

"I'll be honest with you Anna," Vic stepped closer and lowered her voice, "I'm new in town, and doing a good job here could really help me a lot. I got the impression Nadia knew a lot about Mrs. Quinn's taste. If you know how I could reach her I would be grateful..."

Before she could finish Anna's attention was drawn to the hall again and this time Vic was close enough to hear it too. Voices coming up the hall. Anna must have heard someone enter earlier. Anna focused again but any chance of weaseling information from her had passed.

"I told you Nadia don't work here anymore. You about done? I have other work to do." The voices in the hall were getting closer and although they were too quiet to make out they sounded heated.

"Ah, yes," Vic looked down at her notebook of fake measurements and realized she still had Nicole Quinn's journal tucked inside. She hurriedly held it to her chest and smiled at Anna, "I think I have everything I need. Lead the way."

But as they turned to leave the room Anthoney Quinn entered followed closely by Detective Logan Ward.