Iris Pierce Mysteries

Black Lodge Murders Part 1

I am Iris Pierce, no one that significant. The two people of significance in this room were Mister McKinney and my employer. I examined the man sitting opposite me. Most people wear a pleasant smile like I was doing now, this man was the smile. There was a hippyish vibe around him, perhaps because of his long blonde beard or the bright yellow overcoat. His accent was a playful tune in my ears.

'She keeps bothering me about not going home! Says the husband is going to kill her! I just want my sister to go back to normal.' Mister McKinney was obviously the most energetic and excitable client we'd ever had.
He sat on the sofa near the window where so many other clients had sat, telling their crazy stories of death, robbery and paranoia. Almost all of these cases were just the usual things like a spot of burglary at the bank but others...well they sounded like tales from the mouth of a madman and yet, they were completely true. I looked left to my employer, the mesmerising detective Howard Parker.

Unlike McKinney who's personality and private life was displayed by the way he dressed, Mister Parker was nothing like that. He wore a grey waistcoat and thin black trousers with his right leg positioned over the left. However intimidating he looked at first glance Howard Parker was actually a practical, and friendly man. I knew from the moment I met him that I would enjoy working at his agency that was always so different than others. No uptight bosses or company protocols. That was one of the quirks to being the smallest detective agency in Sydney. Sometimes it just looked like friends running about solving crime. Like if the secret seven grew up except there were only four of us.

'Mister McKinney I think I'll take the case.' Mister Parker flashed his iconic smile that always made everything seem better. McKinney smiled and said, 'Good. I would like to see this sorted as soon as possible. Lauretta's blabbering is driving me insane!' He thanked Mister Parker and went to leave. After McKinney left, Mister Parker moved to the door. 'Is there somewhere you're going?' I asked as he grabbed for his dark blue trench coat. He never went anywhere without it.
'Charles made a dinner reservation for me and Ursula. It's annoying but saying no will cause a fuss.' Charles was Howard's older brother who was basically a billionaire and was always randomly intruding on investigations. Ursula was his little sister who was just as much of a genius as him but she wasn't a detective or anything like that but an author. Howard never spoke much of his siblings but I knew he cared about them and that they were the only family he had left.

'Would you like me to wait up for you?' I asked.
'No, that's alright. You can go on home, I'll be late.'
➿

It was dark out by the time I set for home. That was to be expected. After Mister Parker left I tidied the entire place. I vacuumed the carpet of the living room, which is where Mister Parker usually likes to meet his clients, washed the tea cups and put away the carrot cake. By the time I was done, everything was neat and orderly. The clients seemed to respect the home more when it was meticulously tidy but you wouldn't know that Mister Parker loved for his things to be organised by looking the state of his office or back garden for that matter.

Mister Parker had given me free roam of his entire house (which was very big and grand) since it was my job to tidy and do all the housework. Although, I did end up accompanying him on almost every case and sometimes helped with interrogation. I had sort of lost track of what my job was. It was something between assistant and housekeeper.

The only place I was not to go without permission was Mister Parker's office. I had been in there once when I came for the interview and that one time had told me more about Howard Parker than he had told me in the 18 months I had been working for him.

The walls were lined with bookshelves and paintings of far off landscapes and rivers. On the desk there were black and white photographs of two women I didn't recognise, one of them middle aged and the other couldn't have been much older than me. He only ever did frame the monochrome pictures even though the coloured ones look prettier. But I suppose with Mister Parker, it wasn't about how pretty something was, probably something about the story. I could tell by the papers sprawled all over his desk that he was a busy man and found it hard to be on top of things. His sense of dress said little about him except for the fact that he always tried to look his best. Mister Parker was an enigma. I knew nothing about him. But his office was not the only forbidden room.

There was something much more intriguing. Something hidden behind an old wooden door with a rusted lock that I couldn't open.

As I walked out into the cold outside I kept on wondering if I'd ever be anything more than an assistant to him. He was always so distant from me. But I quickly blocked out these thoughts.
My path was lit by flickering street-lamps and the light coming through windows. Other than that it was completely dark on this moonless night. It wasn't a long walk to my house from Lavender Passage but the time it took for me to get there depended entirely on the events of the day.

As I passed the Silver Coin pub I heard a voice call out to me. 'Iris! You heading home?' I turned and saw the familiar face of Maddison Ballard. She still looked the same with her brown hair tied back and coat over her floral dress. She was the first friend I had made when I moved to Darlington and so far was still the only one I had. I know it sounds depressing but I don't mind much at all. Maddi ran up next to me barely reaching my chin. 'Can I join you?' I nodded as she pulled out a newspaper from her bag.

'You seen this? Some bloke went and strangled his mother and shoved her into the wall! It's on page nine. It was your Mister Parker that solved that one wasn't it?' It had been him who had found the body after realising the alibis didn't match and that the wall was hollow.
'Yes it was. One of the recent ones,' I replied. Mister Parker wasn't happy with making page nine, he wanted to be on page one.

'At least you've got a real job. Working as a barmaid isn't gonna make ends meet for me,' Maddi said, 'I bet Parker pays you lots!' This was exactly like Maddi. She was a charming woman except sometimes she went on to talk about private things that you wouldn't really want to discuss. It didn't stop me from befriending her though. We were alike in the sense that we didn't have the best of luck making friends and socialising even though Maddi seemed extroverted, she was just as lonely as me.
'Not really, I haven't seen a cheque in ages. Still, I make do.' Maddi looked outraged at that. Her mouth was open wide in surprise and her hands clenched in fists.

'You can't be serious! You're the one who does all his cooking and cleaning, Iris! You even ogle at dead bodies with him! And you're saying he doesn't pay you! Honestly what are men like!?'
'It's fine really. The job gives me a purpose.' Maddi gave me a disapproving look. I knew why. Maddi was not the kind of person to stand idly by and let others use her as a puppet. She would stand up for herself and do anything to get her way. I wish I was so bold. But I wasn't. I was comfortable in my situation and didn't want it to change. I was perfectly content with doing whatever Mister Parker wanted as long as I had a job.

I have written plenty of stories but none that I have ever shared with other people. I hope that you find this one interesting and will read more as I upload chapters. ;)